Abstract

TEJEDA ROSALES, María Elena et al. Supervision of boticas (drugstores) during the ages XVI and XVII. Rev. mex. cienc. farm [online]. 2014, vol.45, n.3, pp.45-53. ISSN 1870-0195.

There are a few testimonies about the activity of boticarios (apothecaries) and boticas (drugstores) during the early years of the Viceroyalty. The botica was an economically profitable occupation, this created defects and deviations. The authority of the New Spain organized public policies to eradicate and control these harmful activities. Between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there were 3 entities responsible for supervising the pharmaceutical business: • The Cabildo or Ayuntamiento • The Royal Decree of 1535 • The Protomedicato Each one of them, with their own forms of verification and work. In this paper, a discussion of regulatory measures developed by the colonial authorities in New Spain in response to the problem of boticas and boticarios in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is presented.

Keywords : History of pharmacy; boticas y boticarios; novohispana pharmacy.