Mr. Johnson was a gentleman of the most genial disposition, an original and powerful
thinker, as shown by several essays of his, such as that on the constitution of the
globe.
He was a most painstaking operator in the chemical laboratory, where various products,
such as the nitrate of silver, were for many years prepared on a large commercial
scale. Doubtless his close application to chemical work brought about the ailment
to which he succumbed. He gave also some time, on my suggestion, to investigate products
of native plants, and thus furnished some of the essential oils for the Victorian
Exhibition of 1862, and the London Exhibition of 1863. Later he brought into notice
for the first time the valuable oil of
as a remarkable product.
His surroundings were of exquisite taste, such as the corridors with conservatory
plants, the fern-tree-gully at the rear of his premises (annually lighted up for a
great and charming family festival), the oil paintings, the many splendid and costly
apparatus for his professional work, all evincing a high sense of the beautiful. Withal
he was most unassuming, living unostentatiously for his profession and his researches.
His eldest son is a highly-accomplished medical practitioner at Mount Gambier, being
a F.R.C.S. of London. His second son continues the renowned pharmacy. For about two
years Mr. Johnson’s health had not been good. He suffered from weakness of the heart
and bronchitis, and about six months ago the former became so aggravated that he had
to take to his bed. He never recovered sufficiently to leave the house, and
died on the morning of April 16.
