The nineteenth-century American drugstore carried a full line of simples (mainly crude vegetable drugs) and chemicals with which pharmacists compounded and dispensed medicines, with or without a prescription. They were artisans who spread their own plasters and prepared pills, powders, tinctures, ointments, syrups, conserves, medicated waters, and perfumes. Economic necessity forced them to handle such commodities as confections, tobacco, paints, glass, groceries, spices, and liquor. They were thus commonly also merchants, and pharmacists often differed among themselves as to whether theirs was a trade or a profession. Read More >>
The health profession concerned with the discovery, development, production, and distribution of drugs. Drugs are substances (other than devices) used to diagnose, prevent, cure, or relieve the symptoms of disease. For relations to closely allied fields. See also Medicine; Pharmaceutical chemistry; Pharmacognosy; Buy Hydrocodone And Xanax Now.