314 
P H Y S 
praifes they bellowed on their commodities. The medi- 
camanlarii do not often occur; but we are given to under- 
itand by Pliny, that they followed an employment of the 
fame nature; and it appears that they muft have been 
very worthlefs, for, in the Theodolian code, male and 
female poifoners are called medicamentarii and medico .- 
mentariee. 
It may be readily perceived that thefe herb-dealers had 
a greater refemblance to our grocers, druggifts, or moun¬ 
tebanks, than to our apothecaries. It is well known that 
the word apotlieca fignified any kind of ftore, magazine, 
or warehoufe, and that the proprietor or keeper of fuch a 
ftore was called apot/iecarius. It would be a very great 
miftake, therefore, if in writings of the thirteenth and 
fourteenth century, where thele expreffions occur, we 
fhould underftand, under the latter, apothecaries fuch as 
ours at prefent. At thefe periods, thofe were often 
called apothecaries who at courts and in the houfes of 
great people prepared for the table various preferves, 
particularly fruit incrnfted with fugar, and who on that 
account may be confideredas confedioners. What pecu¬ 
liarly diftinguiffies our apothecaries is, that they fell 
drugs ufed in medicine, and prepare from them different 
compounds according to the prefcriptions given by phy- 
licians and others. But here arifes a queltion : When 
did phylicians begin to give up entirely the preparation 
of medicines to fuch apothecaries, who muft now be more 
than herb-dealers, and muft underftand chemiftry ? And 
when did the apothecaries acquire an exclufive title to 
* that bufinefs, and to their prefent name ? It is probable 
that phyficians gradually became accuftomed to employ 
fuch afliftance for the fake of their own convenience, 
when they found in their neighbourhood a druggift in 
whofe fkill they could confide, and whofe intereft they 
wifhed to promote, by refigning in his favour that occu¬ 
pation. 
Conring afferts, without any proof, but not however 
without probability, that the phyficians in Africa firft 
began to give up the preparation of medicines after their 
prefcriptions to other ingenious men ; and that this was 
cuftomary fo early as the time of Avenzoar in the eleventh 
century. Should that be the cafe, it would appear that 
this pra&ice muft have been firft introduced into Spain 
and the lower part of Italy, as far as the poffeffions of the 
Saracens then extended, by the Arabian phyficians who 
attended the caliphs or Arabian princes. It is probable 
therefore, that many Arabic terms of art were by thefe 
means introduced into pharmacy and chemiftry, for the 
origin of which we are indebted to that nation, and 
which have been ftill retained and adopted. Hence it 
may be explained why the firft known apothecaries were 
to be found in the lower part of Italy ; but at any rate 
we have reafon to'conclude, that they obtained their firft 
legal eftablifhment by the well-known medicine-edift of 
the emperor Frederic II. ift ued for the kingdom of Naples, 
and from which Tnomafius deduces the privileges they 
enjoy at prefent. By that edift it was required that the 
confedionarii fhould take an oath to keep by them frefli 
and fumcient drugs, and to make up medicines exactly 
according to the prefcriptions of the phyficians ; and a 
price was fixed at which the Jiationarii might vend medi¬ 
cines fo prepared, and keep them a year or two for fale in 
a public fhop or ftore. The phyficians at Salerno had 
the infpedftion of the Jialiones, which were not to be efta- 
bliflied in every place, but in certain towns. The confec- 
tionarii appear to have been thofe who made up them- 
felves the medicines, or confediones. The Jlatio was the 
houfe where they were fold, or, according to the prefent 
mode of expreftion, the apothecary’s fhop;' and the ftatio- 
iiarii feern to have been the proprietors, or thofe who had 
the care of felling the medicines. The word apotlieca 
feldom occurs in that ediift; when it does, it fignifies the 
warehoufe or repofitory where the drugs were preferved. 
There is however no proof in it that the phyficians at that 
time lent their prefcriptions to the Jlationes to be made 
tip. It appears rather that the confedionarii prepared 
: C I A N. 
medicines fr,om a general fet of prefcriptions legally au- 
thorifed, and that the phyficians fele&ed from thefe me¬ 
dicines, kept ready for ufe, fuch as they thought molt 
proper to be adminiftered to their patients. Aphyfician 
who had paffed an examination, and,obtained a licenfe to 
pra&ife, was obliged to fwear that he would obfer scfor- 
mcnn curies hudenus obfervntain; and, if he found quod 
aliquis confedionarius minus bene conjicint, he was obliged 
to give information to the curia. The confedionarii 
fwore that they would make up cmifediones, fecwulum 
preedidam formam. It was necelfary that electuaries and 
fyrups fhould be accompanied with a certificate from a 
phyfician to fhow that they were properly prepared. 
The ediCt alludes indeed only to fame medicines com¬ 
monly employed; but we are furprifed that the prefcrip¬ 
tions are not mentioned, if fuch were then in ufe. Pro- 
fefl'or Beckmann fays, “I have never had the good for¬ 
tune to meet with the word Receptum ufed to iigni-fy a 
prefeription in any U'orks of the above century. The 
practice of phyficians writing out, almoft every time, the 
method of preparing the medicines which they order, 
may perhaps have been introduced at a later period. 
The book of receipts molt in ufe, by which the medicines 
of that time were made up, was, according to Dr. Mohfen, 
the Antidotarium, which the phyficians of Salerno caufed 
to be collected and tranflated into Latin from the works 
of the Arabian phyfician Mefues, and from thofe of Avi¬ 
cenna, Galen, ACtuarius, Nicolaus Myrepfius, and Ni¬ 
colaus Praepofitus, by the celebrated profeflor in that 
city, Nicolaus di Reggio, a native of Calabria. 
If it be true that the feparation of pharmacy from me¬ 
dicine firft took place in Africa, it is highly probable that 
the well-known Conftantinus Afer may have contributed 
to introduce it alfo into Italy. This man, who was a 
native of Carthage, having learned the medical art from 
the Arabians, made it known in that country, particu¬ 
larly after the year 1086, when he was a benedictine monk 
in a monaftery fituated on Mount Caffmo ; and the fer- 
vice which he rendered to the celebrated fchool of phyfic 
in the neighbouring city of Salerno, is well known. 
After his time, many of the monafteries applied them- 
felves to the preparing of medicines, which they diftri- 
buted gratis to the poor, and fold to the opulent, by 
which means they were much benefited in various re- 
fpeCts. 
It is well known that almoft all political inftitutions 
on this fide the Alps, and particularly every thing that 
concerned education, univerfities, and fchools, were 
copied from Italian models. Thefe were the only pat¬ 
terns which were then to be had; and the. monks, dif- 
patched from the papal court, who were employed in fuch 
undertakings, clearly faw that they could lay no better 
foundation for the pontiff’s power and their own aggran¬ 
dizement, than by inducing as many Itates as poffible to 
follow the examples fet them in Italy. Medical efta- 
bliftiments were formed, therefore, every-where at firft: 
according to the plan of that at Salerno. Particular 
places for vending medicines were more neceffary, how¬ 
ever, in other countries than in Italy. The phyficians of 
that period ufed no other drugs than thofe recommended 
by the ancients; and, as thefe were to be procured only 
in the Levant, Greece, Arabia, and India, it was necef¬ 
fary to fend thither for them. Befides, according to the 
aftrological notions which then prevailed, herbs, to be 
confided in, could not be gathered but when the fun and 
planets were in certain conftellations, and certificates of 
their being fo were requifite to give them reputation. 
All this was impoftible to be done without a diltindt 
employment, for phyficians were otherwise engaged. It 
was found convenient therefore tofufter fome of the prin¬ 
cipal dealers in drugs gradually to acquire monopolies. 
The preparation of drugs was becoming always inore 
difficult and expenfive. After the invention of diftilla- 
tion, fublimation, and other chemical proceffes, laborato¬ 
ries, furnaces, and coftly apparatus,were to beconftrufted; 
and it was proper that men who had regularly ftudiec. 
chemiftry 
