Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Monday 6 April 1925, page 3


A PIONEER CHEMIST

From. A. T. SAUNDERS.— I have just read with interest Mr. Harry A. Dale's article, and am reminded that in 1869 the ship Gossamer, from London to Adelaide, was wrecked on the English coast, and a Mr. Dale swam ashore from the wreck. He would be, I suppose, a brother of Mr. H. A. Dale. For the account of the wreck see The Register, 16/2/69, p. 4, c. 1, and a letter from Dr. Jefferis on the subiect. The article is a bit mixed as to

the time Mr. George Dale died and Mr. H. A. Dale entered the business. Quite a number of druggists are unmentioned; for example, Hutton's shop, Rundle street. In Kapunda there was R. Faw-cett's, who used to import the anti-lancet and Dr. Rooke's solar elixir and Oriental pills, which I had once to take out of the case for the customs and to repack, with disastrous results to the goods. Mr. Hustler, first of Queenstown and then for many years in charge of Faulding & Co., Port Adelaide, is not mentioned. Dr. Lawrence Healey I knew well in 1863, and from him I learned the word monomaniac and its meaning. Mr. Charles Downer, of Port Adelaide, is not mentioned. Carl Gun-ther was apprenticed to him, as were Joseph Barker and Charlie Keightley (the latter has been at Warooka for about 50 years). I used to see these apprentices making pills, but not in such a primitive manner as Mr Dale says. I was once

anxious to pound something in a mortar, so I was obliged, and the chlorate of potash and sulphur exploded, and quite cured my chemical curiosity. Mr. Pax-ton made a fortune out of Burra shares and other speculations, and retired to England. He had a favourite cow, andpensioned her for life on a piece of land in Tavistock street, and made provision for her. For some reason he refused to pay the first corporation rates so a large jar of some drug was seized in his shop and sold by auction. The Register (21/5/45, P. 2, c. 3) announces that, 19/5/45, F. H. Faulding opens his busi-ness at Rundle street, near King Wil-liam street. In Platt's directory for 1851, the name of George Dale, druggist, does not appear. Henry Watson, chemist, King William street, two doors from Rundle street, and North Adelaide, near the church, appears. He sold Watson's antibilioug and digestive pills for indiges-tion, headache, &c, and was wholesale agent for Sloper's lemonkali. Mr. Wat-son had been a customs officer and a partner of J. B. Hack— Hack, Watson   and Co. F. H. Faulding has a whole page advertisement in Platt's directory. Wax and spermaceti candles, perfumery, horse

and cattle medicines, eau de Cologne, combs in great variety, hair, tooth, nail and cloth brushes, and every article of domestic consumption usually sold by a druggist, in stock for sale. F. H. Fauld-ing arrived in Sydney in the Nabob, 1842 (see Observer. 17/5/45, p; 5, c. 1). Dr. Lawrence Healey arrived 24/10/1846, sur-J geon of the Britannia, The Observer (1/10/98, p. 16, c. 3) has the obituary of A. W. Paxton, a son of the druggist Paxton. He was a very tall man, and was on the London Stock Exchange. Mr. Arthur Waterhonse would remember him. Mr. Waterhouse bought the old Scots Kirk, where Cowra Chambers are, from Mr. Paxton, and a private Act had to be passed to give a good title to the land. Dr. O'Hea was one of the earliest druggists. His shop was on North ter-race, near Bank street. Dr. Bright sold out in the early forties and went to New

Zealand, whence he wrote glowing de- . scriptions of prosperous New Zealand, but by 1843, largely owing to alleged pur-chases of land being annuled by the Bri-tish Government, business was not good in New Zealand, and there was con-siderable exodus thence to Adelaide in 1845. In the early days many doctors dispensed their own prescriptions, and in Port Adelaide, till 1880. Dr. Gething, an allopath, did so. Dr. Bollen also did so, but he was homeopath.