The present paper reports one of the first studies on the identification of natural resins and balsams in modern era drug formulations. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was applied to investigate the composition of ancient remedies and pharmaceutical formulations coming from the Spezieria di Santa Maria della Scala in Rome, founded at the end of the seventeenth century by the Discalced Carmelites. The obtained results highlight the presence of complex mixtures containing resinaceous and lipidic-based compounds. Thanks to the detection of characteristic markers, it was possible to identify several natural resins, such as guaiacum resin, ladano resin and scammony resin. Balsamic and aromatic compounds characteristic of essential oils were identified as well. In addition, an anti-inflammatory ointment, composed by mixing Venetian turpentine, a Pinaceae resin and a triterpene resin exudate of a plant from South America, was found among the analysed formulations. Combining the analytical results, the historical research and the botanical composition, it was possible to formulate compositional hypotheses of this historical medicine and provided some indications about their use in health. The study of historical drugs is not only important to know the practices handed down by apothecaries in the past, but also fundamental to reconstruct historical recipes that can inspire new dermatological, cosmetic, hygienic and current curative products.

本文报道了有关鉴定现代药物配方中天然树脂和香脂的第一批研究之一。气相色谱-质谱联用（GC-MS）用于研究来自Spezieria di Santa Maria della Scala的古老药物和药物制剂的成分在罗马，由Discalced Carmelites于17世纪末建立。所获得的结果突出显示了包含树脂和脂质基化合物的复杂混合物的存在。由于检测到特征标记，因此可以鉴定几种天然树脂，例如愈创木脂树脂，拉达诺树脂和Scammony树脂。还确定了香精油的香脂和芳香化合物。此外，混合了威尼斯松节油，松科成分的抗炎药膏在分析的配方中发现了南美一家工厂的树脂和三萜树脂渗出液。结合分析结果，历史研究和植物成分，有可能制定该历史药物的成分假设，并为它们在健康中的使用提供一些迹象。对历史药物的研究不仅对于了解药剂师过去的做法非常重要，而且对于重建能够激发新的皮肤病学，美容学，卫生学和当前治疗产品的历史食谱至关重要。