A Tour of a Victorian Pharmacy Quiz

Answer: None whatsoever

In Victorian times the majority of pharmacists, chemists and druggists (take your pick of what to call them as there was no official term for the profession prior to 1868) were highly skilled people with knowledge of how to prepare and dispense a wide range of drugs and treatments. This knowledge would likely have been gained 'on the job' through an apprenticeship system or by attending a training school such as the one run by the Pharmaceutical Society.

However, not all people trading as pharmacists actually had any training in the subject. There was no legal requirement for pharmacists to be officially qualified and nothing to prevent anybody just setting up shop and selling dangerous medications and poisons to the unsuspecting public. The Pharmacy Act, 1868 changed this by requiring people to pass examinations and register with the Pharmaceutical Society in order to qualify as a pharmacist. The Act also restricted the right to sell certain drugs and poisons to registered pharmacists.

Answer: Leeches

The leech is a type of segmented worm, but only specific species are used for medicinal purposes, most commonly the aptly named Hirudo medicinalis. Bloodletting using leeches was a popular medical technique for over 2,000 years, with records showing it was used by both the ancient Egyptians and Greeks.

Bloodletting was prescribed when doctors or physicians believed that the patient was suffering from an 'imbalance of the humours'. As one of the four humours was blood it was believed that bloodletting would improve their condition. Needless to say, in most cases this treatment would have had little beneficial effect and may well have been harmful to the patient.

Bloodletting gradually fell out of use in the later Victorian period as evidence began to mount up against it. Surprisingly, leeches are still used in modern medicine - although for the purpose of stimulating blood flow and the therapeutic effect of the hirudin (anti-coagulant) in leech saliva!

Answer: Arsenic

Arsenic was a widely available substance in Victorian Britain, used in pigments, agricultural products and even medicines. The dangers of arsenic were not unknown as it was a well-known poison recorded as the cause of death in many murder cases.

The Arsenic Act of 1851 was introduced to address public concerns about the number of deaths occurring due to both accidental and deliberate arsenic poisoning. It succeeded in making the sale of arsenic more traceable, but was severely limited by the fact it did not place any restrictions on who was allowed to sell it.

The incorrect answers were all poisons first subjected to controls under the terms of the Pharmacy Act, 1868.

Answer: Opium

Laudanum is a former term for any medicine including opium as its main active ingredient, but was also used to particularly refer to an alcoholic solution containing morphine. Laudanum actually contained both codeine and morphine making it an excellent but highly addictive painkiller. It is now more generally known as 'tincture of opium' and has extremely limited uses in modern medication, one of which is treating babies born to heroin addicted mothers.

The fact it was a commonly prescribed cure-all in the 19th century meant that many people ended up addicted to the drug, including well-known names such as the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the US First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln.

Answer: Refrigerator

Although refrigeration technology was being developed during the Victorian era, a modern style refrigerator would not have been part of the equipment of a Victorian pharmacy. Medicines were stored in glass bottles, ceramic storage jars, wooden boxes or drawers. The bottles and jars would often be intricately decorated as they were positioned behind the counter, or in the window of the shop, to act as advertisements for the products they contained. Many of these items are now highly collectible antiques.

The incorrect options were all key tools of the trade for a Victorian pharmacist.

Answer: True

The first compulsory register of pharmacists in Britain, taken in 1869 following the Pharmacy Act of the previous year, included a total of 223 women. Therefore it was perfectly likely that patients could have come across a female pharmacist in the Victorian era, although the 223 women accounted for only 1.9% of the total number of people registered.

From 1869 women were entitled to (and did) take the Pharmaceutical Society's examinations and become qualified pharmacists. However, they were denied the right to actually join the society or have any role in shaping their profession until 1879 when increasing pressure led the society to change its rules.

Answer: Maceration

Maceration was a form of extraction process for separating the medicinal active ingredients of a drug from their source material. It involved dissolving the material in a liquid solvent (otherwise known as the menstruum) such as water or alcohol for a lengthy period of time (often at least a week), before straining, pressing and clarifying to obtain the final drug. Other common extraction techniques employed by Victorian pharmacists include decoction, infusion and percolation.

Mastication is the act of chewing, alimentation is the process of providing nutrition to the body, and pertussis is another name for whooping cough.

Answer: Suppositories

Suppositories are a method of applying drugs directly to the rectum, vagina or urethra from where they can be absorbed into the bloodstream. In Victorian times they were manufactured directly by pharmacists using a base made of a mixture of oils and fats into which the drugs could be mixed. After heating, the mixture was then poured into a mould to produce the distinctive 'bullet' shaped design.

Pharmacists in the 19th century also manufactured lozenges, cachets and capsules but these are all oral forms of medication.

Answer: Talcum powder

Modern 'pills' prescribed today can actually be more accurately described as 'tablets'. Victorian pills were small and spherical and required significant skill from the pharmacist in order to produce them correctly, both in terms of dosage and appearance.

The coating of talcum powder was a purely decorative feature designed to improve the appearance of the final product. Other, more lavish, finishes included varnishing the pills or even coating them with gold or silver!

Gypsum is ranked 2 on the Mohs scale and is commonly used in plaster and fertilisers. Calcite is ranked 3 on the Mohs scale and chalk is a form of calcite (calcium carbonate).

Answer: True

Victorian pharmacists had a much wider range of products and services than you might expect to find in a modern day store. They were often perfumers, selling both their own and branded perfumes as well as providing dental services. In particular, in the late 19th century pharmacies also began to act as opticians, conducting basic eye tests (which would have used the well known 'Snellen' letter chart with its rows of differently sized letters) and selling spectacles.

Some Victorian pharmacists were also inventors. For example, Alfred Bird, famed for his invention of egg-free custard, was a qualified chemist and druggist who first traded in Birmingham during the early Victorian period.