352 
Obituary. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
June,  1884. 
constitution  ot  compounds,  and  in  other  questions  of  theoretical  and  also 
of  physiological  chemistry,  which  were  fruitful  in  new  discoveries. 
Aside  from  the  numerous  essays  published  in  journals,  he  wrote  several 
important  works  on  chemical  subjects,  of  which  the  eight  volumes  com- 
prising his  Traite  de  Chimie  appliquee  aux  Arts  appeared  in  1828  to  1845. 
He  commenced  his  career  as  teacher  in  1823,  when  he  was  appointed  tutor 
(repetiteur)  of  chemistry  in  the  Polytechnic  School,  and  afterwards  held 
the  chairs  of  chemistry  in  the  Athenaeum,  in  the  Sarbonne  and  other 
institutions.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  member  of  the  Council  of 
Education,  was  elected  to  the  Assembly  in  1848,  held  the  position  of  Secre- 
tary of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  in  1849  to  1851,  and  was  subsequently 
made  a  Senator  and  a  member  of  the  Superior  Council  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion . 
CharIjES  Adolphe  Wurtz,  died  Paris,  May  12,  1884,  having  for  30  years 
occupied  the  chair  of  medical  chemistry  in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  of 
Paris,  to  which  he  was  elected  after  Orfila's  death,  in  1853,  and  after  Du- 
mas's  retirement  in  1854,  the  two  chairs  being  then  united.  Wurtz  was 
born  in  Strassburg,  Alsace,  November  26,  1817,  studied  medicine  in  his 
native  city,  where  he  graduated  in  1843,  after  having  been  in  charge  of  the 
chemical  laboratory  since  1839,  and  subsequently  taught  chemistry  in  Paris 
and  Versailles  until  he  became  connected  with  the  Faculty  of  Medicine. 
The  investigations  of  Wurtz,  both  in  inorganic  and  organic  chemistry,  are 
very  numerous,  and  it  was  more  particularly  in  the  latter  that  his  influence 
has  been  felt  in  shaping  the  theories  which  are  at  the  present  time  acknow- 
ledged. In  1849  he,  simultaneously  with  A.  W.  Hofmann,  discovered  the 
class  of  compounds  known  as  substituted  or  compound  ammonias,  or 
amines ;  in  1855  he  showed  the  analogy  of  glycerin  with  alcohol,  differing 
from  the  latter  in  being  triatomic  ;  in  1856  he  discovered  glycol  and  showed 
it  to  be  a  diatomic  alcohol ;  in  1859  he  formulated  the  distinction  between 
basicity  and  atomicity  of  acids.  Of  his  separate  works,  the  one  best  known 
here  is  Elements  of  Modern  Chemistry,  of  which  the  appearance  of  a  new 
American  edition  is  noticed  on  page  346  of  this  number. 
George  Engelmann,  M.  D.,  died  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  February  11,  1884, 
at  the  age  of  75  years.  The  deceased  was  born  and  educated  in  Germany, 
and  resided  in  St.  Louis  for  many  years.  He  was  one  of  the  most  noted 
botanists  of  North  America. 
Samuel  D.  Gross,  M.  D.,  who  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  modern  sur- 
geons, died  in  Philadelphia,  May  6,  1884.  He  was*  born  near  Easton,  Pa., 
July  8,  1805,  graduated  from  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  in  1828,  and, 
after  occupying  chairs  in  medical  schools  in  Cincinnati,  Louisville  and 
New  York,  was  elected  Professor  of  Surgery  in  the  Jefferson  Medical  Col- 
lege in  1856,  from  which  position  he  retired  in  1882.  In  compliance  with 
directions  left  by  him,  his  body  was  cremated  at  the  Lemoyne  furnace  in 
Washington  county,  Pa.,  and  his  ashes  were  taken  to  Woodland  Cemetery, 
Philadelphia. 
