Obituary, 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
July,  1880. 
everything  which  is  in  daily  consumption  should  be  free  from  noxious  properties  is 
too  evideut  to  admit  of  discussion,  and  the  processes  necessary  to  determine  the 
suitability  of  water  for  potable  use  are  so  clearly  explained  that  the  decision  is  now 
no  longer  a  matter  of  doubt  if  any  intelligent  person  accustomed  but  slightly  to 
qualitative  analysis  attends  to  the  subject. 
OBITUARY. 
John  William  Neergaard  died  on  the  25th  of  May,  in  New  York,  at  the  age 
of  a  little  over  70  years,  being  one  of  the  oldest  and  longest  established  apotheca?- 
ries  in  that  city. 
Born  on  the  z-^d  of  April,  1810,  at  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  he  became  appren- 
ticed to  an  apothecary  in  Bogeuse,  passed  the  examination  as  assistant  in  1828, 
and  as  apothecary  in  1831.  After  having  served  as  a  clerk  in  Denmark  and  in 
Schleswig,  then  a  Danish  province,  he  established  himself  in  business  in  Kjerte 
minde,  on  the  Island  of  Fuehnen,  in  1837  5  two  years  later  he  disposed  of  his  busi- 
ness, and,  in  1840,  emigrated  to  New  York,  where  he  soon  after  his  arrival  opened 
a  drug  store  in  Pearl  street,  and  kept  it  for  fifteen  years  5  during  this  time  he 
attended  lectures  and  graduated  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons.  In 
1855  Dr.  Neergaard  went  into  partnership  with  his  friend,  Mr.  John  W.  Shedden, 
at  the  corner  of  Bowery  and  Fourth  street.  New  York  city  ;  three  years  later  they 
opened  a  new  store  on  the  corner  of  Broadway  and  Twenty-eighth  streets,  which 
soon  afterwards,  by  mutual  agreement,  was  owned  and  conducted,  to  the  end  of  his 
life,  by  Dr.  Neergaard,  and  where  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  enjoyed 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  community. 
Dr.  Neergarrd  was  a  worthy  representative  man  of  his  profession,  and  of  that 
more  and  more  disappearing  generation  of  piiarmacists  who  embraced  pharmacy 
when  it  stood  highest  among  the  applied  physical  sciences  and  arts  j  the  well- 
directed  home  and  school  education,  the  long  and  strict  apprenticeship  in  the  store 
and  in  the  well  appointed  laboratory,  with  its  rigorous  but  thoroughly  instructive 
and  fascinating  application  and  patient  methods,  was  the  true  and  sole  foundation 
of  and  highroad  to  his  future  proficiency  and  attainments.  The  high  aims  and 
principles,  studious  and  persistent  habits,  the  keen  sense  of  duty  contracted  there, 
shaped  for  life  his  character  and  impressed  upon  it  that  sterling  solidity  and  uncom- 
promising integrity  for  which  Dr.  Neergaard  was  justly  appreciated  and  respected. 
A  man  of  genial  and  retiring  disposition,  and  of  true  modesty,  he  was  strict  in 
the  performance  of  his  duties,  in  tiie  maintenance  and  elevation  of  the  status  and 
dignity  of  his  profession,  sincere  in  purpose  and  actions,  and  amiable  to  those  whom 
he  honored  with  his  friendship.  He  scorned  sophistry,  ostentation  and  vanity,  was 
an  observer  more  than  a  talker,  a  man  of  large  knowledge  and  ripe  experience,, 
which  he  well  and  usefully  applied  in  his  daily  work  during  a  long  and  active 
career  5  yet  he  never  aspired  to  literary  fame  or  public  honors. 
Dr.  Neergaard  joined  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association  in  1859,  and 
was  a  member  and  honorary  member  of  several  pharmaceutical  colleges'  and 
societies.  F.  H. 
