.. 



APUTIIKI'AUIKS, COMPANY OF. 



APOTHECARIES, COMPANY OR. 



i.i 



are recorded of their giving evidence on question* of forensic 

 inedidne of the highest and nxwt serious import r But in all this the 

 druggists roily did no more than the apothecaries themselves had 

 begun to do a hundred yean before. We doubt, too, if the first 

 appeannoa of thew interloper* wan concent a* has been avunwd. We 

 8nd a tract, printed on a tingle folio leaf 'at the Star in Bow Lane in 

 1SS,' entitled ' A Plea for the Chemists or Non-Collegiate,' in which 

 the author, Nat Merry, stoutly defend* the right of himself and the 

 Manufacturer! of chemical preparations to administer medicine*, 

 against the objection! of the members of the Apothecaries' Company, 

 who seem to hare been themselves at this time only beginning to act 

 a* general practitioners. And in 1708, we find a series of resolution 

 published by the Court of Apothecaries, in which they complain of the 

 intrusion into their business of foreigners that is, of persons not free 

 of the company. Their charter, though it appeared to bestow upon 

 them somewhat extensive privileges, had been found nearly inoperative 

 from the omission of any means of executing its provisions, ana of any 

 penalties for their infringement. In 17^-J. therefore, an Act of Par- 

 liament was obtained by the company, giving them the right of visiting 

 all shops in which medicinal preparations were sold in London, or 

 within seven miles of it, and of destroying such drugs as they might 

 fitul unfit fur use. This Act expired in 1729 ; and although an attempt 

 was made to obtain a renewal of it, the application was not persevered 

 in. But in 1 748 another Act was passed, empowering the Society to 

 appoint ten of their members to form a Court of Examiners, without 

 whose licence no one should be allowed to utter medicines in London, 

 or within seven miles of it. It was stated before a Committee of the 

 House of Commons, that there were at this time about 700 persons who 

 kept apothecaries' shops in London, not one-half of whom were free of 

 the company. But this Act probably had the effect of putting the 

 unlicensed dealers down; which may account for the common state- 

 ment, that no such description of dealers ever made their appearance 

 till a comparatively recent period. In an Introductory Essay prefixed 

 to the first volume of the ' Transactions of the Associated Apothecaries 

 and Surgeon Apothecaries of England and Wales,' (Svo, London, 

 1823), in which it is admitted that anciently " the apothecary held the 

 same situation which appertains, or ought to appertain, to the present 

 druggist, who arose," it is affirmed, "about thirty years ago," the 

 following remark is added : " For some time previous to that period, 

 indeed, certain apothecaries existed, who purely kept shop, without 

 prescribing for diseases : but very few of these existed even in l,ond..n ; 

 for in the memory of a physician lately dead, there were not more, as 

 he stated, than about half-a-dozen persons in London, who kept what 

 < "iM he called a druggist's shop." 



Until a comparatively recent period the jurisdiction of the Company 

 of Apothecaries did not extend beyond the metropolis and its imme- 

 diate neighbourhood. But in 1815, an Act of Parliament was passed, 

 which placed the Society in altogether a new position, by giving to 

 the Court of Examiners, then increased to twelve members, the sole 

 right of examining and licensing apothecaries throughout England and 

 Wales. It was enacted, that after the 1st of August in that year, no 

 person not so licensed should practise as an apothecary, except such 

 only as were already in practice. It was also made imperative that 

 candidates for examination should have previously served an appren- 

 ticeship of at least five years with a member of the company. 



The history of the steps taken to procure this Act is very minutely 

 detailed in the Essay prefixed to the ' Transactions of the Associated 

 Apothecaries and Surgeons,' already referred to. The application was 

 commenced, and indeed principally carried through, by this private 

 society ; the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Apotheca- 

 ries' Company themselves, having declined joining in it The Act, 

 however, fell in one material respect very far short of the design 

 entertained by its projectors, inasmuch as the opposition of the 

 chemists and druggesU rendered it necessary to introduce a clause into 

 it exempting that class of dealers altogether from its operation. 



From the circumstance that in country places, with very few ex- 

 ception*, no person can practise medicine without keeping a supply of 

 drum for the use of his patients, or in other words, acting as an 

 apothecary, this statute gave to the Society of Apothecaries the 

 complete control of the medical profession throughout England. 

 Every general practitioner had not only to purchase his licence, but 

 to serve a long apprenticeship with a member of the company. The 

 price of a licence to practise in London or within ten miles of it, was 

 ten guineas, and in any other part of the country, six guineas. The 

 penalty for practising without this licence was twenty pounds. It was 

 expressly declared in the Act that the Society may appropriate the 

 moneys which they thus receive in any way they may doem expedient. 

 right to state that the parties by whom the Act was sought, did 

 not originally contemplate the giving of these extensive powers to the 

 Apothecaries' Compnny. In one of their first reports, dated the 5th of 

 December. 1812, the committee of management express themselves as 

 of opinion " that the management of the sick should bo as much as 

 possible under the superintendence of the physician ;" and it was then 

 proposed that a new and a distinct privileged body should be created 

 to examine ami license practitioners, composed of members of all the 

 different branches of the profession. This scheme, however, was 

 abandoned when both the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons refused 

 to co-operate in getting it carried into effect. 



Before this Act came into operation a Urge proportion of the 

 medical practitioners in country places throughout England were 

 graduates of the Universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin, or 

 licentiates of the Royal College* of Surgeon* of these cities, or of that 

 of London, none of whom obtained their degrees or certificates without 

 passing through a long course of study and a rigorous examination. 

 Persons thus qualified were admitted as surgeons in the army and 

 navy, and into the service of the East India Company ; but they were 

 no longer allowed to act as country practitioners in England. This 

 privilege could only be obtained by a sen-ice of five years in the shop 

 of a practitioner who was a member of the Comjiany of Apothecaries, 

 .nd i.y undergoing an examination in London before the Court of 

 Exammen. 



In April, 1835, the Court of Examiners issued new regulation! 

 for raising still higher the qualifications of candidate* for the licence 

 of the company, and it has been further raised at intervals since. 

 Every candidate whose attendance on lectures commenced on or after 

 the 1st of October, 1858, must now have attended the following lectures 

 and medical practice during not less than three winter and two summer 

 sessions : each winter session to consist of not lee* than six months, and 

 to commence not sooner than the 1st nor later than the 15th October ; 

 and each summer session to extend from the 1st of May to the 31st 

 of July. 



Pint Winter Saulan. Chemistry, anatomy, and dissection*. 



J-'irtt Summer Settion. Materia medica and therapeutics, botany, and 

 practical chemistry, which ia to include a specific course of instruction 

 in tin- laboratory, and an opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the 

 various reagents for poisons. 



Second Winter Session. Anatomy, physiology, dissections, prii 

 and practice of medicine, and clinical medical practice, which must be 

 attended during the full term of eighteen months ; twelve months 

 in on hospital connected with a recognised medical school, and six 

 months at a recognised hospital or dispensary, if more convenient. 



Second Summer Sation. Clinical practice of medicine, with the same 

 conditions as in the winter session ; midwifery, and Himm of women 

 and children, with attendance on not less than twenty cases ; forensic 

 medicine and toxicology ; and demonstrations on morbid anatomy. 



Third Winter Session. Clinical lectures, seventy-five, which may be 

 commenced in the second summer session, but the attendance must be 

 certified; clinical medical practice, as before; and demonstrations on 

 morbid anatomy. 



The above course of study may be extended over a longer \ 

 than three winter and two summer sessions, provided the lectures and 

 medical practice are attended in the prescribed order and in the 

 required sessions. The examination of candidates for certificates to 

 practise as apothecaries is .li\ ,.!.<! into two parts. The first examina- 

 tion, which may be passed after the second winter session, if the 

 i jtn.li.l.iU: has completed his nineteenth year, embraces Latin, including 

 the pharmacopoeia and physicians' prescriptions ; anatomy ; physiology ; 

 general and practical chemistry ; botany ; and materia medica. In the 

 second, after the third winter session, the five years' pupilage being 

 completed, the subjects are : practice of medicine and pathology ; mid- 

 wifery, including the diseases of women and children; and forensic 

 medicine and toxicology. For a certificate of qualification to act as 

 an assistant to an apothecary in compounding and dispensing medicines, 

 the examination will be in translating physicians' prescriptions, and 

 the ' Pharmacopoeia Londinensis ' ; and in pharmacy and materia 

 medica. 



In the statement issued by the Company of Apothecaries in May, 

 1844, they say : " The increased number of medical students attend- 

 ing lectures in conformity with the regulations led to the increase of 

 medical teachers, and not only did new schools spring up in the 

 metropolis, but, under the auspices of the Court of Examiners, public 

 schools of medicine were organised in the provinces : ami at the pre- 

 sent day Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Hull, 

 Sheffield, Newcastle, and York, have each their public school, at which 

 the student may pursue and complete his medical education." It is 

 added that " no mean proportion of those whose examination has 

 given evidence of the highest professional attainment, have been pupil* 

 of the provincial schools.'' The influence of the regulations of the 

 Court of Examiners on the medical profession is very great The 

 opinion of very eminent members of the medical profession before a 

 select committee of the House of Commons in 1834, as to the manner 

 in which the Apothecaries' Company had performed the duties de- 

 volving ujion them as an emminifg body, is decided in its approbation. 



Notwithstanding this reform, a strong feeling of dissatisfaction i-ou 

 tinned to prevail in many quarters, at the exclusion from the right to 

 practise of all persons except those who have served an apprenticeship 

 of five years with an apothecary, and a bill was brought into the House 

 of Common* in 1832 to remove this disability. It was withdrawn in 

 consequence of some difference of views as to a minor point among the 

 parties by whom it was promoted. The object was not to take the right 

 of examination and licence from the Court of Examiners of the apothe- 

 caries, but to permit the licentiates of the Scotch and Irish Universities, 

 and of the Colleges of Surgeons, to practise in England, as well as those 

 who have the diploma of the Apothecaries' Company. 



From this time the agitation for a reform of the regulations re- 

 specting the professors of medicine was almost incessantly continued. 



