1770894218Code 8464 Apothecary ChestAn elegant and rare antique English ship's apothecary, dating to the first half of the 19th century, with a mahogany feather case, concealed handles, and brass hinges, complete with key. The rectangular cabinet consists of a central compartment with two doors, each containing, separated by wooden dividers, numerous original glass containers with stoppers for powders and chemical preparations. The lower section contains six drawers of various sizes containing various objects, including a scale with corresponding weights, a mortar and pestle, measuring cups, a funnel, an eyewash, spatulas, glass syringes, a case with lancets for bloodletting, suture forceps, two glass and brass burners, a medicine measuring spoon, powders for preparations, and other items. At the back is a sliding compartment, which can only be opened from the inside, containing poisons and opiate products. Very good condition broken glass bottle.
Measurements 33 x 20 x 39 cm – 13 x 7.9 x 15.4 in.
In use since the Renaissance, portable pharmacies arose from the physician's need to carry at least the bare minimum for emergency care. They typically consisted of a wooden box divided into various compartments, which housed a few surgical instruments and the supplies needed for pharmacological therapy. Until the late Middle Ages, the pharmacy was an integral part of medicine; however, the foundations of modern pharmacy date back to the Renaissance. The discovery of America in 1492 significantly increased the number of known plant species, significantly contributing to the development of the pharmacological study of plants. Research into inorganic and mineralogical remedies also developed during the Renaissance, primarily thanks to the Swiss physician Paracelsus. This gave rise to iatrochemistry, the first example of medicinal chemistry.
In the seventeenth century, the leading advocate of the use of chemical remedies in medicine was the Frenchman Nicolas Lémery; however, it was only in the eighteenth century that pharmacy, thanks to the work of another French scholar, Antoine Baumé, began to assume the characteristics of an autonomous science, emancipating itself from medicine and chemistry.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, experimental pharmacology emerged, which established the need for systematic experimentation, both in vitro and on living organisms, as a fundamental methodological principle. This direct approach allowed pharmacists to rapidly expand their knowledge and increasingly rigorously systematize the preparation of remedies.
The term "pharmacy" derives from the Greek pharmacon, meaning medicine. In ancient times, it was the physician himself who prepared the medicines; only in the 11th century AD did the role of the pharmacist emerge, distinct from that of the physician.
This discipline received a great boost from the discovery of America in 1492, which brought many new plant species to Europe that could be studied for pharmacological use.
