Am*juiyr;i^ooarm'}  Christopher  Witt.  321 
Watson,  in  his  ''Annals  of  Philadelphia,"  says  that  Christian  Leh- 
man, a  notary  public,  surveyor  and  gentleman,  was  also  able  to  cast 
nativities.  He  had  been  a  student  of  Dr.  Christopher  Witt,  and  was 
as  expert  as  his  master.  He  cast  them  for  all  of  his  nine  children, 
but  never  for  hire. 
One  of  these  nine  children,  a  son,  William  Lehman,  engaged  in 
business  as  an  apothecary  on  South  Second  Street,  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  William,  who  was  prominently 
identified  with  the  organization  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Phar- 
macy, was  its  second  president,  and  responsible  for  its  present  title. 
Peter  Lehman,  who  is  usually  spoken  of  as  the  originator  of  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  was  a  cousin  of  William  Lehman, 
and  served  his  apprenticeship  in  the  same  store.  This  particular 
connection,  of  course,  suggests  the  question  as  to  how  much  of  their 
early  training  these  and  others  of  the  early  members  of  this  college 
owe,  indirectly,  of  course,  to  Dr.  Witt  and  his  associates. 
Daniel  Geissler,  the  early  companion  of  Dr.  Witt,  died  in  1745, 
and  was  buried  in  a  plot  of  ground  set  apart  by  Dr.  Witt  and  the 
Warmer  family  as  a  burial  plot.  The  now  aged  and  lonely  Doctor 
continued  to  live  alone  in  the  large  stone  house,  attended  only  by 
his  mulatto  servant. 
In  1759  Dr.  "Witt,  now  in  his  85th  year,  was  stricken  with  an 
affection  of  his  eyes  and  gradually  became  blind.  Despite  this  af- 
fliction he  still  appears  to  have,  been  a  very  active  man,  and  on  sev- 
eral occasions  undertook  long  trips  to  gather  seeds  and  plants  or  to 
visit  his  friends.  In  1761,  when  86  years  of  age,  he  visited  John 
Bartram  at  his  house  in  Kingsessing,  although,  as  the  latter  says  in 
a  letter  to  Peter  Collinson,  "  He  was  so  blind  that  he  could  not  dis- 
tinguish a  leaf  from  a  flower." 
When  we  consider  the  distance  from  Germantown  to  Kingsessing, 
the  necessarily  poor  roads  and  the  primitive  methods  of  convey- 
ance, this  was  indeed  quite  a  feat  for  a  man  of  his  years  and  afflic- 
tion to  accomplish. 
Peter  Collinson,  writing  in  1759,  says:  "  I  am  concerned  to  hear 
poor  Dr.  Witt,  my  old  friend,  is  blind.  A  well-spent  life,  I  doubt 
not,  will  give  him  consolation  and  illuminate  his  darkness." 
Of  the  remaining  years  of  Dr.  Witt  but  little  is  known.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  he  lived  contented  and  well  looked  after  by 
his  negro  slave  and  the  descendants  of  his  old  friend  Warmer.  Dr. 
