Abstract
This paper presents the results of chemical tests conducted on the contents of seven 20th Century
medicine containers, mostly from southern Africa, curated at the Ditsong Museum of Culture History.
Our results reveal 56 discreet chemical compounds, most of which are plant secondary metabolites
but including several toxins and a synthetic compound. A range of different ingredients, some of which
could be from plant or animal origin, are implicated in each of the containers. Although most of the
identified compounds have known medicinal and/or nutritional properties, some, like conhydrine, are
toxic to humans, while others, like 1-naphtol, are synthetic and must indicate contamination, probably
introduced during a preparatory stage of manufacture. We contextualise the results in reference
to current knowledge of traditional African pharmacopeia and Materia Medica, which is intimately
articulated within local cultures, customs and world views. Our study provides some new knowledge of
the chemical constituents and possible preparatory contamination of traditional medicines during the
20th Century.