OBITUARY , 
191 
the  arrangements  of  the  shop  and  counter  most  favorable  for  carrying 
out  the  processes  of  dispensing ;  including  pill  making,  plaster  spreading, 
suppository  moulding,  etc.  No  part  of  the  work  contains  the  impress  of 
the  author's  style  more  than  this,  and  its  precepts  will  be  found  highly  va- 
luable by  a  numerous  class  of  readers,  including  medical  and  pharmaceu- 
tical students,  and  illy  educated  proprietors  of  stores,  who  have  embarked 
in  the  important  and  responsible  business  of  dispensing,  with  less  know- 
ledge of  pharmacy  than  a  militia  man  knows  of  the  art  of  war. 
In  taking  a  retrospective  glance  at  the  pages  we  have  gone  over,  we 
are  conscious  of  the  presence  of  many  points  that  might  be  improved,  of 
some  formulae  that  might  have  been  omitted,  and  of  some  chapters  that 
need  extending.  Our  time  has  not  permitted  to  examine  the  typographi- 
cal correctness  of  the  great  part  of  the  work  to  see  if  it  has  escaped  errors 
of  the  press,  yet,  in  the  examination  we  have  given  it,  none  of  much 
importance  have  been  detected.  As  a  whole  we  believe  it  to  be  a  very 
useful  handbook  for  the  apothecary,  and  deserving  of  his  patronage ;  whilst 
there  is  so  much  within  its  covers  valuable  to  the  physician,  that  it  may 
well  occupy  a  place  on  his  shelf  for  books  of  daily  reference.  The  pub- 
lisher's part  has  been  well  executed. 
Obituary. — Died  on  the  3d  of  February,  18G4,  Dr.  Robert  ?.  Thomas, 
Professor  of  Materia  Medica,  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy, 
aged  43  years.  This  melancholy  event,  which  has  cast  a  gloomy  shadow 
over  the  interests  of  our  College,  occurred  very  suddenly,  the  sufferer  being 
stricken  down  by  spotted  fever  within  twelve  hours  from  the  conclusion  of 
his  last  lecture,  and  he  survived  the  blow  but  thirty-six  hours.  Dr.  Thomas 
was  suffering  slightly  from  a  cold,  and  was  undoubtedly  depressed  at  the 
time  of  his  seizure,  which  was  almost  immediately  followed  by  insensibility 
and  spasms,  from  which  he  did  not  recover  until  death  closed  the  scene. 
Dr.  Thomas  was  elected  to  the  Chair'  of  Materia  Medica  in  1850. 
His  abilities  as  a  teacher  of  that  branch  have  been  constantly  in  the 
ascendant,  and  at  the  period  of  his  decease  he  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
ablest  lecturers  on  Maieria  Medica  in  the  United  States.  An  association 
of  many  years  has  endeared  him  to  his  colleagues  and  the  members  of  the 
College  generally,  for  his  genial  and  social  qualities,  and  for  his  valuable 
services  to  their  institution,  both  as  a  teacher  and  a  member.  His  class 
have  deeply  felt  his  loss,  and  by  resolutions  at  page  180,  that  portion  of 
them  constituting  the  Zeta  Phi  Society  give  a  voice  to  their  feelings. 
As  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  College  (see  page  180),  direct  the 
appropriate  committee  to  prepare  an  obituary  notice  of  the  deceased,  we 
withhold  further  remark  on  his  past  life,  marked  as  it  was  with  much 
to  encourage  the  student  to  persevere  in  holding  fast  to  his  integrity. 
Prof.  Franklin  Scammon  died  at  Chicago,  Illinois,  on  the  10th  of  Feb- 
ruary,  1804,  after  a  painful  and  protracted  illness. 
