One of the great things about clearing out an office, or a lab, is re-discovering the stuff you rescued from when someone else was clearing out a lab. I found these in my box this morning:
They’re glass pipettes, graduated in 1 µl increments.
Not only are they incredibly neat — at least to a geek like me — but they are also incredibly precise. Slightly more precise, even, than Jenny’s ultra-modern Gilson.
Here’s the proof:
0.006 µl. That’s… not a lot of microlitres.
I kid you not, I had some very similar old capillary tube like pipettes tucked away at the back of a drawer once. I was secretly hoping I’d whip them out in a couple of decades and wow the scientific instruments expert on the Antiques Roadshow!
Can I have them?
I’m keeping them, Mat!
Glass pipettes are up there with these concerning the geeky coolness factor, I think.
Heh, nice cross-comment Steffi!
That performance statement is like pornography to me, Richard. Beautiful.
Ha ha! Yes, it has that effect on me, too.
Glad I am not the only one who geeks out over lab supplies. Very cool find! Though I have to admit that the first thing that comes to mind when I look at thin and fragile glass tubes is how they would feel embedded in my finger. I speak from experience when I say – not great. Not a fan of fragile lab stuffs.
Yah… having embedded the long glass Pasteurs in my thumb while doing cell culture I can corroborate that finding.
ObPetPeeve: what is it with the pluralization of ‘stuff’ these days by peoples? Everyones seems to be doing its.
Yes – I am personally quite partial to old glass vials of histological coloring reagents. They are small works of art. I will try to find one or two that I’ve secreted away on various lab moves, and photograph them.
I came across a whole box of old volumetric flasks (small ones), Heather, and gave it to my mother. She displays them, containing water with different food colourings, in a glass cabinet. Looks quite neat.
(BTW, are you guys getting email notification of comments? Mine seem to have disappeared)