Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum

Would you consume human skull to cure your epilepsy? Have you ever seen a unicorn horn? Would you rub the grease of a dead bear on your head?

From Ancient Greek medical theories, to a rare penicillin culture vessel; from a mummified hand to the fastest selling drug in the world. All of these and more can be found in this collection of over 45,000 objects including a beautiful collection of English delftware drug storage jars amongst which is the oldest known dated piece.

Visit www.rpharms.com/about-pharmacy/our-museum.asp for more information.

The Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain also features in our Learning section.

Contact Us

The Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
1 Lambeth High Street
London
SE1 7JN
Tel. 020 7572 2210
museum@rpharms.com

FREE Museum tours. Please contact us to book.
Group visits by appointment.

FREE admission

Visitor Information

Opening Hours
Ground floor displays open to visitors, Monday-Friday, 9:00-17:00
Open to researchers Monday-Friday, 9:00-17:00 by appointment.

Accessibility: Wheelchair access to all areas. Large print information sheets available on request.

Vauxhall, Waterloo

Lambeth North, Vauxhall, Waterloo

3, 77, 344, 507, C10

Exhibitions

GOING UP IN SMOKE

Smoking and pharmacy:

a display charting both tobacco’s past uses as medicinal treatment and the anti-smoking therapies of today

Friday 9 March 2012 – Thursday 28 February 2013

Further details

Going Up In Smoke has over twenty objects on display, including an 18^th century Dutch Delftware tobacco jar, cigarettes with ingredients such as arsenic and cannabis reputed to relieve respiratory conditions, drug treatments from the 1960s and 1970s designed to help the smoker to quit, nicotine replacement therapies first used in the late 1980s up to the most NHS Smoke Free Quit Kit. There is a handout with extensive background information and a full description of all the treatments and other exhibits.

This display is part of an exhibition on the history of pharmacy and of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society located on the ground floor Reception of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society headquarters at 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN open to the public Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm.

Admission is FREE.

Visit your local community pharmacy for advice, support and practical help in quitting smoking.

www.rpharms.com

A brief history

Christopher Columbus observed men and women smoking tobacco when he landed in Cuba in 1492. Europeans quickly began using the herb for recreational and medicinal purposes. Between 1537 and 1559 at least 14 books mentioning medicinal tobacco were published. Sniffing powdered tobacco was recommended for ulcers, headaches and asthma. Tobacco was also used to treat shortness of breath, kidney stones and stomachache.

Smoking tobacco for pleasure was already popular by the 1600s. However, in 1604 King James I wrote a pamphlet criticising its use called A counterblaste to tobacco. He believed that smokers’ internal organs were being covered in soot and that they were wasting their money.

In 1828, two scientists, Wilhelm Heinrich Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann, analysed the chemical in tobacco, nicotine, and discovered that it was a dangerous poison. In spite of growing concerns, the recreational use of tobacco continued to increase. However the medical use of tobacco began to decline.

In Britain, it took until 1962 for the publication of a report, by the Royal College of Physicians, which explained that smokers were exposing themselves to high risks of serious disease. The report, Smoking and Health, clearly indicted cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer and bronchitis and argued that it probably contributed to cardiovascular disease as well. The publication of the report led to a ban on advertising cigarettes on television from 1965. However, you could still buy cigarettes from pharmacies until 2001. A complete ban on smoking in public places was introduced in England on 1^st July 2007. A ban was already in place in Scotland and Wales.

Pharmacy and today’s anti-smoking therapies

In the 21^st century pharmacists have played an important role in supporting those who wish to give up smoking. Approximately 10 million adults smoke in the UK today but about two thirds say they want to give up. Pharmacists stress that quitting smoking is most successful if it starts with a smoker saying, “I want to give up smoking”. In every pharmacy there is a qualified expert willing to provide help and support to anyone thinking about stopping smoking or ready to quit. The pharmacist can offer not only behavioral and lifestyle advice but also the best-informed guidance on the pharmacotherapy available. Services available include: -

Carbon monoxide testing: this can be beneficial in assessing a smoker’s status providing a pre quit level and a post quit level four weeks later.

Checking for COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease): the spirometer device measures the volume of air expelled in the first second of forced expiration.

Behavioral and lifestyle advice, advice on withdrawal symptom management: the pharmacist can suggest other ways in which the patient can improve their overall wellness.

Drug therapies: NRT, patches, gums, lozenges, micro-tabs, nasal sprays and inhalators.

Each year the No Smoking Day campaign is responsible for helping more than 750,000 people across the UK attempt to quit on the day, and for inspiring another two million to seek out information to help them quit in future.

Visiting a pharmacy for help and advice on how to stop smoking significantly increases the chances of success.

Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum

Contact Us

Visitor Information

Exhibitions

Tell Us About Your Visit