January, 1883. 
THE CHEMIST AND DKUGGIST. 
73 
the power of accommodation quicker, and its effects lasted 
longer. I am inclined to think that the solution of the atropine 
from the wild plant was, likewise, less irritating than the 
other. This may have been due to the greater purity of the 
alkaloid prepared by yourself, whereby it contained a larger 
proportion of hyoscyamine. 
“ I may add, as a curious fact, that the solution of the 
atropine from the wild plant has kept better than the other. 
This difference has been observed in three different portions 
preserved in separate bottles. The commercial plant already 
contains a large quantity of fungus, while the other is still free. 
“As far as I know each specimen has been preserved with 
equal care.” — Pharmaceutical Journal. 
FREDERICK WOHLER. 
On the last Wednesday in September there passed away at 
Gottingen, in his eighty-third year, one of the most illustrious 
chemists that the present century has yet seen, and one who 
in the length of his life seemed almost to form a connecting 
link with a time when the science of chemistry was, com- 
paratively speaking, still in swaddling clothes. Frederick 
Wohler was born in the year 1800, in Frankfort-on-the-Maine. 
He first studied medicine and chemistry at Marburg and 
afterwards at Heidelberg, where upon the advice of Gmelin 
he gave up the idea of practising medicine and decided to 
devote himself to chemistry. In 1823 he went to Stockholm 
and became a pupil of Berzelius. Famous as was the master, 
Wohler was at that time his only scholar. As to the school, 
two common rooms with some simple accommodation, though 
without furnace, ventilation, or water supply, constituted a 
not very pretentious laboratory ; but Wohler had been pre- 
ceded there by such men as Mitscherlich and Henry and 
Gustavus Rose, and was followed by Magnus. One long pine 
bench for the master and another for the pupil ; some cases 
against the wall to hold reagents ; a mercury trough, a glass- 
blowing table, a sink, and a pail used in common by the 
household servant, constituted the furniture of one room, and 
the balances and other apparatus that of the other, whilst 
the sand-bath was found in the kitchen. Such were the 
surroundings where the Swedish chemist did most of his 
famous work, and where his German pupil learned to follow 
in his footsteps. Late in life Wohler loved to recall the 
memories of his earlier years, and some other interesting 
autobiographical details of his connection with Berzelius have 
already appeared in the Pharmaceutical Journal. 
In the first few years after Wohler’s return to Germany he 
obtained some minor posts ; but in the year 1836 he succeeded 
Stromeyer as Professor of Chemistry in the University of Got- 
tingen and Director of the Chemical Institute ; and he was 
also appointed Inspector-General of Pharmacies in the King- 
dom of Hanover. His university appointments he retained 
until his death ; the inspectorship he eventually resigned, 
Dr. Wiggers being chosen as his successor. But of greater 
importance even than his professorial work were the numerous 
memoirs, reporting the results of most important and diverse 
researches, with which he enriched chemical literature. No 
less than two hundred and sixty-eight communications of 
which he was the sole author are enumerated in the Royal 
Society’s Catalogue, besides thirty or forty written in conjunc- 
tion with such men as Justus von Liebig, Henri Ste.-Claire 
Deville and others. His first paper appeared in 1821, and was 
upon the occurrence of selenium in oil of vitriol prepared from 
a Bohemian mineral. Other papers followed pretty quickly, 
and in 1827 he announced that he had succeeded in isolating 
the metal aluminum by igniting the chloride in the presence 
of potassium. For thirty years this work appeared without 
adequate result, and it was Deville’s successful researches upon 
the preparation of sodium and aluminum that first brought 
this metal within the reach of the manufacturer. M. Dumas, 
at a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciences, speaking of 
the joint work of Wohler and Deville, said : — “ United by a 
rivalry that would have caused division between less elevated 
minds, these two great chemists pursued in common their 
researches in mineral chemistry, utilised their respective 
labours to elucidate points still obscure in the history of boron, 
silicium and the platinum metals, and remained closely bound 
in a friendship which increased every year.” Wohler’s early 
connection with Berzelius would appear to have influenced the 
direction of his work to a considerable extent, as is shown by 
his numerous papers on the isolation of elemental bodies — such 
as aluminum, glacinium, tungsten, boron, iridium, osmium, 
silicium, vanadium, &c. — and on various points of minera- 
logical chemistry. 
But, perhaps, Wohler’s most famous communication was 
that upon the artificial formation of urea, published in 1828, 
in which he took up the position of pioneer in the synthesis 
of organic compounds. Before that time the apparently dis- 
tinctive peculiarity of the compounds found in or eliminated 
from animal or vegetable organisms had given rise to the idea 
that their formation was due to some special agency, to 
which the term “vital force” was applied, and the chemistry 
of organic compounds was treated as a branch of chemical 
science distinct from the chemistry of inorganic compounds. 
But the discovery by Wohler, that the highly nitrogenous 
body, urea, could be produced by the molecular rearrange- 
ment of cyanate of ammonium made the first breach in this 
wall of partition, and when Fownes subsequently showed 
that cyanogen could be formed by the direct combination of 
its elements, the steps in the passage from the simple inor- 
ganic substance to the “ organic ” compound were complete. 
Since that time many other compounds occurring in 
animal and plant organisms have been formed synthetically, 
but in the words of a competent judge, M. Dumas, “ La forma- 
tion artificielle de l’uree reste encore l’exemple le plus net et 
plus Elegant de ce genre de creations.” 
Mention might be made of Wohler’s researches in conjunc- 
tion with Liebig on the benzoic compounds and on the deriva- 
tives of uric acid, as well as a number of papers on essential 
oils ; but it would be evidently impossible to attempt in these 
columns to analyse the subjects of all his memoirs, and 
enough has been said to give some indication of their import- 
ance. Before concluding, however, a few words must be 
devoted to another phase of his literary and scientific work. 
Many of his memoirs first saw the light in the famous 
Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie , and of that journal he 
was one of the principal editors from the year 1838 until the 
time of his death. He was also the author of several larger 
works, such as Elements of Organic Chemistry (1831), 
Examples in Mineral Analysis (1840), and Practical Exer- 
cises in Chemical Analysis (1853), and was co-editor of the 
Handrcorterhucli der Chemie. 
Notwithstanding his great age, Dr. Wohler appears to have 
taken outdoor exercise within a week of his death, his final 
illness only lasting four days. 
SOME NOTES ON FOREIGN PHARMACY AND 
PHARMACIES. 
(By James Brinsmead.) 
The pleasure I have experienced in reading Mr. Mum- 
mery’s “ Reminiscences” has led me to think that perhaps 
some of my own experiences (extending, as they did, over 
many years) of pharmacy in some continental countries might 
interest my brother pharmacists, and more especially those 
younger ones who, from curiosity or a laudable ambition to 
gain experience, may be tempted some day to travel. 
I intend to lightly sketch the foreign pharmacist and his 
pharmacy, his social position, duties, and privileges, &c.; also 
the foreign assistant, his education, remuneration, and accom- 
plishments ; at the same time to point out some incidents 
amusing and otherwise which happen to a young Englishman 
when first he leaves his island home for continental Europe. 
Most people learn French, sometimes from a “native,” 
whose grammar and accent are not always reliable ; at other 
times from some one who “ has been there.” I studied under 
a “ native,” with the result that when I reached Rouen and 
wanted a shoeblack to operate on my boots, I could only suc- 
ceed by pantomime, my professor having unfortunately 
forgotten to teach me a sentence to be used when boots are to 
be blacked. 
I began to think my professor (for such was his title) a 
fraud, and meditated when I should return to the ol d country 
giving him a call and telling him so in his own language. 
This I thought very unlikely, for the only words I qpuld 
understand from the conversations going on around me were 
“ oui” and “non,” which led me to despair of ever acquiring 
French. 
My destination being Paris, I spent very little time in the 
old Norman city of Rouen — just enough to get a glimpse of the 
inside of its interesting cathedral and the outside of a few 
chemists’ shops. Very quiet and solemn these pharmacies 
