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Land helix, so called snails, have been used in medicine since Antiquity. We find them until today in pharmaceutical specialties and it is the subject of several studies. Why this gastropod has much interested and what products were used, based on this unique active ingredient? Some famous pharmacists like Mure, Figuier and Barin-Barthélémy, made specialties that were well known along the 19th century as proven by the Dorvault reference book in 1877. But the history of snails in medicine continued during the 20th century with hélicidine, commercialized in France in 1957, and with HPA (HElix Pomatia Lectin) that is fixed by metastatic tissues.

The rising of pharmaceutical regulations took place in the civilisations located around the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greco-Roman world, Byzantine Empire, were followed by Bagdad, where sayadila, inspections and grabadins appeared. The creation of Universities, during the XIIth and XIIIth centuries, plaid a role in the rising of apothecaries communities in Occident. Melfi Constitutions (Constititiones Melfiae, 1231) and new constitutions (1241) inspired most of the regulations of apothecaries communities in Europe. Declaration of the King of France in April 1777 announced the famous "Loi de Germinal", Germinal law, which organized the modern Pharmacy, in 1803.

From Antiquity to marketing of cane sugar, and beet sugar in particular, honey was greatly consumed for its sweetening power; it was also employed for its therapeutic properties. Actually, it is always used in feeding and dietetic, and only as popular remedy. The hive products: pollen, propolis, royal jelly, introduced for few decades in dietetic meet show a great commercial passion; the beeswax was excipient in beauty care. These different aspects are developed in this study.

This paper presents the major therapeutic uses of Fomes fomentarius (L. : Fr.) Fr., tinder polypore. The context of this fungus is a wooly and soft material so called amadou (tinder). During the XVIII and XIXth centuries, the fungal material was used as haemostatic dressing and bandage to keep the temperature and compress parts of the body. It was also used as cautery for moxibustion and was reported in several traditional pharmacopoeias (Hungarian, Chinese, Indian).

The Baume du commandeur appears in Franch in 1694 in the Histoire générale des drogues [...] written by Pomet. It's a vulnerary drug with also numerous internal uses. Still present in formularies and sometimes used, its invention is attributed to Gaspard de Pernes, commander of Malta Order in Toul, in France. However, some observations induce us to think that the origin of this drug would be in eastern countries: first one of its other names, baume persique, secondly the name of a comparable other formula baume des Turcs, then the geographical origin of the majority of plants and drugs constituting the initially published formula, finally the appurtenance of G. de Pernes to Malta Order. Unfortunately, the transmissions, modifications and improvements of the formula since its beginning make today very difficult to discover the localization and dating of the creation of this famous drug.

Karagöz is the name of the Turkish shadow theater and in the same time the name of the principal hero: it means "black eye". This burlesque show was performed on great occasions, such as births, circumcisions, weddings, and also during the winter evenings and the month of Ramadan. The size of puppets, in camel hide, is generally 25/35 cm. Sketches are inspired by daily life in big anatolian cities and in Istanbul. In this play, Karagöz is both pharmacist and doctor, a job for which he is not at all qualified. Of course, the farce is embroidered around his extravagant speeches and acts when different people come in the pharmacy. We notice the importance of the French vocabulary.

Secret remedies are preparations or medicines whose composition is not disclosed by the inventor in order to protect his invention or to deceive the public. Secret remedies have always existed. From time immemorial the communities of apothecaries in Paris or in the provinces were opposed to quack doctors or healers who sold inactive mixtures. The 1352 Royal Edict forbade preparations of secret remedies. However, in the 17th century secret remedies were authorized through commission letters or warrants. In the 18th century regulations were implemented to control secret trade. The famous 11 April 1803 Law called the Germinal Law banned the sale of secret remedies but its severity was softened through successive decrees based on divergent interpretations of the regulations. The final banning of secret remedies was pronounced by a decree on 13 July 1926.

After presentation of the history, functioning and administration of the pharmacy, the authors take an interest in the rich pharmaceutical things collection : pots in Nevers' earthenware of XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries, wooden boxes of herbals to XVIIth century, Venice's glass receptacles of the Renaissance, mortars and still, books, furniture.

The monastery garden is a symbolic place where medicinal plants have both therapeutic use and religious meaning. The cloister is a natural as well as a spiritual space, where the monastic virtues are expressed by the geometry of the alleys and the floral composition. By the end of the Middle Ages, a couple of abbeys designed enclosed gardens (hortus conclusus) to symbolize the Garden of Mary, often represented in 14th and 15th centuries paintings.

The community of apothecaries was created in Rouen, in 1508, and its statutes were completed in 1588. The Le Chandelier family was a good example of a dynasty of apothecaries. Precise information on the way of life of XVIIth century apothecaries was given by Jacob Congnard's post mortem inventory. This document revealed also the part played by the apothecaries in foreign trade. The contribution to science was represented by Nicolas Lemery and Francois-Antoine-Henri Descroizilles. After the modifications of the rules by the law of Germinal an XI, the Preparatory School of Medicine and Pharmacy was created in 1841, but it became a faculty, only in 1966.

Wholesale dealers are merchants who sell only great amounts of drugs. Since the XVIth century, the conditions under which they practiced were governed by apothecaries' statutes. The control of drugs, which was performed by apothecaries, was often contested by wholesale dealers. After many proceedings, the court decided in favor of apothecaries.

During seven centuries charitable institutions set up in Sainte-Catherine hospital and chapel rue Saint-Denis in Paris. From the beginning of the 15th century until the mid-16th century the apothecaries and grocers' brotherhood celebrated mass in the chapel. At the French Revolution Valentin Hauy's young blind organization was established at this place. Finally Sainte-Catherine hospital was destroyed in the last half of the century.

Currently, the word tea applies to the teatree and to the vegetal material, as well as to the infused drink itself. During the VIth century, the chinese language and writing become specific when they designate the teatree with the word -cha-. However, this word is likewise used to designate different hot infused drinks. When imported from China to Europe during the XVIIth century, its consumption spreads rapidly among town people. Used by the Chinese traders operating in the Fou-Kien area, the vulgar word -te- set up in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and France, from which issue tea, Tee and the . At a time when the physicians consider the consumption of hot infused drinks as jeopardizing the stomach, their common use becomes largely widespread during the XVIIIth century with several types of medicinal herbs often named tea, as the Swiss tea (labiateae), the tea of Europe (veronica) and for example the lime tea. The use of China tea influenced the habits of European people.

After a few epidemics of pestis in the XVth century, the authority decided to erect a new hospital far from the heart of the city of Paris with an adapted architecture to isolation of contagious patients. All the buildings of the hospital were built in the same time and the result is homogeneous. The architecture is characterized by a central quadrilateral, four buildings in square, a chapel and few others pavilions. To maintain isolation, many galleries communicate to the squares and the stores. We can also find a cistern, a pavilion for the baths and one consecrated to the treatment of the leprosy and erected by the Order of Knighthood of Malta. All these edifices are scheduled as an ancient monument and actually don't receive patients but are hallowed to research, formation or meeting. A new hospital has been erected at the back of the old one.

From XIIIth to XVIIth centuries, apothecaries were not as sedentary as people think. Apprenticeship and companion's time were travel opportunities. Installation was an other occasion. Violence, war and intolerance were reasons to run away from inhospitable countries. Trade practices explained displacements. Medieval Christian Occident can be considered as a model of tomorrow's Europe.

The author studied nine arab agricultural calendars placed at intervals between the Kitab al-Azmina or the Book of seasons by Jean Mésué (IXth c.) and a tunisian calendar of the XIXth c. of andalusian origin (?). There is a clear relationship between these different calendars, all of them issued from an archetype lost today, which would have been a mixture of basic principles and traditions of different origins. One could no longer identify today with certainty but one could discern its preislamic tradition (the calendar system of the anwâ'), babylonian tradition (the predictions extracted from astronomic, meteorologic or geologic events) and a greek tradition (the influence of the humoral theory). In matter of dietetic, these calendars real authentic almanachs do nothing but reproduce the hippocratic prescriptions. In matter of hygiene, they specify seasons for physical exercices, bath as well as the perfumes to make use of. Otherwise these almanachs mention the most usual affections and the liabale means to cure, or better, to prevent them. Are recommanded differents electuaries including the theriac, trochics, eyewashes and other medications.

The traditional theriaque was made of a very large number of constituants. But in contrast, a small theriaque, called diatessaron, contained only four plants. It was described with the same therapeutical properties as the largest ones. Its composition remained nearly constant for many centuries. Its name was progressively modified into theriaque des pauvres because of its simplicity. But some of its constituants were issued from Arabic countries and were difficult to get in France; so this theriaque was not present in the pharmaceutical books which were used for low people in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries: indeed these books described only mixtures of french local plants.