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ON THE INFLUENCE OF

charges, the apothecary, in ninety-nine cases out ofa hundred, cannot he fairly remunerated unless thepatient either takes, or pays for, more physic than isreally necessary. The apparent extravagance of thecharge of eighteen-pence for a two-ounce phial* ofmedicine, is obvious to many who do not reflect onthe circumstance that the charge is, in reality, for thepayment of professional skill. As the same chargeis made by the apothecary, whether he attends thepatient or merely prepares the prescription of a phy-sician, the chemist and druggist soon offered to furnishthe same commodity at a greatly diminished price.But the eighteen-pence charged by the apothecarymight have been fairly divided into two parts, three-pence for medicine and bottle, and fifteen-pence forattendance. Now the chemist, although he has re-duced the price of the apothecary’s draught, fromthirty-three to forty-four per cent., yet realises aprofit of between two and three hundred per cent,on the ten-pence or shilling which he charges for thesame compound. This enormous profit has calledinto existence k multitude of competitors; and inthis instance the impossibility of verifying has, in agreat measure, counteracted the beneficial effects ofcompetition. The general adulteration of drugs, evenat the extremely high price at which they are retailedas medicine, enables those who are imagined to sellthem in an unadulterated state to make large pro-fits, whilst the same evil frequently disappoints the.

* Apothecaries frequently purchase these phials at the oldbottle-warehouses at ten shillings per gross, so that when theirservant has washed them the cost of the phial is nearly onepenny.