Am.  Jour.  Pharru. 
June,  1894. 
Memoir  of  William  B.  Webb. 
301 
The 'tests  in  general  became  darker  on  account  of  the  coloring 
matter  associated  with  the  tannin. 
The  following  results  were  obtained  by  submitting  the  tannin  of 
Quercus  semicarpifolia  to  combustion  : 
The  similarity  in  behavior  toward  reagents  indicated  the  tannin 
from  these  four  barks  to  be  identical  with  one  another,  and  with 
that  from  several  species  of  oaks  indigenous  to  this  country,  recently 
investigated  by  the  author.  The  ultimate  analysis  of  the  tannin 
from  one  of  the  above  samples  confirms  the  opinion  that  in  them 
we  have  a  tannin  identical  with  that  from  our  own  species. 
Two  of  the  samples  exceed  in  tanning  capacity  the  bark  from 
any  of  the  American  oaks,  while  the  other  two  are  equal  to  the 
average  of  our  own. 
William  Barber  Webb,  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  deceased  sud- 
denly at  his  home  in  this  city,  on  the  tenth  day  of  February,  1894, 
in  the  70th  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  born  in  York,  Pa.,  September  6,  1824.  The  first  fifteen 
years  of  his  life  were  passed  in  his  native  city,  amid  the  comforts 
and  happy  associations  of  the  domestic  circle. 
His  father,  James  Barber  Webb,  was  a  man  of  intelligence,  inter- 
ested  in  literature  and  science ;  he  made  a  companion  of  his  son, 
and  directed  him  in  his  selection  of  reading,  and  William  thus,  at 
an  early  age,  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  writings  of  many  stand- 
ard authors.  This  early  training  was  of  great  service  to  the  im- 
provement of  his  mind,  as  he  had  subsequently  but  few  advantages 
in  schooling. 
When  William  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  his  father  died,  and  the 
widowed  mother  and  three  children  found  themselves  deprived,  by 
the  dishonorable  acts  of  others,  of  the  property  which  they  should 
have  inherited. 
Laying  aside  his  former  comforts  and  habits,  the  boy  commenced 
a  life  of  self-denial.    He  gave  up  school,  and  sought  for  some  occu- 
Carbon,  . 
Hydrogen, 
Oxygen,  . 
Per  cent. 
60-15 
5"I9 
34-66 
MEMOIR  OF  WILLIAM  B.  WEBB. 
