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OBITUARY. 
Stephane  Robinet,  pharraacien,  of  Paris,  died  on  the  of  December, 
in  the  seventy-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  was  born  at  Paris,  on  the  6th 
of  December,  1796.  He  commenced  his  education  in  that  city,  but  was 
afterwards  sent  by  his  parents  to  Germany,  where  he  became  master  of 
the  German  language.  Subsequently  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
pharmacy.  He  was  a  pupil  of  Pelletier,  and  afterwards  of  Yauquelin,  in 
whose  laboratory  he  finished  his,  studies  in  1814,  and  after  his  examina- 
tion opened  a  shop  in  Paris,  which  he  subsequently  abandoned  to  devote 
himself  entirely  to  science. 
M.  Robinet  was  the  author  of  numerous  papers  relating  to  pharmacy 
in  earlier  life,  and  of  several  translations  from  the  German.  He  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Journal  de  Chimie  Medicate,  de  Pharmacie  et  de 
Toxicologie,  now  in  its  46th  year.  After  1836  he  devoted  much  time  to 
agriculture,  and  especially  to  sericulture,  in  its  relations  to  science,  in 
which  he  appears  to  have  been  very  useful  to  the  silk  growers. 
M.  Robinet  was  an  officer  of  the  Legion  dlionneur,  a  member  of  the 
Imperial  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  of  the  Societe  de  Pharmacie,  of 
which  he  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  members,  and  of  various  other 
French  and  foreign  learned  societies.  The  latter  part  of  his  life,  when 
not  occupied  in  public  matters,  he  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  waters  of 
France,  and  has  left  an  unfinished  work  on  this  subject. 
As  a  pharmaceutist  Robinet  was  an  uncompromising  enemy  of  em- 
piricism ;  he  believed  that  pharmacy  should  be  practised  only  by  those 
who  had  bought  the  right  by  primary  education,  examination  and  the 
diploma,  but  admitted,  nevertheless,  that  a  ruinous  competition  had  forced 
the  pharmaceutist  to  be  a  merchant  to  be  able  to  live.  M.  Robinet  was 
a  representative  man  in  French  pharmacy  ;  he  was  a  delegate  to  and 
officer  of  all  the  International  Pharmaceutical  Congresses,  being  Secre- 
tary of  that  at  Paris  in  1867.  As  a  public  speaker  Robinet  was  eloquent 
and  dignified,  with  great  animation  ;  he  was  quick  at  catching  the  public 
expression,  and  made  an  excellent  Secretary.  His  urbanity  and  polite- 
ness were  always  uppermost,  and  when  he  had  to  say  hard  things  he  did 
it  in  a  way  not  to  wound.  It  was  our  good  fortune  to  receive  his  kind 
offices,  on  the  occasion  last  mentioned,  in  various  ways,  and  at  his  resi- 
dence, 3  rue  de  I'Abbaye  Si.  Germaine,  the  scene  of  his  labors  for  science. 
During  his  visit  to  Vienna,  in  September  last,  as  a  delegate  to  the 
third  Congress,  he  contracted  a  cold  that  resulted  in  his  death. 
Richard  B.  Giles,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society 
of  Great  Britain,  died  on  the  5th  of  January,  at  Clifton,  in  his  78th  year, 
having  been  born  on  the  14th  of  June,  1792,  at  Tewkesbury,  He  was 
much  esteemed  by  his  fellow  members."  He  had  the  most  unbounded 
veneration  for  those  who  were  active  promoters  of  the  establishment  of 
the  Pharmaceutical  Society.  He  was  eager  to  cooperate  in  every  move- 
ment for  the  advancement  of  Pharmacy,  and  so  late  as  September  last 
took  part  in  inaugurating  a  new  Local  Association." 
