|
ApothecaryApothecary is one term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses medicines to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern pharmacist (also colloquially referred to as a chemist in British English) has taken over this role. In some languages and regions, the word "apothecary" is still used to refer to a retail pharmacy or a pharmacist who owns one. Apothecaries' investigation of herbal and chemical ingredients was a precursor to the modern sciences of chemistry and pharmacology.
|
Famous Pharmacists |
Although all these people gained fame in other pursuits, they had one thing in common: at one time or another in their lives they dabbled in pharmacy. Probably the best-known pharmacist in recent Ameridan public life was Hubert Horatio Humphrey, who worked as a clerk-pharmacist in his father's drugstore in Houron, South Dakota, for six years, while the senior Humphrey fulfilled a lifelong dream by winning a seat in the state legislature. H.H.H. retained his pharmacist's license throughout his own active political career.
Other Americans who at one time practiced pharmacy include Benjamin Franklin, who sold patent medicines and drugs in Philadelphia, and Bendedict Arnold, who was a druggist in New Haven before the Revolutionary War. BenCollege of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). William Sydney Porter was a pharmacist in North Carolina before undertaking short-story writing under hs pen name O.Henry. Sir Isaac Newton's first job was in a local apothecary shop in Woolsthorpe, England. Dante Alighieri was a member of the guild of physicians and apothecaries fo Florence, as was voyager Americo Vespucci, Henrik Ibsen took a job as an apprentice in a pharmacy before turning to writing plays, and johann Wolfgane von Goethe not only was trained as a pharmacist but was an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical Association for Northern Germany. |