THE APOTHECARIES.
We have seen that the physicians were an offshoot from the priests and the surgeons an offshoot from the barbers. In the same way, the apothecaries were originally linked with the grocers; and it was not till 1617 that James I. gave to the Apothecaries’ Company an independent charter. The apothecaries were originally druggists pure and simple, but they took to prescribing, and this brought them into conflict with the physicians. In the end the apothecaries were victorious; and finally, in 1815, they acquired the rights of examining and licensing, which are practically the same as they now possess.