Am Ap°riir'  i^i7rm'  ^    Obituary — Prof.  C.  Lewis  DiehL 
193 
C.  Lewis  Diehl  was  born  at  Neustadt,  Rhenish  Bavaria,  Aug.  3, 
1840;  his  father  was  chief  executive  in  one  of  the  revolutionary  dis- 
tricts, and  owing  to  political  conditions,  was  forced  to  take  refuge 
in  France  in  1848,  from  where  he  emigrated  to  America  in  1849; 
his  wife  and  three  children  following  him  in  1851.  The  family 
took  up  their  lives  in  the  New  World  upon  a  farm  near  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  where  the  wife  and  mother  died  in  1852  and  the  farm  was 
abandoned.  Young  C.  Lewis  was  sent  to  Oakfield  Academy  at  St. 
Louis,  where  he  remained  for  two  years,  leaving  to  join  his  father 
in  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  secured  his  first  position  with  Messrs. 
R.  &  G.  A.  Wright,  Perfumers,  remaining  with  them  for  three 
years,  then  going  to  Chicago.  The  financial  panic  of  that  year 
(1857)  compelled  young  Diehl  to  resort  to  various  means  of  liveli- 
hood, but  he  remained  in  Chicago  until  the  following  year,  when  he 
again  returned  to  Philadelphia  and  became  apprenticed  to  John  R. 
Agney,  Spruce  and  Fifth  Sts.,  Philadelphia ;  here  he  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  that  life's  work,  to  which  he  gave  so  much  enthusiasm 
and  energy  in  all  his  remaining  years. 
Graduating  from  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  in 
March,  1862,  he  entered  the  employ  of  Messrs.  John  Wyeth  &  Bro., 
assuming  charge  of  their  new  and  extensive  manufacturing  labora- 
tory. His  unflagging  energy  and  unusual  attainments  were  largely 
instrumental  in  making  the  venture  successful  from  the  start. 
The  call  of  his  adopted  country  was  answered  by  his  enlistment 
in  the  famous  Anderson  Cavalry  and  he  remained  in  the  service  until 
the  battle  of  Stone  River,  where  he  was  severely  wounded  and  was 
given  his  discharge. 
Joining  his  father,  in  Chicago,  he  remained  with  him  for  several 
months,  recuperating  from  his  wounds,  only  again  to  enter  the  Gov- 
ernment service,  as  Assistant  Chemist  in  the  United  States  Army 
Laboratory  at  Philadelphia,  which  position  he  secured  through  the 
recommendations  of  Messrs.  Wyeth  &  Bro.  and  the  late  Prof.  John 
M.  Maisch. 
The  termination  of  the  war  being  evident,  on  January  1st,  1865, 
Mr.  Diehl  resigned  his  position  and  desiring  to  locate  permanently, 
he  went  to  Chicago  with  the  intention  of  purchasing  a  store,  but  on 
receiving  an  offer  from  the  firm  of  Bender,  Mahle  &  Co.  (after- 
ward Mahle  &  Chappel),  he  entered  their  employ  only  to  remain 
until  the  following  July ;  leaving  to  accept  the  management  and  re- 
