Page 12 - Pharmacy History 33 November 2007

POISONS OR PERISH
The rise of the Pharmaceutical Chemist in the late 1800s.
Joy Burman, ( Pharmacist )
This Paper was contributed by Joy Burman in response to her invitation to address the retired pharmacists group in Melbourne last November.
Whilst it discusses the Victorian scene in particular, the approach she has taken is an excellent model for anyone who may be asked to speak to groups like Rotary and Probus etc.
“My talk is based on the research that I did for an essay last year. I will discuss the state of the practice of medicine briefly and the huge advances made in the second half of the 19th Century, which saw the development of both the profession of medical practitioner and dispensing chemist.
In particular, I will focus on the situation in Victoria in 1850s
to 1870s where the increasing availability and advertisement of proprietary and patent medicines and poisons, with associated health risks, led to an increasing push for the regulation of the sale of poisons. The first attempts at regulation failed but I will show success for the legislation was assured, when it was in the interest of dispensing chemists to give support.”
In Victoria from 1850s to 1870s,
the increasing availability and advertisement of proprietary and patent medicines and poisons, with associated health risks, led to an increasing push for the regulation
of both their storage and sale. The term ‘poisons’ was used broadly to include agricultural poisons, drugs
and other deleterious substances such as cyanide, corrosive acids and alkalis. The first attempts at regulation of these substances failed, but success for the legislation was assured, when it was in the interest of pharmaceutical chemists to give their support. During the
latter half of the nineteenth century there were great developments in the
practice of medicine. The divisions within the varying practitioners in the medical profession were standardized by academic qualifications and legislation during this period. The passage of the laws relating to the sale of drugs and poisons was influenced by the competition between the medical practitioner and the pharmaceutical chemist, as each developing profession sought a place in the hierarchy of medical practice.
The interest of the medical profession in restricting sale of drugs and
poisons was influenced by the health treatment practices of the time. Self- medication was very common, as the cost of consultation with a medical practitioner varied from 10 shillings to 10 pounds and was out of the reach of many. Home remedies and medical books for home treatments were very popular. One example is L.L. Smith’s Almanac, described as a “handbook for the Mothers of Australia”, which includes recipes for a product to remove of freckles, charcoal tooth powder and Holloway’s ointment and many other remedies.
George Wakefield was typical of medical practitioners of the time.
He was a licensed apothecary from London, who set up as a medical practitioner on the Ballarat goldfield in 1855. He advertised as “Surgeon Wakefield, Physician and Accoucheur.” He wrote copious letters home to England that have survived and a number of letters are reproduced in Goldrush Doctors. He not only saw
patients but he also set up shop, which included “a large stock of drugs and patent medicines”.
He had a good market for Holloway’s pills Wakefield delivered a number
of babies, including with the use of forceps and was concerned by the competing practices of midwives
who “were of the most ignorant
class”. A combination of too many “medical men” and difficulty in extracting payment for his services made life difficult for him. Those practising as physicians or surgeons or pharmaceutical chemists, often had the same or dubious qualifications and competition was rife.
In Victoria, the first attempt to regulate the sale of drugs and poisons was a private members’ bill presented by Thomas Embling in the Legislative Assembly in December 1856. There were readings of the Bill in both Houses and reference to Committee during the first six months of 1857. Arguments for the Bill from the medical fraternity were put forward
by Dr Tierney who referred to an English newspaper article on the problem of free availability of poisons in Britain and continued from his
own experience of cases of ‘hocussing’ and misuse of laudanum. Dr Tierney said that the purpose of the Bill
was “not to injuriously interfere
with respectable druggists”; on the contrary he believed that “such persons would be protected.” Mr Hood, a pharmaceutical chemist who was the owner of a successful pharmaceutical
12 ■ Pharmacy History Australia
volume 4 ■ no 34 ■ February 2008