How education for being a pharmacist has advanced over the years?

In the Middle East there was an advances made in botany and chemistry which led to creating medicine in medieval Islam, and substantially developed pharmacology. People began to understand how truly important this knowledge was, Muhammad ibn Zakariva Razi and Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi both became important to the medical history as they began to promote and pioneer the uses of chemical compounds, and ways to prepare medicine by sublimation and distillation.

Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi also released his Liber servitoris which provided readers with recipes and explains how to prepare the simples and compounds using complex drugs than the general basic drugs and herbal remedies. Sabur Ibn Sahl was the first physician to create a pharmacopoedia which described a large varieties of drugs and remedies for ailments, but it wasn’t until Al-Biruni wrote one of the most valuable works dealing with pharmacology which was known as the Kitab al-Saydalah, in English meaning The Book of Drugs.

The drug changed the way that people looked at the pharmacy world because it gave knowledge of the properties of drugs, gave a detailed outline of the role that a pharmacy plays, and the functions and duties that a pharmacist is in charge of.

Iba Sina also wrote his own book which described 700 different preparations, their properties, and the mode of actions and their indications. He also devoted a whole volume to simple drugs in The Canon of Medince. Although the greatest impact was created by al-Maridini of Baghdad and Cario, along with Ibn al-Wafid, both of these works were printed in Latin more than fifty times and appeared as De Medicinis universalibus et particularibus by ‘Mesue’ and the medicanmentis simplicibus by ‘Abenguefit’.

Peter of Abano translated and added a supplement to the work of al-Maridini under the title “De Veneris”. Living in the 10th century, Al-Muwaffaq contributed to this field as well. He wrote another book known as “The foundations of the true properties of Remedies”, this book described arsenious oxide, being acquainted with silicic acid, and he also made a clear distinction between sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate.

This also helped draw attention to the poisonous nature of copper compound, mostly copper that was found in copper vitriol and lead compounds. Al-Mawaffaq also described the safe way to make sea-water safe for drinking.

In Europe the first pharmacy-like shops began to appear in the 12th century. In 1240 emperor Frederic II issued a degree by which the physician’s and the apothecary’s professions were separated. The first pharmacy in Europe can still be scene in Trier, Germany since it opened in 1241. Europe always has old pharmacies that can be located in the Franciscan monastery, and another one in the Town Hall Square of Tallinn, Estonia which dates back to 1422.

The oldest one discovered is believed to be from 1221 in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy, however it was turned into a house of perfume museum. In Lliva, the Medieval Esteve Pharmacy was discovered in a Catalan enclave close to Puigcerda which is now a museum dating back to the 15th century. This museum keeps alberellos, old prescription books, and antique drugs that was believed to be used in the shop.