Historical Continuity or Different Sensory Worlds? What we Can Learn about the Sensory Characteristics of Early Modern Pharmaceuticals by Taking Them to a Trained Sensory Panel.

Early modern medicine was much more dependent on the senses than its contemporary counterpart. Although a comprehensive medical theory existed that assigned great value to taste and odor of medicaments, historical descriptions of taste and odor appears imprecise and inconsistent to modern eyes. How did historical actors move from subjective experience of taste and odor to culturally stable agreements that facilitated communication about the sensory properties of medicaments? This paper addresses this question, not by investigating texts, but by going straight to the sensory impression, which certain substances convey.

Making Early Modern Medicine: Reproducing Swedish Bitters.

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.

Mechanical properties of a permanent dental restorative material based on calcium aluminate.

This paper deals with some important mechanical properties (hardness, dimensional stability, compressive and flexural strength) of an experimental version of a translucent calcium aluminate dental restorative material. All samples investigated have been made from pre-pressed tablets, with a compaction degree of approximately 60%, hydrated using a 0.15 wt % Li salt solution as an accelerator.

Transmittance of a bioceramic dental restorative material based on calcium aluminate.

This article investigates the transmittance of a new ceramic filling material as a function of time, thickness, wavelength, and addition of pigments. In the hardened state the ceramic material is composed of hydrates, calcium aluminate, and glass fillers. The radiopacity of the investigated material is also measured.

Chemical and biological integration of a mouldable bioactive ceramic material capable of forming apatite in vivo in teeth.

Chemically bonded ceramics have several advantages compared with conventional ceramics to be used as biomaterials. Especially the possibilities to harden the material at room temperature and to control the rheology are very beneficial. This paper investigates the interface formed in vivo between a calcium aluminate based dental filling material and teeth.