La farmacia rural en los primeros años de la colegiación Obligatoria

Abstract

The existence of a College of Pharmacists in all provincial capitals and the registration of pharmacists, in the one that corresponds to them, are two requirements that emanate from the Royal Decree of 12-04-1898 (Gaceta de Madrid, 15-IV-1898). Cecilio Núñez, a pharmacist established in Agreda (Soria), in his work «Datos Estadísticos» (La Farmacia Española, 1898) counts 4.795 open pharmacies throughout Spain. 2.593 people corresponded to each pharmacy. In this paper analyzes the development of pharmaceutical knowledge and the evolution of professional practice in rural Spain during the last years of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century. It is presented to professionals with a very high scientific qualification, but who live, in many cases, in a precarious economic situation. Professionals who, apart from the strictly pharmaceutical function of preparation and dispensing of medicines, are involved in hygienic-sanitary matters and who even, on many occasions, have to assume municipal management tasks.