Social Features of Lithuanian Pharmacy in the 19thcentury and the first half of the 20th century

Pharmacies were not only places where drugs were produced and sold. Historical sources reveal that, at the beginning of the 19th century, pharmacy laboratories became the centers of medicinal research and new drug development. In the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, they also were meeting places for members of resistance against the Tsarist government. During these years of national revival, pharmacies served as shelters for the Lithuanian press and ethnic schools–both of which the Tsarist government prohibited. People who worked in the pharmacies, thus, often had much wider interests and higher aspirations than their direct duties demanded. This book analyzes the social activity of Lithuanian pharmacists and the changes in their community caused by new social conditions. It also surveys the growth in the number of pharmacies and changes in the availability of pharmaceutical services. The chronological range of this work includes the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The book compares the social peculiarities of Lithuanian pharmaceutical development during the period when Lithuania was part of the Russian Empire – from the beginning of 19th century until the World War I – with the practice of pharmacy during the interwar period when Lithuania became an independent state (1918–1940). The book consists of four parts. The first chapter describes the regulations that governed the establishment of pharmacies, the influence of the legal framework on pharmaceutical development, competition between pharmacies and drugstores, and some economic indicators that showed a gradual increase in the availability of pharmacists’ services. The second part of the book discusses the social activities of Lithuanian pharmacists. The ethnic origins of pharmacy owners and employees are examined in the third part of the book. The last – and fourth – chapter of th[...]

Lecturer at the University of Lithuania, pharmacist Benediktas Šiaulis (1887-1957) - Rockefeller foundation scholarship holder

Benediktas Šiaulis farmaciją studijavo Maskvoje ir apie 18 metų, nuo 1900 iki 1921 m., (su kelių metų pertrauka) mokėsi ir dirbo Rusijoje. Paskelbus Lietuvos nepriklausomybę, grįžo į Tėvynę. 1922 m. Kaune buvo įsteigtas Lietuvos universitetas (1930 m. pavadintas Vytauto Didžiojo universitetu), ir B. Šiaulis tapo šio universiteto Farmacijos ir farmakognozijos katedros asistentu. Universitetui trūko dėstytojų, patalpų, įrangos ir, žinoma, lėšų. Auginti dėstytojų kompetencijas padėjo Rokfelerio fondas (įkurtas JAV). Rokfelerio fondas skyrė stipendijas perspektyviems Europos medikams stažuotis užsienyje. Lietuvoje pirmaisiais Rokfelerio fondo stipendininkais tapo farmacininkas Benediktas Šiaulis ir chirurgas Vladas Kuzma. V. Kuzma studijavo Europoje, B. Šiaulis – JAV (1925–1926). Šešis mėnesius B. Šiaulis studijavo Bostone, Harvardo universitete, ir pusantrų metų – Klivlande, „Western Reserve“ universitete. Klivlande B. Šiaulio studijų vadovas buvo garsus farmakologijos profesorius Torald Sollmann (1874–1965). Profesorius vertino B. Šiaulio gabumus, darbštumą, vadino jį „mechanikos genijumi“ ir rekomendavo Rokfelerio fondui pratęsti ir finansuoti stažuotę dar vienerius metus. B. Šiaulis kartu su T. Sollmann paskelbė tris straipsnius Amerikos ir Prancūzijos mokslo žurnaluose. Po stažuotės B. Šiaulis grįžo į Lietuvą. 1936 m. apgynė daktaro disertaciją ir buvo pirmasis bei vienintelis farmacijos mokslų daktaras tarpukario Lietuvoje. Jis įgijo tarptautinio mokslinio bendradarbiavimo patirties ir sugebėjo perteikti savo patirtį kolegoms bei studentams. 1941 m. B. Šiaulis tapo profesoriumi. Nuo 1948 m. dirbo Farmacijos fakulteto dekanu, 1951–1956 m., universitetą reorganizavus į du institutus, ėjo Kauno medicinos instituto Farmacijos ir stomatologijos katedros dekano pareigas. Reikšminiai žodžiai: farmacijos istorija, Rokfelerio fondas, Benediktas Šaulis.Benediktas Šiaulis studied pharmacy in Moscow. He studied and worked in Russia for about 18 years – from 1900 to 1921 (with a few years break). After the declaration of Lithuania’s independence, he returned to his motherland. In 1922 the University of Lithuania was established in Kaunas (in 1930 renamed as Vytautas the Great University) and B. Šiaulis became an assistant at the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacognosy. The university lacked teachers, premises, equipment as well as funds. Development of teacher competences was supported by the Rockefeller Foundation (founded in the USA). The Rockefeller Foundation awarded scholarships for promising European medical workers to study abroad. The first recipients of the Rockefeller scholarships in Lithuania were pharmacist Benediktas Šiaulis and surgeon Vladas Kuzma. V. Kuzma studied in Europe, while B. Šiaulis went to the United States (1925–1926). For six months B. Šiaulis studied in Boston at Harvard University and for another year and a half in Cleveland at the “Western Reserve” University. His supervisor in Cleveland was a famous professor of pharmacology Torald Sollmann (1874–1965). The Professor appreciated B. Šiaulis’s talents and extraordinary diligence. He used to call him “the genius of mechanics” and recommended the Rockefeller Foundation to finance his studies for an additional year. B. Šiaulis together with T. Sollmann published three articles in American and France scientific journals. After the scholarship, Šiaulis returned to Lithuania. In 1936, he defended his doctoral thesis and became the first and the only Doctor of Pharmacy in interwar Lithuania. He had gained experience in international scientific cooperation and was able to convey his experience to colleagues and students. In 1941 B. Šiaulis became a professor. Since 1948 B. Šiaulis worked as the dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, after the reorganization of the university into two institutes he served as the dean of the Department of Pharmacy and Dentistry of the Kaunas Medical Institute (1951–1956). Keywords: History of Pharmacy, Rockefeller Foundation, Benediktas Šiaulis

Lithuanian pharmacists in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century: Their practice and national patriotic activity

An important role in the formation of modern Lithuanian society was played by pharmacists who at the beginning of the 20th century were one of the most numerous parts of Lithuanian intelligentsia. They chose a job in a pharmacy not as a mission of life but due to political, social, and economic reasons. The majority of pharmacists were children of peasants who had refused to obey their parents and study in the seminary of priests. Those people who had been ousted from gymnasiums because of an anticzarist activity or those who had not finished school due to the lack of money also became pharmacists. Young men who had chosen a way of self-support left to the biggest cities of Russia and started the practice of an apprentice in a pharmacy. Later, they took examinations to become an assistant of a pharmacist, and after two years of studies at university, they took examinations of a pharmacist at last. Having got a diploma, they usually did not return to their motherland because there was a large network of pharmacies; thus, business conditions were harder, of course. They established pharmacies in various provinces of Russia most often, and it is supposed that only 10% of Lithuanian pharmacists worked in their native country. Living and working in a Russian environment, however, they enshrined national patriotic ideas, were active participants in social activities, published a Lithuanian professional newspaper “Farmaceutų reikalai” (translation, “Matters of pharmacists“), and attempted to unite all Lithuanians living in czarist Russia to struggle against denationalization, to encourage people to return to their motherland, and to work for its good. This article deals with the path for a career of Lithuanian pharmacists in czarist Russia and their national patriotic activity

Links between profession and family in the community of Lithuanian pharmacists at the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th centuries

Savita šeimos įtaka, pasirenkant farmacininko profesiją, susiklostė lietuvių Tautinio sąjūdžio laikotarpiu XIX a. pabaigoje – XX a. pradžioje. Šiame straipsnyje siekiama atskleisti lietuvių šeimos ir farmacininko karjeros ryšį, išanalizuoti politinių, socialinių, ekonominių veiksnių įtaką tokiems ryšiams atsirasti. XIX a. pabaigoje – XX a. pradžioje lietuvių valstiečių pasipriešinimas rusifikacijai, polonizacijai pasireiškė siekiu formuoti lietuviškąją inteligentiją. Pagrindiniu naujosios lietuvių inteligentijos rengimo centru tapo kunigų seminarijos. Kunigo profesija buvo prestižinė, be to, garantavo materialinę gerovę. Jaunuoliai neretai palikdavo kunigų seminariją ir dirbdavo vaistinėse, kur gaudavo pastogę, menką 5 rublių vaistinės mokinio atlygį. Tokie „pabėgėliai“ apsigyvendavo Carinės Rusijos universitetiniuose miestuose ir, netekę tėvų paramos, savarankiškai siekė „išeiti“ į žmones, tai yra įgyti išsimokslinimą. Lietuvėms moterims, pasirenkant farmacininkės profesiją, svarią įtaką turėjo sutuoktinių profesija. Kai kurie išsimokslinę lietuviai farmacininkai skatino žmonas sekti jų pėdomis. Deja, tokie atvejai pavieniai. Kartais farmacininkai sukurdavo šeimas, tačiau lietuvių moterų provizorių ar provizoriaus padėjėjų buvo vos keletas, o mišrios šeimos Lietuvos tautinio atgimimo laikotarpiu buvo vertinamos neigiamai. Šiame straipsnyje aptariamas farmacininkų karjeros kelias ir šeimos įtaka pasirenkant profesiją bei farmacininkų tautiniu požiūriu mišrių santuokų kūrimas ir lietuvių požiūris į tai.During the period of Lithuanian National Movement (the end of the19th c. – the beginning of the 20th c.), certain family influence was felt in choosing the occupation of a pharmacist. This article shows the connection of Lithuanian family with the pharmacist career and analyses the influence of the political, social, economic forces on such a connection. At the end of the 19th c. – the beginning of the 20th c., the resistance of Lithuanian peasants to Russification and Polozination was expressed in an attempt to form Lithuanian intelligentsia. Seminaries became the main centres for training of the Lithuanian intelligentsia. Priest‘s occupation became prestigious and also insured material welfare. Often young people would leave the seminary and worked in a pharmacy where they were given shelter and the meagre wages of 5 rubles. Such “fugitives” would reside on the campuses of Central Russia and, when deprived of parental support, would try to gain education on their own. Lithuanian women, in choosing to become pharmacists were influenced by the occupation of their spouses. Some educated Lithuanian pharmacists encouraged their wives to follow in the footsteps. Such cases, however, are few. Sometimes pharmacists created families, yet there were only few female pharmaceutical chemists or their female assistants. On the whole, in the period of Lithuanian National Movement, mixed families were viewed negatively. The article discusses the career course and family influence on choosing this profession, the creation of mixed marriages from the national standpoint of pharmacists, and the attitude of Lithuanians to it

Epidemic typhus in the Lithuanian army from 1919 to 1923

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Advertisements in professional Lithuanian pharmaceutical journals, 1923–1940

Lithuanian pharmacists during the interwar period published two journals to meet their professional needs – "Farmacijos žinios" (Pharmacy News) and "Lietuvos farmaceutas" (Lithuanian Pharmacist). These journals also published advertisements for pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical manufacturers, medical items, and various other goods. This paper will analyze which products did Lithuanian and foreign companies advertise in the Lithuanian pharmaceutical journals and discuss the contents of these advertisements. During their early years, the pharmaceutical journals contained mostly advertisements for patented medicines, submitted by individual pharmacies. The Palanga’s pharmacy, for example, submitted the majority of such advertisements, including those for "Trejos Devynerios" (Three nines), "Essentia Cordialis" (essential cordial), and veterinary medications. Gradually, independent drug and chemical manufacturers emerged and started the mass production of drugs and chemicals. Individual pharmacies could not compete with them. This resulted in a decrease in the amount of advertisements from individual pharmacies and an increase in the amount of advertisements from the newly-established pharmaceutical companies and their distributors. The majority of the advertisements were submitted by such Lithuanian pharmaceutical companies as "GerMaPo" and "Sanitas" (the former being more active in their advertising campaign). Advertisements from distributors were abundant as well. They sold products of such well-known European producers as Knoll, Merck, C.F. Boehringer & Soehne, Sandoz, F. Hoffman-La Roch, J. D. Riedel, and E. Schering. Later on, foreign producers began to run their own advertising campaigns. German companies were the most active ones. Bayer and C.F. Boehringer & Soehne took the lead, while Merck, Knoll, and Hoechst were somewhat less active.The earliest advertisements resembled informational announcements. The advertisers would simply list their products without any praising comments, or simply state that "Sandėlyje yra visuomet viskas kas aptiekoms reikalinga" ("In our warehouse we have everything that pharmacies might need"). Only in the fourth decade, major foreign and Lithuanian producers started to use visual advertisement, logos, and suggestive texts. Advertisements of the Bayer company were the most creative in this respect

The founding and activities of the Pharmacy Division of the Vilnius Medical Society

The Pharmacy Division of the Vilnius Medical Society was founded in 1819. It was the first and only pharmacy organization in Lithuania until the beginning of the 20th century. At the time of its founding, there were only three other pharmacy organizations in the Russian Empire: the Riga Chemical-Pharmaceutical Society (1803), the Mitau (now Jelgava) Pharmacy Society (1808) and the St. Petersburg Pharmacy Society (1818). The Division did much to improve the practice of pharmacy, enhance pharmaceutical knowledge and education, support and encourage pharmaceutical research, as well as provide a forum for discussion of all matters of interest and concern to the pharmacy profession. Through its publications, rich library and study collections, pharmacists in Vilnius and the Vilnius governorate stayed abreast of all the major developments and discoveries in the medical and pharmaceutical sciences. After the closing of Vilnius University in 1832 and of the Vilnius Medical-Surgical Academy in 1842, the Vilnius Medical Society, and hence its Pharmacy Division, lost its academic base. Pharmaceutical chemistry suffered especially. Pharmacists turned their attention to their practices and business interests. Their interest in the Society waned and their membership dwindled. In the beginning of the 20th century, especially after Lithuania regained its independence in 1918, other organizational opportunities opened up to them

Creation and preservation anatomy and history of pharmacy collections in interwar Kaunas

Lietuvos sveikatos mokslų universitete (LSMU) eksponuojamos kelios vertingos medicinos ir farmacijos istorijos kolekcijos. Dvi iš jų pradėtos rinkti dar tarpukariu. Tai anatomijos kolekcija, šiuo metu saugoma LSMU Anatomijos instituto muziejuje (A. Mickevičiaus g. 9, Kaunas), ir farmacijos istorijos kolekcija, kurios išlikusi maža dalis yra LSMU Lietuvos medicinos ir farmacijos istorijos muziejuje (Rotušės a. 28, Kaunas). Anatomijos preparatų kolekciją 1920 m. pradėjo formuoti chirurgas Jurgis Žilinskas (1885–1957), dėstęs anatomiją Aukštųjų kursų medicinos skyriuje. Išsaugota apie pusę šios kolekcijos. Šiuo metu ji eksponuojama LSMU bei naudojama studijuojant mediciną. Farmacijos istorijos kolekcija, kurios eksponatus tarpukariu pradėjo rinkti Lietuvos vaistininkų draugijos ir Lietuvos farmaceutų sąjungos nariai, planavę įsteigti Senovės Lietuvos vaistinės muziejų, neišsaugota. Šio muziejaus idėjos autorius buvo provizoriaus padėjėjas Adomas Mačius (1882–1974). 1936 m. žurnale „Farmacijos žinios“ pranešta apie muziejaus idėją ir prašoma prisidėti jį kuriant. Taip pradėti kaupti eksponatai, 1937 m. išnuomotas kambarys ekspozicijai. Prasidėjus sovietinei okupacijai, draugijos buvo uždarytos, jų turtas, kurio nespėta paslėpti, nusavintas. Antrojo pasaulinio karo metais dalis farmacijos istorijos ir anatomijos eksponatų buvo saugomi Vytauto Didžiojo universiteto Medicinos fakulteto rūsyje (Mickevičiaus g. 9, Kaunas). 1946-ųjų pavasarį rūsio patalpas užliejo potvynio vanduo. Daugelis anatominių preparatų išliko, o farmacijos istorijos eksponatai buvo sugadinti. Išliko tik keli saugoti ne rūsyje, bet profesoriaus Benedikto Šiaulio (1887–1957) kabinete. Jie 1957 m. pateko į vaistininko docento Alfonso Kaikario (1922–1997) rankas. Jis ėmėsi kaupti naujus eksponatus, surinko kolekciją, kuri yra Lietuvos medicinos ir farmacijos istorijos muziejaus farmacijos istorijos ekspozicijos pagrindas.The Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS) exhibits several valuable collections of medical and pharmaceutical history. Two of them began being formed during the interwar period. The collection of anatomy, currently kept in the Museum of the Institute of Anatomy of the LUHS (A. Mickevičiaus St. 9, Kaunas) and the collection of the history of pharmacy, of which only a small part survived and is kept in in the Museum of the History of Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy (Rotušės a. 28, Kaunas). Collection of anatomical preparations was first started by the surgeon Jurgis Žilinskas (1885–1957) in 1920, who taught anatomy at the High Courses. About half of this collection has been preserved. Currently it is exhibited at LUHS and used in medical studies. The collection of the history of pharmacy was started during the interwar period by members of the Lithuanian Pharmacists‘ Society and the Lithuanian Union of Pharmacists. They planned to establish the Museum of Ancient Lithuanian Pharmacy, however this collection has not been preserved. The author of the idea for this museum was pharmacist Adam Mačius (1882–1974). 1936 the magazine Pharmacy news (Farmacijos žinios) suggested the idea for the museum and asked colleagues to contribute to its development. Thus, collecting exhibits began and in 1937 a room was rented to exhibit it. However, with the onset of the Soviet occupation, the societies were closed and their property, which was not hidden away in time, was expropriated. During the Second World War, part of the exhibits on anatomy and history of pharmacy were stored in the basement of the Faculty of Medicine of Vytautas Magnus University (Mickevičiaus St. 9, Kaunas). In the spring of 1946, the basement was flooded. Many anatomical preparations have survived, however the exhibits of pharmacy have been damaged. Only a few survived which were kept in the office of Professor Benediktas Šiaulis (1887–1957) rather than the flooded basement. In 1957 the exhibits fell into the hands of Professor Alfonsas Kaikaris (1922–1997). He started to add new exhibits to the collection, which now is the basis of the exposition of pharmaceutical history of the Museum of the History of Lithuanian Medicine and Pharmacy

Lithuanian pharmacists in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century: their practice and national patriotic activity

An important role in the formation of modern Lithuanian society was played by pharmacists who at the beginning of the 20th century were one of the most numerous parts of Lithuanian intelligentsia. They chose a job in a pharmacy not as a mission of life but due to political, social, and economic reasons. The majority of pharmacists were children of peasants who had refused to obey their parents and study in the seminary of priests. Those people who had been ousted from gymnasiums because of an anticzarist activity or those who had not finished school due to the lack of money also became pharmacists. Young men who had chosen a way of self-support left to the biggest cities of Russia and started the practice of an apprentice in a pharmacy. Later, they took examinations to become an assistant of a pharmacist, and after two years of studies at university, they took examinations of a pharmacist at last. Having got a diploma, they usually did not return to their motherland because there was a large network of pharmacies; thus, business conditions were harder, of course. They established pharmacies in various provinces of Russia most often, and it is supposed that only 10% of Lithuanian pharmacists worked in their native country. Living and working in a Russian environment, however, they enshrined national patriotic ideas, were active participants in social activities, published a Lithuanian professional newspaper “Farmaceutų reikalai” (translation, “Matters of pharmacists“), and attempted to unite all Lithuanians living in czarist Russia to struggle against denationalization, to encourage people to return to their motherland, and to work for its good. This article deals with the path for a career of Lithuanian pharmacists in czarist Russia and their national patriotic activity

Dragendorff’s reagent: Historical perspectives and current status of a versatile reagent introduced over 150 years ago at the University of Dorpat, Tartu, Estonia

The well-known Dragendorff’s reagent (DR) was introduced by an Estonian-German Professor Johann Georg Noel Dragendorff (1836–1898) in the middle of the 19th century (1866). Dragendorff, who was a full-time professor in pharmacy at the university of Dorpat (Tartu) used his reagent originally for the rapid screening of herbal products to find traces of alkaloids. DR is a solution of potassium bismuth iodide composing of basic bismuth nitrate (Bi(NO3)3), tartaric acid, and potassium iodide (KI), and when contact with alkaloids DR produces an orange or orange red precipitate. In this review article, we make a short historical overview on the biography and scientific research work of Professor Dragendorff at the University of Dorpat. The chemistry, method of preparation, mechanism of action, and practical uses of DR in various disciplines in various European countries including the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Finland, Ukraine, Moldova, and in Asia (Vietnam), are also discussed. Over several decades, DR and its modifications have found uses in many new applications and disciplines, and a number of commercial DRs are also currently available on the market. Today, DR is used for example in the production of surfactants, where non-ionic surfactant is precipitated in water solution with modified DR (KBiI4+BaCl2+glacial acetic acid). Total six different potassium iodobismuthate (DR) solutions are also presented in the European Pharmacopoeia. In conclusion, DR (after more than 150 years of its invention in Estonia) has still an important role in pharmaceutical and related sciences all over the world