Apothecary, the name formerly given in England and Ireland to members of an inferior branch of the medical profession. The apothecary was in England a licentiate of the Apothecaries' Society of London; in Ireland, a licentiate of the Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland. Up to a comparatively recent period, however, no inconsiderable proportion of those who practised as apothecaries, at any rate in England, were persons practising without any license. The licensed apothecary frequently kept a shop in which he sold drugs and made up medical prescriptions, in this respect competing with the chemist and druggist. But he was entitled to attend sick persons, and prescribe for them; and though it was the almost universal practice of apothecaries to charge their patients only for medicines supplied, they had the alternative of charging for their attendances, but could not charge for both. The term apothecary has been long in disuse, though, no doubt, it is still a legal description for licentiates of the Apothecaries' Society of London, or of the Apothecaries' Hall of Ireland; and such licentiates are now, as licentiates in medicine before the law, on a par with the graduates of universities.
Anciently, the apothecaries were not distinguishable from the grocers (the surgeons being, in like manner, undistinguishable from the barbers); and it was not till 1617, in the 13th year of James I., that these bodies were formed into two distinct corporations. A statute of 1815 enacted that no person should practise as an apothecary, or act as an assistant to an apothecary, in any part of England or Wales, unless he had been examined by a court of examiners, and had received therefrom a certificate; and any person practising without such certificate was disabled from recovering his charges, and for every such offence was, moreover, rendered liable to a penalty of £20. An act of 1874 amended the act of 1815, and gave the Apothecaries' Society power to co-operate with other medical licensing bodies in granting licenses.
In Scotland, there never was a class of practitioners corresponding to the English apothecaries. See CHEMISTS AND DRUGGISTS.