Los boticarios del hospital Real de Santiago de Compostela en el siglo XVIII

Abstract

The present work tries to illustrate the life and work of the professionals of a Pharmacy at an outstanding Spanish hospital in the 18th century. This centre, founded by the Catholic King and Queen (Fernando of Aragón and Isabel of Castilla) in the late 15th century, will provide the professionals of Pharmacy with an original constitution that shall rule their lives beyond their pharmaceutical activity. The author aims to recreate the figure of the Institution´s Pharmacists, both on their professional aspects and on their projection on the urban society of their time. To do so, different sections focus on the obligations of the Pharmacists as drugs technicians and as Major Ministers of the Institution; Their interaction among the centre sanitary personnel and the conflicts that arise among the different professionals; their formation; their salary —which is compared to those of similar professionals and even with those of other similar Spanish hospitals—, the criteria for their promotion as well as their social origin and consideration their job gives them.