612 
BRISTOL PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. 
daily service in a chapel of their own, they appear to have possessed both influence, 
wealth, and importance. 
In 1497 they were placed under laws regulating their members and qualifications, 
and somewhat later it was made compulsory that no person should be permitted to 
practise as an apothecary, or enjoy the privileges of the Corporation, who had not for 
three years previously studied pharmacy, and this was followed by “an Act regulating 
the sale of Arsenic.” Verily, there is nothing new under the sun. 
In Belgium, as early as 1641, pharmacy was placed under proper control. None 
but legally qualified men were allowed either to vend or dispense medicines, and what 
is more, a quid pro quo was given for the restrictive powers exercised by Government; 
for all surgeons and physicians were debarred from supplying or dispensing medicines. 
How long ive shall be in coming to this point I will not venture to predict. 
In Portugal, on the 25th of February, 1521, just 350 years ago, the king, Don 
Manoel, published an edict which defined the duties of physicians and apothecaries 
alike, prohibiting any subject from keeping open shop for the sale of drugs who had 
not been examined, and providing for regular visits of inspection to the various phar¬ 
macies. And in addition, the conscience of the chemist was taken care of, and the 
prices to be charged for all medicines were controlled by law. 
In Sweden the dispensers of medicine were under the control and inspection of a 
Council of Health, armed with large powers so long ago as 1663. The Swedish honesty 
was carefully fenced round, and Government tables fixed the cost of pill and plaster, 
drops, draughts, or mixtures. 
In Poland there appear to be some curious, and what to us would seem oppressive, 
regulations. Preliminary education, and several classes of examination, are very 
properly and thoroughly provided for. 
But when the Polish youth has passed his minor, and come with flying colours 
through the still more rigorous horrors of his major, he is permitted to follow his 
business only under the following regulations: — 
“Every prescription must, on receipt, be rated and entered in a book, and the 
prescription itself numbered according to the apothecaries’ protocol. On the white 
or red label (according as the medicine is for external or internal use) must be marked 
—besides the directions for use—the number in the book, the name of the patient 
and of the prescriber, the signature of the assistant who made up the medicine, the 
price and the date. On the back of the label, a copy of the prescription must be 
written (the original being retained by the apothecary), and every medicine must be 
sent out sealed. 
Once a year the Director-General of Pharmacy, accompanied by an inspector or 
assessor, visits the unhappy chemist, and requires the production of his books of 
business, which are rigidly inspected, and consist of— 
1. The protocol or prescription book ; 
2. The book of sales over the counter; 
3. The laboratory ledger; 
4. The stock book ; 
5. The poison book ; and 
Last. The journal of correspondence with medical and other authorities. 
In addition the Council of Pharmacy publishes an annual list of all apothecaries, and 
a tariff of prices. 
As some set-off against his many troubles, the chemist is exempt from military 
service and taxation, and when old age and “ the making of many books ” blunt the 
vigour of his intellect, he is rewarded by a pension, and can study at his ease the early 
records in his laboratory ledger. 
Time will not permit me to make any reference to the condition of pharmacy in 
France, and I commend its study to any gentleman looking for some interesting subiect 
for a future paper. 
You will see, gentlemen, by the very slight sketch I have given you of Continental 
pharmacy, that we are centuries behind some, and very many years behind all, of our 
neighbours as to professional status ; and were it within my province, it would not 
be difficult to show that the Germans and French are running a keen race with us, in 
practical and manufacturing chemistry, and in some of its departments have already 
