Southern Medical and Surgical Journal - Georgia Regents University

:504 Editorial. [MarchWhen he becomes an apothecary he must comply withthe law as determined for that class of merchants.The act of 1825 required apothecaries to obtain alicense from the Medical Board, and section 1,351 of theCode (adopted 1862) as amended by the act of 1866,reads" No person in this State shall open or keep an apothecarystore without first obtaining a license therefor fromthe Medical Board of his own school."Section 1352. " Any person violating the precedingsection is liable to indictment, and, on conviction, to befined not less than one thousand and not more than fivethousand dollars, and for continuing after conviction tothe like fine and imprisonment not exceeding six months.The onus of proof is upon the defendant to show hisauthority."Section 1353. " Druggists are exempt from obtainingsaid license, who were engaged in said business prior to24th December, 1847, and who continue so at the adoptionof this Code ; and merchants and shop-keepers maydeal in medicines already prepared, if patented, or if notpatented are legally warranted by a licensed druggist."Prominent among the business interests to be canvassedis that ofthe relation of physicians to plantation practice.Formerly it was an individualmatter of the planter, orowner of slaves, but now it is a collective interest, inwhich at least three parties are concerned—the freedman,contractor, and physician. It is plain that the contractsystem is the only one now practicable for general purposes,and it behooves the profession to adopt some uniformscale of charges which willsecure general support.If the physicians of each neighborhood are left to suchdesultory plans as each may seeproper to adopt, the resultwill be continued dissatisfaction to all parties. If auniform system prevails, each county will soon be mappedout into practicing districts included in a radius of five oreight miles, thereby securing a fair distribution of the