The history of prescription writing is almost as old as the history of man. Among the most ancient inscriptions now being deciphered are found formulae for preparing medicines. Some of these show that even at the remotest times there was some knowledge of Materia Medica, that this knowledge was employed by"some (physicians) in writing instructions (prescriptions) for the preparation of remedies, and there is a reason to suppose that these instructions were executed by others (pharmacists).

The old Greek legend of Aesculapius, the God of the Healing Art, associates with him the beautiful Hygeia, who seems to have played the part of druggist. It is known that the priests attached to the temples of these Gods were of two classes, one that visited the sick and the other who remained in the temple and prepared the remedies.

The relative duties of the physicians and apothecaries have varied throughout the different periods of the world's history, but there seems to have been at all times a class who, among other duties, wrote prescriptions, and a class at least a part of whose duty was to fill them.

The prescription and the treatment of disease have, in the progress of time, gone through many evolutions. Treatment beginning among our Aryan ancestors as songs, dances, and various incantations, it was early learned that certain agents, if associated with the other efforts to drive out evil spirits, tended to produce the desired effect, and medicine soon became a partner to religious effort.

At some times prescriptions largely took the form of love philters, conjure potions, and like expressions of superstition; but among the fanciful and oft revolting list of ingredients there usually appeared some articles of therapeutic merit.

If the statements may be accepted that modern Chinese prescriptions are true children of those of our ancestors thousands of years ago, the truth is shown that the intervening centuries have merely devolved and improved what was already an art when the human race first began to write history.