Birth of Pharmacy

Symbol of the discipline of pharmacy

After prescriptions, I decided to explore the history of pharmacy. Pharmacy is defined as “the art of preparing and dispensing drugs or a place where drugs are sold.” The word itself originates from the Greek word for remedy, pharmakon. However, the concept of a drug store where a pharmacist makes and dispenses medicine didn't exist in ancient Greece, but came much later- back in the ancient times, priests and doctors acted as the pharmacist, combining different ingredients as medicine for patients. This process, called compounding, is now done at the pharmacy. Although drug stores did not exist back in ancient times, doctors and priests were history’s first pharmacists as they practiced the art of pharmacy.

During the Egyptian civilizations, they mostly worked in temples or palaces, making medicines or personal luxury goods for priests and the royalty. In the Classical world, the best-known pharmacist was the Greek Diocles of Carystus, who was an expert in medicinal plants. From him, pharmaceutical knowledge spread to Europe and the Islamic world, leading to the opening of the first drug store in Baghdad in 754 AD.

First apothecary in Baghdad

It took another thousand years for America to open its first pharmacy in 1729 AD in Philadelphia, but America has produced some important pharmacists for the history books. Did you know that Benedict Arnold, the infamous traitor of the Revolutionary War, was a pharmacist in Connecticut before the war? Also, it was a pharmacist, John Pemberton, who produced Coca-Cola, not as a sugary indulgent drink we know it as today but as a medicine for various ailments. Another fun (or shocking) tidbit: the original Coca-Cola recipe contained cocaine.

Sources

https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-rx-symbol-come-from

http://www.martinavenue.com/index.php/the-evolution-of-the-word-pharmacy/

https://spacedoutscientist.com/2017/03/10/the-history-of-pharmacy-and-medication/

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/history-of-medicine-3d71a21b-f28b-4a40-ab02-607855173f95

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