Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
August,  1903.  j 
John  Michael  Maisch. 
355 
personal  interest  in  him  with  a  view  of  preparing  him  for  a  university 
course. 
The  physical  strength  of  the  young  man  had  been  overestimated, 
however,  and  before  he  had  finished  his  preliminary  studies  he  was 
prostrated  by  a  prolonged  illness  that  brought  all  his  hopes  of  a 
university  training  to  an  abrupt  termination. 
The  now  seventeen-year-old  boy,  who  had  been  brought  in  close 
contact  with  the  higher  ideas  and  ideals  of  the  more  progressive 
German  scholars,  was  just  in  the  proper  frame  of  mind  to  be  carried 
away  by  the  agitation  for  personal  rights  that  swept  over  the  central 
part  of  Europe  in  1848.  It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that  we  hear 
of  him  as  having  been  arrested  in  a  neighboring  State  for  teaching 
and  believing  what  was  then  considered  a  revolutionary  doctrine — 
the  necessity  of  a  united  fatherland  with  a  constitutional  govern- 
ment. 
Like  many  other  progressive  Germans  who  were  years  ahead  of 
their  times,  John  M.  Maisch  emigrated  to  America,  where  free  insti- 
tutions such  as  his  fancy  had  depicted  already  existed. 
Mr.  Maisch  arrived  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  in  1849,  and  not  find- 
ing  any  more  congenial  occupation  was  employed  in  a  box  factory 
for  several  months.  Later  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Dr.  Wiss, 
who  was  about  to  open  a  drug  store,  and  who  saw  in  the  compara- 
tively well-educated  and  studiously  inclined  young  German  the 
possibility  of  an  able  assistant.  The  store  was  opened  in  1 850,  and 
from  this  time  we  may  date  John  M.  Maisch's  connection  with 
pharmacy. 
This  store,  for  some  unknown  reason,  was  sold  a  few  months  later, 
but  young  Maisch,  seeing  here  a  possibility  for  congenial  occupation, 
continued  in  the  drug  business. 
From  Baltimore  he  went  to  Washington,  from  there  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  later  to  New  York  ;  this  period  constituting  practically 
a  series  of  "  Wander- Jahre  "  in  his  now  chosen  profession. 
That  he  was  not  idle  during  these  years  is  evidenced  by  two  silver 
medals,  dated  1853,  that  were  shown  at  the  historical  exhibition  last 
year:  one  from  the  Maryland  Institute  for  the  Promotion  of  the 
Mechanic  Arts,  Baltimore,  and  the  other  from  the  Metropolitan 
Mechanic  Institute;  both  of  these  were  awarded  to  John  M.  Maisch 
for  an  exhibition  of  a  collection  of  chemicals  of  his  own  manufac- 
ture. In  1856  Mr.  Maisch  returned  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  was 
subsequently  employed  in  the  store  of  Robert  Shoemaker  &  Co. 
