0:00:02 > 0:00:06Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire revives the sights, sounds and smells
0:00:06 > 0:00:09of the 19th century.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12At its heart stands the pharmacy, a treasure house of potions
0:00:12 > 0:00:15and remedies from a century and a half ago.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20Now, in a unique experiment, historian Ruth Goodman,
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Professor of Pharmacy Nick Barber
0:00:22 > 0:00:27and PhD student Tom Quick have opened the doors to the Victorian pharmacy,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31recreating a high street institution we take for granted,
0:00:31 > 0:00:35but which was once a novel idea.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39They're bringing the pharmacy to life, sourcing ingredients,
0:00:39 > 0:00:45mixing potions and dispensing cures. But in an age when skin creams contained arsenic
0:00:45 > 0:00:50and cold medicines were based on opium, the team need to be highly selective.
0:00:50 > 0:00:57They're only trying out safe versions of traditional remedies on carefully-selected customers.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02The start was like the Wild West. People didn't know what was good and bad.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04Try and get a bit of speed up. There we go.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09The pharmacy was something that affected everybody's lives in one way or another.
0:01:09 > 0:01:15They're discovering an age of social change, that brought healthcare within the reach of ordinary people
0:01:15 > 0:01:21for the very first time, heralding a consumer revolution that reached far beyond medicine
0:01:21 > 0:01:25to create the model for the modern high street chemist as we know it today.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The team are about to face their biggest challenge yet -
0:01:39 > 0:01:42adapting to new laws which regulated their trade for the very first time.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven...
0:01:45 > 0:01:48In the first half of Queen Victoria's reign,
0:01:48 > 0:01:53no professional qualifications were required to run a pharmacy.
0:01:53 > 0:01:57Actually, it was the most dangerous shop in a town or village, absolutely, by far,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00because of the range of materials which were in there.
0:02:00 > 0:02:07Realising the dangers, a few select pharmacists set up the Pharmaceutical Society,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11as a pressure group calling for regulation of the trade.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Look at this - rat poison, in a chemists!
0:02:14 > 0:02:18"Contains the most powerful arsenic poison!"
0:02:18 > 0:02:20I hate to think what's on this fly paper.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22Oh, probably arsenic.
0:02:22 > 0:02:28The most immediate impact the Society had was in raising awareness amongst pharmacists themselves.
0:02:28 > 0:02:34They needed to be more responsible and safety conscious about the hazards on their shelves.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36We have poison in the window.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38We'd better take that out.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Oh, look at this - double cyanide gauze.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43There's so many things that are dodgy.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46And all these powders in all the drawers, as well.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50There's so many different things that might explode at any moment.
0:02:50 > 0:02:55What I find most disturbing though is all these things aimed at babies and children, you know?
0:02:55 > 0:02:58All these poisons and opiates - particularly the opiates.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02- Awful.- By the end of the period we're looking at we've got heroin coming along.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05That was supposed to be an improvement on morphine because
0:03:05 > 0:03:09- it's just a chemical manipulation of morphine to make heroin. - That's sort of our stock in trade.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14You come to a pharmacist because they've got the weird, wonderful, strange, odd, the hard to get...
0:03:14 > 0:03:17- Yeah, and they're powerful. - Everything. Completely unregulated.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Anyone could sell these things, really.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25- I think some legislation is long overdue in this area.- Yes.
0:03:25 > 0:03:32Experimentation with new synthesised chemicals often provided problems as well as solutions.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38New toxic products were in high demand, thanks to their powerful cleaning properties.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Many of the stain removal products, extremely dangerous things.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Things like oxalic acid, borasic acid, sulphuric acid
0:03:45 > 0:03:49were all recommended in household manuals as methods
0:03:49 > 0:03:50of dealing with dirt.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56Metals like antimony and lead were used in manufacturing,
0:03:56 > 0:04:01while mercury was used in the making of felt hats, turning people "mad as a hatter."
0:04:03 > 0:04:09Arsenic, a cheap by-product from the mining industry, was the most common poison.
0:04:09 > 0:04:14Crop sprays, candles, skin creams and rat poisons all contained arsenic,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18and it provided the most effective way to colour a product green.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22Green wallpaper - such a fashionable colour for wallpaper -
0:04:22 > 0:04:27Paris Green, made of arsenic. The dyes in peoples' dresses could be poisonous,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30so you could be absorbing arsenic through your skin
0:04:30 > 0:04:34as you were wearing your best dress, in its lovely fashionable greenness.
0:04:35 > 0:04:42Deaths from accidental arsenic poisoning were so common that an Arsenic Act was introduced in 1851,
0:04:42 > 0:04:45allowing only a select few to sell the poison.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47Among them were pharmacists,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51but there was still no law requiring them to be qualified.
0:04:54 > 0:05:00Nick is exploring the few measures that were in place in the pharmacy to prevent accidental poisonings.
0:05:00 > 0:05:06He's joined by Ian Burney, senior lecturer in the history of medicine at Manchester University.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08You can see a couple out here.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11These are ribbed bottles, aren't they?
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Why is the bottle ridged?
0:05:13 > 0:05:15As you see, there are so many bottles here.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19One of the ways in which a pharmacist, in reaching for a bottle,
0:05:19 > 0:05:26might be able to know, just by touch, whether it's poison or not is to make them distinctly ribbed.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29The place to go for an antidote was the pharmacy.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32- Poisonings must have been an issue in those cases?- Absolutely.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34There are two categories of poisoning.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37One is accidental poisoning, of which there were many more.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41The things that captured headlines, the newspaper-reading public,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43were cases of criminal poisoning.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49Over the course of the 19th century there were roughly 500 poisoning cases that were tried.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54Arsenic was used in 45% of criminal poisonings in the 19th century.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59Often purchased from the pharmacy as fly papers or rat poison.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Among the more disturbing cases were those of infanticide
0:06:02 > 0:06:08by parents reaping the benefits of insurance policies known as "burial clubs".
0:06:08 > 0:06:11There are a number of cases, especially in the 1840s,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15in which a working class mother
0:06:15 > 0:06:20is charged with having signed her infants up,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23not to just one burial club, but two, three, four -
0:06:23 > 0:06:27this is again, like poisons, unregulated, or under regulated -
0:06:27 > 0:06:30then delivering the child
0:06:30 > 0:06:36unto death, with arsenic in particular, right?
0:06:36 > 0:06:39- So, killing them? - And then killing them.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Then claiming the money, right?
0:06:41 > 0:06:45And, um, you can make a tidy sum on this.
0:06:45 > 0:06:52New laws like the Arsenic Act had only a limited effect in reducing the number of poisoning cases.
0:06:52 > 0:06:58The Pharmaceutical Society continued to pressure the government for stronger legislation.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02They achieved success in 1868 with the Pharmacy Act,
0:07:02 > 0:07:07when the government handed them control of the profession and made qualifications compulsory.
0:07:07 > 0:07:14The Pharmacy Act was symptomatic of what was happening in late Victorian times.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18They were obsessed with measurements, standardisation and regulations.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21So we have lots of other acts, as well.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26We have the Gauge Act in 1845, which set the standard gauge for railways,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28how far apart the rails are.
0:07:28 > 0:07:33And then the Football Association was created in 1863,
0:07:33 > 0:07:38to set the rules for the game, because there was chaos on the pitch sometimes.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43People from one town would play another town and they would be working to different sets of rules.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47And the pharmacists and others must have felt really beset by this.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50In many ways, their freedoms were being taken away.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54In some ways, things don't change that much. I'm one of the officers
0:07:54 > 0:07:58of the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, who regulates pharmacists today,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01and we're still constantly in this debate.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06What's the best way to regulate? What's the limits you put on it
0:08:06 > 0:08:10so that you ensure safety, so that you improve quality?
0:08:10 > 0:08:16But also that you don't stifle freedom and stifle innovation.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19When the regulations were introduced,
0:08:19 > 0:08:24unqualified pharmacists were made to take exams in order to keep trading.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28- Hello, Briony.- Hi.- Hiya!- Hello.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33The team are meeting Briony Hudson, curator of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Museum,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37to find out more about the exams.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40So how would they actually have gone about examining people?
0:08:40 > 0:08:42What would they have done in the exam?
0:08:42 > 0:08:47A written paper on chemistry and physics,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49practical stuff on dispensing.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54- OK.- You'd have to answer quite academic questions about the make up of plants
0:08:54 > 0:08:59and the technical terms, but you'd also have to identify substances.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02A whole range of techniques that they're using to examine people.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05And also, you have to do a Latin paper.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07So I wonder whether you'd like to have a bit of a go?
0:09:07 > 0:09:10Just do an element of the exam, just to see...
0:09:10 > 0:09:12I hope you don't expect too much of us.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15- I don't think we're going to... - I think we should.
0:09:15 > 0:09:21What I'd like to do is use the Materia Medica chest, which the pharmacy students
0:09:21 > 0:09:26would've learnt from, and get you to try and identify some of these unlabelled specimens.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31And just to test your practical skills, I'd like you to go away and make some suppositories...
0:09:34 > 0:09:38- ..then we can judge how good your practical skills are.- Uh-oh!
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Administered through the rectum, suppositories were popular with Victorians
0:09:41 > 0:09:43and favoured by examiners.
0:09:43 > 0:09:49A well-made suppository was easy to distinguish from one that was badly made.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Of the three of them, Ruth feels she has the most to prove.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58I'd always assumed that this sort of, you know, the exams and the
0:09:58 > 0:10:01registering, only really applied to men. Only men were allowed to do it.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06And the Act just forgot to mention that women weren't allowed to do it.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08So, by default, they could.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Yes, absolutely! And a lot of these women were coming out top and winning prizes.
0:10:13 > 0:10:20The arrival of an official examination heralded a new era in the Victorian pharmacy.
0:10:20 > 0:10:26Gone was the old name, "chemist and druggist", with its druggist origins in herbalism.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30From now on, they would be referred to as "pharmaceutical chemists",
0:10:30 > 0:10:33embracing the new science of chemistry.
0:10:33 > 0:10:39But to pass the exam, they needed a thorough knowledge of both disciplines.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43As Ruth is the only one with no pharmaceutical qualifications,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47she'll use the help of both herbalist Eleanor Gallia and scientist Mike Bullivant,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50to give her a chance of succeeding in the exam.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Come on, then!
0:10:52 > 0:10:59They'll have to identify any one of the hundreds of chemicals or herbs a pharmacy stocked on its shelves...
0:11:01 > 0:11:07..as well as completing their practical experiment - making genuine Victorian suppositories.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Women first qualified as pharmacists in 1868.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19Inspired by this, Ruth is developing some new products, to sell in the pharmacy.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22You're making up my zinc oxide for me, Mike?
0:11:22 > 0:11:23I'm just about to start.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Scientist Mike Bullivant, who runs the lab, will help her to extract
0:11:27 > 0:11:31zinc oxide from zinc metal, for a new line of skin creams.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36She already has a customer lined up who suffers from acne,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39and has medical approval to test out the cream.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44- Oh, I remember that stuff from school!- It starts fizzing.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Zinc oxide is one of many chemicals that were new to the pharmacist,
0:11:47 > 0:11:51expanding their scope for commercial gain.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56It's an antibacterial agent still used on the skin today in sun creams and make-up.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Now, be careful about that, because it's hot acid.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02It's an interesting compound. Such a simple compound.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04- Is it?- Simple to make.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08- Is it?- I just keep heating it like that, and stirring it, until all the zinc's disappeared,
0:12:08 > 0:12:10and then what's left is zinc sulphate.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Making skin cream from zinc is a process that requires three chemical stages.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Each of those stages, in turn, produces a useful by-product.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26One of them is calamine, used for treating chicken pox and measles.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Another is a sulphate used to make eye lotion.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35That white solid is zinc sulphate.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37So that's the next bit?
0:12:37 > 0:12:40- Can I do water? Am I allowed water? - Yeah, go on, then! Tip the lot in.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42Tip the lot in, OK.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44All right, now,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48to help that dissolve, that zinc sulphate dissolve in that water, you transfer it...
0:12:48 > 0:12:50- Back on the heat. - Do you want to do that?
0:12:50 > 0:12:52- I can put things on the heat. - Taking my job!
0:12:52 > 0:12:55I know. Well, this bit's only like cooking. I can do that.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59It is. Chemistry is like cooking, it really is.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02The calamine will be created by the next chemical transformation,
0:13:02 > 0:13:06which requires Ruth to apply a series of basic chemistry skills.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08See the unreacted zinc at the bottom?
0:13:08 > 0:13:11- Yeah, I can see all the little bits.- That's hot.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15I'm glad to say, it's not actually hard to do physically, is it?
0:13:15 > 0:13:20- Just...- Oh, I remember pipettes, this is another thing I vaguely remember from my school days.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Just add it, drop-wise.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Yep. Just a drop?
0:13:27 > 0:13:29- Ooh, fizzy!- You see?
0:13:29 > 0:13:33Yeah, I did see that. And I just keep dropping until...?
0:13:33 > 0:13:36The bicarbonate has neutralised the remaining acid.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39- OK, so until it stops fizzing, when it drops in?- Yep.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43Bicarbonate of soda, or baking powder, reacts with the zinc sulphate
0:13:43 > 0:13:48to create the calamine, which chemists know as zinc carbonate.
0:13:48 > 0:13:54We'll get to a point when the bicarb has neutralised all the acid.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Then it will start reacting with the zinc sulphate.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Once it's filtered, the final stage will be to heat the calamine,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04and that will give Ruth the zinc oxide she needs to make her skin cream.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08So, the stuff we want is going to get left in the filter paper?
0:14:08 > 0:14:11That's right. And the liquid that passes through is...
0:14:11 > 0:14:15- Is the discard?- What we don't want.
0:14:16 > 0:14:17- That's largely water.- Is it?
0:14:19 > 0:14:22The particles tend to clog up the filter paper a little bit.
0:14:26 > 0:14:33With a little time on his hands, Tom is taking the opportunity to brush up on his botany before the exam.
0:14:38 > 0:14:43Pharmacists needed to identify all of the plants used in medicine.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48It's kind of really basic knowledge that I have to know what's going to hurt people
0:14:48 > 0:14:52and what effects all these different plants are going to have.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54And how to tell them apart in the first place!
0:14:55 > 0:14:59As fresh plants were used more widely then,
0:14:59 > 0:15:05a Victorian pharmacist needed a more in-depth botanical knowledge than his modern-day counterpart.
0:15:07 > 0:15:09I probably shouldn't have just touched that.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13As far as I understand it, it's foxglove, or Digitalis, which is poisonous.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18Botany formed only one of six parts of the pharmacists' exam.
0:15:18 > 0:15:25Extensive knowledge was also required of all the animal and chemical products used in medicines.
0:15:28 > 0:15:34For the practical part of the exam, Briony has set each of the team a challenge - to make suppositories.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38So, these bigger suppositories...
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Nick is the first to attempt the task.
0:15:44 > 0:15:51Cocoa butter, beeswax, liquorice, olive oil, and hopefully a book which tells me what to do.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56For reference, he turns to the Art Of Dispensing, an instruction manual
0:15:56 > 0:15:59used by pharmaceutical chemists in the late 1800s.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Oh, lovely. Everything's in grains,
0:16:01 > 0:16:07which I can't remember how many grains there are in an ounce.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12The first thing Nick has to do is get the right proportions of cocoa butter and beeswax.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Together, these form the basic compound for the suppository.
0:16:16 > 0:16:23What I'm trying to find is something to give me some sense of the quantities.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26Think I should just sign my letter of resignation now, actually.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30I think the chances of making this work are looking slim.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35"Method: weigh the base, using at least 16 grains for a 15-grain suppository."
0:16:38 > 0:16:40There we are. Bigger than that.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43So, if we put a 1,000 of cocoa butter in the pan.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Maybe 20% of that for beeswax.
0:16:48 > 0:16:50That's a bit too much.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55Last time I made a suppository was probably about 1973.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59Nick adds the liquorice powder to the mix.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04This is the active ingredient, or the laxative part of the suppository.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07We're talking bucket chemistry here.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11There would be no agreement in Victorian times as to the right concentration.
0:17:11 > 0:17:18Probably one pharmacy would have one formulation, another pharmacy would have another.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21There are pharmacists who specialise in these physical skills.
0:17:21 > 0:17:22It's not my area of specialisation.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26But I still have that sense of pride about wanting to be able to make
0:17:26 > 0:17:30a good product, or a reasonable product, at any rate.
0:17:36 > 0:17:37Oh, dear!
0:17:37 > 0:17:38What a way to end your career.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42The moment is nigh.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53There we have some. One, two...
0:17:54 > 0:17:57..three, four.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01- Nick's previous experience has paid off.- Et voila!
0:18:02 > 0:18:07- Ruth?- Yeah?- Do you want to come and have a look at the fruits of our labour?- We're done, are we?
0:18:07 > 0:18:09Look at that.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12Back in the lab, all the zinc carbonate has been extracted,
0:18:12 > 0:18:18and Mike is now showing Ruth the next stage in the process of getting the zinc oxide.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22The zinc carbonate has to be dried, so it forms into a powder...
0:18:22 > 0:18:27I'm just transferring it to a boiling tube.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30..before being heated over a Bunsen burner.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32- Be cruel to that! - Be cruel to that. OK.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38All we're doing with this zinc carbonate, this calamine,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40is to drive off the carbon dioxide.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42And that leaves us with the zinc oxide.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45The brilliant white powder will turn yellow.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Zinc oxide, when it's hot, turns yellow.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56I suppose if you're a working pharmacist, if you've got notes on how to do these processes,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59- that's it, that's your stock in trade, isn't it?- Mmm.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03- Definitely going yellow. - It is. No doubt.- Give it a shake.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09- I think we're ready. - Looks pretty yellow to me.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Just tip it out onto that.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16- Look at that.- Yay, look at that! - Lemon!
0:19:16 > 0:19:20- And to think that we've produced it from...- From that.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24From that to that in a series of remarkably simple procedures.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Yes! Right, come on then, let's go and make this cream.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29It will go white as it cools down.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31I'm pleased with that, thank you.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Oh, it grinds down really quick, doesn't it? That's ever so easy.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Ruth grinds the zinc oxide down to a fine powder...
0:19:40 > 0:19:43I've got rose and lemon and bergamot.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47..and then adds a herbal infusion
0:19:47 > 0:19:51of essential oils, glycerine, and a red dye.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53And look at the colour. Just look at the colour!
0:19:53 > 0:19:55You can see I hardly need any.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Ruth will be trying it on a customer who's looking for an acne cure.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Hello, Bridie. Thank you so much for coming in.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Bridie Lloyd has suffered from acne for five years.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16I've got this lovely zinc ointment here. You need the tiniest bit.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21I think you should have a go. Just on your cheek, yeah? It's looking very, very purple.
0:20:21 > 0:20:22Yeah?
0:20:22 > 0:20:27- I don't think you want to stay looking purple, do you?- No.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29That's something you ought to rub in.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32You see, that has given you quite a bit of colour, oddly.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35- And this side looks both paler and pinker...- Yeah.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38..which I suppose is what they would have been looking for.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43The paler the complexion the better, but they did like colour in the cheeks,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46so you get these stories of Victorian ladies that would pinch
0:20:46 > 0:20:51their cheeks before somebody comes, to try to get a bit of colour.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54A young man coming in the door, "I'll quickly pinch my cheeks,"
0:20:54 > 0:20:57make yourself look a little bit more red, natural and glowing.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01How do you feel about taking it away with you and using it for a few days?
0:21:01 > 0:21:03Yeah, as long as I really don't look purple!
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Thank you ever so much.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13It's the day of the examination.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15That's obviously olive oil.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21Ruth and Tom still have the practical part of the exam to do - making suppositories.
0:21:21 > 0:21:22Suppositories...
0:21:22 > 0:21:29Unlike Nick, a professor of pharmacy, neither of them have ever done anything like this before.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Put it on the weights...
0:21:33 > 0:21:38They're both using the same equipment as Nick, including a set of scales with weights.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44I don't have any weights here, so I can't exactly work out proportions.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49Tom makes a bad start, failing to find his weights.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52I'm kind of guessing that if I chuck all this together,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56then we'll eventually get something I can bind with this stuff.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59I'm sure I've done something drastically wrong.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04With too much beeswax, Tom will have trouble melting his mixture.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06Just how much oil should I put in?
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Ruth shouldn't be adding the olive oil to the mix.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13It's supposed to be used to lubricate the mould.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Damn stuff won't melt.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20Strain it.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23There's bound to be all sorts of stuff in there.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Oh, yeah!
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Tom's finally discovered his weights.
0:22:28 > 0:22:35That is kind of the basic sort of knowledge that everybody would assume you to know.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Messed it up.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44So...
0:22:44 > 0:22:49Ensuring the right medicinal content of the suppositories is only half the job.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51I'm a terrible one for improvising.
0:22:51 > 0:22:57I'm kind of working from a complete and utter position of ignorance.
0:22:57 > 0:23:03The other crucial thing is making sure they're the right shape.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10All we can do now is hope.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18It's the moment of absolute, horrific truth.
0:23:20 > 0:23:21Ooh...
0:23:21 > 0:23:24Oh, no!
0:23:24 > 0:23:26Oh!
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Well, shame me fingers were dirty.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32Half a suppository.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39It's back to the school house and time for Briony Hudson
0:23:39 > 0:23:44to judge their suppositories, for shape, size and firmness.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51So, test one, suppositories.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53That's a nice one!
0:23:53 > 0:23:56- Can I just direct you to the nice ones?- What about this one?
0:23:56 > 0:23:58That one's poorly.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01But you have got one, two, three
0:24:01 > 0:24:04four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve...
0:24:04 > 0:24:06And yes, not badly formed. OK.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08Mine come in a multitude of forms!
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Oh, they do!
0:24:10 > 0:24:13- They're not bad, are they?- Which one's that? That's my good one.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17That's the one you've identified, is it, as the best one?!
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Yeah, that one's less successful, we might say. And next, Tom?
0:24:21 > 0:24:25Um, yes. Not that successful, I don't think.
0:24:25 > 0:24:26I managed to get one and a half.
0:24:26 > 0:24:33- Interesting colour difference, considering the idea is to spread them...- They were bespoke!
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Oh, OK! So this is for a person that's more sick?
0:24:36 > 0:24:38- Exactly.- OK.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41I know he's had some practice, but Nick's do win.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43More produced, and a higher quality.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45So very well done, Nick.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50With plant and chemical substances to identify,
0:24:50 > 0:24:56Ruth is joined for the next test by herbalist, Eleanor Gallia, and scientist, Mike Bullivant.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02Having stronger medical backgrounds, Tom and Nick are taking up the challenge on their own.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08So I've selected a drawer from the Materia Medica teaching cabinet,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12and I'm going to ask each of you, in turn, to identify a few items.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17The drawers of the Materia Medica cabinet contain hundreds of samples of the plants and chemicals
0:25:17 > 0:25:20that a Victorian pharmacist would have had to identify.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25So, could you, for me, identify
0:25:25 > 0:25:26this specimen here?
0:25:27 > 0:25:30You should be able to recognise that, I think.
0:25:30 > 0:25:31What part of the plant is it?
0:25:31 > 0:25:33- No idea what that is.- No?
0:25:33 > 0:25:36Not at all? It's orange peel.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40Well, it's not orange! Clearly, it can't be orange peel, because it's not orange!
0:25:40 > 0:25:44It is used dried, particularly as a flavouring. What about this one?
0:25:44 > 0:25:46What's that one?
0:25:46 > 0:25:51- Is that black pepper?- Absolutely right. Spot on! Well done.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55Tom is hoping his botany revision is going to pay off.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00What about starting with that one there, 67A?
0:26:00 > 0:26:03- It's like resin of some sort.- Yes.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07- I'd say it's some sort of tree gum. - Yeah.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11No, I can't get much closer than that.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15I'd say...oh, what's a gummy sort of tree?
0:26:15 > 0:26:20- A gum tree!- A gum tree. - It's frankincense.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Oh! That's quite good, though.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Not bad. What about this section here?
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Oh, I know this one. This is cardamom pods.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31Very good. Straight to it. Known today for cooking.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33And finally...
0:26:33 > 0:26:39Ruth, Eleanor and Mike should be able to identify all of the substances between them.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43Let's start off with this little vial which you can pick out.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47- Oh no!- Just be careful of the cork. - Oh no, this does look hard.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51- Oh, I know these. That's cochineal beetles.- Absolutely it is, yeah!
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Let's have a go at this one.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59- Barberry.- Barberry?- Like Berberis.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02- I'm going to go with what she says, barberry.- Is that your final answer?
0:27:02 > 0:27:04- That's my final answer. - You're right!
0:27:04 > 0:27:10Briony has an extra test for the budding Victorian chemists.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12So, number one, give the symbolic formulae
0:27:12 > 0:27:15of ammonice carbonas,
0:27:15 > 0:27:20chloroformum, and acidum tartaricum.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23OK, so who's got the answer to question number one?
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Oh yeah, Ruth there in the back row.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29(NH4)2 CO3.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Very good. And the next one.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36Oh really? Ruth again, OK. Chloroformum.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40CHCIL.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44I think you're there. And the third one, tartaric acid. Oh, Ruth again.
0:27:44 > 0:27:45This is hard.
0:27:45 > 0:27:51CH(OH)(COOH)2.
0:27:51 > 0:27:52Quite remarkable!
0:27:54 > 0:27:57So overall in the exam,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02the back row came first, with Nick coming first in the suppository first round.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12Next time on Victorian Pharmacy... As the 19th century progresses,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14so too do the pharmacy's products.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16- That's lovely.- Ooh! Ooh!
0:28:16 > 0:28:20Making aspirin to a 2,500-year-old formula.
0:28:20 > 0:28:21In goes the ether.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26- Nick perfects Victorian caches... - Very chuffed about that.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28..and their own brand perfume gets a mixed response.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33- Mmm.- Not nice, is it? Not nice. I think it's more for you, than me.
0:28:47 > 0:28:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:51 > 0:28:54E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk224