March 1C, 1872.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
755 
•of success: a motive as honourable to the author’s mo¬ 
desty as to the Society which inspired it. 
Two works have established solidly the reputation of 
M. Guihourt, the ‘ Pharmacopee Raisonnee’ and the ‘His- 
■toire Naturelle des Drogues Simples.’ The first of these 
was produced in 1828 with the assistance of M. Henry; 
hut two subsequent editions were published in 1834 and 
1841 hv M. Guibourt alone. Its publication was a veri¬ 
table service rendered to pharmaceutical science. The 
•skilful manner in which the various subjects are treated, 
the judicious selection of formulae, the precision of the 
ideas, and the adroit manner in which principles are con¬ 
nected with consequences, give to it all the characters of 
a truly scientific work and realize a real progress. In 
the practical portion the care with which the descrip¬ 
tions are given shows that the authors have themselves 
•studied and performed the operations to which they 
.refer. 
The ‘Histoire Naturelle des Drogues,’ the first edition 
of which appeared in 1820, has been as favourable to the 
development of materia medica as the ‘ Pharmacopee 
Raisonnee ’ of pharmacy. The valuable information that 
the author had collected upon the origin, nature and pro¬ 
perties of drugs contributed powerfully to the success of 
the work, which was received with great favour. Nothing- 
has been neglected to make it worthy of such a recep¬ 
tion. M. Guibourt made scrupulously all the correc¬ 
tions that time and the progress of science rendered ne¬ 
cessary, and, thanks to the improvements introduced into 
successive editions, the work is to-day the most exact 
and complete that exists in France upon the subject. It 
forms, as it were, a necessary complement to the ‘ Phar¬ 
macopee Raisonnee,’ and is worthy of similar praise to 
that bestowed on that work. Those whom inclination 
or the direction of their studies lead to the study of the 
natural sciences may read with profit this work, written 
by a master hand. They will find in it authentic de¬ 
tails concerning the origin of the crude substances, a 
rigorous and faithful description of their characters, and 
an entire good faith in the narration of the observations 
npon which opinions are founded. The fifth edition of 
this work was published in 1851. M. Guibourt had 
collected numerous materials for a new edition, but the 
preparation of it was interrupted by his death. M. 
Planchon, however, carried out the intentions of the 
•deceased in a highly creditable manner. 
The success which attended his numerous publications 
on materia medica necessarily drew attention to M. Gui¬ 
hourt’s qualifications as a teacher, and in 1_8 3 2 he was 
named Professor of Materia Medica at the Ecole Supe- 
rieure de Pharmacie in Paris. Although so well fitted 
do perform the duties, he was at first much embarrassed 
by the very wealth of materials in his possession and 
the necessity for arranging them in a methodical and 
clear manner suitable for presentation to the students. 
'This difficulty, however, with his characteristic energy, 
he soon overcame. His lectures were distinguished by 
ihe variety and solidity of the information they con¬ 
tained; the language in which it was conveyed was 
simple, without affectation of elegance. Solely occupied 
in advancing his scholars, he sought less to amuse than 
to instruct. Nothing that could distract was allowed to 
mix wdth the lesson, and nothing w^as ever brought 
forward but that which could and ought to be learned. 
Equally versed in natural history and in chemistry, he 
brought forward in all his lectures a number of facts re¬ 
lating to both sciences, and the interest of the descrip¬ 
tions was completed by chemical analyses of which each 
•substance had been the subject. 
In 1844 M. Guibourt was appointed Secretary to the 
■same institution. His new duties being added to those 
belonging to his professorship, he decided to give up the 
practice of pharmacy and reside at the school, where he 
continued until 1865. In spite of his numerous occupa¬ 
tions he still continued his observations and researches 
in the laboratory, and to him the museum of materia 
medica belonging to the establishment owes a great part 
of its organization. 
Labours so multiplied and so useful had acquired for 
M. Guibourt a great celebrity. Named Chevalier of the 
Legion of Honour in 1846, he was promoted to the grade 
of officer in 1863. Nearly all the learned societies of 
Europe and America elected him to their Fellowship. 
He was named a member successively of the Academie 
des Sciences, the Society of Literature and Art at Rouen, 
the Pharmaceutical Societies of Great Britain, Norway, 
Saint Petersburg and South Germany, the Austrkin 
General Association, the Physico-Medical Society of 
Erlangen, etc. Ho possessed in the highest degree 
sweetness of disposition and sagacity of mind. These 
two qualities, which were of great assistance to him in 
the practice of pharmacy, gained for him general confi¬ 
dence, and his talents were recognized equally by the 
pharmacologists of all countries. 
In 1863, he lost his wife by death, and, in 1865, feel¬ 
ing his powers diminish, he left the institution with 
which he had been connected more than thirty-three 
years, to seek the rest he had so well earned. In the 
modest establishment to which he retired, he had a col¬ 
lection of materia medica, comprised of very rare speci¬ 
mens. As a last service to science, he wished to arrange 
this collection in such a manner that each substance 
might be accompanied by such information as would 
render its nature and origin quite clear. It was while 
engaged in this work that an event occurred that di¬ 
verted his activity into another direction. 
For some years considerable agitation had existed 
among the pharmacists on the Continent. The various 
societies that had been formed for promoting the art of 
pharmacy, seeing with pain the abuses of all kinds 
existing in its practice, resolved to make a joint attempt 
for the accomplishment of some of the necessary reforms. 
The first congress was held at Brunswick in 1865, and 
M. Guibourt and M. Robinet were commissioned to re¬ 
present the Paris Society there. M. Guibourt also 
attended the second congress, which was held in Paris 
in 1867. The ardour with which he fulfilled the duties 
of his position in this new congress brought on a state 
of extreme fatigue, against which he with great difficulty 
struggled. He was nevertheless able, until the 21st of 
August, to acquit himself successfully of the difficult 
task he had undertaken. On that day he was seized 
with violent pains, and he died rather suddenly on the 
22nd August, from an old complaint which had become 
complicated with acute heart disease. 
M. Guibourt is worthy of being held up as an example 
to the followers of those sciences which he lovingly cul¬ 
tivated until his last hours. He had not received from 
Heaven those rare endo-wments that are the source of 
genius; but he was gifted with peculiar qualifications, 
which were developed and rendered fruitful by labour. 
In giving himself up to conscientious work, he did not 
seek to make a vain reputation ; he demanded no¬ 
thing ; but he obtained that which must have been 
gratifying,—regard, deference, esteem, friendship. 
The services which M. Guibourt rendered to che¬ 
mistry and materia medica are already consecrated in 
the history of the sciences, where he has marked his 
place by the number and exactitude of his researches. 
But it belonged to the Paris Societe de Pharmacie to 
render public homage to the indefatigable observer, the 
conscientious worker, the devoted professor who has de¬ 
served so well from the profession. Genius seldom 
wants for praise, but frequently a quiet, unostentatious 
life, devoted entirely to the search for truth, is forgotten. 
It is, therefore, the performance of a duty, and an act of 
justice, to indicate to the scientific world the services 
rendered by unassuming men like M. Guibourt. This 
is done the more willingly, since their eulogy, necessarily 
as simple as themselves, to be made worthily and to be 
heard with indulgence, requires but an upright mind 
and auditors sensible to the merits of duty accomplished. 
