Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
March.  1903.  J 
Biographical  Sketches. 
BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.1 
By  M.  I.  Wilb^rT. 
ALFRED  BOWER  TAYLOR. 
Alfred  Bower  Taylor  was  one  of  those  unassuming,  hard-working 
individuals  who,  while  they  do  not  make  strenuous  efforts  to  achieve 
notoriety,  or  empty  honors  while  living,  leave  behind  them,  when 
they  die,  an  enviable  reputation  for  having  followed  the  dictates  of 
what  they  considered  right,  just  and  proper. 
It  may  be  well  to  preface  our  remarks  with  the  necessary  data, 
so  that  we  can  appreciate  still  more  the  disadvantages  under  which 
the  subject  of  this  essay  labored  in  his  endeavors  to  advance  his 
own  and  the  professional  standing  of  his  fellow  workers. 
Mr.  Taylor  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  January  6, 
1824.  After  graduating  from  the  academic  department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  in  184 1,  he  engaged  to  learn  the  art  and 
business  of  an  apothecary  with  the  late  Henry  C.  Blair,  who  was 
located  at  the  corner  of  Eighth  and  Walnut  Streets.  Mr.  Taylor 
subsequently  attended  the  lectures  delivered  at  the  Philadelphia 
College  of  Pharmacy,  graduating  in  1844.  This  class  of  '44,  while 
not  large  in  point  of  numbers,  appears  to  have  been  made  up  largely 
of  men  who  devoted  much  of  their  time  toward  advancing  profes- 
sional pharmacy,  in  preference  to  accumulating  money,  by  devoting 
themselves  strictly  to  the  business  interests  of  their  calling. 
After  spending  several  years  in  New  York  City,  Mr.  Taylor 
returned  to  Philadelphia  and  established  himself  as  a  retail  pharma- 
cist. He  continued  in  business  for  nearly  thirty-five  years,  when  he 
retired  to  devote  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  to  original  research 
and  literary  work.  Mr.  Taylor  died  in  his  native  city  on  February 
28,  1898. 
From  what  has  been  said  it  will  be  evident  that  it  is  not  as  a  retail 
dealer  in  drugs  and  medicines  that  Alfred  Bower  Taylor  will  be 
remembered  or  referred  to.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  rather  as  an 
unassuming,  hard-working  investigator  and  student,  who  was  always 
willing  to  contribute  of  his  vast  store  of  knowledge  to  advance  the 
professional  standing  and  material  welfare  of  his  co-workers  that  he 
is  to  be  remembered  and  honored  by  this  and  succeeding  genera- 
1  The  author  will  present  from  time  to  time  sketches  of  those  who  have  con- 
tributed to  the  welfare  of  American  pharmacy. — Editor. 
