The First pharmaceutical periodical journal in Lithuania: Pamiętnik Farmaceutyczny Wileński (Notes of Vilnius Pharmacy)

Abstract

The first professional pharmacy organizations were organized in Lithuania in the beginning of the 19th century. In 1819, Vilnius pharmacists founded the Pharmacy Division of the Vilnius Medical Society (VMS) (established in 1805). The members of this pharmaceutical organization published a periodical journal Pamiętnik Farmaceutyczny Wileński (Notes of Vilnius Pharmacy) during 1820–1822. Four issues came out in the first year (totaling 558 pages); three issues in the second year (1821); and, one issue (200 pages) in its final year – 1822. About half of the journal (160 articles) was original articles; the rest were translations from European pharmaceutical journals – mostly German and French. Works of prominent pharmacists and chemists, such as Johann B. Trommsdorf (1770–1837), Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829), Johann W. Döbereiner (1780–1849), Johann A. Buchner (1783– 1852) and others were published in the journal. Important pharmaceutical news from these foreign journals soon made its way into the Notes and reached subscribers in Vilnius and other cities, such as Warsaw, Kiev, Daugavpils, Minsk and Ryga. Subscribers were not only pharmacists and pharmacies but also priests, students, manor owners, the intelligentsia, and even army officers. Vilnius pharmacists wrote mostly about scientific investigations in the fields of botany (native plant morphology), phytochemistry, balneology and about drug adulteration. Eventually, there were not enough subscribers and funds to pay for a separate journal and it stopped publication in 1822. The journal of the VMS, the Pamiętnik Wileńskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego [Notes of the Vilnius Medical Society], also had problems with subscribers. in 1822, a decision was made to combine the two journals and to call the new publication Dziennik medycyny, chirurgii i farmacyi [Journal of medicine, surgery and pharmacy].