Galenism had been subjected to attack in the sixteenth century by Paracelsus and Vesalius, but its appeal was logical and remained strong in seventeenth-century England. (In fact, some survivals can be found in twentieth-century folk medicine.) Dr. Lawrence Bohun (or Boone), who came over in 1610 and returned to England in 1611, spent some of the year investigating medicinal sources in Virginia. He discovered a white clay—and shipped some to England—that he claimed could absorb and expel poisons from the body. Among vegetable remedies, Bohun experimented with sassafras and found “_Galbanum mechoacon_, otherwise called _rubarbum alum_, to be of service in cold moist bodies, for the purginge of fleame [phlegm] and superfluous matter.” _WHAT IS AN APOTHECARY?_ Already it will be evident that the practice of medicine in seventeenth-century England, and hence in the first American colonies, was not neatly confined to the licensed graduates of accredited medical schools. Quite the contrary. In fact, Henry VIII had complained that all kinds of ignorant people got into the act, including “Smiths, Weavers, and Women.” [Illustration: _In the upper half of this woodcut from _The Expert Doctor’s Dispensary_, published in London in 1657, a learned physician is shown conducting a urinalysis. He simply holds the flask of liquid to the light for visual examination. Below, a customer presents what appears to be a written prescription to be filled by the apothecary._] Two centuries of legal and parliamentary pulling and hauling, plus the consequence of some natural developments, left the situation in England somewhat stabilized—but not necessarily logical. The barbers, chartered as a guild in 1462 and authorized to practice surgery, included both barbers and surgeons in growing disharmony until they were formally divorced in 1745. The apothecaries—the word originally meant shopkeeper—joined the guild of grocers at one time but shortly broke away to form their own guild in 1617. Meantime, the physicians, organized in the College of Physicians, obtained the right to keep watch on the apothecaries. Physicians, who had to have as much as 14 years training and four degrees from Oxford or Cambridge, were naturally not abundant. Being learned men, they would not stoop to the indignity of such menial work as performing surgical operations or compounding medicines. The former was the province of the surgeon or barber-surgeon, the latter was the specialty of the apothecary.