164 
DISMEMBERMENT  OF  PHARMACY   FROM  PHYSIC. 
physicians  compounded  secret  nostrums  without  incurring  pro- 
fessional opprobrium. 
The  same  author  mentions  that  the  physician  Soranus,  who  is 
alluded  to  by  other  ancient  writers  also,  settled  in  Aquitania? 
where  he  attended  200  persons  laboring  under  mentagra,  or  some 
obstinate  spreading  disease  of  the  skin  of  the  face.  Soranus 
used  to  apply  a  kind  of  ointment  of  cantharides  to  the  part 
affected,  having  previously  carefully  bathed  the  face  with  an 
alkaline  solution.  These  remedies  were  applied  to  the  face  by 
the  physician  himself,  and  this  gives  us  some  further  insight  into 
the  nature  of  the  medical  practice  of  the  time. 
The  foregoing  facts,  and  many  others  that  might  be  adduced, 
establish  the  fact  that  the  physicians  of  ancient  times  practised 
medicine,  surgery,  and  pharmacy ;  that  they  kept  shops  or  re- 
positories of  medicine,  with  which  they  were  always  well  provi- 
ded :  in  short,  that  they  were  just  the  same  as  the  general 
practitioners  of  the  present  day.  Galen  mentions  that  Cassius, 
a  celebrated  physician  of  Rome,  kept  a  slave  named  Atimetus, 
for  compounding  a  medicine  of  his  invention. 
We  find  that  the  same  combination  continued  to  obtain  for 
several  centuries  after  the  period  to  which  the  foregoing  obser- 
vations apply ;  at  least,  in  some  countries,  this  was  the  case  in 
the  strictest  sense,  although,  in  others,  there  were  some  physi- 
cians who  began  to  entrust  their  duties  to  persons  who  were  very 
badly  qualified  for  their  performance.  In  Arabia,  the  combina- 
tion of  the  three  professions  can  be  traced  through  a  long  series 
of  ages.  Serapion  (the  Arabian),  who,  in  the  eighth  century, 
wrote  a  work  on  pharmacy,  evidently  addresses  students  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  when  he  teaches  the  art  of  compounding. 
He  says,  "  For  him  who  wishes  to  compound  medicines  as  he 
ought,  it  is  necessary  that  he  understand  their  virtues  profound- 
ly," "  therefore  a  knowledge  of  the  degrees  of  the  powers  of 
medicines  is  the  foundation  on  which  he  must  depend  in  the  cure 
of  disease."  "You  require  a  recondite  knowledge  of  simple 
medicines,  so  that  by  their  aid  you  may  be  competent  to  coin- 
pound,  in  all  places,  from  the  articles  which  you  find." 
Mesue,  an  eminent  practitioner,  and  fourth  in  descent  from 
Abdela,  king  of  Damascus,  writes  in  the  same  strain  ;  and,  while 
teaching  pharmacy,  evidently  addresses  medical  students. 
