Pharmacopoeias

As Edward Worth (1676–1733), was a physician it is not surprising that his Library contains a wealth of books of medical, pharmaceutical and ‘chymical’ interest. The Worth Library has an extensive collection of pharmacopoeias, many of which he no doubt used in his practice. The word pharmacopoeia is derived from the Greek Pharmacon (a remedy) and poiein (to make). The term was first used by Jacques du Bois (Sylvius, 1478–1555) in his Pharmacopoeia libri tres printed in Lyon in 1548, and was subsequently used as a general title for a formulary.

Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos, Opera quae extant omnia ex nova interpretatione Iani-Antonii Saraceni, Lugdunæi, Medici … (Frankfurt, 1598), Sig. ):( v, portrait.

Formularies of medicinal substances have existed in Europe from the time of the Greeks. Among the best known is De materia medica by the first-century Greek physician/botanist/pharmacologist Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos, which dates from 50–70 AD. This work was widely read for more than 1500 years, and Worth owned both a 1499 Venetian edition, Pedakiou Dioskoridou … peri hules iatrikēs logoi hex. Eti peri iobolon … Nikandrou tou kolophoniou … Theriaka. meta scholion. Tou autou alexipharmaka (Venice, 1499), which was a product of the famous Aldine press, and a later bi-lingual 1598 Frankfurt edition, which contains this fanciful portrait of Dioscorides.

Collegium Medicum of Brandenburg, Dispensatorium Brandenburgicum, seu, Norma, juxta quam in provinciis … Brandenburgici, medicamenta officinis familaria dispensanda ac praeparanda sunt … à … Collegio Medico (Berlin, 1698), title page.

Before the designation ‘Pharmacopeia’ came into use the term frequently used for a book of formulae with directions for making pharmaceutical preparations, was a ‘Dispensatorium’ (or Dispensatory). This title is used in a number of Worth’s pharmacopeias dating from the seventeenth century. His earliest example was Valerius Cordus’ Dispensatorium; sive, Pharmacorum conficiendorum ratio. Cum Petri Coudenbergii, & Matthiae Lobelii scholiis, emendationibus, & auctariis. Accessit hac editione, praeter Guilielmi Rondeletii De theriaca tractatum, emendatiorem; & Formulas selectiorum pharmacorum, quorum post Val. Cordum usus passim receptus est, auctiores: alius Fr. Dissaldei ejusdem argumenti libellus; & novissime alia nonnulla hactenus nondum edita calci libri adjecta sunt (Leiden, 1652), a seminal text which had originally been printed at Nuremberg in 1546 and which Worth owned in a 1652 Leiden edition. To this he added the Dispensatorium Galeno chymicum: continens primo Ioannis Renodaei Institutionum pharmoceuticarum [sic] lib. V. De materia medica lib. III et Antidotarium varium et absolutissimum: secundo Iosephi Quercetani Pharmacopoeam dogmaticorum restitutam per Petrum Vffenbachium … (Hanover, 1631), edited by Jean de Renou (1568–c. 1620), Peter Uffenbach (1566–1635) and Joseph Du Chesne (c. 1544–1609). His copy of the Dispensatorium Brandenburgicum, seu, Norma, juxta quam in provinciis … Brandenburgici, medicamenta officinis familaria dispensanda ac praeparanda sunt … à … Collegio Medico (Berlin, 1698), appeared in print sixty-seven years later. While Cordus’ Dispensatorium was probably the most famous of this group, Worth’s most controversial ‘dispensatory’ was undoubtedly his copy of Nicholas Culpeper’s Pharmacopeia Londinensis; or, The London dispensatory further adorned (London, 1683). Originally printed in 1653, Worth inherited his 1683 edition from his father, John Worth (1648–88), and this text is explored in the Apothecaries page of this exhibition.

Collegium Medicum of Regensburg, Pretium medicamentorum simplicium & compositorum, in officinis pharmaceuticis Ratibonensibus venalium (Regensburg, 1727), title page.

Since the early eighteenth century, the designation ‘Pharmacopoeia’ is mostly restricted to treatises issued by government authorities and Worth owned a range of these. His first official English ‘pharmacopoeia’ was produced by the Royal College of Physicians of London: Pharmacopoeia Londinensis Collegarum, hodie viventium studiis ac symbolis ornatior (London, 1668), and to this he added the College’s subsequent revisions in 1699 and 1721: Pharmacopoeiæ Collegii Regalis Londini remedia omnia succinctè descripta: unà cum catalogo simplicium ordine alphabetico digestorum: quibus annexum est manuale ad forum: nec-non pinax posographicus. Editio tertia prioribus emendatior & auctior. Huic insuper adjiciuntur pharmaca nonulla in usu hodierno apud medicos Londinenses. Accessit item in calce prosodia medica observatu non indigna (London, 1699), and Pharmacopoeia Collegii Regalis Medicorum Londinensis (London, 1721). A year later the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh issued their own pharmacopoeia – which Worth duly bought: Pharmacopoeia Collegii Regii Medicorum Edinburgensis (Edinburgh, 1722).

Nor were all Worth’s pharmacopoeias British centered, for he also purchased the Conspectus materiae medicae selectioris. Quo eliminatis plurimam partem obsoletis, medicamenta usitatiora, tam simplicia, cum recta eorundem praeparatione, quam composita, cum concinnis formulis, serie alphabetica, exhibentur, et communis normae instar, pharmacopolis Ratibonensibus iussu et auctoritate illustris senatus cura et opera Collegi Medici praescriptus et adornatus (Regensburg, 1727), produced by the Collegium Medicum of Regensburg. Worth bought this last book from the 1730 auction of the library of Samuel Huls (d. 1734), and bound with it was another publication of the Regensburg Medical College, a book outlining prices of medicines. From the same sale Worth acquired a text on prices of pharmaceuticals in Brandenburg: Taxa seu Pretium omnium officinis marchiae usualium medicamentorum, iussu … Electoralis Brandenburgicae statutum (Berlin, 1698), which was bound in with his aforementioned copy of the Dispensatorium Brandenburgicum, seu, Norma, juxta quam in provinciis … Brandenburgici, medicamenta officinis familaria dispensanda ac praeparanda sunt … à … Collegio Medico (Berlin, 1698).

Valerius Cordus, Dispensatorium; sive, Pharmacorum conficiendorum ratio. Cum Petri Coudenbergii, & Matthiae Lobelii scholiis, emendationibus, & auctariis. Accessit hac editione, praeter Guilielmi Rondeletii De theriaca tractatum, emendatiorem; & Formulas selectiorum pharmacorum, quorum post Val. Cordum usus passim receptus est, auctiores: alius Fr. Dissaldei ejusdem argumenti libellus; & novissime alia nonnulla hactenus nondum edita calci libri adjecta sunt (Leiden, 1652), details from pp 385 and 395.

Among the most interesting of the pharmacopoeias contained in the Worth Collection is a copy of the Dispensatorium of Valerius Cordus (1515–44). It is considered the first official pharmacopoeia in Europe. The above image shows details of the furnace and distillation apparatus used at the time. Worth’s ownership of a Leiden edition perhaps reflects the fact that he had studied medicine in Leiden and graduated at Utrecht (MD 1701), before practicing medicine in Dublin. Thus, not surprisingly, pharmacopoeias from northern Europe are prominent in his collection. Notable among these are the official pharmacopoeias which included the early Amsterdam Pharmacopoeia of 1639, Pharmacopoea Amstelredamensis senatus auctoritate munita & recognita (Amsterdam, 1639), the three copies of the London Pharmacopoeia dating from 1668, 1699 and 1721, the Brandenburg Pharmacopoeia (1698), the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia (1722), the Regensburg Pharmacopoeia (1727) and the Paris Pharmacopoeia of 1732. These span a period of increased growth and availability of medicinal products. This availability resulted not just from developments in Europe but also from the new medicines imported from the Far East and the New World, with growing concerns for their authenticity and safety.

Royal College of Physicians of London, Pharmacopoeia Collegii Regalis Medicorum Londinensis (London, 1721), Sigs. (**)r-v.

Worth’s three pharmacopoeias emanating from the Royal College of Physicians of London demonstrate, in a very graphic form, the development of official pharmacopoeias over the period 1668 to 1721. The 1668 version of the London Pharmacopoeia is a small ‘pocketbook’ sized written in Latin. By 1721 the work had developed into a much larger folio containing the above proclamation from King George I (1660–1727), in English ‘commanding apothecaries to follow the Dispensatory lately compiled by the College of Physicians of London’, thereby giving legal authority to the pharmacopoeia. The London Pharmacopoeia eventually evolved into the British Pharmacopoeia in 1864, with the merger of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin pharmacopoeias.

Text: Professor Owen Corrigan, Fellow Emeritus, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, and Dr Elizabethanne Boran, Librarian of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin.

Sources

Collegium Medicum of Amsterdam, Pharmacopoea Amstelredamensis senatus auctoritate munita & recognita (Amsterdam, 1639).

Collegium Medicum of Brandenburg, Taxa seu Pretium omnium officinis marchiae usualium medicamentorum, iussu … Electoralis Brandenburgicae statutum (Berlin, 1698).

Collegium Medicum of Regensburg, Conspectus materiae medicae selectioris. Quo eliminatis plurimam partem obsoletis, medicamenta usitatiora, tam simplicia, cum recta eorundem praeparatione, quam composita, cum concinnis formulis, serie alphabetica, exhibentur, et communis normae instar, pharmacopolis Ratibonensibus iussu et auctoritate illustris senatus cura et opera Collegi Medici praescriptus et adornatus (Regensburg, 1727).

Collegium Medicum of Regensburg, Pretium medicamentorum simplicium & compositorum, in officinis pharmaceuticis Ratibonensibus venalium (Regensburg, 1727).

Cordus, Valerius, Dispensatorium; sive, Pharmacorum conficiendorum ratio. Cum Petri Coudenbergii, & Matthiae Lobelii scholiis, emendationibus, & auctariis. Accessit hac editione, praeter Guilielmi Rondeletii De theriaca tractatum, emendatiorem; & Formulas selectiorum pharmacorum, quorum post Val. Cordum usus passim receptus est, auctiores: alius Fr. Dissaldei ejusdem argumenti libellus; & novissime alia nonnulla hactenus nondum edita calci libri adjecta sunt (Leiden, 1652).

Corrigan, Owen I., A short history of pharmacy in Ireland (Carrigtwohill, 2023).

Culpeper, Nicholas, Pharmacopeia Londinensis; or, The London dispensatory further adorned (London, 1683).

Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos, Pedakiou Dioskoridou … peri hules iatrikēs logoi hex. Eti peri iobolon … Nikandrou tou kolophoniou … Theriaka. meta scholion. Tou autou alexipharmaka (Venice, 1499).

Dioscorides Pedanius, of Anazarbos, Opera quae extant omnia ex nova interpretatione Iani-Antonii Saraceni, Lugdunæi, Medici … (Frankfurt, 1598).

Renou, Jean de, et al., Dispensatorium Galeno chymicum: continens primo Ioannis Renodaei Institutionum pharmoceuticarum [sic] lib. V. De materia medica lib. III et Antidotarium varium et absolutissimum : secundo Iosephi Quercetani Pharmacopoeam dogmaticorum restitutam per Petrum Vffenbachium … (Hanover, 1631).

Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, Pharmacopoeia Collegii Regii Medicorum Edinburgensis (Edinburgh, 1722).

Royal College of Physicians of London, Pharmacopoeia Londinensis Collegarum, hodie viventium studiis ac symbolis ornatior (London, 1668).

Royal College of Physicians of London, Pharmacopoeiæ Collegii Regalis Londini remedia omnia succinctè descripta: unà cum catalogo simplicium ordine alphabetico digestorum: quibus annexum est manuale ad forum: nec-non pinax posographicus. Editio tertia prioribus emendatior & auctior. Huic insuper adjiciuntur pharmaca nonulla in usu hodierno apud medicos Londinenses. Accessit item in calce prosodia medica observatu non indigna (London, 1699).

Royal College of Physicians of London, Pharmacopoeia Collegii Regalis Medicorum Londinensis (London, 1721).