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(Image courtesy of the Science Museum, London)
To the best of my knowledge, carboys were items of advertising commonly placed in the window of the newly established high street pharmacy. As the 19th century progressed the necessity for reputable pharmacies for those who couldn't afford a physician grew, and one way for a pharmacy to be able to sell itself as reliable was to show their skill in mixing chemicals. Chemicals which the general public would be using to treat themselves.
(Courtesy of The Hoarde)
A carboy would sit in the bay windows of a high street pharmacy showing off the brightly coloured liquid within. Liquid which was highly pigmented and designed to show that the pharmacist and their staff knew how to mix the correct measures of various substances to attain that bright colour. The majority of people at the beginning of the 19th century were illiterate, so the carboy was a good visual indication of the pharmacists skill. The logic went, if they can make a perfect pigment, they can be relied upon to give out usable medicine. Although, you may be given opioids for a cough, so that wouldn't hold up today.
Apologies for how rambling this is, I've never written blog post esque things before and I'm just doing it for fun here :^)
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