A Brief History of the Pharmacy in the United States

Today’s status of the profession and those who practice it results from an evolution over thousands of years.

 The history of pharmacy and medication

The practice of pharmacy has been around for thousands of years, and healing with medicinal plants is as old as mankind itself. There is evidence that Neanderthals used pain-killers and antibiotics to self-medicate as early as 49,000 years ago. From the dawn of civilization to modern times, healing properties of medicinal plants have been identified, noted and conveyed to successive generations.

A Brief History of Pharmacy

Since King James I established Western society’s first independent pharmacist guild in England during the early 17th century, pharmacy has held a central role in health care.

A History of Pharmacy in Pictures

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 - George A. Bender

Avicenna, the prince of physicians

Often Western historians consider the era between the sixth and the 12th centuries A.D. as one of the earth's darkest periods of history. Although Europe had lapsed into an epoch of ignorance, some parts of the world continued to grow and flourish during this period.

History of Pharmacy

Disease continues to trail man since the “Fall of Man” and he has continued to seek ways of curing them. Early studies show that man used clay, mud, leaves and supernatural means for alleviating symptoms of various diseases. Women were reported to be earliest gatherers of medicinal plants but the practice was taken up by men in the society.

The History of the Pharmacy

Some say that the Dacians used medicinal herbs and had medical knowledge, facts that are mentioned by some of the Ancient Greek and Roman writers. It is rightly supposed that the first ustensils for the preparing of the medicines had been manufactured out of wood and burnt clay, but they did not resist to the aggressive factors of the nature and to the incapacity of the people in preserving those ustensils.