Poison Bottles

It rained all night and has been raining intermittently all day, so I've done another "bottle blip".  The poison bottles are my favorite of the old bottles, & most of them were made from the  late 1870's to the early 1930's. Many people in those days were illiterate, so accidental poisonings happened much more often than you would think. People needing a medication during the night would get up & fumble around in the dark or by candlelight to get it, and not being able to see well, often grabbed the wrong one. There's a story that a superintendent in a hospital in Missouri ordered sleigh bells chained to the necks of bottles containing poison after an attendant gave carbolic acid to a patient by mistake, and the patient died. The poison manufactures themselves decided to take action to avoid mistakes like that and began making their own bottles in colors that were unique for that time--cobalt blue, black, honey amber and emerald. Along with the unique colors they made the bottles in unusual shapes, then added textures to them: lattice work (as seen on the 2 cobalt blue bottles), raised dots or ridges (as seen on the honey amber bottle), and horizontal or vertical ribbing (as seen on the green) so that you could tell by touch that it contained poison. Most of the bottles also had raised lettering, such as "POISON" or "DO NOT TAKE", which could also be felt when picked up. I think the history behind these bottles is fascinating, but that's just me. :)) 
 I read this morning that the U.S. is the new epicenter of the pandemic, with the worst yet to come. I'm praying that all of us, across the world, stay safe.  :))

"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." - Max Lucado

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