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APOTHECARY (from the Lat. apothecariu...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 206 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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APOTHECARY (from the See also:Lat. apothecarius, a keeper of an apotheca, Gr. aroth is , a See also:store) , a word used by See also:Galen to denote the repository where his medicines were kept, now obsolete in its See also:original sense. An apothecary was one who prepared, sold and prescribed drugs, but the preparing and selling of drugs prescribed by others has now passed into the hands of duly qualified and authorized persons termed " chemists and See also:drug-gists," while the apothecary, by See also:modern legislation, has become a See also:general medical practitioner, and the word itself, when used at all, is applied, more particularly in the See also:United States and in See also:Scotland, to those who in See also:England are called " pharmaceutical chemists." The Apothecaries' Society of See also:London is one of the corporations of that See also:city, and both by royal charters and acts of See also:parliament exercises the See also:power of granting licences to practise See also:medicine. The members of this society do not possess and never have possessed any exclusive power to See also:deal in or sell drugs; and until 1868 any See also:person whatever might open what is called a chemist's See also:shop, and deal in drugs and poisons. In that: See also:year, however, the See also:Pharmacy See also:Act was passed, which prohibits any person from engaging in this business without being registered. From See also:early records we learn that the different branches of the medical profession were not regularly distinguished till the reign of See also:Henry VIII., when See also:separate duties were assigned to them, and See also:peculiar privileges were granted to each. In 1518 the physicians of London were incorporated, and the See also:barber-surgeons in 1540. But, independently of the physicians and the surgeons, there were a See also:great number of irregular practitioners, who were more or less molested by their legitimate rivals, and it became necessary to pass an act in 1543 for their See also:protection and See also:toleration. As many of these practitioners kept shops for the See also:sale of medicines, the See also:term " apothecary " was used to designate their calling. In See also:April 16o6 See also:James I. incorporated the apothecaries as one of the city companies, uniting them with the grocers. On their See also:charter being renewed in 1617 they were formed into a separate See also:corporation, under the See also:title of the L6 Apothecaries of the City of London." These apothecaries appear to have prescribed medicines in addition to dispensing them, and to have claimed an See also:ancient right of acting in this See also:double capacity; and it may be mentioned that Henry VIII., after the See also:grant of the charter to the See also:College of Physicians, appointed an apothecary to the Princess See also:Mary, who was delicate and unhealthy, at a See also:salary of 40 marks a year, " See also:pro meliore cure et See also:consideration sanitatis suae." During the 17th See also:century, however, there arose a warm contest between the physicians and the apothecaries,—the former accusing the latter of usurping their See also:province, and the latter continuing and justifying the usurpation until the dispute. was finally set at See also:rest by a See also:judgment of the See also:House of Lords in 1703 (See also:Rose v. College of Physicians, 5 Bro. P.

C. 553), when it was decided that the See also:

duty of the apothecary consisted not only in compounding and dispensing, but also in directing and ordering the remedies employed in the treatment of disease. In 1722 an act was obtained empowering the Apothecaries' See also:Company to visit the shops of all apothecaries practising in London, and to destroy such drugs as they found unfit for use. In 1748 great additional See also:powers were given to the company by an act authorizing them to appoint a See also:board of ten examiners, without whose See also:licence no person should be allowed to dispense medicines in London, or within a See also:circuit of 7 M. See also:round it. In 1815, however, an act of parliament was passed which gave the Apothecaries' Society a new position, empowering a board, consisting of twelve of their members, to examine and license all apothecaries throughout England and See also:Wales. It.also enacted that, from the 1st of See also:August of that year, no persons except those who were so licensed should have the right to act as apothecaries, and it gave the society the power of prosecuting those who practised without such licence. But the act expressly exempted from See also:prosecution all persons who were then in actual practice, and it distinctly excluded from its operation all persons pursuing the calling of chemists and druggists. It was also provided that the act should in no way interfere with the rights or privileges of the See also:English See also:universities, or of the English College of Surgeons or the College of Physicians; and indeed a clause imposed severe penalties on any apothecaries who should refuse to See also:compound and dispense medicines on the See also:order of a physician, legally qualified to act as such. It is therefore clear that the act contemplated 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. Before this act came into operation the See also:education of the medical practitioners of England and Wales was entirely optional on their own See also:part, and although many of them possessed degrees or licences from the universities or colleges, the greater number possessed no such qualification, and many of them were wholly illiterate and uneducated. The See also:court of examiners of the Apothecaries' Society, being empowered to enforce the acquisition of a sufficient medical education upon its future licentiates, specified from See also:time to time the courses of lectures or terms of See also:hospital practice to be attended by medical students before their examination, and in the progress of years See also:regular See also:schools of medicine were organized throughout England. As it was found that, notwithstanding the stringent regulations as to medical acquirements, the candidates were in many instances deficient in preliminary education, the court of examiners instituted, about the year 185o, a preliminary examination in arts as a necessary and indispensable prerequisite to the medical curriculum, and this See also:provision has been so See also:expanded that, at the See also:present See also:day, all medical students in the United See also:Kingdom are compelled to pass a preliminary examination in arts, unless they hold a university degree.

An act of parliament, passed in 1858, and known as the Medical Act, made very little alteration in the powers exercised by the Apothecaries' Society, and indeed it confirmed and in some degree amplified them, for whereas by the act of 1815, the licentiates of the society were authorized to practise as such only in England and Wales, the new measure 'gave them the same right in Scotland and See also:

Ireland. The Medical Act 1886 extended the qualifications necessary for See also:registration under the medical acts, by making it necessary to pass a qualifying examination in medicine, See also:surgery and midwifery. (See MEDICAL EDUCATION.) An act, passed in 1874, related exclusively to the Apothecaries' Society, and is termed the Apothecaries' Act See also:Amendment Act. By this measure some provisions of the act of 1815, which had become obsolete or unsuitable, were repealed, and powers were given to the society to unite or co-operate with other medical licensing bodies in granting licences to practise. The act of 1815 had made it compulsory on all candidates for a licence to have served an See also:apprenticeship of five years to an apothecary, and although by the See also:interpretation of the court of examiners of the society this term really included the whole See also:period of medical study, yet the regulation was See also:felt as a grievance by many members of the medical profession. It was accordingly repealed, and no apprenticeship is now necessary. The restriction of the choice of examiners to the members of the society was also repealed, and the society was given the power (which it did not before possess) to strike off from the See also:list of its licentiates the names of disreputable persons. The acct of 1874 also specified that the society was not deprived of any right or See also:obligation they may have to admit See also:women to examination, and to enter their names on the list of licentiates if they acquit themselves satisfactorily. The Apothecaries' Society is governed by a See also:master, two wardens and twenty-two assistants. The members are divided into three grades, See also:yeomanry or freemen, the See also:livery, and the court. Women are not, however, admitted to the freedom. The See also:hall of the society, situated in See also:Water See also:Lane, London, and covering about three-quarters of an See also:acre, was acquired in 1633.

It was destroyed by the great See also:

fire, but was rebuilt about ten years laterand enlarged in 1786. This is the only See also:property possessed by the society. In 1673, the society established a botanic and physic See also:garden at See also:Chelsea, and in 1722 See also:Sir Hans See also:Sloane, who had become the ground owner, gave it to the society on the See also:condition of presenting annually to the Royal Society fifty dried specimens of See also:plants till the number should reach 2000. This condition was fulfilled in 1774. Owing to the heavy cost of See also:maintenance and other reasons, the "physic garden" was handed over in 1902, with the consent of the Charity Commissioners, to a See also:committee of management, to be maintained in the interests of botanical study and See also:research. See C. R. B. See also:Barrett, The See also:History of the Society of Apothecaries of London (1905).

End of Article: APOTHECARY (from the Lat. apothecarius, a keeper of an apotheca, Gr. aroth is , a store)

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