Dragendorff's reagent: Historical perspectives and current status of a versatile reagent introduced over 150 years ago at the University of Dorpat, Tartu, Estonia.

The well-known Dragendorff's reagent (DR) was introduced by an Estonian-German Professor Johann Georg Noel Dragendorff (1836-1898) in the middle of the 19th century (1866). Dragendorff, who was a full-time professor in pharmacy at the university of Dorpat (Tartu) used his reagent originally for the rapid screening of herbal products to find traces of alkaloids. DR is a solution of potassium bismuth iodide composing of basic bismuth nitrate (Bi(NO₃)₃), tartaric acid, and potassium iodide (KI), and when contact with alkaloids DR produces an orange or orange red precipitate.

The national pharmacopoeias of the Baltic States.

After Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania proclaimed their independence in 1918 and began to create their national health care systems, one of their stated priorities was the formulation and publication of national pharmacopoeias. In order to accomplish this, working groups as well as commissions composed of pharmacists, medical specialists and even linguists had to be formed. The process was long and difficult.

Pharmacy students at the University of Tartu 1802-2010--a historical study.

The aim of this article was to give an historical overview of pharmacy education in Estonia and the social profile of pharmacy students of the University of Tartu (previously Dorpat and Jurjew) during the period 1802-2010. In addition, separate data is presented about female students and students of Estonian ethnicity. During the period observed, 6736 students studied pharmacy in the University of Tartu, of whom 4184 graduated in the specialty.

[Pharmacy textbooks used at the University of Tartu/Dorpat 1802-1918].

An overview about the teaching of pharmacy at the University of Tartu in 1802-1918 is presented based on the exhaustive study of the textbooks used during that period. Textbooks were written by all local pharmacy teachers of the university, some of them (those by Grindel, Giese, Goebel, Dragendorff) were also translated into other languages and used at several universities. The content and structure of the textbook by Giese, printed in six volumes (1808-1811, 2277 pages), is studied in more detail.

[PhD theses at the University of Tartu/Dorpat supervised by Georg Dragendorff 1864-1894].

During 30 years, the professor of pharmacy Georg Dragendorff (1836-1898), who had been invited from Germany, supervised 90 theses of Master of Pharmacy and 87 theses of Doctor of Medicine in Tartu/Dorpat. The present article discusses the authors of these theses, Dragendorff and his co-operation with other university lecturers, the structure of the theses and the regulations of the thesis defence. Analysis of the contents of the theses revealed extensive contacts of the pharmacy of the time with different fields of science.