Apothecaries date back as far as human history. As humans evolved so did their uses of what nature provided them to use to ease pain, disease, and suffering. The art of the apothecary originated from the methods of preparing substances for the treatment of injury or disease. In primitive times, the early practitioners or this art were those who attended the sick and prepared remedies which were handed down by word of mouth from one wise man or woman to the next through the generations.
There is even mention of them in the Bible as one of the earliest trades or professions. The apothecary was noted for being the one mixing the medicines, oils, perfumes, and ointments, while the physician is the one who took care of the sick. Sometimes this person was both.
Ancient Babylon, often referred to as the cradle of civilization, provides one of the earliest records of the practice of the apothecary. This was around the year 2600 B.C. Healers were a combination of priest, apothecary, and physician. Clay tablets were found with medical texts recording symptoms, the prescriptions, and the directions for compounding it and an invocation to the Gods. This is similar to the best known and most important record on the apothecary which is the Papyrus Ebers from ancient Egypt and written around 1500 B.C. The tablets found in Babylon predate the Egyption papyrus roll by over a thousand years. The Ebers was a single roll of yellow-brown papyrus about 12 inches wide and over 22 yards long. It was wrapped in mummy cloths and packed in a metal case. The text was in black ink and the section headings and weights and measures were in red ink. The Ebers contain a collection of more than 800 prescriptions, or ancient recipes for the apothecaries of the time. It mentions over 700 different drugs.
From 460-370 B.C., Hippocrates mentioned the preparation of many forms of drugs made by apothecaries. These include fomentations, poultices, gargles, pills, ointments, oils, troches, etc. Drugs include the use of narcotics (juice of poppy, henbane seeds, and mandragora), use of purgatives, emetics and enemas. These resulted from Hippocrates theory that the body needed purification of illness-producing humors.
In 300 B.C. There was a Greek philosopher and natural scientist names Theophastus. He was known as the “Father of Botany”. His writings deal with the medical qualities and peculiarities of herbs and are usually accurate, even given present knowledge.
Around 100 A.D., Dioscorides, and apothecary-botanist, writes his De Materia Media Libri Quinque, which consists of five books. Book one deals with aromatics, oils, ointments, and trees. Book two is about living creatures, milk and dairy products, cereals, and sharp herbs. Book three is about roots, juices and herbs. Book four is about herbs and roots. Book five is dedicated to vines and wines and metallic ores. In doing research for these five books, he accompanied the Roman armies throughout the known world cataloging over 500 plants and herbs. His texts were in use until as late as the 16th century, and considered the standard work on the subject.
In the next century, Claudius Galen, a physician in Imperial Rome, is considered one of the most highly recognized to further the art of the apothecary. His principles of preparing medicines were paramount in the western world for 1500 years. He developed many methods for mixing, extracting, refining, and combining drugs. He is credited with writing over 500 treatises on medicine and some 250 others on other subjects. He originated so many preparations of vegetable ingredients that they are commonly referred to as “Galenicals”. His most famous is a formula for cold cream called Galen's Cerate, which is similar to some that are in use today.
The Romans brought with them a vast knowledge of herbs as they conquered Europe. They brought over 200 herbs to Britain with them when they invaded. During the 400 years they occupied Britain, these herbs had become naturalized and now grow wild. With the establishment of the Christian Church, many monasteries were founded. These herbs that were left behind by the Romans became the backbone of the monastic apothecary garden. From the fifth to the twelfth centuries the remnants of western knowledge of medicine and apothecary was preserved in the monasteries. Monasteries became centers for learning and medicine, and people would flock to them for healing, both spiritually and physically. With the exception of Galen and Dioscorides work, most knowledge on the medicinal properties of herbs and plants was still handed down by word of mouth. Illiteracy was rampant, and the religious orders were some of the few at the time that could read and write. The church felt it was best for healing to include God, and so they encouraged the people to believe that the monasteries were the only places for healing. Most housewives knew basic remedies, but anything beyond the basic was considered work for God's servants. That way if the cure worked then it was God's will, and if not it was also His will. The emphasis was on the spiritual and not the medicinal.
During this time late in the eighth century the Arabs in Baghdad separated the duties of the apothecary from the physician. The first apothecary stores were then established. They added to the Greco-Roman wisdom of the past with Persian, Indian, and Chinese plants and herbs such as camphor, cassia, cloves, nutmeg, rhubarb, senna, sandalwood, and many others. Sugar cane was also grown in Arab countries and was available at a reasonable price. This opened up the door for new compounded items such as syrups, confections, and conserves. Distillation of aromatic waters and alcoholic preparations was almost monopolized by the Arab apothecaries. The Arabs carried this new pattern of Apothecaries into western Europe when the Moslems swept across Africa, Spain and southern France. Western Europe soon assimilated this into their culture.
In the 11th century a Persian, Ibn Sina, aslso called Avicenna, was a contributor in Pharmaceutical teachings. He was an apothecary, a poet, physician, philosopher, and diplomat. He was favored by Persian princes and rulers. His writings, in Arabic, were accepted in the west as an authority until the 17th century.
In Europe in 1240 the apothecary and medicine were formally separated when German Emperor and King of Sicily, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, regulated the practice of apothecaries withing that part of his kingdom known as the Two Sicilies. His edict separating the two professions acknowledged that apothecaries required special knowledge, skill, initiative, and responsibility if adequate care of the medical needs of the people was to be guaranteed. It was during this time that the first public apothecaries began appearing in Europe as had already appeared in the Arab nations.
In London, apothecaries were originally members of the Grocer's guild starting in 1316 when it was known as the Guild of Pepperes. By the mid 16th century there were public apothecary stores in London. It was not until 1617 that the apothecaries were granted their own guild and split from the Grocer's guild to form The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London.
In 1498 the first pharmacopoeia, The Nuovo Receptario, originally written in Italian, was published and became the legal standard in Florence, Italy. It was given official status and was to be used by all apothecaries in Florence. It was a collaboration of the guild of apothecaries and the medical society. The received official advice and guidance from the powerful Dominican monk, Savonarola, who at the time was the political leader of Florence. It was about 50 years before other political jurisdictions started to follow Florence and issue their own pharmacopoeia.
Lloyd V Allen, Jr., Ph.D., R.Ph., Professor Emeritus, “A History of Pharmaceutical Compounding”, Secundum Artem, Volume 11 Number 3.
American Botanical Council, “A Pictorial History of Herbs in Medicine and Pharmacy” Herbalgram, 1998, Issue 42, pp 33-47.
Christopher S. W. Koehler, “Pharmacopoeias”, Modern Drug Discovery, November 2002, pp 53-57.
copyright 2008 Laura Zennie. all rights reserved.