XVIII
SHAKESPEARE'S PHARMACY.
But law and the gospel in Shakespeare we find,
And he gives the best physic for body and mind.
Garrick: Shakespeare's Mulberry Tree.
The two most familiar pharmaceutical allusions in
Shakespeare's writings are the apothecary and his shop
in "Romeo and Juliet" (Act V., Sc. 1), and the juice of
cursed hebenon which Hamlet's uncle poured into the
ear of his father ("Hamlet," Act I., Sc. 5). Some
remarks on both these noted allusions are given separately.
The medical knowledge of Shakespeare has
been discussed by several eminent doctors, notably by
Dr. J. C. Bucknill, of Exeter, who published a very
interesting work under that title in 1860, in which the
writer almost went so far as to hint at the possibility
that the great dramatist must have had some training
in the medical science of the day before he took to the
theatre business. A similar suggestion was made by
Lord Campbell in regard to the poet's legal knowledge.
Great interest in drugs and poisons was taken by the people generally in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the medical controversies of the period filled a good many books. It is certain that Shakespeare at least skimmed a good many of these. "Galen and Paracelsus" are
