5^ 
Biographical  Sketches. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1     January,  1904. 
•    BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.1 
By  M.  I.  Whjbert. 
DR.  DAVID  B.  TRIMBLE. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  that  was 
held  on  March  25,  1834,  the  Board  of  Trustees  reported  that  they 
had  conferred  the  degree  of  Graduate  in  Pharmacy  on  nine  candi- 
dates who  had  duly  complied  with  all  the  requisitions  of  the  College. 
The  first  name  on  the  list,  as  reported  (A.J.P.,  1834,  page  255),  was 
that  of  David  B.  Trimble,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  was  the  oldest  living  graduate  of  the  college.  David 
Brown  Trimble  was  born  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  on  May  29,  181 3. 
As  a  young  man  he  came  to  Philadelphia  with  his  brother  Joseph, 
and  both  of  them  subsequently  entered  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Pharmacy  as  students,  graduating  together  in  the  same  year.  As  a 
student  in  the  Philadelphia  College,  David  B.  Trimble  had  the  very 
great  advantage  of  having  as  instructors  two  of  the  greatest  teachers 
of  Materia  Medica  and  Chemistry  that  this  country  has  ever  seen. 
These  proficient  teachers,  Dr.  George  B.  Wood  and  Dr.  Franklin 
Bache,  had  at  that  time  already  established  for  themselves  a  reputa- 
tion for  ability  and  thoroughness  in  their  chosen  departments  that, 
soon  after,  brought  to  them  ample  honors  and  liberal  compensation 
in  more  elaborate  fields  of  labor. 
When  we  consider  the  mental  caliber  of  these  early  teachers  in  a 
school  of  pharmacy,  it  need  not  surprise  us  to  find  that  the  students 
who  came  in  contact  with  them,  developed  in  after  life  traits  that 
readily  distinguished  them  from  the  average  of  their  fellow  workers 
in  the  same  field. 
As  noted  before,  it  was  from  this  school  that  David  B.  Trimble 
graduated  in  1834,  the  subject  of  his  thesis  being  "  Colchicum 
Autumnale."  After  graduating  at  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy David  B.  Trimble  entered  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  as  a  stu- 
dent. Here  he  graduated  in  the  spring  of  1 837,  having  successfully 
passed  the  required  examination  and  presented  a  thesis  on 
"  Scrofula." 
1  This  is  the  third  paper  of  a  series  of  biographical  sketches  being  prepared 
by  Mr.  Wilbert.  Sketches  of  Alfred  B.  Taylor  and  Maurice  W.  Alexander 
appeared  in  the  March,  1903,  number  of  this  Journal,  and  a  sketch  of  Professor 
Maisch  in  the  August  number. 
