528 
Pharmacy,  A  Profession. 
f  Am,  Jour.  Pharm. 
(  November,  1910. 
in  England,  the  present  College  of  Physicians,  which,  together  with 
the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  where  medical  schools 
had  been  established,  received  authority  over  all  three  branches  of 
medicine. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  that  whereas  physicians  qualified  for  their 
degrees  by  study  at  the  universities,  surgeons  and  apothecaries 
obtained  their  qualifications  by  apprenticeship  (seven  years  appren- 
ticeship being  required  for  membership  in  the  Apothecaries' 
Society),  and  apothecaries  and  surgeons  were,  therefore,  ranked 
socially  with  tradesmen  or  members  of  other  crafts,  while  physicians 
held  the  higher  rank  of  membership  in  the  learned  professions. 
In  1666,  the  Great  Plague  broke  out  in  England,  and  although 
many  physicians  stood  nobly  at  their  posts,  many  more  fled  in  terror. 
The  sick,  therefore,  fell  back  upon  the  apothecaries,  who  distin- 
guished themselves  by  their  courage  and  humanity,  and  from  this 
time  on  there  seems  to  have  been  an  increased  tendency  upon  the 
part  of  the  apothecary  to  assume  the  prerogatives  of  the  physician. 
A  warm  contest  arose  between  physicians  and  apothecaries,  the 
former  accusing  the  latter  of  usurping  their  province,  and  the  latter 
continuing  and  justifying  the  usurpation,  until  the  dispute  was 
finally  set  at  rest3  in  1703,  by  a  judgment  of  the  House  of  Lords. 
It  was  decided  that  the  duty  of  the  apothecary  was  not  only  to  com- 
pound and  dispense  but  also  to  direct  and  order  the  remedies  used 
in  the  treatment  of  disease.  He  was  allowed  no  right  to  charge 
for  his  services,  but  was  to  rely  entirely  on  his  medicines  for  his 
profits.  In  1815  was  passed  an  Act  clearly  contemplating  "the 
creation  of  a  class  of  practitioners  who,  while  having  the  right  to 
practise  medicine,  should  assist  and  co-operate  with  the  physicians 
and  surgeons."  The  Act  of  1874  "  gave  power  to  the  Apothecaries' 
•  Society  to  unite  or  co-operate  with  the  medical  examining  boards 
in  granting  licenses  to  practise.''  According  to  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  from  which  I  drew  some  of  my  information  regarding 
the  status  of  pharmacy  in  England,  the  term  "  apothecary  "  indi- 
cates a  general  practitioner  who*  supplies  drugs  to  his  patients. 
The  "  status  of  the  apothecary  in  America  "  is  still  in  the  forma- 
tive state,  the  process  of  formation  being  in  rapid  evolution.  To 
understand  the  significance  of  the  epoch-making  events  which  have 
transpired  in  this  country  during  the  past  decade,  together  with 
their  probable  effect  upon  the  pharmacy  of  the  future,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  consider  more  in  detail  the : 
