It is the manito or manitou of the Algonkin, the oki of the Iroquois, and the teotl of the Aztec. And, curious to observe, these words also mean serpent.

I may also explain here that the "medicine-man" is not alone the physician; he deals with the mysterious generally. There were three kinds: the Jossakeeds, or seers or prophets; the Medas, or medical practitioners; and the Wabenos, a class that indulged in night orgies.

In Miss Emerson's book it is said that "the dress of the Medas of the celebrated Mandan Indians, whose tribe is now extinct, was a medley of the animal and vegetable kingdom. All anomalies in nature were used as of great medical effect in the construction of this professional guard. The skin of the yellow bear usually formed the most important feature of the dress, and to this was sometimes attached the skins of snakes and the hoofs of deer, goats, and antelopes." The appearance of such a "doctor" was surely sufficient to frighten away most of the evil spirits which were the source of human ills.

1 Indian Myths, p. 230.

CHAPTER XVII.

PHARMACISTS' SYMBOLS.

THE art of the pharmacist is old; it is assuredly of prehistoric origin. The reader of Dioscorides or of Pliny is astonished at the number of herbs and other things used as medicines and the complexness of many popular prescriptions. Referring to the pharmacist, it is curiously observed, in "Ecclesiasticus," that "of his works there shall be no end." In other days than ours there was evidently a morbid taste for the multiplication of remedies of doubtful worth,-a deplorable infirmity of many physicians.

It is stated by Ebers, in his "Egyptian Princess," that each of the Egyptian temples had its laboratory and apothecary. There is a list of two hundred drugs which were kept in the temple of Edfu. But just when the preparation and sale of medicines became a special business cannot be stated. In early times it was customary for the physician to compound his own prescriptions, as is done in rural places yet. Mr. Fort remarks that "toward the conclusion of the third century the first indications present themselves of the existence of a class of [Roman] citizens to whose vigilant care was confided the preparation of medicaments ordered by attendant physicians."2 The same writer says: "The storage of medicinal supplies seems to have approximated the pharmacy in the twelfth century, although even earlier the word apothecary appears to have been

1 Ecclesiasticus, xxxviii, 7.

'Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 27.

interchangeable with the booth where assorted wares were offered at public sale."1 At the end of the twelfth century the Bishop of London was named apothecarius, or pharmacist, to King Henry, a fact which proves that the art of Bolus was then, at least, highly esteemed.

Now, although the establishment of the pharmacist has mysteries in abundance connected with it, the special symbols pertaining to the business are but few. The chief and most characteristic one is the MORTAR AND PESTLE. In Larwood and Hotten's interesting book it is said: "One of the signs originally used exclusively by apothecaries was the mortar and pestle, their wellknown implements for pounding drugs." In an attract

AND PESTLE.

ive form and generally gilded, it is to

be seen at nearly all pharmacies in this country. Only occasionally is it pictured. I know an instance in Philadelphia where Cupid is represented in FIG. 25.-MORTAR connection with it; but this is as absurd an addition as the negro youth who is using the pestle in another. An eagle-the national bird is sometimes represented hovering over it. The pestle used for grinding corn was deified by the Romans under the name of Pilumnus. In connection with the mortar it is highly spoken of in the sacred books of the Hindus.

The skull and cross-bones has come to be of pharmaceutical significance. Placed on the label of a vial, it implies that the contents are poisonous, and should be used with intelligence and care. It has been in use from an early date as an emblem of death. Formerly, it was often placed on tombstones.

1 Medical Economy during the Middle Ages, p. 307.

History of Sign-Boards, p. 341. Second edition. London, 1866.

BOTTLES OF VASES, colored or containing colored liquids, are of pharmaceutic import. The question of the origin of their use as signs is often asked. It cannot be definitely answered. But, as to how the custom originated one may confidently say that it arose from the common-sense desire of the dealer in medicinal wares to make the fact obvious to the passer-by. The confectioner does essentially the same thing, and so, indeed, do the grocer and many others.

By turning to Larwood and Hotten's book it will be seen that a golden bottle has been used as a banker's and a goldsmith's sign; also, that bottles of various kinds have in other days, as now, decorated many a tavern-front.

Hence, a bottle or vase can hardly be regarded as a symbol, and much less the exclusive symbol of a dealer in medicines. If it were similar in every instance, and had something special in its form or color, or both, it might be so regarded.

As it is, one cannot very well regard it in any other light than as a part of the dealer's ordinary stock. Still, it must be said that there is something decidedly distinct and special about it, as seen in the pharmacist's window.

In this country, at least, the shape of the vase or vases (for there are generally three or four) and their color are not subject to any rule; and, in fact, there are a few stores in Philadelphia in which there are none. The favorite colors seem to be light green, claret, light blue, and amber.

It is very probable that the presence of special colored liquids in show-bottles does not date back much farther than, if as far as, 1617,-the time when the apothecaries became a distinct class from grocers, in