THE 



QUARTERLY JOURNAL, 



January, 1821. 



Art. I. A short Account of the Origin, Progress, and 

 present State of the various Establishments for conduct- 

 ing Chemical Processes, and other Medicinal Preparations, 

 at Apothecaries' 1 Hcdl. (with a Plate.) 



F ROM the charter granted to the Society of Apothecaries by his 

 majesty King James the First, it appears that about the latter end 

 of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century, the 

 metropolis of this kingdom abounded in ignorant and dangerous 

 empirics, who, not being regularly educated as apothecaries, made 

 and compounded many " hurtful, false, and pernicious medicines,'' 

 the evil effects of which were not confined to the capital, but were 

 disseminated through most parts of the kingdom. With a view to 

 remedy these grievances the society was established in the year 

 1617, and was empowered to make ordinances concerning medi- 

 cines and compositions, advising respecting the same with the 

 president and censors of the Royal College of Physicians; also to 

 examine the shops of apothecaries within the city of London, and 

 to the extent of seven miles around it, with a view of ascertaining 

 the qualities of the drugs and medicines contained in them, and 

 with power to destroy all " unwholesome and hurtful articles' 

 which they might discover during such examination. 



It was soon found that the want of legislative authority ren- 



Vol. XVI. O 



