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X-ray powder diffraction of mineral pigments and medicines from the 17th century pharmacy (Spezieria) Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2018

Giovanni Cavallo  and
Maria Luisa Vázquez de Ágredos Pascual
Giovanni Cavallo*
Affiliation:
Institute of Materials and Constructions, University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Supsi, Campus Trevano, 6952 Canobbio, Switzerland Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Pavia, via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Maria Luisa Vázquez de Ágredos Pascual
Affiliation:
Faculty of History and Geography, University of Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibañez 28, 46010 Valencia, Spain
*
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: giovanni.cavallo@supsi.ch
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Abstract

The pharmacy (spezieria) Santa Maria della Scala was founded in Rome by the Discalced Carmelites Order in the 17th century, and during the 18th and 19th centuries it became the official supplier of medicines for Vatican Popes. The laboratory and the cases of this spezieria still preserve glass jars with organic and inorganic materials, which were presumably used for medicine and artistic material preparation, whose composition is unknown to date. A research project was initiated with the aim to study the stored materials and the role that the pharmacy played in regional, national and international contexts. In this manuscript, the compounds were analysed through X-ray powder diffraction with the scope to derive the quantitative mineralogical composition of the inorganic fraction, their possible use in pharmacopoeias and as mineral pigments. Most of the analysed samples are salts (sulphates, chlorides, carbonates, phosphates, borates, sulphides), sulphates being the predominant class; oxides were also detected.

Keywords

arcanitemineral medicinesmineral pigmentspharmacyspezieria
Type
Technical Article
Information
Powder Diffraction , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 270 - 278
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Copyright
Copyright © International Centre for Diffraction Data 2018 

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