Generic Drugs 222 Years Ago W. D. Williams Harding University, Searcy, AR 72143 Recent legislation concerning generic drugs has prompted debate over the cost, purity, and effectiveness of brand name medications as comnared to those marketed under a simple --chemical descriptio6.,~hispaper reviews a book writtenin 1758which also exmessed concern about "an examination into the 3 . m t l t t . i oisub~tunn,.;i l l the matt ria tntdica which K C ~utdcri l i f i t w ~ names ~t a~tlitnltan\. es>t.nti:~ldi\er>ityM311. "The Elahoratory Laid Open or The Secrets of Modern Chemistrv and Pharmacy Revealed" was puhlished anonyn~cr..clyin 1.unilo11in 1;:s and 1-tio. The wrlumt in the hmds d t his reviewer i. the bewnd t d ~ l i mClctuvt~ , 4-6 p.~ges,sheep backed, printed in London in 1768 by J. Nourse, Bookseller to his Majesty (Fig. 1). The language is interestingly stilted and flowery, and the type used the old J for s. Partington ( 2 ) and Neu ( 3 )ascribe authorship to Robert Dossie (1717-17771, a London manufacturing and consulting chemist. Gihhs (4) has published an exhaustive study of the life of Robert Dossie.' Dossie was undoubtedly an experienced chemist. The introduction of "The Elahoratory" gives 68 pages of minute details of furnace construction, chemical apparatus, and chemical operations in use at that time. Many of the terms used in this section are the same as our modern: sand-bath, sublimation, distillation, separating funnel, precipitate, mortar, solution, saturate, filter, stopcock, crystallize (spelled chrystallize). Some terms, however, must he recognized by context or additional study of historical chemistry: levigation refers to grinding into a fine powder; magistery means pre~
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cipitate; a refrigeratory was a condensation coil (worm) of pipe running through a tub of water; the alembic, cucurhit, retort, and matrass were specialized distillation vessels; lutes were pastes used to cement glass cracks and joints between separate glass vessels. Lutes were formulated of everything from eggs, cheese, milk, quicklime, or clay to hair, blood, ashes, or horse dung. A study of the hook gives an insight into Dossie's character. He felt a unique qualification and duty to write the volume. As a chemist he was able to see scientific relationships hehind recipes that were often rote operations to those who used them. He self-assuredly states "nor is there any individual among those most versed in the practice of chemistry and pharmacy, who can hoast of being acquainted withmore than a part of what I have here collected" (6). He wrote anonymously because many of the secrets he disclosed were no doubt lucrative monopolies to some of his clients and competitors. As a true scientist, Dossie felt a responsibility to disclose his knowledge of improper prescriptions and adulterated chemicals. He seems much more interested in advancing arespect for scientific principles than in publishing a book. Returning to the theme of generic drugs, the following THE
Elaboratory laid open; OR, T H E
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Following an apprenticeship to an apothecarist, Dossie became a practicing pharmacist, chemical manufacturer,and consulting chemist in the industrial area of northern England. Then, at the age of 40, he came to London and began a second career as author and energetic leader in the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures,and Commerce (Society of Arts). "The Eiaboratory." published in 1758, was followed by a two-volume work on industrial techniques, "Handmaid to the Arts," in 1758: a two-volume textbook of chemistry, "institutes of Experimental Chemistry," in 1759: and "Theory and Practice of Chirurgical Pharmacy-Comprehending a Complete Dispensatory for the Use of Surgeons," in 1761.These volumes were widely praised and underwent translations into French and German and oave Dossie a " European rep.lallon as a pracuca cnemnst He spent n s rema n ng years cull vatmq ano pub IC rtng appi eo sclence tnro-gh worK n the Soc en, of Ans ne serve0 on many Soclety cornmottees an0 enco,raged bounties for new industrial processes. He authored about 20 articles in the journals of that period. He worked vigorously to encourage a publication for the Society of Arts and became the editor of the first three volumes of "Memoirs of Agriculture and Other Economical Arts" (the third volume published posthumously) (Q. Dossie also had contact with colonial America. Beniamin Franklin represented the coionles n meet nqs of !he Soc ety of Arls oclnccn 1760 an0 1762 Franwn an0 Dossfcsharea tnc char at lnese meet ngs ano unoouotcd.) excnangeo much sctenltfc nformat on Tne Soc ety offered bounties for outstanding scientific and industrial contributions in America. Dossie published several papers concerning the manufactureand quality of potash in America (4). The Emporium of Arts and Sciences, one of the earliest scientific journals published in America, published a paper in 1813on "TheEdulcoration of Fish Oil" by Robert Dossie, Esquire. Although Dossie died in 1777, the paper was reprinted from Tilloch's Magazine which in turn had taken it from the Transactions of the Society for Encouragement ofArfs, etc. A footnote added, "So far back as the year 1761, the Society voted him a bounty of 100 pounds for this communication, though they did not publish it till 1802" (5). 28
Journal of Chemical Education
S E C R E T S M O D E R N CHEMISTRY AND
P H A R M A C Y REVEALED:
THE SECOND EDITION:
Figure 1. Title page of Doss~e's"The
Elaboraiory"
quotations from "The Elahoratory" will illustrate that Dossie was very close to the current definition (7): Examination of the sameness of several substances, which make a part of the materia mediea under different denominations, without any essential diversity: being necessary for the determinating, how far many substitutions are allowable (p. 69). 7s pillair lh id ./ -i,*p
I have also added, an examination into the sameness of the real nature of several substances in the materia medica. which eo
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I put it in their power either to insist, in many eases, on amore oerfect commoditv: or to save sixtv or eightv percent by pre-
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