Nicolai
Grade 8A
Apothecary
Nowadays, people are very dependent on local pharmacies for medicine and drugs such as aspirin. Studies show that there were about 4.45 billion prescriptions for medicine and drugs in America in 2016 but it wasn't always like this ("Total Number of Medical Prescriptions dispensed in The U.S. from 2009 to 2016(in millions)"). During American colonial times people would have to go to apothecaries for professional medical treatment and for the prescription of medicine. However, it came with a sizeable fee. At the time many people couldn't afford the price for apothecaries but the ones who could afford it were very lucky. Since people didn't know germs existed at the time, people wouldn’t know how they got sick and how not to get sick. This would lead to many people becoming sick and weak and without good care, people would usually die. That is why the apothecaries were very important during American colonial times.
One of the
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There was a lot of sickness and disease back then so the apothecaries were much needed to help and cure the sick people. If the apothecaries were just removed completely from colonial life, many people would have died and maybe even entire towns completely rid of their people. The apothecaries were essential to life during the American colonial times especially since they were in a new place with new diseases.
Today the apothecary would most likely be a pharmacist. In colonial times the apothecary would have many jobs but today the jobs are split up. There are doctors, dentists, pharmacists, and other jobs that the apothecary would do. Since the jobs are more split up today, people are more advanced in what they specialize in. They would have more knowledge and more advanced tools to use. For example, dentists have and use different tools that they use like a mouth mirror. So, today people rely a lot on doctors and dentists for medical