William Procter Jr.

William Procter Jr.
Born	(1817-05-03)May 3, 1817 Baltimore, Maryland
Died	February 10, 1874(1874-02-10) (aged 56) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation	Pharmacist
Known for	Contribution in American Pharmacy
Notable work	Practical Pharmacy
Title	Father of American Pharmacy
Signature

American Pharmaceutical Association Historical Marker at N. 7th and Market Sts. Philadelphia PA

William Procter Jr. (May 3, 1817 – February 10, 1874) was an American pharmacist. He is known for his role in establishing the American Pharmacists Association, his work on the United States Pharmacopeia (USP), and was the author and editor of the first pharmacy textbook published in America. Generally, he is held as the Father of American Pharmacy.

Early Life

Procter was born in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., to Isaac and Rebecca Procter. Isaac died in 1831 and William, at 14 years old, moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., to start an apprenticeship.

Career

Apprenticeship and education

Starting from 1831, Procter entered his apprenticeship in the field with Henry M. Zollickoffer in Philadelphia. Elias Durand, a nearby pharmacist trained in France, encouraged Procter to pursue investigations. He attended the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, graduating in March 1837.

Shop and contributions to journals

In 1844, he opened his own shop. Rather than a soda fountain, his shop included a laboratory and a writing area where he wrote scientific papers, practical articles, and editorials. He investigated a series of volatile oils, where he experimented with new methods and apparatus, and his results were published in the American Journal of Pharmacy.

The assay of drugs became a specialty. Wholesalers paid for analysis before accepting a shipment, and the imported drug materials could vary widely in quality. Drugs rejected from this in Europe were sometimes shipped to America. Unethical vendors extended their wares by adding inert materials such as sawdust. In response, the United States Pharmacopeia was created to establish standards for drug quality, the first edition being published in 1820. Procter contributed to the 1840 revision of the work, where the committee later hired him as a consultant. The faculty of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy assisted. The USP, along with the National Formulary, were adopted as official standards in the Food and Drug Act of 1906.

In the 1850s companies began to manufacture drug preparations that previously were prepared by druggists. Concerns arose that commercial preparations could deviate from those in the SP causing variations in quality effects. Alcohol was commonly used in preparations, and from these concerns the government imposed excise taxes on alcohol during the Civil War. Higher costs favored manufactured drugs. Licenses required for medicinal alcohol caused pharmacies to add liquor sales. Customers for liquor also bought tobacco products.

In 1848, Procter was named editor of The American Journal of Pharmacy named in 1835 (previously named the Journal of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1825). Similar journals originated in Philadelphia, including the American Journal of Medical Science from 1818 and the Journal of the Franklin Institute from 1824. Procter served as editor until 1870. He added abstracts of articles published in Britain and France. The Civil War stressed the journal's finances as Southerners stopped subscribing. Trimming costs by reducing the number of pages and required financial assistance from the college played a role in maintaining the journal.

Founding of the American Pharmaceutical Association

Procter played a key role in the founding of the American Pharmaceutical Association in 1851 while he attended the Convention of Pharmaceutics and Druggists in New York. He lobbied for it through editorials in the American Journal of Pharmacy.

As a professor

Prior to 1847, there were no pharmaceutical textbooks. That changed in 1847 with the textbook from Germany titled Lehrbuch der pharmaceutischen Technik by Karl Friedrich Mohr. In England, Theophilus Redwood translated the book and adapted it to English practice, resulting in Practical Pharmacy, which arrived in the U.S. in 1848. Procter edited an American edition for publisher Lea and Blanchard of Philadelphia. The result was a major re-write adding about one third to the book. Procter's Practical Pharmacy was published in 1849. An Introduction to Practical Pharmacy by Edward Parrish, from the same publishers in 1855, became the standard.

Procter became professor of practical and theoretical pharmacy at the college in 1846. He believed apprenticeships were the best way to train pharmacists. Lectures were held for apprentices in the evening from October through February. His lectures covered pharmacy techniques such as maceration, percolation, and distillation followed by a discussion of drugs and preparations. He continued at the college for almost 20 years, resigning in 1866. He returned to the position in 1872 after American pharmacist Edward Parrish, who was the first president of Swarthmore College, had died. Procter died in 1874 shortly after completing a lecture at the college.

In May 3, 1941, a statue depicting Procter was constructed by American sculptor William Marks Simpson at the headquarters of the American Pharmaceutical Association.

See also

• List of pharmacists