Ivi PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



ticesliip he went to Paris, and entered tbe establishment of M. 

 Planche, a pharmacien, with whom he lived for some years. He 

 thus acquired a thorough knowledge of the French language as 

 well as French pharmacy, and made the acquaintance of men 

 whose friendship he cultivated in later years. He was still a 

 young man when he returned to London and established him- 

 self in business as a chemist and druggist in the house in which 

 he had been apprenticed in Farringdon Street, the late pro- 

 prietor, Mr. Morley, having retired from the retail department 

 which was previously associated with his practice. 



The chemist and druggist of those days was generally a che- 

 mist only by name ; but not so Mr. Morson. In a little room at 

 the back of his shop was produced the first sulphate of quinine 

 made in England ; and the same may be said of morphia. Nor 

 were these operations merely experimental. From entries in 

 his ledger it appears that he supplied sulphate of quinine to a 

 wholesale druggist at 8s. a drachm, and morphia at 18s. a drachm. 

 His chemical knowledge and manipulative skill were now bring- 

 ing him into notice, and he was frequently applied to for rare 

 chemicals. But the premises in Farringdon Street did not admit 

 of the cultivation of this branch of the business. He moved 

 from Farringdon Street to Southampton Eow, and soon after- 

 wards purchased premises in Hornsey E-oad, where he built a 

 laboratory for the manufacture of creasote, morphia, and other 

 chemical products. 



Mr. Morson' s fame has not been merely that of a manufacturer. 

 He was a man of enlarged mind and cultivated intellect. Thrown 

 upon the world in early life with absolutely no relations, he was 

 nevertheless surrounded by men of talent and high position, with 

 whom he associated on terms of mutual friendship. He was a 

 Member and regular attendant at the Meetings of the Eoyal In- 

 stitution, and a prominent Member of the Society of Arts. His 

 house was a place of resort for men of genius, where chemists, 

 naturalists, artists, patrons of science and art, with many others 

 of kindred tastes fou.nd hospitable reception and congenial asso- 

 ciations. "We find him in the foremost rank of those who origi- 

 nated the Pharmaceutical Society ; and there was no one more 

 frequently consulted or whose opinion carried greater weight 

 among his fellow workers in the cause of pharmaceutical rege- 

 neration. 



Mr. Morson at this period had a European reputation as a 



