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Z: ALUM: UST
From the collection of National Museum of American History. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This urn-shaped blown-glass jar has rounded shoulders and a flared neck with a round glass stopper in its mouth. The opaqueness of the glass comes from the addition of tin oxide in an attempt to mimic porcelain. The jar has a gold shield decorated with red and blue flowers, with a label inside the shield that reads <i>ALUM UST</i> in black. This jar would have contained <i>Alumen ustum</i>, or heated alumen. Alumen ustum was chiefly used as a caustic for irritating the skin.
National Museum of American History’s own descriptionCredit lineZ: ALUM: UST. 18th century. National Museum of American History, Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. CC0.
