Am.  Jour.  Pharm 
June,  1884. 
Obituary. 
351 
istry ;  and  passed  examinations  before  the  Board  in  the  subject  of  practi- 
cal pharmacy. 
Twenty -seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Council  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society 
of  Victoria,  1884,  with  List  of  Members  and  Hon.  Members.  Melbourne. 
The  Sixteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Orthopaedic  Hospital  and  Infirmary  for  Nervous  Diseases  (sup- 
ported by  voluntary  contribution). 
Aneurism  of  the  Femoral  Artery,  and  a  Knife-wound  of  the  Intestines. 
By  Professor  W.  O.  Roberts,  M.  D.,  Louisville,  Ky.  Reprint  from  the 
"American  Practitioner." 
Peroxide  of  Hydrogen  in  Suppurative  Conjunctivitis  and  Mastoid  Abscesses, 
with  a  Report  of  Two  Cases.  By  A.  E.  Prince,  M.  D.,  Jacksonville, 
III.    Reprint  from  "  St.  Louis  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal." 
OBITUARY. 
Jean  Baptiste  Andre  Dumas  died  at  Cannes  April  11th,  1884.— "A 
savant  has  been  removed  from  our  midst  whose  labors  in  science  extend 
over  more  than  half  a  century,  and  who  stood  for  a  long  time  at  the  head 
of  its  progressive  movement."  "  The  last  one  of  those  great  chemical 
researchers  has  stepped  from  the  scene  of  life,  who  served  as  landmarks, 
towards  which  to  steer  their  course,  to  those  who  entered  the  domain  of 
chemistry  during  the  third  or  fourth  decennium."  We  quote  these  expres- 
sions from  the  remarks  made  by  Professor  A.  W.  Hofmann,  with  which 
he  announced  the  death  to  the  German  Chemical  Society,  and  we  may  add 
that  Dumas  was  the  last  one  of  those  illustrious  pharmacists  who,  born 
near  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  by  their  indefatigable  labors 
guided  science  into  new  channels,  and  secured  for  it  solid  foundations  for 
future  generations  to  build  upon.  Dumas  was  born  in  Alais,  Depart- 
ment of  Gard,  July  14,  1800,  studied  pharmacy  in  Geneva,  and  in  1821 
came  to  Paris,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  useful  life.  Aside  from 
his  determinations  of  the  vapor  densities  of  iodine,  sulphur,  phosphorus, 
mercury,  etc.,  which  became  of  the  utmost  importance  for  theoretical 
chemistry,  his  investigations  in  inorganic  chemistry  were  numerous,  but 
those  in  organic  chemistry  were  particularly  fruitful  of  lasting  results. 
About  1823  he  analyzed  in  connection  with  Pelletier  a  large  number  of 
alkaloids  ;  in  1826  he  determined  with  Polydore  Boullay  the  composition  of 
compound  ethers ;  in  1830  to  1835  he  discovered  oxamid  and  investigated 
camphor,  many  volatile  oils  and  their  stearoptens  ;  in  1835,  he  investigated 
with  Peligot  wood  spirit  and  its  derivatives  ;  in  1840  with  Stas  the  action 
of  alkalies  upon  organic  compounds  ;  in  1841  the  composition  of  indigo;  in 
1842  with  Piria  the  compounds  of  tartaric  acid ;  in  1843  the  homologous 
nature  of  the  fat  acids,  etc.  Dumas  also  took  an  active  part  in  determin- 
ing the  combining  weights  of  elements,  their  replacing  one  another,  the 
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