Description
Book SynopsisBased on extensive archival research in Peru, Spain, and Italy, Making Medicines in Early Colonial Lima, Peru examines how apothecaries in Lima were trained, ran their businesses, traded medicinal products, prepared medicines, and found their place in society. In the book, Newson argues that apothecaries had the potential to be innovators in science, especially in the New World where they encountered new environments and diverse healing traditions. However, it shows that despite experimental tendencies among some apothecaries, they generally adhered to traditional humoral practices and imported materia medica from Spain rather than adopt native plants or exploit the region’s rich mineral resources. This adherence was not due to state regulation, but reflected the entrenchment of humoral beliefs in popular thought and their promotion by the Church and Inquisition.
Trade Review"Thanks to Making Medicines, scholars can now approach such issues with far greater clarity and specificity than they could have otherwise. The book will be a key point of reference for future studies not only on the Viceroyalty of Peru but in colonial Latin America." - Hugh Cagle, in: Journal of Latin American Studies 51:1 (2019): 233-235 "This rich social history promises to make Spanish colonial pharmacies both comprehensible and engaging. Students of history, science, technology, and medicine will appreciate its premodern perspective and the complex layers connecting religion, society, and medical practice. This book is not only at the forefront of histories investigating medicine and society in colonial Latin America, but it is also a model in the balance of archival work, analysis, and accessible prose." - Kathleen Kole de Peralta, in: The Americas, 76:1 (2019): 171-173 "[E]n mi opinión, Making Medicines in Early Colonial Lima es una contribución indispensable que nos permite profundizar sobre la relación entre el poder y el saber; entre dominio de larga distancia y poderes locales. Una contribución que nos convoca a emprender nuevos estudios comparativos entre Perú y la Nueva España que nos ayuden a revelar por qué, a pesar de que ambos territorios se rigieron por la misma cultura jurídica española, construyeron culturas médicas distintas, pero, sobre todo, reconocer que en los espacios coloniales se verificaron diversas culturas médicas que mantuvieron intercambios permanentes, aunque esta diversidad no siempre resulte obvia o visible a través de la documentación." - Angélica Morales Sarabia, in: Dynamis, 39:1 (2019): 235-266
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Illustrations Abbreviations 1 Medicines: Empire, Science and Society Medicine and Empire Practices of Medicine Medicine and Science Practitioners of Medicine Prospectus 2 Learning to Make Medicines Makers of Medicines Education and Practical Training Apothecaries from Spain University Medical Education Preparatory Schooling Educational Opportunities for Non-Elites On the Job Training Examinations and Licences Female Medical Learning Conclusion 3 The Medicines Business Acquiring a Botica The Premises Employing Pharmacy Workers Indian Forced Labourers Black Pharmacy Workers Running a Pharmacy Conclusion 4 Trading Medicines and Materia Medica Organisation of the Transatlantic Trade Apothecaries, Pepperers and Spicers The Transatlantic Trade in Materia Medica The Intercolonial Trade in Materia Medica Acquiring Materia Medica Locally Conclusion 5 Selecting Materia Medica Humoralism Scholarly Scientific Explorations Paracelsianism Maintaining Medical Orthodoxy The Regulation of Pharmacies The Impact of the Counter Reformation and Inquisition The Circulation of Medical Texts Conclusion 6 Making Medicines Types of Medicines Preparing Medicines Pharmacy Methods and Equipment Categories of Medicines Using Purgatives and Emetics Using Native Plants A Few Experiments Explaining the Failure to Adopt Native Botanical Materia Medica A Medical Marketplace? Using Minerals and Chemicals Conclusion 7 The Social World of Apothecaries The Status of the Medical Profession The Middling Professional Status of the Apothecary Criticisms of the Medical Profession The Christian Calling of an Apothecary Projecting Professionalism Conclusion 8 Persistent Practices Accounting for the Prevalence of Humoral Medicine Accounting for the Slow Adoption of Experimental Methods Part 2: Appendices Appendix A Books Shipped from Spain by the Apothecary Juan Sánchez in 1591 Appendix B List of Materia Medica Found in Pharmacies in Spain and Lima Appendix C Books Shipped from Spain to Doctor Melchor de Amusco in Nombre de Dios, 1584 Glossary Bibliography
