170  The  Evolution  of  Nostrum  Vending.  {^m\J^n:mtm' 
This  practice  was  continued  until  quite  a  recent  date  and  may  not, 
even  now,  be  altogether  discontinued.  A  number  of  the  nostrums 
so  introduced  have  become  popular  household  remedies. 
Throughout  the  ancient  and  mediaeval  periods,  there  was  such  a 
close  relationship  between  witchcraft,  divination,  magic  and  spirit- 
ualism and  medical  practice,  that  it  was  difficult  to  tell  where  the 
latter  commenced  and  the  former  terminated.  The  practice  of 
medicine  and  of  astrology  was  quite  commonly  united  by  the  same 
learned  individual.  The  tendency  to  associate  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine, and  especially  the  action  of  drugs,  with  mystery  and  religion 
has  been  apparent  throughout  all  periods,  and  has  its  modern 
parallel  and  reproduction  in  the  Christian  Science  treatment  of  the 
present  day. 
The  history  of  the  practice  and  the  development  of  pharmacy  in 
England  has  been  faithfully  portrayed  in  "  Progress  of  Pharmacy  " 
by  Bell  and  Redwood,  and  the  writer  has  taken  the  liberty  of  ab- 
stracting freely  therefrom.  In  that  country,  the  earlier  records  show 
that  the  practice  of  medicine  was  in  the  hands  of  the  physicians, 
who  prepared  the  medicines  themselves  or  superintended  the  prepa- 
ration of  them.  The  science  of  medicine  was  so  little  understood 
and  so  imperfectly  cultivated  that  it  was  in  general  practised  em- 
pirically and  was  often  confounded  with  sorcery  and  witchcraft,  and 
this  common  confusion  was  said  to  have  lasted  until  the  sixteenth 
century. 
The  apothecaries  were  originally  the  physicians'  assistants,  but 
gradually  acquired  some  knowledge  of  drugs  and  began  to  transact 
business  on  their  own  account.  The  first  act  to  regulate  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine  was  passed  by  Parliament  in  1 5 1 1 .  This  act  pro- 
vided lor  the  examination  of  physicians  practising  in  London  by  a 
Board  composed  of  the  Bishop  of  London  or  the  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's  and  four  physicians.  In  1 542,  an  act  was  passed  which  was 
aimed  against  the  empirics  and  likewise  to  prevent  surgeons  engaging 
in  the  practice  of  physic,  and  under  this  and  subsequent  acts  a  num- 
ber of  quacks  and  nostrum  venders  were  prosecuted. 
It  is  uncertain  at  what  period  in  English  history  the  physicians 
gave  up  the  practice  of  preparing  their  own  medicine.  The  apothe- 
caries were  first  separated  from  the  grocers  by  a  charter  obtained  in 
161 7.  It  was  then  enacted  that  no  grocer  should  keep  an  apothe- 
cary's shop,  and  that  no  surgeon  should  sell  medicines.  Similar 
