304  Contributions  to  Pharmacy.  {Am'junlmtm' 
and  accuracy,  while  his  conscientious  views  of  the  responsibilities 
of  his  calling  gained  for  him  the  confidence  of  the  medical  profession 
as  well  as  that  of  his  brother  pharmacists. 
Amiable  in  his  intercourse,  honorable  in  all  his  business  transac- 
tions, ever  ready  to  acknowledge  an  error  in  his  judgment,  his  word 
was  accepted  by  all  who  knew  him  as  free  from  all  dissimulation. 
The  boy  was  father  to  the  man,  and  in  the  record  of  his  70  years 
we  have  an  example  of  a  successful,  useful  and  honorable  life,  result- 
ing from  habits  of  industry,  self-denial  and  patient  perseverance. 
His  mental  activity  was  unimpaired,  and  his  desire  for  active  ser- 
vice which  would  benefit  his  fellow-men  continued  as  a  character- 
istic trait  until  the  hour  when  he  was  suddenly  summoned  "  to 
cease  from  his  labors." 
To  some,  of  his  friends  he  was  wont,  in  his  latter  years,  to  review 
the  events  of  his  life,  and  would  contrast  the  habits  of  the  present 
rising  generation  with  those  of  his  early  days.  He  deprecated  the 
growing  ambition  of  the  present  rising  generation  to  attain  an  early 
fortune,  as  displacing  the  motives  which  render  life  useful  and 
ennobling. 
"  'Tis  meet  that  we  should  pause  awhile 
Ere  we  put  off  this  mortal  coil, 
And  in  the  stillness  of  old  age 
Muse  on  our  earthly  pilgrimage." 
C.  B. 
RECENT  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  PHARMACY. 
HYDRASTIS  CANADENSIS. 
Of  the  alkaloids  of  this  rhizome,  hydrastine  and  berberine  have 
been,  quite  thoroughly  studied,  but  other  alkaloidal  constituents, 
while  claimed  as  long  ago  as  1873,  have  provoked  numerous  contra- 
dictory statements.  A.  K.  Hale  first  announced  the  existence  of  a 
third  alkaloid  in  hydrastis,  which  was  isolated  from  the  mother- 
liquors  of  the  alkaloid  hydrastine ;  Prescott — and  later,  Burt — con- 
firmed the  presence  of  this  new  alkaloid  and  increased  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  same ;  H.  Lerchen  isolated  an  alkaloid  which  he  called 
xanthopuccine ,  and  which  is  probably  the  same  as  that  discovered  by 
Hale  ;  Lloyd  and.Power,  however,  doubted  the  existence  of  this  third 
alkaloid.  In  1888  E.  Wilhelm  isolated  a  small  quantity  of  an  alka- 
loid, for  which  the  name  canadine  was  proposed,  and  in  1 89 1  E. 
