Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 18-19. (Budapest, 2000)
Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts - Guide to the Exhibition
powdcr-pot manufactured in Trapani about 1630 is dccoratcd with acantus-lcaves design on a blue background (No. 16). Two jugs complete the collection presented in the show-case: the first one derives from the workshop of Levantino of Albissola (Savona) from the 17th century (No. 15), whereas the other one was a product of the Pescetto workshop in the same town a century later (No. 11). There stand beside the glass case a Louis Seize cabinet of double door, inlaid with walnut wood from the 'Saracen ' pharmacy in Pees founded in 1692. 2. Mementos of the plague epidemics Although did not belong to pharmaceutical history proper, the fightings against epidemics contributed to the development of medicine. The painting, by a follower of Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747), made about 1700, reminds us the plagues of the 17-18th centuries. It shows Saint Rochus, defender of the pestilcntials, treating infected people. The dark background stands in a strong contrast with the lights of the front giving a dramatic expression of the terrible epidcmic which threatened the mere existence of so many European cities. The saint standing in a dark suit in the middle of a crowd is about to aspirate the wound of a sick. There is another strong contrast on the right side, where a pale young mother holds a dead baby on her breast. The background depicts a scene from the Old Testament: King David is offering a sacrifice for the recovery of pestilcntials. Next to the oil painting there is a painted wood-statue of St. Rochus. The saint, who is guarded by his typical escort a faithful dog, points to the wounds of a sick. 3. Pharmaceutics in Hungary in the 17th and 18th centuries In 16th and 17th ccntury Hungary there was no parliamentary regulation of pharmacy matters. This respectable profession was regarded an ars libera (free trade) and was not brought under the control of the guilds. The liccncc for setting up a pharmacy was considered a jus municipale (municipal right) and only the royal decree of 1759 introduced the principle that the grant of liccncc for opening a pharmacy belongs to the jus regale (royal right). Pharmacists were trained in apothecaries, their certificates were issued by the owner of the shop and this was sufficient for starting to run a pharmacy on their own. In 1753, however, a dccrce was issued which introduced a compulsory examination for pharmacist conducted by a municipal or a county mcdical officcr and sincc 1774 pharmacies may have been run only by those who had passed this examination. The Generale Normativųñ issued in 1770 brought about a complete change in the training of pharmacists. They had to attend a three months' university course, which was extended 45
