Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
.  October,  1913.  / 
Landmarks  of  Pharmacy. 
451 
we  shall  see)  it  is  strange  that  little  was  contributed  by  them  to 
the  landmarks  in  the  shape  of  the  terms  used  to  designate  the 
practitioners  of  the  art.  The  words  "  alkali  "  and  "  alcohol  "  are 
instances  of  words  of  Arabian  origin  in  common  use,  but  the 
word  "chemistry"  (through  alchemist)  is  the  only  word  of  im- 
portance in  connection  with  the  present  article.  The  prefix  "  al  " 
of  the  Arabians  means  "the  "  and  the  word  "  alchemy  "  is  sup- 
posed to  come  from  "  al-chyma,"  the  latter  portion  of  the  word, 
according  to  some  authorities,  meaning  melted  or  poured  out  (re- 
ferring to  the  practices  used  in  the  art)  while  the  original  root  is 
"  Khem  "  (the  ancient  name  of  Egypt)  meaning  "  black  "  in  recog- 
nition of  the  dark  color  of  the  soil,  wherefore  the  practice  of 
alchemy  was  logically  the  practice  of  the  black  art.  It  is  well 
known,  however,  that  the  alchemists,  while  reaching  for  the  un- 
attainable accumulated  a  mass  of  facts  which  later,  when  classified, 
led  to  the  development  of  the  present  science  of  chemistry. 
The  word  "  drug  "  is  of  more  modern  origin  and  comes  from 
a  root  word  signifying  "  dry  herbs  "  and  is  found  in  a  number  of 
languages,  as  German,  "Droge";  Spanish,  Portuguese  and  Italian 
"  Droga  "  and  French  "  Drogue." 
In  the  15th  and  16th  centuries  in  France,  pharmacists  or  "  ap- 
potecarii  "  were  officially  classed  with  "  epiciers  "  or  grocers,  and 
in  a  Paris  ordinance  of  15 14  it  is  declared  that  "  though  the  apothe- 
cary is  always  a  grocer,  the  grocer  is  not  necessarily  an  apothe- 
cary." In  1777  the  separation  of  these  two  classes  of  tradesmen 
was  finally  effected  in  France. 
In  Great  Britain  in  about  the  same  period,  the  retail  trade  in 
drugs,  spices  and  other  commodities  was  carried  on  by  the  mercers 
(from  "  merx,"  the  root  word  from  which  we  derive  merchandise). 
There  were  numerous  guilds,  such  as  pepperers,  spicers  and 
apothecaries,  and  later  grocers  or  those  who  sold  "en  gros."  The 
grocers  in  the  15th  century  in  England  were  given  authority  over 
drugs  and  spices  and  had  the  supervision  of  the  quality  of  the 
drugs  and  medicines  sold  by  the  apothecaries.  A  record  of  the 
exercise  of  this  authority  is  found  in  the  case  of  the  imposition  of  a 
fine  by  the  Grocers'  Guild  upon  one  John  Ashfield,  an  apothecary, 
for  making  an  untrue  powder  of  ginger,  cinnamon  and  saunders. 
This  close  association  between  the  grocers  and  apothecaries  is 
further  illustrated  by  a  record  during  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  of 
the  apothecaries  and  grocers  being  required  to  expose  the  in- 
