Page:Early History of Medicine in Philadelphia - George W Norris.djvu/66

 by the Trustees, who appointed him on the third of May following to the office for which he had applied, a post which he retained until his decease.

Up to the period of Dr. Morgan's settling in our city, it had been usual here, as elsewhere in America, for physicians to practice in all branches of medicine, as well as to prepare and furnish their remedies. This plan he was desirous to change, and recommended a separation of pharmacy and surgery from the practice, expressing his belief that by so doing, the character of the profession would be improved, and each department would be more successfully cultivated. To carry out these views, he determined to confine himself strictly to the practice of physic, refusing all surgical cases, and the furnishing of medicines, and sent his prescriptions to be made up by a gentleman educated both in Pharmacy and Surgery, whom he had brought out from England with him, or if so desired by his patients, they were allowed to choose any other apothecary or surgeon for the operative part.

In urging the utility of separating the duties of the physician and apothecary he remarks: "The paying of a physician for attendance and the apothecary for his remedies apart, is certainly the most eligible mode of practice, both to the