,100
BII93W
  1865

^ a A a a i* A\. K/v> A *,
4T
tf&fr*
vAa£.*A^h
*»*a^a*iim*a


^^'^Aa,
v*W~flAA^©A;
3-        ^W„yv,
&&M&&
-".^Ci

H*f'
!%■';

&kkf
w
'r^'A.

Ba^
(VAAAa/^^'a,
w%		ftTTfv)V'T		9Sl*l&
	Rtt^^SiiSK 2W			SI ■'?■
otS		SKEE'T?		
	w			
(SOS		"TrrNp^!		hSF'9 if
i^A^Mfe' 
Surgeon  General's Office
#.v
)<d mm\ cny \Mk ^nxlOTl
isec/tcn,.......................................
«&9*?
0j6QQQ<3QjQQ0Q.(JQ0Q><3QOQ>O&&
WSb

 
\
N 
'AVF.P nrJtJfRTTCH/E FROM A DAGtlKR.
^~^£^X/CZ£ ■*  '  X»—^>-^^■.. ^ 
BIOGRAPHICAL   MEMOIR
FRANKLIN   BACHE, M.D.,

                    PREPARED


      AT THE REQUEST OF THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS
                 OF PHILADELPHIA,

                     AND

    READ BEFORE THE COLLEGE, MAY 3d AND JUNK  7th. isr.5,
           BY

GEORGE  B. WOOD, M.D.,
      PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGK.
PRINTED BY ORDER OE THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS.
        ^V7ft
     PHILADELPHIA:
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
          1865. 
 I oo
Bus-aW
h'/*»'- Nt  6*-2  nex j 
      BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR

                   OF

DR.  FRANKLIN   BACHE.
  The duty assigned me by the College of Physicians
of preparing a biographical memoir of their deceased
Vice-president, Dr. Franklin Bache, is a  very grateful
one.   I have felt that our long intimacy and friendship
demanded of me  such a tribute to his memory; yet,
without an  invitation of this kind, I might have  hesi-
tated, under the fear of rendering myself liable to the
imputation of officiousness.  At present, my only doubt
on the subject is  one arising from the very closeness of
our former association.  Not only in our social relations,
but in much also of our practical life, we  have been so
intimately  connected;  so  much of our time  has  been
spent together, and so much of our work has been in
common;  that  it will  be  impossible to give a faithful
picture of our departed friend, without bringing myself
more frequently on the stage than may seem consistent
with a becoming modesty.   But I trust that the Fellows
of the College will be prepared  to make all due  allow-
ances, and to ascribe to  a simple wish to  present the
                          1 
4
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
truth accurately, whatever I may be required to say of
the joint pursuits of the deceased and myself.
  It will be  difficult to compress, within  the limits
usually ascribed to memoirs like the present,  all  that
will be necessary to give a faithful picture of  the  life
of Dr. Bache  in its various relations;  but I shall en-
deavour  to  be  as  concise as  will  be consistent with
justice to the subject, avoiding  minute  detail unless
when needful for the illustration of character, or pecu-
liarly interesting in itself; and referring but briefly to
certain circumstances in his history which may  be more
appropriately presented in another memoir, the prepara-
tion of which has been committed to me by the Amer-
ican Philosophical Society.
  Dr. Bache was the great-grandson of Benjamin Frank-
lin, and the eldest in the  regular line of descent from
that great philosopher,  statesman, and philanthropist.
His  grandfather, Richard  Bache, born  in England in
September, 1737, emigrated while yet a young  man to
Pennsylvania, and married Sarah, the only daughter of
Dr. Franklin,  in October, 1767.  While in England, in
the year 1853, the late  Dr. Bache and  myself  made  a
visit together to the Cathedral  at Chester, where his
attention  was particularly attracted to  the  repeated
occurrence of the  name of  Bache  among  the monu-
mental  inscriptions.   We learned that the name be-
longed to a family resident in  the neighbourhood;  and
my  companion  thought it highly probable  that  they
were related to his own, as the home of his grandfather 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
5
had been  near Preston, in Lancashire, at no great dis-
tance from Chester.  I mention this incident as tending
to show that his  paternal ancestors  ranked with the
gentry of England.
  The oldest child of the marriage just referred to was
Benjamin Franklin Bache, the father of the subject of
this  memoir, who  was born in August, 1769, and mar-
ried  in November, 1791, in his twenty-third year, Mar-
garet Hartman Markoe, descended through her  father
from Peter Markoe, and through her mother from Isaac
Hartman, names  distinguished in the social annals of
our  city.   Benjamin  Franklin  Bache  was  educated
under the eye of his grandfather, Dr. Franklin, while
minister of the United States  in France, who gave him
the best opportunities Europe  afforded, and caused him
to be instructed, not only in the usual knowledge of the
schools, but in all the  accomplishments then considered
as entering into the idea of a finished gentleman.   On
returning  to  America, he  soon  entered  the  political
arena, established the Aurora  Newspaper in the interest
of the Democratic party, and, considering his own quali-
fications,  the prestige of his descent, and the success
and  long predominance of his party, would  probably,
had  he lived, attained -a most distinguished position in
the government of the country.  But he was cut off at
an early  age, dying of the yellow fever in September,
1798, in  his thirtieth year, and leaving a widow  with
four sons, the eldest of whom was the late Dr. Franklin
Bache, and the  youngest Hartman Bache, now Colonel 
6
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
in the U.  States Corps of Engineers.  In the  care  of
her young family, the mother was aided by her second
husband, William Duane, who had succeeded Mr. Bache
in the editorship of the Aurora, and of  whose kindly
interest in their welfare, I  have heard  my lamented
friend speak in warm terms.
  Dr. Bache was born  on the 25th of October, 1792,  in
a house built and owned by Dr. Franklin, on the south
side of Market Street, between Third and Fourth Streets,
in the vicinity of Dr. Franklin's own residence, and, as I
have been informed, in that also of the dwelling which
had  been  occupied  by Mr.  Read,  the father  of Mrs.
Franklin.  From the time  of his birth to  that of his
decease, with the exception of the few years spent as a
medical officer in  the  service of  the  United States, he
resided  in Philadelphia, where he  received both his
ordinary and  professional  education,  and which, with
the exception  alluded to, was throughout life the scene
of his labours.  In  childhood and youth, however, he
passed much of the summer, during the vacation of the
schools, at  the  residence of his paternal grandfather,
Richard Bache, situated on the Pennsylvania side of the
River Delaware, a few  miles below Bristol.  He used  to
speak, with not a little  zest, of the enjoyments of those
rural visits; and there can be little doubt that the sports
of boyhood in the pure air of the country, with the  at-
tendant  relaxation from  mental effort, contributed  to
give that  healthful vigour to his constitution, which
enabled it to  support the wearing effect  of the seden- 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.               7
tary labour that occupied so large a portion of his sub-
sequent life.
  Contrary to what might  be  supposed by those who
knew him only in middle  and advanced  age, he was
when young very fond of athletic exercises, and, indeed,
excelled in them;  so that there were  few more rapid
walkers, or better leapers, swimmers, or skaters than he ;
and the fact  is told of him, that, at the age of twelve,
he  swam across  the Delaware  near his grandfather's
house, though, on  reaching the opposite bank, he  was
so much exhausted as to be compelled to return in a
ferry-boat.
  In his early classical studies, he was a  pupil in the
academy of  the  Rev. Samuel  B. Wylie, D.D., so long
and so creditably known as a teacher of the Latin  and
Greek languages, under whose care he was prepared for
the University.   An anecdote has been told of him, in
connection with  this  school, so  strongly characteristic
that it is worthy of repetition here.  The rod was much
more used at that time as an instrument of  education
than it now is.  For some breach of discipline, young
Bache was called up for chastisement;  and being asked
what, in his own opinion, he merited for his offence,  he
replied "it is not for me to dictate;" an answer which
so much pleased Dr. Wylie  that he remitted the punish-
ment altogether.   Few features of his character as a
man were more decided than the one  here displayed in
early youth; a love of precision, namely, which required
that everything should be in its proper  place, and which 
8
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
in this instance taught him, as if intuitively, that it is
the duty of the judge, and not of the culprit, to assign the
punishment of an offence.   But the anecdote tells also
something more.   It intimates a very favourable opinion
of the  pupil on the  part of the teacher, who felt that
he might  safely  appeal to  the  judgment and  conscien-
tiousness of the  offender in  his own case.  The  anec-
dote  was told by Dr. Wylie  himself, then Professor of
languages  in the  University of Pennsylvania, to  a son
of Dr. Bache, on his  examination for admission into
the Freshman Class.   On  leaving the academy of Dr.
Wylie, Dr. Bache  entered the University, where he went
through a  regular course of study in the Department
of Arts, and graduated  as Bachelor at the commence-
ment in 1810, delivering the valedictory oration on the
occasion.
  Having determined to adopt the Medical Profession,
he commenced  his studies as the private  pupil of Dr.
Benjamin  Rush, then Professor of the Theory and Prac-
tice of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, and
remained in the  same office during the whole period of
his studentship;  though, in consequence of the decease
of the Professor, the duty of superintending the studies
of his office pupils devolved on his son, the present Dr.
James  Rush.  After matriculation in the  University,
he attended  lectures in that  Institution  for the pre-
scribed  period, and  received the  degree  of Doctor  of
Medicine in the year 1814.  I have seldom heard him
speak of this portion of his life, and have learned little 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.                9
or nothing from  others;  so that  it  probably passed
without  remarkable  incident, occupied  by  a regular
routine of  study,  which  left few foot-prints in  the
memory,  except those  of steadily increasing profes-
sional knowledge.   This,  however, is  not  exactly true
of the period of his pupilage immediately preceding its
close.
   It was  while he was engaged  in his medical studies
that the war broke out between the United States and
Great Britain.  Wishing  to aid his country to the best
of his ability, without waiting till the full completion
of his studies, he offered  his services  in a medical ca-
pacity, and was entered  as surgeon's  mate in the 32d
Regiment of infantry, so  early as May 17th, 1813*   It
is to be  presumed  that the  authorities considered  the
interests  of the service as likely to be best  subserved
by permitting him to finish his studies before ordering
him  on distant duty; as it  was not till some months
after  this date that he was examined for his degree,
and received the diploma of the school.  He has more
than  once informed me that he was never actually en-
gaged in battle; but, after his graduation, he was sent
to the frontier, where he served for a considerable time,
remaining with the same regiment until the close of
the war.   In the  arrangements of the  army, after peace
 was  established, he was retained  as surgeon  of the 2d
 Regiment of infantry; but,  having higher professional
   * He afterwards became surgeon in the same  regiment. {Dr. Bache's
 Memoranda.) 
10
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
 aspirations than were likely to be gratified by remain-
 ing in the army, now that his country no longer needed
 his services, he resigned  July 1st,  1816,  in order to
 engage in the private practice  of his profession in his
 native  city.  His  last place of military  service,  as  I
 have been informed by  Colonel  Bache, was  Sackett's
 Harbour.
   On his  way homeward  from  the  North, an incident
 occurred, which I have heard him speak  of as  among
 the freaks of his earlier life, and which  may be related
 here as a  proof that, beneath the remarkable  placidity
 of  temper that  characterized him beyond  most others,
 there lurked a  spark, which required only fit occasion
 to  blaze out into energetic  action.    With  other  pas-
 sengers, one or  more of whom  were  of  the  softer  sex,
 he  was travelling in a stage-coach from New York to
 Philadelphia, when, at a  part  of the road somewhat
 beyond Princeton,  he noticed that the  driver was in-
 toxicated, and, from his mode of managing the horses,
 apprehended that some mischief might ensue.  After
 remonstrating with  the  man without effect,  at least
 without other effect than  impertinent replies, he by a
 powerful muscular effort unseated him, got possession
 of the lines, and  drove the  coach himself safely  into
 Princeton.   Whether the  dispossessed  coachman  was
 taken into the town with  them, or left upon the road,
I do not remember; but, considering the Doctor's great
kindliness of disposition, the  former  event is  the more
probable. 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
11
  Though no longer officially connected with the army,
he was, for several years after having engaged in prac-
tice  in Philadelphia, occasionally employed in certain
military duties, as, for  example, in  the examination of
recruits,  and in  attendance  on army-officers stationed
in the city who  might  require  medical  aid,  and was
thus enabled to eke out a very inadequate income, while
awaiting the lingering  approach of  professional success.
In  this  service he was still engaged when I first made
his  acquaintance; and  I well remember, in my visits
to his office, now and  then finding him with  a recruit
under examination.
   At  a very early period of his professional  life, Dr.
Bache's  attention seems to have  been  especially  at-
tracted  to the science of Chemistry, which is well cal-
culated  to take a strong  hold on the partiality of a man
of his mental characteristics.*   There is in its accuracy,
the precision of its formulas and rationales, its demon-
 strative  character,  and  its  highly important  practical
 results, a peculiar adaptedness  to the love  of the true,
 the methodical,  the certain, and the useful, which was
 so  prominent in his moral nature.   He accordingly de-
 voted much time to this science,  mastered its principles
  * His predilection for chemistry showed itself very soon after the com-
mencement of his medical studies.  I have found, in looking over some of
his memoranda kindly furnished me by his son, Dr. T. Hewson Bache, that,
so early as some time in 1811, he published in the Aurora Newspaper an
es^ay « on the probable composition of muriatic acid ;" and in the course of
1813  while still a student, communicated three chemical papers to  the
"Memoirs of the Columbia Chemical Society of Philadelphia," an octavo
volume containing 221 pages. 
12
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
and most of its details, and particularly attached  him-
self to the at that time new doctrine of chemical equiv-
alents, with which he became thoroughly conversant,
and which he was  among  the  first in  this country to
adopt unreservedly, and to aid  in bringing into general
acceptance.  His devotion to the science soon found ex-
pression in a Treatise on Chemistry, which he must have
begun  to  prepare soon after his return from the army,
and published in 1819.  Of the character of this work
I may have occasion to say something elsewhere.   Its
success was not very encouraging to the young author;
and, in the face of so  much  competition  as even  then
existed, without the support of an established name or
business-influence,  and  labouring  under the disadvant-
ages which the want of an international copy-right law
inflicts on American authorship, it could scarcely be
expected   to be successful,  however great might be its
merits.   It never went through more  than one edition.
In after times, when he had become known both as an
author and teacher, I  often urged upon him  either to
revise this treatise, or prepare a new one for publica-
tion, having no doubt that it  would prove eminently
successful, and  contribute both to his reputation and in-
come; and at one time he yielded so far to my  instances
as to enter upon the task, and prepared an amount of
manuscript, which he supposed would yield one hundred
printed pages.   But, whether unable to overcome a dis-
taste arising from his early disappointment, or unwilling
to spare sufficient time from other avocations,  he prose- 
DR. FRANKLIN  BACHE.                 13
cuted the work no further at the time, and could never
afterwards  be induced to resume it.*
   His first attempt at lecturing was in the same direc-
tion.  The lectures were on the subject  of Chemistry,
and, as  I was informed  by  his brother, Colonel Bache,
were delivered, about the year 1821, to a class consisting
exclusively of his brothers, sisters, and other members of
his  family.   They were  afterwards repeated, on a some-
what larger stage, to  the private pupils of Dr. Thos. T.
Hewson, who, deeming  it advisable to follow  the cus-
tom, then beginning to prevail, of adding  lectures to the
former method of office-instruction, engaged the services
of his young  friend Dr. Bache in this branch of medical
science;  about the  same time, I believe,  that Dr. J. K.
Mitchell was  lecturing  on the same subject to the  stu-
dents of Dr. Chapman, and  the writer of  this memoir to
those of Dr. Parrish.   It may not  be amiss to  state, in
this place,  that Dr.  Hewson  always exhibited a friendly
interest  in Dr. Bache, not only opening  for him,  as in
  * Besides writing his Treatise on Chemistry, Dr. Bache, jointly with Dr.
Hare, edited, a.d. 1821, the first American edition of lire's Dictionary of
Chemistry; wrote a supplement, a.d. 1823, to Henry's  Chemistry,  con-
stituting a third though a thin volume in the edition of that work published
by De Silver; edited, a.d. 1825, a System  of Pyrotechny, by Dr. James
Cutbush,  who died immediately after he had completed  the manuscript;
edited, a.d. 1830, 1832, 1835, and 1840, four successive editions of Turner's
Chemistry; and wrote, a.d. 1834, for the "American  Cyclopaedia of Medi-
cine and  Surgery," edited by Dr. Isaac  Hays, of which only two volumes
were published, the articles on Acetates, Acetic Acid, Acids,  Acupunc-
ture, Albumen, Alcohol, Alkalies, Alum, Alumina, Amber, and  Ammonia
in the first volume, and on Antidotes, Antimony, Aspartic Acid, and Atomic
Theory in the second.  [Dr. Bache's Memoranda.) 
14
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
the present instance, paths for the exertion of his abili-
ties, but  seizing whatever opportunities offered them-
selves for promoting his professional welfare.   Of these
friendly  offices Dr. Bache ever  showed  himself highly
sensible,  as evinced, among other proofs, by giving his
name to  his son, the present  Dr. Thos. Hewson Bache,
and by the dedication  to  him, in part, of the earlier
editions of the U. S. Dispensatory.
   While upon the  subject of lecturing, it will be most
convenient, without turning  aside  to  other matters of
record, to pursue this line of our biography to the  end.
The first public  appointment of  Dr. Bache as  a lecturer
was to the  Professorship of Chemistry in the  Franklin
Institute, which  took  place  in 1826.  This  chair he
continued  to  hold, giving  annually,  in  the winter, an
elementary course, without special relation  to medicine,
till the year 1832, when he resigned  it,  in  order to ac-
cept what he considered a more eligible  position in the
School of Pharmacy.
   In the  mean  time, however, his  field  of exertion, in
this capacity, was  enlarged  by another appointment,
which, as its duties  were to be performed in the warmer
seasons, did not  interfere with the  exercise of his pro-
fessorial function.  In  the year 1830, two associations
were organized  for the  instruction  of medical  pupils,
upon a combined system of lectures and examinations,
which at that  time had  become the prevalent method of
private medical  tuition in  this  city.   It was attended
with two great  advantages;  first,  that  the pupil was 
DR. FRANKLIN  BACHE.
15
much  more  thoroughly  educated  than  before,  and,
secondly, that a  set  of teachers was thus formed, from
among whom our great public schools were  afterwards
supplied with tried  and  trained Professors, by whose
instrumentality  the  former pre-eminence  of Philadel-
phia, as a  seat of medical instruction, has been main-
tained  to  the  present time.   The  two  combinations
referred to were distinguished  by the names of the As-
sociation for Medical Instruction and the School of Medi-
cine. In the former  of these, in which the writer taught
Materia Medica, Dr. Bache  was the Lecturer on Chem-
istry, in  the latter Dr. Ch.  D. Meigs  on Obstetrics.*
 Each of these bodies had desired to secure the co-opera-
 tion of both of the  gentlemen named; but as they were
 already engaged  as  members of  their respective schools,
 the object could be accomplished only by an interchange
 of services;  and this was accordingly agreed upon; the
 pupils of the School of Medicine being admitted to the
 course of Dr. Bache on Chemistry, and those of the As-
 sociation to  that of Dr. Meigs on Midwifery.   This ar-
 rangement continued  in  operation  about  five  or six
 years, during which Dr.  Bache  gave  two  courses  of
  * The Association for Medical Instruction consisted of Dr. Jos. Par-
ish who lectured on the Practice of Medicine, Dr. Franklin Bache on
Chemistry, Dr. J. Rhea Barton on Surgery, Dr. Geo B Wood on Materia
Medica and Dr. Samuel G. Morton on Anatomy;  the School of Medicine,
of Dr Vm. Gibson on the Principles of Surgery, Dr. J. Randolph on
Operative Surgery, Dr. 0. D. Meigs on  Midwifery, Dr. B. H Coaxes on
the Practice  of Medicine, and Dr. R. La  Roche on the  Institutes of
Medicine. 
16
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
 lectures annually, one  in  the colder, the other in the
 warmer season.
   It has been already stated  that he  resigned his posi-
 tion in the Franklin Institute, on being appointed to the
 chair of Chemistry in the Philadelphia College of Phar-
 macy.  This appointment was made in the year 1831,
 on the occasion of the vacation of that chair by myself,
 in order to take  the  Professorship of Materia Medica in
 the  same Institution;  so that  we  were now, and for
 several years continued to be  associated both in  our
 summer and winter teaching.  Dr. Bache held the chair
 in the College of Pharmacy until appointed, in the year
 1841, to the same Professorship in the Jefferson Medical
 College of Philadelphia;  a position  probably,  at  that
 time, scarcely second,  as regards emolument,  to  any
 other of a  similar  character whether  in  the United
 States or  abroad.  This position he continued to  hold
 till his decease.
   Singular as it may  seem, considering  our  long and
 close intimacy, I do not remember that I ever attended
 an ordinary  lecture of Dr.  Bache;  so  that I  cannot,
from personal observation, give an account of his pecu-
liar  qualities  as  a  lecturer.  But,  from my  intimate
knowledge  of the man, I  can  readily picture  him  to
myself  in  the  performance of  his  professorial duty;
and,  from what  I have  learned  from  frequent  conver-
sation with his pupils, I have  no doubt that the follow-
ing sketch will be recognized,  by those who have heard
him, as very near the truth.   In reference to his style 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
17
of lecturing, he was slow and deliberate; correct in the
choice and arrangement of his words, because from long
habit he could scarcely be otherwise; simple and plain,
however, without any  attempt at metaphors  or other
flowers of speech, yet now and then  indulging in a wit-
ticism or stroke of humour,  and sometimes interlarding
the dry details of the  science with a ludicrous  but still
illustrative  anecdote.  As to the matter taught, he was
extremely methodical, clear  in his explanations because
clear in his own conceptions, conscientiously precise in
all his details, and leaving no dark  spot in his subject
unillumined.   In his experimental illustrations  he was
almost invariably successful,  as  he  left  nothing  to
chance, and took care that all the necessary prelimina-
ries of success should  be duly attended to.   Though
lecturing extemporaneously  so far as language was con-
cerned, he  treated of  everything  in its  proper place,
omitting nothing undesignedly; because he studied each
lecture carefully before  delivering it, and  generally per-
formed this duty at night  before retiring, so as  to be
secure against interruptions  in the morning.   His man-
ner had the  earnestness of  conviction, but was never-
theless quiet,  without the least display of warmth or
excitement.  To say all in a few words, he was a plain,
clear, truthful, conscientious, and  eflBcient, but not  a
showy, splendid, or peculiarly attractive lecturer; one
from whose prelections the  student would  retire, with
his thoughts more intent upon the  subject taught than
upon the teacher. 
18
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
   We will now return to a period somewhat anterior to
 the  commencement  of his  career  as  a lecturer  upon
 Chemistry.   About  two years after withdrawing from
 the  army, on the 28th of May, 1818, he was united in
 marriage  with Aglae,  daughter of Jean Dabadie,  a
 highly  respectable  French  merchant,  who  was  then
 living in  Philadelphia, but soon afterwards removed to
 France, where  he died.  His son Albert, half-brother to
 Mrs. Bache,  was  long United States consul at Venice,
 and  now resides at Nice, where  Dr. Bache, who always
 had  a most kindly regard for him,  and gave his  name
 to his youngest son, had the pleasure  of meeting him,
 on our joint visit to Europe in 1853.  This  marriage
 was  a very happy one, though unfortunately  too soon
 broken by death.   Mrs. Bache, as I remember her, was
 a lady of fine countenance  and noble presence,  with
 excellent  moral  qualities,  amiable,  intelligent,  and
judicious,  who diminished for her husband,  by sharing
 them,  the embarrassments  of  an   inadequate  income,
 and, whatever may have been his  troubles abroad, at
 least made his home  happy.  But, most sorrowfully for
 her husband, after bearing with him the burdens of his
 earlier life,  she was  prematurely  carried off  by con-
 sumption,  dying on the 26th of May, 1835, just  about
the period when his  prospects began to brighten;  with
the consolation, however, of  a fair future for  those she
loved, though she herself might not participate in their
better fortunes.   She left him a young family of six
children,  sons and daughters, of whom five  survive. 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
19
The Doctor, though in  the  prime of life when she died,
remained faithful  to  her  memory,  and  was  still  a
widower at the time of his  decease.
  Like most other young medical men who have com-
menced  their professional life in this city, he was very
slow in  obtaining  practice.   Indeed,  though a well-in-
formed and judicious practitioner, he  never won profes-
sional  success  at all proportionate  to his  merits, or  of
itself adequate to the comfortable support of his family.
This may be ascribed chiefly  to two causes.   In the first
place, he was probably not sufficiently on the watch  to
seize those  fugitive opportunities which present them-
selves  in the path  of almost every candidate for success,
and was certainly very deficient in that self-assertion,
which, without waiting for the interference of others,
makes known one's own  claims to a careless public, and
a due degree of which is  almost essential, in the  absence
of  powerful  aid from friends  and connections.  But the
second  cause  was  probably still more operative.   For
great success in the practice of medicine an undivided
attention is necessary.   Medicine is said to be a jealous
mistress, who  requires the entire devotion of her  vota-
ries, and is  alienated by even a suspicion of infidelity.
The public, when observing  an apparent  addiction  to
any other pursuit, is apt to consider the time and energy
given  to this as  so much abstracted from the necessary
requirements,  whether of  the study of medicine as a
science, or its practice as an art,  and to  withhold  its
confidence and patronage accordingly.   Even chemistry,
                           2 
20
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
 closely as it  is allied, and, indeed, essential as it is to
 medicine, is not an exception to this rule;  and  unless
 cultivated obviously and exclusively in subservience to
 the practice  of the healing  art, will be found almost
 invariably to impede  professional progress in a greater
 or less degree.  Dr. Bache was known  from an early
 period of life  to have  addicted himself to this  science,
 and I  have  no doubt experienced  the effects of this
 reputation  in the  limitation of  the  number  of his
 patients.
   He  was  appointed  physician of  the  Walnut  Street
 State-prison in 1824, and of the Eastern Penitentiary at
 Cherry-hill  in 1829, and  continued to serve in  these
 positions  until  1836,  when  his increased  avocations
 rendered  his  resignation necessary.   It  is scarcely re-
 quisite  to say that he  performed # their duties faithfully,
 and satisfactorily to all concerned.   An evidence of the
 conscientiousness with  which he acted is exhibited in the
 earnestness  of his measures to  guard the inmates from
 the attack of cholera, which made its appearance among
 us  epidemically in 1832,  during his  connection with
 those establishments.   The crowded  condition of the
 old  Walnut Street  prison, in  the  heart of  the  city,
 offered  one  of the conditions most favourable to the
 assault  of the disease; and  the terrible fatality which
 attended its prevalence in the Arch Street prison, situ-
 ated less  unfavourably, because  in  a less thickly-built
neighbourhood, intimates how fearful may be the results
of the want of due hygienic precautions in such institu- 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
21
tions*   That the epidemic  cause was present in the
Walnut Street prison was sufficiently evinced  by the
occurrence of one  fatal case of cholera, and other mild
cases of disease of the stomach and bowels, such as gen-
erally attend its  epidemic prevalence.   As  soon as he
had reason to suppose that the disease was  about to in-
vade Philadelphia, he took  instant  measures, with the
sanction of the Inspectors, to put the prison into a con-
dition most unfavourable to the influence of  the morbific
cause.   The  diet of the  inmates was regulated, cleanli-
ness of the person and apartments was rigidly enforced,
all filth and other sources of  noxious exhalation were
removed whenever practicable  from within  the confines
of the prison, disinfectants were freely employed, and
the prisoners were kept separate as far as possible, espe-
cially at night.   In reference  to  this last point, it was
desirable to have the greatest possible extent of space
for the accommodation of the inmates. One large apart-
ment was used for the storage of articles manufactured
in the  prison, while awaiting use  or sale.  This the
Doctor was desirous of  having emptied; but on that
point he was resisted  by the  authorities.   " What can
we do with  them?"  said the  Inspectors  to him, when
  * Some of the younger readers of this memoir may require to be informed
that the Walnut Street prison was situated.at the South-east corner of
Walnut and Sixth Streets, opposite to what is now known as Washing-
ton Square, but was formerly named Potters' Field; and the Arch Street
prison  on the South side of Arch immediately West of Broad Street, with
very few buildings near it.  Many years have passed since these two prisons
were removed; and their sites are now occupied by private houses. 
0 9
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
 urging the removal of the goods.  " Why," replied the
 Doctor, "if you can  do  no better, carry them into the
 yard and burn them."   He  did not, however, gain his
 point until the awful fatality in the Arch  Street prison
 became known, when he was authorized  to do as  he
 might think best.    The consequence  of  all this care
 was that only one fatal case occurred within the prison;
 and this was the only case of cholera reported by him.
 On being  asked why he did not report the  milder cases,
 and thus  gain  the  credit of  their cure, he replied  that
 when there was any reason to doubt the nature of the
 affection  he  always avoided  giving it the  name of
 cholera, as  he feared lest the effects of terror on the
 prisoners might aggravate the disease, and even increase
 its  prevalence; thus showing more regard for the  good
 of his patients than for his own reputation.   The same
 regulations were enforced at  Cherry-hill  so far as requi-
 site; but the situation of that prison was so much more
 favourable both as regards locality and internal arrange-
 ments, that not a symptom of the disease is said to  have
 shown itself.
  His position in the two State-prisons  naturally led a
 person of his thoughtful character to investigate the
 subject  of penitentiary  discipline;  and his  intimate
 contact with both the old and  new systems, as in  oper-
 ation in the two prisons respectively, gaye him excel-
lent opportunities for the formation of just views.   The
results of his reflections were  given in two letters, dated,
the one March 13th, 1829, the other October 16th, 183o' 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
23
which were  published both  in a pamphlet form, and in
the third and sixth volumes of Hazard's Register.
  For the first  ten or twelve years of his professional
life,  the income of Dr. Bache  was  so inadequate to
the wants of  his  family, and the  prospect before  him
seemed so unpromising that, as his brother Colonel Bache
informed me,  he  on more  than  one occasion seriously
contemplated  removing to the West in search of better
fortunes;  and it was only by the  remonstrances of his
near  relatives,  who were  confident  that he  would
ultimately rise  to  distinction, that he  was induced to
remain.  It was not till  1835 or 1836 that his prospects
began  decidedly to brighten.  An  assured income from
the  U.  S. Dispensatory now united with  that from his
practice and other sources  to make him quite comfort-
able ; and his appointment to the Chemical chair in the
Jefferson  College,  but a few years  afterwards,  placed
him in  a position of comparative affluence.
   In the life of  Dr. Bache there  were three  series of
incidents, arising from his connection with three differ-
ent societies, each of which requires a distinct consider-
ation.   The three societies referred to were the Amer-
ican Philosophical Society, the Kappa Lambda Society,
and the College of Physicians.   After accompanying me
through a narration of as many of these incidents as we
shall have  time  to notice, the Fellows of the College
will, I think,  be prepared to agree with me in consider-
ing  the influence of such  associations on the  lives of
their members often very beneficent, and in the opinion 
24
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
 that a young  man  thus connected,  if disposed to take
 advantage of his  opportunities, will  have much greater
 chances of distinction and usefulness than if isolated in
 his course of life.
   As  regards Dr. Bache's relations  with the first-men-
 tioned association, the American  Philosophical Society,
 I shall have occasion to speak fully elsewhere.  In this
 place  it is sufficient to  say  that  he became a member
 April  21st,  1820,  and, after  occupying successively
 almost every official position, distinguishing  himself  in
 all by a close  attention to  their  duties, was chosen
 President January 7th,  1853;  a  distinction, independ-
 ently  of  his personal claims, highly  becoming  him  as
 the eldest descendant of the  founder and first President
 of the Society, Dr. Benjamin Franklin.  In consequence
 of a by-law  of  the  Society  then  in  force, limiting the
 duration  of  the Presidency  to  two  years, his term  of
 office expired in 1855;  and  subsequently, when, partly
 through his instrumentality, this by-law was abrogated,
 and  the old  rule of indefinite re-eligibility restored, he
 positively declined to allow  his name to  be used as a
 candidate, though  he would  undoubtedly have  been re-
 elected, had  he done so.   He lost, however, none of his
 interest in the  Society,  and, as long as  he  lived, con-
 tinued to  attend its  meetings regularly, and to partici-
pate actively in its proceedings.
  You have all, I presume, heard of that peculiar Phila-
delphia institution, the Wistar Club,  or as some of its
members  prefer to name it, the Wistar Party.   This is 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
25
an offshoot of the American  Philosophical Society, and
originated in the custom of Dr. Caspar Wistar, a former
President of the Society, and at the same time Professor
of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, of enter-
taining at his  house, on a particular evening every week,
a select number  of members, and other invited guests,
citizens, or strangers who might happen to be in town,
especially those of any scientific pretensions.  After the
decease of Dr. Wistar, which happened in the year 1818,
a number of the members of the Society, who had been
frequent guests on these occasions, united to form a club,
with the view of continuing the  meetings.  The simple
rules of the club were that it should consist exclusively
of members of the American Philosophical Society, that
none should be admitted unless by a  unanimous vote,
and that entertainments should be given every Satur-
day evening by  the members successively; and care was
taken so to limit the  numbers composing the club that
one party during the season, which  usually extended
from October to  April, should be given by each indivi-
dual.  The entertainments, extremely frugal, and wisely
so, in the time of Dr. Wistar, gradually degenerated into
extravagance with his successors;  so that it was at last
deemed necessary to adopt certain sumptuary regulations,
which, however, were not always found sufficient to re-
strain expenditure within the limits of moderation.  Dr.
Bache was an active member of this association, regular
in  the performance of its duties  and in attendance, and
by his social qualities  contributed not a little to the 
26
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
 attractiveness of the parties.  He continued to be a mem-
 ber  so  long  as  he lived.  I have always regarded the
 Wistar Club, not merely  as  an ornamental feature of
 Philadelphia society, but as a very useful social institu-
 tion; bringing as it did persons together of various pur-
 suits, who would not otherwise perhaps have met, thus
 removing  prejudices, and  conciliating  friendly feeling;
 and,  by a regulation regarding  strangers  which  gave
 each member the right to  introduce one or more to the
 meetings, facilitating their  intercourse with citizens, and
 contributing  to the reputation of our city for hospitality.
 At the  breaking out of  the great rebellion, the meetings
 of the  club  were, I  think wisely, suspended;  but we
 may hope that they will be resumed with the return of
 peace.
   We are  next  to consider those  events in the life of
 Dr. Bache  which had their source in his membership in
 the Kappa Lambda Society. This association, which was
 exclusively medical, was founded about the year 1822,
 by Dr. Samuel Brown, of Kentucky, who designed that
 it should  extend throughout the Union, with branches
 in different localities, affiliated  in  one  brotherhood, and
 bound together  by community of principle and  aim.
 The  great  object of the association was to elevate  the
 character of the medical profession not only in scientific
 attainment, but  also  and especially in  its ethical  rela-
tions.  Prominent above all other aims, at least in the
branch  of the society established in Philadelphia, were
the maintenance  of harmony  among its members, and 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
27
the promotion of harmony as far as possible in the pro-
fession generally.  In the beginning it was necessarily a
secret association.  An essential point in its constitution
was that  all its members should be on friendly terms
together;  and, after  its first  formation, no one could be
admitted  unless by  unanimous  consent.  In the weak-
ness of infancy, it could easily have  been crushed by
the superior strength of those, who, from their mutually
unfriendly relations, could not be admitted as members.
When it became stronger with age, there was no hesita-
tion in making known its existence and purposes.   One
danger threatened it, growing out of its peculiar consti-
tution, that, namely, of  degenerating into cliques, with
interests distinct from those of  the outside members of
the  profession, if not hostile to them.   Whatever  may
have happened elsewhere, we  fortunately escaped  the
danger in this  city.  The  Kappa  Lambda Society of
Philadelphia increased so rapidly that it soon embraced
a large proportion of the profession in this locality, and
was thus  placed beyond the  chance of being used  as an
instrument of selfish' purposes.  Indeed, its influence
among us was purely beneficent; and, when it went out
of existence,  it probably did so because  it had accom-
plished its objects as far as could be done by mere as-
sociation, and there  was no further use for it.  Formerly
the  profession was  anything but harmonious in Phila-
delphia;  and  unseemly  disputes exposed  it to the de-
rision  of  its enemies, and the disapproval  of the public.
It was, I think, mainly through  the  influence, imme- 
28             BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF

diate or remote, of the Kappa Lambda Society, that this
contentious spirit was superseded by a remarkable de-
gree of harmony, which has been handed down to the
present times; so that there is probably no place in the
world of equal size, where medical men in general  have
more  cordial  relations among  themselves,  and where
open enmities or disputatious wrangling would be more
discreditable.
  An incident which occurred  at my own house  some
years since will serve to illustrate this statement. There
were at  that  time at least three  regular incorporated
medical schools in the city.  At my Wistar party for
the season, there were present one or more of the  Pro-
fessors  from each of these schools; and among the guests
was a  stranger, himself  also a physician,  from a some-
what remote part of our country less characterized  by a
spirit of  concord.   Before the close of the evening the
stranger approached  me, and, in a confidential manner,
expressed his astonishment at seeing so many persons of
interests  so opposite, not only met together, but appar-
ently on  the  best possible terms.  " I  should  have ex-
pected," he said, " to see them at daggers' points; but
so far from that, they converse freely with one another,
and, indeed, seem as if they might really be friends.
How do  you  explain it?"  I  contented  myself  with
answering that it was the fashion in Philadelphia.
  Dr. Bache was among the earliest admitted  members
of the  Kappa Lambda Society, and in 1828 one of its
Vice-presidents, was  thoroughly  imbued with its spirit, 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
29
and  fully performed his  part in  the accomplishment of
its purposes.*  Among the measures adopted at an early
period for the promotion of  its ends, was the institution
of a Quarterly Medical  Journal, conducted  by a com-
mittee of the Society, and  entitled the North American
Medical  and Surgical  Journal.   The first number  ap-
peared in January, 1826, and the last in October, 1831;
so that  it had  a duration of six years.   The editorial
committee to whom the  work was entrusted, and whose
names at first appeared, as  the only responsible conduc-
tors, on the  title page, were Drs. R. La Roche, H. L.
Hodge, Franklin  Bache, C.  D. Meigs, and B. H. Coates.
The connection of the Journal with the Society was not
made public until announced by the editors, on the ap-
pearance of the  7th  number; and the editorial corps
was about  the  same time increased by the addition to
the  five original  members  of Dr. John  Bell, Dr. D. F.
Condie,  and myself, who had, however, co-operated with
the committee from the  beginning.  Much of Dr. Bache's
time was for six years given  to this Journal, to which
he contributed original articles and reviews, and his due
share of the quarterly summary, which was very copious
and complete^   When, moreover, the editors took upon
  * My friend Dr. R. La Roche informs me that, as first instituted in Phila-
delphia, the Society consisted of only four members; himself  DrSaml.
Jackson, afterwards Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in the  Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, Dr. C. D. Meigs, and Dr. Thos. Harris
  f The following were the papers and reviews contributed by him to this
work --In vol  i., a Paper on Acupunctural, and a Review of Dr. Thos.
Thomson's "First Principles of Chemistry;" vol. ii., a Review  of  " Prout 
30
BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR OF
 themselves, in part, the pecuniary responsibility of the
 Journal some time before its close, it was on Dr. Bache
 that they chiefly relied  as their financial agent; and to
 his accuracy and  care  that  they probably owed  their
 escape from pecuniary loss. It is but just to his memory
 to say that all his services to the Journal were entirely
 gratuitous; and when  the editors became in  part pro-
 prietors, it was in no mercenary spirit;  for all the profits,
 whatever they might be, were pledged for the payment
 of contributors.   Though myself  a participant in the
 management, yet  there were  so many others concerned
 that I may be permitted to say, without  exposing my-
 self to the imputation of inordinate self-esteem,  that the
 Journal  was admirably well conducted, replete, especi-
 ally in its earlier volumes, with  valuable original matter,
 and, taken altogether, probably inferior to  none of the
 same  period in the English  language.   No writer  on
 practical medicine could do justice to his subject, without
 a frequent appeal to its pages directly or indirectly.
  But the consequences  to Dr. Bache of his membership
 in the Kappa Lambda Society did not cease with the ces-
 sation of the Journal.   The eight editors, who had been
 so long  and so agreeably associated, meeting often  and
 always with pleasure in conducting the literary  business
of the Journal, had contracted mutual friendships which
on Diabetes, Calculus, &c.;» vol. vi., a Case of Obstructed Bowels (of re-
markable interest);  vol. ix., Report of Selected Cases; vol. x., Review of
ChnsUson on Poisons; and vol. xi., a Review of Dr. Southwood Smith on
Severs. [Dr.Bache's Memoranda.) 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
forbade a separation, and a return to their former relations
of mere professional brotherhood.  They  resolved, there-
fore, at the suggestion, if  I remember rightly, of Dr. La
Roche, to remain associated under the name of the Med-
ical Club, with the  understanding that they should meet,
one evening in the week, in the houses of the several
members successively, for the purpose solely of friendly
social intercourse.  In order to avoid the rock on which
such associations are so  apt to  split, they made at the
beginning a firm resolution, which was never afterwards
 departed from, to restrict the eating and  drinking to
 simple cakes or bread and butter with tea and  coffee;
 and, in order to  extend the  social action of the club,
 they agreed that the host of the evening might invite a
 few  medical friends, and that each member should have
 the privilege of taking with him one or more strangers,
 belonging to the profession, who might happen to be in
 town.  These resolutions were carried into  effect, and
 the club continued in more or less regular operation till
 the decease of Dr. Bache.   The  meetings were often
  very happy;  and I  presume that there is not one of us
  who does not look back upon them with unalloyed satis-
  faction, except from the intrusive thought that  the ori-
  ginal members can never  all  meet again in this world.
  No one contributed more to the general enjoyment than
  Dr  Bache, who, on these occasions, often relaxed from
  the calm seriousness habitual with him to promote gen-
  eral good humour by joke, witticism, pleasantry, or ludi-
  crous  anecdote,  all uttered  in a quiet manner, which 
32
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
 added to  their effect.   It is a singular fact, in  relation
 to this club, that,  though formed so early as January
 15th, 1833, and consisting of persons then entering into
 middle life, and some of them  in delicate health, it did
 not lose by death a single one of its original members
 until the  decease of Dr. Bache, that is, during a period
 of more than thirty years.  The fact  at least  speaks
 well for the habits of the members; and it is worthy of
 note that  all or nearly all of them belonged to the origi-
 nal Temperance  Society of Philadelphia.   The late Dr.
 Henry Bond was one of the members of the club;  but
 he joined it considerably after its formation, and, with
 the exception of Dr. S. H. Dickson, was the only  one
 ever admitted.   The  Medical Club  has been a prolific
 parent, and has  always looked with maternal satisfac-
 tion on her progeny; though, like most other mothers,
 apt sometimes to scold the younger ones  a little, for
 what, looking  perhaps  on her own  abstemiousness with
 rather too much self-approbation, she is disposed to re-
 gard as an approach to extravagance.
  It remains to speak of Dr. Bache's relations with  the
 College of Physicians.    No other society had so great
 or so beneficent  an  influence on his course of life.   He
 became a  Fellow of the  College  in April, 1829, and Vice-
 president  in July, 1855.  How regular he was in attend-
 ance,  how much  interested in  the proceedings, how
judicious in his advice  and  admonitions, and  how open
 to conviction and ready to yield when convinced, most
 of you can remember as well as myself.  When the Fel- 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
33
lows were called on for contributions, especially towards
the building fund which has brought into existence this
noble edifice, his purse was always open, with a liberality
perhaps  disproportionate to his means; and, when the
time came for the use of the fund, his judgment, as one of
the building committee, aided materially in its judicious
application.  In consequence of the absence of the Pres-
ident of the College in Europe,  he presided for more
than  two years in 1860,1861, and 1862, over your meet-
ings.  It is not, however, my purpose to particularize all
the services he rendered the College, or all the several
proceedings in which he was especially concerned.   I
shall mention  further only one series of its operations,
in which he largely participated,  and which,  in its gen-
eral  influence  on  the welfare of the profession,  and
through it on the good of the country at  large, entitles
it, and will ever entitle it, to the gratitude of the nation
as one of its benefactors.   I allude to the action of  the
College in reference  to the U. S. Pharmacopoeia, which
began with the inception of that work, was concerned
far more than that of any other institution in its  im-
provement, progress, and ultimate establishment as  the
recognized national standard, has  continued with  un-
abated  zeal to the  present time, and will,  I  hope, be
extended indefinitely  into the  future.   At the  same
meetino- at which he was  elected a Fellow of the Col-
lege,  Dr. Bache was appointed one of a committee to
revise the Pharmacopoeia.
   The  first  Pharmacopoeia of the United States  was 
34
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
published in Boston in 1820, under the authority of a con-
vention which met at Washington, representing incorpo-
rated medical institutions in various parts of the  Union.
In other civilized countries, works of this kind are usually
prepared directly or indirectly under governmental au-
thorit}', and have in a greater or less degree the sanction
of law.   In ours, unfortunately, no  regulating  power
over the medical profession was given in the Constitu-
tion  to the  General Government, so that this power  is
reserved to  the States.   We cannot, therefore, have one
general pharmacopoeia  with  legal sanction;  and it  is
not  desirable  that the  several  States should exercise
their reserved power in this direction, because,  though
we might thus have pharmacopoeias with the authority
of law, they would almost necessarily be more  or less
discordant and conflicting; and we should thus fall, even
in a greater  degree, into  that  mischievous  confusion,
from which the  profession in Great Britain  has but just
escaped  by  the  incorporation of the three British Phar-
macopoeias  into one.  Under the circumstances  of our
political constitution, the establishment and  regulation.
of the Pharmacopoeia have been wisely left to the care
of the profession  itself.  It was from a strong  convic-
tion of the  necessity of such  a regulating code, that the
movement took place which eventuated in  the Pharma-
copoeia of 1820, and in which our College, though it did
not  then take the lead, nevertheless zealously  co-oper-
ated.  But the work, though creditable as a first attempt,
was in many respects so incorrect and defective that it 
DR. FRANKLIN  BACHE.
35
failed to command general acceptance, and, at the end
of ten years, which had been fixed  on for its revision,
seemed, except in some limited localities, to have been
almost forgotten.   Happily, the late Dr. Thos. T. Hew-
son, afterwards  President of the College, having been a
delegate from this body to the Convention of 1820, by
authority of which the Pharmacopoeia had  been  pub-
lished,  retained his interest in the  work, and  brought
the subject of its revision to  the  notice of the Fellows.
A  committee  of revision was accordingly  appointed,
early in 1829, consisting  of Dr. Hewson, Dr.  Bache, and
 myself; the last two having been chosen, the former for
 his well-known chemical knowledge, the latter, I  pre-
 sume,  from  the consideration that,  having been for
 several years delivering  courses of lectures on  Materia
 Medica, it was supposed  that he might know something
 of the subject*  Beginning its labours immediately, the
 committee worked diligently for  eight or nine  months,
 and at the end of that time  were enabled  to present to
 the College the completed  draught of a pharmacopoeia,
 which had little resemblance to the  original except in
 the general plan, and a few great characteristic features.
 The College  adopted the  revised  work, and, having
  appointed Dr. Bache  and myself delegates to represent
 them  in the approaching Decennial Convention, to meet

    * The U  S. Pharmacopoeia had, before this time, engaged the particular
  attentln of Dr. Bache ; as a review of the first edition o it tha of the year
  1820 had been written by  him, and  published in the first volume of the
  American Recorder, in the year 1821.
                             3 
36
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
in Washington in January, 1830,  entrusted it to  us, to
be presented to the Convention as  the  contribution of
the College  towards the new Pharmacopoeia.   So little
interest was generally felt in the subject, that, on reach-
ing Washington, the delegates of the College found  few
others present, and the whole number which entered
the Convention did not exceed eight from five different
societies.  Nevertheless, they organized themselves regu-
larly, and, proceeding to business,  received the report of
the Philadelphia delegates, and, having adopted  it, re-
ferred it for further revision and ultimate publication to
a committee, consisting of physicians from different parts
of the United States, to meet at as early a period as pos-
sible  at Philadelphia,  with Dr. Hewson as  Chairman.
After the  adjournment  of the  Convention,  measures
were immediately taken  to carry its views into  effect;
and several copies of  the work were made,  and trans-
mitted  to distant members  of the  revising committee.
Without  entering further into detail, it will be sufficient
to say  that the draught  was generally approved,  and,
with some  slight modifications, was  referred for publi-
 cation to a sub-committee, consisting of the three mem-
 bers  of the College by whom it had been originally pre-
 pared.  But, before allowing it to go to press, so desirous
 was the committee that it should receive the approval of
 all who might afterwards be practically concerned, that
 it was submitted to the scrutiny of the Philadelphia Col-
 lege  of Pharmacy, which, after careful examination by a
 committee, returned  it with their endorsement, making, 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
37
however, certain valuable suggestions, of which the com-
mittee was happy to avail itself.   The work was at
length put to press, and was  published in April, 1831;
the  same  care  being exercised to  prevent  errors in
printing, as had  been extended to it in  every stage of
its progress.   Happily, the new Pharmacopoeia was gen-
erally approved as it became  known, and, in  the end,
was universally received both by the medical and phar-
maceutical professions as  the standard  for the whole
Union, and  morally as obligatory as if it  had  been
brought forth under  the sanction of law.   A regard for
truth, however, compels me to say that the publication
of the U. S. Dispensatory, which  took place soon  after,
 and of which the Pharmacopoeia  had been adopted as
 the basis, contributed more than  any other agency, and
 probably  more  than all  other agencies combined, to
 make it known and  understood  throughout the United
 States.  On this point I shall have occasion to say more
 hereafter.  At present I wish to confine your attention to
 the Pharmacopoeia, until all  has  been said that may be
 required to  represent the connection of  Dr. Bache with
 that work.   So  large a portion of his tfme, so much of
 his mental  labour, and so great  a share of his interest
 and solicitude, were  for more than thirty years of the
 best portion of  his  life devoted  to  its preparation and
 improvement, and to the  means of establishing it  as the
 United States standard of Pharmacology, that it  would
 be  doing  great  injustice to his memory to pass lightly
 over his connection with it. 
38
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
  Thus far, it will have been perceived  that Dr. Bache
participated in every step of the revision, both  the pre-
liminary one  by appointment  of this  College,  and the
final one under the authority of the Convention, as also
in whatever was requisite in the publication  of  the new
edition.  The same  precisely is true of  the  subsequent
editions; those namely put forth by the Conventions of
1840, 1850, and 1860.  In reference  to each  of  these
editions, a revising committee was appointed by the Col-
lege;  the revised copy prepared by this committee was
sent to the Convention at Washington, where  the Col-
lege was represented by delegates; the new draught was
referred with  other contributions to  a  revising and pub-
lishing  committee meeting in  Philadelphia, by whom
the work was ultimately prepared  for publication, and
then carried through the press; and of all these bodies,
the committee of the  College,  the Washington  Conven-
tion, and the  final revising  and  publishing committee,
Dr. Bache was a  very attentive, laborious, and efficient
member*  In the last revision, that, namely, which re-
sulted in the  recent publication  of the  Pharmacopoeia,
a.d. 1863, he  had even heavier  duty to perform than on
  * Of the revising committee appointed by the College in 1839, the mem-
bers were the same as on the occasion of the preceding decennial revision,
namely, Drs. Hewson, Bache, and myself; in the subsequent revisions made
by the College for the editions of 1850 and 1860, Dr. Jos. Carson, in conse-
quence of the decease of Dr. Hewson, was chosen in his place ; and the
same Fellow of the College, by appointment of the Convention at Washing-
ton, served also on the  revising and publishing committee, to which the
work was, at each of these periods, finally entrusted. 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.              39
the preceding occasions.   In former revisions, it had
been my lot to act as chairman of the final revising and
publishing committee; but in this, as I announced my
intention of making a voyage to Europe  in the spring,
the Convention, though doing me the honour of putting
me upon the committee, devolved the duties of chairman
on  Dr. Bache.   As several contributions  from different
sources were referred  to this committee, and  among the
rest two complete draughts  of  a pharmacopoeia, one
from this College and the other from the Philadelphia
College of Pharmacy, an  unusual amount of labour was
imposed on the committee, in comparing, selecting, and
finally consolidating the materials.  The committee had,
moreover, determined to make a complete and thorough
revision, so as to leave as little for future change as pos-
sible.   This required much research and numerous ex-
periments;  every doubtful point being submitted to  the
test of practical trial, and this frequently  being repeated
once or  oftener, before a satisfactory conclusion could be
reached.  When  informed that the committee had 119
meetings, generally once  a week, which were mainly oc-
cupied in examining and deciding upon the work done
 in the  intervals by  sub-committees, from  whom  138
 written  reports were received, you will be able to form
 some conception of the great burden that rested on the
 chairman,  whose duty it was to see that all the  ma-
 terials should  be properly arranged,  that everything
 should  be  clothed in correct and congruous  language,
 and that the work throughout should be consistent as 
40
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
well in form as substance. Though strongly pressed by the
public demand, and anxious to put forth the new edition
as soon  as possible, consistently with the greatest attain-
able perfection,  the committee was unable to publish  it
before about  the middle of 1863.   It is scarcely neces-
sary to add that, for all this expenditure of time, thought,
and solicitous labour,  not  only in this  revision, but in
all those in  which  he had been concerned, Dr. Bache
neither expected nor received  any other recompense
than  the consciousness of  duty performed and public
benefit  conferred, and perhaps  a  reputation  enhanced
with  that portion of the profession who knew and could
appreciate his efforts and sacrifices.*
   One or two other points  in reference to  the  revision
of the Pharmacopoeia, as connected with  our  departed
friend, require notice.   The work was  at  first confined
exclusively to the medical  profession, without any par-
ticipation whatever  of the pharmaceutical.  Any one
who considers for a moment the nature and purpose  of
a  pharmacopoeia, that  all its  formulas are for the  guid-
ance  of the  apothecary, and  that he much better  than
the physician, as a general  rule, understands their  prin-
ciples and modes of execution, must see  at a glance, if
  * In the interests of pharmacy, Dr. Bache wrote, and published in the
American Journal of Pharmacy, the following articles; 1. "An Address to
the Graduates of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy" (vol. i., a.d. 1835);
2. "Remarks on the British and United States Pharmacopoeias" (vol. viii.
N. S., a.d. 1842;; and 3.  'On the Advantages of a Single Pharmacopoeia
for the British Empire" {vol. iii. 3d Series, a.d. 1855). 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
41
free  from prejudice, how unjust and at the same time
impolitic was  this  exclusiveness.   The cause of it,  I
presume, was that,  at the time when the movement for
the  preparation of a pharmacopoeia began, there were
few thoroughly educated pharmaceutists in this country,
and  no incorporated bodies to represent them and pro-
vide for their instruction; that in fact  pharmacy, as
it then existed here, was a trade rather than a profes-
sion, and consequently that there were no ready means
for enlisting its services.  Now it so  happened that, when
first engaged in the work of revision, I was Professor of
Chemistry in  the  Philadelphia College of Pharmacy,
and  naturally  had my attention turned to this  defect.
Hence it was  that  the Pharmacopoeia  of 1830 was sub-
mitted by the committee of revision and  publication to
the  judgment  of that body,  and their co-operation re-
quested.  Soon afterwards Dr. Bache was elected to the
same chair in  the  College of  Pharmacy, in  consequence
of my own transfer  to  that  of Materia Medica.  We
were now in a condition to act conjointly in this matter,
and Dr. Bache gave all his influence to the measure of
uniting  the two professions in the work.  The conse-
quence was  that  the next Convention at  Washington
invited  the participation of pharmaceutists in  the  re-
vision then begun, and provided that, in the  following
Decennial Convention, that, namely, of 1850,  the incor-
porated  colleges of  pharmacy throughout the Union
should be represented upon an equal footing with medi-
cal  associations.  This accordingly happened; and the 
42             BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
last two decennial  conventions  have consisted  of dele-
gates  of both professions; and  the  two latest  editions
have been their joint work.  I have no hesitation in stat-
ing that, in consequence of the  full co-operation of the
two professions, which was scarcely secured before the
recent revision, the  present Pharmacopoeia is  not  only
better positively than  any preceding  edition, which
might be  expected under  any circumstances,  but is
much  better relatively;  that is, of  a higher character,
in relation to the state of pharmacy now, than any one
of its predecessors was, in a similar relation, at the time
of its  publication; and  to Dr. Bache in a considerable
degree is due this very satisfactory result.
   The other point requiring  notice is the rule, which,
in all  our labours for the Pharmacopoeia,  strongly  actu-
ated Dr. Bache and myself, of endeavouring to make our
national standard conform as much as possible with the
standards of Great Britain, so that pharmaceutical terms
should, to every  proper and practicable extent, have the
same  signification  wherever  the English language is
spoken.  This approximate  identity has been much fa-
cilitated by the recent consolidation of the three British
Pharmacopoeias;  and it  is an  interesting fact that a
paper by Dr.  Bache was published  in  the American
Journal of Pharmacy, in the year 1855, and immedi-
ately  afterwards republished in one  or  more British
journals, strongly recommending, and argumentatively
enforcing such a  consolidation.  Whether this disin-
terested advice  from a  stranger had  any influence in 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
43
promoting the decision come to by the British authori-
ties I am unable to say.
  We are not yet done with the incidents of Dr. Bache's
life,  arising out of his connection  with the College  of
Physicians.   One of the most  important as regards his
worldly  interests, perhaps the most important, is yet  to
be mentioned;  I refer to his partial authorship of the
U. S. Dispensatory.  This work would, in all probability,
never have been undertaken, but for his  previous con-
cern in  the revision of the Pharmacopoeia, in which  he
became  engaged solely  through his  fellowship in the
College.  Indeed, one of the chief motives for writing
the  Dispensatory was in order, by its means, to make
the  Pharmacopoeia more generally known and accepta-
ble, and thereby contribute to its universal practical re-
 cognition as the national standard.  The original Phar-
 macopoeia of 1820 was very far from having attained to
 this position.   It  was natural that they who had  la-
 boured  so  long in preparing  the  new  edition of  1830,
 should  wish to see it successful, and be disposed  to do
 what they could to make  it so.   They knew no better
 method than to prepare a work, which, while it might
 supply  a great want  of the whole medical and pharma-
 ceutical professions, should  also serve as  a commentary
 on  the Pharmacopoeia, giving detailed accounts of  the
 medicines  it recognized, and explaining and  enforcing
 all  its  processes.  It was in this wish  and hope that I
 proposed  to Dr. Bache,  and our mutual friend, Daniel
 B.  Smith,  President  of the College of Pharmacy,  whose 
44
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
thorough acquaintance with pharmacy both scientific-
ally and practically rendered his co-operation desirable,
that we should join in preparing a dispensatory, which
was then  much needed, as there  was no work of the
kind in the English language, which could be considered
as a proper exponent of the pharmacology of the period,
or as  calculated to meet  the peculiar wants  of  the two
professions in this country.   The proposal was accepted,
and at a meeting in Mr. Smith's house, Oct. 28th, 1830,
it  was agreed that we should proceed immediately to
work;  Dr. Bache taking mainly the mineral substances
and those resulting from purely  chemical processes as
his share, while Mr. Smith should deal with  the strictly
pharmaceutical part, and the vegetable materia medica
was allotted to me.  We had not proceeded far, when
Mr. Smith found that a continuance of the work on his
part would  be incompatible with  his other engagements,
and with our assent withdrew, having completed a phar-
maceutical  preface, and a few other articles, which still
stand in the work over his initials.  I ventured myself
to take up the burden which our friend laid  down; and
thus it happened, and not from  any failure  in  his own
engagement,  that Dr. Bache was  responsible for  only
about one-third of the work.
   It may not be amiss to mention here, as strongly illus-
trative at once of his sense of justice and spirit of inde-
pendence, that,  on  my proposal  that, whatever might
happen to  be the proportionate  amount of the work
produced by each, as determined merely by the number 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
45
of pages, which  could  not be received  as an accurate
measure of value, the proceeds should be equally divided,
he positively declined;  and this, too, at  a time when a
few  hundred  dollars  annually were a matter of great
importance to him.
   The work was successful greatly beyond our expecta-
tions;  a  second edition being called for some time before
the  expiration of the year; and from that time to the
decease  of Dr. Bache, a period of about thirty years,
there was no slackening in  the public  demand.  That it
contributed to fulfill the original purpose of the authors,
the  diffusion, namely,  of a knowledge  of the Pharma-
copoeia,  and its ultimate adoption as the national stand-
ard, can scarcely be doubted.   For obvious reasons I am
precluded  from comment on the character, the merits or
demerits of the work; but a few facts may be  men-
tioned, in addition to what has been  already said; and
are  indeed called for in justice to him with whose biogra-
phy we  are engaged.   One of them is that the work is
not the  same as it was when first written, but really a
new one, in which certain  primary features of the  origi-
nal have  been preserved,  but the substance has been
changed as if by a sort of interstitial  growth, indicating
 a constant watchfulness, at each successive edition, so to
 modify every article, as to  bring it into  accordance with
 the progress of knowledge  or  the change of opinion.
 Besides, very many additions  have  been  made; and
 the quantity of matter contained  in  the book has  been
 nearly if  not quite  doubled.  Another fact is that, in 
46
BIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIR OF
consequence  of the  presumed  necessity of restraining
the work within the limits of a single volume, the au-
thors have  used ceaseless efforts to compress the lan-
guage, not only striving to express new matter in the
fewest words consistent with clearness, but eliminating
whatever was  useless from  the old; so that  there are
probably few  works  which contain  more  substance in
the same space.   A  third point to which  I would  call
attention is  the great precision and clearness of that
portion of the Dispensatory for  which  Dr. Bache is re-
sponsible, and the remarkable accuracy of the  whole as
long as he lived to watch  over  it;  for  the  entire work,
down to each  word, letter, and point,  passed  at every
revision under his critical eye, which few errors escaped.*
It will thus be seen that  the  care of  the  Dispensatory
occupied a large portion of  Dr. Bache's time  for many
years; and this remark applies not only to  the  occasions
when new editions were  prepared; but  more or  less
also to the  intervals, when materials were collected for
subsequent  use.   Of the  importance  of  the  work to
Dr. Bache,  in a financial point of  view,  an  inference
may be drawn from the fact, that, up to the time of his
decease,  he  had received the proceeds  accruing  to him
from  the sale of 79,000  copies;  but   probably of still
greater value  to him was  the reputation which it gave
  * The parts of the Dispensatory belonging to Dr. Bache are indicated by
his initial, B, at the foot of each article or portion of an article written by
him. 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
47
him  throughout the  Union, and  to which  there can
be little doubt that his appointment to a professorship
in the Jefferson  School was mainly ascribable.   It will
now, I think, be admitted, that what was before stated
of the beneficent influence  upon his fortunes of his
fellowship in the College of Physicians has  been fully
confirmed.
   There were various other associations, literary, scien-
tific, professional, or benevolent, with which  Dr. Bache
was  connected.  Thus, he was an early member of the
Academy of Natural  Sciences of this city;  was in 1840
elected a corresponding, member of  the National Insti-
tute at Washington;  and in 1854 became  an honorary
member of the Imperial Academy of Naturalists at Mos-
cow.   For many years he served as one of the Managers
of the Institution for  the Deaf and  Dumb in Philadel-
phia, and was for some time president of the board.  In
1857 he was made an honorary member of the Amer-
ican Pharmaceutical Association.   One other association
I will mention, because his connection with it exercised
some influence on his subsequent life;  I refer to the
Temperance Society as first formed in this city.
   Dr. Bache heartily participated in the  great temper-
ance movement which began about the year 1826, and
the  influence of which, though impaired by  various  op-
posing causes, is still felt in the  general prevalence of
habits in this  respect greatly in advance of those which
so fearfully characterized our country when the move-
ment began.   A  society was soon formed in  Philadel- 
48
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
phia, consisting largely of medical  men, of which  Dr.
Bache was one, and, after a time, if I am not mistaken,
a manager.   The great principle of this  society was the
promotion of temperance by entire abstinence both from
the personal use, and from the offering to others, of any
form of ardent spirit or distilled alcoholic  liquor as drink,
except when it might be required for medical purposes.
It was believed that this principle might be universally
adopted, and, should it be so, would secure  a complete
triumph  to  the cause of temperance; while an attempt
to carry the contest further, and abolish the use of  fer-
mented  liquors, would inevitably fall  short  of its aim,
and might even aggravate the original evil  by leading
to reaction.  We neither gave nor  exacted any written
pledge, we did not even engage our personal honour,
trusting solely to the determination of individual mem-
bers.  I say we; because I was one of those who adopted
this rule  of  action; and the sentiments of Dr. Bache
and myself were in perfect accord on the subject.  We
adopted the rule for life, independently of all associa-
tion;  and I have reason to believe that my friend lived
up to it entirely to the very end.  He never, after hav-
ing joined the society, either drank ardent spirit, or gave
it  to another except as a medicine.   But he  abandoned
the society when he believed it to be carried, in the then
existing whirlwind of excitement, into dangerous excess.
He could not accompany it in a crusade against all forms
of fermented  liquor, even down to cider and spruce beer,
in its proclamation of the abstract sinfulness of even  the 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
49
moderate  use  of  alcoholic drinks of every kind, in its
attempt to control free-will in this  respect by law, and
in degrading the cause of temperance by mixing it up
with the paltry interests of mere party contests. He was
thoroughly convinced that on this  road the great cause
could never advance to  universal or even general accept-
ance, and apprehended  that  the extremes to which the
movement was carried  would endanger a resilience in
the  opposite direction,  so as to put  at  risk the  per-
manence of all that had been gained; and  an out-look
upon the present condition of the  cause will go far to
convince the impartial  observer that his  apprehensions
were not altogether groundless.
   Let us now take a view of Dr. Bache at  the  time of
his life to which our narrative has carried us; when his
faculties were at the best; when he had tided over the
shoals of fortune, and  his position in the  world  was
fixed; when around and  before him all was bright, un-
less when temporarily  obscured by  some flitting  sad-
ness from the past, or by some of those brief sorrows or
anxieties from passing  events from which humanity is
never exempt.  As I am  writing not only for the audi-
ence to which this memoir is addressed, but also in the
hope that my humble  effort may  reach  other  persons
and other times  less familiar with its subject, you will
excuse me if, in  this attempted portraiture, I shall in-
troduce  many features both  of person  and character,
already well known to most if not all of my hearers.  The
period to which  I now allude was  after his  election to 
50
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
his  professorship  in  the Jefferson School, between his
fiftieth and  sixtieth  year.  In  a conversation with the
late  Hon. John  Sergeant, with  whose  reputation for
wisdom you are all familiar, at a time when  I was my-
self verging on that  age, and  expressing some appre-
hension of a probable decline of mental power, he as-
sured me that I was mistaken.  "You are approaching,"
said  he, "an age  in which there is  greater capacity for
usefulness than at any other.   The  intellect is mature
without having begun to decay; while the passions of
earlier life, which so often mislead or obscure the judg-
ment, have  lost much if not all of their strength, and
the sense of duty is  stronger than ever; so that with
equal powers, and a clearer insight, we feel ourselves
more forcibly impelled to a useful course  of action. No!
The most  fruitful  ten years of your life  are  before
you."  In thus  speaking, Mr.  Sergeant, no  doubt, but
told his own  experience;  and  the  life of  Dr.  Bache
offered  another illustration of  the  correctness of his
judgment.
  With a symmetrical person, five feet ten inches high,
and  weighing about  160 pounds; a well-shaped head of
medium size;  an  oval face, with regular features, though
an unusually small mouth; dark-gray eyes, dark-brown
hair, and a fair  complexion, Dr. Bache was, even in
advanced life, a fine-looking man, and when young must
have been eminently handsome.  A copious gray beard,
which he wore for some years before he  died, though it
gave him a venerable appearance, detracted, I  think, 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
51
from the beauty and expressiveness of his countenance,
by concealing  some of its best features.   His habitual
expression was a placid and calm seriousness, with a cer-
tain degree of sweetness, which gave a charm to his face
somewhat like that of his great ancestor in certain busts
that I  have  seen  of  him.   In society, however,  this
habitual repose often gave way to smiles; for  he en-
joyed humour; and, whether the humorous thought was
his own or another's, it was  equally depicted  on his
features.  In  our  frequent  committee meetings,  after
the business had  been finished, it was not  uncommon
for some one, addressing Dr. Bache, to call out, " Now,
Doctor, let  us amuse ourselves; give us something to
make  us laugh;"  and, though this is not the most ef-
fectual method of eliciting wit  or humour, we were
seldom disappointed.  The seriousness  would vanish
from his face, and the smiles which followed found us
always ready to sympathize.
   In regard  to intellectual character, he had an excel-
lent reasoning faculty, though slow in its operation, lead-
ing him, when the necessary facts or data were before
him, almost invariably to correct conclusions; and these
once attained were seldom afterwards disturbed.   This
steadiness of  conviction, however, was not in any degree
owing  to an obstinate temper; but apparently to his
confidence in the  accuracy of the trains of  thought by
 which  he had reached them; for no man was more open
 than he to correction, and, when convinced that he had
 been wrong,  no  one more  ready  to acknowledge his
                          4 
52
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
error.   Yet such were the strength and tenacity of his
first convictions,  that,  after full acknowledgment  of
their fallacy, his  mind  was apt  in  time to return  to
them, apparently forgetful of the suggestions which had
induced his change  of opinion.    In  our  very frequent
conferences there was of  course occasional  disagree-
ment, and, when I happened to be in the right, I could
generally,  perhaps always convince my colleague; but
years afterwards, as, for  example, in  the  successive de-
cennial revisions  of the  Pharmacopoeia, I  found  him
with his original  convictions returned, being quite for-
getful of the course of argument by which he had been
induced to change them; so that  it was necessary to go
over the same grounds to bring about the same  result;
and this happened not once only at  a single revision,
but sometimes a second, and perhaps a third time.
  In addition to  his excellent faculty of ratiocination,
he  had in a remarkable degree the quality of common
sense or judgment, by which,  certain conditions being
given, the best or most expedient course of action is de-
termined, or which, the question being as to the probable
opinions or actions of a number of individuals under
certain  circumstances,  resolves the question truly as if
by intuition or with a  spirit of prophecy; a faculty pro-
bably consisting in  a  constitution of mind similar  in
character to  that  of the multitude, though superior  in
grade.   That these two faculties, reason and judgment,
are  quite distinct, is  proved by the fact, that a high
degree  of one is compatible with a very low degree  of 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
53
the other; the profound thinker often having little com-
mon sense, while the man of excellent judgment is often
almost incapable of abstract reasoning.  Dr. Bache pos-
sessed both, in a high degree; and whatever intellectual
superiority he  may have evinced was  probably owing,
chiefly at least, to this combination.
   Of the faculty of imagination he seems to have pos-
sessed very little.  Either as a  speaker or writer, so  far
as  I am aware, he was never  consciously  guilty of a
metaphor  or other flower of speech;  and, though  he
certainly could  understand such figures intellectually,
I  doubt whether he had a true feeling of their beauty
or grandeur.
   In the closely allied power of invention he was equally
deficient;  and in the faculty of observation was, I think,
little superior  to the generality of men.  As the posses-
sion of  any  power in excess is  ordinarily attended with
a proportionate disposition to exercise  it, so a deficiency
 generally involves an indisposition to act  in the direc-
 tion of the  faculty; and  thus  we may account for  the
 absence, in  the history of Dr. Bache, of  any  poetical
 effort,  any sustained attempt at the  discovery of new
 truths  in science, or any apparent wish to  gain distinc-
 tion as an  original observer in  the  fields of natural
 history.  He dealt with facts or presumed facts already
 known; and his forte was  to examine and compare, to
 sift out the true and valuable  from the mass of the un-
 true, the  doubtful, and the worthless, and then to re-
 cord the results in  due order and a lucid  manner, and 
54
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
in a style clear and precise, without any attempt at the
showy or ornamental.
  Both the sense and faculty of humour he possessed in
a considerable degree;  and this  appears  to  have been
quite distinct from his  other mental qualities; so that,
seen in his different states  of  mind, the serious and
jocose, he  seemed like two  different  individuals.  He
did not, like many others, habitually mingle  the two
together.  In his  serious  writings or conversation  he
seldom indulged  his  humorous  propensity;  and when
in the latter vein he was apt to give himself up to  it
altogether for the time.  I do not say that this was in-
variably true, but, according to  my observation, it cer-
tainly was  so as a general  rule.   Between this and his
other mental qualities there was this remarkable differ-
ence; that, while unusually slow in the latter, he was
in the former remarkably quick  and ready;  and his
humour seems to have  been the only thing  about him
to which the term quickness was applicable.   I  may,
perhaps, be  excused  for giving a  few  specimens of his
humour, illustrative of its character, confining myself to
those which came under my own observation.  The first
specimen that I shall give belongs to the category of
puns, to  which, in  common  with  some other distin-
guished Philadelphians,  he  was not a little addicted.
  It occurred at a large dinner-party, consisting exclu-
sively  of medical men, given in the year  1839, and
intended to celebrate the  establishment of  peace  and
harmony in our profession.  Dr. Chapman presided, and, 
                 DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.              55
                •
 if I remember rightly, Dr. R. M. Patterson, Dr. Thomas
 Harris, and  Dr.  Bache were  Vice-presidents.   At the
 proper  time, Dr. Bache, as one of  the  three Vice-presi-
 dents, was called on for a speech.   This he premised by
 offering a toast.  "I  give you," said he, "our  worthy
 President, Dr. Nathaniel  Chapman, who with his many
 excellent qualities,  has,  so far as I know,  only three
 vices; and they are so very amiable that they may al-
 most be regarded as virtues."  A  gentleman sitting next
 me  at  table  whispered in my ear " What are the three
 vices of which Dr. Bache speaks?" I whispered in return
 Vice-presidents.
   Another was a kind of witticism which was not un-
 common with him, being intended generally to cover a
 gentle satire, or perhaps a kindly piece  of advice.  The
 public was much agitated on the subject of mesmerism,
 and many wonderful stories were told, and believed  by
 the  credulous.   In this instance clairvoyance was the
 subject.   It  was pretended that  a person  mesmerized
 sympathized  with the mesmerizer, so as to see, feel, hear,
 taste, smell, and think as he.   The story was told that
 an  individual thus affected was  carried mentally with
 the operator into a far distant apartment which  he had
 never seen, and,  being asked  what he  saw, mentioned,
 among other  things  known to be in the room, the por-
trait of a lady representing only the back of the head
and  bust.  "Oh!"  said Dr. Bache, "that was a small
matter.   Had he seen the face  of the picture, that would
have been worth telling."   He  could  not  have more 
56             BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF

effectually intimated his belief that the whole affair was
simply humbug.
   The  third  specimen  represents another variety of
humour in  which Dr. Bache sometimes indulged, the
jocose, namely, though very seldom  with  so  much of
the practical character as  this.   A party to which he
and  I belonged were  travelling in  Switzerland, and,
having reached the  foot of a long ascent in the  road,
we two had alighted, and were walking up the hill.   At
all such places in Savoy and Switzerland, there is apt
to be a number of little beggars,  ready to waylay the
traveller.   Such a  crowd,  consisting of boys and girls
from about ten  or eleven years downward, for the  older
cannot be spared from the field or workshop, approached
us, and with the most dolorous expression of counte-
nance, and  whining tones of distress,  begged  aid  for
their  sick mother, etc.   Dr. Bache at length,  turning
round to them, and  counterfeiting their lugubrious face
and  piteous tones,  held  out his hand, and begged of
them beseechingly something for his poor sick wife and
houseful of starving babes at home.  The humour of the
joke  was more than they could stand.   They exchanged
their affected sadness for smiles and laughter, and, as if
ashamed of  having  been caught in their attempted  de-
ception, turned slowly, and  walked away.
  I do not know that I should have detained you with
these illustrative  anecdotes; but that each of them has
its own significance besides.  The first informs you of
an interesting fact in the  medical history of this  city; 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
57
the second of Dr. Bache's  utter want of faith in  clair-
voyance  and whatever else seemed miraculous in mes-
merism ;  and the third of an event in his history which
was  of great interest to himself, that, namely, of  his
visit to Switzerland.
   Hitherto  we  have considered  only  the intellectual
side  of Dr. Bache's  mental constitution.   The  moral
was still more characteristic;  and this I find it difficult
to portray so as to do  full justice to my own impres-
sions.  In a few  words, it may be said that he was,
seemingly by his very nature, a Christian.  At the foun-
dation of his moral character was a strong conscientious-
ness,  which, apparently without his own cognizance,
regulated all his thoughts and deeds.  One might sup-
pose that the idea of doing  what he believed to be wrong
never occurred to him;  and, though his natural slowness
sometimes prompted him to postpone  doing what he had
engaged and felt that in duty he was bound  to do, yet
the dissatisfaction attendant on this neglect secured the
full  performance of his  engagement  in the end.  I do
not think that I ever knew him to fail in  the ultimate
fulfillment  of  a promise;  and I was always entirely
confident of his performance of a task, when a positive
promise  could be  secured.   Knowing himself in this
respect, he was always exceedingly cautious in making
engagements, unless of such a nature as to render him
entirely  confident in their easy fulfillment.
   His regard for truth, which was equally remarkable,
mio-ht be considered  as an offshoot of his  conscientious- 
58
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
ness.  But I do not believe that it was so.  Both seemed
to spring from the same root.   He was  not true simply
because he believed  it wrong to be otherwise.   False-
hood in every shape, direct and  indirect, by assertion or
insinuation, or even by purposed silence, was abhorrent to
his nature. It did not seem possible for  him to be other-
wise than true.  I need  not say I  never knew him to
utter an untruth consciously;  I cannot recall an instance
in which he even hinted an untruth, or allowed a wrong
impression, arising, though without  his  own complicity,
from what he  may  have said,  to remain uncorrected.
Nay, he would not unfrequently, when  he knew or sus-
pected  a wrong impression in his favour to have been
received, without any instrumentality of his own what-
ever, take pains to correct it,  though silence might have
been altogether justifiable.
  Of the same character was his sense of justice.   This
was a governing  principle of his life.   Like his regard
for truth, it did not seem to spring from his conscien-
tiousness.  He was not just because he thought it  his
duty to be  so, but simply  for the sake of justice, which
he loved for itself alone.   Nothing  could tempt him to
take or accept an advantage which he  thought unfair;
and though by no means obstinate where no duty in-
tervened, he was  in such cases inexorable.  While thus
scrupulous  not to violate  justice to others, he expected
also that it should be exercised towards himself;  and
perhaps  made fewer allowances, in cases  of its non-
performance,  than many others might be disposed to do, 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
59
who were less  rigorously exacting  of themselves.  Per-
haps nothing affected the standing of  an individual in
his estimation  more injuriously than a  conviction of his
habitual injustice.
   From the  joint influence of his  regard for truth and
justice,  he  was  extremely  candid, often incidentally
speaking of facts concerning himself or  his affairs, which
might be interpreted to his disadvantage, though never
intruding them on his hearers.  For example, he never
hesitated to  admit the limited  amount of his income
from practice,  though professional  men are apt to think
that their prospects are  benefited by a  general  belief of
their success, and  that  nothing  more  impedes progress
than the contrary impression that they have  little or
nothing to do.   But this candour  was  evinced  through-
out his life, and was one of its many interesting features.
It was no doubt  promoted by a consciousness that there
was nothing about him which it  was expedient or neces-
sary to conceal.
   A love  of order was another striking feature of his
moral nature.   This pervaded all that  he did  or said.
It was to be seen in the precision of his language, in his
ordinary bodily  movements,  in  the state of his sitting
apartments and the arrangement of his  books and papers,
in the keeping  and settlement  of his accounts, in his
work of all kinds, reading, writing, and lecturing, in the
relative position and proportion of the several subjects
or parts of subjects discussed, even to  a great extent in
his social  relations.  Perhaps to this  principle may be 
60
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
ascribed  his dislike  of  little inaccuracies of style  and
grammar, and ordinary  errors of the press in whatever
he read.   Even a misplaced point was  offensive to him.
He generally read books of any scientific pretension with
pencil  in hand, and was in the habit  of noting correc-
tions on  the margin, a list of which, on the principle of
doing as he would be done by, he sometimes sent to the
author, from whom,  in  several instances, he received a
letter of  acknowledgment and thanks.
   Not less prominent than the preceding characteristics,
perhaps  I  might  say the  most prominent  of his moral
qualities, was the equanimity or rather the extraordi-
nary  placidity of his  temper.   I  do not  think that,
notwithstanding my abundant intercourse with him in
private  and public, in  his own family and elsewhere,
socially,  in joint labour,  and officially, though I have
travelled with him  at  home and  abroad,  and  on  one
occasion  five  or  six  months successively, I have ever,
in  any one instance, seen him really angry.   I have
seen him unusually serious under offence, I have heard
him complain when he  conceived himself injured or un-
justly treated, and  have even witnessed something  like
sternness of expression  upon his features on the occasion
of flagrant injury to a  friend or to society; but he ex-
hibited none of what are habitually considered the char-
acteristic symptoms of anger or even indignation;  and
the strongest term that I could  apply  under the circum-
stances was that he was  offended.  Indeed, on one oc-
casion at least, he complained to me of this peculiarity 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
61
of his  nature, and  expressed  regret that he could not
feel decidedly angry, even when intellectually convinced
that he ought to be not only  angry, but very angry.
This did not arise from any weakness of character; from
the fear of receiving injury, or  even from an unwilling-
ness to hurt the feelings or offend the sensibility  of
others; for  few men were more ready than  he  to show
or express disapproval when  deserved, even to the  of-
fender  himself, and to punish  any great dereliction of
duty or of propriety in whatever mode might be deemed
expedient;  but he did all this without the exhibition,
 and probably with little of the feeling of anger.  I do
 not think that Dr. Bache ever had any  great difficulty
 in fulfilling the two divine precepts, of doing to others
 as you would that they should do to you, and of the
 forgiveness of injuries.
   Though  desirous of the good opinion  of others,  and
 sensitive to  merited  commendation,  Dr. Bache cannot
 be said to have been ambitious.  He cared little or  no-
 thing for power, had no wish to influence others except
 through  their  reason  and judgment, and coveted dis-
 tinguished position only as it evinced kindly feelings or
 favourable opinion.  Perhaps a  somewhat larger infusion
 of ambition  into his nature might  have  given it greater
 energy,  and stimulated  him to the accomplishment of
 still more for the general good  and  his own fame.
    Kindly disposed to  all, and, however much he  may
 have disapproved, hating none, he  reserved his warmest
 affections  within narrow limits,  and,  outside of  the 
62
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR  OF
family circle,  there  were few  who enjoyed his entire
friendship and confidence. He gave his affections slowly,
as he formed  his opinions;  but,  like these, when once
given they  were very  steadfast.   It was  one of  my
highest  sources of satisfaction in life that he considered
me among his nearest friends.  From  the commence-
ment of our. acquaintance, not  a shadow remains in  my
recollection upon the kindliness of our intercourse.  Our
mutual  confidence and  reliance were complete; and in
losing him I have felt  as though  one of my main sup-
ports in life had been taken  from under  me; that a
vacuum has been produced  in my existence which can
never be filled;  yet  I have  sincere pleasure in looking
back to  our long unbroken friendship; and the best com-
pensation  for his loss, the nearest approach  to the satis-
faction of our former intercourse,  is that which I have
experienced  on the present  occasion  in  tracing out  his
career and character, and attempting to do justice to his
memory.
  But little more is necessary to complete  the portrai-
ture.  Dr. Bache had  a  great taste  and  fondness  for
music, but,  I  presume, little  power of execution;   at
least I never knew him to make the trial.  He was a
frequent attendant of the opera here; and,  in our jour-
ney through Europe, he never failed to  avail himself of
this source of enjoyment in the great capitals we visited.
  I need scarcely speak again of his characteristic slow-
ness, so  often  referred  to  in  the course of the memoir,
except to say that it  appeared to pervade almost  his 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
63
whole being, and was exhibited not only in  his  mental
operation, but also  in his bodily movements.  His slow
deliberate step in walking is familiar to all who knew
him.  This deliberateness in whatever  he did, said, or
wrote, had its  advantages.   It saved  him,  no doubt,
from the commission of many errors,  and was one of the
causes of  the extreme  accuracy by which he  was so
favourably  distinguished.  In  our intercourse not only
as co-workers  in scientific and professional pursuits, but
in various other respects, I have myself derived so much
advantage  from this peculiarity  of  our friend, that I
have probably reason to  consider it rather as worthy of
commendation than as a defect.
   Little need be added to what  has been already said
of the attainments of Dr. Bache.   He had received the
usual elementary education in the Latin and Greek lan-
guages, was familiar with the French, and, when some-
what advanced in  life, undertook the study of the Ger-
man, in which he made considerable  progress, though
without mastering  it.   His reading, though occasionally
excursive into the various fields of literature, was chiefly
scientific and  professional; and his leisure intervals were
generally occupied in keeping himself  on a level with
the knowledge of the times.
   I have already had occasion to speak of his  style as
a lecturer.  As a writer it was  similarly characterized;
clear, concise, correct, simple, methodical, calculated to
make the  subject  fully understood, without  calling at>
tention  off from it  to  the  author.   In his  published 
64
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF
writings, he seldom if ever indulged in  the  humorous
or jocose;  but it was much otherwise in his familiar let-
ters.  There were few of the many written to myself in
which  some pleasantry was  not introduced.  I may be
excused if I quote one by way of illustration.   He had
been travelling with me for  about a week in one of my
customary excursions into the interior; and, leaving us
at the  Susquehanna, had  found  the  accommodation  on
his  journey back  by another  route  somewhat rough,
with a break-down of  the  stage-coach  superadded.
Writing me on his return, and  wishing to contrast his
pleasant  journey  out with  the unpleasant one home-
ward, he said that he could  not  better express  his feel-
ings than by a comparison  he  had  heard in his boy-
hood; "I went up watermelon and came down squash."
  Of his religious opinions Dr. Bache seldom spoke even
to his  intimate friends.   He  attended worship in  the
Protestant Episcopal Church.  If we judge him by the
Gospel rule, that a  tree  is known  by its  fruits, he can-
not have been very far wrong;  for few men, within the
circle of my knowledge, lived  more nearly up  to  the
Christian standard.
  Though his political opinions were  decided, and  he
generally gave expression to them at the ballot-box, he
could not be considered, in  the  ordinary acceptation of
the term, as a party man, and never, I believe, at least
after I  knew him, took an active part in  measures con-
nected  with party politics.
  From the commencement of the era of  his life, which 
DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.
65
is  now engaging  our attention, to its  close, a period of
somewhat more than twenty years, Dr. Bache  occupied
a most enviable position.  Highly respected by all and
generally beloved, so far as I know without an enemy,
with  a sufficient  income to support  him handsomely,
and a surplus that enabled him to make some provision
for the future; occupied, too, in  various useful works,
which, leaving him intervals of relaxation, fully em-
ployed without oppressing him, generally in the enjoy-
ment of  good health, and participating in the ordinary
social duties and  pleasures of his station, with an affec-
tionate family around him, he lived as  happy a life as
the uncertainty of all human affairs permitted, or prob-
ably  as  consisted with  his  own  permanent  good.   A
portion of each summer, perhaps from two to six weeks,
he was in the habit of giving to relaxation in  the coun-
try, generally at  the sea-shore.   Once  he  paid a visit
with me to a residence in my native place in New Jer-
sey, where I  had  an  opportunity  of taking him  to a
religious meeting of the  Friends,  held in  unbroken
silence,  which he seemed to enjoy as something quite
new to his  experience.   The necessity of attending sci-
entific and professional conventions  at distant places,
and once at  least of being  present, by appointment of
the  Government, at the examination of the  Military
Academy at  West  Point, gave him the opportunity of
occasional  absences from home,  which contributed to
diversify his life agreeably.   I have before alluded  to  a
visit of  about five  months, which  he paid with me to 
66   BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF DR. FRANKLIN BACHE.

Europe  in  the  summer of 1853, and which he enjoyed
exceedingly;  but time is  not allowed me to descant
upon this subject  as I should be pleased to do.
  In the spring of 1864, after the completion and pub-
lication  of  the  Pharmacopoeia, in the revision of  which
he had  been  so long and so laboriously engaged, while
enjoying an interval of rest before entering on the still
more laborious  duty of revising the  Dispensatory for a
new  edition,  he was attacked, on the 11th  of March,
with the disease which carried him off.  This had in its
earlier stages the characteristic  features of an epidemic
influenza then  prevailing,  but assumed,  two or three
days before its close, a decidedly typhous condition, and
ended fatally on the 19th, after a duration of somewhat
more than a week.
  I have thus given as faithful a record of the life and
character of  our  departed friend and fellow-member as
it was in my power  to do.  If I have succeeded in my
aim,  I have represented  to you an extraordinary man,
one upon whose  memory not  a stain rests, and who,
while he worked  diligently, and thus did  much for the
public good, has done still more, within the limited cir-
cle where  he was  personally known,  by  presenting to
the young  men entering on the stage of  active  duties,
an example,  for  their imitation, of all that  is morally
excellent, lovely,  and of good report in manhood. 
 
 
 
^v^tfW '
8M?W