ABSTRACT

In the British Isles the assumption of the title Chemist and Druggist for a century or more by the competitors of the apothecaries has become so completely established in the public mind that to speak of a chemist invariably implies in common parlance the person who compounds and sells medicines. With regard to the branch of Science called Chemistry and to its applications one considerable source of confusion in England is to be found in the fact that the name Chemist has long been associated with the calling which is more appropriately. In Germany the compounder of medicines is entitled “apotheker,” while in France he is called a “pharmacien.” Chemistry has for centuries been associated, perhaps naturally, with medicine, and, confining attention to modern times, it is easy to recall the names of many men who became eminent as chemists having begun by the study of medicine in some form or other.