TR GUAIC VOLi

18th century

This blown and molded square-shaped glass drug jar has rounded shoulders, and a narrow neck with a flared lip. The enamel label is a white shield outlined in yellow and blue. The yellow crown has yellow flowers surrounded by white dots. George Urdang, historian of pharmacy and cataloguer of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Collection attributes this bottle to the Court Pharmacy of Phillnitz.in what is today an eastern neighborhood of Dresden, Germany. The bottle is marked <i>TR GUAJAC VOL</i> in black with the first letter of each word in red. this bottle would have contained a tincture of guiac, a tincture made from the resin or wood of the lignum vitae tree. Guiac was used as a diuretic, cathartic, and diaphoretic, and was supposed to be effective in treating syphilis.