The Probert Encyclopaedia of General Information

APOTHECARY

In a general sense, an apothecary was one who kept a shop or laboratory for preparing, compounding, and vending medicines, and for the making up of medical prescriptions. In England the term was long applied to a regularly licensed class of medical practitioners, being such persons as were members of, or licensed by, the Apothecaries Company in London. The apothecaries of London were at one time ranked with the grocers, with whom they were incorporated by James I in 1606. In 1617, however, the apothecaries received a new charter as a distinct company. They were not yet regarded as having the right to prescribe, but only to dispense, medicines; but in 1703 the House of Lords conferred that right on them, and they latterly became a well-established branch of the medical profession. In 1815 an act was passed providing that no person should practise as an apothecary in any part of England or Wales unless after serving an apprenticeship of five years with a member of the society, and receiving a certificate from the society's examiners. As in country places every practitioner had to be to some extent an apothecary, this act gave the society an undue influence over the medical profession. Dissatisfaction therefore long prevailed, but nothing of importance was done until the Medical Act of 1858, which brought the desired reform. The Apothecaries' Society later prescribed a course of medical instruction and practice which candidates for the license of the society had to pass through. After 1874 apprenticeship was not necessary. Apothecaries were replaced by pharmacists and pharmacies in the 20th century.
Research Apothecary