Stockholm, Sweden
Normalm & Sodermalm
After this morning's breakfast, we headed off to the Swedish Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences located in Stockholm city on Normalm. This was very close to us, and we managed to arrive about an hour early as we didn't really know how long it would take us to find the place. Thus, we went around the corner to get Josh some coffee and await 9am. Just before 9am, we got back to SAPS (they don't call it that, btw). We met Birgitta Karpesjo in the lobby.
She gave us a short presentation about SAPS, its history and purpose. After that, we were introduced to the SAPS magazine staff and talked to them for awhile about pharmacy in the US. They weren't pharmacists, just journalists, so they were very interested to know about how we practice in the US. After that, we got to the fun/nerdy part of the day where we went through the SAPS Pharmacy Museum. This was really neat. There were old pharamcy signs, paraphernalia, equipment, furniture, and containers. A lady who used to be a director at the Uppsala University took us around.
The first pharmacy in Sweden was originally in Stockholm. The first pharmacist was actually German. Thus, pharmacy was highly influenced by Germany in the beginning. The pharmacy began by selling medicines which could not be used for the royalty to the poor. We got to see the furniture which came from the pharmacy which administered practical exams. This furniture was dark wood with ivory inlay.
Another level was a model of what a pharmacy would have looked like long ago. There was the front room where the patients would come to get their medications filled. This room held two large wooden cabinets fully equipped with the tools a pharmacist would need to package the medication. There were also several examples of balances for weighing. Before small weights were developed (like the ones we use in compounding class), cups were filled with tiny lead pellets and used to tare the bottle or other container. Then the appropriate amount of medication was added. This room was very ornately decorated for the benefit of the patients.
The next room was a storeroom. Bottles and tins still contained examples of ingredients used in pharmacies. We got to smell a few---one by the name of Devil's feces...and boy, did it smell like it!
The next room was where the medications were made. There were a variety of tablet making apparatuses. We saw suppository molds. There were examples of old capsules. There were also special glass containers where silver nitrate was poured in order to distinguish it from hydrochloric acid. There were also examples of old mortar and pestles. These were very large and used to crush, chop, and grind up plant parts to obtain the medicinal products from them. There were various other cutting tools to aid in this process.
The next room was very small and contained a laboratory. Old pharmacies would have collaborated together in order to make sure that their products were the same. Also, there were very few substances at this time, so products could be distinguished by smell and color.
The next room was very much like a kitchen--although that could have been because an old kitchen was used to display these items. It was where products like mustard plaster were made. Large pots were needed to heat the mixture to ensure that the product was homogenous.
The final room showed us the history of the discovery of medications. We saw opium, morphine, digitalis, and many others. We also saw the plant from which the carat weight system is derived. This plant's seeds are so consistent in weight that the carat can be used as a measure of weight.
Carl Wilhelm Scheele was a major part of the history of pharmacy in Sweden. He discovered oxygen, molybdenum, and many other substances. His tools were very simple--just a distillation apparatus. The SAPS now awards the Scheele Award every other year for advances in drug therapy. Three of the Scheele Award winners have later received Nobel Prizes for their accomplishments, but they received the Scheele Award first, of which the SAPS is very proud =).
After the museum tour, we were taken to lunch by Birgitta and one of her colleagues to a Konditori (which I think means cafeteria...?). I had a baked potato with shrimp mix. Josh had roast beef with potatoes. Lunch was great, and afterwards, we set off to explore more of the city.Birgitta gave us a lot of tips on what to see while we are in Stockholm. We took her advice and headed to the island of Sodermalm to take the Katarina Hissen. Alas, the Hissen (Elevator) didn't appear to be operating at the time. We found an alternative route and managed to look out over the bridge which connects the Hissen with the top of the hill on Sodermalm anyhow. From there, we walked by the churches of the city.
Katarina Kyrkan
The oldest water tower in Stockholm
Then we found a little coffee shop and stopped in for a fika (a coffee break) and some dessert. I had a little chocolate cake and hot chocolate; Josh had lemon cheesecake and coffee.
After a stroll around Sodermalm, we hopped back on the Tunnelbana and went to see the largest department store in all of Stockholm--NK. I shopped around a bit while Josh read a book in the cafe upstairs. This is sort of like a Macy's, only bigger. There was actually a fabric and yarn store in there! I looked for some fabric for my mother, but I couldn't find anything that really caught my eye. I thought about buying some yarn, but the kind I liked was about $15 so I refrained.
St. Jakob's Kyrkan which is near the NK and Gallerian (mall) on the Kungsgarden (King's garden park).
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