: Health Hinge

a unit of weight called marc de Troyes was used.[35]

The national French standard until 1799 was based on a famous artefact called the Pile de Charlemagne, which probably dates back to the second half of the 15th century. It is an elaborate set of nesting weight pieces, with a total metric weight of 12.238 kg. The set is now shown in the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.[36] The total nominal value of the set is 50 marcs de Troyes or marcs de Paris, a mark being 8 ounces. The ounce poids de marc had therefore a metric equivalent of 30.59 g.[37] The poids de marc was used as a national French standard for trading, for gold, silver and jewels, and for weighing medicine. It was

also used in internationIn Bruges, Amsterdam, Antwerpen and other Flemish cities, a “troy” unit (”trooisch pond”) was also in use as a standard for valuable materials and medicine. As in France, the way in which the Flemish troy ounce was subdivided depended on what was weighed. Unlike the French, the Flemish apothecaries divided the scruple in 20 grains. The Flemish troy pound became the standard for the gold and apothecaries’ system in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands; it was also used in this way in Lübeck.

In 1414, six years before the Treaty of Troyes, a statute of Henry V of England gave directions to the goldsmiths in terms of the troy pound. (In 1304 it had apparently not yet been introduced, since it did not appear in the statute of weights and measures.) There is evidence from the 15th century that the troy pound was used for weighing metals and spices.[9] After the abolishment of the Tower pound in 1527 by Henry VIII of England, the troy pound was the official basis for English coin weights. The British apothecaries’ system was based on the troy pound until metrication, and it survived in the United States and Australia well into the 20th century.

Since the modern (English, American and Imperial) troy ounces are roughly 1.5% heavier than the late Paris ounce, the exact historical relations between the original marc de Troyes, the French poids de marc, the Flemish trooisch pond and the English troy pound are unclear. It is known, however, that the numerical relation between the English and French troy ounces was exactly 64:63 in the fourteenth century.[9][38]
al communications between scientists. In the time before the French Revolution, the civil pound also played the role of the apothecaries’ pound in the French apothecaries’ system, which otherwise remained a standard system of the Romance (24 grains per scruple) type.

The basic form of the apothecaries’ system is essentially a subset of the Roman weight system. An apothecaries’ pound normally consisted of 12 ounces. (In France this was changed to 16 ounces, and in Spain the customary unit was the marco, a mark of 8 ounces.) In the south of Europe and in France, the scruple was generally divided into 24 grains, so that one ounce consisted of 576 grains. Nevertheless, the subdivision of an ounce was somewhat more uniform than that of a pound, and a common feature of all variants is that 12 ounces are roughly 100 drachms (96–128 drachms) and a grain is roughly the weight of a physical grain.

Map showing the weight of 1 apothecaries’ ounce in grammes around 1800, before metrication and the Prussian weight reform. The dashed lines indicate three different ways to subdivide the ounce.

It is most convenient to compare the various local weight standards by the metric weights of their ounces. The actual mass of an ounce varied by ±17% (5 g) around the typical value of 30 g. The table only shows approximate values for the most important standards; even the same nominal standard could vary slightly between one city and its neighbour. The range from 25 g to 31 g is filled with numerous variants, especially the Italian range up to 28 g. But there is a relatively large gap between the troy ounces of 31 g and the Habsburg ounce of 35 g. The latter is the product of an eighteenth century weight reform.

Even in Turkey a system of weights similar to the European apothecaries’ system was used for the same purpose. For medical purposes the tcheky (approx. 320 g) was divided in 100 drachms, and the drachm in (16 killos or) 64 grains.[21][22] This is close to the classical Greek weight system, where a mina (corresponding roughly to a Roman libra) was also divided into 100 drachms.[23]

With the beginning of metrication, some countries standardized their apothecaries’ pound to an easily remembered multiple of the French gramme.[24] E.g. in the Netherlands the Dutch troy pound of 369.1 g was standardized in 1820 to 375.000 g, to match a similar reform in France. The British troy pound retained its value of 373.202 g until in 2000 it was legally defined in metric terms, as 373.2417216 g.[25] (At this time its use was already illegal for all purposes except trading precious metals.)

Historically ampoules were used to contain a small sample of a person’s blood after death, which was entombed alongside them in many Christian catacombs. It was originally believed that only martyrs were given this burial treatment, but many believe that it was a widely-practiced tradition.

William Allen was known in commerce for his pharmaceutical company Plough Court. Situated off Lombard Street in the heart of the City of London, and founded by the Quaker scientist Silvanus Bevan, it eventually grew into one of the UK’s largest pharmaceutical companies: Allen & Hanburys. The company was acquired in 1958 by Glaxo Laboratories, who retained ‘Allen and Hanburys’ as a separate marque within the GSK group.

In 1841 William Allen co-founded the The Pharmaceutical Society, which later became The Royal Pharamaceutical Society. Its first president was William Allen.

Allen’s involvement with the Plough Court Pharmacy began in the 1790s when he began working there for Samuel Mildred. Already a thriving business in the City of London, with the arms of the Apothecaries Company emblazoned on its window, it continued to prosper and William Allen was offered a partnership; the company thereafter trading for a while under the name Mildred and Allen. William Allen strengthened the company’s links with medical institutions, particularly Guy’s Hospital where he was elected to its ‘Physical Society’. Meanwhile, using the facilities at Plough Court for meetings, he was able to broaden such associations further by co-founding the Askesian Society through which new ideas for research and experimentation could be discussed with others such as Luke Howard, Joseph Fox, W.H.Pepys, Dr Babington, and the eminent surgeon Sir Astley Cooper. In 1797 William Allen invited Luke Howard to formally collaborate with him at the Plough Court Pharmacy, the business becoming known as Allen and Howard to reflect this partnership. As the business expanded, a second laboratory was opened for the development of new chemicals, a few miles from the company’s City of London headquarters, in Plaistow.

William Allen was the eldest son of devout Quakers Job and Margaret Allen. They were a well-to-do family, Job earning his wealth as a silk manufacturer. As a young man, in the 1790s, William Allen became interested in science. He attended meetings of various scientific societies, including lectures at St. Thomas’s Hospital and Guy’s Hospital, becoming a member of ‘The Chemical Society’ of the latter establishment.

In the first year of the new century, William Allen’s father died, and the family silk business was thereafter managed by his father’s assistant. This left William free to grow his own business in the field of pharmacy[2], gradually becoming independent and establishing his own business. In 1802 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society and lectured on chemistry at Guy’s Hospital. A year later he was made president of the ‘Physical Society’ at Guy’s, and on the advice of Humphry Davy and John Dalton also accepted an invitation from the Royal Institution to become one of its lecturers.

In 1807, Allen’s original research (on carbon) enabled him to be successfully proposed for election to Fellowship of the Royal Society, bringing him into contact with those who were publishing much of the original scientific research of the day. This strengthened his ties with the eminent Humphry Davy, and in due course with his longstanding friend Luke Howard who was likewise elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society, though some years later.

William Allen FRS, FLS (August 29, 1770 – September 30, 1843) was an English scientist and philanthropist who opposed slavery and engaged in schemes of social and penal improvement in early nineteenth century England.

The risk of drug interactions is increased with polypharmacy.

Various diseases, especially those that cause renal or hepatic insufficiency, may alter drug metabolism. Resources are available that report changes in a drug’s metabolism due to disease states.[7]

A pharmacy (commonly the chemist in Australia, New Zealand and the UK; or drugstore in North America; retail pharmacy in industry terminology; or Apothecary, historically) is the place where most pharmacists practice the profession of pharmacy. It is the community pharmacy where the dichotomy of the profession exists—health professionals who are also retailers.

Community pharmacies usually consist of a retail storefront with a dispensary where medications are stored and dispensed. The dispensary is subject to pharmacy legislation; with requirements for storage conditions, compulsory texts, equipment, etc., specified in legislation. Where it was once the case that pharmacists stayed within the dispensary compounding/dispensing medications; there has been an increasing trend towards the use of trained pharmacy technicians while the pharmacist spends more time communicating with patients.

All pharmacies are required to have a pharmacist on-duty at all times when open. In many jurisdictions, it is also a requirement that the owner of a pharmacy must be a registered pharmacist (R.Ph.). This latter requirement has been revoked in many jurisdictions, such that many retailers (including supermarkets and mass merchandisers) now include a pharmacy as a department of their store.

Likewise, many pharmacies are now rather grocery store-like in their design. In addition to medicines and prescriptions, many now sell a diverse arrangement of additional household items such as cosmetics, shampoo, office supplies, confectionary, and snack foods.

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.