The pharmacies of the sea. Inventories of boticas embarked on the race to Indias

Abstract

With the beginning of the Renaissance, an awakening occurred in European society experiencing changes in personal growth and way of life along with scientific concerns that translate into the search for new territories, as in this case: the Colonization of America. This was a botanical revolution with the introduction of new plants, drugs and drugs to the therapeutics of the diseases of Spain of the sixteenth century, which followed until then a pharmacotherapy based on Galenism, completed with the remedies of Paracelsus and the oriental world, which is verifiable in the inventories analyzed. These inventories include, in addition to the simple and compounds used, what we would now call medical equipment such as clisters and urinals, being helpful to glimpse the applications of therapies and drugs. On the other hand, we can observe the presence of drugs of American origin such as Indian rhubarb, cane and dragon tree. The different expeditions are in a historical framework with the same common denominator, the search for spices and gold, trade, although we also include the installation of an official pharmacy in Puerto Rico. The inventories analyzed of the remedies embarked on the fleets on these voyages are: the inventory of the expedition of Juan de Aguado of 1495, the expedition of Pedrarias Dávila in 1513, the inventory of Fray Luis de Figueroa in 1516, the inventory of Hernando de Torres in 1512 and, finally, the inventory of the remedies embarked on the expedition of Magellan – Elcano. All of great interest, the importance of the first round the world puts in value that inventory. For its part, the institutionalization of pharmacies in America began with the Sevillian apothecary Hernando de Torres and his arrival in Puerto Rico in 1512, this inventory included classic instruments of pharmaceutical art such as mortars and scales, spices and varied medicines in pharmaceutical forms such as ointments and syrups. Keywords: America; inventory; apothecaries; Indies