216  MUNIFICENCE  OF  M.  ORFILA. 
MUNIFICENCE  OF  M.  ORFILA. 
[Through  the  Journal  de  Pharmacie  for  February,  1853,  we  learn  that  M. 
Orfila,  the  distinguished  chemist  and  toxicologist  of  Paris,  having,  for  some 
time,  intended  to  bequeath  certain  sums  of  money  for  scientific  purposes, 
to  several  of  the  institutions  of  France,  determined  to  make  them  donations 
instead  of  bequests;  and,  on  the  1st  of  January,  addressed  letters  to  the 
several  representatives  of  the  institutions  to  be  benefited,  announcing  the 
fact.  The  whole  sum  presented  is  121,000  francs.  The  Orfila  Museum,  the 
Academy  of  Medicine,  the  Preparatory  Medical  Schools  of  Bordeaux  and 
Angers,  and  the  School  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris,  are  the  recipients  of  the 
bounty.  The  following  letter  to  the  Director  of  the  latter  institution  we 
translate  entire. — Editor  Amer.  Pharm.  Jour.~\ 
LETTER  OF  ORFILA  TO  THE  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  SCHOOL  OF  PHARMACY 
OF  PARIS. 
Paris,  January  1st,  1853. 
Mr.  Director  and  Dear  Colleague  : — Thirty-two  years  as  an 
Examiner  in  the  Special  School  of  Pharmacy  of  Paris,  has  enabled 
me  to  appreciate  the  distinguished  merit  and  the  honorable  zeal  of 
its  professors,  as  well  as  the  remarkable  aptitude  of  most  of  the 
candidates  who  have  assiduously  followed  their  instruction.  I  will 
preserve,  while  I  live,  a  grateful  remembrance  of  the  happy  rela- 
tions which  have  unceasingly  existed  between  you,  your  colleagues, 
and  myself,  and  I  am  happy  in  feeling  able  at  this  time  to  furnish 
you  a  proof  of  the  desire  which  animates  me,  by  contributing  some 
little  to  enhance  the  renown  of  an  institution  which  is  honorable 
to  France,  and  of  which  you  are  the  worthy  director. 
I  place  at  your  disposal  an  inscription  of  500  francs  per  annum 
in  the  three  per  cents,  designed  to  found  a  prize  of  1000  francs, 
which  shall  be  awarded  every  two  years,  dating  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  session  for  the  year  1856.  This  inscription 
represents  a  sum  of  14,000  francs,  (at  84  the  cost  price.) 
This  prize  is  not  to  be  divided.  If  it  is  not  awarded,  the  same 
question  is  to  be  again  put  up  for  competition,  and  the  prize  will 
be  then  2000  francs.  If  the  prize  is  not  gained  the  second  time, 
the  same  question  will  be  proposed  for  the  third  time,  the  prize 
being  3000  francs  ;  if,  notwithstanding  the  delays,  the  question 
has  not  been  properly  answered,  and  the  prize  not  adjudged,  the 
sum  of  3000  francs  is  to  be  paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  Associa- 
tion of  Physicians  of  the  department  of  the  Seine,  which  I  founded 
in  1833. 
Allow  me,  Mr.  Director,  to  state  briefly  a  certain  number  of 
questions,  which,  in  my  opinion,  should  be  first  proposed. 
