The mortar and pestle, the most ancient of man's grinding tools, still find wide use in the chemistry laboratory. These are made in a variety of sizes from a variety of materials, but porcelain mortars and pestles are the most commonly-used in the organic chemistry labs.

For the record, the mortar is the "bowl" component, and the pestle is the tool used to grind (or macerate -- a good scientific-sounding term).

Note: 2 rules of caution should always be followed when grinding up chemicals:

1. Always clean the mortar and pestle thoroughly before and after grinding each sample, and
2. Never grind two materials together unless specifically instructed to do so.

Cost:
mortar:	$12.13
pestle:	$9.28

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