Physicians, Apothecaries or Surgeons

Who would be called to your home if you were sick and living during the Regency era?

Most likely it would be a physician (doctor). But there have been references to apothecaries and surgeons. What distinguishes one from the other? I wondered that, too.

It seems to become a physician a gentleman had to be well-educated, studied Latin and had to pass a physician’s examination. Since the physician was a gentleman he did not use his hands. He was called to see only the wealthy people of England. To use one’s hands meant you were a laborer. Thereby, vicars, lawyers, military officers and physicians were gentlemen.  

An apothecary administered the physician’s instructions. He made the medicine and prepared the dosage. He put the leeches on the patient. The poor would visit an apothecary or have an apothecary come to their home. If servants in a wealthy home became ill, an apothecary might be called to examine the patient.

A surgeon had no education. He set bones, stitched up wounds, and removed appendages that were infected. He was a hand-on guy that did what needed to be done the best way he knew how. That’s why a surgeon by 1837 (After the Regency Period) got the nickname ‘Sawbones’.