In any event, there was no requirement that a dealer in drugs or a practicer of medicine must have a degree, a license, or any other recommendation than his own assurance of good results to the sick who applied to him. Some practitioners were on the modest side in offering their services; some were wholly unrestrained—even guaranteeing to cure cancer! The contrast stands out sharply in these two advertisements from the _Virginia Gazette_, the first in 1771 by Dr. William Stark of the town of Blandford, the second five years later by a quack who did not even bother to give himself the title of doctor. The Subscriber having been bred to Physick in his younger Years, and having attended particularly to this Study for these three Years past, now proposes to practise on the most moderate Terms. He cannot with Sincerity boast of having attained the _Ne plus ultra_ of the _Aesculapian_ Art, nor yet of acquiring any superior Degree of Knowledge in this Science; but flatters himself that, by a vigilant and due Attention to the Indications and Efforts of Nature in those sick Persons who should, through Choice or Necessity, be committed to his Care, he may be able to afford them proper and timely Assistance. * * * Thomas Johnson, of Brunswick, Who is well known for his Abilities in the Cure of the Flux, gives Notice that he also cures the following Disorders, _viz._ the Spleen, Cholic, Asthma, and any Kind of Fevers, lingering Disorders, bad Coughs, Scurvy, any Kind of running Humours or scorbutic Disorders, the Yaws and _French_ Disorder, without Salivation, sore Legs, Dropsy, Scurvy in the Gums, and has the greatest Reason to believe he can cure the Consumption if timely applied to. _LINES OF SUCCESSION_ In a very direct and personal way, each generation of Williamsburg physician-apothecary trained its successor. Two particularly illustrative lines began with Dr. George Gilmer. At one time in 1745 it appears that Gilmer had an apprentice by the name of James Carter. A few years later Carter opened an apothecary shop of his own at the sign of the Unicorn’s Horn, next door to the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg. Carter in turn took Andrew Anderson as apprentice, and in due time when Anderson had attain the status of “doctor,” took him into partnership. This combination lasted only two years, and James Carter later formed a partnership with his brother William, a physician. After another few years James sold his share of the apothecary shop to William but apparently continued independently to practice medicine until his death in 1794.