Performing experiments is today a well-established tool for exploring the natural world and for increasing our knowledge about it. Although considered a hallmark of what we today call science, practical experimentation has not generally formed a standard part of the methodological tool kit for historians of science. Despite the pioneering work carried out in the second half of the twentieth century, only in the last few years-perhaps as a result of the so-called "material turn" in historical studies-has the topic of reproducing or reworking historical processes and experiments emerged on a larger scale as a complementary means of historical inquiry within the history of science and technology. 1 Indeed, a certain historiographical shift may now be taking place, heralding a broader acceptance and embrace of the methods of reproducing historical experiments and reworking historical practices. Given the notoriety that the method is now achieving, it is worthwhile to
Historians of science and medicine have rarely applied themselves to reproducing the experiments and practices of medicine and pharmacy. This paper delineates our efforts to reproduce "Swedish Bitters," an early modern composite medicine in wide European use from the 1730s to the present. In its original formulation, it was made from seven medicinal simples: aloe, rhubarb, saffron, myrrh, gentian, zedoary and agarikon. These were mixed in alcohol together with some theriac, a composite medicine of classical origin. The paper delineates the compositional history of Swedish Bitters and the medical rationale underlying its composition. It also describes how we go about to reproduce the medicine in a laboratory using early modern pharmaceutical methods, and analyse it using contemporary methods of pharmaceutical chemistry. Our aim is twofold: first, to show how reproducing medicines may provide a path towards a deeper understanding of the role of sensual and practical knowledge in the wider context of early modern medical culture; and second, how it may yield interesting results from the point of view of contemporary pharmaceutical science.
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