In the early days in England, the grocers, or poticaries, who formed one of the trade guilds of London, united with their ordinary business the sale of such ointments, simples |175| and medicinal compounds as were then in use. In the days of Henry VIII., the medical department of the grocers’ trade being greatly increased, shops were established for the exclusive sale of drugs and medicinal and all kinds of chemical preparations. We have a graphic description of one of these apothecaries about the days of “Good Queen Bess,” in the words of the prince of English dramatists: ——I do remember an apothecary, And hereabouts he dwells, which late I noticed In tatter’d weeds, with overwhelming brows, Culling of simples: meagre were his looks, Sharp misery had worn him to the bones, And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, An alligator stuff’d, and other skins Of ill-shaped fishes: and about his shelves A beggarly account of empty boxes, Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds, Remnants of pack thread and old cakes of roses Were thinly scattered to make up a show. ROMEO AND JULIET, Act. V., SC. 1. Until 1868, any person whatever might open what is called a chemist’s shop in England, and deal in drugs and poisons. In that year, however, the Pharmacy Act was passed, which prohibits any person engaging in the business of, or assuming the title of, Chemist and Druggist, or dispensing chemicals or drugs, unless he be registered under that Act. And to be registered one must pass an examination in Latin, English, arithmetic, prescriptions, practical dispensing, pharmacy, materia medica, botany and chemistry. Under the Ontario Act [463] there is a College of Pharmacy, managed by a Pharmaceutical Council who grant certificates of competency to practise as pharmaceutical chemists, prescribe the subjects on which candidates are to be |176| examined, and arrange for the registration of chemists. No one, save those registered or their employeés, is authorized to compound prescriptions of legally authorized medical practitioners. The Act, however, does not apply to medical practitioners. But, save as aforesaid, no one can retail, dispense, or compound poisons, or sell certain articles named, or assume or use the title of “Chemist and Druggist,” or “Chemist,” or “Druggist,” or “Pharmacist or Apothecary,” or “Dispensing Chemist or Druggist,” unless he has complied with the Act. The Code Napoleon recognizes two classes of vendors of drugs and medicines, apothecaries and druggists. The former, who are assumed to be pharmaceutically educated, are alone allowed to sell compounded medicine, the latter who are classed with grocers are only permitted to sell drugs of a simple character in bulk and at wholesale [464]. In the United States, wherever statutes do not otherwise direct, apothecaries and druggists are put upon the common law footing of provision vendors, and may sell in any quantities articles in which they deal.