A statement of circumstances connected with the Apothecaries' Act, and its administration / by George Man Burrows.

  • George Man Burrows
Date:
1817
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A statement of circumstances connected with the Apothecaries' Act, and its administration / by George Man Burrows. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    purpose: [No. passed, the votes being six to five ; one Meniber declined votinii:. It was thouglit by tliose who had opposed it, thut^^No, III.] would be carried as a nnatfer of course, being a consequence of its precursor ; but a Member who had voted for f No. II.] declaring he was inimical to [No. III.] it was therefore lost by five to six. By this singular turn, the application to the Court of Assistants was negatived ; and hence that justice, which was due, in my opinion, to the Public and to the Profession, ■was defeated. The chief argument used by the Chairman and his party was, that it was prenjature, for that we were not yet acquainted with all the defects of the Act. This I considered as a subter- fuge. But if the Court of Assistants had been ad- dressed by those whom they had nominated to admi- nister the most important part of the Act, they must in common decency have complied with the prayer of their application. But another blunder in the Act was soon discovered, and which shewed the absolute necessity of procuring its ameudment. Counsel had given an opinion that no Army or Navy Surgeon could practise as an Apothe- cary in any part of England and Wales, unless he had been in practice as such prior to the 1st of August, 1815. But this made no alteration in the disposition of the Court. There was a party in it who were determined that the Act should remain as it was, even with all its imperfections. I was one of those, weak enough to imagine, that if the Court of Assistants were made acquainted with the real state of the case, that a sense of rectitude would induce them to pro- cure an amended Act; and especially as it appeared to me that their interest was materially concerned ; for clearly a great number of Apothecaries were pre- vented by its defects, from applying for certificates to practise, and others set it at defiance. Although iny expectation of the Court of Examiners addressing the Court of Assistants had been thwarted, yet I resolved that ignorance of existing defects in the Act
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