Making Medicines in Early Colonial Lima, Peru

Apothecaries, Science and Society
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-90-04-35063-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 34, 348 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 703 g

Reihe: The Atlantic World

Based on extensive archival research in Peru, Spain, and Italy, Making Medicines in Early Colonial Lima, Peru examines how apothecaries in Lima were trained, ran their businesses, traded medicinal products, prepared medicines, and found their place in society. In the book, Newson argues that apothecaries had the potential to be innovators in science, especially in the New World where they encountered new environments and diverse healing traditions. However, it shows that despite experimental tendencies among some apothecaries, they generally adhered to traditional humoral practices and imported materia medica from Spain rather than adopt native plants or exploit the region’s rich mineral resources. This adherence was not due to state regulation, but reflected the entrenchment of humoral beliefs in popular thought and their promotion by the Church and Inquisition.

Autoren/Hrsg.

A Newson, Linda

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Medizin | Veterinärmedizin Medizin | Public Health | Pharmazie | Zahnmedizin Medizin, Gesundheitswesen Geschichte der Medizin
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Abbreviations

1 Medicines: Empire, Science and Society
Medicine and Empire
Practices of Medicine
Medicine and Science
Practitioners of Medicine
Prospectus

2 Learning to Make Medicines
Makers of Medicines
Education and Practical Training
Apothecaries from Spain
University Medical Education
Preparatory Schooling
Educational Opportunities for Non-Elites
On the Job Training
Examinations and Licences
Female Medical Learning
Conclusion

3 The Medicines Business
Acquiring a Botica
The Premises
Employing Pharmacy Workers
Indian Forced Labourers
Black Pharmacy Workers
Running a Pharmacy
Conclusion

4 Trading Medicines and Materia Medica
Organisation of the Transatlantic Trade
Apothecaries, Pepperers and Spicers
The Transatlantic Trade in Materia Medica
The Intercolonial Trade in Materia Medica
Acquiring Materia Medica Locally
Conclusion

5 Selecting Materia Medica
Humoralism
Scholarly Scientific Explorations
Paracelsianism
Maintaining Medical Orthodoxy
The Regulation of Pharmacies
The Impact of the Counter Reformation and Inquisition
The Circulation of Medical Texts
Conclusion

6 Making Medicines
Types of Medicines
Preparing Medicines
Pharmacy Methods and Equipment
Categories of Medicines
Using Purgatives and Emetics
Using Native Plants
A Few Experiments
Explaining the Failure to Adopt Native Botanical Materia Medica
A Medical Marketplace?
Using Minerals and Chemicals
Conclusion

7 The Social World of Apothecaries
The Status of the Medical Profession
The Middling Professional Status of the Apothecary
Criticisms of the Medical Profession
The Christian Calling of an Apothecary
Projecting Professionalism
Conclusion

8 Persistent Practices
Accounting for the Prevalence of Humoral Medicine
Accounting for the Slow Adoption of Experimental Methods

Part 2: Appendices
Appendix A Books Shipped from Spain by the Apothecary Juan Sánchez in 1591
Appendix B List of Materia Medica Found in Pharmacies in Spain and Lima
Appendix C Books Shipped from Spain to Doctor Melchor de Amusco in Nombre de Dios, 1584

Glossary
Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Linda A. Newson, PhD (1971) in Geography, University College London, is Director of the Institute of Latin Americana Studies, University of London. She is author of six monographs and two edited volumes, including (with Susie Minchin) From Capture to Sale: The Portuguese Slave Trade to Spanish South America in the Early Seventeenth Century (Brill, 2009).