6o 
The  Story  of  a  Drug  Store. 
/  Am.  Jour.  Fiiaraa 
t.    February,  1903. 
their  rights,  and  established  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy 
in  1 82 1.  It  is  proof  of  the  appreciation  of  the  character  of  Charles 
Marshall  that,  although  he  had  been  out  of  business  for  many  years, 
he  was  unanimously  chosen  the  first  president.  Though  far  ad- 
vanced in  life,  and  unable  to  take  an  active  part,  he  gave  the  College 
all  his  sympathy  and  support. 
The  founding  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  has  given 
a  status  and  character  to  both  branches  of  the  trade  in  Philadelphia, 
and  extended  an  influence  over  the  entire  country,  for  the  reason 
that  its  purpose  clearly  indicated  that  those  who  were  instrumental 
in  establishing  it  sought  to  place  the  occupation  upon  a  higher 
plane  and  standard  of  requirement. 
Charles  Marshall  was  well  qualified  to  conduct  the  apothecary 
business  as  it  was  carried  on  at  that  time,  for  it  was  necessary  then 
to  be  both  botanist  and  chemist,  not  only  to  make  the  tinctures 
from  drugs  which  had  already  been  gathered  and  in  store,  but  to  go 
out  into  the  wood,  collect  the  plants,  dry  and  powder  them;  and 
then  make  the  preparations ;  for  there  were  no  laboratories  to  supply 
finished  products  as  there  are  now. 
The  store  had  earned  an  enviable  reputation  through  the  exertion 
of  its  founder,  the  first  Christopher  Marshall,  who  carried  on  the 
business  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution  with  credit  and  success,  and 
all  this  was  increased  under  the  management  of  the  son.  Christopher 
Marshall  furnished  the  medical  outfits  for  the  troops  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, New  Jersey,  Maryland,  Delaware  and  Virginia,  as  recorded  in 
his  account  book  now  with  the  Historical  Society. 
Charles  Marshall  died  in  1825,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one.  He  is 
described  as  6  feet  in  stature,  of  slender  mold,  clear  expression, 
heightened  in  his  latter  years  by  a  profusion  of  white  snowy  hair. 
He  was  a  consistent  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends  and  was 
retained  after  the  failure,  a  thing  unusual  in  those  days,  when  mem- 
bers were  disowned  right  and  left  for  trivial  offences  ;  so  much  so 
that  an  historian  of  the  Society  remarks  that  it  is  a  wonder  to  him 
that  there  is  any  Society  left. 
As  I  have  mentioned,  the  daughter  of  Charles  Marshall  took 
charge  of  the  business  at  the  time  of  the  failure  of  her  father  ;  this 
was  in  1 804.  Elizabeth  Marshall  was  a  woman  of  singular  good 
sense  and  varied  attainments.  The  maiden  pharmacist  presided 
over  the  establishment  with  dignity  and  skill,  aided  of  course  at 
