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

these women. Chapter 4 examines the legislation that sought to control the
practice of medicine and pharmacy. In addition it discusses the Acts of
Parliament concerned with the safety and general health issues of the
public that impinged on the medical professions: Acts that attempted to
reverse the increase in poisoning in the nineteenth century and the National
Insurance Act (1911). Chapter 5 discusses the decline in the apothecaries‘
assistants‘ status subsequent to the introduction of the Insurance Act. It
examines the parts played by the government, the Pharmaceutical Society,
the Society of Apothecaries and the assistants themselves. It also looks
behind the facts and attempts to explain the measures taken, or not taken,
by these participating groups.
The historiography related to this thesis considers a number of broad
themes including the evolution of the medical professions, increasing
government legislation in the sphere of health and welfare, and gender
issues including the development of education for girls. Yet with the
exception of the works of Holloway, Jordan and Jackson 291 mentioned above,
discussion of the contribution made by the apothecaries‘ assistants has been
overlooked. This group of people worked in a supportive role, yet it was
essential in the development of general practice medicine. It was they who
relieved the apothecary of his traditional task of dispensing and allowed him
to concentrate on visiting his patients. The literature that discusses the
metamorphosis of the apothecaries into general practitioners fails to
mention how the important task of dispensing was accomplished after the
291 Holloway, Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, pp. 304-305, 336, 341, 355-358; Jordan,
„Suitable and Remunerative Employment‟, 429-456 and Jordan, „The Great Principle of English Fair
Play‟, 381-410; Jackson, „A Short History of Women and Pharmacy‟, 1008-1009.
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