Statistics: What era are you a pharmacist?

You work in a pharmacy where your colleagues and you collect and prepare medicines from plants, minerals and animals. Knowledge is transmitted orally, and you use recipes that have been written on papyri, such as the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, which contains more than 900 medicines. Medicines made from olive oil, opium and saffron help relieve pain and treat many diseases, and these remedies are still used today. There are also exotic components at your disposal, such as toad eyelids, elephant and tiger bones, horns and fins — unique natural materials used for healing. You work with natural remedies and try to use available plant and animal ingredients. You are preserving the traditions passed down through the generations.

You work with herbal medicines, and your experience is based on the teachings of Hippocrates, who was the first to systematize the use of medicines. In your practice, you rely on whole plants, believing that only in this form they retain all their healing power. In his notes, Hippocrates mentions an "apotheca", a place for storing medicines and raw materials, which will become the basis for future pharmacognosy. You prepare the preparations manually, and they usually consist of simple herbal remedies that give you the experience and knowledge to treat various diseases.

You are working with more complex methods of processing plant raw materials. Unlike Hippocrates, who used whole plants, you begin to separate the beneficial substances from the ballast ones, using tamed plants more effectively. In the writings of Dioscorides, you study the Materia Medica, a comprehensive work that systematizes knowledge about medicinal plants. You use alcohol tinctures and extracts to enhance the effect of the drugs. You work with extracts, using them in the treatment of patients.

You are working at a time when Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy, is completely rethinking the approach to treatment. Hahnemann, noting that patients who received high doses of medications recovered less frequently than those who did not receive treatment, suggested reducing the dosage of medications. His method is based on the principle that a medicine should cause a "medicinal disease" that will be similar to a natural disease and help to displace it. In your practice, you begin to use homeopathic remedies — medications prepared in minimal doses to stimulate the body's natural forces.

You are working in an era of scientific progress, when pharmacology is becoming a full-fledged science. Morphine was isolated from opium in 1806, and strychnine in 1818. These discoveries marked the beginning of the isolation of active substances from plants in their pure form. At this time, you begin to use alkaloids such as caffeine and atropine as effective remedies. With the help of new experimental methods that scientists such as Oswald Schmiedeberg are beginning to develop, you study the pharmacological properties of substances and conduct clinical studies to accurately determine the dosages and effectiveness of drugs.

In the 16th century, pharmacists began to actively explore the chemical and pharmacological properties of substances. The work of Paracelsus is becoming an important stage in the development of medicine. Paracelsus explores the relationship between the dosage of a drug and its toxicity, famously saying, "Everything is poison, and nothing is devoid of poison; a single dose makes the poison invisible." He is the first to use inorganic substances in treatment, including mercury, lead and other minerals, and treats them as medicines. His research marked the beginning of a new field — iatrochemistry. You start using not only herbal, but also chemical components to treat patients.