AmMa^o5arm'}  William  J.  Jenks.  205 
William  J.  Jenks  knew  personally  the  prominent  pharmacists  of 
Philadelphia,  extending  back  over  a  period  of  more  than  half  a  cen- 
tury. His  retentive  memory  stored  away  many  remembrances  of 
their  peculiarities  and  the  trade  conditions  existing  during  several 
generations.  He  greatly  enjoyed  relating  some  of  the  reminiscences 
of  the  days  when  the  apothecary  made  many  of  his  chemicals,  pow- 
dered his  drugs,  spread  his  own  plasters  and  priced  his  prescriptions 
in  "  fips  "  and  "  levies  "  (6y^  and  12^  cents)  and  exchanged  shin 
plasters.  The  latter  were  small  credit  slips  or  notes  issued  by  a 
number  of  city  institutions  and  a  few  prominent  business  houses, 
and  locally  circulating  as  currency.  When  Boullay's  process  of 
displacement,  subsequently  named  percolation,  was  introduced  it 
met  with  much  opposition  from  the  druggists  of  Philadelphia,  but 
Ambrose  Smith  championed  the  process  and  mastered  it  completely, 
and  William  Jenks  was  likewise  interested  in  it  and  engaged  in  a 
number  of  experiments  to  perfect  the  process. 
William  J.  Jenks  was  too  modest  to  seek  either  political  or  social  ad- 
vancement, but  his  ability  was  too  evident  to  be  either  overshad- 
owed entirely  by  his  diffidence  or  overlooked  by  his  friends.  He 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  School  Board  of  the  Tenth  Ward  in 
1876,  and  a  few  years  subsequently  was  selected  as  a  member  of 
the  Thirteenth  Ward  School  Board,  and  for  several  years  served  as 
secretary  of  this  sectional  board.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Historical  Society,  of  the  Friends'  Historical  Association  of 
Philadelphia,  of  the  Union  League,  the  Numismatic  and  Antiquarian 
Society  and  the  Bucks  County  Historical  Society.  For  many  years 
he  was  a  director  of  the  Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange,  and  was  its 
president  during  the  Centennial  celebration  in  1876.  In  1887  his 
Alma  Mater  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  in 
Pharmacy. 
William  J.  Jenks  was  always  of  a  happy,  even  cheerful,  disposition, 
and  his  very  presence  was  a  pleasure  of  which  his  associates  were 
sensible.  Reserved,  yet  with  an  inspiring  dignity,  thoughtful  and  con- 
siderate of  others'  views  and  feelings,  he  enjoyed  universal  confidence 
and  respect.  His  calm  judgment,  his  conscientiousness,  his  sincer- 
ity, his  friendly  manner  and  his  kindly  mode  of  expression  all  be- 
spoke the  true  character  and  the  exemplification  of  the  Christian 
gentleman. 
William  J.  Jenks  retained  his  physical  strength  and  energy  to  a 
