For Valentine's Day the Vapo Cresolene lamp becomes a Vapo Rose-o-lene lamp. Beside the lamp are heart shaped petals. Roses smell more pleasant than Vapo Cresolene!
Vapo Cresolene was an old time vapor inhalant treatment for colds, used at night. It was put in a little dish above the Vapo Cresolene lamp which was fueled by kerosene. Vapo Cresolene was never to be taken internally!
On top of the cupboard is handmade goat's milk soap and a jar of honey with a note attached to the back saying "Diane, May Your Marriage Be as Sweet as the Contents of this Jar" signed Paul Sutton at the old apothecary. Phidelia Finch's eggs are in a little bowl, there are test tubes and nutmeg in a jar, scented geranium leaves in another jar, and a Vapo-Cresolene Lamp. The cupboard, a recent delightful find and curiosity, has big wrought iron handles on the sides for carrying and vertical divisions, inside.
Tasha Tudor illustrated a splendid apothecary display in "Corgiville Christmas".Diane's ancestors had an interest in herbal extractions! On the 1658 inventory of Diane's 10th great grandfather Ensign William Beamsley's estate was listed "one still for herbes in ye sellar". His home was in Boston on his land between Salutation Alley and Hanover Avenue, and "from Hanover Street thru to the bay". "Salutation Alley was originally only five and one half feet wide." Source for Beamsley information: "Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England and Their Origins" by John Brooks Threlfall.
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1 comment:
What a great find was the Vapo Cresolene lamp, I have never seen nor heard of such a thing! But I bet the medicine place in the burner was the predecessor to Vicks Vapo rub? I confess that I am someone who loves the smell of Vicks vapo rub when I am in the midst of a winter cold, I find it rather comforting, although it is probably all in my mind.
Ursula sends her regards... she thinks you should get a little donkey, too!
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