Life Of A Classics Student

“don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose.” - C.S. Lewis

Franz Kafka, 1912

This is the Concòrdies, Europe's second oldest pharmacopoeia and the first of its kind. It was printed in 1511 in Barcelona, Catalonia. The first European pharmacopoeia was printed in Florence (modern-day Italy) in 1498 after a larger amount in Islamic countries, but both have some important differences.

A pharmacopoeia is a book that contains the recipes for making medicines, to be used as a reference guide by the apothecaries who made the remedies. The apothecaries were the chemists who made the drugs, specialists in medicinal herbs, minerals, animal products and food.

On August 29th 1510, the king Ferdinand of Catalonia-Aragon gave Barcelona's Apothecaries Association the royal privilege of standardizing the recipes used for making drugs. Before this, doctors diagnosed their patients and told them what drugs to buy, but each apothecary made it in their way, which could have different amounts of each ingredient or different preparations. This could lead to results that weren't as good as expected.

You might have noticed that the book is titled "Concordie apothecarioru[m] Barchin[one] i[n] medicinis co[m]positis liber feliciter incipit" (more or less "Agreement of Barcelona's apothecaries on the compound medicines" in Latin), often shortened to "les Concòrdies" ("the Agreements" in Catalan). It's an "agreement" because the apothecaries came together to write the most effective recipes, which they then presented to the Barcelona Medicine Doctors' Association. Then, the doctors could object or not, and from the agreement between both experts resulted this book.

This is the first pharmacopoeia that was made by the apothecaries' idea, not following orders of a government, and the first pharmacopoeia written for and by the apothecaries (the book written in Florence was made by doctors to tell apothecaries what they wanted them to make). Thanks to their apothecaries' work, Barcelona's inhabitants were the first people in the Iberian peninsula to access homologated medicine. Soon, this book's rules were expanded to all of Catalonia.

The only remaining original copy from the 1511 edition is kept in the Museum of Catalan Pharmacology which belongs to the University of Barcelona. The whole book has been digitalized and is completely uploaded online: here's the link.

"women didn't invent anything"

pharmacist’s display

every night owl I know (myself included) is as careful as possible and as quiet as a mouse so not to wake up or disturb people who are asleep while they’re awake but from the moment a morning person wakes up they will make as much noise as possible as if their god given purpose is the be the loudest most inconsiderate person alive

You are a magnificent individual.

On the point about physical beauty - I've always pictured it like a spectator - a shadow, of sorts - that you, a woman, simply cannot escape. Every move you make, everything you do, accomplish, it cannot be seen without the spectator seeing it too.

I play chess myself, soon to become a scientist - some of the fields you've mentioned - and I was starting to question if I was the mildly maniacal killjoy being too pedantic about why a man - and his qualities - are allowed to be human, the 'natural' state - while a woman, no matter how accomplished, intelligent, proficient she may be - must always be accompanied by beauty. As if everything else she does comes secondary to the inherent requirement of being physically appealing.

Thank you - thank you so much. For your kind words and lovely wishes.

For the first time, I don't just feel seen - I feel heard. And thoroughly understood. Have a splendid time. You are amazing.

Your post on 'stop focusing on physical appearances of women' may just have saved something from withering away within me. I thank you, earnestly.

I'm so glad it got received by at least one person. I know it could - and has been - misinterpreted as a "ruining the fun" comment, but I did notice growing up that what made me insecure the most, were the small focuses we put on artists and famous women: was she a singer, chess player, actress, writer, tennis player, we always cared about her eyeliner and bow shoes or perfect hair.

And I wish for women not to internalize this: it teaches us that we can't really escape physical beauty - not through arts, or sports, or our minds. I am still so jealous of male tennis player, for example, who can, seemingly, just exist in their natural and neutral state.

I hope you have a fantastic day! And I also hope you can develop your talents or passions without the pressure of "being beautiful" all the time c:

you crave meaning but reject every answer? what are you? written by Camus?

autumn walks 🍁🎃☕️🍂