THE  AMERICAN 
JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY 
AUGUST,  1903. 
JOHN  MICHAEL  MAISCH,  AN  IDEAL  PHARMACIST. 
By  M.  I.  Wilbert, 
Apothecary  at  the  German  Hospital,  Philadelphia. 
There  are  but  few  active  workers  in  pharmacy  that  do  not  know 
and  honor  the  name  of  John  Michael  Maisch,  the  one-time  professor 
of  materia  medica  and  botany  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy. So  deeply  impressed  is  his  work  on  the  everyday  course  of 
pharmaceutical  progress  in  this  country,  that  it  is  at  times  difficult 
to  realize  that  his  lips  have  been  sealed  and  his  pen  has  been  stilled 
for  nearly  ten  long  years.  Ten  years  constitute  a  period  of  time 
that  is  ample  to  indicate  the  value  or  worth  of  a  life  that  has  been 
lived ;  a  period  of  time  sufficiently  long  to  demonstrate  and  point 
out  to  us  the  strong  points  of  a  noble  nature,  and  to  spread  the  name 
and  fame  of  the  few  able  and  willing  workers  who,  during  their 
active  life,  thought  little  of  themselves,  but  were  constantly  striving 
to  improve  the  condition  of  others.  The  same  period  of  time,  on 
the  other  hand,  has  been  amply  sufficient  to  obliterate  all  trace  of 
thousands  that  insisted  on  living  for  themselves  alone. 
In  the  annals  of  pharmacy,  it  would  be  difficult  indeed  to  find  a 
name  that  more  nearly  represents  the  ideal  of  what  a  pharmacist 
should  strive  to  be,  than  does  that  of  John  M.  Maisch.  While  there 
have  been  greater  chemists  whose  early  training  was  laid  in  the 
apothecary's  shop,  and  while  there  have  been  more  original  and 
more  thoroughly  equipped  botanists  who  at  one  time  may  have 
handled  a  mortar  and  pestle,  there  have  been  but  few  men  connected 
with  pharmacy  that  have  had  a  more  perfect  knowledge  of  the  facts 
that  are  needed  in  connection  with  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
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