FIFTY YEARS OF PHARMACEUTICAL HISTORY*
Students of the history of chemistry encounter the names of many who were either specifically trained in pharmacy or were associated continuously with pharmacy throughout their whole careers. The facts regarding their pharmaceutical training and experience are usually overlooked or ignored by historians of chemistry and the part that pharmacy has played in the development of the science is usually under-estimated. Among those who have attained prominence in the field of chemistry were a few who practiced pharmacy throughout their lives, their interest in chemistry being of secondary importance. Among those were Lemery, the two Geoffrey's, Baume, and Scheele of the 18th century and Serturner, Pelletier, Caventou, Vauquelin, Thhard, Courtois, and Balard in the 19th century. Among those who were trained pharmaceutically but who later spent most of their time in the field of pure chemistry were Macquer, Margrafl, Gmelin, Klaproth, Rose, Trommsdorf, and Buchner of the 18th century, and Proust, Davy, Dumas, Liehig, Poggendorf, Mohr, Pelouze, Wittstein, Fehling, Pettenkoffer, Fresenius, Vitali, DragendorlT, and Attfield in the 19th century. This list should he sufficient to convince the most skeptical person of the marked influence which pharmacy has had upon the development of chemistry. In 1858 Liebig paid tribute to pharmacy in these words: "Only about 70 years ago was chemistry l i e a grain of seed from the ripe fruit separated from the pharmacists' science; with Black, Cavendish, and Priestley's days a new era began. Medicine and the useful arts had prepared the soil upon which this seed was to germinate and flourish." Pharmacy has developed along very different lines from those which have characterized chemistry as is easily observed in contrasting the modem drug store with that of several generations ago, and yet the underlying basis of pharmacy (which is its service to the public in matters concerning the preparation of medicines and compounding of prescriptions) is not only essentially the same but has been improved by the educational progress which has occurred during this same period. One of the most outstanding factors in the development of pharmacy during the period which has elapsed since the centennial exhibition of 1876 is the "organization which has been so thoroughly effected in all branches of the pharmaceutic art." The American Pharmaceutical Association, now in its 75th year, is representative of the professional needs of pharmacy. The National *Abstract of a paper read hefore the joint session of the Section of History of Chemistry and the Division of Chemical Education at the 72nd meeting of the American Chemical Society. Philadelphia, September 9, 1926.
VOL.4. NO. 5
F I ~ Yems Y or PHARMACEUTICAL HISTORY
611
Association of Retail Druggists, now more than one-quarter of a century old, takes care of commercial and legislative needs of the pharmacists, while the National Wholesale Druggists' Association, the American Drug Manufacturer's Association and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers take care of their respective fields. There have also been strong associations developed within the states and powerful local associations in some cities. The value of organizations of this kind is shown when the need arises to oppose legislation inimical to the profession. The American Chemical Society has upon a t least one occasion benefited through the assistance rendered by pharmaceutical organizations in contesting legislation which would deprive chemists of some of their rights. Another line of development and progress has been in the improvement of standards which are compiled and revised principally by pharmacists and under the supervision of pharmacists, i. e., the United States Pharmacopoeia and the National Formulary. The present status of both of these books is very satisfactory, I believe, and a tribute was recently paid to the United States Pharmacopoeia by a writer in one of the journals of the American Chemical Society, who particularly praised that section of the book dealing with reagents and tests and stated specifically that excellent reagents for general analytical purposes could now be obtained by simply specifying "U. S. P." quality. One of the factors which compelled greater attention to the revision of these two important books was the passage of the Food and Drugs Act in 1906 which made these two works the legal standards throughout the laud for drugs and medicines entering into interstate commerce. They have also been adopted as legal standards in most of the individual states of the union. The fifty-year period just past has seen the phenomenal development of coal-tar synthetics, of which there is still no end in sight, the rise and fall of elixirs, the popularity of pills and tablets in place of the nauseous liquid remedies of by-gone days. The newest development in drugs seems to be in favor of biologicals and serums, vaccines and gland products, and these are rapidly displacing many of the older remedial agents. In the field of education there has been a continuous improvement, largely stimulated by an organization of the pharmacy colleges themselves, originally called the American Conference of Pharmaceutical Faculties and now functioning under the name of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. The entrance requirement for pharmacy is now four years of high school, the same as for ordinary courses leading to the bachelor's degree in science, and the minimum course for a degree permitting the holder to apply for registration as a practicing pharmacist is now three years. There are many colleges, however, which are giving four-year courses
in pharmacy leading to the baccalaureate degree, which are comparable with the baccalaureate courses in other sciences and the fact that these longer courses are well patronized is evidence of the progress being made. During this fifty-year period there have come and gone many noted characters in the field of pharmacy. Some of these have left their impress upon the field of chemistry as well and they are representative of various parts of the country and various fields of pharmaceutical work. Among these may be mentioned the names of Caspari, Chandler, Diehl, Hallberg, Hynson, Lyons, Maisch, Oldberg, Prescott, Remington, Rice, Sadtler, Searby, S q ~ i b bStevens, , and Whelpley.
