This brings up an interesting aside. What of the humble druggist of the late 19th and early 20th century? These men brewed and cooked medicines in their stores, both on the direction of a doctor or as a treatment requested by a customer. Many of the remedies were for specific condition that were well described in the journals of the day. Would there be some high school or college chemistry teachers bringing back the trade after the war to fill in the doctor gap? Or even a pharmaceutical chemist who got pressed to make something for people, since labs are widely distributed it is likely some people of this level of skill and knowledge would survive. But as ArmySGT points out, the ability would start to decline without adequate support. There would be varying skill levels after 150 years, just as in emdees, from druggist selling valid remedies and others selling snake oil.
One thing I found interesting were the articles in the druggist trade journals from 1901 that had to warn the druggist about explosive mixtures that would sometimes get produced in their shops causing causalities amongst their members. Things like potassium chlorate and mercury fulminate among others.
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