"Every physician given a licence to practise must take an oath that he
shall faithfully fulfil all the requirements of the law, and in addition
that whenever it comes to his knowledge that any apothecary has for sale
drugs that are of less than normal strength, he shall report him to the
court, and besides that he shall give his advice to the poor without
asking for any compensation. A physician shall visit his patient at least
twice a day and at the wish of his patient once also at night, and shall
charge him, in case the visit does not require him to go out of the
village or beyond the walls of the city, not more than one-half tarrene in
gold for each day's service.[20] From a patient whom he visits outside of
the village or the wall of the town, he has a right to demand for a day's
service not more than three tarrenes, to which may be added, however, his
expenses, provided that he does not demand more than four tarrenes
altogether.
"He (the regularly licensed physician) must not enter into any business
relations with the apothecary nor must he take any of them under his
protection nor incur any money obligations in their regard. Nor must any
licensed physician keep an apothecary's shop himself. Apothecaries must
conduct their business with a certificate from a physician according to
the regulations and on their own credit and responsibility, and they shall
not be permitted to sell their products without having taken an oath that
all their drugs have been prepared in the prescribed form, without any
fraud. The apothecary may derive the following profits from his sales:
Such extracts and simples as he need not keep in stock for more than a
year, before they may be employed, may be charged for at the rate of three
tarrenes an ounce. Other medicines, however, which in consequence of the
special conditions required for their preparation or for any other reason,
the apothecary has to have in stock for more than a year, he may charge
for at the rate of six tarrenes an ounce. Stations for the preparation of
medicines may not be located anywhere but only in certain communities in
the kingdom as we prescribe below.
"We decree also that the growers of plants meant for medical purpose shall
be bound by a solemn oath that they shall prepare their medicines
conscientiously according to the rules of their art, and so far as it is
humanly possible that they shall prepare them in the presence of the
inspectors. Violations of this law shall be punished by the confiscation
of their movable goods. If the inspectors, however, to whose fidelity to
duty the keeping of the regulations is committed, should allow any fraud
in the matters that are entrusted to them, they shall be condemned to
punishment by death."
APPENDIX II
Bull of Pope John XXII., issued February 18, 1321, as a charter for the
Medical Department of the University of Perugia.[21]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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