Benjamin Franklin was born on this day in 1706 — a founding father who needs no introduction as arguably the most colorful polymath of his era (the other being Thomas Jefferson). Franklin was the benefactor of Philadelphia Hospital, which housed the first hospital pharmacy in the U.S., which opened in 1751 — an idea raised by his good friend, the physician Thomas Bond, known by some as the “father of clinical medicine.” (Bond studied in England and France, and observed patients at the Hotel-Dieu in Paris, the Catholic diocese’s charitable hospital for the indigent, and an important model for Philadelphia’s own facility.) Franklin consulted with Bond on the range of services the Philadelphia Hospital should offer and the apothecary’s offerings. The 18th century was a period of transformation for British apothecaries, in particular, whose profession was formally recognized by a 1704 British House of Lords edict, but whose license to practice would take another century to implement. Philadelphia, being one of the Crown’s cities in one of its most important colonies, made the 1751 opening of its apothecary a proving ground at the time on the road to licensure, and a vital chapter in the history of pharmacy — all thanks to Franklin’s financial backing.
NCPA
