Tue travels of a Dominican missionary, Jean-Baptiste Labat, in Italy: Pharmacists, pharmacy practice, and doctors in Bologna, 1706-1707
Abstract
Among the accounts of travellers who have visited ltaly since the Middle Ages, many mention pharmacists, physicians, and other healthcare professionals. Some travellers visited the ltalian peninsula in the Age of Enlightenment, among whom was a Dominican missionary, Father Jean-Baptiste Labat, who made two journeys to the peninsula in the early eighteenth century.1 This article focuses on the first visit, which is described in Labat's travelogues. During this journey he visited Bologna, making some observations about the local healthcare systen1, which was highly developed and well organised since the Middle Ages. A comparative analysis of Labat's relations with the source material enables us to establish a picture of the healthcare professions in eighteenth century Bologna. Tue analyses presented here cover organisational and regulatory aspects relating to apothecaries and physicians, and including descriptions of the controlling authorities, the social status of apothecaries and their relationship with the medical college, as well as medicinal tariffs and antidotaries.
Date Issued
2025
Publication Type
Magazine Article
Language(s)
en
Author(s)
Additional Credits
Magazine Title
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