rare mid-nineteenth century vibrantly colored medium emerald green chemists's bottle with squat neck and applied tapered lip. the deeply embossed vertical serif lettering reads "g.w. merchant" and beneath that "chemist" and "lockport n.y." the body is oval and angular with crudities typical of the age, including bubbles in the body and slight whittling on the lip. the base is oval with a high kickup and a seam evidencing manufacture with a two-piece mold. dr. george w. merchant started making his celebrated gargling oil in 1833, as a "liniment for man and beast". dr. merchant started out in "lower town" and moved to "upper town" in 1836. embossing on the bottles was meant to protect against a number of counterfeiters. in 1880 the liniment came in four sizes, with a yellow wrapper for animals and a white wrapper for humans. the product had a long continuous sales history up until 1928 when the factory finally burned down. the company ownership changed hands several times during the course of the nineteenth century.