The Operations of a Danish Provincial Pharmacy at the End of the 1600s

In Denmark pharmacy practice, as previously mentioned, developed professionally from the middle of the 1500s. As publicly regulated and controlled businesses it was the pharmacies' task to sell medicines for the treatment of diseases in the population. Viewed in the light of these facts it appears that pharmaceutical service at the end of the 1600s according to the pharmacy legislation included selling a broader assortment of goods called pharmacy goods, which besides medicines also included groceries and confectionery for consumption, and technical remedies for domestic and craftsmanlike use. This assortment included 2,920 goods that the pharmacies were obliged to stock. The present investigation shows that proprietor-pharmacist J.F. Friedenreich of Aalborg Swan Pharmacy by and large was able to stock in his pharmacy the huge number of goods included in the legal stock of goods. Moreover the investigation shows that the number of pharmacy goods available in small and medium-sized quantities, among these almost the whole assortment of medicines of the pharmacy, amounted to 94% of the assortment of goods, but only represented 45% of the value of the stock. Furthermore, it can be seen that 43% of the pharmacy goods were available in such small quantities that they were almost a "dead" stock of goods without any turnover. The goods in question were most likely available because the pharmacy was obliged to keep these goods in stock. Furthermore the investigation shows that the pharmacy goods stocked in large quantities made up 6% of the assortment of goods, but represented 55% of the value of the stock, and that this assortment was dominated by groceries, confectionery, and technical remedies available in quantities corresponding to wholesale. As a provincial pharmacy the pharmacy was also allowed to sell wines which were also available wholesale. Thus, the investigation shows that the primary task of the pharmacy as a distributor of medicines for the treatment of diseases in the population financially accounted for a smaller part of the pharmaceutical service than the sale of other pharmacy goods such as groceries, confectionery, and technical remedies. Furthermore the investigation shows that the pharmacy sale of medicines was not profitable, but was subsidized by the pharmacy sale of goods mentioned for consumption and for domestic and craftsmanlike use as well as by the sale of wines.