168         DISMEMBERMENT  OF  PHARMACY  FROM  PHYSIC. 
substances.  Another  class  of  persons  who  were  connected  with 
the  sale  of  these  commodities  were  the  navzonajlat,  who  retailed 
incense,  scents,  along  with  all  those  articles  which  were  used  by 
painters,  dyers,  ointment  boilers  and  physicians.  Medicines 
were  called  ta.Tpc/:q  oh],  or  physicians'  materials  ;  and  this  is  the 
origin  of  the  Latin  words  materia  medica.  Very  little  different 
from  the  pantopolas  were  the  pcoTtonwlac ;  they  not  only  sold 
medicines,  simple  and  compound,  but  they  prepared  the  latter, 
and  especially  counterpoisons,  along  with  the  foregoing  articles. 
The  pharmacopolae  carried  on  a  trade,  the  nature  of  which  may 
be  collected  from  the  derivation  of  their  name.  The  word 
tpap[j.axov  means  a  drug  possessed  of  active  qualities,  whether 
salutary  or  poisonous  ;  the  name  ipappaxoncoX^  therefore  signi- 
fies a  vendor  of  drugs,  whether  salutary  or  poisonous ;  and  the 
word  was  translated  into  Latin  by  aconitarius  or  poisoner,  from 
aconitum,  the  poison  monkshood. 
Theophrastus  gives  a  curious  account  of  the  tricks,  supersti- 
tions, ignorance  and  knavery  of  the  pharmacopolists,  and  rhizo- 
tomists  or  herbarists,  of  his  time  (B.  C.  about  three  centuries), 
and  of  the  devices  by  which  they  sought  to  mystify  their  art. 
From  this  author  we  learn  that  the  herbarists  order  some  articles 
to  be  collected  when  the  wind  is  in  such  a  direction  as  will  permit 
the  effluvia  to  be  blown  away,  such  as  the  fruit  of  the  dog-briar, 
for  otherwise,  say  they,  there  will  be  danger  to  the  eyes.  Other 
articles  cannot  be  safely  gathered  unless  the  body  of  the  herbarist 
is  smeared  with  oil,  to  defend  it  from  noxious  vapors.  They 
asserted,  for  instance,  that  hellebore  is  of  so  acrimonious  a  nature? 
and  so  certain  of  affecting  the  head,  that  it  is  not  possible  to  dig 
it  for  any  considerable  length  of  time.  Other  herbs  were  de- 
clared to  be  dangerous  if  cut  at  any  other  time  than  at  night  ; 
others  should  be  cut  by  day ;  and  others,  again,  before  sunrise, 
under  penalty  of  various  fanciful  dangers.  They  found  it  neces- 
sary to  say  their  prayers  while  they  gathered  some,  or  otherwise 
to  protect  themselves  by  describing  circles  round  the  plant  with 
a  two-edged  sword.  Sometimes,  the  operator,  while  at  his  work, 
should  look  towards  the  west,  sometimes  towards  the  east,  at  the 
same  time  saying  his  prayers.  Other  times,  a  mode  very  differ- 
ent from  this  pious  process  of  herb-gathering  was  resorted  to  : 
