Saturday, March 29, 2008

Not your average CVS





Pictures of drugs and other substances from an old, old pharmacy in Villa La Quiete near Florence. Note the opium precursor, papaveri.
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1 comment:

Christian Sinclair said...

Thanks for the pictures. In the lo res photo the papaveri looks like mushrooms, but when you click the high res version you can see that they are dried poppies. Very cool look back at history.

The others I can tell are Phosphate soda (laxative), boric acid (used for infections), and Lichens.

here is some of the wikipedia entry on lichens:

Many lichens have been used medicinally across the world. A lichen's usefulness as a medicine is often related to the lichen secondary compounds that are abundant in most lichen thalli. Different lichens produce a wide variety of these compounds, most of which are unique to lichens and many of which are antibiotic. It has been estimated that 50% of all lichen species have antibiotic properties. One of the most potent lichen antibiotics is usnic acid, as a result Usnea spp. are commonly used in traditional medicines. Other lichens commonly featured in folk medicines include Iceland moss and Lungwort.

March 29, 2008 9:12 PM

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