The aim of this article is to examine early English references to those involved in storing, selling and making medicinal preparations. Also, we will attempt to find out how early pharmacists were perceived by other medical practitioners. The study is mainly based on the language material from two medical corpora Middle English Medical Texts (MEMT) and Early Modern English Medical Texts (EMEMT). In order to make the list of references to early pharmacists as comprehensive as possible, the online editions of the following dictionaries have been consulted: Historical Thesaurus of English (HTE), Middle English Dictionary (MED), and Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

Background: pharmacists remain on the frontline of public health around the globe and their performance directly impacts patients’ safety. So far, to our knowledge, no European study has been dedicated to their heath-related quality of life (HQoL). Therefore, the primarily aim of our study was to evaluate HQoL of Polish pharmacists utilizing the SF-36 health survey with regard to anthropometric and lifestyle-related variables.
Methods: A total sample screened consisted of 1412 respondents, yet 765 pharmacists (mean age 40, 86.3% females) finally participated in the study. HQoL was assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).
Results: The lowest median scores were noted for general health (GH, 50.0) and vitality (V, 60.0) domains. No gender differences regarding physical and mental summary scores were found. Significant difference of HQoL was found among the assessed age groups in several domains, especially physical functioning (PF) and GH (p <0.001) scores, and especially in the group of 51–60-year-old-respondents. Correlations were found between PF (r = –0.29, p <0.001), GH (r = –0.25, p <0.001) and age as well PF (r = –0.27, p <0.001), GH (r = –0.21, p <0.001) and BMI. Self-assessed dietary habits were correlated with PF (r = 0.22, p <0.001), mental health (r = 0.25, p <0.001), GH (r = 0.27, p <0.001) and V (r = 0.30, p <0.001) scores.
Conclusions: The analysis indicates that pharmacists tend to have similar mental and physical burden according to SF-36, with age, BMI and dietary habits as predominant factors influencing their HQoL. The study presents unique values for future comparative analyses related, for instance, to the influence of the ongoing pandemic on HQoL of health-care providers.

The article discusses the efforts of Polish women to be admitted to pharmaceutical studies and to obtain the right to practice as a pharmacist. Based on the published memoirs of one of the first three students of the Pharmaceutical Department of the Jagiellonian University Jadwiga Klemensiewiczowa nee Sikorski ( Przebojem ku wiedzy) and the world's first owner of a female pharmacy Antonina Leśniewska ( Po neprotorennoj doroge) the struggle of pharmacy pioneers in the fight for equality and professional emancipation was presented. There was also mention of a precedent on a global scale, i.e. obtaining a master's degree in pharmacy by the sisters Konstancja and Florentyna Studziński who were the first women in Europe to do so before the gates of the Galician university were opened to women. Stanisława Dowgiałłówna and Janina Kosmowska were also among the first Polish pharmacists, who practiced this profession.