From:Florence Nightingale Museum
Name/TitleSt. Thomas' Hospital Pharmacopoeia and Vade Mecum
About this objectSt. Thomas' Hospital Pharmacopoeia and Vade Mecum.
This object is not on display.
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A pharmacopeia is used to provide a list of medical drugs with their effects and directions for their use. Experts in the professions of medicine, chemistry, and pharmacy at the request of the agency undertaking the complication carry out the task of compiling most pharmacopoeias [Ref1]. Prescriptions in regular use form the bulk of the formulae in the pharmacopeia: they list the medicinal substances, drugs and formulae needed to prepare various treatments for common ailments [Ref2]. The oldest known pharmacopeia to be written is a collection of medical formulas used by physicians of Egypt around 1500 BC [Ref3]. Descriptive catalogues of drugs claimed to be to be useful in the practice of medicine have been complied throughout time and a biography of them published in Germany in 1784 includes names such as Celsus, Pliny, Galen, Dioscorides, Avicenna and Paracelsus [Ref4]. However the title ‘pharmacopeia’ s said to have been applied for the first time in book published in Basel in 1561. In England the importance of ensuring the purity of drugs was first recognized in 1518 [Ref4]. The first ‘London Pharmacopeia’ was first published in 1618 and included no fewer than 1028 drugs and 932 compounds3. In 1858 the ‘British Pharmacopeia’ was created and compiled from 3 existing pharmacopeias from London, Edinburgh and Dublin [Ref5].
This object is a hospital pharmacopeia book that was compiled by J.B. Harman and R.S. Stacey in 1957, as a handbook to be kept for consultation. In the books title the words ‘Vade Mecum’ appear, this literally means a handbook or guide that is kept constantly at hand for consultation. Hospital pharmacopeias were regularly updated, small enough to fit into a pocket, and the information was condensed, often there was even space for the owner to add their own notes. One of the reasons St. Thomas’s and other hospitals would have their own pharmacopeia was because it saved time and money [Ref2].
Ref1 - https://www.britannica.com/science/pharmacopoeia
Ref2 - https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/hospital-pharmacopoeias/
Ref3 - https://www.jstor.org/stable/26651650
Ref4 - https://www.jstor.org/stable/25385713
Ref5 - https://www.biopharminternational.com/view/brief-history-pharmacopoeias-global-perspective-2
Object research undertaken by Shona Bartlett, Digital Research Volunteer 2022.
MakerJ. B. Harman ; R. S. Stacey
Maker RoleAuthor
Date Made1957
Period20th Century
Place MadeThanet, United Kingdom
Medium and MaterialsPaper
Measurements8.5 x 13.4cm
Object TypeBook
Object number1312
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved