Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
Feb.  1875. 
Obituaries, 
95 
cated  at  the  Emmittsburg  Seminary,  and  commenced  business  at  the  early  age  of 
eighteen,  but  soon  after  lost,  by  fire,  his  entire  stock  and  fixtures,  upon  which  there 
was  no  insurance.  Aided  by  some  friends,  he  soon  re-established  himself,  and  by 
his  undaunted  energy,  industry  and  economy,  he  was  enabled  to  repay  the  advances 
and,  in  1823,  to  retire  from  business  wath  what  was  then  considered  a  competency. 
Having  married,  in  1825,  Miss  Guillou,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  likewise  the  off- 
spring of  French  refugees,  he  visited  Europe,  in  1829,  for  the  third  time,  and  studied 
pharmacy  and  chemistry  under  the  celebrated  teachers  at  Paris.  After  his  return  to 
this  country  he  visited  the  West,  extending  his  tour  to  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans^ 
and  finally  settled  at  New  York  city,  where,  in  the  fall  of  1830,  he  opened  a  drug 
store  on  the  the  northeast  corner  of  Maiden  Lane  and  Broadway,  where  subsequently- 
the  Howard  Hotel  was  located.  In  the  following  year,  he  moved  opposite  to  No. 
183  Broadway,  which  property  he  afterwards  purchased,  and  where  the  business, 
established  by  him,  is  still  carried  on  by  his  sons.  The  many  improvements  he  made 
to  the  building  and  store  were  all  of  a  substantial  character,  without  exhibiting  a 
craving  for  what  may  be  called  the  drawing-room  style  of  some  pharmacies  of  the 
present  time.  He  placed  in  his  store  the  first  marble-floor  ever  laid  in  New  York 
city,  outside  of  the  public  buildings,  and  subsequently  added  two  stories,  an  iron 
front  and  other  improvements  and  conveniences.  In  1869,  he  retired  from  active 
business  life,  having  lost  the  use  of  his  right  arm  by  a  fall,  and  lived  in  retirement 
to  within  a  few  weeks  of  his  golden  wedding,  which  would  have  occurred  on  the 
tenth  of  Frebruary  5  his  wife,  the  faithful  companion  during  half  a  century,  and 
four  sons  surviving  him. 
Mr.  Milhau,  although  not  a  writer  on  pharmaceutical  matters,  has  done  valuable 
and  lasting  service  to  the  cause  of  pharmacy  in  this  country.  On  settling  in  New 
York,  he  at  once  identified  himself  with  the  recently  established  College  of  Phar- 
macy, and  was  one  of  the  charter-members  in  1831  5  he  served  for  a  long  period  as 
Vice-President  and  President,  and  retained  a  lively  interest  in  its  welfare.  The  con- 
dition of  the  drug-market  attracted  his  attention  at  an  early  date,  and  the  fact  that 
inferior  and  worthless  drugs  were  abundant  in  this  country,  being  often  manufac- 
tured in  Europe  especially  for  the  American  market,  suggested  to  him  the  idea  of 
excluding  this  evil,  and  the  passage  of  the  U.  S.  drug  law  of  1848  is  mainly  due  to 
his  persistent  and  conscientious  efforts. 
The  subject  of  uniform  and  correct  standards  for  the  guidance  of  the  special  ex- 
aminers of  drugs  and  medicines,  appointed  under  that  law,  induced  the  New  York 
College  of  Pharmacy  to  call  a  convention  of  delegates  of  the  colleges  of  pharmacy 
in  the  United  States,  which  met  in  that  city,  October  15th,  1851,  and  one  of  the 
fruits  of  which  was  the  organization  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association 
in  Philadelphia,  in  October,  1852.  Mr.  Milhau  joined  the  Association  in  1855  j 
served  as  its  first  Vice-President  for  the  term  1862-63,  and  as  President,  in  i?,6j-6'S,, 
in  which  latter  capacity  he  presented,  at  the  meeting  of  1868,  an  address  which  is 
full  of  sound  observation  and  good  advice,  embodying  some  of  the  views  matured 
during  a  long  life  of  activity  and  usefulness. 
Highly  respected  as  a  citizen,  Mr.  Milhau  acted  for  many  years  as  one  of  the 
Trustees  of  the  Emigrant  Industrial  Savings  Bank  and  of  the  Bowery  Savings  Bank, 
and  in  the  memorable  litigation  which  prevented  the  speculative  companies  from  en- 
