The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7282 p69
17 January 2004

Society summary

Museum's latest information sheet looks at pharmaceutical symbols

Pharmaceutical and medical symbols are the subject of the latest information sheet published by the museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in its series illustrating the history of the preparation of medicines.

The staff of Aesculapius as it appears on the Society’s arms

The new publication, written by museum staff, looks at the background to eight symbols. Half the symbols include snakes: they are the staff of Aesculapius with the serpent of Epidaurus coiled round it (as seen on the Society’s arms), the bowl of Hygeia with the same snake coiled round it, the Caduceus, which is the winged staff of Hermes with two snakes entwined round it, and a palm tree with a serpent coiled round it (as used by French and Portuguese pharmacy bodies). The remaining four symbols are the green cross, the mortar and pestle, the carboy and the “Rx” or “recipe” sign.

The 12 previous information sheets, all written by Peter Homan, FRPharmS, cover “Drug preparation and extraction”, “Secundum artem: the skill of the apothecary and pharmacist”, “Liquid medicines and medicine bottles”, “Lozenges and pastilles”, “Suppositories, pessaries and bougies”, “Ointments, creams and plasters”, “Pills and pill-making”, “Powders and cachets”, “Capsules and tablets”, “Patent and brand name medicines”, “Balances, weights and measures” and “Dispensary bottles”. The illustrations are based on images available as postcards from the museum.

Like the earlier sheets, “Pharmaceutical symbols” can be downloaded as a PDF file from the museum section of the Society’s website. Copies of the double-sided, A4-sized sheets are also available by post. Requests should be telephoned to 020 7572 2210 or e-mailed to museum@rpsgb.org. Also available (but not part of this series) are information sheets explaining the Society’s motto and its coat of arms.

Briony Hudson, the keeper of the Society’s museum collections, said that the information sheets had proved extremely popular, with their section of the website being visited more than 1,500 times a month. She added: “We have found that they are an excellent way for people to access information about the history of pharmacy, and we plan to continue to add to this resource.”