Volume containing a copy of the statutes of the Royal College of Physicians of London and a manuscript of an apparently unpublished early edition of the Edinburgh ‘Pharmacopoeia’.
Scope and Contents
The contents of the volume are as follows:
(i) A 17th-century copy of the statutes of 1647 of the Royal College of Physicians of London (folio 1).
(ii) ‘Pharmacopoeia a Regio Medicorum Edinburgensium Collegio adornata. Edinburgi Typis Haeredis Andreae Anderson MDCLXXXV` (folio 27). This appears to be the manuscript of an early edition of the ‘Pharmacopoeia’ which was never published. The work was first proposed in 1683 but did not appear until 1699 (see ‘The Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia’).
There is a prescription for the relief of rheumatism and a list of medicaments on folios 73 verso-74.
Dates
- Creation: 1647-late 17th century.
Extent
0.00 Linear metres (74 folios. Octavo.)
Language of Materials
English
Custodial History
The manuscript was bought by the Advocates’ Library in 1723 at the sale of Sir Robert Sibbald’s library.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Presented, 1925, by the Faculty of Advocates to the nation on the foundation of the National Library of Scotland.
Bibliography
Cowen, David L. ‘Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia’, in ‘Medical History’, i (1957), pages 123-139 and 340-351, and in ‘Early years of the Edinburgh Medical School: a symposium jointly organised by the Royal Scottish Museum and the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine …’ (Edinburgh, 1976), page 26.
- Title
- National Library of Scotland Catalogue of Manuscripts
- Author
- National Library of Scotland
- Date
- 25 05 2015
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Prepared Using Local Descriptive Rules
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository
Archives and Manuscript Division
National Library of Scotland
George IV Bridge
Edinburgh EH1 1EJ
0131 623 3700
manuscripts@nls.uk