432 
Obituary. 
f  Am.  JotR.  Pharm. 
t     Sept.  1,  1873. 
OBITUARY. 
Elias  Durand,  Pharmacist  and  Botanist,  died  August  14,  in  the  80th  year 
of  his  age.  Mr.  Durand  was  born  at  Mayenne,  France,  on  the  25th  of  Janu- 
ary, 1794.  In  1808  he  commenced  the  study  of  pharmacy,  and  in  1812  attended 
lectures  in  Paris.  He  became  an  aid  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Department  of 
the  army  in  1813,  and  served  with  the  Fifth  Corps  at  the  battles  of  Liitzen 
Bautzen,  Hanau,  Katzbach  and  Leipsic.  Upon  the  downfall  of  Napoleon,  Mr. 
Durand  left  France,  and  arrived  at  New  York  on  the  1st  of  July,  1816.  After 
a  few  months  he  removed  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  took  charge  of  a  chemical 
laboratory  at  Broad  and  Race  streets. 
In  preparing  mercurial  salts  his  health  was  injured,  and  he  then  removed  to 
P>altimore,  where  he  obtained  the  position  of  chief  clerk  in  a  drug  store.  In 
1825  he  returned  to  Philadelphia  and  opened  a  drug  store  at  the  southwest 
corner  of  Sixth  and  Chestnut  streets.  While  he  kept  the  store  it  was  the  re- 
sort of  the  leading  physicians  and  chemists  of  the  city.  Mr.  Durand  contri 
buted  a  nnmber  of  papers  to  the  earlier  volumes  of  the  American  Journal  of 
Pharmacy  and  also  devoted  his  attention  to  the  study  of  botany.  He  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  flora  of  North  America,  and  gathered  an  herbarium 
of  about  ten  thousand  species  of  plants,  which  he  presented  to  the  Museum 
of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  of  Paris  iu  1868. 
He  wrote  memoirs  of  Professor  Nuttall,  the  botanist,  Dr.  Kane,  the  arctic 
explorer,  and  Andre  Michaux,  the  botanical  explorer,  who  bequeathed  a  large 
sum  of  money  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  park  of  American  forest  trees, 
now  well  known  as  the  Michaux  Grove,  in  Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia.  He 
also  wrote  descriptions  of  the  plants  collected  in  California  by  Lieutenant  R. 
S.  Williamson,  in  California  and  Nevada  by  Mr.  Pratten,  and  in  the  arctic  re- 
gions by  Dr.  Kane,  and  contributed  to  the  Linnean  Society  of  Bordeaux, 
France,  an  exhaustive  paper  on  the  vines  and  wines  of  North  America.  He 
was  a  member  and  one  of  the  curators  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences,  and  an  honorary  member  of  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  the  Societe  de  Pharmacie  de  Paris,  the 
American  Pharmaceutical  Association,  the  Societe  d'Acclimatation  de  Paris, 
Societe  Linneeu  de  Bordeaux,  the  Buffalo  Society  of  Natural  Sciences,  the 
Linnean  Society  of  Lancaster,  and  other  foreign  scientific  societies.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  French  Benevolent  Society  ot  this  city,  and  was  always 
active  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  his  compatriots  and  in  serving  the  cause  of 
science. 
Bradford  Ritter  died  on  the  11th  of  August,  while  bathing  near  the  Old 
York  Station,  in  Montgomery  county,  Pa.  He  was  born  November  20th,  1828. 
In  1852  he  graduated  at  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  and  com- 
menced the  apothecary  business  at  the  northeast  corner  of  Thirteenth  and 
Walnut  streets,  and  afterwards  a  wholesale  drug  store  at  the  corner  of  Front 
and  Market  streets.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  connected  with  Powers 
and  Weightman's  chemical  works.  The  American  Journal  of  Pharmacy  for 
J.855,  page  500,  contains  from  his  pen  a  short  paper  on  Cream  Syrups. 
