Elias Durand (January 25, 1794 – August 15, 1873), born Élie Magloire Durand, was an American

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

and

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

.Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435 He was born in France. Durand was born in Mayenne, France, apprenticed as a chemist and pharmacist in Mayenne from 1808–1812, studied

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

in Paris, and on his graduation in 1813 joined the medical corps of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

's army. He served for 14 months, and was present at the battles of Lützen, Bautzen,

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

, Katzbach, and Leipzig. In 1814 he resigned his commission, and became an apothecary in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

where he studied botany intensively for two years. After Napoleon's downfall, he was suspected of Napoleonic tendencies, and sailed to New York City in 1816. After intervals in Boston, Philadelphia, and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

, he ultimately settled in Philadelphia, where he established a drugstore employed by many of the most eminent physicians of the day. In 1825 he became a member of Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and in 1832 was elected a corresponding member of the ''Société de Pharmacie'' in Paris. In 1835 he was the first to begin bottling mineral waters in the United States, and was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1854. Durand actively devoted himself to botany, and became thoroughly familiar with the flora of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, collecting an

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

that included a remarkable 10,000 species of North American plants. This, the work of nearly forty years, he presented to the museum of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris in 1868. A separate gallery has been devoted to the collection in that institution, and it was called "Herbaria Durandi" after the donor. Dr. Durand was a contributor to scientific journals, and a member of scientific societies in the United States and Europe. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 15, 1873.

Selected works

* "Obituary of François André Michaux", in ''American Journal of Science'', 2nd series, 1857, pp. 161–177. * "Biographical Memoir of the late François André Michaux", in ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', 11, p. 17, 1860.

References

* William Procter, Chairman of Committee on Deceased Members, ''A Memorial of Elias Durand'', Read at the semi-annual meeting of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, Philadelphia : Merrihew & Son, 1873. * Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, ix volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889.
Timeline
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durand, Elias American botanists American pharmacists 1794 births 1873 deaths Members of the American Philosophical Society People from Mayenne French emigrants to the United States