ORGANIZATION OF PHARMACY IN NORWAY. 
201 
ART. XXXVI. — ORGANIZATION OF PHARMACY IN NORWAY. 
By M. Martins. 
In Norway, as in Denmark and Germany, the number of 
shops are limited, so that he who exercises the profession 
of an apothecary, can support himself in an honorable way, 
without being constrained to falsify his medicines in order to 
obtain subsistence. It has been established as a principle, 
that one apothecary should administer to 10,000 people, and 
as Norway is little inhabited in proportion to its extent, 
there are but thirty-five apothecaries in the whole kingdom ; 
eight in the cities of Christiana, Drontheim, Bergen, and 
Christiansand ; the others are distributed in the small towns 
and villages. 
The privilege of a shop, once accorded by the state, cannot 
be taken from the proprietor, but by a decree of the compe- 
tent tribunals, in the case of his having proved unworthy of 
exercising his profession, either by selling altered drugs, or in 
any other way. The privilege is then transferred to another 
apothecary, in whom unite all the conditions imposed 
by law. Except in these cases, which are very rare, the 
children, the pupils, or even strangers succeed to the right. 
The number of apothecaries being very small, the value of a 
shop, varies from fifty thousand francs, to one hundred thou- 
sand, comprising the house and stock. The payment is at 
intervals, and as the possessor is certain to prosper, it often 
happens that a young apothecary, without fortune, can acquire 
a shop of high cost. The right is also possessed of conduct- 
ing the establishment by a provisionary title, which places it 
in the hands of a son, to exercise his profession, when he is 
of age, and has furnished proof of capacity. 
It was necessary to avoid the abuses which appertain to a 
right possessed by apothecaries, in most countries, of fixing 
themselves the prices of medicines, which price is lowered 
by competition. This is remedied by establishing a tariff, 
which is accomodated to the fluctuation of prices in simple 
VOL. VI, — NO. III. 26 
