[On the history of pharmacy in Indochina (1861-1954)]

The French episode in Indochina starts in the beginning of the 1860's with Saigon's capture (1861) and the start of the protectorat for Cambodia. As in the other countries that became part of the french colonial empire, military and civilian pharmacists will be very early on part of the organization of sanitary activities and the valorisation of local resources. Although local pharmacies were maintained through out the entire colonial period, occidental pharmacies were installed very soon, Lourdeau's pharmacy being implemented as early as 1865 in Saigon where he was the mayor. Military pharmacists will also be present, their activities being often far from pharmacist activities, as for example Victor-Alphonse Massie in Laos, or Joseph Forestier who became indegen affairs administrator in Saigon from 1874 (at the age of 24) up to 1896. Military pharmacists were also a major resource as teachers of pharmacy in Indochine. The abundance of valuable medicinal herbs in the region was an opportunity for pharmacists to enrich pharmacopea. Roux, a military pharmacist, was also the one that sucessfully introduced hevea in Indochine, allowing the development of what remains a valuable industry in Vietnam.