Materia Medica
An excellent teaching aid
From Mr A. T. Kendall, MRPharmS
I was intrigued at the interest shown at the discovery of a 1920s Materia
Medica cabinet (PJ, 5 October, p473). The Times (30 September, p6) had
a half page article with the headline “1920s herb chest could benefit
modern medicine” and the assistant curator of economic botany at
Kew gardens was quoted as saying that she did not know much about how
the collection was used. Your caption to the photograph says “it
was used to teach pharmacists and doctors how to prepare herbal remedies”.
In ‘The story of Evans medical 1909–62’, a book issued
to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the company, it is said that they
made hundreds of Materia Medica cabinets in the 19th century, and I am
sure that this continued into the 20th century. Their purpose was to enable
pharmacy students to recognise and identify British Pharmacopoeia drugs.
When I started my pharmacy career in 1936 they were still being made
but when I applied for one in 1940 they were no longer available. However,
Evans Sons Lescher & Webb of Liverpool did send me a representative
sample of BP drugs in envelopes labelled with their name, source, natural
order and habitat. They were an excellent teaching aid for home use.
Alan T. Kendall
Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland
|
