# 1473 - 1972 8c Pharmacy
American Pharmaceutical Association
In the mid-1850s, there were no laws regulating the pharmacy practice. Patients were often given treatment based on their symptoms, instead of diagnosing a specific disease. And anyone with enough money could open their own apothecary.
Today, the American Pharmacists Association, as it was renamed, has its headquarters on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and includes a membership of more than 62,000 practicing pharmacists and other pharmaceutical professionals. The APhA meets every year to discuss policies for their profession. And most other pharmacy organizations were created out of the APhA.
In 1972, the USPS issued a stamp to honor the 120th anniversary of the American Pharmacists Association. The stamp pictures a mortar and pestle, Bowl of Hygieia, and 19th-century medicine bottles. Hygieia was the Greek goddess of health. Hygieia holding a patera (medicine bowl) with a snake coiling around her and about to eat from the bowl has come to symbolize pharmacy. The snake represents the patient and its choice of whether or not to take the medicine to help itself. The American Pharmacists Association has adopted the Bowl of Hygieia as its symbol.
American Pharmaceutical Association
In the mid-1850s, there were no laws regulating the pharmacy practice. Patients were often given treatment based on their symptoms, instead of diagnosing a specific disease. And anyone with enough money could open their own apothecary.
Today, the American Pharmacists Association, as it was renamed, has its headquarters on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and includes a membership of more than 62,000 practicing pharmacists and other pharmaceutical professionals. The APhA meets every year to discuss policies for their profession. And most other pharmacy organizations were created out of the APhA.
In 1972, the USPS issued a stamp to honor the 120th anniversary of the American Pharmacists Association. The stamp pictures a mortar and pestle, Bowl of Hygieia, and 19th-century medicine bottles. Hygieia was the Greek goddess of health. Hygieia holding a patera (medicine bowl) with a snake coiling around her and about to eat from the bowl has come to symbolize pharmacy. The snake represents the patient and its choice of whether or not to take the medicine to help itself. The American Pharmacists Association has adopted the Bowl of Hygieia as its symbol.