516 
Varieties. 
J  Am.  Jour.  Pharm,. 
t     Nov.  1,  1872. 
be  considered  confectioners."  At  the  time  when  this  description  of  people  was 
known  as  apothecaries,  physicians  prepared  all  their  own  prescriptions,  pur- 
chasing the  herbs  from  which  they  were  compounded  from  the  apothecaries, 
who  had  procured  many  of  them  from  remote  countries.  After  a  time,  how- 
ever, these  herb-dealers  began  to  encroach  on  the  business  of  their  patrons, 
having,  by  study  and  vigilance,  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  healing  virtue  of 
many  of  their  commodities  ;  but  at  what  time  the  preparation  of  medicine  was 
entirely  resigned  into  their  hands,  or  when  they  acquired,  by  a  suitable  course 
of  study,  the  right  to  an  exclusive  practice  in  that  business,  is  not  known.  "  It 
is  probable  that  physicians  gradually  became  accustomed  to  employ  such  assist- 
ance for  the  sake  of  their  own  convenience,  when  they  found  in  the  neighbor- 
hood a  druggist  in  whose  skill  they  could  confide,  and  whose  interest  they 
wished  to  promote  by  resigning  that  occupation  in  his  favor." 
The  first  apothecaries,  who  were  by  law  acknowledged  as  compounders  of 
medicine,  lived  at  Naples;  and  the  well-known  edict  of  Frederick  the  Second, 
granting  them  many  privileges  and  perquisites,  was  the  foundation  of  the  posi- 
tion which  those  of  our  own  day  occupy.  By  that  edict  it  was  required  "that 
the  confectionarii  should  take  an  oath  to  keep  by  them  fresh  and  sufficient 
drugs,  and  to  make  up  medicines  exactly  according  to  the  prescriptions  of  the 
physician  ;  and  a  price  was  fixed  at  which  they  might  vend  the  medicines  so 
prepared,  and  keep  them  a  year  or  two  for  sale  in  a  public  shop."  These 
shops  were  opened  only  in  certain  places;  and  at  first  they  were  fitted  up  at 
the  public  expense,  and  each  had  a  large  garden  where  the  apothecary  was 
expected  to  rear  all  British  medicinal  plants.  "  The  preparation  of  drugs  was 
becoming  always  more  difficult  and  expensive.  After  the  invention  of  distilla- 
tion, sublimation,  and  other  chemical  processes,  laboratories,  furnaces,  and 
costly  apparatus  were  to  be  constructed  ;  and  it  was  thought  proper  that  men 
who  had  regularly  studied  chemistry  should  alone  follow  pharmacy,  and  that 
they  should  be  indemnified  for  their  expenses  by  an  exclusive  trade.  It  would 
appear  that  no  suspicions  were  entertained  that  apothecaries  could  amass  riches 
by  their  employment  so  soon  and  so  easily  as  they  do  at  present ;(?)  for  they  were 
allowed  many  other  advantages,  and  particularly  that  of  dealing  in  sweetmeats 
and  confectionery,  which  were  then  very  expensive  delicacies.  In  many  places 
they  were  obliged  on  certain  festivals  to  give  presents  of  such  dainties  to  the 
magistrates,  by  way  of  acknowledgment. 
The  first  mention  made  of  an  English  apothecary  occurs  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  the  Third,  who,  it  is  said,  bestowed,  in  the  year  1345.  a  pension  of 
sixpence  a  day  on  Coursus  de  Gangeland,  an  apothecary  in  London,  for  taking 
care  of,  and  attending,  his  majesty  during  his  illness  in  Scotland. 
About  the  same  time  that  they  were  established  in  England,  or  somewhat 
later,  they  were  also  established  in  France  and  Germany,  and  of  the  regula- 
tions connected  with  them  in  many  of  the  duchies  and  principalities  of  the 
latter  country  there  are  some  curious  records.  We  shall  transcribe  one  from 
Beckman  : 
14  In  Halle  there  was  no  apothecary's  shop  till  the  year  1493.  Before  that 
period  medicines  were  sold  only  by  grocers  and  barbers.  In  the  above  year, 
however,  the  council,  with  the  approbation  of  the  archbishop,  permitted  one* 
