The manuscript Instruktio (1793) was written by the well reputed pharmacist Tobias Mauksch (66) of Kolozsvár/Klausenburg/Cluj for his minor son Johann Martin (10). The collection of well-structured knowledge on the management of the pharmacy „Arany Szarvas” in Marosvásárhely/ Neumarkt a. M./Târgu Mureş was created to provide him a professional guide once he would become a pharmacist and its future owners. The original manuscript in German has not been preserved until today, but a version that was translated into Hungarian and published by Prof. Dr. Julius (Gyula) Orient in 1918 exists. Later in 2012, the Hungarian version got translated into Romanian and English by Dr. László Tuka. With remarkable professionalism, the pharmacist and caring father Tobias Mauksch described all important aspects of pharmacy management including general duties, remuneration of personnel, procurement of raw material, production, storage and sale of drugs. Particular emphasis was put on ensuring the quality of the whole pharmaceutical activity. The manuscript has a strong educational purpose of increasing social competences including relations with patients, doctors and authorities and moreover promotes an ethical attitude of a good bourgeois. Additional paternal advice how to become a successful and happy head of the family, reveal the private concerns of the author as well. The presented instruction represent an early tool of quality assurance in pharmacy and deserves to be analyzed and compared with regulations of the Hapsburg Empire and abroad.
Keywords: Tobias Mauksch – Kolozsvár/ Klausenburg/Cluj – 1793 – pharmaceutical instruction – quality assurance.