The medical kit of the Empress
The muse of the Consulate | Curiosities
The travel pharmacy Marie-Louise is one of the most original objects from the collection of Glauco Lombardi Museum, located in Parma. It was acquired in 1948 and notes of Glauco Lombardi himself give us valuable information about its provenance. The medical kit was sold by Giuseppe Pandos when selling items that belonged to the former empress and taken to Parma in 1848 by his heir Archduke Leopold of Austria.
We lose track of that pharmacy until 1947, when a Dr Parenti di Trecasali sold it to an antique dealer who then ceded it to Lombardi for the tidy sum of 25,000 lire. In 1950, Lombardi bought, always Pandos, two vials and a silver spoon (now defunct) for 5000 lire.
The pharmacy was probably made during the French period of Marie Louise, to the vials Bohemian crystal monogram ML topped with an imperial crown. After the disaster of March 1814, she was sent to Parma, with other objects. Marie Louise went on to use this necessary, and ask him a brass plate bearing his ducal arms.
The pharmacy was everything Mary-Louise could need for healing journey. It has multiple compartments and small niches in which are housed an assortment of medicines, plant extracts, homeopathic remedies or pharmaceutical preparations, contained in glass vials of various sizes and each labeled. It is quite remarkable that many contents are still present in varying quantities. This pharmacy also collects glass and porcelain pots, boxes, cards, a spatula, containers for collecting blood, bandages, cotton inventories and two manuscripts, one of which was established by the famous Italian doctor Lorenzo Berzieri , who discovered the therapeutic qualities of the waters of Salsomaggiore (Emilia Romagna).
In this pharmacy, many alternative therapies, such as oils of chamomile, valerian, mint, rhubarb, aloe, etc.. (Still used by modern homeopathy and herbology), rubbed shoulders with highly toxic substances such as aconite, the acetate, the ipecacuana, extracts from Sebina, scilla maritima, belladonna, etc.., Poisons, opiates , hallucinogens, painkillers, or antidotes such as the famous Venetian teriaca or molasses.
In a very modern for its time, this medicine chest shows that Marie Louise was not only cures but also made use of all medicines used in Europe.
Marie Louise traveled frequently and his pharmacy inspensable him. The Duchess of Parma fell sick regularly, as his correspondence shows, encountering difficulty breathing, taking cold, with rheumatism and headaches. She was even trépannée in May 1839. He then withdrew the little bits of skull bones, pieces in the Museum Glauco Lombardi.
