[Strife between the dispensing physician and the pharmacist--a historical overview. II. 1840-1928]

The professional interaction between physicians and the pharmaceutical profession in South Africa in the years 1840-1928 is reviewed. The years 1840-1880 were characterised by relatively peaceful coexistence in metropolitan areas, but rather unorthodox developments in outlying rural areas. Here physicians found it difficult to make a living due to fierce competition from medicine-selling traders, self-medicating farming communities and apothecaries allowed to practise as clinicians (even appointed as district surgeons). The establishment of professional and statutory organisations and the promulgation of appropriate health legislation brought stability to the health scene but failed to remove friction between dispensing doctors and pharmacists. After the unification of South Africa in 1910, the two professions co-operated in fits and starts towards the ultimate formulation of the Medical Dental and Pharmacy Act of 1928. The rise of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry brought a new perspective to the retail pharmacist's professional role.