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<DATE>2014-08-20</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140417.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">I1088bA</STC>
<STC T="G">816.m.12[22]</STC>
<STC T="G">777.l.1.[15]</STC>
<STC T="C">T37442</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99894520</BIBNO>
<VID>195770</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>_IT was little expected by the <HI>Colledge</HI> of <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> that after (<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span">) they had openly de+clared in their Publick A&s;&s;embly, that none of them would oppo&s;e the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> Bill, and &s;ome per|haps beyond their Duty had actually a&s;&s;i&s;ted them therein, they &s;hould for all that find them&s;elves fre|quently reflected upon both in their Publick Papers and Pleadings to the <HI>Two Hou&s;es of Parliament,</HI> which occa&s;ions this Short but Nece&s;&s;ary Vindication of the <HI>Colledge</HI> and <HI>Faculty.</HI></P>
<P>The chief thing the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> would in&s;inuate, is their great Charity, e&s;pecially to the meaner Sort of People and Servants, which they pretend to be under their immediate Care, intimating thereby that the <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> will do nothing for Charity to the Poor; but this is &s;o far from being true, that frequent Complaints have been made to the Pre&s;ident, and Cen&s;ors of the <HI>Colledge,</HI> of their Extortions and Unrea&s;onablene&s;s in their Bills to the poorer People; and whereas the <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> are always ready to give Advice <HI>gra|tis</HI> to the Poor in their Several Wards, both in the City and Suburbs, and are obliged &s;o to do by a &s;tanding Order of the <HI>Colledge</HI> (which was formerly by them pre&s;ented to the Lord Mayor, and the Court of Aldermen, to be publi&s;ht in the &s;everal Wards) yet the Poor can have no benefit thereby, be|cau&s;e of the exce&s;&s;ive Rates the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> demand for the Phy&s;ick; whereas would they &s;ell their Medicines to the Poor either for their intrin&s;ick Value, or at moderate Prices, the <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> having obliged them&s;elves to take care of the Poor <HI>gratis,</HI> this Order might be effectual, and for the Publick Good.</P>
<P>The &s;econd thing they recommend them&s;elves for, is their diligent Atten|dance upon Sick Per&s;ons of all &s;orts, Day and Night, and we acknowledge they are very bu&s;y to make them&s;elves nece&s;&s;ary in all Families; but this is plainly for their own Profit, to promote their Private Practice, which under the notion of giving Phy&s;ick to the Poor, they would &s;ubtilly introduce and e&s;tabli&s;h, being in the mean time well paid for the Phy&s;ick they give to the meane&s;t. And for the Rich, they find an opportunity by their pretend|ed Care and Sedulity to ingratiate them&s;elves with the Patients, whil&s;t in the mean time their true intent is to &s;py what Bottles are empty, to find fault with the <HI>Juleps</HI> and <HI>Cordials,</HI> that they are grown &s;our and want re|newing; and &s;o take occa&s;ion by frequent repeating of the Medicines on their own Heads, without the <HI>Phy&s;icians</HI> knowledge, to increa&s;e their Bills to an incredible Rate, whereby they fill their own Pur&s;es, to the great Oppre&s;&s;ion of the Patient, whom they often al&s;o charge for their officious Vi&s;its, and &s;ome|times demand Fees for their Advice.</P>
<P>'Tis true, the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> attendance abroad may in &s;ome extraordinary Ca&s;es be nece&s;&s;ary, but generally their Duty is at home, where they would do the Patient the be&s;t Service, in faithfully and carefully making up the <HI>Phy&s;ician</HI>'s Pre&s;criptions, and preventing their frequent and many fatal Mi&s;takes committed by their Ignorant Boys. But as for admini&s;tring the Medicines pre&s;cribed to the Patient, there is little need of the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> attendance, which may be very well done without, by the Servants and Nur&s;es, according to the plain Directions in <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> of the <HI>Phy&s;ician.</HI> And the <HI>Colledge</HI> was &s;o &s;en&s;ible of this, and the many Mi&s;takes made by the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> in Engli&s;h|ing their <HI>Latin</HI> Directions, that they made a Statute obliging all their Mem|bers to write in their Bills to them, only In&s;tructions for the compounding the Medicine, but to leave Directions in <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> at the Patient's Hou&s;e for
<PB REF="2" MS="y">the u&s;e of them. This mu&s;t needs have much pleas'd the <HI>Apothecaries</HI> if they had found their frequent Attendance burden&s;om, and had not had &s;ome farther End therein: But they were &s;o far from taking this kindly from the <HI>Colledge,</HI> though manife&s;tly for their Ea&s;e as well as the Publick Good, that they brought down the Lord Chancellor <HI>Jeffreys</HI> in great Fury to vi&s;it the <HI>Colledge,</HI> though he was at la&s;t &s;atisfi'd with the great Rea&s;ons the <HI>Colledge</HI> had for making that Sta|tute.</P>
<P>The third good thing the&s;e Men &s;ay of them&s;elves, is, That the Publick has as great Benefit by the Exerci&s;e of their Profe&s;&s;ion, (as they call it) as by the <HI>Phy&s;icians;</HI> This is a direct &s;etting them&s;elves upon the &s;ame Level with the <HI>Phy|&s;icians:</HI> But is the compounding of Med'cines of as great Benefit to the Publick, as the inventing them? Is any of our <HI>Apothecaries</HI> of as great u&s;e to the World, as <HI>Harvey, Willis, Bates,</HI> nay, old <HI>Galen</HI> and <HI>Hippocrates</HI> too. They call their Trade a Profe&s;&s;ion, and them&s;elves Profe&s;&s;ors; as well may Cooks and Bakers. They &s;ay they are a part of Phy&s;ick; of the Mechanical part of it they are, but not of the Science of Phy&s;ick, of which they are no more a part, than tho&s;e that can make Sage Po&s;&s;et-Drink, and Mace Ale.</P>
<P>The fourth thing they pretend to, is, That 133000 Families receive advantage by their undi&s;turb'd Attendance, as if no Body had to do in the&s;e Families but them&s;elves; whereas they mo&s;t lamentably complain that the <HI>Quacks</HI> take mo&s;t of their Bu&s;ine&s;s from them; and 'tis true in Fact, that the Face of the Poor being grinded by their Extortion in their Bills, which they are not able to pay, generally apply them&s;elves to the <HI>Quacks.</HI></P>
<P>A fifth thing by them openly pleaded, was, That they mu&s;t needs have as great Skill as any <HI>Phy&s;ician;</HI> for the <HI>Phy&s;ician</HI> has only his own Pre&s;criptions, whereas they &s;ee tho&s;e of mo&s;t of the be&s;t and learned'&s;t <HI>Phy&s;icians,</HI> and &s;o get great Ex|perience. Indeed had they any true Foundation in the grounds of Phy&s;ick, did they under&s;tand the true natural Philo&s;ophy Anatomy, the Seat of Di&s;ea&s;es, with their Symptoms, and the Rea&s;ons of them, this might be of Advantage to them, as it is to the <HI>Young Phy&s;icians,</HI> who improve them&s;elves in the Univer&s;ities, in their Travels, and here in Town, by vi&s;iting Ho&s;pitals, con&s;ulting the Files, and fre|quenting the company of the mo&s;t eminent Practi&s;ers: But they wanting this Foundation, the Argument is ju&s;t as true, as if the Clerk of the <HI>Temple</HI> Church &s;hould declare, that he mu&s;t needs be a better Divine than the Learned Ma&s;ter, Dr <HI>Sherlock;</HI> for Dr. <HI>Sherlock</HI> only knows what him&s;elf knows, and hears him|&s;elf preach; but he the Clerk hears both him and all the Eminent Divines that u&s;ually preach to tho&s;e Ingenious Societies, and that upon mo&s;t Subjects and Ca&s;es in Divinity, and therefore he mu&s;t needs be the greater Theologue of the two. It is tedious to pur&s;ue the&s;e Gentlemen in the re&s;t of their very pre|&s;umptuous Allegations. In &s;hort, what they pretend, is Charity, unwearied diligence to the Sick, and Publick Good, like generous and di&s;intere&s;ted Men; whereas pull off the Mask, and you'll find a Liberty of Practice is all they aim at; the re&s;t is Sham and Banter: And indeed the only way to make that plau&s;ible Pretence of theirs real Charity, was to find out &s;ome means to regulate their unrea&s;onable Bills, which are both burthen&s;om to the Rich, and ruinous to the Poor; which may ea&s;ily be done, by giving the <HI>Pre&s;ident</HI> and <HI>Cen&s;ors</HI> of the <HI>Colledge of Phy&s;icians</HI> power to tax them, or by &s;ome other methods the Par|liament &s;hall think more fitting, according to the cu&s;tom of other Foreign Coun|tries. It is hoped, for the encouragement of the Science of Phy&s;ick, and for the &s;ake of their Younger Sons, (many of which may have a Sub&s;i&s;tence from this Faculty) the Parliament will not think fit to give them this their dear Liberty of Practice, the very <HI>Diana</HI> of all their Hopes.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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