192 
Obituaries. 
(  Am.  Jour.  Pharni. 
X       April,  1903. 
has  some  prejudice  against  a  class  of  men  who  are  eager  to  serve 
the  medical  profession  and  who  want  to  live  as  nearly  professional 
lives  as  physicians  do.  We  do  not  think  that  such  insinuations  do 
credit  to  either  the  author  or  the  profession  which  he  represents. 
OBITUARIES. 
PROF.  J.  J.  B.  ARGENTI. 
Jerome  Jean  Baptiste  Argenti  was  born  in  Baltimore  in  1861,  his 
father  being  an  Italian  and  his  mother  an  American.  When  he  was 
four  years  old  the  family  removed  to  San  Francisco,  where  he  was 
educated  at  St.  Mary's  College,  receiving  the  degree  of  B.A.  He 
then  entered  the  pharmacy  ot  Leon  Di  Nola,  where  he  devoted  his 
spare  time  chiefly  to  the  study  of  botany.  He  afterwards  attended 
the  California  College  of  Pharmacy,  graduating  with  honors  in  1881. 
About  this  time  he  was  made  Instructor  in  Botany  in  his  alma 
mater,  and  was  employed  as  pharmacist  by  W.  M.  Searby.  After  a 
few  years  he  was  appointed  Instructor  in  Materia  Medica.  As  he 
was  expert  in  microscopic  work  and  a  skilful  photographer,  he  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Microscopy,  Vegetable  Histology  and  Phar- 
macognosy, when  the  College  first  began  to  instruct  its  students  in 
the  use  of  the  microscope.  On  the  resignation  of  Dr.  H.  H.  Behr 
from  the  chair  of  Botany,  Professor  Argenti  was  at  once  chosen,  at 
Dr.  Behr's  request,  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Again,  in  1897,  when  Prof. 
W.  M.  Searby  was  called  to  the  chair  of  Pharmacy  in  the  same 
College,  his  work  in  materia  medica  was  given  to  Professor  Argenti 
and  held  by  him  up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  All  of  these  positions 
he  filled  very  ably,  being  a  patient,  painstaking  teacher,  and  having 
the  esteem  of  his  students. 
Professor  Argenti  was  a  man  of  unusual  natural  ability,  apparently 
learning  with  ease  anything  to  which  he  applied  himself.  He  was 
of  a  modest  and  retiring  disposition  ;  so  much  so  that  he  was  always 
reluctant  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  public.  He  was  active  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  the  California  College  of  Phar- 
macy, of  the  Microscopical  Society  and  of  the  Camera  Club,  in  all 
of  which  he  held  important  offices  at  various  times.  In  college 
affairs  he  was  stanch  in  his  advocacy  of  high  standards  of  entrance 
and  graduation.  He  passed  away  in  the  prime  of  life,  having  been 
engaged  in  his  professional  duties  only  a  few  days  before  his  death, 
