PRODUCTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL AND COSMETIC PREPARATIONS IN PHARMACIES IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA IN THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN PERIOD

In the Austro-Hungarian period (1878-1918) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) an increasing number of modern pharmacies began to open. According to the regulations passed in 1878 and 1907, which regulated the pharmacy activity, the owner of a pharmacy could only be a Doctor of Chemistry or a Master of Pharmacy with a degree from an Austro-Hungarian university. Only a Master of Pharmacy or an assistant with an appropriate diploma would be able to prepare and dispense medications, in accordance with the current pharmacopoeia and list prices. Advertisements for various medications and preparations, mostly made in pharmacies throughout the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, can be found in printed publications from that period. Over time, the local pharmacists also began to advertise the products made in their pharmacies. The existence and availability of certain products were advertised that way, the people were getting used to it and the consumer market was being shaped. Advertisements often contained detailed health problems that could be cured or suppressed by the use of the advertised pharmaceuticals, so it could be said that they partly promoted health and disease prevention, and improvement of the health care system at that time. Pharmacists from BIH who advertised their preparations mostly made cosmetics, certain pharmaceutical drugs and preparations for domestic animals. Some products would be awarded at exhibitions, sold in the Monarchy and beyond, used by prominent people, and the existence of many grateful users would be stated. The cosmetic preparations would eliminate certain skin problems and contribute to the preservation of beauty. Pharmaceutical preparations treated or eliminated a number of different problems, contributed to oral, dental and hair hygiene, and some helped with domestic animals' health problems. This could lead to the conclusion that BIH pharmacists tried, with their knowledge and the offer of preparations they made, to be competitive with the numerous imported products of other pharmacists from the Monarchy who also advertised.