Am.  Jonr.  Pharm.  ) 
October,  19u9.  ] 
Thomas  S.  Wiegand. 
503 
the  firm  of  Wiegand  and  Snowden,  manufacturers  of  instruments 
and  extensive  dealers  in  surgical  supplies.  His  father  took  an 
active  part  in  the  financial  and  public  affairs  of  the  city  and  was  for 
many  years  the  president  of  the  Western  Saving  Fund  Society. 
At  an  early  age,  Thomas  was  sent  to  the  school  kept  by  Richard 
W.  Green,  who  was  the  author  of  one  of  the  earliest  and  popular 
school  books  on  etymology.  He  next  attended  the  school  of  James 
Crowell,  who  was  noted  as  a  teacher  of  English  grammar  and 
arithmetic,  and  here  he  received  a  thorough  grounding  in  these  ele- 
mentary studies.  Later  he  entered  the  Classical  Institute  and  Pre- 
paratory School  of  Joseph  P.  Engles  and  also  studied  French  with 
a  private  tutor  of  that  language.  He  was  an  apt  scholar  and  availed 
himself  of  the  advantage  of  having  competent  and  thorough  teachers. 
He  applied  himself  energetically  to  his  studies,  and  the  avidity  with 
which  he  acquired  knowledge  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  at  thirteen 
years  of  age  he  was  declared  by  his  masters  to  be  fitted  for  entrance 
into  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  A  university  education  was 
the  ambition  of  his  youth,  but,  just  at  this  time,  his  father  met  with 
a  serious  financial  loss  and  this  privilege  was  denied  him.  He  never 
forgot  this  disappointment  to  his  early  plans  and  ambitions. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  entered  the  employ  of  Haskell 
and  Merrick,  then  engaged  in  the  wholesale  drug  business  on. 
Market  Street  near  Fifth,  as  an  apprentice.  He  remained  with  this 
firm  until  1845,  an<^  while  in  their  employ  he  attended  the  Philadel- 
phia College  of  Pharmacy  and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1844. 
His  thesis  was  entitled,  "  An  Examination  of  Aristolochia  Reticu- 
lata," and  it  is  said  to  have  been  largely  through  his  work  and 
writings  that  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  recognized  the  "  Texas " 
serpentaria  as  an  official  source  of  the  drug. 
In  December,  1845,  Thomas  S.  Wiegand  was  appointed  apothe- 
cary to  the  New  York  Naval  Hospital.  This  position  he  held  for 
about  two  years,  and  valued  highly  the  association  during  this  time 
with  his  chief,  the  late  Dr.  W.  S.  W.  Ruschenberger,  the  surgeon 
in  charge.  This  was  an  excellent  opportunity  for  prescription  expe- 
rience and  for  the  development  of  the  pharmaceutical  ability  and 
skill  of  this  young  apothecary.  The  sick  list  at  times  numbered 
nearly  two  hundred  and,  in  addition  to  compounding  the  prescrip- 
tions, it  was  his  duty  to  make  most  of  the  preparations  used  in  the 
hospital,  as  well  as  many  of  the  medical  supplies  for  the  naval, 
vessels  fitted  out  at  the  port. 
