Postcard showing red and blue
carboys in the chemist's window
The carboy has become a symbol of pharmacists recognised world-wide. The origins of this item are the source of much debate. Below are some of the myths surrounding why and how the carboy came to be used in pharmacy windows.
A story told in The Pharmaceutical Journal from 1931 is one of the more unbelievable ideas:
When Julius Caesar invaded Ireland his landing spot was on a shelving shore directly opposite an apothecary’s shop. In the shop windows large bottles containing drugs in the process of softening produced different coloured liquids. On the promise of protection the Roman invaders arranged that this apothecary would place lanterns behind the bottles to guide the landing at night. To commemorate the successful operation, Caesar issued a law that all apothecaries would be honoured by being allowed to use coloured bottles to identify their establishments!
Red and green pear shaped
carboys
The carboy has attracted interest from outside pharmacy as well. A poem in Punch magazine from the mid 1900s by AP Herbert offered a child’s guide to the professions with an interesting explanation for the use of the carboys:
"Those lovely globes of green and red,
They are not there for fun,
You see? He simple shakes his head;
He will not give you one.
But if the truth is what you want,
The truth is sweet and short,
For one of them is Crème de Menthe,
The other one is Port.
They drink the red, they drink the green,
Till they can drink no more,
Then drain a draught of neat quinine
And totter to the floor."
Red pear shaped carboy
A third myth is closely related to the history of the red and white barbers' poles. It comes from the letters page of a 1931 issue of The Pharmaceutical Journal:
In the 1600s and 1700s blood letting was common. The barber surgeons who carried out this practice exhibited bowls of fresh blood together with well-used bandages in their windows. Red coloured liquids later replaced these bowls of blood, which gave a more professional look. The red and white barber’s poles represent the used bandages that would often have been wound around a pole outside the premises. In early pharmacies both could have been displayed.
Barber's shop front
