THE PLAGUE EPIDEMIC IN MOSCOW AND THE APTEKARSKII PRIKAZ (APOTHECARY CHANCERY) (SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER 1654)

Abstract

The article deals with to the epidemic of plague in Moscow in 1654 and the reaction to it of the Aptekarsky Prikaz (Apothecary Chancery), a Russian state institution in the 17th century, which was responsible for the medical sphere. The source analysis of the documents of this department shows that it practically did not interfere with the situation in the capital and was engaged only in supplying medicaments and doctors to the army which was at that moment at war in Europe. It did not begin to make the first efforts to identify and treat the sick until three years later, in 1657