_by George B. Griffenhagen_
_At the start of the Revolution, the Colonies were cut off from the
source of their usual drug supply, England. A few drugs trickled
through from the West Indies, but by 1776 there was an acute
shortage._
_Lack of coordination and transportation resulted in a scarcity of
drugs for the army hospitals even while druggists in other areas
resorted to advertising in order to sell their stocks. Some relief
came from British prize ships captured by the American navy and
privateers, but the chaotic condition of drug supply was not eased
until the alliance with France early in 1778._
The Author: _George Griffenhagen--formerly curator of medical
sciences, United States National Museum, Smithsonian
Institution--is director of communications, American Pharmaceutical
Association, and managing editor, Journal of the American
Pharmaceutical Association._
As one historian has reminded us, "few fields of history have been
more intensively cultivated by successive generations of historians;
few offer less reward in the shape of fresh facts or theories" than
does the American Revolutionary War.[1] This is true to some extent
even in the medical history of the Revolution. The details of the feud
within the medical department of the army have been told and
retold.[2] Even accounts of the drugs employed and pharmaceutical
services have been presented, primarily in the form of biographies and
as reviews of the _Lititz Pharmacopoeia_ of 1778.[3] However,
practically nothing has been published on the actual availability of
medical supplies. Furthermore, the discovery of several significant
but unrecorded account books of private druggists who furnished
sizable quantities of drugs to the Continental Army and a careful
re-evaluation of the unusually significant papers[4] of Dr. Jonathan
Potts, Revolutionary War surgeon, justify a review of the drug
supplies during the early years of the war.