WHERE DID THE Rx
SYMBOL COME FROM?
G'day folks,
Do any of you know where this symbol came fom? Well, check this out ...
Commonly seen
on doctor’s prescription pads and signs in pharmacies, Rx is the symbol for a
medical prescription. According to most sources, Rx is derived from the Latin
word “recipe,” meaning “take.” Among several alternative theories, however, is
the belief that the Rx symbol evolved from the Eye of Horus, an ancient
Egyptian symbol associated with healing powers. What is known for certain is
that the practice of pharmacy, the preparation and dispensation of drugs, has
been around for thousands of years. The world’s first recorded prescriptions
were etched on a clay tablet in Mesopotamia around 2100 B.C., while the first
drugstores were established in the ancient city of Baghdad in the eighth
century A.D.
America’s earliest
drugstores date to the 17th century, in places such as Boston and New York.
Before he became infamous as a traitor during the Revolutionary War, Benedict
Arnold was an apothecary, or pharmacist, in Connecticut. The first college of
pharmacy in the United States was founded in 1821 in Philadelphia. In the late
19th century, it was an Atlanta pharmacist, John Pemberton, who invented the
formula for what would become Coca-Cola. At the time, Pemberton claimed his new
concoction cured a variety of afflictions.
Prior to the
1950s, the majority of prescription medications in America were compounded by
pharmacists; that is, each medication was custom-made from raw ingredients to
suit an individual patient’s needs. After the mid-20th century, pharmacists filled
most prescriptions with mass-produced products from drug companies. Today, the
mortar and pestle, used by pharmacists for centuries to make medications,
remains an industry symbol, often appearing on drugstore signs along with Rx.
Clancy's comment: There ya go. Did you know that?
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