Chemist and Druggist
Trade, Training, Investment
Chemist and Druggist
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The interior of a Chemist's elaboratoryLeft: an alembic made of copper, with the worm tub by its side.
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"Chemistry is the science which treats of those events or changes in natural bodies, by which new bodies are comosed, or compound one divides: its principal object is, to ascertain the principles or elements of which bodies are composed, and the laws by which the simple atoms of matter unite together, and form compounds. [...]
Formerly the preparations of drugs were divided into two classes, termed chemical and galenical; idle distinctions, which have nearly disappeared before the light which modern Chemistry has spread abroad. A more correct and just classification has obtained both in the science itself, and in the terms and names of the several substances, in consequence of the assiduity with which chemical investigation has been followed in many of the nations of Europe. The hidden qualities, or supposed qualities of matter, are now no longer taken for granted; all must be weighed in the balance of experiment, and submitted to the severe test of philosophical truth: it is utterly impossible to say where our experiments may end. [...]
... the Chemist is employed in the composition and decomposition of medicines designed for the cure or alleviation of disease: and in the manufacture of a variety of articles used in the arts.
The Chemist of trade, might be defined as the maker of medicines; the Druggist, the seller of them. In London, and many other places, a Chemist and Druggist are frequently combined in the same person, and in other instances, the trade of a Chemist is divided into a variety of branches. Some prepare compositions of mercury; others refine saltpetre; some distil essential oils; and others, as the Apothecaries' Company, prepare the greatest part of the compositions themselves: some prepare the sulphuric acid, the nitric acid, the muriatic acid, and a few neutral salts only, in a very large way; whilst others distil oil of Turpentine, make pitch, lamp-black, &c. _____________ted with an open chimney, in such a way ____ if any unexpected explosion should take place, the ignited materials might find a ____ escape. It is furnished also with suitable ____es, mortars, a sand heat, a variety of ____ vessels, consisting of retorts, matrasses, ____ &c. &c. and a copper alembic, or ____ for the purpose of procuring a variety of distilled waters, oils, &c. and a circular furnace for the purpose of boiling, melting, and ____ processes, requiring the immediate con-____ of fire. But, indeed, from the great variety of operations in Chemistry, we scarcely see two elaboratories alike, either in their ____ture, or in the different vessels which they contain. The light, however, in them ____ is most desirable, when thrown down from above; and, of course, an elaboratory ____ ought not to have any room, loft, or building [near] it.
The Chemist and Druggist usually makes good profit, and in stamps, produces a considerable revenue to government. To sell these, an annual license must be taken out from the Stamp-Office, and a stamp of a certain value, in proportion to the value of the article sold, must be affixed to every individual phial, box, pot, or other package or inclosure.
The Chemist and Druggist generally, also, dispenses Physicians' prescriptions, and by a late Act of Parliament, he is privileged so to do, without being obliged to undergo an examination at Apothecaries' Hall.
We wish that it was in our power to speak of this trade as one in which the composition of medicines was uniformly correct, and according to the directions of the London Pharmacopoeia; but we are sorry to say, that tales are told, which give us great reason to fear, that many unworthy persons have obtruded themselves into this repectable body; and that too much of system pervades the trade generally, for it to be quite free from that sophistication which, in medicine, is above all things, so much to be deprecated.
Except this drawback, the preparation and sale of medicines is a very respectable line of business, and one in which, with a tolerable share of judgment, great fortunes have been made. We believe, however, that the impressions of its profitableness have directed more competitors into it, than can now find room; the profits are, in consequence, a good deal lessened, and, perhaps, its respectability impaired.
The Drug-trade, as well as the Chemist's, in the large way, is a good deal sub-divided; there are Drug merchants: those who import Drugs from abroad, and sell them to wholesale Druggists, who sell them again to the retailer. Some of these merchants import, and sell, only particular articles.
A lad who is designed for this trade will, certainly, best succeed in it, if he is previously acquainted with the rudiments of Latin at least; and has some knowledge of Botany, and the Materia Medica. It is a trade, of all others, the most intimately connected with science; A premium of one hundred guineas is sometimes given with an apprentice. The stock in trade of a retail Chemist and Druggist, may amount to a few hundred pounds. The stock of a Chemist and Druggist, in the wholesale trade, sometimes to many thousands."
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The family of William Tilbury, wholesale Druggist of London