Bottle

Bottle (Fr. bouteille, which is the dim. of botte or boute [allied to Eng. butt], 'a vessel'), a vessel, generally of a round shape, with a narrow neck, for holding liquids. The first bottles were probably made of the skins of animals, mostly goats—of this kind were the bottles spoken of in Scripture. Skin bottles are still used in Southern Europe for the transport of wine, and by tribes of Africa and Asia for carrying water. The ancient Egyptians had bottles of alabaster, stone, gold, ivory, and other substances. Glass bottles, often of great beauty, were made by the Phoenicians and Romans, and in the middle ages at Venice. Porous earthenware bottles have been long in use in the East to keep water cool in. The Chinese have beautiful small bottles of jade, rock-crystal, agate, and a peculiar glass of two coloured layers. Modern bottles are chiefly made of Glass (q.v.), and of stoneware (see POTTERY). In America, cheap, light, unbreakable bottles for most ordinary purposes have of late been made of paper, especially at Chicago. A long strip of paper is bent round a mandrel, and so made into a tube, which, after being covered with an outer glazed sheet of paper, is cut into lengths. These are fitted with bottoms and necks of paper or of wood, and the insides are lined with a composition intended to resist the action of acids, dyes, spirits, &c.