Other Healers: Apothecaries


Healers tended to rely on herbs and common ingredients that
they could grow or easily gather. More advanced medical professionals
often requested ingredients that had to be imported,
and for which they turned to apothecaries, the forerunner of
today’s pharmacist. Apothecaries always maintained full stocks
of the more popular herbal cures and spices, such as saffron,
"background made him attractive enough that he was invited
to base himself in Italy at the Schola Medica Salernitana
(Salerno). Many of the works of Greek and Roman philosophers
and physicians, including Galen and Hippocrates, had
been preserved by the Islamic countries and translated into
Arabic.
Constantinus was able to translate much of this work
into Latin to make it accessible for the first time to western
Europeans, and so westerners began to study the medical
methodology recommended by these men. As a result of this
influence, Galen, who had written on many subjects, continued
to dominate medicine for the next few centuries. Other
monks eventually contributed to what Constantinus was working
on, and the professors at Salerno began using this canon
of writings, known as the Ars medicinae (art of medicine) or
Articella (“little art of medicine”), as the basis for European
medical education for several years.
Later Gerard of Toledo, Spain, (ca. 1140) translated hundreds
of works by Aristotle, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Razi as well
as Abu al-Qasim’s (Albucasis) writings on surgery. The Qanun
of Ibn Sina became the cornerstone textbook of medicine at
the University of Montpellier, the largest nonclerical institution
in Europe until 1650."
cinnamon, and ginger, and they often imported specialty items
that were thought to be curative. These included ivory, gold,
pearls, mummy dust, and ambergris (from whales). Sugar was
a key ingredient for improving the flavor of medicinal syrups
and pills. Some apothecaries created a sideline by selling sugar
pills to wealthy clients who liked sweets, creating an early form
of candy.
In addition to importing ingredients, the apothecary was also
responsible for mixing them into ointments, pastes, syrups, and
pills. Sometimes they were custom made at the instruction of a
doctor; other times the doctor came and supervised. As they are
today, some medicines were “over the counter” and some were “by
prescription.” In some jurisdictions, the apothecaries’ wares were
subject to periodic inspections by the local physicians. The physicians
were given the authority to have the apothecaries toss out
anything found to be stale, watered down, or in any way defective.
Tensions sometimes arose when physicians accused apothecaries
of diagnosing and dispensing medicine that should have only been
prescribed by a doctor.

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