37

References DORMANDY, T. L. (I958). In Modern Trends in Gastroentero:ogy, edited by F. Avery Jones, 2n,j A:-;DREWS, L. G. (1954). Arch. Dis. Child., 29, 455. ser:es, p. 1I8. Butterworth, London. BAILEY, D. (1957), Br;t. med. J., 2, 433. JEGHERS, H., McKuSICK, V. A., and KATZ, K. H. BARTHOLOMEW, L. G., MooRE, C. E., DAHLIN, D. 1949)· New Engl. J. Med., 241, 993; 1031. C., and \\" AUGH, J. M. (1962) Surg. Gynaec. MASSIMO, L. (1959). M:ne:-va Ped., II, 1II6. Obst., II5, 1. PEUTZ, J. L. A. (1921). Nederl. Maandrschr. .. CHR1STIAENS, L., FONTAINE, G., DEFOORT, (~. Geneesk, ID, 134· (1959). Arch. Fr. Paed., 16, 963. \\'ENZL, J. E., BARTHOLOMEW, L. G., HALLENBECK, DORl>IANDY, T. L., and EDwARDs, J. H. (1956). G. A., and STICKLER, G. B. (1961). Paediatrics, Gastroentero:ogia, 86, 456. TB, 655. DORMANDY, T. L. (1957). New Engl. J. Med., 25ti, V\'ILLIAMS, J. P., and KNUDSE:-;, A. (1965). Gut, 1093. vol. 6, 2, 179.

PHARMACISTS AND POLITICS IN MALTA IN THE 18th and 19th CENTURIES

P. CASSAR M.D., B.Sc., (MALTA), D.P.M., F.R.HIST.S.

Consultant Psychiatrist Health Department Teacher in C,/inical Psychiatry Royal University of Malta.

The autocratic rulers of the Order of one time teacher of matnematics to the st. John of Jerusalem allowed no overt pages of the Grand Master, together with political activity during the two-and-a-half a priest from Floriana, Don Gaetano Man­ centuries of their domain over the Maltese narino, assembled in the vicinity of the Islands. Signs of unrest first occurred in church of St. Publius with four hundred 1560 when a number of citizens met followers. The pretext was that of render­ secretly and drew up a petition to Philip ing thanks to the Almighty by Don II, King of Spain, to whom they appealed Gaetano Mannarino for the recovery of his to induce Grand Master Jean de la Valette brother from a very grave illness but in to respect their political rights and pri­ reality the intention was to take posses­ vileges among which was the question of sion of Valletta. The projected rising was, the imposition of taxes. The author of the however, called off at the last moment document was, allegedly, Dr. Joseph when the leaders learned that the govern­ Callus, the first Maltese physcian known ment had got wind of the whole affair and to us, who was arrested with his collabor­ taken the security measures that the ators, condemned to death and hanged situation called for (Laferla, 1926). (Cassar, 1965). Among the conspirators there were a No other political stirrings on the physician from Valletta, who remains part of the Maltese came to ruffle the anonymous, and who lived in Floriana but regime of the Knights of St. John until later moved to Birkirkara (Callus, 1961 a); two hundred years later when preparations and an apothecary from Floriana, Pas quale for a revolt were hatched. On the 31st Balzan. December 1772 a certain Giuseppe Zahra, We first hear of Pasquale Balzan in 38

February 1764 when he applied to the pike on St. James Cavalier on the 13th/ Grand Master for permission to run a 14th September 1775 (Callus, 1961 b). pharmacy at Floriana under the direction The next political episode in our his­ of "an approved and matriculated pharma­ tory occurred in 1798. In that year the cist". His request was granted as he had Order of St. John was expelled from Malta assured the Medical College that he would by the French under Napoleon, who do so with the assistance and under the captured the Island. direction of the pharmacist Aloisio Cocchi, The French period was brief and until he himself had finished his studies turbulent. The Maltese soon became dis­ and "passed the usual examination" in satisfied with the new regime and rose pharmacy. against the French whom they blockaded Balzan had begun his apprenticeship in Valletta and the three cities for two with the pharmacist Giuseppe Felici at years. The apothecary M. Falzon of the Floriana, then went to continue his studies village of Attard, who lived through those at Palermo, Naples and Rome where he confused times, complains of the "sick­ was examined and awarded the certificate ness, mortality, desolation, lice, debts, of pharmacist (privilegio d'aromatario) by anxieties and sadness" which he had to the thirteen pharmacists and three physi­ contend with. He describes the state of cians composing the College of Rome, on the Island as being so chaotic as to be the 21st June 1766. On his return to Malta nothing less than una Babilonia tra tutti, in Augusi: of the same year he obtained the in tutto e per tutto (a Babel among us all, licence to exercise his profession and keep in everything and everywhere). He not a pharmacy in Floriana in his own name only had to bear the brunt of personal (Archives 1190 and 1191, RML). tragedy through the loss of his brother A second attempt at a rebellion was and of his wife and the ruin of his business made in 1775. Pas quale Balzan with an un­ but also suffered poltical persecution at named pharmacist from the Holy Infirmary the hands of the French and their partisans again appears among the followers of Don (Ms. 756, RML). He has left us no detailed Gaetano Mannarino during the so-called , records of this persecution but we possess "Rising of the Priests" who demanded the other documents relating to similar restoradon of national privileges and a charges which another colleague had to reduction in the price of bread. Pas quale face at this period. Balzan, with a handful of men, succeeded He was the pharmacist Francesco in taking possession of St. James Cavalier Pisani, the owner of a pharmacy in Strada in Valletta, while Mannarino with another Reale, Senglea. The informers against group of insurgents captured Fort St. Pis ani described his pharmacy as a "club" Elmo. The uprising was quickly quelled by where persons met during the night in the Grand Master and Knights of St. John. summer "to disturb the neighbours with Pasquale Balzan was arrested and im­ the playing of musical instrumeni:s and prisoned in the Castellania (now the office singing". The place was also the resort of of the Health Department) and charged priests, disgruntled French officers, "bad with high treason, but a legal point characters and many discontented and un­ cropped up with regard to the court bridled youths". In this "club", Pis ani was procedures. alleged to have plotted, together with the Balzan, besides being a pharmacist, physicians Michele Adriano, Giovanni was also a oleric. Having received minor Bruno and Gaetano Pisani, to assassinate orders, he enjoyed ecclesiastical immunity General Vaubois and oust the French from and could not, therefore, be prosecuted by Malta. These conspirators were said to the Civil Tribunals. The Grand Master, . have planned to send a Maltese boat in however, refused to hand him over to the search of the British naval units that were Episcopal Court for trial and ordered his cruising in the vicinity of the Island to execution with the other rebels. Balzan invite them to enter our ports on the 10th was strangled to death in the Castellania, August 1798. The sight of the British Fleet and beheaded. His head was impaled on a was to serve as a signal for an armed 39 revolt against the French. The ultimate transfer of the sovereignity of Malta to aim of the conspirators was to set up a Great Britain. new independent republic. For his services during the blockade Francesco Pisani and Michael Adriano he was awarded the Patria liberata gold were arrested and submitted to trial. Both medal by Sir Alexander Ball and also a of them protested their innocence of the scroll testifying to his zeal and bravery in charges brought up against them. They the defence of the Island. After retiring were not only pro-French but they were from public life owing to ill health (Stel­ proud of being members of the National lini, 1962 a), he went back to his phar­ Guard (Archivio Corte Civile, Malta). Un­ macy but did not cease to take an active fortunately we do not know how this trial interest in the social and political life of ended and what happened to Pis ani and his village. Indeed between 1801 and 1803 Adriano as the records of the legal pro­ he was engaged in defending the rights of ceedings are incomplete. It appears, how­ the people of Qormi against the auto­ ever, that they escaped a judicial death as cratic administration of the Luogotenente their names have not been traced in the Manwel Gellel. Gatt died on the 4th March Registers of Deaths of the Parish Church 1811 (Cardona, 1952). His pharmacy of Senglea (Burlo', 1963). passed into the hands of the apothecary More is known about another phar­ Giorgio Galdes whose father had married macist wh.o has left his imprint on the a Gatt. This pharmacy was still in existence history of this epoch. He was Stanislaus at No. 1 St. Catherine Street, Qormi, until Gatt who at first accepted public office about 1853 (Stellini, 1962 b). under the French but later turned against Politics again obtruded themselves in­ them. Born about 1744, he studied phar­ to the life of apothecaries towards· the macy at the Holy Infirmary of Valletta. mid-century when some of the pharmacaies After qualifying in 1770 he set up in prac­ of Valletta came very prominently in the' tice at Qormi, having bought the phar­ public eye. A characteristic feature ofohr macy of the aromatario Ignazio Cascin of times is the great number of clubs in our that village (Arch. 1192, RML) where Gatt towns and villages that cater for a variety lived for the next forty years. of tastes and interests. No such develop­ He entered public life in 1770 when ment had yet taken place in the mid-nine- . he was appointed Jurat of Qormi. By 1798 teenth century. In the absence of such he had risen to the rank of Syndic. When facilities for companionship and for the ex­ the French soldiers occupied Qormi they change of views, the rudiments of political ransacked his home but he was retained club-life were being fostered by the phar­ in office with the title of President of the macies of the time. Indeed it has already Municipality of Qormi and Luqa. His sym­ been seen how, at the close of the 18th pathies, however, were never with the cntury, a Senglea pharmacy was described French and when the Maltese insurrection as a "club". Pharmacies continued to 'play broke out he was chosen by the insurgents this role in the succeeding century when to be President of the Blockade Committee they formed the rendez-vous of groups of and Commander of the Qormi Battalion. professional and cultured men who wended In his new role as leader of his village, he their way to the apothecary's in the even­ incurred heavy financial expenses in his ing to while away their leisure hours and efforts to obtain the necessary grain from to discuss the news and political topics of Sicily to feed his soldiers and the people the day. Those were times of social and of Qormi. He realised that it was not political unrest and turmoil in Europe. enough to expel the French from Malta Events on the continent, on which Malta but that it was equally vital to bring the depended for its commerce and sustenance, Island under a powerful protecting power. were followed with avid interest in the For this reason he put his signature to a Island. Attention was particularly focussed petition addressed to the King of Sicily in on southern Italy and on Sicily - these which the Maltese leaders asked for the states being the nearest to us geographic- 40 ally, culturally and commercially. The It published the paper L'Avvenire between Italian peninsula was then the scene of 1849 and 1852 when it ceased to appear frequent armed risings. Many Italians and following the Bishop's censure. Sicilians were driven away from their Schinas's pharmacy fell under a cloud homes by fear of persecution. Both revolu­ in 1850. Those were the days when poli­ tionary and reactionary refugees made tical grievances on the part of citizens Malta their temporary residence between were made known to government by means 1821 and 1861 and found staunch sym­ of public petitions and memorials for which pathisers among both the liberal and the their promoters sought to obtain the great­ conservative elements of Maltese profes­ est number of signatures. The Farmacia sional men. It is not to be wondered at, della Carita, the Farmacia della Pieta therefore, that the pharmacies pai:ronised (known also as Missierna) and the Far­ by these professional habitues gained macia Unione were the favourite places notoriety as the meeting places of Italian for the signing of petitions sponsored by and Sicilian refugees and propagandists the Associazione Patriottica Maltese for the liberation and unification of Italy. (L'Ordine, 1850 a). Because of its liberal The pharmacies that came into the principles the Associazione provoked the limelight for their political activities were antagonism of the reactionary Italian those of Giovanni Bardon at 167 Merchants elements who had found refuge in Malta Street; of Vincenzo Duclos at 285, of Arpa and of their Mali:ese sympathizers. One at 240 and 241 and of Dr. C. Schinas at 56 of the loudest opponents of the Associa­ Kingsway, Valletta (Laurenza, 1932). zione was the newspaper L'Ordine which Bardon's pharmacy was one of the pleaded the cause of the Bourbons of the haunts of the renowned Italian liberal Two Sicilies and supported the temporal refugee Nicola Fabrizi (1804-1885) (Man­ power of the Pope. This paper directed its gion, 1962). As head of the association tirades against the Farmacia della Carita, Giovane Italia he operated from Malta and although it never attacked Dr. Schinas, between 1837 and 1864 forging links and it did not spare the pharmacist. The communications between Mazzini in doctor was abroad at the time but when London and a number of Italian political he returned to Malta in October, L'Ordine emigrees in various parts of the Mediter­ grasped the opportunity to remark that ranean (Laferla, 1938). Though opposed Dr. Schinas, being a government employee by reactionary elements and dogged by and a person esteemed for his gentlemanly Bourbon spies in Malta he never ceased character, had every interest to see that to fight for the unity and independence of his pharmacy was managed with honour Italy and in the 1864 was among those who and decorum. The paper also expressed the welcomed Garibaldi to Malta (Bonello, hope that he would send away from his 1963). establishment all those persons who had Schinas's pharmacy, also known as made it their "club". Though Schinas was Farmacia della Carita', was run by the of a liberal frame of mind, he had no inten­ pharmacist Emanuele Maria Borg "a man tion of getting involved in the political of proved ability and for many years agitations of his time. Weeks later, there­ assistant pharmacist of the Civil Hospital" fore, he took a more drastic step than that (Il portafoglio maltese, 1840). He was a suggested by the newspaper - in fact member of the Associazione Patriottica nothing less than the closing down of his Maltese which had been founded on the pharmacy in December of the same year 5th November 1848 for "the advancement (L'Ordine, 1850 b). of the people" in politics and public moral­ With the unification of Italy in 1861 ity. Under the presidency of Dr. Gio Carlo and the return of Italian and Sicilian Grech Delicata M.D., it survived until the refugees to their country, Maltese phar­ 31st July 1852 when it was dissolved. macies ceased to be the foci of Italian (Fiorentini, 1966). It supported the Italian propaganda and political activity; but liberals and the unity of Italy and echoes of those days still reverberated in opposed the temporal power of the Papacy. 1872. Indeed we read that in that year a 41 man was cudgelled by a doctor in Arpa's CARDONA, G. (1952). Il-Malti, March, p. 10; Times pharmacy for allegedly being an "impostor of Malta, 4th March p. 4. and a supporter of Garibaldi" (La Fenice, CASSAR, P. (1965). Medical History of Malta, 1872). London, p. 19. In subsequent years a number of FIORENTlNl, B. (I966). Malta rifugio di esuli, Malta, P·148. pharmacies eventually got involved in the Il portafoglio maltese (1840), 15th June, p. 927. web of Maltese party politics. This align­ La Fenice (1872), 7th September p. 2 and 14th ment into opposite ideological camps September p. J. lasted well into the present century and LAFERLA, A. V. (1938). Brit:sh Malta, Vol. I, Malta, was only brought to an end by the out­ pp. 63, 186 and 251. break of the Second World War in 1939 LAFERLA, F. (1926). Una giustizia storica, Rome, and by the changed social, economic and pp. 15-20, 60-68 and 79. political orientations of the post-war L'Ordine (1850 a), 28th September p. 450 and 5th years. October p. 458. L'Ordine (1850 b), 20th July p. 370 and 27ch References July p. 378, 14th Sep~ember p. 433, 19th October p. 473, 28th December p. 554· Arch:ves II90, fo1. 461, Royal Malta Library. LAURENZA, V. (1932). Archivio storico di Malta, Vot. Archives II9I, fol. 69, RML. Ill, Rome, p. 143. Fior del mondo, Vol. Vl. Archives II92, fol. 86, RML. Tarino, p. 466. Archivio Corte Civile, Sezione Reg. Francese, In­ MANGION, J. (1962). Personal communicatIon quot­ carichi Criminali I798-99, Armadio 39, Malta. ing a letter from Giorgio Catania :to Nicola Fabr'zi BONNELLO, V. et al. (1963). Echi del risorgimento a preserved in the Musco del Risorgimento at Malta, Malta, pp. 68 and 138. Rome. BURLO', J. C. (1963). The Very Rev. Archpriest, Ms. 756, no pagination, RML. Senglea. Personal communication, 26th February. STELLIN1, P. (1962 a). Document in his poss :s­ CALLUS, P. (1961 a). The Ris;ng of the Priests, s:on. Malta. p. Q7. STELL1NI, P. (1962 b). Personal communication, 12,;} CALLUS, P. (1961 b). Op. cit., pp. 23-32, 88-89. May.