The 19th Century American Potioneer

I’ve started exploring the history of potions, by that I mean using the search terms pharmacy, druggist, apothecary coupled with history to find articles of interest. As an introductory article, I very much enjoyed Gregory Higby’s Chemistry and the American 19th Century Pharmacist (citation: Bull. Hist. Chem. 2003, 28, 9-17).

Higby focuses on the American drugstore. He lists its four roots: “the traditional apothecary’s shop; doctor’s shops – where physicians prescribed and dispensed; the general store; and the wholesale druggist.” Prior to the 19^th century, physicians dispensed medication formulated by themselves or their own apprentices. The doctor and pharmacist was often one and the same; and in the early 19^th century apothecary, potioneers often had a “room in the back” to make their elixirs and potions.

As the industry grew, the selling of pharmaceutical ‘preparations’ became separated from the actual activity of (chemical) preparation. You could buy your elixirs from the general store, where the storekeeper had no expertise (unlike the apothecary). Lack of regulation meant that you might be sold useless snake oil, or worse, something inadvertently poisonous. Adulteration of drugs with other substances was a huge problem – either through insufficient purification of the efficacious compound, or worse, the active adding of other cheap substances to increase bulk. This unfortunately still happens today. Where there’s money to be made, the con-artists will gather.

According to Higby, “the American Journal of Pharmacy was filled with articles long and short on detecting drug adulterations and sophistications. Pharmacists proudly portrayed themselves as the most reliable monitors on drug quality. The problem came to a head during the Mexican War, when newspapers reported a high number of deaths among soldiers from disease rather than combat. Army physicians blamed poor quality drugs. Congress quickly passed the Drug Importation Act of 1848 after lobbying by the young American Medical Association.”

The problem is that the drug inspectors needed to know what the standards should be. Hence, pharmacy colleges across the country banded together to establish such standards; a byproduct of those meetings was forming the American Pharmaceutical Association, composed primarily of apothecaries and druggists in those early days. Over the years, colleges of pharmacy evolved to prioritize actual chemistry labwork over prior apprenticeship in a drugstore, thanks to the dogged efforts of Albert B. Prescott, an analytical chemist, physician and professor.

One thread I found interesting in Higby’s article was the evolution of the drugstore itself. By the late 19^th century, “more profitable goods such as tobacco and candy” took center-stage, and the “shift of pharmacy practice to the back of the shop gave the soda fountain front and center position. Ironically, it was the pharmacist’s practical chemistry expertise that allowed him to make up flavorings and to handle temperamental carbonated water generators.” Food chemists, here we come! It was pharmacists that invented Dr. Pepper, Coca Cola, and root beer! There was a downside, though. “Unfortunately, the public soon came to see pharmacists more as sellers of chocolate sodas than health care professionals.”

Many 21^st century students in my General Chemistry courses come to college thinking they want to go to medical school. Rarely, do I meet a first-year student considering pharmacy school, at least here in the U.S.; in other countries, you apply to undergraduate pharmacy programs directly. (Personal story: I was accepted into the pharmacy program at several U.K. schools through the UCCA process, but ended up going to a liberal arts college in the U.S. instead. At the point of entering college, I did not know that chemistry would become my main interest.) A number of my students have gone to pharmacy school after completing their undergraduate degree; for many of them, the work-life-time balance of being a pharmacist seemed more attractive than being a physician.

Today’s pharmacist is not involved in the making of drugs and potions. At least for regulated drugs, the synthetic work is done by chemists (in research and development) or by robots for larger-scale production. The closest modern-day equivalent of the 19^th century druggist would be the small-scale manufacture of illegal drugs, sometimes for personal use, and sometimes to make money on the side – think Walter White of Breaking Bad in his early days before he breaks badder. He could have chosen Prescott as his moniker to honor the pharmacist, but being bad-ass, he chose Heisenberg!

Where might today’s students experience the art of the 19^th century pharmacist? In the organic chemistry and analytical chemistry lab courses! I haven’t taught either of those, since I’m a theorist and my colleagues would prefer me not too much meddle with chemicals. (I do teach the first-year general chemistry labs.) Instead, I get to show students how to derive the Heisenberg relations in quantum mechanics and dose their minds with the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in physical chemistry. You can see the unseen, predict the future, and tame the chaos. It’s a superior mind trip than taking drugs.

P.S. For ways I am like or not like Walter White, click here.