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Lumbric: Alum: UST
From the collection of National Museum of American History. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This blown and molded square glass bottle has a narrow neck, a flared lip, and a baked enamel cartouche surrounded by a floral arrangement. The label is marked in black <i>Lumbric Alum UST</i> and the alchemical symbol for Spirits. Lumbricor is dried and pounded earthworms, alum is potassium aluminum sulfate, and ustum is Latin for <i>heated</i>. This jar would have contained a spirits solution of heated alum and earthworms, which was often used as an emetic, astringent, or diuretic.
National Museum of American History’s own descriptionCredit lineLumbric: Alum: UST. National Museum of American History, Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. CC0.
