The Beaver Apothecary

A grey, rainy and very windy day. Right now the rain is beating against the window and the trees are swinging in wide arcs that makes me wonder if they will all still be there tomorrow.
I picked up some hay fever medicine at the pharmacy today in Härnösand. Although it is in a modern building they took this symbol with them from their old shop.
The beaver is on the county’s coat-of-arms and I suspect this gilded carving is fairly old.
The Swedish word for pharmacy is “Apothek” but if you remember your Romeo and Juliette there is an apothecary who deals in medicines. The word moved into both English and Swedish from Medieval Latin apothecarius ("storekeeper"). 
Once a language teacher always a…