112 
Obituary. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t      Feb.,  1885. 
induced  him  to  write  that  paper,  referred  to  elsewhere  (see  pages  67  and  73), 
on  "  The  Preliminary  Education  of  Apprentices,"  and  while  writing  it  he 
had  also  the  counsel  of  Professor  Procter,  who  agreed  with  the  views  ex- 
pressed therein. 
The  laws  regulating  the  practice  of  medicine,  which  have  heen  enacted 
in  a  number  of  States,  take  precisely  the  position  which  was  recommended 
to  the  pharmacists  in  1869,  and  the  Medical  Colleges  are  now  responsible 
not  only  for  the  knowledge  in  medicine  and  surgery,  but  also  for  the  gene- 
ral culture  of  their  graduates.  If  the  Medical  Colleges  in  the  United  States 
would  cease  to  exist,  no  one  could  become  a  physician  in  the  States  referred 
to,  except  by  studying  and  graduating  in  a  foreign  country.  But  if  all  the 
Colleges  of  Pharmacy  in  the  United  States  were  wiped  out  of  existence, 
the  number  of  pharmaceutical  aspirants  would  not  be  less — perhaps  greater 
— than  at  present,  because  no  pharmacy  law  makes  attendance  and  gradu- 
ation at  a  College  a  prerequisite  for  carrying  on  the  drug  business.  The 
difference  between  practitioners  of  pharmacy  and  of  medicine  will  still  be 
greater  if  the  efforts  now  being  made  in  several  States  should  be  successful 
requiring  of  the  latter  to  be  graduates  in  medicine  and  to  pass  a  professional  ex- 
amination before  a  board  of  physicians  not  connected  with  a  medical  school. 
It  is  our  conviction  that  there  is  a  decided  improvement  in  the  personnel 
of  the  pharmacists  throughout  the  country  ;  but  it  is  not  denied  that  there 
is  room  for  more  imi:)rovement ;  this,  however,  should  come  in  at  the 
beginning  of  the  pharmaceutical  career,  if  the  claims  of  pliarmacy  as  a 
profession  are  to  be  made  good  and  maintained.  In  whatever  manner  the 
desirable  liberal  preliminar3'  education  may  be  secured,  it  certainly  cannot 
be  done  by  excluding  those  in  quest  of  further  instruction  from  the  present 
or  other  educational  institutions,  since  they  cannot,  on  these  grounds,  be 
prevented  from  carrying  on  the  apothecaries'  business. 
OBITUARY. 
Dr.  Hermann  Kolbe,  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the  University  of 
Leipzig,  died  suddenly,  November  25th,  in  the  67th  year  of  his  life.  He 
studied  chemistry  under  Woehlerand  Bunsen,  and  was  for  a  time  assistant 
to  Playfair,  in  London,  and  occupied  for  14  years  the  chair  of  chemistry  at 
the  University  of  Marburg.  His  investigations  are  very  numerous ;  the 
synthetical  preparation  of  salicylic  acid  from  phenol  has  made  his  name 
widely  known,  also  among  those  not  directly  interested  in  chemistry.  He 
was  the  author  of  several  works  on  chemistry,  and  of  numerous  essays 
which  were  mostly  published  in  the  "Journal  fiir  praktische  Chemie," 
edited  by  him.  He  was  a  sharp  critic  and  fearless  in  expressing  his  con- 
victions of  what  he  conceived  to  be  wrong. 
Dr.  Benjamin  Silliman,  Professor  of  Chemistry  at  Yale  College,  died 
January"  14th,  aged  69  years.  For  seven  years  he  occupied  the  chair  of 
chemistry  and  toxicology  at  the  University  of  Louisville,  and  afterwards 
succeeded  his  father  at  Yale,  where  he  taught  his  favorite  science  for  thirty 
years  until  his  death.  His  numerous  contributions  to  science  were  mostly 
published  in  the  "American  Journal  of  Science  and  Arts." 
