THE CASE OF THE APOTHECARIES.
TO prevent the Mischiefs arising from Ignorance, or Temerity in the
Administration
of Medicines, King
Henry
the VIIIth, by his Charter established the COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS,
excluding
all Persons, who should not be lisenced by them, from the Practice of Physick within
London,
and seven Miles thereof: Which Charter was soon afterwards confirmed by
Parliament,
and the said
Exclusion
from Practice extended all over
England.
And to prevent the like Mischiefs in the
Preparation
of Medicines, the said College were by subsequent Acts directed to elect, yearly,
Four
of their Fellows, who, after taking an Oath of Office, were impowered (with the Assistance of the Wardens of the Company of Grocers and Apothecaries) to visit all Apothecaries Houses within
London
only, and to destroy such Drugs and Medicines as they should find defective; which Power of
Visitation
was afterwards, by a Charter of King
James
the Ist, extended to the Distance of
seven
Miles round
London.
BUT the Exercise of this last Power being limitted to four Persons, the same appeared to
Sir Theodore De Mayerne,
and
Henry Atkins,
Physicians to King
James
the Ist (and who, being the then
most illustrious
Members of the College, may be supposed to declare the Sense of the whole Body) so very insufficient for suppressing the variety of Abuses intended to be remedied, that at
their
Desire, and for the
more effectually
preventing those Abuses, the said King very soon after, by another Charter, formed the Apothecaries of
London
into a distinct Society, with the like Powers of Visitation, and expressly
prohibited
all Persons from exercising the Business of an Apothecary within seven Miles of
London,
unless first examined, approved, and licensed by the said
Society.
TRUE it is that the
Validity
of the said Charter being doubtful, and the
Extent
of the Powers thereby granted uncertain, and there being no Provision for rectifying any
Abuse
of those Powers, the said
Society
have ever been very cautious in the Exercise thereof, and of late Years especially, have kept up the
Form
only of a
Visitation:
Whence it has happened, that several ignorant, and illiterate Persons have been encouraged to enter upon the Business of an Apothecary, whilst others, of perhaps a more regular
Education,
and better
Knowledge,
have in order to engross the Trade, by under-selling the fair Apothecary, ventured to compound their Medicines of damaged, stale, and counterfeit Ingredients; so that upon the whole, great Quantities of pernicious Medicines have been sold in the Neighbourhood of
London,
and transmitted into all Parts of the Kingdom.
THESE Practices being notorious, the College in 1722, procured the Act of Parliament (now proposed to be revived) to establish their Power of Visitation agreeable to their Charter. But a Clause having, upon their Attempt to obtain a Bill for reviving the said Act in 1729, been added by a Committee of the House of Commons [for granting an Appeal from the Judgment of the Censors to six Physicians and six Apothecaries to be determined upon Oath, and in Case of Equality of Voices, by the Opinion of the President or Vice-President of the College] the said Bill was drop'd, and the College have not since thought proper to apply for any Bill of that kind, notwithstanding the Continuance and daily Increase of the bad Practices above-mentioned.
AT length several Apothecaries, [whose Profession affords them but too frequent Opportunities of observing the Extent and mischievous Effects of those bad Practices,] thought it their Duty, as well in Regard to the
Publick,
as themselves, to represent the same to the LEGISLATURE.
IN Consequence of this Application, the House of Commons have been pleased to order in a Bill, to revive,
explain, and amend
the said Act passed in 1722. From which Order the said Petitioners conceive that honourable House was satisfied of the
Insufficiency
of a mere
Revival
of the said Act, and therefore they submit the following
Amendments
or
Alterations,
as what they humbly apprehend will render the said Act
most effectual
on the one Hand, and prevent any
Abuse
of the Powers thereby granted on the other,
Viz.
I. THAT the Court of Assistants of the
Apothecaries
shall yearly elect ten sufficiently skillful Persons to be called
Examiners of Apothecaries,
and forty-eight (or any other competent Number) to be called
Examiners of Medicines,
who shall all be
sworn
to the due Execution of their respective Offices.
II. THAT for the Future no Person (except the present Members of the Society, who have been already examined) shall, within seven Miles of
London,
exercise the Art of an
Apothecary,
unless first examined, and approved by three, or more of the said
Examiners of Apothecaries,
and licensed to exercise the same by Letters Testimonial, under the Seal of the said
Society.
III. THAT any Person rejected by the said
Examiners
may have an Appeal to the President, and Censors of the
College,
and if approved by them, shall be licenced by the said
Society.
IV. THAT there shall be paid to the said
Society
for every Examination and Licence
and no more; and that every such licensed Person shall, during his Continuance in the Business, pay (as the Freemen of the said Society do) the yearly Sum of six Shillings, to be
appropriated
to the supporting the
Botannical
Garden at
Chelsea,
to which he, and his Apprentices shall have Liberty to resort, for their Instruction in
Botany.
V. THAT (in lieu of the said Censors) the said
Examiners of Medicines,
or any four of them, shall have Power, whensoever they shall think fit (and be obliged, as often as the Court of Assistants shall think proper) to go upon the Visitation, and thereupon to enter any House
&c.
of any Person within the Limits aforesaid, who shall prepare, or keep for Sale, any
compound Medicines,
and to examine the same, and
destroy
such as they shall adjudge bad.
VI. THAT any Person shall have Liberty to appeal from the Judgment of the said
Examiners,
to the said
President,
or
Vice-President,
and
Censors,
whose Determination shall be
final,
the Medicine complained of to be, in the mean Time, conveyed to the
College.
VII. THAT in all Cases of Appeal the said
Examiners,
as well as the Parties
appellant,
may produce Witnesses to be examined upon
Oath,
either as to their Knowledge, or Opinion of the Preparation in question.
VIII. THAT every Person convicted by the said
Examiners
(unless their Judgment is reversed within
) of selling or keeping for Sale, any
adulterated
or
pernicious
Medicine shall forfeit the Sum of
IX. THAT Persons obstructing the said
Examiners
in the Execution of their Office shall forfeit the Sum of
X. THAT all Penalties shall go, one half to
any Person
who will sue for the same, and the other half to the
Poor
of the Parish where the Offender shall reside.
THESE
Amendments,
the Petitioners humbly conceive, will appear to be proper, and
neces
ary,
for the following Reasons,
viz.
THAT the four
Censor
who must be presumed to be, as the Law requires, the
best learned,
est, and most
of their Profession, and consequently most employed,) cannot spare sufficient
Leisure
to attend the Visitation, so diligently, and
frequently
as they ought, without great Loss to themselves, and to the
Publick,
who may want their Assistance in another Way.
THAT their
Number,
even if they were to give their
utmost
Attention, and dedicate their
whole
Time to this Duty, would not be sufficient to visit
all
Apothecaries Shops within
London,
and seven Miles thereof, which upon a fair Computation, will appear to be upwards of a Thousand.
THAT the original Jurisdiction, and the Determination on the Appeal ought not to be in the
same
Body, the Members of which may be supposed tender of each other's Reputation, and the general Character of their
Community.
THAT neither the
Censors
in the
Instance, nor the
President,
and
Fellows
upon the
Appeal,
are by the said Act put under the Restriction of any particular
Oath.
THAT by the said Act no Provision is made for preventing Persons from entering upon the Business of
Pharmacy
who have not been properly instructed therein, and who consequently require a much stricter and more frequent Visitation than any
reasonable
Number of Visitors can possibly attend.
THAT the
only
Punishment provided by the said Act for keeping any adulterated, or pernicious Medicine for Sale, is the
destroying
it, which in most Instances (as Medicines are principally adulterated for the sake of saving the
expensive
Ingredients) is a very
trifling
Punishment, by no Means adequate to the
Offence.
THESE
Alterations
in the Act (it is humbly conceived) will answer all the salutary Intentions of the honourable
House of Commons,
and yet preserve to the Society of
Apothecaries,
the Privileges granted to them by their
Charter; Privileges!
so far from being unreasonable in their own Nature, that
Parliament
has thought proper to grant, or confirm the like to the
College
of
Physicians,
and Company of
Surgeons;
and that, without any of those
Guards
against the
Abuse
of Power, which the Petitioners propose, and desire may be provided in
their
Case; nor can the said
College,
and
Company
but approve, in the Society of
Apothecaries,
a Constitution which, in their
own
respective Bodies, they have, by long Experience, found to be highly beneficial to the
Publick.
WITH respect to the
College,
it is true the Power of
Visitation,
which has hitherto been exercised by their
Censors,
and the Wardens of the Society of
Apothecaries
in
Conjunction,
is by these
Alterations
proposed to be wholly vested in sworn Examiners of the said
Society.
But then in lieu thereof, the said College are intended to be vested with a
superior
Jurisdiction, and Controul, which the Petitioners humbly conceive is more suitable, not only to the Convenience, but Dignity of that learned
Body;
and from the above-mentioned Testimony of
Sir Theodore de Mayerne
and
Dr. Atkins,
as well as from the Nature of the Thing itself, it appears that the Apothecaries are very properly qualified for the
Visitation
hereby proposed to be entrusted with them.
As to the Persons who will be immediately affected by the
Examination
intended by these Amendments,—It is submitted whether it can be thought an
Hardship
to oblige those who will engage in a Profession, of so much Consequence to the Publick, to give a Test of their Ability and Fitness for it; and as they will become intituled to several of the
Privileges,
without being subject to the many burthensome and expensive
Offices
of the said Society, it is but reasonable that they should contribute
something
towards defraying the
additional
Expences which these new Duties will occasion.
THE Application of the yearly Sum of six Shillings (it is likewise hoped) will be thought so very useful to the
Publick,
that no Objection can be made to so
trifling
a Demand.
THE said
Society
do (at an Expence too great for their present Circumstances) endeavour to maintain a Botanical Garden, which the Munificence of that great Patron of natural and useful Knowledge,
Sir Hans Sloane,
has enabled them to establish: A Matter in several
foreign
Cities, thought worthy of the
Publick
Care. At this Garden, (at present furnished with as great a Number of
Plants
as perhaps any in
Europe
) a Demonstrator is appointed by the
Society,
to instruct their Members, and Pupils in this necessary Branch of
Pharmacy,
and to superintend, at proper Times,
Herborizations
in the Neighbourhood of
London;
of all which Advantages the said
Licentiates
and their Apprentices will be entitled to partake.
UPON the whole, the
Petitioners
humbly hope the Publick will, by these Proposals, be satisfied that they have no
unreasonable
Views of enriching the
Society,
of which they are Members, or of procuring any particular Advantage to
themselves;
their sole
Intention,
in offering to take this
Burthen
upon them, being that they may contribute as much as in them lies to the preventing
Frauds
in their Profession. And as a Proof that they have no
oppressive
Views, they decline no
Appeal
to any Jurisdiction the
Legislature
shall think proper, not desiring to be trusted with a Power over
others,
which they would be sorry to see granted to any, over
themselves:
neither do they wish for more than a temporary
Probation
of their Scheme, that so, if it shall be found
hurtful
or ineffectual, it may not be intailed upon
Posterity.
THE CASE OF THE APOTHECARIES.