APO´STR[)O]PH[=E] (Gr., 'a turning away from'), a rhetorical figure by which the orator changes the course of his speech, and makes a short impassioned address to one absent as if he were present, or to things without life and sense as if they had life and sense. The same term is also applied to a comma when used to contract a word, or to mark the possessive case, as in 'John's book'.
APOTHECARIES' WEIGHT, the weight used in dispensing drugs, in which the pound (lb.) is divided into 12 ounces ([ounce]), the ounce into 8 drachms ([drachm]), the drachm into 3 scruples ([scruple]), and the scruple into 20 grains (grs.), the grain being equivalent to that in avoirdupois weight.
APOTH´ECARY, in a general sense, one who keeps a shop or laboratory for preparing, compounding, and vending medicines, and for the making up of medical prescriptions. In England the term was long applied (as to some little extent still) to a regularly licensed class of medical practitioners, being such persons as were members of, or licensed by, the _Apothecaries' Company_ in London. The apothecaries of London were at one time ranked with the grocers, with whom they were incorporated by James I in 1606. In 1617, however, the apothecaries received a new charter as a distinct company. They were not yet regarded as having the right to prescribe, but only to dispense, medicines; but in 1703 the House of Lords conferred that right on them, and they afterwards became a well-established branch of the medical profession. In 1815 an Act was passed providing that no person should practise as an apothecary in any part of England or Wales unless after serving an apprenticeship of five years with a member of the society, and receiving a certificate from the society's examiners. As in country places every practitioner must be to some extent an apothecary, this Act gave the society an undue influence over the medical profession. Dissatisfaction therefore long prevailed, but nothing of importance was done till the Medical Act of 1858, which brought the desired reform. The Apothecaries' Society, governed by a master, two wardens, and twenty-two assistants, has prescribed a course of medical instruction and practice which candidates for the licence of the society must pass through. Since 1874 apprenticeship has not been necessary.