Observations and reflections on the Bill now in progress through the House of Commons, for 'better regulating the medical profession as far as regards apothecaries' / by Robert Masters Kerrison.

  • Kerrison, Robert Masters
Date:
1815
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations and reflections on the Bill now in progress through the House of Commons, for 'better regulating the medical profession as far as regards apothecaries' / by Robert Masters Kerrison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    It has a jurisdiction in London, and within seven miles, and that power can only be exercised over its own members, who form a small part of those actually in practice in London and its vicinity. The Apothecaries, who had been carefully educated to the duties of their station, had long felt the degradation, which their fair claims to public confidence and respectabi- lity, as a body, sustained by the want of an authority, in proper hands, to inquire into the degree of qualification, and to approve, or reject, those who wish to devote their time to the serious charge of restoring health: for, it will be made apparent, not only that the middle and lower classes of people, which constitute the bulk of the community, are left to the sole care of Apothecaries, but that the opportunity has long existed for them to become fully qualified for the task. It is now more than two years since a general meeting of Apothecaries and Surgeon-Apothecaries 1 was convened in London. A committee was chosen, and proceeded to deli- berate on the best means of attaining their object. They made an explicit avowal of their intentions to the Royal Col- lege of Physicians, the Royal College of Surgeons, and the company of Apothecaries, but they met only with coldness, contemptuous silence, and indifference. In consequence of the apathy of the legalised medical bodies, and the illiberal attempts which had been made to misrepresent the tendency of the Bill and the object of its promoters, the author of this little tract, having been nomi- nated a member of the committee, considered it a duty to * The terra Surgeon-Apothecary is intended to designate those who practise as Apothecaries, and are also members of the Royal College of Surgeons. They are now thejnost numerous part of the profession in town and country.
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