Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  ) 
Fov.  1,  1873.  J 
Minutes  of  the  College. 
511 
ical  knowledge  would  receive  encouragement.  Mr.  Perkins,  a  druggist,  made 
him  an  offer  to  establish  a  laboratory  for  medicinal  chemicals,  with  the  prospect 
of  a  partnership.  He  accepted  the  offer,  started  the  works  on  the  French 
plan,  and  began  the  manufacture  of  Rochelle  salt,  tartar  emetic,  spirit  and 
water  of  ammonia,  ether,  etc.,  but,  though  satisfied  with  his  employer  and  with 
the  success  they  were  making,  he  became  restless  and,  much  to  the  disappoint- 
ment of  his  new  friends,  and  to  the  great  vexation  of  Mr.  Perkins,  he  deter- 
mined to  leave  Boston  for  Philadelphia,  the  city  of  his  choice.  Here  he 
took  charge  of  the  laboratory  of  a  German  named  Wesner,  where  he  manu- 
factured chromates  from  the  native  ores  of  Maryland  and  Delaware.  These 
salts  were  being  successfully  made  when  Wesner,  desiring  to  extend  his  busi- 
ness, engaged  in  the  preparation  of  the  mercurial  salts.  This  occupation 
occasioned  Durand  a  spell  of  illness  accompanied  by  profuse  salivation,  which 
induced  him  to  abaudon  the  laboratory  and  return  to  his  legitimate  business, 
pharmacy. 
Mr.  Durand  next  went  to  Baltimore,  with  satisfactory  letters,  and  applied 
to  E.  Ducatel,  a  prominent  pharmaceutist  of  that  city,  who  would  have  engaged 
him  but  for  his  inability  to  speak  the  English  language,  and  who  advised  him 
to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  that  language,  which  he  did  for  three  months, 
at  Belair,  with  considerable  success. 
Returning  to  Baltimore,  he  hoped  to  enter  Mr.  Ducatel's  store,  but  the 
depressed  state  of  business  did  not  require  additional  service,  and  Mr.  D. 
advised  him  to  see  Dr.  Gerard  Troost,  of  Cape  Sable,  Maryland  (afterwards  the 
first  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy  in  1821), 
who  was  engaged  in  making  iron  salts,  and  might  employ  him  till  spring,  when 
he  hoped  to  be  able  to  give  him  a  position. 
Disappointed  but  not  discouraged,  our  young  adventurer  set  out  on  foot  to 
find  Dr.  Troost,  in  the  midst  of  winter,  the  ground  covered  with  snow,  and  the 
road  unfrequented  and  difficult  to  find,  owing  to  dense  forests  intervening,  with 
only  two  houses  on  the  road  after  leaving  the  vicinity  of  Baltimore.  Having 
reached  the  first  house  noted  on  his  paper  about  one  o'clock,  he  applied  for 
dinner.  The  appearance  of  the  inmates  was  anything  but  favorable,  and  the 
wall  of  the  room  was  hung  with  colored  pictures  of  Indian  massacres,  which 
impressed  his  imagination  strongly.  After  paying  for  the  ill-relished  meal  of 
pork  and  beans  he  continued  his  forest  journey  about  two  miles,  when  he  saw 
coming  towards  him  some  ten  or  twelve  persons,  strangely  attired,  quite  differ- 
ent from  anything  he  had  seen  before.  As  they  came  near  it  became  appa- 
rent that  they  were  wrapped  in  blankets,  had  painted  faces,  carried  bows  and 
arrows,  and  in  fact  were  the  counterpart  of  the  pictures,  being  the  first  live 
Indians  he  had  seen.  With  his  ideas  excited  by  the  pictures  he  had  just 
examined,  aided  by  the  uncouth  character  of  the  people  at  the  house,  he  had 
some  doubts  of  his  personal  security  when  thus  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
red  skins  in  the  forest,  and  for  a  moment  felt  undecided  whether  to  advance  or 
retreat,  but,  going  towards  them,  one  of  the  chiefs  came  forward  and  presented 
a  paper  for  his  perusal,  which  proved  to  be  a  recommendation  from  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  stating  that  the  chief  and  his  warriors  had  been 
aithful  to  the  country  during  the  war  of  1812  on  the  frontier.    Our  traveller, 
