Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)

Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts (Guide for the Exhibition)

pharmacists had to pass an examination conducted by a physician (a municipal or a county medical officer) and from 1774 onwards pharmacies could be run only by apothecarians who had passed this examination. The Generale Normativųñ issued in 1770 brought about a complete change in the training of apothecarians. They had to attend first a three months' course and from 1774 onwards a one year course at the University of Nagyszombat (today Trnava in Czechoslovakia). The loose, seemingly non-compulsory training until the middle of the 18th century proved useful in practice, since the pharmacies in the towns were run partly by physicians and partly by apothecarians. E.G. the Pharmacy in Kecskemét opened in 1748 and was run by György Vág hi, a physician and Antal Falt, an apothecarian. In the cabinet fixed to the full-size photograph of a painted Hungarian baroque medicine-cabinet from the middle of the 18th century - now in the possession of the József Katona Museum in Kecskemét - there are pharmacy vessels made of earthen-ware, faience, glass and wood (Fig. 26.). Among the earthen-wares two pots, the products of peasant pottery are of special interest: two ointment containers in the form of jars. Among the faience works mention should be made of the jars of white glaze from the famous Holies faience factory. As for the glasses, the most precious objects are the green, square-shaped flasks from the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century, the oblong, angular powder-containing jars in baroque style from the beginning of the 18th century bearing double inscriptions (alchemists' symbols and Latin names); and finally the cylindrical goblet form jars of blown glass with floral decoration from the middle of the 18th century. Mention should be made furthermore of the pedestalled pear-shaped double vessel blown of almost black, dirty glass at the beginning of the 18th century. It may be interesting to learn that a number of our jars are still containing the original drug which was once put into it. 4. An Alchemist's shop Passing by the portrait of Dávid Spielenberg (1627-1684) painted by an unknown master, we enter the great exhibition hall. The enlarged photo, a reproduction of David Teniers' (1610-1690) genre painting representing the apprentice watching his master in the alchemist's shop, serves as a background recreating the atmospheres. (Fig. 27.). The hanging stuffed animals, an alligator, a lizzard with testaceous tale and a sea urchin have the same function (Fig. 28.). Superstitous belief and mystical elements have survived for a while. The alchemists were seeking the philosophers' stone and the secret of gold making. Some laboratory instruments are to be seen here referring to this subject: e. g. a large retort made of fired clay standing on a tripod; windbag (pair of