A.m.  Jour.  Pharm.  1 
May,  1884.  j 
Life  of  Robert  Bridges,  M,  D. 
247 
Wood  in  his  work  while  he  held  the  professorship  of  materia  medica 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  from  1835  till  1850. 
Besides  the  routine  work  of  the  professorship,  Dr.  Bridges  did  his 
full  share  on  standing  and  special  committees,  delivered,,  many  intro- 
ductory and  other  addresses,  and  represented  the  College  among  its 
delegates  to  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  and  other 
bodies. 
The  painstaking  and  kindly  ways  of  Dr.  Bridges  in  teaching,  won 
for  him  affectionate  and  enduring  respect  from  those  whom  he 
taught.  At  the  commencement,  March,  1867,  a  portrait  of  him  in  oil, 
was  presented  to  the  college  by  the  Zeta  Phi  Society,  and  the  graduat- 
ing class,  at  the  commencement,  March,  1877,  presented  to  him  a  stem- 
winding  gold  watch. 
The  additional  labor  imposed  by  adopting  the  method  of  teaching 
in  graded  courses,  induced  Dr.  Bridges,  in  June,  1878,  to  procure  an 
assistant.  And  in  January,  1879,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, he  stated  informally  that  his  impaired  health  constrained  him  to 
announce  that  he  would  relinquish  the  chair  of  chemistry  at  the  close 
of  the  course.  On  hearing  of  his  intended  resignation,  the  graduating 
class  of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  members,  representing  eighteen 
States,  held  a  meeting  and  adopted  a  preamble  and  resolutions,  express- 
ing regret,  sympathy,  and  for  themselves  as  well  as  their  predecessors, 
"  profound  respect  for  Dr.  Bridges  as  a  chemist,  and  their  most  grate- 
ful esteem  for  him  as  their  friend  and  instructor,"  and  earnestly 
invoking  the  divine  blessing  upon  his  remaining  years. 
He  tendered  his  resignation  in  a  letter  dated  March  4,  1879.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  March  14,  a  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions were  unanimously  adopted,  stating  in  substance  that  he  had 
devoted  his  time  and  abilities  to  a  conscientious  discharge  of  the  trust 
assigned  him  for  a  long  period,  during  which  the  professors  received  a 
scanty  remuneration,  that  "to  his  sound  judgment  and  patient  labor" 
the  success  of  the  college  is  much  indebted;  that  the  good  work  he  has 
accomplished  has  its  record  in  those  who  have  been  his  pupils  in  the 
college — about  five  thousand — and  that  he  has  the  sincere  thanks  and 
sympathy  of  the  Board. 
At  the  celebration  of  its  twenty-fifth  anniversary,  March  11,  1879, 
the  Phi  Zeta  Society,  which  is  composed  of  alumni  of  the  college, 
created  a  scholarship  and  named  it  the  Robert  Bridges  scholarship,  as 
