virtual tour of the Old Tula Pharmacy – TSN 24

Treating a sore throat with gasoline, bloodletting and taking poison to pep the spirit – two centuries later, to modern people, such methods of treatment seem, if not wild, then at least strange. However, all this really took place on the shelves of pharmacies. In the regional capital, a place has been preserved that clearly shows the history of the development of pharmaceuticals in Russia – we are talking about the Belyavsky House or, as local residents usually call this building, the Old Tula Pharmacy. For a long time, from 1884 to 2011, the city’s main prescription pharmacy was located here. Today, there is an exhibition here that immerses visitors in the world of pills and powders.

On the eve of the long May holidays, the Tula News Service is publishing a virtual tour of this unique place.

Family Pharmacy and Love

Ferdinand Belyavsky, who arrived in Tula in 1864 and bought the pharmacy in the Kraft House, 16 years later also bought the neighboring building. Previously, there was a theater here, but it closed after a fire – in 1884 it was decided to turn the empty building into a prescription pharmacy, which became the most famous in the city. This is where the exhibition is located today.

Not only medical magic was performed within these walls, but the magic of love also happened. According to the classics of the genre, one young man, who got a job as a pharmacist in a pharmacy to help the aged Belyavsky, did not plan to stay in Tula for long and dreamed of great science, but love decreed otherwise.

“Belyavsky was already at an advanced age and could not cope with all matters alone, so he decided to hire a pharmacist – a person who would prepare medicines. This was Friedrich Aderman, Master of Pharmacy – this title was considered the highest in pharmaceuticals. An amazingly versatile person – he was interested in photography (some of his works are presented in our museum), collecting minerals, and astronomy. In this building, he even installed a tower with a telescope, which has not survived – his observatory was visited by Tula residents, including Konstantin Shestovsky, the future director of the Moscow planetarium. In addition, Aderman conducted forensic chemical examinations, that is, he was a very respected person in the scientific world. I dreamed of becoming a scientist and did not plan to stay in Tula for a long time, but I fell in love with the daughter of the owner of the pharmacy, Olga, got married and continued the family business,” Anna Artemova, head of the educational department of TIAM, told the Tula News Service.

A temporary exhibition is currently dedicated to the sons of the Aderman family, Valdemar and Georgiy.

“George died of the Spanish flu at a young age, and Valdemar began a military career. After the revolution, only Olga remained in this building – the pharmacy was nationalized, and she was allocated a small room, which now amounted to her small fortune. There was no news from Valdemar for five years, so she did not even know about his fate. However, she finally received news from her son, who had gone to Germany and called her to his place. Olga moved and never returned to Tula. At Waldemar’s request, she writes memoirs, the pages of which are presented at our exhibition – we received them from descendants who came to the weapons capital in 2015. They also donated money for the renovation of the facade,” noted a TIAM specialist.

Since its construction, little has been preserved here – although the interior is made in the style of the 19th century, almost nothing remains of the original.

“Dutch ovens that were heated in the basement and heated the entire house, a cast-iron staircase, oak doors, a fireproof safe in which money and toxic drugs were kept, as well as an arch on the second floor of the building – previously there was a dining room – have been preserved,” says Anna Artemova.

Medicines of the 19th-20th centuries

The pharmacy was a prescription pharmacy – that is, medications were made individually to order. Tula residents dubbed this place the best pharmacy – it did not lose its trust until its closure in 2011. Moreover, even now some Tula residents come and sadly discover that the pharmacy is no longer open. In addition to prescription drugs, they also sold other necessary products that could be purchased without a prescription – coffee, tea, cocoa, powdered infant formula, oddly shaped children’s sippy cups, vinegar essence in special bottles that were easily distinguishable in the absence of lighting, and even lemonade.

“The specialty of our pharmacy was that Belyavsky prepared lemonades and fruit waters – he did this in the basement of the house, where liquid medicines were also produced. Citric acid and soda were added to the water and the result was soda,” the specialist explained.

Even today you can find cosmetics in pharmacies, but you will no longer be able to find perfumes that were freely sold here in the 19th century. At that time, perfumes were not only sold in pharmacies, but also made – some pharmacists were seriously interested in this activity.

Most of the medical instruments have not changed in appearance, but they began to be made from more modern materials. But there are also exhibits that horrify modern people – reusable syringes, which remained so until the 90s of the 20th century, a special scarifier for bloodletting in the form of a brass cube.

“Bleeding was then considered a kind of panacea. It was assumed that any disease could be cured by releasing the bad blood. Typically, a tourniquet was tightened on the limbs, a scarifier was applied, the handle was turned, and 12 blades simultaneously popped out, making a deep cut in the skin, and the blood was drained. Naturally, this did not always lead to a good result. Sometimes it even aggravated the situation, for example, a poorly cleaned instrument could lead to blood poisoning,” says Anna Artemova.

The drugs in the pharmacy were stored in special containers, darkened from sunlight, with different labels – such containers are presented in large quantities at the exhibition. White labels with black letters indicated non-dangerous drugs, red letters indicated potent substances, and black labels warned of the particular dangers of a drug that could be poisonous or even narcotic.

The pharmacy even sold gasoline, which was used to treat sore throats. They lubricated a sore throat with it or added it to milk and gargled. They also actively used poisons at that time – surprisingly, with the right dosage it was possible to achieve the desired effect.

“The most popular poison used in the 19th and even early 20th centuries was strychnine. It was used as an invigorating tonic – it increased efficiency and improved brain activity, so it was especially popular among students before exams. However, very often, in pursuit of cheerfulness and better results, people went overboard – this led to severe poisoning and even death,” noted Anna Artemova.

Most medications today are produced in the form of tablets, but in the 19th century this was an expensive pleasure, because the pharmacist was forced to make each tablet by hand. Cheap and cheerful – powders that were easily ground in a special mortar and did not require any more effort. However, pills became a convenient and not very expensive form of medications at that time.

“A special pill machine was used to make the pill. A thickener was added to the powder, as a rule, it was syrup, mixed and a mass similar to plasticine was obtained. Then they rolled up the sausage and passed it between ribbed rolling pins, dividing it into balls. Then they sprinkled it with chalk so that the pills wouldn’t stick together,” says the specialist.

Powders and pills were skillfully packaged – in special multi-colored jars and ampoules. Moreover, the colors were chosen not to suit the mood, but to highlight toxic and narcotic substances – they were sold in dark green or blue bottles, which were never put on display to avoid theft by drug addicts. The name of the drug was indicated on a special label, and all the necessary information was written on a card in the shape of a tie – the name of the pharmacy, the name of the pharmacist who prepared it, the name of the medicine, date of manufacture, dosage.

During Soviet times, the pharmacy continued to operate, but under a different name – City Pharmacy No. 2. However, the staff was much larger – if Belyavsky and Aderman lived in the same building with the pharmacy and could receive visitors at any time, now people worked in shifts.

The exhibition displays many medical devices from the Soviet era – syringes for washing, cups, inhalers, laboratory instruments, and smallpox feathers, which were subsequently used to draw blood from a finger. Many exhibits were brought to the museum by local residents.

Previously Tula news service published a virtual tour of the weapons museum.