While we are on the subject of glass tubes, I also have some that I'm curious about. There is a link to a photo of some of them below, but we have tons of these coming out of what seems to be a dump context. There are all kinds of materials mixed in, but we've also found a Whitall Tatum & Co flint glass prescription bottle (http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/WTandCo_BLockhart.pdf), dating from the 1870s through 1890s, and a liniment bottle dating to the same time period. This makes me think that these are likely related to medicinal production in some way, but I'd love some more information, if anyone has any.
You can view a photo of some of our objects at:
https://wesfiles.wesleyan.edu/labs/Middletown_Materials/Website%20files/Glass%20Tube%20photo.JPG
Best,
Sarah Croucher
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Sarah Croucher
Assistant Professor
Wesleyan University
Anthropology Department
281 High Street
Middletown, CT 06459
USA
Telephone: 860-685-4489
http://scroucher.faculty.wesleyan.edu/http://beman-triangle.research.wesleyan.edu/