The exhibition depicts a Lithuanian city pharmacy from the late 19th to early 20th century. A pharmacy of that era consisted of several rooms: Oficina (prescription room), Coctoria (kitchen), Materialia (medicinal supplies storage room), Laboratorium (laboratory), and the cellar.
OFICINA / PRESCRIPTION ROOM
This room was where visitors were received and where medicines and pharmaceutical goods were sold. Pharmacy owners would furnish the dispensary as beautifully and luxuriously as possible in order to attract visitors and gain their trust. The dispensary’s furniture was made in the early 20th century. The shelves hold many old containers for medicinal substances, medications, and nursing and hygiene supplies. A legacy of pharmacy from past centuries: “Venus’s Hair-Softening Syrup” (“Syrupus Adianthi Capillorum Veneris”), an elixir of youth and beauty recommended for women; “Elixir of Long Life” (“Elixir ad longam vitam”) for men; and others.
COCTORIA
(Latin coquere – to cook, boil, dry). In this room, infusions and decoctions were prepared, utensils were washed and dried, and water was distilled. The kitchen also housed the pharmacy manager’s workstation, where he kept records and stored pharmacopoeias and other books. On display in the kitchen are objects, instruments, and devices used in pharmacies in Lithuanian cities and towns from the late 19th to the early 20th century.
MATERIALIA
Materialia – the pharmacy’s storage room. This room was used to store toxic and potent substances.
LABORATORIA
The laboratory produced not only patented medicines but also other preparations (aromatic waters, oils, tablets, etc.), which were supplied to smaller pharmacies. The museum displays a steam-powered Galenic preparation production line and a hydraulic press used in the pharmacy laboratory of the Kaunas Red Cross Hospital. Other equipment (a tablet-making machine, etc.) was used in the “Sanitas” chemistry and pharmacy laboratory from 1922 to 1950.
BASEMENT
Medicinal substances that required lower temperatures for storage – such as oils and various fats – were kept in the basements of old pharmacies. In larger basements, certain manufacturing processes were also carried out, such as the grinding of raw materials and the production of ointments.
MATERIA MEDICA
The exposition Materia medica is the part of historical museum created by Polish professor Jan Muszynski for teaching purposes in Vilnius St. Batoras University in 1921-1939. The main raw materials in 19th century’s Lithuanian pharmacy there were plants, indigenous an imported that were brought to Lithuania from all over the world. The jars with raw materials in Materia medica exposition reflect variety of plant structural parts (Cortex, Herba, Flores, Fruits, Semen, Lignum, Radix, Rhizoma, Resina) used for preparing of medicines.
The exhibition provides an overview of medicine in Lithuania from 1918 to 1940 and the history of higher medical education in Kaunas. On display are items belonging to interwar Lithuanian physicians – surgeon Dr. Vl. Kuzma, ear, nose and throat specialist J. Alekna, dentist S. Prapuolenytė-Čerkeliūnienė, ophthalmologist V. Janulaitytė-Alseikienė, gynecologist B. Simonanienė, and radiologist S. Laurinavičius.