369 – Glass bottle: Fart bottle

Physical description:

Small unusually shaped clear glass bottle with cork stopper.

Museum classification:

Herbs and Healing

Size:

100 high

Information:

This is one of the bottles displayed in the museum at one point as 'fart bottles'. According to the label, one form of magical healing involved the wise woman collecting the methane evacuated by the patient in a bottle and then setting it alight, thus burning away the patient's illness. A nice idea, but unfortunately we have no definite evidence to link this bottle with such a tradition, if one ever existed. (However, see the Hans Baldung Grien picture 1363.)

Resource:

Object

Materials:

Glass, cork

Copyright ownership:

Copyright to The Museum of Witchcraft Ltd.

This is one of the bottles displayed in the museum at one point as 'fart bottles'. According to the label, one form of magical healing involved the wise woman collecting the methane evacuated by the patient in a bottle and then setting it alight, thus burning away the patient's illness. A nice idea, but unfortunately we have no definite evidence to link this bottle with such a tradition, if one ever existed. (However, see the Hans Baldung Grien picture 1363.)