The local hospital in the French town of Baugé, built in 1675, was a hard-wrought refuge for the ailing poor. But cast aside any grim visions of desperate hovels and wizened mountebanks: despite all the suffering it saw, the building was strikingly opulent, with a baroque apothecary hidden away at its heart. Still perfectly preserved with all its original pillboxes, jars and intricate herb cases, the chamber is a moment in medical history, bottled
