Drugstore Museum Show Globes
In the past, apothecary Show Globes were the symbol for pharmacy much like the barber pole was for the barber. From the early 1880's until the 1950's most pharmacies would hang or display a show globe to identify their drugstore.
Inside the show globe the pharmacist would add colored water by mixing chemicals together to give the globe great beauty. Back then, every pharmacist had his own special coloration formula to color the water inside the show globe. They took great pride in creating and showing off their ability to mix the perfect color.
Show Globe Mythology
It has been told on the web that pharmacists would color the show globe water red to warn if there was an epidemic and green if there wasn’t. Red color in the show globe was intended to warn people to stay away from the town. This story has been told over and over. It makes a great story but it is false.
The only reason pharmacists used show globes was to display their chemical prowess. Often the globe contained layered colors so it looked striped. The druggist would use various liquids of differing densities to cause the layered effect. When show globes were in use drugs were extracted from plants more often than they were triturated with a mortar and pestle.
Most pharmacists would take the crude drug, like digitalis, and add cold, warm or hot water to the plants and let them steep. Often he would use alcohol for the extraction process. Once the extraction was done he would place the tincture or extract into bottles waiting to be mixed into a concoction of some type.
The Real Show Globe Meaning
The ability to properly extract and mix was the sign of a competent druggist. Therefore, coloring the water of a show globe would display this ability. Remember that prior to the early 1900’s most states didn’t even require a college degree to be licensed as a pharmacist. That being said, prior to 1900 most states didn’t even require pharmacists to be licensed to practice medicine.
Many articles appear even into the 1930’s speaking of “two by four” drugstores being opened by unscrupulous practitioners. A man could come to town and basically go into the drugstore business without much inventory, knowledge or skill. The show globe was a way an educated and skilled druggist could be recognized by his community.
© 2004 Soderlund Village Drug, All Rights Reserved
2 comments:
Very interesting, Sarah. Thanks for posting! I had always heard the myth about the red globes indicating that there was an epidemic in town and visitors should stay away. My grandfather and then my father had one in the pharmacy when it was in downtown San Antonio. It was filled with red colored water and hung in the front window. I always thought it was really cool.
Awesome read!
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