Official Edition of the Portuguese Pharmacopoeia, from 1876, published by the National Press.
As an edition intended to keep up with the scientific and technological advancements of medicines and their updates, as well as to guide pharmacists and safeguard public health, the Pharmacopoeia has been published and updated for over two centuries, organized into national, regional, and international Pharmacopoeias.
In general, and particularly from the 18th century onwards, these books emerged as fundamental pharmaceutical literature in a time when such resources were scarce. From supporting literature, they evolved into legally recognized standards, constituting today the official norm with mandatory application.
In the Portuguese context, the first official Pharmacopoeia (General Pharmacopoeia of the Kingdom...) dates back to 1794, drafted by the queen D. Maria I's physician and approved by her. The edition was published by the then-called Royal Printing Press, also responsible for the second edition in 1824.
This 1876 edition, also published by the National Press, was developed by a committee of national experts appointed by King D. Luís, by decree on November 15, 1871, which chose to eliminate the pharmaceutical technical component and focus on presenting medicines and other chemical and botanical substances in alphabetical order. The new Pharmacopoeia replaced the previous Luzitanian Pharmaceutical Code, in effect since the 1830s. The committee's project was approved for publication by decree on September 14, 1876, as it had "conveniently considered and utilized the indications of applicable sciences in their progressive development," making the work "recommendable for the teaching and practice of pharmacy in harmony with the requirements of the time."