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<DATE>2009-05-11</DATE>
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<NAME>Scott Lepisto</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<DIV1 TYPE="account">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A farther ACCOUNT OF THE DISPENSARIES AT THE <HI>College</HI> of <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> and in St. <HI>Martins Lane, We&s;t|min&s;ter,</HI> and others to be Erected in and about <HI>Lon|don,</HI> for the Service of the Publick.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><L>Les Apoticairs d' Angleterre &s;ont une grande Compagnie</L>
<L>des Coupeurs des Bour&s;es, &amp; les Medicins les y aident.</L>
<BIBL><HI>Guy Patin.</HI> Med. Prof. Reg. Pari&s;. <HI>Lett. 410.</HI></BIBL></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE value of Health, which is Univer&s;ally acknowledg'd to be a Ble&s;|&s;ing, is yet more intrin&s;ecally known to tho&s;e, that have labour'd under Sickne&s;s, who all unanimou&s;ly confe&s;s the great u&s;efulne&s;s of <HI>Phy&s;ick,</HI> Skilfully Directed, and faithfully Admini&s;tred.</P>
<P>Yet notwith&s;tanding the general agreement about the u&s;efulne&s;s of that Art, it has of late Years fallen in our Nation (where perhaps it has been carried the far|the&s;t towards Perfection of any part in the World) under a &s;ort of neglect, next to Contempt, to the great hinderance of the improvement of the Art it &s;elf, di&s;coura|gement of its true Profe&s;&s;ors, and the general injury of the People.</P>
<P>The cau&s;es of this decay, tho' in them&s;elves obvious enough, are yet generally unheeded. Becau&s;e the Per&s;ons mo&s;t immediately concern'd, (I mean the Sick) having &s;carce any under&s;tanding of the Art, are u&s;ually mi&s;led by im|plicite Faith in the confident, fal&s;e preten&s;ions of &s;ome, or the officious recom|mendation of others, who act with a different view from that, which they are &s;uppos'd to have by the &s;ick Per&s;on, who &s;eldom tru&s;ts his own Judgment, or con|&s;ults his own Rea&s;on in that, which mo&s;t nearly concerns his Life.</P>
<P>Thus are the Sick abu&s;ed, by the &s;elf intere&s;ted recommendation of the <HI>Apothe|caries,</HI> who have ingro&s;s'd to them&s;elves the &s;ole Admini&s;tration of Phy&s;ick, and for the mo&s;t part the Direction of it, both which were antiently lodg'd in the Phy&s;i|cian alone, tho' &s;ince unhappily &s;eparated to the di&s;credit of the Art, the injury of the Phy&s;icians, and the irreparable damage of their Patients, as will appear.</P>
<P>While the Medicines in u&s;e here were but few, the providing and &s;elling of 'em was a part of the Grocer's Trade, and Bu&s;ine&s;s. But Med'cines in time multiplying con&s;iderably, they were thought to require the whole Care, and Attendance of him that dealt in 'em, that they might be faithfully made up, and carefully deliver'd in ju&s;t Weight and Mea&s;ure, as pre&s;crib'd by the <HI>Phy&s;ician.</HI></P>
<P>Thus were the <HI>Ap<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">thecaries</HI> &s;eparated from the <HI>Grocers,</HI> that they might give their whole attendance in their Shops on the making, and di&s;pen&s;ing Medicines, care|fully and faithfully; which rea&s;on holds much more &s;trongly, at this day up|on the account of the va&s;t increa&s;e of the <HI>Galencial</HI> Compo&s;itions, the Invention or Introduction here, of the numerous Tribe of <HI>Chymical</HI> Preparations, the daily familiar Cu&s;tom of the Phy&s;icians, to order <HI>Extemporary</HI> Compound Medicines, a mi&s;take in any of which may, and does often prove fatal to the Patient.</P>
<P>Since this &s;eparation, they have multiplied &s;o exce&s;&s;ively, that at the time of obtaining their <HI>Charter</HI> they were 114, a prodigious number in re&s;pect of what mo&s;t well regulated Cities abroad find &s;ufficient, divers of which (as big as <HI>London</HI> was at that time) do to this day re&s;train 'em to a Number, not exceeding Four or
<PB N="2" REF="2">Six. But at pre&s;ent they are encreas'd to near 1000, all Partners computed, who, tho' join'd in a Shop, have Families to maintain &s;everally.</P>
<P>This over&s;warm of <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> not having whereupon to &s;ub&s;i&s;t at Home, by degrees, and in proce&s;s of time over-ran their Neighbours. For the hone&s;t pro|fits of their Employment being too narrow to Support &s;uch Numbers in their pre&s;ent way of Living, they have of a long time endeavour'd by all manner of Artifices to encroach upon the <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> and exact upon the <HI>Sick,</HI> their <HI>Cu&s;tomers.</HI></P>
<P>In order to which they began fir&s;t by <HI>Officious Vi&s;its,</HI> under pretence of carry|ing the Medicines them&s;elves, to procure the reputation of careful Men, tho' in &s;o doing they <HI>chang'd Offices</HI> with their <HI>Boys,</HI> and left them at Home to do the <HI>Du|ty</HI> of the <HI>Ma&s;ter,</HI> while them&s;elves ran on the Errands. Yet by this they gain'd opportunities of in&s;inuating them&s;elves into Nur&s;es, Servants, and other weak Per|&s;ons, frequently attending on &s;ick People, and by their means to be admitted to give their Opinion, and thence <HI>under pretence of good Husbandry for the Patient,</HI> to repeat the <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> Bills without his Order, and &s;o at length to pre&s;cribe without his Advice.</P>
<P>Upon the &s;ame pretence of good Husbandry for the Patient, they wrought them&s;elves into the &s;ole care of &s;uch &s;light Indi&s;po&s;itions, as of cour&s;e were likely to determine in a &s;hort time without Medicine, which they failed not to improve in|to terrible Di&s;ea&s;es, and mighty Cures, by Frighting the Sick, and tho&s;e about 'em with Malignity, and di&s;mal Progno&s;ticks. This gave 'em credit and authority enough with the Patient, to cen&s;ure the Bills of Phy&s;icians, that did not plea&s;e 'em, and be|hind their Backs to deliver Opinions contrary to the <HI>Phy&s;ician's;</HI> to do which requir'd no Judgment, a little craft &s;ufficing: For they had it in their Power in many ca&s;es, to di&s;appoint the <HI>Phy&s;ician</HI> in his Progno&s;tick by fal&s;ifying the Medicines pre&s;crib'd, a fault they knew how to remedy for them&s;elves, or the favourite they help'd in, (when the other was di&s;mis'd) by making up the &s;ame Bill truly and well. Thus they made profit of their crimes, and gain'd the repute of <HI>hone&s;t knowing</HI> Men, by the <HI>skill</HI> of the <HI>Phy&s;ician</HI> at the expence of his Fame and Intere&s;t.</P>
<P>This point once gain'd, no bounds cou'd hold 'em; there was nothing in <HI>Pra|ctice</HI> &s;o bold, which they dare not venture at, nothing in <HI>Pharmacy</HI> &s;o corrupt which they wou'd not admit. They were now <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> and their Bu&s;ine&s;s was abroad, and the Boy at home, that &s;carce cou'd write his Name, was good enough for an <HI>Apothecary.</HI> But as this new Dignity was not to be &s;upported without an extraordi|nary Expence, New Methods were to be Invented, to lay an additional Duty upon their <HI>Medicines,</HI> to be paid by their <HI>Cu&s;tomers,</HI> now their <HI>Patients. Decoctions</HI> and <HI>Juleps</HI> mu&s;t be divided into <HI>Draughts,</HI> and <HI>Electuaries</HI> into <HI>Boles.</HI> By this means a <HI>Quart</HI> of <HI>Bitter Decoction,</HI> very well paid for at a <HI>Shilling,</HI> wou'd fetch <HI>Twenty,</HI> and a Pound of <HI>Venice</HI> Treacle, perhaps worth <HI>Four or Five Shillings,</HI> as <HI>many Pounds,</HI> and &s;o for all the re&s;t.</P>
<P>Nor was this all: For the Patient was &s;ure not only to pay extortion for what he had, but even for what he had not, while <HI>Ru&s;&s;ian Ca&s;tor, Pearl,</HI> and <HI>Engli&s;h Saffron,</HI> &amp;c. were put into the Pre&s;cription, and <HI>New England Ca&s;tor, Oy&s;ter Shells,</HI> and <HI>Turmerick,</HI> &amp;c. into the Medicines. But what was yet wor&s;e, if under the direction of the <HI>Apothecary</HI> alone, or any <HI>Confederate</HI> of his recommendation, the Patient was &s;ure to be Cramm'd with abundance of nau&s;eous, unnece&s;&s;ary, and con&s;equently hurtful &s;tuff, till either his Stomack, his Pur&s;e, or the Grave put a &s;top to further Charges, which was done only to &s;well the account, and rai&s;e the <HI>Apothecary</HI>'s gain, who&s;e Fees by the&s;e Arts generally treble the <HI>Phy&s;ician</HI>'s under whom he is Employ'd, <HI>&s;o obliging mu&s;t the</HI> Phy&s;ician <HI>be, that expects the recommendation of an</HI> Apothecary: Nay, farther &s;ome Apothecaries are, like Con&s;cientious Men, arriv'd at taking <HI>Fees in ready Mo|ny,</HI> without making any <HI>Allowance,</HI> or <HI>Di&s;count</HI> in the <HI>Bill.</HI></P>
<P>A farther, and perhaps yet greater Mi&s;chief, ari&s;ing from the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> ab&s;enting them&s;elves from the Duty of their Shops, is, that they can't attend the making of the &s;tanding Shop Compo&s;itions, which require great Care and Exactne&s;s to be well made, and many of 'em having been bred under Ma&s;ters of that Humour, know not how to do it were they di&s;pos'd. This obliges 'em to furni&s;h them&s;elves from the Whole|&s;ale <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> a &s;ort of Men that deal in corrupt, &s;ophi&s;ticated Ware, with which the Retail ones content them&s;elves, out of Avarice, Ignorance, or Lazi|ne&s;s, to the De&s;truction of the People. Hence it is plain, that mo&s;t of 'em can't warrant the Phy&s;ick they Sell, nor the Phy&s;ician depend upon it, mo&s;t of it being made by the <HI>Whole&s;ale Man,</HI> and <HI>Chymi&s;t,</HI> and all of it di&s;pens'd by the heedle&s;s <HI>Boy,</HI> whom every amu&s;ement diverts from his attention to his Bu&s;ine&s;s, and any &s;light re&s;emblance betrays into fatal mi&s;takes; e&s;pecially as their pre&s;ent u&s;e is,
<PB N="3" REF="2">of putting Medicines indifferently into the Pots and Gla&s;&s;es, mark'd with other Names, which in&s;en&s;ibly leads the <HI>Boys</HI> into very dangerous Errors.</P>
<P>Nor is it from the corruption of the <HI>Whole&s;ale Men,</HI> and the mi&s;takes of <HI>Boys</HI> only, that the Sick are endanger'd. The unfaithfulne&s;s of the Shops in <HI>Sophi&s;ti|cating</HI> Drugs, <HI>Sub&s;tituting</HI> one thing for another, <HI>vending peri&s;h'd</HI> Medicines, and making up Bills <HI>contrary</HI> to the direction of the Pre&s;criber, is grown &s;o ge|neral, and &s;o notorious, that the able&s;t Phy&s;icians &s;carce know, what they are to expect from the certaine&s;t of their Pre&s;criptions, as they are made up in the Shops.</P>
<P>Another great mi&s;chief of the mo&s;t Ruinous con&s;equence to the Sick, is the ear|ly Officious Vi&s;its, which to &s;hew their Impertinent Care, the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> make in a Morning, and by their Un&s;ea&s;onable, Injudicious Prattle, Rob the Patient of the only time, wherein after the fatigue of an unquiet Night, he is u&s;ually inclin'd to Re&s;t, which temper, thus ruffled by the Officious Intru&s;ion of the <HI>Apothecary,</HI> is not again to be recover'd in the whole Day, whence frequently follow a perpetual <HI>Inquie|tude, Delirou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> &amp;c. And the <HI>Apothecary</HI> reaps Profit, and Thanks for his Mi&s;|chievous o&s;tentation of care.</P>
<P>The&s;e Abu&s;es were long &s;ince &s;een thro' and condemn'd by many <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> who all along abhored &s;uch &s;candalous practices. But the <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> who&s;e in|tere&s;t it was to oppo&s;e any Reformation, enter'd into an A&s;&s;ociation to de|cry, and (as far as in them lay) to turn out of Bu&s;ine&s;s all Phy&s;icians, that &s;hou'd have the Hone&s;ty, and Courage to di&s;avow the&s;e &s;ini&s;ter Practices, and to recom|mend tho&s;e only, that would confederate with 'em, and Countenance, Abett, and Ju&s;tifie their Irregular proceedings.</P>
<P>To this end <HI>Li&s;ts</HI> were handed through their whole <HI>Company,</HI> wherein the <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> were all <HI>Nam'd,</HI> and <HI>Di&s;tingui&s;hing Marks</HI> prefix'd to their <HI>Names,</HI> that tho&s;e who adher'd firmly to the Intere&s;t of their Patients, and the Honour of their Faculty, might by all po&s;&s;ible Shifts, and Artifices, be &s;upplanted in their Bu&s;ine&s;s, and tho&s;e that were in League with the <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> to &s;upport, and promote their enormous Gains, and Abu&s;es might be brought over their Heads.</P>
<P>This Method fa&s;ten'd to 'em divers, who were ready to &s;acrifice their <HI>Patients,</HI> and pro&s;titute their own Honour, and Con&s;ciences to the Service of the <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> and their own immediate Profit. By the&s;e was introduc'd the Fa&s;hion of writing &s;uch expen&s;ive long Bills, that he that did not order enough every Day for the <HI>Apothecary</HI> to charge in &s;light ca&s;es at <HI>Twenty, Thirty,</HI> or <HI>Forty Shillings,</HI> was &s;ure to be a&s;pers'd by him to the Patient as a Trifler, one that neither took the Ca&s;e right, nor or|der'd any thing to the Purpo&s;e; tho' in mo&s;t ca&s;es it is difficult for the Patient to take in one day to the real value of <HI>Half a Crown, Two Shillings,</HI> or in many even of <HI>One Shilling</HI> prudently Pre&s;crib'd, and moderately Rated.</P>
<P>For the&s;e Rea&s;ons are the&s;e Men cry'd up by 'em, their Fame is proclaim'd in <HI>Coffee-hou&s;es,</HI> and whi&s;per'd in the Ears of dying Men, as the only Per&s;ons able to put a &s;top to Fate, and reprieve from the Grave. To carry on this Intrigue the more &s;moothly, they have their <HI>Tavern</HI> Cabals with the <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> where they invent &s;candal on the re&s;t of the <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> and contrive Ways and Means to &s;pread and diffu&s;e it, in order to de&s;troy their Credit.</P>
<P>In return of the&s;e Favours the Confederate <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> are oblig'd, whenever they are call'd in by the <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> where no <HI>Phy&s;ician</HI> has been con&s;ulted in the ca&s;e, to Approve and Ju&s;tifie the Practice of the <HI>Apothecary,</HI> tho' the Patient be dying of bad or improper Medicines, or for want of &s;ufficient help in due time. But if any other <HI>Phy&s;ician,</HI> whom the <HI>Apothecary</HI> does not like, has been fir&s;t ad|vis'd with, his Method, tho' never &s;o proper, and well directed, is to be Con|demn'd, and his Medicines laid a&s;ide, and the <HI>poor Patient,</HI> if he lives, is to run the Gauntlet afre&s;h thro' all the Forms of Phy&s;ick.</P>
<P>The&s;e Artifices have frightn'd many Gentlemen, of better principles than to com|ply with 'em in all their mea&s;ures of iniquity, from a&s;&s;erting them&s;elves, and di&s;a|bu&s;ing the World with that Vigour and Courage, that they ought to do, for fear of being work'd out of their Practice.</P>
<P>Yet there wants not a &s;ufficient Number of <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> of Integrity, and Re&s;o|lution to redre&s;s the&s;e Grievances, and to a&s;&s;i&s;t all Per&s;ons of what Rank or Con|dition &s;oever, who are willing to open their Eyes to their own Intere&s;t. In order whereunto they have erected an <HI>Office</HI> at the <HI>College</HI> of <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> call'd the <HI>Di&s;pen&s;a|ry,</HI> where all Officinal Compo&s;itions, <HI>Galenical,</HI> and <HI>Chymical</HI> are faithfully pre|par'd, of the be&s;t Drugs, and where already near Twenty Thou&s;and Pre&s;criptions have been made up, and deliver'd, and about Three Hundred Bills are Weekly di&s;pens'd by Servants of their own, and under their own In&s;pection, at a Price
<PB N="4" REF="3">put upon the Bill by the Pre&s;criber, which is at lea&s;t <HI>Fifteen Shillings</HI> in the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> Lower, than the mo&s;t mode&s;t Rates of the <HI>Apothecaries.</HI></P>
<P>The extraordinary relief, that va&s;t Numbers of People have found, from their Di&s;tempers at &s;uch ea&s;e Rates by the <HI>Di&s;pen&s;ary,</HI> has brought &s;o much Bu&s;ine&s;s to it, that it begins to grow impracticable to &s;erve 'em all at one place. And there|fore, that no Per&s;on of what condition &s;oever, may be deny'd the benefit of Good Medicines at ea&s;ie Prices, the Phy&s;icians have re&s;olv'd to erect divers others in &s;everal parts of the Town.</P>
<P>In per&s;uance of this re&s;olution they have already fitted up another in St. <HI>Mar|tins</HI> Lane, <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> where con&s;tant attendance is given by their Servants, in or|der to make up all &s;uch Bills, as &s;hall come to their Hands, from the Phy&s;icians Sub|&s;cribing, and where likewi&s;e the Phy&s;icians them&s;elves will meet every <HI>Monday,</HI> and <HI>Thur&s;day</HI> in the Afternoon, for the particular Service of the Poor, where &s;uch of 'em, as re&s;ort to 'em there, may have their Advice <HI>Gratis,</HI> as at the College on <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word">,</HI> and <HI>Saturdays.</HI></P>
<P>And that the&s;e <HI>Di&s;pen&s;aries</HI> may be made as &s;erviceable as po&s;&s;ible to the Publick, the Sub&s;cribers have there lodg'd very con&s;iderable <HI>Arcana</HI> in Practice unknown to any <HI>Apothecary,</HI> of which they were before Ma&s;ters, but unwilling to pro&s;titute to the Adulterations, and Corruptions, which other Medicines undergo in the Shops. The Sub&s;cribers likewi&s;e have re&s;olv'd, according to the Antient Laudable Practice, of the <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> of <HI>London,</HI> to &s;et apart &s;ome Hours in the Morning and Afternoon, for the Service of &s;uch, as in the <HI>Le&s;s acute</HI> and <HI>Chronical</HI> Ca&s;es, &s;hall think fit to con&s;ult 'em at Home.</P>
<P>The <HI>Apothecaries</HI> have made their Boa&s;t, that they Command all the Families in Town, in re&s;pect to Phy&s;ick. But unle&s;s the People are re&s;olv'd to be led by the No&s;e, they will have no cau&s;e to brag at that rate for the future, the advantages of the&s;e <HI>Di&s;pen&s;aries</HI> to all Mankind, that are vi&s;ited with Sickne&s;s, are &s;o &s;elf-evi|dent. For unle&s;s Men have a mind to purcha&s;e Di&s;ea&s;es, or take Phy&s;ick out of wantone&s;s, they will &s;hut the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> out of their Doors, till they &s;hall keep to their Shops, and Carefully, and Faithfully, make and di&s;pen&s;e &s;uch Medicines, as &s;hall be order'd by Phy&s;icians, make their prices &s;upportable to the People, lay a&s;ide their di&s;hone&s;t Arts of &s;welling their Bills, and Debauching Members of the College, to the Scandal of their Profe&s;&s;ion, and De&s;truction of their Patients.</P>
<P>If any Gentlemen &s;hall think the foregoing Charge upon the <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> and their Confederates too &s;evere, or the Expre&s;&s;ions too har&s;h, let 'em re&s;t a&s;&s;ur'd that every particular therein &s;hall be made undeniably clear from &s;ufficient Evidence of Fact, whenever the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> &s;hall call for &s;uch Proofs. As for the Expre&s;&s;ion, let 'em but con&s;ider how rudely and &s;candalou&s;ly the <HI>Hone&s;t Phy&s;icians</HI> have been, and are daily Treated, both in Publick and Private, by the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> and <HI>their Adherents,</HI> and they will excu&s;e &s;ome warmth, (if any appear) e&s;pecially when the general Good is in view, provided it tran&s;ports 'em not beyond the Bounds of Truth and Decency, which, 'tis hop'd, are not trangre&s;s'd in this Paper.</P>
<P>There remains one Objection, which &s;ticks to &s;ome compa&s;&s;ionate Per&s;ons, otherwi&s;e convinc'd of the Ju&s;tice and nece&s;&s;ity of this De&s;ign; which is, that &s;hou'd it obtain univer&s;ally in this Town, the <HI>Apothecaries,</HI> who are a great Compa|ny, mu&s;t be inevitably ruin'd. But the An&s;wer is ea&s;ie, that if to Reform 'em, be to Ruin 'em, they are ripe for De&s;truction: For no Civil well Con&s;tituted Go|vernment, ought to &s;uffer one Party of Men to Live upon the Spoil and Plunder of the re&s;t, e&s;pecially in their Di&s;tre&s;s: 'Tis like Robbing Hou&s;es on Fire, under pre|tence of help. If therefore the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> think a Reformation of the&s;e Abu&s;es of &s;uch ruinous Con&s;equence, they ought to con&s;ider, how by retrenching their Extravagancies to &s;uit their living to hone&s;t Profit, or in time to betake them|&s;elves to &s;ome more Hone&s;t Employment.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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