Organization of mineral searches in the Urals by the chief pharmacist of the Yekaterinburg pharmacy L. H. Meinders, commissioned by the Medical Chancellery (1742)

Identificator

EDN: TIFBCN; УДК: 94(470.5)

Authors

Safronova Alevtina Mikhailovna – Doctor of History, professor of the Department of Records Management, Archival Science and the History of Public Administration, Ural Federal University n. a. the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin. Russia, Yekaterinburg. ORCID: 0000-0002-4692-3025. E-mail: alevtina.safronova@gmail.com

Journal

HERALD OF HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION №2 (42), 2026

Section

GENERAL HISTORY

Pages

9-18

Abstract

This study reveals for the first time an attempt to replace some of the minerals used in medicine to treat illnesses, imported into Russia from abroad, with domestically produced minerals mined in the Urals. The primary implementer of this important task was the chief pharmacist of the Yekaterinburg pharmacy, Bergmeister Ludwig Christian Meinders. This article examines his contribution to organizing mineral prospecting in the Urals in 1742, and also demonstrates the role of the central medical and mining authorities in Russia, including the Ural Chancellery, in this effort. It is established that the initiative to search for four minerals–rock crystal, bloodstone (hematite), magnetite, and white mica, weighing up to 20 poods – came from the Medical Chancellery, which proposed to the General Berg-Directory that Meinders, who headed the Yekaterinburg pharmacy, be engaged for this purpose. It was Meinders who developed and presented a mineral exploration program to the Ural authorities, supervised the operation, and spent four months with hired workers, traveling hundreds of miles, surveying the sites of their first finds, and discovering new deposits. More than 76 poods (1.4 tons) of minerals, more than three times the requested amount, were mined, sorted, packaged, and shipped by water to Moscow in the spring of 1743 with an iron caravan. It has been established that Meinders personally contacted the Medical Chancellery, requesting new samples of white clay and proposing to continue the mineral search and significantly expand their range to include precious stones. It is shown that the Mining Collegium supported Meinders's proposals, obliging the Ural authorities to assist him. The materials presented in this article will be used in writing a monograph dedicated to the history of Yekaterinburg's first pharmacy (1734–1750).

Keywords

Medical office Urals minerals L. H. Meinders.

Recieved

12.05.2026

Published

05.06.2026

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