• Retort, 1930s. Czechoslovakia

Curatorial Notes:

• The retort is one of the earliest pieces of chemical apparatus, used for distillation. The substance to be distilled is placed inside the rounded body of the vessel and heated until it boils. As the resulting vapors cool, they flow down the long, downward-pointing neck to be collected in another flask. A similar retort was used to make the “green lion” displayed below.

Credit Line:

• Courtesy of Lawrence M. Principe

Identifier:

• ark:/88435/dch702qh69z