ABSTRACT
Robert Masters Kerrison described the quacks as tarnishing the reputation of apothecaries and that many were losing up to £200 a year as a consequence. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, apothecaries were prescribers for those who were unable to afford physicians. Kerrison joined the Association of Apothecaries and Surgeon Apothecaries in late 1812 after writing to them expressing his views of discontent at the treatment and disregard shown towards Apothecaries. Throughout the inquiry, Kerrison used the term ‘general practitioner’ to refer to the apothecaries. Kerrison placed emphasis on the contemporaneous high ranking of physicians within the society. The use of the term was driven by apothecaries throughout London during the early 1800s; however, this was again met with resistance from the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College Surgeons. Kerrison illustrated how the rising prosperity of Great Britain from the early seventeenth century enabled physicians to continue charging high fees.
