Possible Clues:

• Still bitter maybe, writer, after months
• An obsolete apparatus used for distillation
• Old distillation vessel
• Vessel in which lab mice are sacrificed
• Little laboratory mice operated on with old laboratory equipment
• Still a tortuous climb to get round peak of Everest
• 'Be calm!' ordered to keep one still
• Old retort
• Lab involved with mice still
• Old container used for distillation