288 
Ohituary. 
5  Am.  Jour.  Phaem 
\    June  1, 1871. 
The  work  is  well  gotten  up  in  all  other  respects,  and  will  doubtless  prove 
useful  to  the  physician  as  a  book  of  reference  on  the  latest  observations  and 
improvements  in  all  departments  of  medical  science. 
Second  and  Third  Annual  Report  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Peahody  Academy  of 
Science,  for  the  years  1869  and  1870.    Salem,  1871, 
A  pamphlet  of  110  pages  containing  the  Proceedings  of  the  Trustees,  also 
the  exercises  held  and  addresses  made  at  the  dedication  of  the  museum  of  this 
institution,  which  was  founded  by  the  munificence  of  the  late  Mr.  Peabody. 
Five  papers  on  scientific  subjects  are  appended,  being  mostly  lists  of  zoological 
specimens  added  to  the  museum,  or  collected  by  different  naturalists  in  south- 
ern countries. 
OBITUARY. 
Paris  papers  announce  the  death  of  Antoine  Cesar  Becquerel,  the  cele- 
brated electrician.  He  died  in  Normandy,  while  the  siege  of  Paris  was  pro- 
gressing, and  very  likely  the  sad  event  v/as  hastened  by  the  fatigue  of  his  hasty 
flight  from  the  capital.  As  nearly  all  the  members  of  the  French  Academy  of 
Sciences  remained  at  their  posts  to  assist  the  Committee  of  Defrnse,  the  de- 
parture of  the  Becquerels.  father  and  son,  was  much  criticised  ;  but  the  advanced 
age  of  the  senior  afforded  a  good  excuse  for  the  step  he  decided  to  take. 
Becquerel  was  born  March  8,  1788,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was,  there- 
fore, in  his  84th  year.  He  was  three  years  older  than  Faraday,  and  during  his 
long  life  had  been  a  contributor  to  the  same  department  of  knowledge  as  the 
great  English  philosopher,  whose  death  we  had  occasion  to  announce  in  1667. 
Between  the  years  1834  and  1840  he  published  his  great  treatise  on  electricity 
and  magnetism,  in  seven  large  octavo  volumes.  This  was  followed  by  "  Physics 
in  its  Relations  to  Chemistry,"  in  two  volumes  ;  and  the  number  of  his  contri- 
butions to  the  proceedings  of  the  Academy,  and  to  the  journals  of  science,  has 
been  very  great.  He  was  one  of  the  most  prolific  of  French  writers,  and  re- 
tained a  remarkable  vigor  of  intellect  to  the  last.  His  son,  Alexander  Edmond 
Becquerel.  born  in  Paris  in  1820,  is  a  worthy  representative  of  the  father,  and 
is  the  author  of  many  investigations  on  electricity  and  magnetism.  'I'he  simi- 
larity of  the  name  has  lead  to  much  confusion,  and  much  of  the  younger  Bec- 
querel's  work  has  been  credited  to  the  father.  Another  son,  Alfred,  is  an  emi- 
nent physician,  and  the  author  of  valuable  papers  in  his  department  of  science. 
— Scientific  American. 
Professor  Dr.  Mitscherlich,  the  well  known  Berlin  pharmacologist,  and 
brother  of  the  celebrated  chemist  v7ho  died  some  years  ago,  died  in  that  city 
March  18th  last,  after  an  illness  of  several  weeks; 
John  D.  Owen  departed  this  life  May  3d  in  Louisville,  Ky  ,  after  an  illness 
of  twenty  days  with  typhoid  fever.  The  deceased  learned  the  drug  and  apothe- 
cary business  with  Messrs.  R.  A.  Robinson  and  Co.,  of  Louisville,  afterwards 
served  with  Edw.  Wilder  and  Co.,  and  finally  connected  himself  with  the  firm 
of  Owen  and  Sutton.  Having  attended  two  courses  of  lectures  at  the  Phila- 
delphia C'ollege  of  Pharmacy  and  having  devoted  considerable  time  to  the 
study  of  Chemistry  under  the  guidance  of  Prof  Genth,  he  graduated  with  high, 
honors  last  Spring.  He  was  a  promising  young  man  of  good  sound  judgment^ 
was  well  liked  by  his  fellow  students  and  became  endeared  to  his  teachers 
through  his  diligence  and  devotion  to  pharmaceutical  studies. 
