Entre l'arbre et l'écorce : l'évolution de la profession de pharmacien au Québec aux XIXe-XXe siècles.

In Quebec's historiography, the history of pharmacies and pharmacists straddles the history of medicine, doctors and health, on the one side, and the history of small business and consumerism, on the other. Too much of a hybrid to fit neatly in either of those fields of study, it has largely flown under the historians' radar. This duality is nonetheless fascinating. Not only is it at the very heart of pharmacies' trajectory and evolution in Quebec, but it explicitly highlights the fact that health, medication, and consumerism have historically close ties. Having given the background to an important investigation held in 1899, the paper illustrates the tension between commerce and profession from the mid-19th century to the economic and identity crisis facing pharmacists in the Sixties and Seventies.