610 
BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
sieian of experience and common sense; and adds, “Nothing strikes one as a stronger 
proof of his nobility of soul, when we take into account the early period of human 
cultivation at which he lived, and his descent from a priestly order, than the contempt 
which he everywhere expresses for ostentatious charlatanry.” 
Dioscorides, who lived 54 years before the Christian era, and whose works Pliny 
quotes, was the author of five books on materia medica, and notices in them no less 
than 958 various medicinal substances, and for a period of sixteen centuries his writ¬ 
ings are said to have been held as the highest and almost sole authority. 
The memory of Galen is still held classic and sacred, although he has been buried 
nearly two thousand years. A shopkeeper in Rome, keeping possibly the first open 
store for the sale of drugs, he united extraordinary industry and perseverance with 
amazing powers of mind, and devoted the whole of his life to researches in medical 
science. 
In the temple of iEsculapius diseases and their treatment were recorded on tablets 
of marble ; the medicines being dispensed and prepared by the priests and priestesses, 
who, at the same time and with vigilant eagerness, collected the fees deposited upon 
the altar. 
At this time opium, squill, lettuce, and cherry-laurel were used, and Dr. Paris men¬ 
tions that it was probably opium, mixed with wine, under the expressive name of 
“ nepenthe,” that Helen administered to the guests of Menelaus, and Dr. Darwin as¬ 
serts that the Cumean Sibyl never sat upon the portending tripod without first drink¬ 
ing some of the juice of cherry-laurel. 
Paracelsus is said first to have publicly burnt, and afterwards attempted to refute 
the works of Galen; and Scribonius Largos is quoted as the author of the first and 
original Pharmacopoeia, A.D. 40. 
Many other names occur in the history of Grecian pharmacy, but I must pass on 
quickly to reach the more interesting details of modern times. 
The Chinese appear very early to have made their mark as pharmacists, and Mr. 
Morson notices that Chin Nong, coeval with Menes, the first king of Egypt, was a 
celebrated student, boiling plants and extracting their virtues. 
Although somewhat out of proper chronological order, I will call your attention at 
this point to the present condition of pharmacy in China, and to the model of a 
Chinese chemist’s shop which has been kindly lent me by my friend Mr. Morson, sen.* 
The pharmacy is kept in perfect order. Dr. Wilson, in his ‘ Medical Notes on 
China,’ observes, “ That for a small sum, not exceeding in value Is. of our money, the 
Chinese physician, after examining the pulse and exhibiting profound interest in the 
condition of his patient, writes an elaborate recipe, comprising seldom less than nine 
or ten substances, which the druggist dispenses, using different coloured paper for the 
different ingredients, and honouring those most esteemed by wrapping them in red or 
crimson. Most of the medicines are given in balls as large as marbles, four or five for 
a dose ; from which it may be inferred that the throats of the Chinese ladies are out 
of proportion to their toes.” 
The principal work on Materia Medica in China, is that of Li-slii-chin, in forty 
closely-printed volumes, and if any of you are curious and wish to spend an idle hour 
in the study of the celestial language, I am informed that it may be purchased in Can¬ 
ton for about I7<s. sterling. 
Fossil teeth, bones, shells, and crabs figure amongst the remedies in use. 
Mr. D. Hanbury, in 1853, exhibited to the Pharmaceutical Society, specimens of 
two Chinese proprietary or quack medicines, including “frog-juice pills,” and gives 
the translation upon the wrapper, wdiich I will quote:— 
“Frog-juice pills,—a panacea for all ills : to stop immediately flatulence, pain in 
the stomach, heat and burning in the throat and mouth, nervous depression, vomiting, 
and purging,—take ten of the pills and swallow them with warm water. 
“ Mr. Yaon, of the Key Kwan shop, to the eastward of the magistracy of Canton, 
respectfully presents the medicine.” 
* A model of a Chinese chemist’s shop, and a series of interesting drawings illustrating the 
downward career of a Chinese opium-eater were exhibited, both having been kindly lent for 
the purpose by T. N. R. Morson, Esq. 
