208 
Obituary. 
( Arc.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I       April,  18£9. 
developed  into  the  independent  house  of  Merck  &  Co.,  in  which  the  family- 
name  of  the  Darmstadt  establishment  is  borne  by  a  son  of  the  deceased — 
George  Merck.  (The  latter  and  Theodore  Weicker,  editor  of  Merck's  Reports 
constitute  the  American  firm.) 
"  Wilhelm  Merck,  besides  his  intensive  labors  in  his  chosen  field  of  chemical 
industry,  constantly  devoted  notable  efforts — in  the  unassuming  way  charac- 
teristic with  him — to  the  public  affairs  and  welfare  of  the  commonwealth  in 
which  he  resided.  He  was,  during  a  quarter  of  a  century,  a  member  of  the 
Municipal  Council  and  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  In  1889, 
Wilhelm  Merck's  public  merits  were  also  formally  recognized  by  his  sovereign, 
who  appointed  him  Privy-Councillor  of  Commerce  and  a  life  member  of  the 
First  Chamber  of  the  Estates  of  the  Grand  Duchy,  a  body  analogous,  in  that 
commonwealth,  to  what  in  Great  Britain  is  the  House  of  Lords. " 
Hervey  C.  Parke,  President  of  Parke,  Davis  &  Co.,  died  on  February  8th. 
The  following  sketch  we  take  from  the  Bulletin  of  Pharmacy  : 
"  Beginning  life  with  no  other  capital  than  a  stout  heart,  a  willing  pair  of 
hands  and  a  good  name,  he  ended  it  the  head  of  a  great  institution  known  the 
world  over.  Mr.  Parke  was  born  the  son  of  a  physician  in  Bloomfield,  Mich., 
and  was  educated  at  a  private  school  in  his  native  village.  When  16  years  old 
he  attended  the  High  School  in  Buffalo  for  one  year,  after  which  he  entered 
the  employ  of  an  upholsterer  in  that  city.  Two  years  later  his  parents  were 
both  the  victims  of  an  epidemic,  and  he  returned  to  his  home.  Here  he 
taught  school  for  a  time,  and  then  was  successively  a  clerk  in  a  hardware  store, 
a  clerk  in  a  general  store,  the  financial  manager  of  a  mining  company  and  a 
dealer  in  mining  hardware.  Then  was  started,  after  these  twenty -two  years  of 
business  success  and  education,  the  institution  which  was  to  engage  his  future 
activities  and  which  was  to  make  his  name  known  to  every  prescriber  and  dis- 
penser of  medicine  in  every  country  on  the  globe.  Duffield,  Parke  &  Co.  were 
successful  manufacturers  of  chemicals  in  Detroit  for  four  years,  when  Mr. 
Duffield's  interest  was  purchased  and  the  firm  became  known  as  Parke,  Davis 
&  Co.  From  the  small  three-story  building  and  the  few  employes  of  that 
time,  the  business  has  grown  until  now  three  entire  city  squares  are  covered 
with  the  laboratories  of  the  firm,  and  over  1,200  employes  are  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  its  products — until  the  services  of  130  travelers,  scattered 
throughout  the  world,  are  required — until  large  branch  offices  have  become 
necessary  in  the  main  American  cities  and  in  foreign  countries.  No  better 
monument  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Parke  could  be  builded  than  the  house  of 
Parke,  Davis  &  Co. 
"All  through  his  life  Mr.  Parke  was  a  liberal  philanthropist.  He  regularly 
gave  a  large  portion  of  his  income  to  the  support  of  the  Church,  and  to  many 
public  and  private  charities  he  was  a  liberal  contributor.  Kindly  in  disposi- 
tion, modest  in  demeanor  and  democratic  in  spirit,  Mr.  Parke  was  beloved  by  his 
family,  his  friends,  his  business  associates  and  by  all  who  knew  him.  The  hum- 
blest employe,  if  personally  known  to  him,  received  the  same  friendly  nod  of 
recognition  accorded  the  heaviest  stockholders  of  the  corporation.  When  his 
death  became  known  about  the  laboratory  there  was  real  sorrow  in  the  heart 
of  every  employe  who  had  known  him  personally,  and  almost  every  one 
could  have  been  found  at  the  funeral  services  a  few  days  later." 
