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A SwHort ResuME oF THE History oF PHARMACY 
The progress of pharmacy during recorded history 1s, like the 
history of religion, philosophy, sociology, etce., interwoven with the 
history of the human race itself, especially with deve 
— 
opments in 
the field of science; and thus very closely parallels the develop- 
ment and progress of civilization. In the space here available we 
‘an only “touch the high spots” in the history of pharmacy. 
Pharmacy, as well as the art and profession of medicine itself, 
was practised by the ancient Egyptians; the ancient Babylonians 
and Assyrians probably also had developed a specialized practice 
of pharmacy. 
The Ebers Papyrus. One of the oldest and most important 
documents in pharmaceutical history is the Ebers papyrus, about 
1550 B.C., said to have been found between the knees of a mummy 
in the ancient city of Luxor, the city of the dead, across the Nile, 
over against ancient Thebes. Other papyri antedate this some- 
what, but they do not contain such a large amount of information. 
Several medical prescriptions now in the British Museum are said 
to date from the time of Cheops, about 3700 B.C. The key to 
the translation of the Ebers papyrus was furnished by the Rosetta 
Stone, an ancient slab of basalt, found in the early part of the 19th 
century at Rosetta on the Nile delta. The writing on this stone 
was in 3 sets of characters, one being the Greek, another the writ- 
ing of the common people (demotic) and the third the hiero- 
elyphics or picture writing used by the priests. The [¢bers papy- 
rus was found to include among other material more than 700 
prescriptions in which drugs of many sorts are mentioned, such 
as vinegar, turpentine, figs, castor oil, myrrh, frankincense, worm- 
wood, aloes, opium, cumin, peppermint, cassia, caraway, coriander, 
anise, fennel, saffron, lotus flowers, linseed, juniper berries, hen- 
bane, mandragora, poppy, gentian, colchicum, squill, cedar, elder- 
berries, honey, grapes, onion, and date blossoms. Pharmacy in 
other ancient countries and civilizations—in China, Japan, India, 

Persia, and among the Aztecs and Incas of America—if we can 
judge from the evidence at hand, goes back to forgotten ages. 
The Greek-Alexandrian Period. The early history of Greek 
pharmacy and medicine is rooted in Greek mythology. Aescu- 
