BACCAE JUNIPERI

1790-1810

This drug jar is marked <i>BACCAE JUNIPERI</i>. Baccae refers to the female worshipers of the Greek God Bacchus. The oil from the Juniper berries were used as a flavoring, and for a variety of conditions including inflammation, liver, and kidney disease. Pharmaceutical historian George Urdang attributes containers 1991.0664.0760 through 1991.0664.0825 to Hanau in the late 18th century based on the floral design surrounding the medallion and the initials <i>HN</i> on the bottom of many of the jars in the series. However, in a letter to museum curators dated August 1983, the pharmaceutical historian Wolfgang-Hagen Hein wrote that the containers without initials and those marked <i>FH</i> were made in Florsheim in the German state of Hesse twenty-three miles southwest of Hanau.