MEMOIRS  OF  PHILADELPHIA  COLLEGE  OF  PHARMACY.  107 
the  streets.  Henry  Troth  urged  the  improvement  strongly,  but 
it  was  only  successful  when,  contrary  to  his  judgment,  a  company 
was  chartered  for  the  purpose,  who,  after  erecting  the  works  and 
laying  the  pipes,  sold  out  to  the  city  at  an  advance  of  25  per 
cent. 
Henry  Troth  was  one  of  the  first  in  Philadelphia  to  burn  anthra- 
cite coal,  in  a  grate  which  was  in  his  parlor  over  the  store.  About 
the  year  1819  his  grate  was  erected,  but  it  was  taken  down  and 
rebuilt  several  times  before  the  intractable  "  stone  coal  "  would 
burn  satisfactorily.  Many  incredulous  ones  who  called  to  see 
the  experiment  went  away  discouraged,  because  they  said  they 
could  not  supply  fresh  air  as  he  had  done  by  a  hole  through  the 
hearth.  How  strongly  this  appears  in  contrast  with  the  now 
fast  returning  fashion  of  open  grate  coal  fires  in  rooms  used  as 
common  sitting  or  living  rooms,  in  city  and  country. 
Samuel  F.  Troth,  the  younger  brother  and  partner  of  Henry, 
who  I  shall  have  occasion  to  mention  again  in  the  course  of  my 
narrative,  though  not  an  original  member  of  the  College,  being 
a  year  too  young  in  1821  to  be  enrolled,  as  such,  has  given  his 
attention  to  its  affairs  for  46  years  with  a  constancy  and  regu- 
larity unequalled  by  any  of  his  colleagues,  and  it  is  due  to  his 
own  retiring  character  that  he  is  not  now,  as  formerly,  a  recipi- 
ent of  its  honors,  as  he  is  of  its  thanks  and  grateful  acknowl- 
edgements for  services  rendered. 
The  first  years  of  the  College  were  marked  by  great  activity, 
in  which  many  of  the  members  participated.  Committees  of 
inspection  were  appointed  to  examine  drugs  introduced  into  the 
market,  and  to  expose  adulterations  and  sophistications.  Latin 
labels  were  printed,  carefully  adapted  to  the  officinal  standard  of 
nomenclature.  Formulas  were  published  for  the  old  English 
remedies  called  patent  medicines,"  then  very  extensively  sold, 
with  a  view  to  greater  uniformity  in  their  composition  and  pro- 
perties ;  and  the  absurdly  worded  wrappers  in  which  these  were 
enveloped,  giving  false  or  exaggerated  accounts  of  their  virtues, 
were  measurably  superceded  by  more  sensible  and  truthful 
"  directions,"  published  by  authority  of  the  College  for  the  sup- 
ply of  the  trade.    Meanwhile  a  library  was  being  formed,  a 
