School of Pharmacy

In 1810, the first Vaud health law stipulated that only apothecaries or doctors or surgeons with permission to run pharmacies would be allowed to sell medicines on the open market, or to make loans against receipts. The Conseil de santé then supervised the apothecaries, visiting them at least once a year. Apothecaries had to complete an apprenticeship, which enabled them to become either a clerk (employee) or a manager (director). The law of 1850 required pharmacists to have completed general studies in literature and science and to prove that they had studied the branches of pharmacy. While the Académie was able to meet the requirements for general studies, specialised studies had to be taken at the well-established schools in Paris, Montpellier and Strasbourg. Young Swiss students mainly attended the nearest school, Strasbourg, at least until the 1870 war. Alsace then became part of Germany, and lessons were now taught in German. Some people from the French-speaking part of Switzerland were embarrassed by this situation, and the promise of the creation of a hypothetical school in Nancy meant that the solution to their problem would be put off indefinitely.

Some people from the French-speaking part of Switzerland were embarrassed by this situation, and the promise of the creation of a hypothetical school in Nancy meant that the solution to their problem would be put off indefinitely.

From 1868 onwards the Académie commissioned Jules Chastellain, a pharmacist trained at Ulm, to give free courses in pharmacology and toxicology. But there was a growing demand for genuine professional training. The international situation created favourable conditions for the creation of a school of pharmacy in Lausanne. It was the law of 23 May 1873 that established its existence and made it the fifth faculty of the Académie. Opened on 15 October in the Place du Tunnel, in the Thévenaz-Mello-Losio buildings, it taught physics, chemistry, the theory and practice of chemical analysis, botany, pharmacology, pharmacy, toxicology and practical manipulations. All these subjects are taught by two professorships. Studies last 4 years. The school was run by Henri Bischoff, one of the founders of the Ecole spéciale de Lausanne, the future engineering school, now the EPFL. He played an important role in the issue of fraud prevention, which was particularly sensitive in the nineteenth century. The School's management guaranteed him an annual salary of 500 francs (around 6,500 francs today). Louis Bruttin, a pharmacist from Yverdon, received 1500 francs for his three-hour weekly course in pharmacology. Pharmacology was taught by Jules Chastellain, who received a weekly allowance of 5 hours for a salary of 2,500 francs. In 1874, the school had 15 students, 10 from Vaud, one from Switzerland and 4 from abroad. The school was an immediate success, and in 1879 41 students flocked to the classes. In 1876, although the law did not officially authorise it, the first student from Lausanne, Bertha Schatzmann, enrolled in the Faculty of Pharmacy as an extern. Exceptionally, she will have had to obtain authorisation from the Council of State, on the unanimously favourable recommendation of the Faculty Council. A century later, the number of women enrolled in pharmacy far exceeded that of men.

In 1881 the legislator attached pharmacy to the Faculty of Science, which was divided into three sections: medical propethics, pharmaceutical propethics and scientific propethics. The annual salaries of ordinary professors now range from CHF 3,200 to CHF 4,000 (CHF 34,000-43,000). Having become a school, pharmacy lost some of its autonomy but did not merge completely with the Faculty of Science. Enrolment fell to 5 students in 1887, partly due to the abolition of the section for future clerks and partly due to the almost complete disappearance of the externat.

In 1890, when the Académie was transformed into a University, the Faculté des sciences comprised three sections, two of which, technical sciences and pharmacy, had the rank of a school. Enrolment in the latter grew steadily from 12 students in 1890 to 294 in 1996. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the premises on the Place du Tunnel were too small and classes were held on the Place du Chateau, at the Palais de Rumine and at the Policlinique.

The school's history is still very much alive.

Among the personalities who taught at the School of Pharmacy, Louis Bourget remains well known to the people of Lausanne thanks to the park that bears his name. He perfected a diet based on alkaline powders and flour, which were very fashionable in the period, invented an instrument for auscultating the heart, developed a method for measuring the blood pressure, and developed a method for measuring the blood pressure;He developed the famous Bourget liniment for rheumatism and Bourget water for digestive problems. Ernest Wilczek has more contrasting memories. This German freemason was heavily involved in federal pharmacy commissions, the National Park commission and school kitchens, helping to raise the profile of the institution. He also created the Pont-de-Nant and Zermatt alpine gardens and the Bretaye ibex park. But after the First World War, he would draw public attention to himself by making anti-Semitic remarks that added nothing to his fame.

In 1936, under the guidance of its director Rodolphe Mellet, the pharmacy was reorganised into seven laboratories, which would develop, become institutes or disappear. In 1991, the School of Pharmacy moved to the Dorigny site in its own building, the BEP (School of Pharmacy Building). It then comprised four institutes: the Institut d’analyse pharmaceutique (IAP), the Institut de pharmacognosie et de phytochimie (IPP), the Institut de pharmacie gaénique et biopharmacie and the Institut de chimie thérapeutique (ICT). The first of these was founded in 1968 and the others in 1983. In 1994, the Ecole romande de pharmacie was set up, with teaching divided between Lausanne and Geneva. At the time, it was the professors rather than the students who made the decision. In 1994, the Section de pharmacie replaced the Ecole de pharmacie in Lausanne. It is still attached to the Faculty of Science and has two objectives: to train future pharmacists and to develop a research activity in the field of pharmaceutical sciences.

In 2003, the Faculty of Sciences disappeared. Lausanne's pharmacy was transferred to Geneva in 2003 as part of the Azur Triangle projects, aimed at strengthening academic teaching in single locations rather than dissipating strengths across several sites. EPFL is taking over the basic sciences (maths, chemistry and physics), UNIL is focusing on the life sciences, and Geneva is taking over pharmacy on 1 January 2004, although Lausanne is retaining some of its own teaching. The history of pharmacy in Lausanne thus comes to an end after more than 130 years, and the BEP, now the Génopode, houses premises from the Faculty of Biology and Medicine.

The BEP, now the Génopode, houses premises from the Faculty of Biology and Medicine.

Olivier Robert - UNIRIS 2014