38o 
Professor  Joseph  P.  Remington. 
/Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\      August,  1905. 
of  mind.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  suffered  the  loss  of  his  father, 
whose  death  at  this  time  compelled  him  to  change  his  plans  regard- 
ing his  education.  There  was  no  doubt  as  to  the  line  of  work  for 
which  he  was  best  adapted,  although  many  of  his  friends  and  rela- 
tives at  that  time  wished  him  to  take  up  his  father's  profession  and 
become  a  physician.  In  this  discussion  he  had  his  own  way,  and  he 
was  allowed  to  begin  the  study  of  pharmacy,  his  argument  being 
that  the  best  way  to  become  a  good  physician  was  first  to  become  a 
good  pharmacist.  He  thus  gained  his  point,  and  while  medicine 
may  have  lost  a  shining  light,  pharmacy  has  acquired  a  new  con- 
stellation, in  which  he  is  the  central  moving  force. 
On  January  I,  1863,  Joseph  P.  Remington  began  his  apprentice- 
ship whereby  he  was  to  learn  the  art  and  mystery  of  the  apothecary 
business.  The  store  selected  was  that  of  Charles  Ellis,  Son  &  Co., 
the  selection  being  made  by  Mr.  Henry  M.  Troth,  the  son  of  Henry 
Troth,  who  played  such  a  prominent  part  in  the  early  affairs  of  the 
Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.  Mr.  Troth  was  the  brother-in- 
law  of  Professor  Remington,  and  it  was  through  him  that  Charles 
Ellis,  the  head  of  the  firm,  who  was  at  that  time  the  president  of 
the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  took  more  than  ordinary 
interest  in  the  young  apprentice.  In  those  days  the  apprenticeship 
to  the  drug  business  did  not  consist  in  selling  postage  stamps  and 
serving  soda-water,  and  the  business  of  Charles  Ellis,  Son  &  Co.  at 
that  time  embraced  an  unusually  wide  range  of  work,  including  the 
spreading  of  adhesive  plasters  and  the  manufacture  of  many  phar- 
maceutical preparations  on  a  large  scale. 
During  his  term  of  apprenticeship  Prof.  Remington  attended  the  lec- 
tures at  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  and  the  degree  of  Grad- 
uate in  Pharmacy  was  conferred  upon  him  at  the  Commencement  of 
the  College  held  in  1866.  On  January  1, 1867,  Professor  Remington 
entered  the  service  of  Dr.  E.  R.  Squibb,  who  was  probably  the  most 
painstaking  and  conscientious  member  of  the  pharmaceutical  profes- 
sion in  this  country.  Professor  Remington  entered  Dr.  Squibb's  family 
and  made  his  home  with  them  for  nearly  three  years ;  during  which 
time  he  acquired  a  practical  knowledge  of  analytical  and  manufac- 
turing work,  which  was  rendered  doubly  valuable  by  the  daily  dis- 
cussions with  his  preceptor,  and  the  interest  which  Dr.  Squibb  took 
in  his  pupil.  Professor  Remington's  special  duties  during  the  latter 
part  of  this  period  embraced  the  manufacture  of  chemical  salts* 
