College of Pharmacy and

Pharmaceutical Sciences History

A History of Pharmacy
in Pictures
Taken From the book:
"Great Moments in Pharmacy"
By George A. Bender
Paintings By Robert A. Thom

Copyright ©Parke, Davis & Company 1965

Reproduced on these pages by the WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences with special
permission of Parke, Davis & Company

If you are interested in using these pictures, please contact the copyright holder.
1. Before the Dawn of History
From beginnings as remote and simple as these came the proud profession of Pharmacy. Its
development parallels that of man. Ancient man learned from instinct, from observation of birds
and beasts. Cool water, a leaf, dirt, or mud was his first soothing application. By trial, he
learned which served him best. Eventually, he applied his knowledge for the benefit of others.
Though the cavemen's methods were crude, many of today's medicines spring from sources
as simple and elementary as those which were within reach of early man.
2. Pharmacy in Ancient Babylonia
Babylon, jewel of ancient Mesopotamia, often called the cradle of civilization, provides the
earliest known record of practice of the art of the apothecary. Practitioners of healing of this era
(about 2600 B.C.) were priest, pharmacist and physician, all in one. Medical texts on clay
tablets record first the symptoms of illness, the prescription and directions for compounding,
then an invocation to the gods. Ancient Babylonian methods find counterpart in today's modern
pharmaceutical, medical, and spiritual care of the sick.
3. Pharmacy in Ancient China
Chinese Pharmacy, according to legend, stems from Shen Nung (about 2000 B.C.), emperor
who sought out and investigated the medicinal value of several hundred herbs. He reputed to
have tested many of them on himself, and to have written the first Pen T-Sao, or native herbal,
recording 365 drugs. Still worshiped by native Chinese drug guilds as their patron god, Shen
Nung conceivably examined many herbs, barks, and roots brought in from the fields, swamps,
and woods that are still recognized in Pharmacy today. In the background is the "Pa Kua," a
mathematical design symbolizing creation and life. Medicinal plants include podophyllum,
rhubarb, ginseng, stramonium, cinnamon bark, and, in the boy's hand, ma huang, or Ephedra.
4. Days of the Papyrus Ebers
Though Egyptian medicine dates from about 2900 B.C., best known and most important
pharmaceutical record is the "Papyrus Ebers" (1500 B.C.), a collection of 800 prescriptions,
mentioning 700 drugs. Pharmacy in ancient Egypt was conducted by two or more echelons:
gatherers and preparers of drugs, and "chiefs of fabrication," or head pharmacists. They are
thought to have worked in the "House of Life." In a setting such as this, the "Papyrus Ebers"
might have been dictated to a scribe by a head pharmacist as he directed compounding
activities in the drug room.
5. Theophrastus – Father of Botany
Theophrastus (about 300 B.C.), among the greatest early Greek philosophers and natural
scientists, is called the "father of botany." His observations and writings dealing with the
medical qualities and peculiarities of herbs are unusually accurate, even in the light of present
knowledge. He lectured to groups of students who walked about with him, learning of nature by
observing her treasurers at firsthand. In his hands he holds a branch of belladonna. Behind
him are pomegranate blooms, senna, and manuscript scrolls. Slabs of ivory, coated with
colored beeswax, served the students as "slates." Writing was cut into the surface with a
stylus.
6. The Royal Toxicologist – Mithridates VI
Mithridates VI, King of Pontus (about 100 B.C.), though he battled Rome for a lifetime, found
time to make not only the art of poisoning, but also the art of preventing and counteracting
poisoning, subjects of intensive study. Unhesitatingly, he used himself as well as his prisoners
as "guinea pigs" on which to test poisons and antidotes. Behind him are rhizotomists, offering
fresh, flowering aconite, ginger, and gentian. At lower right is a crater - a two-piece forerunner
of the champagne bucket. His famed formula of alleged panantidotal powers, "Mithridatum,"
was popular for over a thousand years.
7. Terra Sigillata – An Early “Trademarked” Drug
Man learned early of the prestigious advantage of trademarks as a means of identification of
source and of gaining customers' confidence. One of the first therapeutic agents to bear such a
mark was Terra Sigillata (Sealed Earth), a clay tablet originating on the Mediterranean island
of Lemnos before 500 B.C. One day each year clay was dug from a pit on a Lemnian hillside in
the presence of governmental and religious dignitaries. Washed, refined, rolled to a mass of
proper thickness, the clay was formed into pastilles and impressed with an official seal by
priestesses, then sun-dried. The tablets were then widely distributed commercially.
8. Dioscorides – A Scientist Looks at Drugs
In the evolution of all successful and enduring systems of knowledge there comes a time when
the observations of many men, or the intensive studies of one, transcend from the level of
trade or vocation to that of a science. Pedanios Dioscorides (first century A.D.), contributed
mightily to such a transition in Pharmacy. In order to study materia medica, Dioscorides
accompanied the Roman armies throughout the known world. He recorded what he observed,
promulgated excellent rules for collection of drugs, their storage and use. His texts were
considered basic science as late as the sixteenth century.
9. Galen – Experimenter in Drug Compounding
Of the men of ancient times whose names are known and revered among both the professions
of Pharmacy and Medicine, Galen, undoubtedly, is the foremost. Galen (130-200 A.D.)
practiced and taught both Pharmacy and Medicine in Rome; his principles of preparing and
compounding medicines ruled in the Western world for 1,500 years; and his name still is
associated with that class of pharmaceuticals compounded by mechanical means - galenicals.
He was the originator of the formula for a cold cream, essentially similar to that known today.
Many procedures Galen originated have their counterparts in today's modern compounding
laboratories.
10. Damian and Cosmas – Pharmacy’s Patron Saints
Twinship of the health professions, Pharmacy and Medicine, is nowhere more strikingly
portrayed than by Damian, the apothecary, and Cosmas, the physician. Twin brothers of
Arabian descent, and devout Christians, they offered the solace of religion as well as the
benefit of their knowledge to the sick who visited them. Their twin careers were cut short in the
year 303 by martyrdom. For centuries their tomb in the Syrian city of Cyprus was a shrine.
Churches were built in their honor in Rome and other cities. After canonization, they became
the patron saints of Pharmacy and Medicine, and many miracles were attributed to them.
11. Monastic Pharmacy
During the Middle Ages remnants of the Western knowledge of Pharmacy and Medicine were
preserved in the monasteries (fifth to twelfth centuries). These scientists are known to have
been taught in the cloisters as early as the seventh century. Manuscripts from many islands
were translated or copied for monastery libraries. The monks gathered herbs and simples in
the field, or raised them in their own herb gardens. These they prepared according to the art of
the apothecary for the benefit of the sick and injured. Gardens such as these still may be found
in monasteries in many countries.
12. The First Apothecary Shops
The Arabs separated the arts of apothecary and physician, establishing in Bagdad late in the
eighth century the first privately owned drug stores. They preserved much of the Greco-Roman
wisdom, added to it, developing with the aid of their natural resources syrups, confections,
conserves, distilled waters and alcoholic liquids. The apothecary is examining logs of
sandalwood offered by a traveling merchant, while children indulge their taste for sweets with
stalks of sugar cane. When the Moslems swept across Africa, Spain and southern France,
they carried with them a new pattern of Pharmacy which western Europe soon assimilated.
13. Avicenna – The “Persian Galen”
Among the brilliant contributors to the sciences of Pharmacy and Medicine during the Arabian
era was one genius who seems to stand for his time - the Persian, Ibn Sina (about 980-1037
A.D.), called Avicenna by the Western world. Pharmacist, poet, physician, philosopher and
diplomat, Avicenna was an intellectual giant, a favorite of Persian princes and rulers. He wrote
in Arabic, often while secluded in the home of an apothecary friend. His pharmaceutical
teachings were accepted as authority in the West until the 17th century; and still are dominant
influences in the Orient.
14. Separation of Pharmacy and Medicine
In European countries exposed to Arabian influence, public pharmacies began to appear in the
17th century. However, it was not until about 1240 A.D. that, in Sicily and southern Italy,
Pharmacy was separated from Medicine. Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, who was Emperor of
Germany as well as King of Sicily, was a living link between Oriental and Occidental worlds. At
his palace in Palermo, he presented subject Pharmacists with the first European edict
completely separating their responsibilities from those of Medicine, and prescribing regulations
for their professional practice.
15. The First Official Pharacopeia
The idea of a pharmacopoeia with official status, to be followed by all apothecaries, originated
in Florence. The Nuovo Receptario, originally written in Italian, was published and became the
legal standard for the city-state in 1498. It was the result of collaboration of the Guild of
Apothecaries and the Medical Society - one of the earliest manifestations of constructive
interprofessional relations. The professional groups received official advice and guidance from
the powerful Dominican monk, Savonarola, (seated, foreground) who, at the time, was the
political leader in Florence.
16. The Society of Apothecaries of London
Trade in drugs and spices was lucrative in the Middle Ages. In the British Isles, it was
monopolized by the Guild of Grocers, which had jurisdiction over the apothecaries. After years
of effort, the apothecaries found allies among court physicians. King James I, flanked by two
"Beefeaters" wore heavily padded attire because of fear of stabbing. Upon persuasion by the
philosopher-politician, Francis Bacon, the King granted a charter in 1617 which formed a
separate company known as the "Master, Wardens and Society of the Art and Mystery of the
Apothecaries of the City of London" over vigorous protests of the grocers. This was the first
organization of pharmacists in the Anglo-Saxon world.
17. Louis Hébert, Apothecary to New France (Canada)
Young Parisian Apothecary Louis Hébert answered the call of the New World in 1605, when he
helped de Monts and Champlain build New France's first settlement, the Habitation, at Port
Royal (Nova Scotia, Canada). Hébert looked after the health of the pioneers, cultivated native
drug plants, and supervised the gardens. At the waterfront, he examined specimens of drug
plants offered by Micmac Indians. These included Arum, (Jack-in-the-Pulpit), Eupatorium
(Boneset), Verbascum (Mullein), and Hydrastis (Golden Seal). When the Habitation was
destroyed by the English in 1613, he returned to his Parisian apothecary shop. The lure of
Canada was strong, however, and in 1617, he and the family returned with Champlain to
Quebec, where Hébert's "green thumb" gained him lasting fame as the first successful farmer
in what is now Canada.
18. The Governor who Healed the Sick
Many Europeans "of quality and wealth, particularly those who were non-conformists in
religion" were attracted to the possibilities of the American Colonies. From Britain came John
Winthrop, first Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony and founder of Boston. Governor
Winthrop, unable to induce professionals to the Colony, sought advice from English
apothecaries and physicians, and added to his small store of imported drugs those derived
from plants native to New England. In his home (about 1640), he made available as best he
could the "art and mystery" of the apothecary for his citizens.
19. The Marshall Apothecary
Christopher Marshall, an Irish immigrant, established his apothecary shop in Philadelphia in
1729. During 96 years, this pioneer pharmaceutical enterprise became a leading retail store,
nucleus of large-scale chemical manufacturing; a "practical" training school for pharmacists; an
important supply depot during the Revolution; and finally, it was managed by granddaughter
Elizabeth, America's first woman pharmacist. Christopher earned the title of "The fighting
Quaker" during the Revolution; his sons, Charles and Christopher, Jr., (shown as youths with
their father, about 1754) earned individual fame and carried on his fine traditions.
20. First Hospital in Colonial America
Colonial America's first hospital (Pennsylvania) was established in Philadelphia in 1751; the
first Hospital Pharmacy began operations there in 1752, temporarily set up in the Kinsey
house, which served until the first hospital building was completed. The ingenuity of Benjamin
Franklin was helpful in both. First Hospital Pharmacist was Jonathan Roberts; but it was his
successor, John Morgan, whose practice as a hospital pharmacist (1755-56), and whose
impact upon Pharmacy and Medicine influenced changes that were to become of importance
to the development of professional pharmacy in North America. First as pharmacist, later as
physician, he advocated prescription writing and championed independent practice of two
professions.
21. Scheele – Greatest of the Pharmacists-Chemists
During his few short years, Carl Wilhelm Scheele gave to the world discoveries that have
brought its people incalculable advantages. Yet he never forgot that he was, first of all, a
pharmacist. Encouraged by enlightened preceptors, all of his discoveries were made in the
Swedish pharmacists in which he worked, as apprentice, as clerk, and finally as owner, in
Köping. He began in a corner of the stock room of Unicorn Apothecary in Gothenburg. With
rare genius, he made thousands of experiments, discovered oxygen, chlorine, prussic acid,
tartaric acid, tungsten, molybdenum, glycerin, nitroglycerin, and countless other organic
compounds that enter into today's daily life, industry, health, and comfort.
22. Craigie – America’s First Apothecary General
First man to hold the rank of a commissioned pharmaceutical officer in an American army was
the Bostonian apothecary, Andrew Craigie. First appointed commissary of medical stores by
Massachusetts' Committee of Safety, April 30, 1775, he was present at the Battle of Bunker
Hill, June 17, 1775, and probably assisted in taking care of the sick and wounded there in a
makeshift station back of the lines. When Congress reorganized the Medical Department of the
Army in 1777, Craigie became the first Apothecary General. He duties included procurement,
storage, manufacture, and distribution of the Army's drug requirements. He also developed an
early wholesaling and manufacturing business.
23. Sertürner – First of the Alkaloid Chemists
Swedish pharmacist Scheele paved the way for isolating organic plant acids; but it remained
for a young German apothecary, Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner, to give the world opium's
chief narcotic principle, morphine; and to recognize and prove the importance of a new class of
organic substances: alkaloids. His first announcements challenged, Sertürner in 1816
conducted a new series of bold, startling experiments in his apothecary shop in Einbeck,
including a series of physiologic tests on himself and three young friends. Recognition and
fame followed. Relocating in an apothecary shop in Hameln, Sertürner continued organic
chemical experimentation and discovery throughout his life.
24. Caventou, Pelletier and Quinne
Taking their cue from Sertürner's alkaloidal experiments, two French pharmacists, Messrs.
Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and Joseph-Bienaimé Caventou, isolated emetine from ipecacuanha in
1817; strychnine and brucine from nux vomica in 1818; then, in their laboratory in the back of a
Parisian apothecary shop, they tackled the problem that had baffled scientists for decades -
wresting the secrets of the Peruvian barks that were so useful against malaria. In 1820
Caventou and Pelletier announced the methods for separation of quinine and cinchonine from
the cinchona barks; prepared pure salts, had them tested clinically, and set up manufacturing
facilities. Many other discoveries came from their pharmacy-laboratory; high honors were
accorded them.
25. American Pharmacy Builds its Foundations
Faced with two major threats; deterioration of the practice of pharmacy, and a discriminatory
classification by the University of Pennsylvania medical faculty, the pharmacists of
Philadelphia held a tempestuous protest meeting in Carpenters' Hall, February 23, 1821. At a
second meeting, March 13, the pharmacists voted formation of: an association, which became
The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; a school of pharmacy; and a self-policing board. Sixty-
eight pharmacists signed the Constitution of the first pharmaceutical association in the United
States; American Pharmacy's first educational institution, bearing the same name, opened
November 9.
26. The Shakers and Medicinal Herbs
First U.S. industry in medicinal herbs was carried on by the United Society of Believers in
Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as the Shakers. Begun about 1820, and
commercially important by 1830, the medicinal herb industry grew, hit its peak in the 1860's,
then waned at the close of the century. The Shakers gathered or cultivated some 200 varieties;
dried, chopped, and pressed them into "bricks"; wrapped, labeled, and sold them to
pharmacists and physicians world-wide. Tons of solid and fluid extracts also were produced.
The Shaker label was recognized for reliability and quality for more than a century.
27. The American Pharmaceutical Association
Need for better intercommunication among pharmacists; standards for education and
apprenticeship; and quality control of imported drugs, led to calling of a convention of
representative pharmacists in the Hall of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, October 6 to 8,
1852. Under leadership of its first President, Daniel B. Smith, and first Secretary, William
Procter, Jr., the twenty delegates launched The American Pharmaceutical Association;
mapped its objectives; and opened membership to "All pharmaceutists and druggists" of good
character who subscribed to its Constitution and to its Code of Ethics. The Association
continues to serve Pharmacy today.
28. European and American Pharmacy Meet
Over the years, no real discord has existed between representatives of European and
American Pharmacy so far as ethical and scientific aims are concerned. But when the groups
met for the first time, at the Second International Congress of Pharmacy in Paris, France,
August 21 to 24, 1867, there was a great divergence of opinion on the subject of compulsory
limitation of pharmacies. William Procter, Jr., leading the delegates of The American
Pharmaceutical Association, told the international body that "Public opinion is in America a
forceful agent of reform," and that, in his country, "there is not the slightest obstacle toward a
multiplication of drug stores save that a lack of success." His declaration vividly documented
the American Way of Pharmacy.
29. The Father of American Pharmacy
Rarely has a titular distinction been so deserved. William Procter, Jr., graduated from The
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1837; operated a retail pharmacy; served the College as
Professor of Pharmacy for 20 years; was a leader in founding The American Pharmaceutical
Association; served that organization as its first secretary; later, as its president; served 30
years on the U.S.P. Revision Committee; was for 22 years Editor of the American Journal of
Pharmacy. In 1869, though retired, Procter continued to edit the Journal in a small publication
office located beside the College's Tenth Street building. From retirement he returned to
P.C.P.'s chair of Pharmacy in1872; literally died "in the harness," in 1874.
30. A Revolution in Pharmaceutical Education
When Dr. Albert B. Prescott launched the pharmacy course at the University of Michigan in
1868, critical attention was aroused because he abandoned the traditional requirement of
pregraduation apprenticeship. At the 1871 convention of the American Pharmaceutical
Association, he was denied credentials and ostracized. However, the Michigan course
pioneered other major changes: laboratory pharmacy, a definite curriculum that included basic
sciences, and a program that demanded students' full-time attention. During the next thirty
years, Dr. Prescott had the satisfaction of seeing his once revolutionary innovations generally
adopted by pharmaceutical faculties.
31. The Pharmacopeia Comes of Age
The first "United States Pharmacopoeia" (1820) was the work of the medical profession. It was
the first book of drug standards from a professional source to have achieved a nation's
acceptance. In 1877, the "U.S.P." was in danger of dissolution due to the lack of interest of the
medical profession. Dr. Edward R. Squibb, manufacturing pharmacist as well as physician,
took the problem to The American Pharmaceutical Association convention. Pharmacists
formed a "Committee on Revision" chairmanned by hospital pharmacist Charles Rice, assisted
by pharmacist-educator Joseph P. Remington, and by Dr. Squibb, their indefatigable
collaborator. The "U.S. Pharmacopoeia" surged to new importance.
32. The Standardization of Pharmaceuticals
Despite the professional skill and integrity of 19th-century pharmacists, seldom did two
preparations of vegetable drugs have the same strength, even though prepared by identical
processes. Plant drugs varied widely in active alkaloidal and glucosidal content. The first
answer to this problem came when Parke, Davis & Company introduced standardized "Liquor
Ergotae Purificatus" in 1879. Dr. Albert Brown Lyons, as the firm's Chief Chemist, further
developed methods of alkaloidal assay. Messrs. Parke and Davis recognized the value of his
work, and in 1883, announced a list of twenty standardized "normal liquids." Parke-Davis also
pioneered in developing pharmacologic and physiologic standards for pharmaceuticals.
33. Wresting the Jungle’s Secrets
Expeditions in search of new medicinal plants probably are as old as Pharmacy. Scientific
adventurers, such as Henry Hurd Rusby (1855-1940), opened vast new horizons for the
advancement of Pharmacy and Medicine, late in the nineteenth century. Sent by Parke, Davis
& Company in 1884 to Peru for supplies of coca leaves, Dr. Rusby crossed the Andes and
journeyed down the Amazon to the Atlantic amid incredible hardships. He returned with 45,000
botanical specimens. Among them were many new drug plants, including cocillana bark,
pharmaceutical preparations of which are still important to Medicine. Dr. Rusby later became
Dean of the College of Pharmacy of Columbia University.
34. Stanislas Limousin – Pharmacal Inventor
One of those men singularly gifted in combining scientific knowledge with technical skill and
with inventive genius was the French retail pharmacist, Stanislas Limousin (1831-1887).
Among the many devices which he introduced to Pharmacy and Medicine were the medicine
dropper; the system of coloring poisons (such as corrosive sublimate); and wafer cachets
(which found favor prior to mass production of the gelatin capsule). His greatest contributions,
however, were the development and perfection of apparatus for the inhalation and therapeutic
administration of oxygen; and invention of glass ampoules that could be sealed and sterilized
for preservation of solutions for hypodermic use.
35. The Era of Biologicals
When, in 1894, Behring and Roux announced the effectiveness of diphtheria antitoxin,
pharmaceutical scientists both in Europe and in the United States rushed to put the new
discovery into production. Parke, Davis & Company was among the pioneers. The serum
became available in 1895, and lives of thousands of children were saved. Inoculation of horses
with diphtheria toxin was the first step of many in producing antitoxin. In 1903, Parke-Davis
received U.S. Biological License No. 1. New, improved biological products have continued to
become available, climaxed in 1955 by poliomyelitis vaccine.
36. The Development of Chemotherapy
One of the successful researchers in the development of new chemical compounds specifically
created to fight disease-causing organisms in the body was the French pharmacist, Ernest
Francois Auguste Fourneau (1872-1949), who for 30 years headed chemical laboratories in
the world-renowned Institut Pasteur, in Paris. His early work with bismuth and arsenic
compounds advanced the treatment of syphilis. He broke the German secret of a specific for
sleeping sickness; paved the way for the life-saving sulfonamide compounds; and from his
laboratories came the first group of chemicals having recognized antihistaminic properties. His
work led other investigators to broad fields of chemotherapeutic research.
37. Pharmaceutical Research
Research in some form has gone hand in hand with the development of Pharmacy through the
ages. However, it was the chemical synthesis of antipyrine in 1883 that gave impetus and
inspiration for intensive search for therapeutically useful compounds. Begun by the Germans,
who dominate the field until World War I, the lead in pharmaceutical research passed
thereafter to the United States. Research in Pharmacy came into its own in the late 1930's and
early 1940's; has grown steadily since, supported by pharmaceutical manufactures,
universities, and government. Today it used techniques and trained personnel from every
branch of science in the unending search for new life-saving and life-giving drug products.
38. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Comes of Age
Pharmaceutical manufacturing as an industry apart from retail Pharmacy had its beginnings
about 1600; really got under way in the middle 1700's. It developed first in Germany, then in
England and in France. In America, it was the child of wars - born in the Revolution; grew
rapidly during and following the Civil War; became independent of Europe during World War I;
came of age during and following World War II. Utilizing latest technical advances from every
branch of science, manufacturing Pharmacy economically develops and produces the latest
and greatest in drugs in immense quantities, so that everywhere physicians may prescribe
them and pharmacists dispense them for the benefit of all mankind.
39. The Era of Antibiotics
Antibiotics are not new. Their actions probably were first observed by Pasteur in 1877.
However, the second quarter of the 20th century marked the flowering of the antibiotic era - a
new and dramatic departure in the production of disease-fighting drugs. Fleming's discovery of
penicillin in 1929 went undeveloped and Florey and Chain studied it in 1940. Under pressure of
World War II, the pharmaceutical manufacturers rapidly adapted mass production methods to
penicillin; have reduced costs to 1/1000th the original. Antibiotic discoveries came rapidly in
the '40's. Intensive research continues to find antibiotics that will conquer more of men's
microbial enemies.
40. Pharmacy Today and Tomorrow
Pharmacy, with its heritage of 50 centuries of service to mankind, has come to be recognized
as of the great professions. Like Medicine, it has come through many revolutions, has learned
many things, has had to discard many of its older ways. Pharmacists are among the
community's finest educated people. When today's retail pharmacist fills a prescription written
by a physician, he provides a professional service incorporating the benefits of the work of
pharmacists in all branches of the profession - education, research, development, standards,
production, and distribution. Pharmacy's professional stature will continue to grow in the future
as this great heritage and tradition of service is passed on from preceptor to apprentice, from
teacher to student, from father to son.