190 
Obituary. 
f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
t    April  1, 1871. 
been  its  next  president.  He  will  be  remembered  by  all  who  knew  him  as  an 
honest,  upright  man,  as  a  good  citizen,  and  as  an  earnest,  disinterested  advo- 
cate of  pharmaceutical  education  and  organization. 
Dr.  F.  a.  G.  Miquel. —  The  Pharmaceutical  Journal  announces  the  death 
of  Dr.  Miquel  the  eminent  professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Utrecht, 
and  director  of  the  botanic  gardens  at  Leyden.  "  He  occupied  a  high  rank 
among  systematic  botanists  for  many  years.  His  numerous  publications  have 
been  principally  devoted  to  the  elucidation  of  the  plants  of  the  dutch  posses- 
sions in  the  Indian  Archipelego,  and  of  the  flora  of  Japan  and  New  Holland. 
He  has  also  produced  several  monographs  on  particular  families,  such  as  the 
figs,  peppers,  cycads,  etc."  His  Annales  Musie  Botanici  Lugduno-Batavi,  in 
4  folio  volumes,  with  splendid  illustrations,  is  his  greatest  work.  The  exact 
time  and  place  of  his  decease  is  not  mentioned. 
Dr.  James  Sheridan  Muspratt,  whose  decease  was  noticed  in  our  last  issue, 
was  born  in  Dublin,  March  8th,  1821.  His  father  removing  to  Liverpool,  his 
education  was  carried  on  in  that  city  He  early  evinced  a  taste  tor  chemistry, 
travelled  on  the  Continent  and  afterwards  entered  the  Andersonian  University, 
at  Glasgow,  to  study  chemistry  under  Prof.  Graham  there,  and  afterwards  at 
London.  He  visited  the  United  States  about  1842,  and  in  1843  entered  at 
Giessen,  under  Liebig,  remaining  two  years,  when  his  labors  won  for  him  the 
title  Ph.  D.,  and  for  some  time  after  pursued  his  studies  in  Germany.  Dr. 
Muspratt  founded  a  college  of  chemistry  at  Liverpool,  which  has  been  a  useful 
institution.  In  1854  he  commenced  his  dictionary  of  manufacturing  chemistry, 
by  which  he  is  best  known.  Dr.  Muspratt  was  a  member  of  several  learned 
societies.  In  1848  he  married  Miss  Susan  Cushman,  the  actress,  who  died  in 
1859.  He  was  the  scientific  director  of  the  chemical  works  at  Flint,  belonging 
to  Messrs.  Muspratt  &  Brothers,  of  which  firm  he  was  a  member.  He  died  of 
a  lingering  illness,  at  the  early  age  of  fifty. 
Ferris  Bringhurst  died  on  the  16th  of  March  in  the  34th  year  of  his  age, 
at  Wilmington ,  Delaware,  his  native  city,  and  the  scene  of  his  pharmaceutical 
labors.  On  the  morning  of  the  11th  of  iVIarch  our  friend  arose  in  the  anticipa- 
tion of  carrying  out  an  engagement  to  give  a  lecture  on  water  before  the  "  Work- 
ingmen's  Institute,"  and  in  the  afternoon  he  set  himself  to  work  in  preparing 
oxygen  for  its  illustration.  The  apparatus  used  was  a  tube  of  wrought  iron  3 
inches  in  diameter  and  5  inches  long,  the  lower  end  closed  with  a  plug  shrunk  in, 
the  upper  end  with  a  wrought  iron  cap  screwing  on  the  outside  of  the  rim.  In 
the  top  of  the  cap,  which  was  2|-  inches  high,  was  an  opening  for  charging  the 
retort,  closed  with  a  screw  plug.  The  neck  of  the  retort,  a  curved  piece  of 
inch  iron  tubing  3  inches  long,  was  screwed  into  the  side  of  the  cap  with  its  pro- 
jecting end  opening  upward,  and  extended  by  a  joint  of  half  inch  tube  bent  at  a 
right  angle,  connected  with  the  gas  bag  tube.  The  usual  charge  was  5  ounces  of 
chlorate  of  potassa  with  the  proper  proportion  of  black  oxide  of  manganese, 
but  on  this  occasion  he  had  put  in  a  larger  charge  to  secure  a  fall  supply 
of  gas.  Mr.  Bringhurst  was  operating  in  his  laboratory  on  the  premises,  but 
not  in  the  building  where  his  store  is  located.    He  was  alone,  and  from  the 
