Page 3 - Pharmacy History 29 July 2006

Pharmacy and medicine in New Zealand in the early days, Part two
By Terry Sutcliffe
Following the article in ‘Pharmacy History Australia’ Vol
3 No 28, March 2006, this second paper by Terry Sutcliffe looks at the ‘classic’ period of the well established and regulated retail pharmacist from 1880, when the New Zealand Pharmacy Act was introduced, through to the 1940s.
Terry is a practising lawyer in Auckland, and his intense interest in pharmacy history stems from his grandfather who was a chemist and druggist, registered in 1909.
This paper was presented to the Medical History Society of New Zealand in May 2006.
Pharmacy 1880 onwards ‘Specie Jars + Speedy Oil’
This paper, Pharmacy 1880 Onwards, takes us on the journey into the period of my grandfather’s practice, he being registered in 1909.
Sutcliffe’s Pharmacy, Lower Hutt, Wellington c1923.
Photo courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.
From the introduction of the Pharmacy Act in 1880 the profession became totally regulated through registrations, effectively disenabling all unqualified and unprofessional individuals to practice pharmacy dispensing.
The late Victorian period was still very traditional, with preparation of medicines being mostly manual. There was still the use of folded powder papers; the hand rolling, rounding and coating of pills; and the labour intensive method of hand making suppositories in metal moulds. However, changes were happening.
1879 saw the invention and patenting of the Limousin Cachet machine, whereby a bulk run of cachets could
be made at once by the pharmacist. The fast mechanised production of tablets was presented to the world by Henry Welcome in 1884. Of a similar period, 1875, Parke Davis and Company developed and patented the gelatine capsule. Furthermore through the mid-19th century research
and development on alkaloids was advancing, and, mass production now began by large industrial concerns, of strychnine; quinine; morphine etc.
The advent of this new mass-market approach led to the global advertising and promotion of these items, making popular many of the well-known proprietary brands of company’s products that we use today. The pharmacist’s frequent inability to maintain a consistent quality, as well as the manufacturing complexity of these medicines meant that the retail pharmacist’s own manufactory base was beginning to shrink. However, New Zealanders were not seen slow in moving into home grown manufacturing also.
George Bonnington had a sizeable 3 storey manufacturing facility near Ferrymead, Christchurch, the building, with faint signing writing, still survives. We also had a sizeable component of rural chemists dispensing veterinary products, and A.E. Sykes, a New Plymouth pharmacist around the turn of last century, manufactured and wholesaled through stock merchants throughout New Zealand. Product lines included drench; udder ointment and Abortion cure.
The late Victorian pharmacists were now a skilful and adaptable group, generally with established shops furnished with quality dark wood fittings (either imported mahogany or dark-stained native kauri). Mirrors, pear-shaped coloured carboys and highly painted luxurious specie jars abounded, showing a true sense
of pomp and grandeur; leaving a feeling of awe and confidence
with the customer.
(Cont. page 4)
volume 3 ■ no 29 ■ JULY 2006
Pharmacy History Australia ■ 3