Spatula Dates: 1500 BC to today Used in much the same way you’d imagine in a kitchen, the spatula helped move medicines and ointments from container to container. The earliest ones were made from flat pieces of wood. Even after pharmacists stopped preparing most drugs in stores, technicians would still use spatulas to count drugs and dispense them into containers.
1500
FUN FACT:
Pill rollers and tablets Dates: 1500 BC to today After mixing ingredients, the plasticine-like substance would be spread into these pill machines and cut and shaped into individual pills. While the tablets were still moist, they were often coated with different materials, such as a shellac or gelatin, or calc, making the pills easier to swallow. A tablet press is a modern machine that has replaced this tool, and it can produce from 250,000 to over a million tablets an hour.
Show globes were once the most recognizable symbol of pharmacy from 17th century England to the early 20th century in the United States, as they hung outside pharmacies to distinguish them. These pearshaped glass vessels often held colourful liquids, though it’s still in disagreement today what the blue, red, or green colours meant.
1750
PRESENT
Leech jars Dates: 800 BC to today The earliest reference to leech therapy — or bloodletting — dates back to the Sushruta Samhita text from 800 BC, and it became a common treatment for many ailments, though it became less widespread towards the end of the 19th century. Leeches were kept in ornate jars with water, which were highly decorated and usually clearly labelled with the word “leeches.”
Cachet maker Dates: 1800s to today Similar to the capsules we have today, powders that were too bitter to swallow were sealed into a cachet with a cachet maker. The offending powder would be poured on wafers of rice flour or gelatin that was placed in a cup-shaped mould, and then another wafer was placed on top and sealed. Apothecary tiles Dates: 1600s to 1900s After a mixture was prepared with a mortar and pestle, it would be rolled out on an apothecary tile (also known as an ointment tile) before being formed into tablets. These tiles were beautifully decorated and usually made from ceramic.
Inhalers Dates: 1700s to today Originally crafted from pottery, inhalers were once much larger than the pocket-sized ones today. The jars would have a spout that the user would inhale from. And later, when rubber was available, a bulb was added to the system to use the Venturi effect to draw the mist into one’s lungs. Today, the medicine is kept and dispensed from a pressurized container that contains a propellant.
THE MORTAR & PESTLE • SUMMER 2018
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