Questionable Practices of the Past: Mouth Pipetting
Throughout my training, I've heard of the fabled technique of mouth pipetting. As the name suggests, it involves using pipettes, but with your mouth. Sound scary yet?
For those of you who have taken laboratory courses, you are most likely familiar with these:
Source
Source
You have seen them, the standard pump/piston action pipettes you use to transfer liquid. Sometimes they have graduation to help you measure the precise amounts.
Unfortunately, these were not always available for most scientists. For a long time, they had to transfer liquid via pipettes powered by the suction of their mouths. They worked very much like straws. What could go wrong?
As it turns out, this practice caused many problems for scientists who worked in the labs. They ranged from infections to chemical harm. My instructor, who is now well into her seventies, talked about how hepatitis was not an uncommon. Heck, her successor, who completed my training, had his time with the practice as well. The thought of doing that makes me want to gag.
Here are some photos from the glorious old days of mouth pipetting. Their sources are in the images and I will link you to the websites where I found them.
1
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3
Insanity, no? It's somewhat perplexing that this dangerous practice continued into the 70s.
Are there questionable practices in the labs that are acceptable today? Not that I could think of on the top of my head. I'm sure somewhere down the road, we will learn about them.
Further Reading
1. Origins of Pipettes: Why Today's Scientists Don't Need to Use Their Mouths
2. Lab Tools: The History of the Pipette
3. Suck It: The Ins and Outs of Mouth Pipetting
Wow, that's crazy and also makes sense I guess.
I'm glad we have the tools we have today.
Ahh the good old days when a pack of smokes and a pint of whiskey a day were all you needed to cure your ailments.
What surprises me the most is the syringe was invented hundreds of years ago and is very precise.
Beats me. I'm sure there's some sort of analytical chemistry answer to it.
In that entire series, I have never used syringes, but glass pipettes.
I'm talking about the non jabby types. They can be used to suck and squirt fluids. These and turkey basters have been used since ancient Roman times. It's sad we lost knowledge of the bastardius.
I wonder if it had something to do with the materials that made up the syringes.
Glass doesn't interact with a lot of liquid as far as I know.
Im sure they would have used perfectly safe and non reactive materials like lead, copper, silver, leather and sea sponges... Umm yeah good point.
They had glass, but I don't think glass tubes were perfected until the late medieval ages. Besides they didn't really do much microbe research until pasteur came along.
Pipettes didn't really happen until 19th Century I believe. So, for something like 150 years, this weird practice was used.
Uninteresting fact #4876 - 7/11 s in Thailand sell two sizes of syringe.....the 'non-jabby' type of course!
And out of nowhere.
I have one in my kitchen for injecting marinade into meat (niche product not particularly useful)... I guess it is the jabby type
If you working with an unknown substance, why would you want to get this in your mouth and inhale
That's what they did back in the days.
A strange technical limitation if you ask me.
They really loved their job
Gay
You love it!
Cmon, what are you complaining about, just dont suck the liquid back all the way. You get the hang of it after a few times you mess up (if you live ofc).😃
Playing hard core mode. Only got one life.
For the next smart activity.
I am thinking of my laboratory teacher, who is horrified when we do not wear gloves or protective glasses just to mix salt and water. How times have changed! Obviously is better now. Ahahah
For the better I hope.
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The old pictures are really really cool. I love this kind of stuff from the old days of modern science ^^
I’m glad some people took pictures for record.
I guess we should all be glad. There is an interesting exhibition at CERN (free entrance) where you can see stuff from the early days of particle physics. This is definitely worth a detour if you end up around Geneva one day!
I'll put that on the bucket list.
And don't hesitate to tell me if you are around! I may show up ^^
Definitely.
A huge hug 🤗 and a little bit of !BEER 🍻 from @amico!
Un caro abbraccio 🤗 e un po' di BEER 🍻 da @amico!
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BEER.Like siphoning gas from a gas tank... just don’t get it in your mouth. 🤮🤮 It always cracks me up how people used to just “Get things done”. Lol. Wait... there was an episode of dirty jobs when used a similar technique.... let me find it...
Wow... simply Wow
Sick
They used their mouths... wow... nope. I don’t even like being in a gym at the end of the day.
Have you heard of “the 5 second rule”... must have taken form in one of those older labs.
Yes I've heard that. I don't think that's a lab specific thing.
Oh my! Yeah, I don't think so. I am too much of a wimp to even try siphoning gas. I don't think I would ever do it when there are chemicals and stuff like that involved. That is nuts!
And that's how our society operated for a long time.
id say so.. how about prescribing ineffective drugs chosen mainly due to bribes and free gifts from big pharma?
That is not within the scope of this post.
When I used to teach chemistry I always told my students a story about my mother to illustrate why you don't pipet by mouth. She worked in a biochemistry lab during college and had to digest rat livers in hydrochloric acid then pipet the digesstate onto flasks for dilution. One day she wasn't paying attention and aspirated an air bubble into the pipet and sucked a bit of the digesstate onto her mouth. She said it was gross to think about the rat liver, but having the acid strip the enamel from her teeth was worse.
Oh gosh.
That sounds terrifying just imagining it.
the olden days sucked
It totes did.