SECTION IV 



GENERAL 



I. THE LABELLING OF BOTTLES. 



FEW teaching laboratories need as many bottles nowadays as 

 they did a decade ago, but it would appear still necessary to 

 offer a practical suggestion in the matter of keeping laboratory 

 reagents in order. 



There are several points which may be regarded as abso- 

 lutely essential 



1. The labels should be distinct and easily read. 



2. The labels should not come off in washing the outside 



of the bottles, or even upon prolonged soaking. 



3. The labels should not be acted upon by reagents. 



4. The labels should be removable by some simple process 



if necessary. 



It would appear at first sight that these desiderata are so 

 contradictory as to be beyond fulfilment, save by more or less 

 unsatisfactory compromise, though many devices have been 

 brought into being purporting to fulfil these requirements. 



The requirement of permanence is only valid at the wish of 

 the user consequently sand-blasted labels, etched labels and 

 enamelled labels are excluded. At the same time it is well, 

 perhaps, to note the various services which such bottles perform 

 far more satisfactorily than any other, viz. the holding of bench 

 reagents, and strong acids and alkalies. It is well to secure a 

 good quality, as several most unsatisfactory types are on the 

 market ; the only perfectly satisfactory ones apparently being 

 those supplied by Messrs. P. Harris & Co., of Birmingham 



