Part V. Self-reading

Exercise 14: Work with the text according to our algorithm:

1. Read the title of the text.

2. Look through the italicized words in the text and guess the main idea of the text.

3. Read the title and try to discuss the main problem which is described in the text.

4. Look through the text and formulate the main information.

5. Compose the plan of the text.

6. Ask your groupmates some questions.

   1. Do you know anything from the history of pharmacy?

   2. Is it necessary for a pharmacist to know the history of his profession? If yes, why?

   3. Was it a noble profession in the past?

7. Tell your opinion about the information. Inform the group about some extra facts – make examples of similar facts.

Exercise 15: Watch a documentary “Victorian Pharmacy” and prepare a short report on the topic.

Victorian pharmacy

In the period of the development of pharmacy from early Victorian times, round about the 1840s, through to the late 1800s Victorian Pharmacies were often the only accessible and affordable source of healthcare for a population often unable to afford the services of doctors or other health professionals.

The early pharmacists’ willingness to take on almost anything to provide their public with what they wanted was incredible. Medicines in those days may have been limited and crude by today’s standards but even then pharmacists, as they are today, were acknowledged as experts in the use of herbs, plant extracts and chemicals, not to mention countless other everyday essentials to Victorian life. Life was extremely difficult then. There were plenty of diseases around to be fought off. Cholera was a major killer at the time and there were serious sewerage problems in cities such as London. Luckily this was the period when carbolic acid was developed as a byproduct of coal production.

Other major issues of the Victorian era included the shocking number of arsenic-related deaths, which in turn led to the introduction of the Arsenic Act in 1851 creating the first Poisons Register.

It wasn’t only medicines that were provided by Victorian pharmacists, they dispensed plenty of other things, including perfumes, for example. Pharmacists had expertise in essential oils and used to blend their own perfumes. They supplied shaving equipment, too. Why? Because they not only made shaving preparations but also shaved their customers. “Why reading glasses and dental care, you may wonder? Pharmacists used to make tooth powders, extract teeth, test eyes and fit glasses. Indeed, the Pharmaceutical Society was formed decades before the equivalent dentistry and optics bodies.

And the list goes on – photography, sexual health, dermatologicals and so on. Whatever the public wanted, pharmacists bought, made or created a service for it.

Part VI. Writing

Письмо-запрос (inquiry или enquiry) компания посылает, когда хочет:

• Получить подробную информацию о товарах (goods).

• Узнать, имеются товары в наличии (availability of goods).

• Уточнить время и сроки поставки (delivery dates).

• Получить информацию об условиях поставки и скидках (terms and discounts), способе транспортировки (method of transportation), страховании (insurance).

• Получить информацию о ценах на товары (prices of goods).

• Получить каталоги (catalogues) и образцы товара (samples of goods) и т.д.

При написании писем-запросов следует, как можно более подробно изложить суть вопроса, что позволит Вашему деловому партнеру сократить время на составление ответа.

Если обращение с запросом в данную компанию идет первый раз, то в письмо необходимо включить следующие пункты:

1. Указание на источник информации о данной компании ее товаре.

2. Суть вопроса.

3. Краткие сведения о Вашей фирме или организации.

4. Выражение надежды на сотрудничество.

При повторном запросе в письмо обычно включается только второй пункт. Как и большинство других деловых писем, письмо-запрос, как правило, печатается на фирменном бланке, на котором указаны название компании-отправителя запроса, ее почтовый адрес, номера телефонов и факса.