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

Apothecaries‘ assistants in civilian hospitals and concerns about
terminology
In discussing the situation in civilian hospitals, it will be seen that some
caution needs to be observed when attaching a meaning to the title of
apothecaries‘ assistant, as the terminology in the literature is not always
clear. The terms ―apothecaries‘ assistant‖, ―assistant apothecary‖ and
―underapothecary‖ are used without defining their meanings and we have
already seen the Society of Apothecaries using the term ―assistant to an
apothecary‖ in the 1815 Act. A dispenser, as defined by Cowen, was one
who was responsible for ―keeping medicines in secure storage and supplying
them only on the prescription from a physician or surgeon.‖ 13 This could
apply to the work of an apothecary; equally it could describe an
apothecaries‘ assistant, as we understand his function in post-1815 terms.
The General Pharmaceutical Association, a body established by
apothecaries in 1793 to defend their interests against attacks from the
chemists and druggists, drew up a series of demands in furtherance of this
objective. One of these was, ―That none be assistants without being
examined as to their competency for pharmaceutical compositions.‖ 14 This
suggests that assistants, as defined in the post-1815 sense, were being
examined prior to the Apothecaries Act (1815). It could also be that it
related to licentiates of the Society who were journeymen working for other
apothecaries. Nonetheless, it seems fair to assume that the dispensers
13 Cowen, „Notes on Hospital Pharmacy in the Royal Navy in the Eighteenth Century‟, 568-574.
14 Holloway, „The Apothecaries‟ Act, 1815: a reinterpretation Part 1‟, 111.
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