A Respectable Occupation: - University of Hertfordshire Research ...

Medical Education and Registration. This Committee wished to amend the
Medical Act (1858) to include Pharmacy within the general framework of
Medicine and place it under the control of the Medical Council. It would
have made the Medical Council responsible for the education, examination
and registration of all those wishing to practise pharmacy. It would have
required the registration of all those who wished to keep open shop for the
compounding of medicines and required that all prescriptions written by
physicians and surgeons were compounded and dispensed only by those
registered. It would have prohibited the sale of all patent medicines whose
formulae were not disclosed and a body of inspectors was to be established
to ensure that the provisions of the Act were enforced. 59
Understandably, these proposals united chemists and druggists in
defence of their vested interests, whether they were members of the
Pharmaceutical Society or not, and meetings were held throughout the
country. 60 The Editor of the Pharmaceutical Journal believed that
Parliament would not adopt a measure that would take away the legitimate
trade of thousands of men, in which they had been engaged for many years
and which was their only source of income. 61 Despite this editorial and the
fact that the Bill was in the very early stages of consultation among the
medical licensing bodies, it prompted much alarm and distress. 62 Until this
time, many had seen little value in membership of the Pharmaceutical
Society and its educational programme. A Mr Collins speaking at a Special
59 „Medical and Pharmaceutical Legislation‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 5, 10, (1 Apr. 1864) 429.
60 „Medical and Pharmaceutical Legislation‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 5, 10, (1 Apr. 1864) 429-430.
61 „Medical and Pharmaceutical Legislation‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 5, 10, (1 Apr. 1864) 430.
62 „Medical and Pharmaceutical Legislation‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 5, 10, (1 Apr. 1864) 429.
232