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

The physicians had insisted on amendments to the Bill, which
became the 1815 Act, to preserve their superior position in the medical
profession. But they had failed to realise that the immediate future would
belong to the general practitioner, rather than the specialist. 173 Reader
agrees, saying, ―But this was a mistake, the way forward was that pioneered
by the apothecaries, the physicians approach was backwards looking and
dying.‖ 174
The apothecaries had relinquished their intention of controlling the
chemists and druggists only after a few leading chemists and druggists in
London had galvanised their colleagues throughout the country to object.
This protest caused the chemists and druggists to keep a closer interest in
such initiatives in future and led to the foundation of the Pharmaceutical
Society. 175 In amending their original intentions for the 1815 Act, the
apothecaries had given the chemists and druggists a considerable
advantage. The chemists and druggists did not need to take any training or
apprenticeship; there were no regulations regarding the quality of their
work or the goods they sold; the Society of Apothecaries had no right to
inspect the chemists and druggists‘ shops as was the case with apothecaries‘
shops and while the apothecary was bound to dispense physicians‘
prescriptions, chemists and druggists were not obliged to do so. 176
In their turn, the chemists and druggists also made a huge mistake.
For when attempting to overcome the chemists‘ opposition, the apothecaries
173 Holloway, „The Apothecaries‟ Act, 1815: a reinterpretation Part 1‟, 127.
174 Reader, Professional Men, pp. 51-52.
175 Matthews, History of Pharmacy in Britain, pp. 118-119.
176 Matthews, History of Pharmacy in Britain, pp. 115-116.
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