MedicalHistory, 1987, 31: 415-439. THE MEDICAL ACTIVITIES OF MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO WAKEFIELD AND HUDDERSFIELD by HILARY MARLAND* Duringtheeighteenthandnineteenthcenturies,manyfacilitieswerecreatedwiththe expressaimofprovidingmedicalcareandtreatment.Thefoundationoflargenumbers ofdispensariesandinfirmaries, theestablishmentofaformalchannelofmedicalrelief through theagencyoftheNewPoor Law, and thesettingupofanetworkoffriendly societies,withfacilitiesforthepecuniaryandmedicalreliefoftheirsickmembers,gave the poor and labouring classes ofthis period more access to medical treatment than theyhadeverhadbefore. Meanwhile,thosewealthyenoughtopayforprivatemedical carecouldutilize theservices ofagrowingnumberofqualified medicalpractitioners. Yet rich and poor alike continued to resort to a variety of"unqualified" or "fringe" sources of medical aid. For some, such forms of medical treatment supplemented treatmentbya"regular"practitioner; forothers,withlimitedaccessormoney,orwith a preference for fringe methods, these were the sole means ofmedical relief. Awidevariety oflabels hasbeen thrownuptodescribetheunqualified, influenced byapracticalneedtodistinguishthisgroupfromtheprotessionalsandbysociological terminology, the fringe, periphery, alternative or unorthodox practitioners, para- medics,quacks,andsoon.Thelabelsrefertoaheterogeneouscollectionofindividuals and groups, using varying methods of diagnosis and treatment, drawing on folk traditions, ancient remedies or the "new sciences" of, for instance, hydropathy, homeopathy, mesmerism or medical botany, or, in some cases, on showmanship, trickeryorcommercialenterprise. Untilatleastthemid-nineteenthcentury,wearenot really in position to distinguish between professional practitioners and the fringe in terms ofthe quality oftreatment given, its scientific standing or success rate. In such circumstances, it is perhaps most useful to distinguish between fringe and orthodox medicine on the grounds of legal and professional inclusion and exclusion.1 The nineteenth century saw not only the survival oftraditional fringe practitioners-folk *HilaryMarland, PhD, Medisch Encyclopedisch Instituut, Vrije Universiteit, vanderBoechorststraat 7, 1081 BTAmsterdam, TheNetherlands. TheauthorgratefullyacknowledgestheassistanceofherformercolleaguesattheWellcomeUnit,Oxford, whereshewasaResearchFellowwhenthispaperwaswritten;alsothesupportoftheESRC,whofundedthe Fellowship(ref. A23320031): andJohn Pickstone forhis valuablecomments. I RoyPorter, 'Quacks: an unconscionable timedying' unpublished paper, Wellcome Institute for the HistoryofMedicine, London, 1983,p. 1. Forthenatureofthefringe, seeW. F. Bynumand Roy Porter (editors),Medicalfringeandmedicalorthodoxy,1750-1850,London,CroomHelm,1986;andRogerCooter, 'Interpreting the Fringe', Bull. Soc. soc. Hist. Med., 1981, 29: 33-36. 415 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press Hilary Marland healers, wise-women, midwives, bone-setters, and itinerant quacks-but also the flourishing ofnew unorthodox and para-medical groups, including homeopathists, hydropathicpractitioners,medicalbotanists,andchemistsanddruggists. Ifwewishto take into account allindividuals and facilities involved in the dispensing ofmedical care, and to build up a picture ofthe total amount and nature ofmedical treatment available, then we cannot leave the unqualified or fringe practitioner out of our analysis. Thispaperwillexaminetheactivities,mostspecificallythemedicalactivities, ofoneofthenewgroupsofmedicalpersonneltoemergeduringthenineteenthcentury, thechemistsanddruggists, andattempttoassesstheirroleintheprovisionofmedical advice and treatment. Bythemid-nineteenthcentury, chemistsanddruggistsmadeupthemostnumerous groupofpara-medicalpersonnel. Forthisreasonalone,astudyofthisgroupandtheir functionswouldseemtobeusefulinmakinganyassessment oftherangeandformof medical assistance available during the nineteenth century. In addition to being numerous, however, chemists and druggists were also versatile, offering a very wide range ofmedical services. While the most clearly-defined function ofthe nineteenth- century chemist and druggist was to make up the prescriptions ofqualified medical men, this was not normally their most important function, and they also engaged themselves in a number ofwhatcan be described as medical oreven fringe activities. These activities, which included "over-the-counter-prescribing", the making up of familyrecipes,andthesaleofawiderangeofdrugsandpatentremedies,accountedfor the largest proportion ofthe chemist and druggist's trade. Moreover, in professional and social terms, chemists and druggists constituted an ambiguousgroup. Whileinvolved inactivitieswhichaligned themwiththerestofthe "ringe, the middle-class status of many chemists and druggists, their growing professionalism, frequent expertise, close working relationship with the medical profession, and, inmanycases,wealthand highsocial standinginthecommunities in which they worked, made them distinct from other fringe groups. The chemists and druggistwereoneofthefewfringeorpara-medicalgroupstoemergeduringthisperiod who could lay claim to some form ofprofessional standing. By the mid-nineteenth century, they were slowly organizing and taking on some features ofa professional group. Theformation ofthePharmaceutical Societyin 1841,theestablishment ofthe Pharmaceutical Journal, the setting up of schools and courses specializing in the education ofpharmacists, and thedevelopment ofuniform standards oftrainingand examination, which became compulsory under the 1868 Pharmacy Act, were important aspects ofthis process. Already, by 1842, the Pharmaceutical Society had 2,000 members.2 Yet these developments did not lead to a narrowing down of the functions of the chemists and druggists to the compounding and dispensing of prescriptions; nor did they inhibit their fringe activities. This paper will be limited in both geographical scope and time. Many ofthe data havebeentakenfromasurveyoftheWestRiding,withspecialreferencetoWakefield and Huddersfield, although an effort has been made to place developments in these 2Formoreonthesedevelopments, seeG. E. Trease, Pharmacyinhistory, London, Bailliere, Tindall& Cox, 1964; F. N. L. Poynter (editor), The evolution ofpharmacy in Britain, London, Pitman Medical Publishing, 1975. 416 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press The medical activities ofmid-nineteenth-century chemists anddruggists two communities into a national perspective.3 Wakefield, primarily a market and service centre, experienced only a steady rate of industrial growth during the nineteenth century. Huddersfield was, on the other hand, a rapidly expanding textile community, an exemplary nineteenth-century industrial town. However, both experienced urban development and population growth during the early and mid-nineteenthcentury-Wakefieldinaratherlessdramaticform-andtheriseinthe numberofchemistsanddruggistsappearstohavebeencloselytiedtothisurbanization process. In addition, the paper will cover only the middle decades ofthe nineteenth century, using the Apothecaries' Act of 1815 and the 1868 Pharmacy Act as rough boundaries. During the early- and mid-nineteenth century, there was a remarkable increase in thenumbers involved inpharmacy. Thiswasanera ofspecial significance for the chemists and druggists, not only because of their remarkable growth in numbers, butalso becauseitsawtheirindependence oftheapothecaries, theclausetc controlchemistsanddruggistsbeingdropped fromtheApothecaries' Act, and, atthe endofthisera,thecampaignfor,andthepassingof,thePharmacyActhadimportant implications for the professionalization and self-identity ofthe chemist. Overall,chemistsanddruggistshavereceivedscantattentionbymedicalhistorians. Those studies that have been undertaken have tended to concentrate on the growing professionalism ofthisgroupduringthenineteenthcentury,4 and onthecompetition between chemists and druggists and general practitioners for dispensing work. However, it is not issues relating to the professionalization of this group that will concernushere. Norwillthispapergivemuchcoveragetothetrainingofchemistsand druggistsduringthenineteenthcentury,ortotheireconomicstatusandstandinginthe local community. While it is generally accepted that chemists and druggists involved themselves in less orthodox activities, and that over-the-counter-prescribing and the sale ofdrugs directly to the public were vital components of their businesses, these functions have not been fully described and analysed. This paper will look in some detail at the medical activities ofthe chemist and druggist, most specifically at those which took him beyond his role as a medicine supplier, and which could be seen as placing him in the context ofmedical practice. Dataonchemistsanddruggists, ascomparedwithinformationonothersectionsof themedicalfringeduringthenineteenthcentury,arewidelyavailable. Incontrastwith other fringe elements, chemists and druggists were easily identifiable, in most cases having a fixed location, their shops. For the Wakefield and Huddersfield survey, the starting-points for a collection ofnumerical data were the census returns and trade directories. Whilefigurestakenfromthesesourcestendonthewholetounderstatethe size of the medical fringe, the data on chemists and druggists appear to be more completeandreliable(especiallyifthetwosourcesofdataareusedinconjunctionwith 3This paper forms a supplement to a wider survey ofmedical practice and medical provisions in Wakefield and Huddersfield duringthe nineteenth century. See Hilary Marland, Medicine andsociety in WakefieldandHuddersfield1780-1870, Cambridge University Press, 1987. 4Forexample,J. K. Crellin, 'Thegrowthofprofessionalism in nineteenth-century British pharmacy', Med.Hist., 1967, 11:215-227and'Leicesterand 19thcenturyprovincialpharmacy',Pharm.J., 1965, 195: 417-420;L.G.Matthews,HistoryofpharmacyinBritain,Edinburgh,E.&S.Livingstonc, 1962.Foranew interpretationofeventsleadinguptoandthereasoningbehindtheformationofthePharmaceuticalSociety, seeS.W.F.Holloway,'Theorthodoxfringe:theoriginsofthePharmaceuticalSocietyofGreatBritain',in Bynum and Porter(editors), op. cit., note I above, pp. 129-157. 417 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press Hilary Marland each other). Trade directories listed the number ofchemists' shops and individual chemistsintheyearofpublication, andindicatedthelocationoftheshopsand,where applicable, separate residences. The census returns gave further details of the residencesaswellasinformationonhouseholdsizeandstructure,andtheemployment ofapprentices, assistants, and servants. The numerical data were supplemented by other sources, the most useful and prolific of which were local newspapers. Advertisements placed by chemists and druggists in the local press gave valuable information on their retail functions: the range of services which they offered, the products they sold, and, perhaps most significantly, groups to whom they directed their sales promotions. Parliamentary reports and medical journals, meanwhile, constituted valuable, albeit frequently biased, sources of information, their main concern being with the dangers of unqualified advising and prescribing, and the competition ofchemistsanddruggists toqualified medical men. The studies ofsocial geographers and economic historians, especially into the history of retailing, were found to be valuable supplements to the literature of medical historians on the activities ofthe chemists and druggists.5 From the seventeenth century onwards, the traditional pharmaceutical practitioners, the apothecaries, had been extending their role as dispensers ofdrugs, andturningtogeneralmedicalpractice. Thistransformationwasaccompaniedduring the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by pressure from the chemists and druggists,whochallengedandundercuttheapothecaries'dispensingtrade.6 AsIrvine Loudon has suggested, by the turn of the nineteenth century, the ability of the apothecaries and surgeon-apothecaries tomakeasubstantial livingfrom thepractice ofpharmacy had been greatly diminished, as the number ofdispensing chemists and druggists increased. The chemists and druggists dealt directly with the public, undercuttingthecounter-trade oftheapothecaries, andusurpingtheirtraditional role by dispensing for physicians. It was not unknown even for physicians to utilize the chemist'sshoptogivefreemedicaladviceandtoprescribe, theprofitsfromthesaleof medicinesbeingdividedbetweenthechemistandphysician,effectivelycuttingoutthe apothecary.7 The apothecaries' transition to medical practice was speeded up by the passingofthe Apothecaries' Actin 1815.8 Byearlyin the nineteenthcentury the title "apothecary" had all but disappeared from town directories, as this group was absorbed into the category of"surgeon". sSee,forexample, D.Alexander,RetailinginEnglandduringtheindustrialrevolution, London,Athlone Press, 1970; James H. Johnson and Colin C. Pooley (editors), The structure ofnineteenth century cities, London,CroomHelm, 1982,part3;MichaelJ.Winstanley, Theshopkeeper'sworld1830-1914,Manchester UniversityPress, 1983.ForthebackgroundtotheevolutionofBoots,seeStanleyChapman,JesseBootof Boots the Chemists. A study inbusinesshistory, London, Hodder&Stoughton, 1974. 6Originallythe"drugster" or"drugman" actedasthemiddlemaninthepassingofdrugsbetweenthe importerandapothecary. Duringtheseventeenth century, hisfunctionswerecombinedwith thoseofthe "chymist",a"dabblerinchemicalmedicines".By1700,thetermswereusedinterchangeablyinLondon,and by1750,wholesaleandretaildruggists'shopshadbeenestablishedintheprovinces.J.F.Kett,'Provincial medical practice in England 1730-1815', J. Hist. Med., 1964, 19: 19-20. 7IrvineLoudon,'Adoctor'scashbook:theeconomyofgeneralpracticeinthe 1830s',Med.Hist., 1983, 27:265-266.Seealso,IrvineLoudon,'Thevileraceofquackswithwhichthiscountryisinfested',inBynum and Porter(editors), op. cit., note I above, pp. 106-128. 418 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press The medical activities ofmid-nineteenth-century chemists anddruggists Meanwhile, changes in terminology and practice wereparalleled byaconsiderable growth in the number of chemists and druggists (as shown in Table I), in part stimulated by population growth, especially in urban areas. In 1780, for example, therewerejusttwochemists' shopsin Huddersfield. By 1822, therewerefive, by 1837 nine, and by 1870 nineteen. During the 1790s, Wakefield was also served by two chemists. By 1822, there were six chemists' shops, and between 1822 and 1870, the numberofthemmorethantrebledtonineteen.9Manyothercommunities,particularly thoseundergoingrapidurbanization, sawsimilarincreasesinthenumberofchemists' shops during the late-eighteenth, and, more particularly, the early-nineteenth centuries. In Sheffield, forexample, thefirstdruggist's businesswasrecordedin 1750. According to Austen's sources, by 1774 there were three chemists and druggists TABLE I. THE RATIO OF CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS TO QUALIFIED MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS, 1790-1870t ChemistsandDruggists QualifiedMedicalPractitioners Ratio ofChemists andDruggists to (shops)* (physicians)* QualifiedMedicalPractitioners Year Wakefield Huddersfield Wakefield Huddersfield Wakefield Huddersfield 1790 2(2) 2(2) 9(3) 4(0) 1:4.5 1:2 1822 6(6) 5(5) 18(6) 13(3) 1:3 1:2.6 1828 10(9) 6(5) 20(6) 14(3) 1:2 1:2.3 1837 13(12) 9(9) 19(4) 17(3) 1:1.5 1:1.9 1847 20(19) 14(14) 25(6) 21(3) 1:1.3 1:1.5 1853 19(17) 16(15) 26(7) 22(5) 1:1.4 1:1.4 1861 19(18) 18(17) 22(4) 23(4) 1:1.2 1:1.3 1866 19(18) 22(20) 19(5) 21(3) 1:1 1:0.95 1870 19(19) 21(19) 18(3) 21(3) 1:0.95 1:1 tAnoteofcautionshouldbeaddedhere.Theremaybeminorinaccuraciesinthetables(andinfiguresgiven inthetext), aresultofomissionsanddiscrepancies in tradedirectorylistings,particularlyfortheearlier years. *The number ofchemists' shops and physicians are represented by thefigures in brackets. Sources: UniversalBritishdirectory,op.cit.,note9above; E. Baines,op.cit.,note9above;W.Parsonand W.White, WestRidingYorkshiredirectory,Leeds,1828;W.White, 1837directory,op.cit.,note9above;W. White,DirectoryandtopographyofLeeds,Bradford,Halifax,Huddersfield, Wakefield,andthewholeofthe clothingdistrictsoftheWestRidingofYorkshire,Sheffield,1847;W.White,DirectoryandgazetteerofLeeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield and the whole ofthe clothing districts of Yorkshire, 1853, reprinted Newton Abbot, David&Charles, 1969;W. White, DirectoryandtopographyoftheBoroughof Leeds, Wakefield, BradfordHuddersfield, etc., Sheffield, 1861; W. White, Directory ofLeeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Sheffield, 1866; W. White, 1870 directory, op. cit., note 9 above. gFor more on these developments, see, for example, B. Hamilton, 'The medical professions in the eighteenthcentury', Econ. Hist. Rev., 1951,2ndseries,4: 159-169;S. W. F. Holloway,'TheApothecaries' Act, 1815:areinterpretation',partsIandII,Med.Hist., 1966,10:107-129,221-236;Trease,op.cit.,note2 above, pp. 169-174. 9T. Dyson, ThehistoryofHuddersfieldanddistrictfrom theearliest timesdown to 1932, Huddersfield, TheAdvertiserPress, 1932,p.467; UniversalBritishdirectoryoftradeandcommerce(1790-98);E.Baines, History,directoryandgazetteeroftheCountyofYork,vol. 1, 1822,reprintedWakefield,David&Charles, 1969; W. White, History,gazetteer, anddirectory, ofthe WestRidingofYorkshire, vol. 1, Sheffield, 1837; W. White, General and commercial directory of Leeds, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Batley, Heckondwike,Holmfirth,Morley,Pudsey,andalltheparishesandvillagesinandnearthosepopulousdistricts ofthe West Riding,..., Sheffield, 1870. 419 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press Hilary Marland (including one female druggist), by 1797 ten, by 1817 seventeen, by 1838 thirty-eight, and by 1841 fifty-six. (Bycomparison, it hasbeenestimatedthattherewereatotal of seven physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries practisingin Sheffield in 1774; by 1841, the printed census returns give a figure of eighty-seven, including an unspecifted numberofmedical students.10) Between 1825 and 1853, the numbers ofchemists and druggistsinNottinghammorethandoubledfromtwenty-twotoforty-seven(whilethe number ofqualified medical practitioners rose from thirty to forty).'1 By 1851, 114 individuals(105 businesses) werelistedaschemists anddruggistsinthe Bristolcensus enumerators' books, together with a similar number ofqualified medical men.12 This increase in numbers, which was most significant in the first half of the nineteenth century, could perhaps have resulted from one ofthree developments, or from a combination ofthe three. The first possibility was that a growing number of medical practitioners abandoned their dispensing functions during this period, and turnedoverthemakingupofprescriptions tothechemistsanddruggists,whichledto anincreasedvolumeoftradeforthisgroup. Secondly, theincreasecouldbeexplained quite simply by the population growth ofthe two communities, which resulted in a largermarketforthechemistsanddruggists' services. Thethirdpossibility isthatthe inhabitants of the two towns made growing use of the chemists' services, and thus facilitated a rise in their numbers. Althoughtherewasanincreaseinthenumberofqualifiedmedicalmenpractisingin Wakefield andHuddersfield duringthenineteenthcentury, thisincreasedid not keep pacewiththegrowthinthenumberofchemistsanddruggistsoverthesameperiod(see Table I). Between 1822 and 1853, the number ofqualified medical men in Wakefield increased from eighteen to twenty-six (44%). Over the same period, the number of chemistsanddruggistsrosefromsixtonineteen(217%). InHuddersfield, thenumber ofqualified medicalmenincreasedatafasterrateduringthesamethirty-yearperiod, butbynomeans keptupwith the rise in the numberofchemists and druggists in the town. In 1822, therewerethirteen qualifiedmedicalmenresidentin Huddersfield. By 1853, there were twenty-two (an increase of 69%). The number of chemists and druggists,meanwhile,increasedfromfivetosixteen(220%),analmostidenticalrateof increase to that experienced in Wakefield. After c. 1853, the number of practising medicalmeninWakefieldbegantofalloff,fromtwenty-sixin 1853toeighteenin 1870. Over the same period, the number ofchemists and druggists remained steady, there beingroughlynineteeninbusinessinthetownatanyonetime. In Huddersfield, there wasalsoasmalldeclineinthenumberofqualifiedmedicalpractitionersbetween 1853 and 1870,fromtwenty-twototwenty-one. Inthesametwodecades,fivemorechemists anddruggistsestablishedthemselvesinthetown,givingatotalin 1870oftwenty-one.13 10J Austen,HistoricalnotesonoldSheffielddruggists,Sheffield,J.W.Northend,1961,pp.10-12, 15,26, 35,47;AbstractoftheanswersandreturnsmadepursuanttoActs3&4Vic.c.99,and4Vic.c.7,intitled respectively 'AnActfortakinganaccountofthepopulationofGreatBritain',and'AnActtoamendthe Actsofthelastsessionfortakinganaccountofthepopulation'.Occupationabstract,part1.Wallis'slisting ofeighteenth-century medics has counted at least four chemists and druggists and nine surgeons and apothecaries fortheperiodaround 1774. P.J.and R.V.Wallis, Eighteenthcenturymedics (subscriptions, licenses, apprenticeships), Newcastle, Project for Historical Biobibliography, 1985. 1 Trease, op. cit., note 2above, p. 182. 12p.S.Brown,'Theprovidersofmedicaltreatmentinmid-nineteenth-centuryBristol',Med.Hist., 1980, 24: 297-314. 13Sources as forTable I. 420 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press The medical activities ofmid-nineteenth-century chemists anddruggists These figures can be expressed in a more meaningful way by demonstrating the relationship between qualified medical men and chemists and druggists in terms of ratios (see the last two columns ofTable I). A nationwide survey, using information extracted from the 1841 census returns, concluded that there was one chemist and druggist in Great Britain to every two medical practitioners.'4 By the 1850s and '60s, the proportion ofchemists and druggists appears to have been even higher. In 1822, there was one chemist and druggist to every three medical practitioners in both Wakefield and Huddersfield. By 1866, the ratios were one to one (see Table I). The printed census returns indicate that by the mid-nineteenth century, some counties, particularly the more urbanized ones, recorded higher numbers of chemists and druggists than qualified medical practitioners. In the West Riding, for instance, 754 physicians and surgeons and 1,039 chemists and druggists were listed in the 1851 census returns; in Lancashire, there were 1,171 medical practitioners compared with 1,794 chemists and druggists in 1851; in the smaller and more rural county of Lincolnshire the figures were 304 and 424 respectively.'5 II Thefastergrowthinthenumberofchemistsanddruggistsascomparedwithmedical practitioners was perhaps partly offset by an increasing tendency on the part of medical men to turn over the function of dispensing to the druggist. Until the mid-nineteenth century it was common practice for individuals to combine the activities of a surgeon-apothecary and druggist, or even a physician and druggist. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, for example, M. Barber of Wakefield, "Surgeon, etc.", offered his services "IN EVERY DEPARTMENT OF HISPROFESSION" andalsoranachemist'sshop,hislatefather's, inthetowncentre, wherehedispensed hisownprescriptionsandthoseofothermedicalmen. In 1823, Dr Bell (formerly of Bath and Hull) ". . . entered to the Premises occupied by Messrs Mitchell and Birkett, surgeon-apothecaries and druggists,.. ." and "respectfully solicited" the continued patronage ofthe inhabitants ofWakefield and its vicinity.'6 Duringthefirsthalfofthenineteenthcentury,manymedicalmencontinuedtoreferto themselvesinadvertisementsas"surgeonsandapothecaries",indicatingthedualityof their functions. Indeed, it is often difficult to determine whether individuals were medical practitioners who engaged in pharmaceutical activities, or druggists who engaged in medical practice. Pharmacy did not pass entirely out of the hands of the medical profession. As Loudon has demonstrated, the suggestion that general practitioners should abandon pharmacyand severtheirtraditional linkswiththefunctions oftheapothecarieswas notwidelyimplemented during the first halfofthe nineteenthcentury, and formany general practitioners the dispensing of medicines continued to provide their main "4'Unqualified medical practitioners', Med. Times Gaz., 1853, 2: 143. 15Figurescited from Philip Swan's forthcomingthesis, 'Thedevelopmentofthemedical and auxiliary professionsintheWestRidingduringthenineteenthcentury',(HumbersideCollegeofHigherEducation), which examines the relationship, numerical and otherwise, between qualified medical practitioners and chemists and druggists, using data extracted from the 1851 and 1871 West Riding census enumerators' books, and 1841 to 1881 printed censusreturns for England. 16 WakefieldStar, 5 January 1810; WakefeldandHalifaxJournal, 27June 1823. 421 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press Hilary Marland sourceofincome.'7IndividualssuchasWilliamRowlandsonofWakefield,"Surgeon, Chemist,etc.,etc.",who,in 1842,announcedinthe WakefieldJournalthat". . . hehas openedanEstablishmentfortheDispensingofMedicine,whereheintendscarryingon the Business of Chemist and Druggist, in all its branches",'8 were probably not untypical. Rowlandson laterabandonedthepharmaceutical sideofhisenterprises, or atleastgaveuphisopenshop,toconcentrateonsurgeryandmidwifery. Attheendof the nineteenth century, there were still large numbers of"dispensing doctors", and many panel doctors kept their dispensaries going until after World War II and the establishmentoftheNationalHealthService. Butaroundthemid-nineteenthcentury, it appears thatmanyregularpractitioners abandoned theiropen shopsandceased to advertisetheirpharmaceuticalservices.Theabandonmentoftheseactivitiescoincided closely with the passing of the 1858 Medical Act, and efforts to tighten up the professional structure, to create a code ofethics, and to improve the status of the medical practitioner. It seems likely that some doctors, particularly the more status-conscious ones, did allow the chemist to take over the business ofdispensing prescriptions during the mid- to late-nineteenth century, therefore facilitating an expansion in the chemist's trade. However,itisinconceivable,especiallywhenwerememberthatincommunitiessuch asWakefieldandHuddersfield therewasonechemisttoeverymedicalpractitionerby the 1860s, thatthechemistcould have survived solely on an income fromthis source. Ofcourse, no chemist attempted to do this, and it seems likely that some undertook virtually no prescribing work whatsoever. Bell and Redwood even suggested that during this period mostchemists and druggists "rarelysawaphysician's prescription andthereforehadlittleoccasionforaknowledgeofdispensing".19(Indeed,itappears that most chemists and druggists felt that the educational standards of the PharmaceuticalSocietyweretoohighandlargelyirrelevanttotheirfunctions.)During the 1830s and '40s (when in theory there was considerably less competition for dispensing work between chemists themselves), a good-class family business in Highgate, London, in addition to dispensing, prescribed and sold drugs to their customers, and retailed awide range ofnon-pharmaceutical goods, domesticrecipes, andveterinarypreparations. Evenalargebusinessconcernlikethis,whichmadeupthe prescriptionsofanumberofeminentLondondoctors,includingfourPresidentsofthe Royal College ofSurgeons, was making up only an average of350 prescriptions per annum.20 III Onecanconcludethattradewiththegeneralpublicwasofgreaterimportancethan dealings with the medical profession for most nineteenth-century druggists. Many combined themanufacture, wholesale andretail ofpharmaceutical preparations, and wereinvolvedinnon-pharmaceutical activities.Thesaleofdrugswithoutprescription, 7Loudon, 'A doctor's cash book', op. cit., note 7 above, p. 267. 18 WakefieldJournal, 6October 1842. 19J. Bell and T. Redwood, Historical sketch oftheprogress ofpharmacy in Great Britain, London, Pharmaceutical SocietyofGreat Britain, 1880, p. 163. 20A. E. Bailey, 'Early nineteenth century pharmacy', Pharm. J., 1960, 185: 208-212. 422 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press The medical activities ofmid-nineteenth-century chemists anddruggists the ingredients of remedies, patent preparations, family medicine chests, and the chemists' own special cure-alls were staple parts ofthe chemists and druggists' trade duringthenineteenthcentury. Mostofferedadviceinadditiontomedicines. Alldealt directlywiththepublicinasimilarwaytochemiststoday,buttheirrangeofactivities, medical and otherwise, was far broader, and the increase in their numbers was probably facilitated, in part at least, by this ability to diversify. Atypicalchemist'sshopofthenineteenthcenturywould,inadditiontoawiderange ofpharmaceutical preparations, stockaselection oftoiletarticles, tobacco,snuff,tea, coffee, herbs, andotherfoodstuffs, oils,candles, anddyes. In somecases, thechemist combined with his pharmaceutical enterprises the activities ofa grocer, bookseller, insurance agent, tea or lead merchant. J. & W. Sanderson, druggists of Sheffield (c. 1794-1831), ran a large cutlers and paint and oil business as supplements to their pharmaceutical enterprises. During the second halfofthe nineteenth century, E. P. Hornby,asuccessfulretailchemistandaprominentmemberoftheSheffieldBranchof theUnited SocietyofChemistsandDruggists,launchedhimselfintothemanufacture ofacidsandchemicals, laterestablishingtheSheffieldChemicalWorks.21 Earlyinthe nineteenthcentury,G.B. ReinhardtofWakefieldcarriedonthebusinessof"Chymist, Druggist, Tea-Dealer and British Wine Merchant" from his towncentre shop. W. P. Lockwood,chemistanddruggist,madeextensiveuseoftheWakefieldpressduringthe mid-nineteenth century for advertising purposes, promoting awide variety ofgoods, includingdrugs,pharmaceuticals,andmiscellaneousarticlesconnectedwiththetrade, plus a range ofcosmetics, hairdyes, perfumes, candles, spices, pickles, sauces, herbs, "Italian goods", and so on. In addition, he acted as agent to a number ofinsurance companies. J. R. Dore of Huddersfield sold a similar range of domestic goods, including high-quality breakfast teas, mustards, starch, furniture cream, eau-de- Cologneandthe"Huddersfield Bouquet", a"refreshingperfume",priced ls.abottle. He was also a supplier ofPatent Paraffin Oil. Ofthe nineteen individuals listed as a chemists and druggists in the 1853 Wakefield town directory thirteen were also in business as tea dealers.22 Anumberofindividualscombinedachemist'sbusinesswithotherformsofmedical activity. In 1854, GeorgeHenryCrowthersethimselfupinbusinessinWakefieldasa chemistanddentist, before devotinghimselfexclusivelytothepractice ofdentistry.23 Other chemists and druggists branched out into medical galvanism, herbalism, phrenology, or midwifery, stocked extensive ranges of surgical appliances or spa waters, or specialized in the concocting and dispensing of homeopathic or botanic preparations, withorwithoutadvice. ThomasNorthSwiftofHuddersfieldcombined the activities ofa "druggist and botanist" during the 1860s and '70s, also acting as agenttoDrSkelton,awell-knownlocalbotanicpractitioner.ThefatherofJesseBoot, John, was a follower of Coffinism, calling his Nottingham shop the "British and American Botanic Establishment". Headvertised vegetable remedies, both retail and 21Austen, op. cit., note 10above, pp. 16, 60. 22 WakefieldStar,20July1804; WakefieldJournal, 13December 1850; WakefieldExpress,27May 1854; Huddersfield Examiner, 23 June 1860; W. White, Directory andgazetteer ofLeeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, WakefieldandthewholeoftheclothingdistrictsofYorkshire, 1853,reprintedNewtonAbbot, David&Charles, 1969. 23 WakefieldExpress, 3 June 1854. 423 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press Hilary Marland wholesale, and announced he could be consulted at his residence on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.24 Still others combined the druggist's trade with the compounding ofanimal remedies and veterinary practice. Improvedopportunitiesforchemistsanddruggiststosetupintradecanbeseenasa natural and expected result ofnineteenth-century population growth. On top ofthis, however,theredidseemtobeanincreaseddemandbythepublicfortheserviceswhich this group could offer. This growing demand is testified to by the fact that the expansion in the number ofchemists and druggists greatly exceeded the population growths experienced in Wakefield and Huddersfield during the first half of the nineteenthcentury(seeTableIIandFigureI).Thepoorandlabouringclassesmadeup thefastestgrowingsectionsofthepopulationsofthetwocommunities,anditwasthese groups who were most likely to make use ofthe services ofthe chemist, or ofother fringeelements,ratherthanthefrequentlyunaffordablequalifiedmedicalpractitioner. Table II and Figure I demonstrate how significantly the ratio of chemists and druggiststothetownshippopulationsofWakefieldandHuddersfieldincreasedduring theearly- andmid-nineteenthcentury. In 1821, therewasapproximatelyonedruggist toevery2,700inhabitantsinHuddersfield. By 1861,theratiowasonedruggisttoevery 1,900inhabitants. InWakefield, theratiorosefromonedruggisttoevery 1,800people toonetoevery840inhabitantsbetween 1821 and 1861.Wakefieldwasbetterservedby chemistsanddruggiststhroughoutthecentury. But,inbothtowns,theincreaseintheir numbers outstripped population growth, although there was a levelling off of the ratios in Wakefield after c. 1831. Many ofthe villages surrounding Wakefield and Huddersfield, especially the larger ones, also had theirownchemists' shops. In 1866, thevillageofMeltham,situatedfivemilesfromHuddersfield, hadonedruggist'sshop for its population of 4,046. Horbury, two miles from Wakefield, with only 3,246 inhabitants, supported three druggists' shops in 1866 (1:1082).25 Other urban communities also seem to.have experienced similar trends: D. Alexander's survey of eight provincial and manufacturing towns-Manchester, Leeds, York, Norwich, Leicester, Bolton, Merthyrand Carlisle-concluded only thatby 1850, therewas one chemist's shop to every 1,720 inhabitants.26 Atthesametimeastheratioofchemistsanddruggiststothepopulationwasrising, the ratio ofmedical practitioners to the populations ofWakefield and Huddersfield was declining. Sigsworth and Swan have suggested that there may be an inverse relationshipbetweenthenumbersofchemistsanddruggistsandmedicalpractitioners, with the chemists predominating in urban environments during this period.27 Their thesis, however, is not completely borne out by the Wakefield and Huddersfield survey. Wakefield, the least urbanized ofthe two communities, was better served by both medical practitioners and chemists and druggists throughout the century. Wakefield functioned as a market and service town for the region, and the town's 24Chapman,op.cit.,note5above,p.35.SeealsoJohnV.Pickstone,'Medicalbotany(self-helpmedicine in Victorian England)', Memoirs ofthe Manchester Literary andPhilosophical Society, 1976-1977, 119: 94-95. 25W.White,DirectoryofLeeds,Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax, Wakefield, Dewsbury,Sheffield, 1866. 26Alexander, op. cit., note 5 above, p. 101. 27E.M.SigsworthandP.Swan,'Para-medicalprovisionintheWestRiding',Bull.Soc.soc. Hist. Med., 1981, 29: 37. 424 https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730004727X Published online by Cambridge University Press