Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 686

ROBERT PITT (1653-1713) The craft and frauds of physick expos'd. Printed for Tim. Childe 1702 [20] 192 pp. 17.4 cm.

During the seventeenth century, the Society of Apothecaries gained great wealth and esteem throughout England, and in many instances its members were also practicing medicine nearly full-time. This state of affairs ultimately led to open conflict with the physicians, and the situation was not resolved for more than a century. At the time this book was written, the quarrel centered on the opening of dispensaries by members of the College of Physicians and on the prosecution of apothecaries practicing medicine. Many pamphlets and books were written by both sides and this work by Pitt, an anatomist at Oxford and physician to St. Bartholomew's, London, is a direct attack on the apothecaries in which he defends the dispensaries and criticizes the practices of the apothecaries.

Cited references: Cushing P295