Book Review: Contributions to the pharmacohistory of Transylvania. Pharmacies of Sibiu county

Sibiu county, with the mention that " similarly, they are classified according to the four chapters of the first part of the book ". The presence of a bibliographic list completing the monograph of each pharmacy is noteworthy. These lists are frequently extensive and in the case of the monograph of the first pharmacy, the city pharmacy that became the " Black Eagle " , created in 1494, the thorough list includes 38 indices. In the monograph of each pharmacy, the author follows a plan that renders the history of various changes in the national and local administration, also marking the transfer from one owner to another. Proper attention is paid to the main biographical data of pharmacists and to their professional-scientific achievements. In the same spirit, the author expresses his hope to save from oblivion the " activity of many pharmacists who contributed by their work to the advancement of the profession, to the improvement of the population's health in towns and villages, to the development of the cultural level ". A study as extensive as that presented in this book is extremely important for the history of pharmacy on the territory of Romania, because the preparation of drugs and their supply to the population were different in the Great Autonomous Principality of Transylvania compared to the Danubian Principalities. The creation of pharmacies on the territory of Romania was entirely dependent on the evolution of these two regions, on the rate at which urbanization was carried out and state administration was organized. Thus, in Transylvania, the authorities of Sibiu city took into possession the " Black Eagle " Pharmacy in 1494, while in Wallachia and Moldavia, the first pharmacies were the " Colţea " Hospital Pharmacy opened in Bucharest in 1704 and " Saint Spyridon " Hospital Pharmacy, founded in Iaşi in 1757. The book is also interesting to read because, while keeping focus on Sibiu, we can discover many names that became well known in the development of the profession. This is the case of the " Black Eagle " Pharmacy, which belonged for 140 years, between 1809 and 1949, to a dynasty named Müller, an elite of the organization and practice of drug preparation, participants and dignitaries in the social life of the city. confesses in the Foreword, " this book reproduces to a large extent the doctoral thesis under the scientific supervision of Prof. Dr. Doc. …