I searched on Google and saw they were used in “early” modern medicine but it seems like plastic is the choice for all types used today. I’ve been able to buy hypodermic plastic syringes but not glass ones on Amazon or eBay.
Maybe I’m wrong but I would have believed that a standard plastic hypodermic syringe would be replaced by a glass one in some medicinal/scientific experimentation using corrosive acids or bases like concentrated NaOH, HCL, H2SO4 etc.
Is it that plastic syringes today can hold destructive acids for administration in an animal/plant/object without being dissolved themselves?
They are still used for epidural injections where location of the epidural space is done by tactile feedback, which many find to be enhanced with a glass syringe.
I believe heat (and possibly some organic solvents) might be more of a concern with respect to plastic syringes than concentrated acids. Most of those used to come in PTFE bottles back when I was in college!
Quantitative analytical chemistry folks often use the glass-on-glass syringes regularly - Hamilton is the standard brand. When using most forms of mass spectrometry, for example (GC or LC-MS), glass syringes are invaluable: lots of organic solvents and the instruments are sensitive enough to pick up trace levels of plasticizers.
Glass syringes often have a smoother delivery that, when using a syringe pump at low flow rates, for example, can be important as well.
ETA: searching for ‘Hamilton glass syringe’ on eBay gives me about 475 hits - might be the brand name that you’re missing…
I was wondering about the “rubber” seal on the plunger still being an issue. Apparently these are so finely made, with plunger matched to tube, that there is no other seal required.