[The opening lectures in chemistry of the French pharmacists]

The opening lectures, which formerly marked the beginning of a professor's duties in an academic institution, are important documents for science historians. Several opening lectures in chemistry (organic, inorganic, analytical, biological or medicinal chemistry), which were given by French pharmacists in the Ecole or the Faculté de pharmacie de Paris, in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, or in the Collège de France are analyzed. First, these lectures reveal formal aspects, such as the history of the chair or a eulogy of the works and personal qualities of the predecessor. Then, the educational aspects contained in the opening lectures provide information, as well as the opinions of the new professor about teaching and research, history of the subject and its interest for the pharmaceutical students. The final aspects cited concerned the education of the new professor, the birth of his vocation and the help provided by his mentors during his university studies, his periods of instruction and his first experimental works. The opening lecture reveals sociological aspects of how knowledge was built.