Chemistry/Pharmacy Collection

Chemical and Pharmacognostic Collection

The small Pharmacognostic and Chemical Collections make up a permanent exhibition in twelve display cabinets on floor H of the Auditorium building. These contain various devices, specimens and documents about the history of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the ETH Zurich over the last 100 years.
The Chemical Collection includes old books, various illustrations and photographs, inventories, reagents, colour samples, old spectroscopes, volt meters, viscometers, microscopes and scales.
The Pharmacognostic Collection consists of exhibits to do with the substances that humans enjoy and become addicted to, including a collection of drugs and some copies of old and valuable herbal medicine books and pharmacopoeias from past centuries. You can see instruments and objects which were used around the start of the 20th century by people who smoked tobacco, opium and hashish, chewed betel and coca or used tea, cocoa, coffee, kava, yerba mate and sake, all over the world.

Also on floor H are temporary poster exhibitions on various topics relating to chemistry and pharmacy.

Medicinal Plants Garden

The majority of the approximately 170 species in the Medicinal Plants Garden are official plants that are listed in pharmacopoeias and are available from pharmacies.
However, there are also some plants here which are used exclusively for the extraction of pure substances. You can also see healing plants used in folk medicine, spices, herbal tea plants and a few toxic plants. The plant species are divided into eight groups depending on their main ingredients. Beside each species is a sign giving details of the plant name, family, related drug, main ingredients and use.

Opening hours

Chemical and Pharmacognostic Collection
Mon–Fri: 8 am–8 pm

ETH Zurich
Campus Science City 
Auditorium HCI, H Floor

Medicinal Plants Garden
Open at all times

ETH Zurich
Campus Science City
between HCI and HPH
Outdoor section

Contact

ETH Zurich
Dr. Barbara Brauckmann
Departement of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences
Campus Science City
Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 10
8093 Zurich

Tel. +41 44 632 60 81
brauckmann@chem.ethz.ch

Chemistry/Pharmacy Collection