NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 357 



hibitliig the most unbounded generosity and kindly feeling. He 

 could not assist him in getting employment, but lie urged him to 

 make his home with him for a while, as " he was much in need of 

 some educated person to talk with." He spent two months Avith 

 Dr. Troost, and there is little doubt but that this incident tended 

 to confirm his already decided taste for natural histor}'. By the 

 influence of Dr. Troost, he became chief clerk in the establishment 

 of Mr. Ducatel of Baltimore, whose daughter he ultimately married. 

 Mrs. Durand died in 1822; and his daughter, the only child by this 

 marriage, in 1836. 



In 1823 Mr. Ducatel retired from business, leaving it to his son 

 Jules, afterwards professor of chemistr^^ in the Baltimore Medical 

 Sclrool, and State Geologist of Maryland, and he took Mr. Durand 

 into partnership with him. At the end of the year he withdrew 

 from the partnership with the view of opening a store in Philadel- 

 phia. He went to France, returned to New York in April, 182.5, 

 and immediately after opened his store on the southwest corner of 

 Sixth and Chestnut, in Philadelphia, which ultimately became 

 one of the most distinguished pharmaceutical establishments in 

 this countrj'. His interest in his business was not mei'ely that 

 of a trader; he carried into it the same love of science which 

 endears his memory to us to-day. The first contribution to the 

 Journal of Pharmacy was from his pen ; and the catalogue of the 

 Roj'al Society of London gives a long list of valuable papers con- 

 tril)uted by him to various magazines and institutions, on matters 

 connected with this branch of science. 



To us he will ever be remembered as a botanist. During all 

 the long jeavs referred to, his devotion to this department of 

 natural history never flagged. His store was the resort of the 

 most intelligent; and botanists sat at his right hand. His purse 

 assisted many a botanical traveller; and thus it was that the collec- 

 tions of Nuttall, and many other valuable herbariums fell into his 

 hands. They did not however always come to him in this direct way. 

 He loved to tell of his being told of a lot of plants which had been 

 stowed away in a loft for many years, and which he could buy 

 cheap ; and after pa3ung little more than the price of waste paper, 

 he found to his surprise that it was the herbarium of Rafinesque, 

 which for so long a time had been the home of innumerable rats. 

 His pains-taking accuracy and industr}- had early gained him a re- 

 putation; and a wealthy 3'oung gentleman of Ohio, determining to 

 study botan^', and anxious to purchase a herbarium to begin with, 

 was referred to Mr. Durand, who sold his to him at ten cents a 

 species, amounting to about $1000, which will give some idea of 

 the extent of his labors at that time. His own distant collections 

 were not numerous, but in 1837 he made an extended exploration 

 of the Dismal Sw^amp in Virginia, and in 18(52 another through 

 the mountains of Pennsylvania. Shorter excursions with Count 

 Survilliers, Joseph Buonaparte, and other eminent scientiiic men 

 were numerous. 



