English in a pill – Angielski w pigułce, Lesson 12

The short history of pharmacy

Pharmacy (from the Greek pharmakos = drug) is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences, and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of medication. The scope of pharmacy practice includes more traditional roles such as compounding and dispensing medications and providing drug information.

The field of Pharmacy can generally be divided into three primary disciplines:

- pharmaceutics,

- medicinal chemistry,

- pharmacy practice.

Muslim pharmacy

In the field of pharmacy, the first drugstores were opened by Muslim pharmacists in Baghdad in 754 while the first apothecary shops were also founded by Muslim practitioners.

The advances made in the Middle East by Muslim chemists in botany and chemistry led Muslim physicians to substantially develop pharmacology. Muhammad ibn Zakariya Razi (Rhazes) (865-915), for instance, acted to promote the medical uses of chemical compounds. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) (936-1013) pioneered the preparation of medicines by sublimation and distillation.

Sabur Ibn Sahl (died 869), was, however, the first physician to initiate pharmacopoeia, describing a large variety of drugs and remedies for ailments. Al-Biruni (973-1050) wrote one of the most valuable Islamic works on pharmacology entitled "Kitab al-Saydalah" ("The Book of Drugs"), where he gave detailed knowledge of the properties of drugs and outlined the role of pharmacy and the functions and duties of the pharmacist.

Chinese pharmacy

The beginnings of pharmacy in China are ancient. It stemmed from Chinese alchemy.

Shennong - a Chinese alchemist, is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medical value. The most well-known work attributed to Shennong is "The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic". This work is considered to be the earliest Chinese pharmacopoeia. It includes 365 medicines derived from minerals, plants, and animals. Shennong is credited with identifying hundreds of medical (and poisonous) herbs by personally testing their properties, which was crucial to the development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Japanese pharmacy

In ancient Japan, the men who fulfilled roles similar to those of modern pharamacists were highly respected. The pharmacists - and even pharmacist assistants - were assigned status superior to all others in health-related fields such as physicians

and acupuncturists. In the Imperial household, the pharmacist was even ranked above the two personal physicians of the Emperor.

Types of pharmacy practice areas

Pharmacists practice in a variety of areas including retail, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, drug industry, and regulatory agencies. Pharmacists can specialize in various areas of practice including but not limited to: hematology/oncology, infectious diseases,

ambulatory care, nutrition support, drug information, critical care, pediatrics, etc.

The symbols associated with pharmacy:

• mortar and pestle,
• recipe symbol
• rod of Asclepius.

WORDS

• First-aid kit / Apteczka
• a scope - zakres
• to compound - mieszać
• to dispense - wydawać np. leki
• pharmaceutics - środki farmaceutyczne
• medicinal - leczniczy
• apothecary - aptekarski
• physicians - lekarz
• sublimation - sublimacja
• pharmacopoeia - lekospis
• ailments - dolegliwości
• to outline - przedstawić w zarysie
• to stem from - mieć swoje źródło
• to derive from - pochodzić z
• to be credited with - przypisywać komuś coś
• to be superior to sth - górować nad czymś
• retail - handel detaliczny
• a mortar - moździerz
• a pestle - tłuczek do moździerza
• a rod - laska, kij

A joke

A pharmacist looks out the front of the store and sees a woman holding a bottle jumping up and down in the parking lot. The pharmacist walks out to the parking lot and asks the woman what's the matter. She replies: "I saw it said‚ shake well' after I took it".

„Farmacja i Ja”, październik 2008