Pharmacists, patients and payments in the 17th Century Malta

Abstract

The meeting of the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association held in Malta in 1989 provided a convenient vantage point for casting a glance backwards in time on (a) the activities of Maltese pharmacists three hundred years ago, when our Island was dominated by the Order of St John of Jerusalem; and (b) on the kind of materia medica which they handled and dispensed for the sick. The sources on which this paper is based are a number of unpublished manuscript volumes containing the spogli or 11 spoils of members of the Order of St John who died during the 17th century. They are preserved at the Cathedral Museum, Mdina. The spoglio was a kind of inventory of the property, personal belongings, assets and liabilities of the Order's member at his death. It formed part of a dossier containing, among other documents, the requests from various creditors to be paid for services and for goods supplied to him during his life time. The claims for the settlement of the outstanding bills were submitted to the Commissione degli spogli which was made up of two or three dignitaries of the Order. After examining the creditor's claims and ascertaining their validity, the Commission would approve the honouring of the debt.