Pharmatrans » Research

Materia medica sample collection

October 13, 2022

After several preparation and selection meetings with the project team, in September 2022 our collaborators Dr. Magó Andrea Beatrix and dr. Guttmann Márta have collected 14 samples of materia medica. The procedure followed specific non-contamination restrictions, as the intended means of analysis is very sensitive to the smallest quantities of organic matter. During the opening of the selected apothecary containers, most from the 8th-century medicine chest, we have made several observations and discoveries: the content of a glass container for Pulvis Bezoard Sennert, a compound medicine invented by a famous German doctor, included gold foil fragments; a paper envelope inscribed on the outside Cantharides did contain crushed Spanish flies, with their typical green metallic shine, but on the inside it proved to be part of an accounting page that will help in the dating of the chest; a container for Theriaca included not only traces of the product but also a circular metal object, most likely a coin; and the human mummy fragments preserve imprints and actual textile fragments. The sample have been sent to the Department of Chemistry of the University in Pisa, the Dr. Maria Pakucs has started transcribing and analyzing the new manuscript, the coin is under restoration and the laboratory of the National Museum of Transylvanian History, while Dr. Beatrix Magó will perform a microscopic investigation of the cantharid powder.

Pewter marks

October 4, 2022

The History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj includes 33 items made of pewter, measuring cups and various containers. Pewter, an alloy made of tin, antimony, copper, sometimes bismuth and silver, relatively easy to process, was widely used in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries in the production of everyday objects. Most of the pewter artifacts have production marks, with heraldic symbols, dates, and initials, quality marks, control marks etc. The items in our collection also display such symbols, and in their identification we turned to an external specialist, Dr. Kovács Mária. She has kindly informed us that some of the items were made in Ghimbav, Brașov county, and in Vienna (with the mark REIN Zinn, pure tin) and can be dated to the 18th and 19th centuries.

”Libro di me, Gio Batta Gussetti”

September 28, 2022

Among the books preserved in the history of pharmacy collection, we have a favorite one, a volume printed in Venice in 1596, which includes recipes for the preparation of various medicines, including the famous Theriaca Veneta. As indicated in the title, the volume was meant to be useful to doctors, pharmacists, and all families. It seems that its former owner, a merchant from the the Veneto area, Giovanni Battista Gussetti, who bought the book in Vienna in 1687, was just as passionate about it as we are. Wanting at all costs to be recorded as the owner of this volume, he left several annotations on both the cover and inside the book. Part of the Pharmatrans project, we tried to fully decipher the texts handwritten in Italian, but we encountered difficulties in the case of the one on the cover, which, being written in ink on parchment, has faded over time. In order to render the inscription more visible we asked for the help of our colleagues from the restoration laboratory of the National Museum of Transylvanian History, and we used their UV lamp and special glasses. At the same time, through the expertise of Dr. Miu Lucretia from the National Research-Development Institute for Textiles and Leather, we have learned that the parchment was made of sheepskin, and has been well preserved, considering its age.

45th International Congress for the History of Pharmacy

September 19, 2022

In September 7-10 we attended the works of the 45th International Congress for the History of Pharmacy organized in Milan by the International Society for the History of Pharmacy. The 2022 edition was entitled ”Health, Beauty and Well-being in the History of Pharmaceutical Art”, but the presentations and posters covered a wide array of sub-topics. Dr. Ana-Maria Gruia has presented the PHARMATRANS project and its results so far, has taken part in other presentations, has viewed and documented the scientific posters and has become acquainted with representatives of significant pharmacy-related institutions in Europe, especially from the German-speaking areas. The most promising collaboration is that with members of a Polish research team led by Dr. Jakub Węglorz from the Historical Institute of Wrocław. Based on the preliminary discussions, we will also send materia medica samples to Poland for analysis, at the Department of Pharmacognosy and Herbal Medicines of the Wroclaw Medical University. These investigations might provide complementary data due to the use of a different analysis technique, focusing on non-volatile compounds, and a database with raw pharmaceutical substances.

Paper analysis

August 30, 2022

The analysis of the paper components of the Baroque medicine chest in our collection includes determining the nature of the paper, its pH, and the quantity of glue employed. Already performed investigations have attested the presence of colored fibres, thus demonstrating that this is historical rag paper produced by hand. This type was made of imperfectly bleached textile materials, a technique in use until the 18th century, thus confirming the dating of the chest. The analysis of paper pH has not led to relevant results, as some samples were basic and other acidic, but this may be explained by the interaction of the paper covers with the medical preparations and the specific preservation conditions. Dr. Magó Andrea Beatrix has recently checked the type of paper glue. This test reveals the excessive, normal, weak or absent quantity of glue in the paper based on the absorption of a micro water drop during a set interval. The absorption times differed considerably, pointing again to the possible changes in the paper covers due to the interaction with the contents of the containers, or the possible use of different types of paper when such covers were replaced (the change in content required the change of cover, as it required new inscriptions).

Inscriptions under UV light

August 3, 2022

Some of the inscriptions on artifacts in our collection have faded and are only partially visible with the naked eye, especially those written in ink on absorbent surfaces such as wood or cardboard. In order to read such inscriptions we have inspected them under UV light, with special eye glasses. We were thus able to see a couple of more letters, which sometimes makes the difference between deciphering a text through completion or recording it as illegible. Our colleague Maria Pakucs fought with the Latin, German and Hungarian inscriptions on the eighteenth-century medicine chest and on the covers of several pharmaceutical ledgers in the collection.

Microscopic investigations

July 27, 2022

The investigations are ongoing through our Pharmatrans project. Dr. Magó Andrea Beatrix, chemistry researcher at the Restoration and Investigations Department of the National Museum of Transylvanian History, has performed microscopic analyses under transmitted, reflected, and polarized light on several textile, paper, thread and materia medica samples from the 18th century medicine chest in the collection of the museum. Though microscopy does not always clarify the structure of apothecary preparations (especially powders), it does confirm in some cases that the preserved contents match the historical inscriptions (the structure of the mustard seeds is very clear, for example). Dr. Magó has also discovered that the paper employed as cover for the containers was handmade, our of vegetal fibres (was made out of rags (old clothes were recycled, shredded and made into a paste, leaving colored microfibres in the structure of the paper). The investigations have also stressed the structure of the thread used for securing the paper covers (made of twisted fibers). The investigations were performed using an OLYMPUS CX33 microscope and a polarizing NIKON-OPTIPHOT2-POL microscope (working condition with one Nicol and cross Nicol).

XRF analyses

July 13, 2022

The series of investigations planned through our project continues with a number of non-invasive XRF (X-ray fluorescence) tests performed with a portable EDXRF spectometer Elva X Prospector3 MAX with energy dispersive SDD detector in collaboration with SC UNION SRL Cluj-Napoca. The tests have led to the identification of the metal alloys used for several components of the 18th-century apothecary chest in the History of Pharmacy Collection. We have thus discovered that the key and rivets of the chest were made of an alloy rich in iron, the other metal components are made of copper and tin, while the screw caps of the glass containers are made of lead (toxic, but soft and easy to process). We are happy with the results and have started processing them for a specialized study targeting this valuable apothecary chest.

Specialized investigations

June 8, 2022

In the beginning of June 2022, project team members and collaborators have met to decide upon the types of investigations that are required and that can lead to the best results in the research of the apothecary containers that still preserve some content in our collection. The analyses will mainly focus on the 18th-century medicine chest and its components, but will also include some of the more than 100 other containers and materia medica samples, certainly the mummy fragments and a bottle for Theriaca. The team has taken the following decisions: a set of investigations will be performed by Dr. Magó Andrea Beatrix at the Conservation and Restoration Laboratory of the National Museum of Transylvanian History (material determinations for textile fibers, paper and materia medica); XRF and SEM-EDX investigations of anorganic materials (glass, metal) and materia medica will be contracted to the National Institute of Research and Development for Izotopic and Molecular Technologies in Cluj-Napoca, in collaboration with the Faculty of Chemistry; and 10 samples of organic materia medica (complex 18th century preparations) will be sent to the Analytical Chemistry Center of the University in Pisa for chromatography and mass spectometry.

We thank our collaborators, Dr. Márta Guttmann, Dr. Magó Andrea Beatrix, and Drd. Grapini Sabin-Pompei.

Conservation analysis

April 19, 2022

Dr. Márta Guttmann and Ioana Cova, the conservation specialists involved in our project, have recently assessed the 18th-century apothecary chest that will provide most of our materia medica samples for analysis. On that occasion they have established the appropriate methods to proceed without damaging the containers and their covers and which sample to send to chemical analysis laboratories in Cluj and which in Pisa. Our specialists have also managed to open compartments previously stuck, thus revealing the absence of several paper envelopes for materia medica visible in a 1918 published photograph of the artifact (r. Orient Gyula, Az Erdélyi Nemzeti Múzeum keretében felállított gyógyszerészeti múzeum, în Dolgozatok az Erdélyi Nemzeti Múzeum érem- és régiségtárából. IX, 1918, p. 260, fig. 37).

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Category: Research