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JUL 27 1960
'EST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
4EDICAL CENTER LIBRARY
American medical biography or, Mem / Thacher, Jam
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HISTORY OF MEDICINE.
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AMERICAN
MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY:
OR
MEMOIRS OF EMIINENT PHYSICIANS
WHO HAVK
jploutCfiiijrlr in :^mciica.
TO WHICH IS PRr.KIXKU
A
SUCCINCT HISTORY
OP
MEDICAL SCIENCE. IN THE UNITED STATES,
FROM THK
FIRST SKTTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY.
BY JAMES TFIACHF.R, M.D.
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; Honorarr llrmbor of" the
New-Vork Historical Society, and of the New-Vork IIorticiilturKl Society, &c. •
Author of the American New Dispensatory, of the Modern Prarfic* aj' Ph)»ic|
and of tho Military Journal.
TWO VOLUMES IN ONE.
vol.. I.
" Thou shalt lie dov*n
With patriarchs of the infant world — with kiir**.
The powerful of the earth — tho wise, the gOvA*
Fair forms, and hoary seers of agc« past.
All in one mighty aepiilchrr." Rk >,«.■< i
BOSTON :
RICHARDSON k LORD am. COTTONS & KARNARD.
District of Massachuaetti — to wit :
DISTRICT CLERK'3 OFFICE.
BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the thirteenth day of February, A.D. 1828,
in the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America,
RICHARDSON & LORD and COTTONS & BARNARD of the said Dis-
trict have deposited in this Office the Title of a Book the Right whereof they claim
as Proprietors, in the words following, to wit :
" American Medical Biography : or Memoirs of Eminent Physicians who have
flourished in America. To which is prefixed a Succinct History of Medical Sci-
ence in the United States, from the first settlement of the Country. By James
Thacher, M.D., Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; Honora-
ry Member of the New-York Historical Society, and of the New- York Horticultu-
ral Society, &c.j Author of the American New Dispensatory, of the Modern Prac-
tice of Physic, and of the Military Journal. Two volumes in one.
' Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world — with kings.
The powerful of the earth — the wise, the good.
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre.' — Bryant."
In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " An Act
for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps, Charts and
Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein
mentioned :" and also to an Act entitled " An Act supplementary to an Act, enti-
tled. An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the Copies of Maps,
Charts and Books to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies during the times
therein mentioned ; and extending the Benefits thereof to the Arts of Designing,
Engraving and Etching Historical and other Prints."
JOHN W. DAVIS,
Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.
Printed by John CottOi*.
J
V
/W*
EDWARD AUGUSTUS HOLYOKE, M.D. A.A.S. et LL.D.
Venerable Sir,
The following work solicits the sanction of the oldest physician in the United
States, and perhaps in the world— the first President of the Massachusetts Medical
Society ; whose public virtues and amiable qualities have procured the respect and
love of his fellow citizens, and the applause of all. In you we recognise the singular
phenomenon of a lite comprising nearly a century, and yet not ceasing to be useful
as a zealous advocate in the great cause of benevolence and philanthropy.* It is
your peculiar felicity, Sir, by favor of Divine Providence, to have escaped the
perils both physical and moral of a patriarchal life, and to experience the happy
fruits of a sacred devotion to the purest principles of Christian morality and piety.
In this volume will be brought to your recollection some distinguished names
which you have held in estimation as your predecessors, many who have been
your contemporaries and associates, who have gone before you to inherit the pro-
mises, and not a few whose memory you cherish for virtues imbibed from your
lessons of instruction and who have gloried in the opportunity of imitating your
example. That you may long continue the living chronicle of the times, an orna«
ment to the profession, and honored and beloved as the medical Nestor of America,
is the ardent desire and prayer of
your very obedient servant,
THE AUTHOR.
Plymouth, Mass,
Jan. 1, 1828.
Dr. Holyoke will complete his hundredth year on the 12th day of August, 1828.
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
in 2009 witii funding from
Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/americanmedicalbOOthac
PREFACE*
It is a delightful employment to portray the varied shades of
the human character as exhibited on the great theatre of the
world ; to contemplate in what manner men have lived, and how
they have died ; and bring into view those principles and motives
of action, and that combination of means, by which some men ar-
rive at the highest eminence in honorable attainments, while others
readily yield to moral and physical imperfections, and leave be-
hind them a blemished reputation. Death triumphs over the frail
nature of man ; all must bow to its awful summons, and quit this
earthly tabernacle ; the last remains of mortality are consigned to
the silent tomb, to mingle with the parent dust. It is not our gift
to trace the condition of the spirit ; but shall the recollection of
the most splendid and noble achievements of a meritorious life be
consigned to irremediable oblivion 1 shall the brightest examples
of piety, of patriotism and philanthropy be lost to posterity? No,
— it is the attribute of biography to animate the aspiring youth to
contemplate and admire the virtues, and learn to imitate the noble
actions of their ancestors. The pen of the biographer is a pledge
also to those who are still on their probationary course, that the
memory of such as are eminently signalized by extraordinary vir-
tues and splendid deeds, shall be recorded and transmitted for the
applause and imitation of the rising generation.
Biography and history are closely allied, and our own illustrious
ancestors afford excellent and abundant scope for the pen conse-
crated to this interesting species of literature. No profession,
perhaps, is more rich in this department than the medical, and
in none can it be applied with deeper interest or greater utility.
It has been the constant solicitude of the author of the present
work to collate from the purest sources such materials as would
VI PREFACE.
enable him to compile a biography, not of indiscriminate eulogy,
but of the strictest impartiality and justice ; and to tliis rule be
h;is adhered with laborious fidelity. In memoirs regulated by the
legitimate laws of truth and justice, simple facts will ever be found
the best eulogy ; nor is the author conscious of undue exaggera-
tion or improper concealment in any instance.
The public are now presented with an assemblage of meritorious
medical and political characters, which would reflect honor on
any country, many of whom participated, in the perils of the field
or in the cabinet, in the achievement of our national independ-
ence and for the advancement and support of our constitutions of
government. Models may here be selected worthy of imitation
by the physician, the christian, the patriot and philanthro[)ist.
Such is the nature of this undertaking that considerable assistance
has been found requisite for its accomplishment ; and it would be
a mark of ingratitude not to acknowledge most respectfully the
kind and liberal aid received, especially from Professors Ilosack
and Francis of New- York, Dr. James Mease of Philadelphia, and
the Rev. Samuel Miller, D.D. Professor in the Theological Semi-
nary at Princeton, New Jersey. To the Rev. Dr. McVickar,
Professor in Columbia College, the public are indebted for his
excellent life of the venerable Dr. Samuel Bard ; and to Drs.
Thomas Miner and Samuel B. Woodward of Connecticut, for
■their liberal contributions. The venerable W. N. Boylston, Esq.
and Dr. George C. Shattuck of Boston, have shown a kind inter-
est in this undertaking, and afforded a liberal encouragement,
which demands the author's sincere acknowledgments. Other
gentlemen who have been pleased to furnish materials and to
manifest an interest in the work, will please to accept the grateful
thanks of the author.
Materials for this work have been so abundantly accumulated
that the author has been obliged to suppress some memoirs, and to
retrench others, lest the volume should be augmented to an un-
wieldy size, and the price too much enhanced ; whether the selec-
tion has been the most judicious, and the style of execution the
most commendable, are submitted to the candid decision of the
public.
Plymouth^ Mass. Jan. 1, 1S28.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE.
Among the various sciences and literary pursuits of life, there
16 no one more pre-eminently important than that which is empha-
tically styled the healing art ; that which restores health, and
brings comfort and joy to suffering humanity. It is an inestimable
blessing, bestowed in mercy, to counterpoise the frail condition of
our nature, and to meliorate or remedy the miseries which result
from the indulgence of our vicious propensities. It assuages the
anguish of corporeal disease, and soothes that keen mental distress
which overwhelms the faculties of the soul. When we contem-
plate the condition of the inhabitants of the earth" in the primitive
ages of the world, we are struck with the formidable embarrass-
ments which they were doomed to encounter. Unacquainted with
the means of fortifying themselves against the numerous evils of
life, they were continually exposed to casualties and disease, and
at the same time destitute of such assistance as would afford the
desired relief. Ignorant of the structure of the human frame, and
of the laws of the animal economy, no rational method of cure
could be devised, and their medical knowledge could consist only
of an incongruous mixture of superstition and absurdities.
The primitive inhabitants, however, were blessed with firm ori-
ginal stamina, robust and vigorous consthutions, and were provided
with plain and simple food for their subsistence ; either the spon-
taneous productions of the soil, or the easy acquisitions of agricul-
ture. The climates which they enjoyed were probably of a mild
and genial temperature ; the air, pure and serene ; and the natural
means of health and comfort, their peculiar patrimony. While,
therefore, they observed the rules of sobriety and temperance in
their living, according to the dictates of nature and reason, and
adhered to the principles of morality and virtue, their diseases
could be neither so numerous, nor so complicate and difficult, as to
require profound skill for their removal.
It is, nevertheless, presumable that this happy condition of the
human race was not of long continuance ; but that a corruption of
2
10 HISTORY OF MEDICINE.
manners was gradually introduced, and the seeds of disease sown
either by irregularity or unavoidable accidents, and fostered by the
baneful influence of effeminate and luxurious gratifications. The
system of individuals having thus acquired a disposition to disease,
it could not fail of being disseminated according to the laws of na-
ture, and entailed, through their offspring, to succeeding genera-
tions. The novel and affecting scenes exhibited when diseases
terminated in the extinction of life, must have excited among the
early inhabitants an uncommon degree of consternation and alarm ;
and, being altogether ignorant of the true causes by which they
were generated, they would probably ascribe such extraordinary
phenomena to some supernatural power. Prompted by a spark of
that reason implanted in the breast of man for his preservation, as
the first principle in nature, they endeavoured to objain from the
most promising sources a remedy for their diseases. '| We are not
to be surprised that the human mind, influenced by superstition,
and untaught by experience, should associate the idea of religion
with medicine, and resort to charms and incantations, in full confi-
dence of accomplishing their desired purpose of preventing and
curing every malady. /
Such, in fact, was the melancholy condition of our species in
the early part of their history. Ignorant priests, magicians and
astrologers were their only physicians, and the superstition of the
times animated their hopes, while it gave sanction to the grossest
impositions. If, under infatuation and despair, consolation could
have been derived from these sources of folly, fatal experience
must soon have taught the sufferers that a cure of their maladies
required more potent remedies, than those of sorcery and enchant-
ment. In process of time, therefore, an expedient better suited to
their circumstances, was put in practice for the attainment of med-
ical knowledge. The sick were directed to be exposed in public
places to the view of travellers and strangers, who were required
to examine and compare their cases v^^ith such as might have fallen
under their observation, and to recomniend such remedies as had
been known to produce beneficial effects in similar complaints ;
and, when discoveries were thus made, the precious remedies were
held in veneration, and the knowledge of them was conveyed by
oral tradition, or recorded upon pillars in the most public places,
or on the walls of the temples consecrated to the god of health ;
and afterwards registers of cures were kept in those consecrated
places for public instruction. Thus was the practice of medicine
commenced under no other advantages than the simple principles
of analogy ; and many ages elapsed before this abstruse and impor-
tant science was placed upon a more substantial foundation. The
Egyptian medicine appears to have been little else than a
collection of absurd superstitions. Among the Greeks, iEfSculapius
was the most celebrated of those to whom they attributed the in-
vention of medicine. He was accounted the most eminent practi-
HISTORY OF MEDICINE. H
tioner of his time, and his name continued to be revered after his
death. He was even ranked among the gods, and the principal
knowledge of the medical art remained with his family till ihe
days of Hippocrates, who reckoned himself the seventeenth in a
lineal descent from ^sculapius. We are not furnished with a
correct series of information relative to medical history, until
about 450 years prior to the christian era ; when, amidst a cloud
of darkness and ignorance, the superior wisdom and brilliant tal-
ents of the great Hippocrates were displayed to the world. Under
the auspices of this prince of physicians, the healing art first assum-
ed the form of science, and was known and practised as a regular
profession. In the treatment of diseases, he studied and copied
nature with the greatest care and assiduity, as the only sure basis
of medical science ; and so extensive was his knowledge, and so
accurate his observations, that he has been constantly held in ven-
eration through succeeding generations. His numerous writings on
medical subjects remain a monument of his penetration and judg-
ment, and are considered by the learned as replete with lessons of
instruction, even at the present day. By his unparalleled industry
and perseverance, this father of medicine acquired a character and
fame, which united the applause of nations around him, and divine
honours were instituted to his memory. This extraordinary man
was born in the island of Cos, and died in his 99th year, B. C. 361.
A medical school was established at Alexandria in Egypt, which
was conducted by the most learned professors of (bis early pe-
riod. Dissections and the study of anatomy and surgery vvere
practised and patronised, and the institution, which flourished
near a thousand years, has been renowned in history as the ear-
liest and most important seat of medical literature and science.
It was here that Herophilus and Erasistratus were distinguished for
the vast number of human subjects which they dissected, some of
which were the living bodies of criminals. Galen, a man of sig-
nal talents and a disciple of the Alexandrian school, whose life
was devoted to the study and pursuit of medical science, was
another celebrated name among the physicians of antiquity. He
collected and arranged the rich treasures of medical knowledge,
which the labors of the preceding ages had acquired, and made
considerable improvement on the original stock. He is said to
have been the author of five hundred volumes on medical sub-
jects, and, with the exception of Hippocrates, was esteemed the
greatest physician of antiquity. So surprising were the cures
which he performed, that his skill was ascribed to magic ; and so
high was the authority of his name, that, for about fourteen cen-
turies, his systems and doctrines were most sacredly adhered to and
reverenced in all parts of the world. Galen is said to have been
converted from Atheism by the contemplation of a human skeleton.
In the early part of the l6th century, the noted Paracelsus
flourished as a physician and chemist. He laid the foundation of
12 HISTORY OF MEDICINE.
a chemical system directly opposed to that of Galen, whicMie
resolved to subvert. He was an enthusiastic laborer in the cause
of the alchymists, and boasted of being in possession of the phi-
losopher's stone. He travelled through almost every country in
Europe, consulting indifferently physicians, barbers, old women,
conjurers and chemists. In the height of his prosperity he was
appointed to deliver lectures in the town of Basle, in Switzerland,
and was the first public professor of chemistry in Europe ; but he
soon quarrelled with the magistrates about a medical fee, and de-
parted from the city. He was extremely dissolute and eccentric
in his manners and character. While seated in his chair as professor,
he burned with great solemnity the writings of Galen and Avicenna,
and declared to his audience, that, if God would not impart the
secrets of medicine, it was perfectly justifiable to consult the devil.
He invented a medicine which he termed the elixir of life, for the
professed purpose of procuring longevity, and pretended that, by
the use of it, his life would be protracted to the age of Methuselah.
Continuing to ramble about the country, he sunk into the deepest
dissipation, being scarcely ever sober, and never changing his
clothes, nor sleeping in a bed : neither the counsel of the devil,
nor his universal elixir, conferred on him his boasted gift of im-
mortality, and he died in a hospital in the 48th year of his age.
Nearly contemporary with Paracelsus was Michael Servetus, a
Spanish physician distinguished for attainments in anatomical
knowledge, who actually discovered, in the year 1553, the course
of the blood through the lungs, which is termed the lesser circula-
tion. But, in consequence of an unfortunate controversy in which
he became involved with John Calvin, the celebrated religious re-
former, a cruel sentence of death at the stake was passed against
him for heresy ; and this valuable man, together with his writings,
was, at the age of about 45 years, consigned to the flames.
It is an extraordinary circumstance that after the commencement
of human dissections by Democritus, the contemporary and friend
of Hippocrates, two thousand years should elapse before the very
important discovery was made of the true circulation of the blood.
Galen and his followers attributed to the liver the office of pre-
paring the blood and transmitting it through the veins to all parts
of the body, conceiving that air was contained in the arteries,
and that the veins were the only true channels of the blood. It
was also the opinion of some, that the blood moved forward and
backward, like the ebbing and flowing of the tide. This glorious
discovery was reserved to crown the labors of Dr. William Har-
vey, a learned English physician, who flourished in the seven-
teenth century. In the year 1628, his new theory of the circula-
tion of the blood became the subject of his lectures, and by nu-
merous experiments he demonstrated the attendant phenomena in
a manner the most convincing and satisfactory, and it has been
received as an invaluable acquisition to the science of medicine.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE. 13
Gr^t and manifold are the advantages derived to mankind from
the liigenious research and labors of the immortal Harvey. His
noble discovery, which had eluded the research of ages, subverted
the fallacious doctrines of the ancients, and at once effected a
total revolution in the theory and practice of medicine. Of all
the discoveries recorded in medical history, this is incomparably
the most important in its effects and consequences. Such, how-
ever, is the ignoble spirit of jealousy and envy, that it is not
usually the fate of novel doctrines, however important, to be re-
ceived without opposition ; accordingly we find that there were
some, who, biassed by passion and interest, had the boldness to
deny the facts so fairly proved, and to calumniate the name of the
illustrious discoverer. Every argument against him was, however,
completely refuted and silenced, and his new principles of circula-
tion universally established before the termination of his honor-
able life. It is observed by a judicious writer, that "the books
of Harvey present us with many indications of a great mind, acute
discernment, unwearied application, original remark, bold inquiry,
and a clear, forcible and manly reasoning." He was not less dis-
tinguished for his piety, than for his erudition ; and, at the close
of his useful life, he was consoled with the reflection, that the
spirit of malevolence, so hostile to his merit and fame, became
attempered to the grateful duty of enhancing and perpetuating the
honor justly due to his exalted character.
Medical, like all other knowledge, is progressive, and the
melancholy triumphs of disease over its victims, and the numer-
ous examples of medical impotency, clearly evince that the com-
bined stock of both ancient and modern learning is greatly insuf-
ficient to perfect our professional knowledge. The science of
medicine in Europe had long continued at a very low ebb until
the era of its revival which commenced in 1719, when, by the
splendid talents and industry of Dr. Munro senr., the establish-
ment of the celebrated medical school of Edinburgh was happily
accomplished. This honorable achievement was succeeded by
similar institutions in various parts of Europe. The talents of
William and John Hunter in London, of the great Boerhaave in
the university of Leyden, and some kindred spirits in France,
seemed to combine their efforts to elevate medical science to a
signal and dignified condition of improvement. In America the
cultivation of the healing art had not been commensurate with our
national progress in wealth and population ; but we were not
long destitute of brilliant and philanthropic characters to follow
in the laudable pursuit for the benefit and the honor of their na-
tive country.
14 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
MASSACHUSETTS.
It is only from the most scanty materials, and with the aid of tradi-
tion, that we can trace the origin and progressive improvements in
the healing art, among the early settlers of the American colo-
nies. It was not selfish views of pecuniary interest, nor motives
of secular ambition, that wrought on the pure spirits of our fathers;
but the noblest principles of religious liberty and religious reforma-
tion, were awakened in their souls, and bore them on to their des-
tined place of refuge. Physicians of high standing in professional
acquirements and experience, could find no adequate motive to
induce them to quit a lucrative establishment in their native land
of civilized society, to encounter perils and hardships, and to be-
come exiles in an uncultivated wilderness. Providence, however,
had provided a source from which the settlers were to be supplied
with that medical assistance, which their peculiar circumstances
imperiously demanded. The puritanic, clergy in England were,
for more than twenty years prior to the emigration of the first
settlers, subjected to the sharpest persecution. The prospects of
the nonconformists, of a peaceful and comfortable subsistence,
rested on the most precarious tenure, constantly liable to the frowns
of tyrants, by which they were prohibited the liberty of exercising
the duties of their sacred calling according to the dictates of their
own conscience. Hence, as a precautionary measure in case of
an ejectment, a considerable number of clergymen of that period,
were educated to the medical profession, and not a few were emi-
nent practitioners before they crossed the Atlantic. Besides, we
find that it was not uncommon in their day for a part of education
to consist in the study of ancient medical authors, as Hippocrates,
Galen, Aretaeus, Celsus, &c., as among the accomplishments of a
finished scholar. New England, therefore, at its earliest settle-
ment, was provided with some able and well educated physicians ;
though not favoured with the great facilities of the present day,
our fathers were no less learned in the science of their time, than
we in ours. When these professional men came to form minis-
terial connexions in the colonies, it was found that the small con-
gregations were unable to afford them a comfortable support ;
hence the necessity and the convenience of their resort to secular
avocations ; and what more eligible, or more consonant with the
benevolent views and feelings of puritan clergymen, than to minis-
ter to the relief of their suffering brethren, and to render conso-
lation in the solemn hour of dissolution 1 The practice of medi-
cine, therefore, was in many instances united with the parochial
duties of ministers of religion, / More exalted, however, were
their avocations than those of Hl^ ancient priests of Egypt, of
Greece and Rome, for they had made respectable attainments in
medical science, and were well qualified for great usefulness in
their respective callings, they were actuated by the purest motives
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 15
and the highest considerations of benevolence. By their amiable
manners, zealous attention and pious converse, they endeared
themselves to their people ; mutual attachments were formed, and
the fullest confidence was reposed in their medical skill. While
in some instances the duties of the physician, of the teacher of re-
ligion, and of the instructer of youth, devolved on the same indi-
vidual, some of the eminent civilians also of our early history were
found to participate in the same duties of benevolence. The hon-
ourable John Winthrop, son of governor Winthrop of Massachu-
setts, was eminent in medicine as well as in philosophy, and was
one of the founders of the Royal Society. New England from its
first settlement has not been without able and learned men in
every profession. It is highly honorable to our fathers that their
civil and religious institutions, however imbued with the imperfec-
tions of their turbulent age, are incomparably the wisest and the
best that any legislative body ever bequeathed to their posterity ;
and in their literary and scientific foundations, we recognise the
radical principles which are cherished at the present age as the
immutable laws of civil and religious freedom. The independ-
ence, liberty, and privileges, which the whole United States now
enjoy, are almost entirely the emanations from the noble spirit
which was inherited from the early settlers of New England. It
should therefore be our endeavor to preserve their sons from dis-
honoring their fathers' holy standard, by exhibiting to their con-
templation in a fair and impartial light, the lives of some of their
distinguished ancestors ; unshielded from the rigors of a boisterous
season, they were compelled to erect citadels of defence against
the attacks of cruel savages, while their hearts were pierced with
the keenest anguish by the arrows of death, depriving them of
rulers, parents, husbands, wives and children. How cheering
would have been the consolation, could those pious fathers have
foreseen a period like the present, when their descendents, assem-
bling in magnificent temples are gratefully chanting their praises,
and cultivating those principles of virtue, patriotism and religion,
which they assiduously cherished as the objects of their fondest
attachment. It was but shortly after the landing of the first emi-
grants at Plymouth, December 22, 1620, that they were visited
with severe sickness. Having undergone the perils of a long
voyage in an inclement season, subjected to fatigue, privations and
sufferings, their constitutions impaired, their spirits depressed, and
their hopes in many respects frustrated ; it is no matter of surprise
that they were afflicted with uncommon mortality, insomuch that
nearly one half of their number perished during the first winter.
But it was their laudable zeal, and heavenly mindedness that first
inspirited them to commence the race of liberty and glury, and it
was the same sublime spirit that fortified their minds against scenes
of woe and despair.
16 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
It is not to be considered an extraordinary circumstance that
more tiian a century and a half elapsed after the first settlement of
the colonies, before a single effort was made, either by public
authority or by the enterprise of individuals, for the establishment
of institutions for the education of physicians, or the regulation of
the practice of medicine. Our ancestors were strongly impressed
with the importance of general education, and it was their constant
solicitude to provide for institutions of learning, as far as was prac-
ticable. But the welfare of the church and their political economy
were made paramount to all other considerations. The peculiar
motives which prompted their emigration to this country, the dif-
ficult circumstances which they were called to encounter, and the
depressed state of medical science in the countries whence they
came, will furnish the most ample apology for their neglect of the
means of improved medical education. They possessed a spirit of
submission to the privations incident to a new settlement, and they
enjoyed a religious confidence in the skill of their clerical physi-
cians ; besides which, several accomplished European physicians
had emigrated with the early settlers. In process of time a con-
siderable number of young graduates from our colleges repaired to
Europe to complete their medical education in the public schools,
and to qualify themselves to practise in the colonies.* The period
can be recollected when it was not uncommon for a skilful surgeon
to ride one and even two hundred miles to perform a capital ope-
ration, and so late as about the middle of the eighteenth century
a patient afflicted with stone in the bladder actually crossed the
Atlantic, to have the operation of lithotomy performed by the cele-
brated Dr. Cheselden in London. Medical libraries had no exist-
ence in the country, and it was seldom that students could have
access to the elementary works necessary for their instruction.
No medical journal was published in America until near the close
of the eighteenth century, through which physicians could commu-
nicate the results of their experience, or make known their im-
provements and discoveries ; not even a newspaper was printed
till the year 1704.t Hence it is not strange that we are so little
ac;quainted with the character and practice of our predecessors.
/ The first physician of whom we have any account among the
* Harvard college was founded at Cambridge .... 1638
William and Mary college of Virginia ..... 1691
Yale college in Connecticut ...... 1700
Princetown college in New Jersey -..-.. 1746
Philadelphia college -....--. 1754
King's, now Columbia college New York ..... 1754
All these colleges furnished students for European medical institutions.
t The first newspaper printed in America was the Boston News-Letter, begun
April 24, 1704, by B. Green. The first in Pennsylvania, December 22, 1719.
First in New York, October 16, 1725. First in Charleston, S. C. 1730. In
Rhode Island, October, 17-32. In Connecticut, 1755. In New Hampshire, 1756.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 17
the colonists, was Dr. Samuel Fuller, (h) He formed one of the
company who came over in the first ship, and was a deacon in
Rev. John Robinson's church. Whether he had enjoyed a colle-
giate education is uncertain, but he is said to have been well quali-
fied in his profession ; he was zealous in the cause of religion, and
eminently useful as a physician and surgeon. He extended his
benevolent labors not only to the sick among his immediate friends
at Plymouth and the aborigines in the vicinity, but in 1628 and
1629, by the desire of governor Endicot, he twice visited the new
settlement at Salem, where he manifested his skill and success in
practice among the numerous sufi'erers under scurvy and other dis-
eases introduced there by the ships on their arrival.^ He received
the entire approbation of governor Endicot, and his letters of
thanks for his useful services. In a letter to governor Bradford,
June 28, 1630, Dr. Fuller says, " I have been to Matapan (now
Dorchester), and let some twenty of those people blood." What
disease prevailed among them to require the loss of blood in the
warm season of June, we are unable to determine. In the year
1632, the settlers at Plymouth were visited with a disease which
they called an infectious fever, of which upwards of twenty men,
women and children died, among whom was their pious and excel-
lent physician. Dr. Fuller. Tlie same disease proved very fatal
also among the native Indians.
In the year 1633, Dr. Giles Firiner was a deacon in the Boston
church, and was esteemed as an able physician, and a man of learn-
ing. In l637j it is noticed that Dr. John Fisk arrived and set-
tled at Salem, where he sustained a respectable character as a
clergyman and physician. WillkinijGrqge?' accompanied gover-
nor Winthrop to Boston in the character of surgeon, where he
died gfearty lamented. At the first_conimencement at Harvard
college, in l642, Samuel Belhngham and Henry Saltonstall
were graduated, and were afterwards honored with the degree of
M. D. at European universities, and both were reputed learned
and skilful physicians. Leonard Hoar was graduated at Cambridge
in 1650, and repaired to England, where he studied medicine and
received the degree of M. D. ; he returned to New England, and
was for about two years president of Harvard college. John
Glover, in 1650, repaired to England, and returned after having
the degree of M. D. conferred on him at Aberdeen. Isaac
Channel/ was graduated in 1651, and was honored with the de-
gree of M. D. in Europe. Johti Rogers M. D. was president of
Harvard college from l6S2 to l684, but whether he was in the
practice of medicine is uncertain. Charles Chauncy (b) was
president of Harvard college in 1652; he had a medical education
in England, and had six sons educated at Harvard college, all of
whom studied medicine, and were said by Dr. Mather to have
(6) This letter denotes those whose biography is to be found in this volume.
3
X
18 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
been eminent physicians as their father was before them ; several
of them removed to England and did not return. Mathew Ful-
ler, a relation probably of Dr. Samuel Fuller, first of Plymouth,
about 1640, removed to Barnstable in 1652, where he died, 1678.
He was appointed Surgeon General of the provincial forces raised
in Plymouth colony in 1673, and he is slso styled Captain in 1675.
Item from his inventory. Surgeon's chest and drugs £l6.0.0.
Library, £10.0.0. Thomas Starr, of Yarmouth, as early as
1640, and living there in l670, is occasionally styled Chirurgeon
in the public records. Comfort Starr, Chirurgeon, first of New-
town, alias Cambridge, removed to Duxbury, in Plymouth colony,
in 1638, whence after a short period he removed to Boston, where
he died about 1663. Samuel Scabury, styled Chirurgeon in the
records, appears in Duxbury, in Plymouth colony, at an early date,
where he died 1680. Items of his inventory. Nicholas Culpep-
per's Practice of Physic, £1.4.0. Ditto Anatomy 3s. Reed's
Practice of Surgery, Is, 6d. Physician's Practice, Is. Latin Her-
bal, £1.10.0. Art of Distillation, by John French, 2s. Surgeons'
Instruments 12s. Antimonial Cup, 5s. Thomas Little, born in
Marshfield, Plymouth colony, graduated at Harvard college 1695,
settled in Plymouth as a physician about 1700, where he died,
1712, aged 38 years. He held several civil offices in the county
of Plymouth, and was also a merchant of some note ; one of his
sons, Thomas Little, was a physician in Chilmark, 1726. Sur-
geon's chest of Thomas Little senr. £17.10.0.
Thomas Oliver, who was an elder in the Boston church, is
mentioned with high approbation in Winthrop's Journal, as an ex-
perienced and skilful surgeon about 1644. The new settlers, from
exposure to extreme hardships and to famine, were frequently
afilicted with alarming and fatal diseases, which at some periods
threatened almost a total extinction of their population. At dif-
ferent times from 1678 to 1702, the smallpox spread through the
colonies, and, from the injudicious mode of treatment, its efiects
were like a mortal scourge wherever it appeared. But in the year
1646 these virtuous people were much grieved by the discovery
of a disease in Boston, with which till then they were entirely un-
acquainted, and which, the venerated Vyinthrop in his Journal
says, raised a scandal upon the town' and country though without
just cause. This proved to be Lues Venerea. It originated with
the wife of a seafaring man, who after child birth was aflected
with ulcerated breast. Many persons were employed to draw
this woman's breast, by which means about sixteen persons, men,
women and children, were afiected with this new and odious dis-
ease. The nature of the complaint was at length ascertained ;
but no physician could be found in the country who was acquaint-
ed with the method of cure. But it fortimately happened that at
that very season a young surgeon arrived from the West Indies,
who had been experienced in the disease, and he soon performed
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 19
a cure. In the summer of 1647, an epidemical sickness spread
througli the country, among English, French, Dutch and Indians.
It resembled a cold attended by slight fever, (probably Influen-
za,) Those, says Winthrop, who were bled or used cooling
things, died, those who took comfortable tilings, for most part re-
covered in a few days. Not a family, and but a few persons es-
caped an attack of this epidemic : about 40 or 50 died in Massa-
chusetts, and about the same number in Connecticut, among
whom was the Rev. Mr. Thomas Hooker, pastor of the church in
Hartford. Dr. Nathaniel Williams was graduated at Harvard
college in 1693. He was ordained a minister of the gospel, but
was for many years a very useful instructor of the south grammar
school in Boston, and was very popular as a practising physician,
to which he devoted the latter part of his life, and was called the
" beloved physician," from his kind and tender deportment in the
chan)ber of the sick. He died in 1739. He published a pam-
phlet on tlie inoculation of the smallpox in 1721. Thomas
Thachcr, (b) who came over to New England in 1635, was edu-
cated to the ministry, and was the first minister of the Old South
Church in Boston. He also received a medical education, was
considered a great divine, and learned physician ; and preaching
and practising to general approbation, attained great eminence in
both professions, and in the learned languages. He published a
work entitled, "A Brief Guide in the Smallpox and Measles" in
1677, which is the first medical publication found on record in
New England, if not in America. In 1669, it appears that Henry
Taylor, Surgeon in Boston, had his rate omitted in consideration
of a cure performed and a promise to attend the sick poor, or
such as may be hurt; and in 1671, Dr. Daniel Sfo?ie undertook
to attend the town's poor, for twenty shillings money, and remit-
tance of taxes. Several persons by the name of Clark are found
on record as Physicians and Surgeons. Drs. 2^homas Oaks and
William Hughes were in some repute as medical men in Boston
from 16S5 to 1695. Dr. Elisha Cooke senr. practised physic
with much reputation in the town of Boston in the latter part of
the I7th century. He was a great politician, and for more than
40 3'ears a popular leader in the general court, and was, a member
of the council. He died in 1685, aged 78 years. Dr. Elisha
Cooke jun. followed the political course of his father, and was
one of the most popular political characters in the town of Boston,
and a leader of the debates in the house of representatives. He
was sent to the court of Great Britain as agent for the people of
Massachusetts, and was afterwards elected a counsellor. He died
in the year 1737. The two Cookes, according to Dr. Eliofs bio-
graphy, were the most zealous republicans who ever acted their
parts in Massachusetts Bay. Having thus exhibited such a sketch
of the state of medicine in Massachusetts during the 17th century
as the imperfect documents at command enable us to compose, we
20 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
enter upon the history of medical science in the 18th century
under more auspicious advantages, and shall close with more
honorable and important results.
In the year 1721, after an absence of nineteen years, the small-
pox again invaded the settlements of the planters with its usual
cruel ravages. This disease had ever been considered as one of
the greatest scourges with which the human race had beeti af-
flicted. Such was the dreadful virulence of this pestilence, that a
large proportion of the sick became its victims, and the most of
those who escaped with their lives, were disfigured with scars and
pits, which destroyed the comeliness of the countenance, and in
some instances a total blindness was the consequence. Those
who have not been conversant with this formidable malady, can
form no conception of the hideous spectacle exhibited by one suf-
fering under malignant smallpox. The head is swollen to a
monstrous size, the eyes are entirely closed, the lips swollen and
of a livid color, and the face and surface of the whole body are
covered with maturated pustules, from which issue purulent mat-
ter ; the miserable being has the appearance of a putrid mass, and
scarcely the semblance of the human form remains. The visita-
tion of the smallpox at this period afforded occasion for an event,
which in its consequences may be ranked among the most import-
ant to the welfare of mankind that have ever been recorded in the
annals of medicine. It is the introduction o{ Inoculation of Small'
pox as a substitute for the natural infection : it is in fact a triumph
over that mortal scourge, disarming it of its malignity, and reduc-
ing it to comparative mildness and safety. If reliance can be
placed on tradition, the art of inoculation may be traced back to
remote antiquity ;* but it was not until the first part of the 18th
century that it attracted the notice of the most intelligent and en-
lightened class of mankind, and it was first regularly adopted in Eng-
land in the year 1721. The celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Mon-
tague, having resided sometime in Constantinople, became ac-
quainted -with the method of inoculation as practised by some
Turkish women, and satisfied with its safety and salutary effects,
subjected her son to the operation of engrafting as it was then
* It is a remarkable fact, that in many countries in Europe, and in Africa and
Asia, particularly in Hindoostan and China, inoculation for the smallpox was
practised by the common people, for many years before its introduction by the phy-
sicians of Great Britain ; and, in some of them, as far back as tradition can be
traced. It is also a still more remarkable fact, that in Wales, in the Highlands of
Scotland, among the ignorant peasantry of Germany, in the interior of Africa, and
in several parts of the Asiatic continent, distant as they«are from each other, dif-
ferinn widely as they do, in manners, customs, law and religion, the art of com-
munfcating this disease by inoculation was designated by the singular phrase of
buying the smallpox ; because it was superstitiously imagined that inoculation
would not produce the proper effect unless the person from whom the variolous mat-
ter was taken received a piece of money, or some article in exchange for it. See
Woodville's history of Inoculation, and Miller's 18th Century.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 21
termed. On her return to England, she directed that her daug'.iter
should undergo the operation, which was performed by her sur-
geon, Mr, Maitland, in April, 1721, and this was the first instance
of inoculation in the English dominions. About the same time,
Dr. Cotton Mather, a learned divine in Boston, having observed
in the Philosophical Transactions printed in London, an account
of inoculation by Timoni & Pylarini in Turkey, communicated
the information to several physicians in Boston, who treated the
subject with contempt. He then recommended to his friend Dr. *
Zabdicl Boylston (h) to adopt the practice. Accordingly with
the little information which he could obtain from that publication,
and in the face of the most violent opposition, on the 27th day
of June, 1721, Dr. Boylston inoculated first his only son about
thirteen years of age, and two negro servants, in which he was
completely successful. This had the happy tendency, not only to
confirm in his own mind the safety and utility of inoculation, but
in some degree to quiet the fears of others. In the year 1721,
and first part of 1722, Dr. Boylston inoculated 247 persons, and
39 were inoculated by other persons in Boston and its vicinity.
Of this number six only died, and several of these were supposed
to have taken the infection before inoculation. In the same
period, 5759 took the disease the natural way, of whom 844 died,
and many of those who recovered were left with broken constitu-
tions and disfigured countenances. The degree oi odium and /;er-
secution which Dr. Boylston brought upon himself by this very
laudable innovation, is almost incredible. His house was attacked
with so much violence that he and his family could not feel them-
selves safe in it. He was assaulted in the streets, loaded with
every species of abuse, and execrated as a murderer. Indeed
many sober pious people were deliberately of opinion, when he
commenced the practice of inoculation, that if any of his patients
should die, he ought to be capitally punished. A bill was brought
into the legislature for prohibiting the practice under severe
penalties, and it actually passed the house of representatives ; but
some doubts existing in the council, its progress was arrested, and
it never became a law. (Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts,
vol. 2d.) But Dr. Boylston was repeatedly sumn)oned before the
selectmen of Boston, and rciceived their reprehension. He not
only sufil'ered the greatest indignity from an enraged populace, but
the resentment and censure of his professional brethren, who
formed a powerful combination against him ; although he repeat-
edly invited them to visit his patients and examine for their satis-
faction. The novelty of the subject and the stiong prejudices
then subsisting, caused much public agitation, and involved both
clergymen and physicians in a spirited and intemperate controver-
sy. The clergymen in general, however, acted an honorable part
and many of them became zealous advocates of the new practice,
while most of the medical faculty were its active and violent on-
22 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
posers. The newspapers teemed with pieces on both sides of the
interesting controversy, and from the opponents of inoculation is-
sued some of a virulent and scurrilous character. The Netv Eng-
land Courant printed by the Franklins, (the young philosopher
himself being being one of the editors) was under the influence
of the physicians, who abused the clergy for their interference
in the matter in controversy. Some of the clergy received per-
sonal injury, others were insulted in the street, and were hardly
safe in their houses, nor were their services acceptable on Sun-
day, until the success of the practice induced the people to think
that it was the hand of Providence in their favor. Dr. WiUiam
Douglass, (6) a Scotch physician of considerable reputation in
Boston, took the first rank in the opposition, and his coadjutors
were Larorcnce Dalhondc, a French practitioner of popular ta-
lents, and Joseph Marion. Dr. Douglass was a man of learning
and abilities, but conceited and arrogant, and behaved with great
disingenuousness on this occasion. He published Essays on In-
oculated Smallpox in 1722, and in 1730. During the malevo-
lent persecution of Dr. Boylston, Dr. Dalhonde was prevailed
upon to frame a singular deposition before two magistrates in Bos-
ton, and the selectmen of that town had the eflVontery to publish
it in support of their opposition. Notwithstanding the palpable
falsehood of the deposition, it was not only industriously circulat-
ed in New England, but even in London, where it was reprinted
to expose its absurdity. (See note A. at the end of this sketch.)
Dr. Boylston, however, being a man of great benevolence
and courage, in despite of obloquy and opposition, persever-
ed in his professional duty, and ultimately enjoyed the happy
results of his very useful labors. The practice of inoculation
gradually gained ground and became general in New England, and
in a iiiw years it was extended to New York, Philadelphia and
Charleston. By the invitation of Sir Ilans Sloane, Dr. Boylston
visited London, where he was highly respected, and honored by
being elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and introduceil into
the presence of the royal family. While in that city in 17-'(), he
published by desire of the Royal Society, an historical account
of the smallpox inoculation as practised by him in Boston, which
he dedicated to Princess Caroline, and after his return it was re-
printed in Boston, a copy of which has been deposited in the
medical library at Harvard college, by Ward Nicholas Boylston,
Esq. See the biography of Dr. Boylston in this volume.
In the year 17J~', the country was again scourged by a visita-
tion of sn^llpox, and by order of the magistrates an account was
taken ofall who were aflecied with the disease, either in the natural
way or by inocul.iiion, in the town of Boston, and rendered on
oath ; by which it appears that the number of inhabitants amount-
ed to 15,734. The whole immber of smallpox patients the na-
tural way was 5544, of which 514 died. 'The number of inocu-
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 23
lated was 2113 of which 30 died. Hitherto mercury iiad not
been employed as a preparatory for inoculation in Boston ; but
according to Dr. Gale, in the year 1764 three thousand persons
recovered from inoculation in the new method b}' the use of mer-
cury, and eight only died, and these were chiefly children under
five years of age. Practitioners in general had not at this lime
abandoned the very injurious method of treatment in smallpox.
Contrary to the cooling system of the great Sydenham, the sick
were warmly covered in bed, heating and stimulating medicines
were freely administered with the view of keeping out the erup-
tion and promoting a profuse perspiration ; and some there were
who would not permit the linen of the sick to be changed during
the whole course of the disease, however copiously the bodily
filth might have been accumulated. But about the year 1766, Dr.
Sutton, an English physician, and Baron Dimsdale, an experienced
and able practitioner, promulgated their improved mode of treat-
ment by exposing patients to the cool air, allowing them to drink
cold water, and administering mercurial purgatives and refrigeiant
medicines. Ancient prejudices soon vanished, and the new plan
gradually became general, and was adopted in America as the
most rational and successful method of treatment. The first pub-
lic hospitals for smallpox inoculation of which we have any re-
cord in New England, were opened in the vicinity of Boston in
1764, one at Point Shirly, by Dr. William Barnet, from New
Jersey, and another at Castle Willian), in Boston harbor, by Dr.
Samuel Gelston, of Nantucket. Mercury was at this period in
the highest repute for its supposed specific powers as an antidote
to the variolous poison, and it constituted a part of the prepara-
tory course of every experienced inoculator. When the British
army evacuated the town of Boston, in JMarch 1776, the small-
pox was found lurking in various parts of the town, and to pre-
vent its general spreading all the inhabitants and the American
troops stationed there were subjected to inoculation, and with a
successful result. Hospitals for the purpose of inoculation were
again established in various parts of Massachusetts, particularly
at Cambridge and Brookline, by Drs. Isaac Rand, William As-
pinwall, and Lemuel Hayward, by whom more than two thousand
persons were inoculated in one year, and by whose successful
mode of treatment the practice of inoculation was greatly encour-
aged, and its benefits extensively difi'used. The high confidence
hitherto reposed in the efficacy of a mercurial course, was now
considerably diminished, and practitioners were daily strengthen-
ed in the opinion, that success depended principally on the cool-
ing regimen, air and antiphlogistic diet with which it was ac-
companied.
The smallpox again visited the town of Boston as an epidemic in
1792. The whole town was inoculated in three days to appease
the infatuation among the inhabitants with respect to the danger of
24 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
infection of the deadly pestilence. The hurry and confusion in
which inoculation was resorted to on this occasion, precluded the
possibility of affording in every instance the requisite attention,
and of adopting the most judicious and eligible mode of proce-
dure. The number inoculated was 9152 persons indiscriminately,
and l65 deaths were the consequence. These, however, were
chiefly the people of poor families, many of whom were destitute
of the comforts of life. Little reliance was now placed on the
specific action of mercury in this disease. In many instances it
was entirely dispensed with, and shortly after altogether abandoned.
In the years 1735 and 1736, the disease called angina ulcuscu-
losa, (angina maligna) prevailed extensively throughout the country
in its most^malignant form, and it was estimated that in Massachu-
setts alone about one thousand persons became its victims. On this
occasion calomel was for the first time administered as a remedy,
and attended with the happiest success, arresting in a surprising
manner the fatal tendency of the disease. Dr. William Douglass
published a valuable practical essay detailing the characteristics
and the method of treatment of this alarming complaint.
Among the earliest publications on medical subjects in America,
was an essay on fevers, published in Boston in 1732, by Dr. John
Walton. Dr. John Cutler was long an eminent physician and sur-
geon in Boston. He was the preceptor of several of the early physi-
cians, among whom was Dr. Zabdiel Boylston. The gentlemen now
to be noticed were those who chiefly commanded the practice in
Boston during the middle and latter part of the eighteenth century.
The most of whom were employed to inoculate the poor of the
town when the smallpox was prevalent among them in the year
1764. Dr. Sylvester Gardinei- sustained a high reputation as an
operative surgeon and was for a long period the most noted druggist
in New England. He died at Newport, in 1786, aged 80 years.
Dr. Benjamin Church (h) was very popular among the whigs, and
was gaining practice before his unfortunate transaction in 1775.
Dr. James Lloyd, (h) was considered as highly accomplished in all
the branches of the profession, but particularly distinguished for
his skill in surgery and midwifery, being the first and most eminent
practitioner in this latter branch in Boston, and probably in New
England. He kept a genteel equipage, and entertained company
with great liberality, and he commanded a more respectable cir-
cle of professional business than any other phj'sician of his day.
Dr. Joseph Warren, (b) memorable for patriotism and public virtue,
was in a full circle of medical practice, and educated a number of
young gentlemen for the profession before the event of the battle
in which he so gallantly sacrificed his life. Dr. Thomas Bulfinch,
senr. (6) was in much repute in his profession. Dr. Thomas Bid-
jinch, junr. (/>) enjoyed a large share of very genteel practice, and
lived in a handsome style, keeping a chariot, and was greatly valued
and respected by all who required his attendance. Dr. Miles
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 25
Wliitivorth was considered as possessing good medical abilities,
cTiid, residing in Boston during the siege, he was the attending
|)iiysici;ui and surgeon of the American prisoners who were wound-
ed in the battle on Bunker's Hill in 1775. They were thrown
into the common jail in Boston, and provided with little more than
the ordinary jail provisions, in consequence of which they suffer-
ed greatly, and many died, in particular Lieutenant Colonel Gardi-
ner, or Parker, a very respectable man ; but their sufierings were
greatly alleviated by the humane attentions of Dr. Wliitworth. Dr.
Nathaniel Perkins practised in Boston before the revolutionary
war, and was very respectable and popular. Drs. William Lee
Perkins, John Perkins, Philip Godfrey, Benjamin Curtis, Kast,
(h) Roberts, Barret, Pecker, and Pyncheon, were contempora-
ries and enjoyed a good share of professional reputation and prac-
tice, in Boston. Dr. Joseph Gardener was in high reputation both
as a physician and surgeon, and was a dexterous operator. He
pretended that he regarded learning as superfluous in a physician,
that the bedside was the only school for a practitioner ; but he
did, nevertheless, devote some time to study, and was more learn-
ed than he chose to appear to be. He was remarkable for wit and
satire, and retained his popularity duiing life. Dr. Joseph ^Vh^p-
ple was taken under the patronage of Dr. Gardener, was for some
time secretary of the Massachusetts Medical Society, was rising
from small beginnings into notice and business, but died in 1804,
aged 48 years. Dr. Nathaniel Applcton, was a most amiable man,
but too ditildent to display his real worth and abilities, which were
far above mediocrity. Dr. Charles Jarris (b) was held in much
respect, and greatly beloved as a physician, and distinguished in
the ranks of democracy as an active politician, after the establish-
ment of the federal constitution.
Dr. John Sprague was a pupil of Dr. Dalhonde, of Boston, whose
daughter he married. He early entered into extensive practice in
Boston, and accumulated large property. He is said to have been
a man of a good deal of natural acumen, of considerable reading,
and of nice observation, and a very successful practitioner ; he
had a singular bluntness in his manners, but was amiable in his
temper, a lover of money, but indulgent to his debtors. Havin"-
married a second wife, who was a lady of fortune, he retired and
spent his last days in Dedhara. Dr. John Homans wns a Surgeon
in the army during the revolutionary war, after which he settled
in Boston, and was elected a member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society. He received from nature a great share of good sense,
which was well cultivated, and as a physician he was much era-
ployed and highly approved, being considered inferior to no one
of his age. He discharged the duties of his profession with ten-
derness and humanity, and to the poor with disinterested benevo-
lence. In 1800 he undertook a voyage for the recovery of his
4
m
26 HISTORY OF MEDlCIxNE IN AMERICA.
heahli, but died ou the second day after the departure of the ves-
sel, June 3d, in the 47th year of his age.
The means of medical education in New-England were more
limited and deficient than in the middle and southern provinces ;
no medical school nor public lectures were known. But when the
alarm of war pervaded our country, and an army was formed, a
new and vigorous impulse was given to the investigation of sub-
jects pertaining to medicine and surgery. Military hospitals were
established under the auspices of the most eminent professional
characters, affording a fund of practical knowledge ; and no cir-
cumstance in our history could have been more efficient in accele-
rating improvements in the most important of all the sciences. It
was not, however, till since the close of the war for independence,
that any thing more than a tardy and silent progress could have
been expected, as our existing embarrassments and necessities re-
quired all our efforts and resources. It was, at the early part of
the war, found extremely difficult to select medical men who were
fully competent to the arduous duties pertaining to the higher
stations in the hospital department ; and numerous embarrassments
and sufferings were experienced, till at length the most important
offices were occupied by men no less distinguished for public vir-
tue and genuine patriotism, than for medical dignity and emi-
nence.* Their united wisdom and skill were happily directed to
the melioration of the condition of our military medical establish-
ments, and ultimately to the promotion of professional knowledge,
and the faithful discharge of duty among the surgeons of the army.
Since the termination of our glorious struggle in the cause of liber-
ty, the dark clouds which, in our infant state, enveloped the science
of medicine, have been gradually dissipated, our imprisoned men-
tal powers and faculties liberated and improved, and our medical
character, like our national Independence, has been honorably and
advantageously established. In the year 1781, and in several pre-
ceding years, great difficulties were experienced among profession-
al men, by the fluctuating state of the old continental paper mo-
ney. In order to obviate as far as was practicable the inconve-
* The first Director General of our military hospitals was Dr, Benjamin Church,
of Boston ; but being, soon after his appointment, charged with a treasonable corres-
pondence with the British, he was tried and dismissed, and Dr. John Morgan, of
Philadelphia, succeeded to his office. This gentleman was, however, superseded by
Dr. William Shippen, and Dr. Benjamin Rush was appointed Physician General to
the army, but a short time after he was induced to resign his commission. The
following gentlemen are personally recollected as holding the stations of Physician
or Surgeon General or Deputy Director General of the different departments of the
army, viz.: — Malachi Treat, John Cochran and Samuel Stringer, of New-York ;
Jetiathan Potts, of Pennsylvania ; Robert Johnston and J. Brown, of Maryland or
Carolina ; James Craik, of Virginia; and Isaac Foster, of Massachusetts. Andrew
Craigie, Apothecary General. Those who served as Hospital or Regimental Sur-
geons, belonging to Massachusetts, during the war, were — Isaac Foster, Samuel
Adams, John Warren, William Eustis, David Townsend, John Homans, Joh»
Hart, Joseph Fisk, John Thoma*. Abijah Richardson, Daniel Shutc, Jair.c« Thacherc
HISTORF OF MEDICINE IJS AMERICA. 27
nience and loss sustained from this cause, tlie physicians of Boston
instituted a club, the meetings of which were hold at the Green
Dragon tavern. Physicians' fees had been much below par, and
when paid in depreciated paper money, little or nothing could be
realized from them. The fee for a visit was one shilling and six-
pence, afterwards increased to two shillings. Midwifery and capi-
tal operations were at a guinea, with charges for after visits. The
first fees established by the medical club, were fifty cents for a
visit ; if in consultation, one dollar : rising and visit in the night,
after 11 o'clock and before sunrise, double fee : obstetrical case,
eight dollars: capital operation in surgery, five pounds: reducing
a dislocation, or setting a fractured bone, one guinea : bleeding,
opening abscess, extracting tooth, fifty cents, and the usual fee for
visit was added. All accounts were to be calculated in hard mo-
ney, and, if paid in paper, according to such agreement as could be
made with the parties. The profession was much benefited by
these regulations, having a happy tendency to bring physicians ac-
quainted with each other, and to promote harmony and good fel-
lowship ; all party politics were prohibited at their meetings, and
the medical fees were made more adequate to the services per-
formed.
In 1784 scarlatina maligna appeared, and spread through the
New-England states, but it was more benign in its eflects than for-
merly. But a more distressing calamity visited the town of Boston
in 1798 : the yellow fever made its appearance, and exhibited
every mark of great malignity. Although it was limited to a small
section of the town, the deaths were about one hundred and fortv-
five, during the few months of its continuance. There were no
evidences of its having been imported, nor any instance to justify
the supposition of its being contagious. Boston was again visited
by this fatal malady in 1802, with all the circumstances of its for-
mer malignant and destructive nature, and about fifty persons were
its victims.*
It should be noticed in this sketch, that, from about the first
part of the 18th century, it has been the practice of many physi-
cians of eminence in New-England, to administer mercury as an /
efficacious remedy in febrile diseases of every description. It was
employed, not so much for its evacuating power, as with the inten-
tion of introducing it gradually into the system as an alterative.
The fullest confidence was reposed in a moderate course of mer-
cury in pleurisies and peripneumonies, esteeming it as the most
efficacious attenuant and expectorant which the materia medica
afforded. But the strongest prejudices against the use of mercury
subsisted among all classes of people, and physicians were obliged
to observe the utmost caution in its administration, as their popu-
* A more particular account of the yellow fever will be found under the head of
Pennsylvania.
28 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
larity depended upon concealment. It was customary to give it
the significant term oi ponderous medicine, imagining that mercury
acts upon the system by its ponderosity, destroying the too great
siziness of the blood, and rendering pervious such vessels as might
be obstructed by the Error loci of Boerhaave. In various chro-
nic diseases, a deobstruent course, in the form of Plummer's pills,
was a favorite remedy.
Among the epidemics which have visited our country, the» In-
fluenza, or Tussis Epidemica of Sydenham, deserves some notice
in this place. It has prevailed in America at nine or ten different
periods since the year 1733 ; but in the autumns of 1789 and 1807,
it was more universally extensive and severe in its effects than at
any preceding era of its visitation. It first appeared at New-York
and Philadelphia, from whence it was, in a short time, diffused
through every part of the continent. It was estimated at the time
that three fourths of the inhabitants were, in a few days, affected
with this singular epidemic, in a greater or less degree. The
amazing rapidity with which it spread through the country, resem-
bled more a storm agitating the atmosphere, than the natural pro-
gress of a disease from any contagious source. Almost a whole
city, town, or neighborhood, became affected with its influence in
a few days, and as it did not incapacitate people in general from
pursuing their ordinary occupations, it was common to observe in
every street and place of resort, a constant coughing, hawking, and
wheezing, and in public assemblies little else was to be heard or
attended to. Although all classes of people experienced the ope-
ration of the influenza, it is remarkable that a small number,
comparatively speaking, were so ill as to require medical atlend-
ance, and instances of its fatal termination were of rare occurrence.
In the year 1799 the glorious discovery of the vaccine disease,
which renders the human system unsusceptible of the smallpox,
was announced in our newspapers and in the Medical Repository
of New-York. The honor of this important discovery belongs to
the late Dr. Edward Jenner, a celebrated English physician. Dr.
George Pearson, of St. George's Hospital, had some agency in as-
certaining the fact familiarly known for years before, tliat the dai-
ry maids were proof against the smallpox, and suggested the use
that might probably be made of that fact.* Dr. Jenner, with ereat
perseverance, matured and fully established the prophylactic" efli-
cacy of the vaccine disease, and for his invaluable enterprise the
British Parliament granted him an honorable and liberal reward.
The first information relative to this novel and singular discovery
* Dr. Pearson transmitted in a letter to Dr. Hosack, of New- York, a thread im-
pregnated with the matter of the vaccine virus ; and in a letter to Dr. H., towards
the close of 179S, and which accompanied a copy of his " Inquiry concerning the
History of the Cowpox," published in London, November, 1797, he says, " I now
send you my proof sheets of a new work on a subject which will mucli surprise you,
3nd which promises to supersede that most loathsome disease, the smallpox."
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 29
although from unquestionable authority, did not receive in our
country universal credence. By some it was treated as chimerical,
while others resolved to suspend their opinion for the issue of fu-
ture experiments. Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, however, then Pro-
fessor of Medicine in the University at Cambridge, did not hesitate
to proclaim his full confidence in the statements and facts, which
he had received directly from Dr. Jenner. In July, 1800, ho
procured matter from thence, and tested the experiment in the
persons of four of his own children, the eldest about seven years
of age, who thus became the first subjects of vaccination in the
United States ; and being afterwards exposed to smallpox infection
in the hospital of Dr. Aspinwall, they proved to be unsusceptible
of its influence. This very laudable example was soon followed
by many others, some of whom were tested by variolous infection,
with the happiest result. These first successful examples produced
in a great degree the desired effect of establishing the public confi-
dence in the prophylactic efficacy of the vaccine disease. In the
same year and at subsequent periods. Dr. Waterhouse presented
to the public, historical and practical treatises on the cowpox, and
communicated, through the medium of newspapers, useful and dis-
criminating directions and precautions relative to the genuine dis-
ease. In the following September, Dr. James Jackson, of Boston,
returned from London, and having acquired experimental know-
ledge, by attending the practice of vaccination with Dr. Woodville,
generously contributed to its propagation in Boston and the vici-
nity. In the same year. Dr. Miller, of New-York, received vac-
cine matter from Dr. Pearson, of London, which failed, however,
to produce the genuine disease, nor was another supply, sent on
from Boston, attended with better success. In fact, spurious mat-
ter, in some instances, and want of skill and experience in the
operator in others, occasioned numerous failures during the first
attempts, which had the effect of damping public confidence, and
restricting the exertions of the friends of vaccination. The Mas-
sachusetts Medical Society, early in 1801, addressed an application
to the Vaccine Institution in England, requesting a supply of mat-
ter. Publications on this new subject were now continually multi-
plying, and the most gratifying evidences in favor of vaccination
issued from various quarters. In the year 1802 the Boston Board
of Health directed nineteen persons to be vaccinated under their
inspection, all of whom were afterwards tested by the smallpox
infection in the most satisfactory manner and with the happiest
result. In the following year the junior physicians of Boston
formed an association for the express purpose of bestowing gratui-
tously the benefits of vaccination upon the indigent, and of disse-
minating the matter among medical practitioners.
In 1808, a committee was appointed by the Counsellors of the
Massachusetts Medical Society, for the purpose of collecting all
the evidence which had transpired respecting the efficacy of the
30 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
cowpox, as preventive of smallpox, and to report the most eligible
method of conducting the practice. A copious and interesting re-
port was made and published in the communications of the society,
accompanied with evidence sufficiently strong to remove every
vestige of prejudice and uncertainty relative to the prophylactic
powers of vaccination. In the year 1809, the towns of Milton and
New-Bedford made arrangements for the vaccination of a conside-
rable proportion of their inhabitants, which was attended with a
successful result. The next attempt to disseminate the advantages
of vaccination will be found in the transactions of the legislature
of Massachusetts, who, in 1810, authorized the several towns to
appoint committees, and raise monies annually for this important
purpose. At length the glorious triumph of vaccination over that
most dreaded scourge of the human race, the smallpox, became es-
tablished by incontestable proofs, and has received the sanction
and applause of the community, and of the wise and learned in the
remotest regions of the earth. We can now congratulate the citi-
zens of the United States, who, in common with the whole civil-
ized world, are in possession of this heavenly blessing, — a blessing
which eradicates from the catalogue of human miseries the most
loathsome and fatal disease, and which happily closes one of the
most crowded avenues to the tomb.
The horrors occasioned by the ravages of the yellow fever in
our cities had scarcely ceased, when another epidemic equally for-
midable and malignant in its nature, and fatal in its consequences,
commenced its distressing career, and spread terror and desola-
tion through the interior of the country. This malady, which has
obtained the name oi spotted fever, was first noticed by Drs. Dan-
ielson and Mann, at Medfield, Mass., in March, 1806. Its ravages
were afterwards experienced in Connecticut, and in 1810 it pre-
vailed in the county of Worcester with unexampled mortality,
baffling the powers of medicine, and setting at defiance the best
skill of physicians. On this alarming occasion, the Counsellors of
the Massachusetts Medical Society appointed a committee, with
instructions to make all possible inquiry and investigation relative
to the disease in question. Their report as to its causes, history
and mode of treatment, was elaborate, honorable to themselves,
and of great practical utility. The fact has been well ascertained
that the disease is not contagious, as was by some at first appre-
hended. It is remarkable of this epidemic, that it is most rife in
the cold seasons of winter and spring, and that it is more prevalent
and genuine, in its character, in the interior, than in the vicinity
of the sea-board. But, wherever it waves its standard, the arrows
of death cross its paths, and all classes and sexes become its indis-
criminate victims. In some situations and seasons, the proportion
of deaths, in severe cases, is supposed to have been more than one
half of the number seized. One instance occurred, at a considerable
distance from any place where the disease was known to exist, of
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 31
the death of seven adult persons out of eight, belonging to four or
five contiguous families, before the fifth day, and the eighth sur-
vived but a few days longer. In other more favorable instances,
and under a more improved and judicious mode of treatment, the
number of deaths, it is said, has not exceeded one in sixty or
eighty. In many instances of this formidable disease, Dr. Fow-
ler's arsenical solution proved to be a remedy superior to any
other that was employed.
In the autumn of 1812, a formidable epidemic made its appear-
ance among the soldiers of the United States' Army at Greenbush,
and other military stations, where its desolating efiects were mark-
ed with great severity. During the winter and spring of 1813, it
was prevalent and extremely fatal among the inhabitants of Ver-
mont, in the upper parts of the state of New-York, in several
towns in the interior of Massachusetts and the state of Maine, as-
suming a multitude of treacherous shapes, and triumphing over its
victims with inexorable sway. This pestilence has been termed
bilious peripneumony, or typhoid peripneumony, according to its
various symptoms and forms ; and Dr. Thomas Miner has denomi-
nated it typhus syncopalis. In some of its appearances and forms
it may be identified with the petechial fever above mentioned, and,
if it be a distinct disease, there is an obvious and close analogy in
their nature and character. It has been remarked that the pete-
chial fever produces a peculiar derangement of the functions of
the brain, while this latter epidemic directs its morbid powers to
the pleura, lungs, heart and its membranes.
The university at Cambridge, Mass., has contributed to the in-
terest and advancement of medical science, by an institution found-
ed on the generous benefactions of several enlightened and liberal in-
dividuals. Dr. Ezekiel Hersey, of Hingham, who died in 1770, be-
queathed one thousand pounds, and his widow, at her decease, a
like sum, to be applied to the support of a professor of anatomy
and surgery. His brother, Dr. Abner Hersey, of Barnstable, who
died in 1786, and Dr. John Cuming, of Concord, were also donors
to the amount of five hundred pounds each for the same laudable
purpose ; and William Erving, Esq. of Boston, left one thousand
pounds towards the support of an additional professor. In conform-
ity with the views of the patrons and donors, professors of talents
and character were in 1782 appointed, by whom lectures on the
several branches were regularly delivered, and students received
the honors of the institution. In 1780, Dr. John Warren, while
surgeon of a military hospital in Boston, commenced a course of
anatomical lectures, and in the following year they were attended
by the students of the university. Dr. Warren furnished a plan
for a medical school which was adopted by the corporation of
Harvard college, and he was appointed first professor of anatomy
and surgery, Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse professor of the theory
and practice of physic, and Dr. Aaron Dexter, professor of cheni-
32 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
istry. This was the first essay made in New England, for the
establishment of an institution for medical education. George
Holmes Hall and John Fleet, were the first who were admitted
in course to the degree of Doctor in Medicine at the university, iu
the year 1788. From a spirit of envy and jealousy towards the
professors, great opposition was made to the degree being confer-
red upon the two candidates, and it was by the address and perse-
verance of Dr. Warren, that the object was finally acomplished.
In consequence of many inconveniences, both to professors and
students, and of the superior advantages which might result from
lectures delivered in a more populous situation, the Corporation
and board of Overseers of Harvard University deemed it expe-
dient to establish a medical school in the town of Boston. The
several courses of lectures were accordingly transferred, and com-
menced in that metropolis in December, 1810. The immediate
accession to the number of students, presents the most abundant
and conclusive evidence, that the high expectations entertained of
the superior advantages, which would be realized by the removal
from Cambridge, were not imaginary. The annual increase of
numbers at the Boston school, and the favorable attestations that
their labors are justly appreciated, must afi'ord the learned teach-
ers the highest gratification. It must be conceded that the privi-
leges and the means of acquiring medical knowledge, in our me-
tropolis, are such as to justify the respect and full confidence of
the public. The legislature of Massachusetts have granted the
sum of $20,000 to Harvard University, for the liberal purpose of
improvement in the department of medicine. The professors are
furnished with a very valuable and extensive chemical apparatus,
which, by recent improvements and additions, is supposed to be
most complete of any to be found in the United States. The
university is also indebted to the liberality of Elias H. Derby,
Esq. of Salem, for a fine collection of curious imitations in wax of
various parts of the human body from Italy. In addition to the
foregoing donations, very important contributions have been re-
ceived from Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq. In the year 1798,
this noble spirited gentleman secured to the college an annuity of
one hundred and thirty-three dollars, one hundred dollars of the
sum to be offered annually in prizes for three best dissertations on
medical subjects. The subjects to be given out, and the prizes
adjudged by a committee of medical gentlemen appointed by the
corporation. The remainder of this annuity was to be carried
annually to a fund for establishing an anatomical museum, and
when the prizes are not assigned, that part of the annuity was to
be added to the fund for the museum as above. For several years
three prizes were offered, of late only two of fifty dollars each, or
a medal of that value are proposed. In 1817, Mr. Boylston secu-
red to the university an annuity of sixty dollars to be applied in
illSTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. S3
five premiums, two of fifteen, and three of ten dollars each, or
medals of that value to those who should excel in elocution at a
public trial in speaking the day after commencement ; the cor-
poration to join with them five gentlemen as judges of the perform-
ances. The college is also indebted to Mr. Boylston, for his
good offices in behalf of the university, with his friend John Nich-
olls, L.L. D. of London, who presented a valuable part of the
injected anatomical preparations of his father, Dr. Frank, Nicholls,
and a manuscript owned by Dr. Mead, an admirable specimen of
chirography. Mr. Boylston is the founder at the university of
the Boylston medical library, consisting at present of 900 volumes
of select works in medicine and surgery. Premiums have been
annually awarded, agreeably to the design of the founder, for in-
genious and approved dissertations, which sufficiently evince that
this generous establishment is well calculated to inspire the desired
laudable emulation among professional men of the rising genera-
tion, and to promote the interest of medical science in general.*
Candidates for the degree of Doctor in Medicine must attend two
courses of the lectures of each of the medical professors in this i
university, and also their clinical practice in medicine and surgery ^
during their lectures. They must study two years under the
direction of a regular practitioner of medicine, and allow a third
to elapse before they can be examined. Provided, however, that,
in extraordinary cases, the medical professors, with the consent of
the president, may dispense with one course of lectures on such
conditions as may be thought reasonable. Those who have not
received a university education, must satisfy the president and
medical professors, of their knowledge in the Latin language and
in experimental philosophy. The examination of candidates
commences on the second Wednesday after the termination of the
winter course of lectures, and the subjects of their examination are
anatomy, surgery and midwifery, the theory and practice of medi-
cine, chemistry, materia medica and clinical medicine. Each of
the candidates approved prepares an inaugural dissertation on
some medical subject, which dissertation, having been submitted
to the faculty of medicine, at least fourteen days before, is read
and defended at a public examination, in the philosophy chamber
at Cambridge, on the Friday preceding the last Wednesday iii
* The annual proceeds of the Boylston fund amount to one hundred dollars,
which are divided into two premiums, to be awarded as above mentioned. Mr.
Boylston has recently established another prize fund in connexion with the Boyls-
ton Medical Society, particularly for the medical class attending lectures in the
university, and designed esjjecially to improve young men in the style of writing
on medical subjects. This jiistitution has already produced very beneficial effects.
We rejoice that the valuable life of the liberal minded donor has been protracted to
witness the great utility of his munificence ; and it should be gratefully acknow-
ledged that he has devoted his wealth and influence to the promotion of medical
•cience to a greater e:<tont than any other individunl in America.
34 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
August, in presence of the governors and instructors of the univer-
sity, and such members of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and
other individuals as may choose to attend. Each successful candi-
date is admitted to receive the degree of Doctor in Medicine, at
the ensuing commencement. In the year 1809, John C. Warren,
M, D. was associated with his father as adjunct professor of anat-
omy and surgery, and John Gorham, M. D. adjunct professor of
chemistry ; and in 1812, James Jackson, M. D. superseded Dr.
B. Waterhouse, as professor of the theory and practice of physic.
November 1st. 1815, John C. Warren, M. D. was inaugurated at
the University Hall, professor of anatomy and surgery, as succes-
sor to the' late lamented Professor Warren, who held that station
for many years with great honor to himself and advantage to the
institution, and who was no less distinguished for his talents and
virtues than zeal and success in performing the arduous duties of
his profession. On this occasion was announced the appointment
of Jacob IVigelow, M. D. as lecturer on materia medica, and Wal-
ter C banning, M. D. as lecturer on the theory and practice of
midwifery in the university. The present professors are
John C. Warren, INI. D. Professor of Anatomij and Surgery.
John W. Webster, M. D. Professor of Chcmistri/.
Walter C banning, M. D. Professor of Midwifery and Medical
Jurisprudence.
Jacob Bigelow, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica.
James Jackson, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of
Physic.
Berkshire Medical Institution, was founded in 1822, and located
at Pittsfield, under the charter of Williams College. Professors,
John P. Batchelder, INI. D. Professor of Surgery and Physi-
ology.
John i). Wells, M. D. Professor of General Anatomy and Phy-
siology.
Henry H. Childs, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice
of Physic.
John Delamatter, M. D. Professor of Pharmacy, Materia Med-
ica and Obstetrics.
Chester Dewey, A. M. Professor of Chemistry, Botany, 3Iiner-
alogy, and Natural Philosophy.
Stephen W. Williams, M. D. Professor of Medical Jurispru-
dence.
The legislature of Massachusetts having endowed the university
with funds for the erection of a college of medicine, a commodious
edifice has been erected in Boston,* and the lectures of Harvard
* The Massachusetts Medical College, erected 1815, is situated in Mason-
street near the Boston Common and Mall. The building is of brick, 88 feet in
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 33
University commence in the lecture room annually, on the third
Wednesday in October, and continue three months. During
the lectures the students are supplied gratuitously with sets of
osteological specimens for study, and can have the use of the dis-
secting room, on defraying the attendant expenses. They are
admitted without any expense to the surgical operations and clinical
practice of the Hospital. The faculty of medicine in Harvard
University have founded by their private donations a library for
the use of the students in medicine. The Boston medical librar}',
consisting of nearly 2000 volumes, is now united with it, and
deposited in the Medical College. These highly valuable collec-
tions of medical books, will afford a supply amply sufficient for all
the purposes of students in each of the principal departments of
medical science. A hall in the new building is appropriated and
furnished with every necessary aid and convenience for the study
of anatomy. Students have the aid of private demonstrations on
any part they may prepare for the purpose, and every conve-
nience is furnished to assist them in making preparations for their
own use. The number of subjects for demonstration is as great
as could be wished. The Massachusetts general Hospital institu-
tion was incorporated February 12th, 1811, and the Legislature
endowed the corporation with the estate commonly called the Old
Province House and land to be sold at the discretion of the said
corporation and the proceeds to be applied as a foundation of a
General Hospital, There are two separate departments of the
Institution, the one called '' The General Hospital," the other
" The Asylum for the Insane." These are to be kept locally
separate from each other, and the whole establishment is commit-
ted to the immediate direction of twelve trustees, to be chosen
annually by the corporation, except four, who are to be chosen by
a board of visitors appointed by the government.
The As3'him for the Insane has been established in a very eli-
gible situation in Charlestown, and was opened for the reception
of boarders October 1st, 1818.
length, and 43 in its greatest breadth. Its figure is oblong, with a pediment in
front, and an octagonal centre rising above the roof, and also forming a three-sided
projection in the rear of the building. This is surmounted by a dome, with a sky-,
light and balustrade, giving an appearance of elegance to the neatness ajid fit pro-
portion of the building. The apartments on the first floor are, a spacious medical
lecture room of a square form, with ascending semi-circular seats; a large chemical
lecture room in the centre, of an octagonal form, with ascending seats ; a chemical
laboratory, fitted up with furnaces and accommodations for the costly apparatus ■
used in the lectures ; and a room to be occupied by the Massachusetts Medical
Society, which is filled by a medical library, already consisting of 3 or 4000 vol-
umes. In the second story is the anatomical theatre, the most extensive room,
occupying the whole central part of the building, covered with the dome and sky-
light ; with semi-circular seats, which are entered from above, and descend regu-
larly toward the centre. In this theatre are placed a beautiful statue of the Venus of
Medici, and a noble cast of the Apollo of Belvedere, designed to illustrate the ex-
ternal forms of the human body. A large and a small room for practical anatomy,
together with another for the museum, occupy the extremities of the same story.
36 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
The corner stone of the General Hospital was laid in Boston,
on the 4th of July 1818, in masonic form, in presence of the Gov-
ernor and Lieutenant Governor. This hospital was opened for
the reception of patients in Septemher 1821. The Massachusetts
General Hospital is one of the most flourishing institutions in the
United States, having received, within a few years, more than
$300,000 in private donations, in addition to its previous liberal
endowment from the state legislature. Some of the most splen-
did instances of public generosity which the present age has wit-
nessed, are to be found among the benefactions to the Massachu-
setts General Hospital. While this institution gives accommoda-
tion to the full extent of its means to the sick poor, it gives also
admission to the students of the medical class attending the lec-
tures of the physician and surgeon. Regular clinical lectures are
now given during the winter by the professor of the theory and
practice of physic, and students are admitted to the patients, to
enable them to become practically conversant with the symptoms
of diseases and the operation and influence of medicinal agents.
It is obvious that the privilege of gratuitous admission to so exten-
sive a course of medical and surgical practice, is an advantage not
usually attainable in medical schools, and one of the highest im-
portance which can be offered during the period of preparation
for the medical profession. The number of beds provided for
patients is at present one hundred ; and the number of surgical
operations of magnitude, performed in this hospital during the
first two years and nine months, amounts to one hundred and
twenty. The cleanliness, punctuality, and order observed at the
hospital, the regular and daily attendance of the physician and
surgeon, the care and attention in selecting suitable persons to
serve as nurses and attendants on the sick, all combine to render
this a most eligible and convenient asylum for those who may labor
under chronic diseases, requiring the assistance of the most skilful
physician and surgeon.
Acting Surgeon^ John C. Warren, M. D.
Assistant Surgeon^ George Hayward, M. D.
Acting Physician, James Jackson, M. D.
Assistant Physician^ Walter Channing, M. D,
For obtaining admission, application in writing, mentioning the
place of residence of the patient, must be left at the hospital.
The physician or surgeon visits such patient if residing in Boston ;
and, if the patient is free from a contagious disorder, and is a fit
subject for the Hospital, a certificate of admission is granted. If
such patient does not reside in Boston, the application must be
accompanied with a certificate from a respectable physician, stat-
ing that the patient is free from contagious disorder, &.c. The
visiting committee fixes the rate of board, which in every case is
as low as the funds will permit. The sum fixed, includes medi-
cines, medical attendance, nursing, food, and every other expense.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 37
In case of accidents or sudden disease, the patients are received
without delay, and strangers are admitted on the same conditions
as others. A bond is required for tlic payment of the patient's
board.
The Asylum for the Insane at Charlestown, is also an estab-
lishment of the highest importance, it enjoys one of the most
salubrious situations in that vicinity, and is provided with every
accommodation and convenience for the comfort and support of
its unfortunate inmates. John McLean, Esq. late of Boston, at
his decease, left the sum of one hundred thousand dollars to be
added to its funds. In consequence of which, the Asylum has
taken the name of the munificent benefactor, and is hereafter to be
called the McLean Asylum for the Insane. It is under the su-
perintendence of Rufus Wyman, M. D. an able and experienced
physician, whose character for humanity and faithfulness is unques-
tionable, and whose mode of treatment has been attended with
remarkable success, a large proportion of recent cases having
been cured. Every application for admission must be in writing,
and accompanied with, 1. A certificate that the candidate is insane,
and free from contagious disease ; 2. A certificate of his or her
property, and of any friends liable for his or her maintenance ; 3.
A certificate of the ability of the persons proposed as principal
and surety in the obligation for payment of board ; 4. A history
of the case from its commencement, and the medical treatment.
No boarders can be visited except by near relatives, or by others
at their request in writing.
The establishment of a botanic garden at Cambridge, will
doubtless prove, at a future period, an excellent auxiliary to the
study of botany and pharmacy, and facilitate a knowledge of the
indigenous plants of the country, and their introduction into our
materia medica. Two townships of Eastern land have been grant-
ed by our legislature, and a subscription of $30,000 was obtained,
for the purchase of land, and other expenses of this valuable estab-
lishment. The situation afl"ords the best advantages for the estab-
lishment, and the systematic arrangement adopled has been judi-
cious and useful. It was for several years under the management
of AVilliam D. Peck,* as professor of Natural History, and a board
* William Dandridge Peck, Es(]. formerly Professor of Natural History in Har-
vard University, merits a grateful recollection for his indefatigable labors in the pur-
suit of knowledge in the various branches pertaining to his professorship. For nearly
twenty years his mind was most assiduously and intently devoted to the pursuits
to which the bent of his genius and taste inclined him. Mr. reck under numer-
ous disadvantages so cultivated his mind as to become an able and profound bota-
nist, and his knowledge of natural history was more extensive than that of any other
individual in this part of the United States, perhaps in the nation. He was elected
the first Professor of Natural History at Cambridge, in which he continued until
his death, which took place in September 1822. He was a good classical scholar,
he was fond of painting, and sculpture, and architecture, without professing to
have skill in them. No man who ever saw the exquisite accuracy and fidelity with
which he sketched the subjects of his peculiar pursuits, would doubt the refinement
of hie taste. In social life, his virtues were of that pure and simple cast which a
38 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
of trustees, of which the president of the Medical Society is ez
officio a member.
The Massachusetts Medical Society was incorporated by an
act of the legislature in 1781, and in the following June, was
organized, and Edward A. Holyoke, M. D., of Salem, elected the
first president. By several subsequent acts the constitution and
by-laws have been so altered and reformed, as more effectually to
promote the views and designs of the founders of this excellent
institution. In the act of incorporation, the legislature have dis-
closed their views of the high importance of medical regulations
and establishments, formed on liberal principles and fostered by
the patronage of the government. They premise, that " It is
clearly of importance that a just discrimination should be made
between such as are duly educated and properly qualified for the
duties of tiieir profession, and those who may ignorantly and
wickedly administer medicine, whereby the health and lives of
many valuable individuals may be endangered, or perhaps lost to
the community." The society is therefore " authorized and re-
quired to appoint censors or examiners of candidates, and to license
such as may be found qualified for practice ; to devise and direct
such S3'stematic mode of medical instruction as might be deemed
requisite for candidates previous to examination, and to increase
and dilfuse medical knowledge." In order to subserve the views
of the legislature, and to render the society extensively beneficial,
it seemed desirable to unite and associate, as far as practicable,
into one harmonious body of brothers, all the meritorious part of
the medical practitioners in tiie Commonwealth. For this pur-
pose, great exertions have been made by the counsellors and fel-
lows, since their organization, to select those gentlemen whose
education and respectability as physicians or surgeons Justly enti-
tle them to the honors and privileges of the society. The object
in view is now accomplished, and the society consists of three
hundred fellows, exclusively of honorary members and licentiates
entitled to become menibers. The stated meeting of the society
is on the first \Vediiesday of June annually, when a discourse on
a subject connected with medical science is delivered by one of
the ielluws. At the annual meeting, a projier number of the fel-
lows in the several counties of the state are elected by ballot to
officiate as counsellors. This branch is authorized to elect fellows
and honorary members, to appoint the officers of the corporation,
to establish district societies, and, in general, to watch over and
promote the irflerest of tiie Institution. The stated meetings of the
council are on the day following the annual meeting of the society,
and the fust Wednesdays in October and February. The cen-
sors meet for the examination of candidates for practice, on the
life devoted to such innocent and delightful pursuits, was calculated to produce.
Since the decease of Professor Peck, the botanic garden lias been committed to the
direction of Mr. Nuttall.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 89
Thursday next preceding the annual meeting of the society, on the
days following the meetings of the council in October and Feb-
ruary, and on special occasions, when the president by his written
order may direct. The modes provided for admission into this
society afford a facility which cannot fail of being satisfactory.
Licentiates of the society and medical graduates at Harvard Uni-
versity, who have been reputably engaged in the practice of medi-
cine three years from the reception of the license or diploma, and
have supported an honorable private character, may claim a right
of admission. The counsellors and fellows, having labored with
unwearied assiduity to establish this institution on a respectable
foundation, and having imbibed a tenacious concern for its dignity
and interest, it was not to be expected that persons of deficient
education or undeserving character, would be admitted to a parti-
cipation of its honors and privileges ; accordingly the by-laws pro-
vide that no person educated within the commonwealth sliall be
admitted to an examination by the censors of the society, or by
those of any district society, unless he have the following qualifi-
cations. 1. He shall have such an acquaintance with the Greek
and Latin languages as is necessary for a medical or surgical edu-
cation, and with the principles of geometry and experimental phi-
losophy. 2. He shall have attended two full courses of Jectures,
and studied three full years under the direction, and attended the
practice of some one or more of the fellows or honorary members
of the society ; during which time he shall have studied the most
approved authors in Anatomy, Chemistry, Materia Medica, Sur-
gery, Midwifery and the Theory and Practice of Medicine ; or,
at least, all those which the counsellors shall from time to time
specify as constituting a proper course of medical or surgical edu-
cation. No person educated out of this commonwealth, shall be
admitted to an examination either by the censors of the society,
or of those of any district society, unless he have the qualifications
specified in the first of the articles above mentioned, and, instead
of those required in the second, shall have studied three full years
under the direction, and attended the practice of some reputable
physician or physicians, surgeon or surgeons, as the case may be.
To promote the laudable design of the legislature in incorporating
this society, to prevent, as far as may be, all unqualified persons
from practising medicine or surgery, and in order to discourage
empiricism and quackery, it shall be deemed disreputable, and
shall be unlawful for any fellow of this society, in the capacity of
physician or surgeon, to advise or consult with any person, who,
having been a fellow of the society, shall be expelled therefrom ;
or with any person whatever, who shall hereafter commence the
practice of medicine or surgery within this commonwealth, until
he shall have been duly examined and approbated by the censors
of the society, or by those of some district society, or shall have
40 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA*
received a degree of Bachelor or Doctor of Medicine at Harvard
University; or, (in case he shall have been educated in, or come
from some other state or foreign country,) shall have produced to
the censors of the society, or those of the district wherein he re-
sides, such evidence or testimonials of iiis qualifications for the
practice of medicine or surgery, as they deem and certify to be
sufficient to entitle him to the privileges of a physician or surgeon
regularly introduced. And every fellow of the society who shall
abet or assist any person not so qualified, by affording him assist-
ance in the capacity of physician or surgeon, sliall, for such offence,
be disqualified from giving his vote at any meeting of the society,
or of the district society whereof he is a member, for one year:
shall be liable to the censure and reprimand of the counsellors,
and, in aggravated cases, to expulsion. " If any fellow of the
society shdiil publich/ advertise for sale any medicine, the composi-
tion of which he keeps a secret, or shall, in like manner, offer to
cure any disease by any such secret medicine, he shall be liable to
expulsion, or such other penalty as the society, at their annual
meeting, may think proper to inflict."
It is the duty of the counsellors, once in three years, to publish
a list of the most approved books which should be read by medi-
cal students. The act of the legislature, in the year 1813, author-
izes the organization of district societies by the counsellors, on ap-
plication of any two members of the society. In 1810, the legis-
lature extended their liberal patronage and encouragement to this
society, by a grant of a township of Eastern land for its support,
and they have exempted the fellows from serving in the militia, as
a remuneration, in some degree, for their expense and exertions in
promoting an institution of public interest and concern.* By an
act of the legislature, passed February 19th, 1819, it is provided,
" That no person entering upon the practice of medicine or surge-
ry after the first day of July, 1819, shall be entitled to the benefit
of law, for the recovery of any debt or fee accruing from his pro-
fessional services, unless he shall, previously to rendering those
services, have been licensed by the censors of the society, or those
of some district society, or shall have been graduated a Doctor of
Medicine in Harvard University."
* The Presidents of the Massachusetts Medical Society, from the period of its
first organization : — Edward A. Holyoke, M. D., 1782 ; William Kneeland, M. D.,
1784; Edward A. Holyoke, M. D., 1786; Cotton Tufts, M. D., 1787; Samuel
Danforth, M. D., 1795 ; Isaac Rand, M. D., 1798; John Warren, M. D., 1804;
Joshua Fisher, M. D,, 1815 ; John Brooks, M. D., 1823.
Officers elected 1825 and 1826.
President, James Jackson, M. D.
Vice President, Abraham Haskell, M. D.
Corresponding Secretary, John Dixwell, M. D.
Recording Secretary, John Gorham, M. D.
Treasurer, Jacob Bigelow, M. D.
Librarian and Cabinet Keeper, George Hay ward, M. D.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 41
The most salutary and beneficial effects have already resulted to
the community from the association thus patronised by the govern-
ment. By fiiir the greater portion of respectable practitioners of
medicine and surgery establislied in business in the commonwealth,
are associated and cemented into one learned body, whose efforts
are continually directed to the extension and increase of medical
knowledge. Tlieir united and individual influence is exerted in
favor of a regular system of medical education, and in discounte-
nancing those who undertake the important business of the profes-
sion, without being qualified for the great and serious duties it im-
poses. They are, moreover, in some respects alert and vigilant
guardians of tlie public health and welfare, regarding with peculiar
interest the occurrence of every epidemic, or other disease, which
may assail the inhabitants of our country. The judicious mea-
sures adopted by the counsellors relative to the cowpox in 1808,
and the spotted fever in 1810, have already been mentioned, and
reference may be had to the society's communications for the de-
tailed particulars of their valuable reports. At an early period of
this institution (1790), the society published their first number of
medical papers, containing a selection of im])ortant communica-
tions, and a third volume has now been published and distributed
among the fellows of the society. In the second volume will be
found a brilliant dissertation on the mercurial practice in febrile
diseases, by John Warren, M. D., then president of the society.
We should not omit to mention that the Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cut-
ler, of Hamilton, Massachusetts, presented to the Academy of Arts
and Sciences, a valuable account of indigenous vegetables, the
produce of New-England, botanically arranged. His collection is
very numerous, and may be considered an honorable attestation of
his indefatigable industry and zeal in the cause of botanical
science, at a period when the subject was almost entirely neglect-
ed. This production was communicated to the Academy in the
year 1784, and was published in their first volume. Many of the
medical plants which Dr. Cutler first brought into notice, have
been since introduced as valuable articles in our materia medica.
He was respected for his dignified character as a divine, distin-
guished for piety, and learned in the sciences ; he was elected an
honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and his
fellow citizens elected him to represent his district in Congress,
which station he filled with dignity and usefulness.
In the year 1808 the Massachusetts Medical Society appointed
James Jackson, M. D. and John C. Warren, M. D. a committee to
prepare a Pharmacnpaia conformable to the modern chemical no-
menclatiH'c, and designed to establish uniformity in the prescrip-
tions of physicians, wliich was published by the society, and which
was afterwards adopted by the IMedical Society of New Hamp-
shire for use in that state. This production was also adopted by
the present author as the basis of" The Ameriran New Dispnna-
6
42 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
tory^'' which was approbated by a committee chosen by the so-
ciety. This work has now gone through the fourth edition, and
being an attempt to introduce many indigenous vegetables as arti-
cles of our materia medica, it is hoped may still be found useful
among the practitioners of our country.
The New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery has been
established in Boston since the year 1812. It is now entitled.
The New England Medical Review and Journal ; and is a work of
superior merit and utility, which reflects great honor on the learn-
ed and indefatigable editors, and on the medical character of the
metropolis of Massachusetts. The Medical Intelligencer is pub-
lished in Boston, in the form of a weekly paper. The able editor
is entitled to great praise for the judicious manner in which this
useful publication is conducted.
A. See page 22.
Dr. Dalhonde's Deposition.
" First. About twenty-five years ago, I was at Cremona, in Ita-
ly, in the French army, where there were thirteen soldiers upon
whom this operation was performed, of which operation four died ;
six recovered with abundance of trouble and care, being seized
with parotidal tumors and a large inflammation of the throat. One
of them was opened ; his diaphragm was found livid, the glands of
the pancreas tumefied, and the caul gangrened. On the other
three the operation had no effect. Secondly. In the year 1701,
being in Flanders, there was committed to my care one Captain
Hussart, taken ill of the smallpox, who told me in these very
words : Ten years ago I was inoculated five or six times without
that cursed invention taking eflect upon me ; must I then perish ?
He was so violently seized that he had several ulcers upon his bo-
dy, especially one upon his arm, which occasioned a lameness there
of through life. Thirdly. At the battle of Almanza, in Spain, the
smallpox being in the army, two Muscovite soldiers had the ope-
ration performed upon them ; one recovered, the other received
no impression, but six weeks thereafter was seized with a frenzy,
and swelled all over his body. They, not calling to mind that the
operation had been performed upon him, believed that he had
been poisoned. It was ordered by two of the King of Spain's
physicians, that the body should be opened. His lungs were found
ulcerated; from whence they concluded it was the eflect of that
corruption, which having infected the lymph did throw itself upon
that vital part, which occasioned his sudden death. By me.
Dr. Lawrence Dalhonde."
^^ Boston, July 22d, 1721.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA 43
*' The foregoing is a true translation from tlie declaration made
in French by Dr. Dalhonde, done at the instance and reqncst of
the Selectmen of the town of Boston. By William Douglass.
" Jurat coram nobis. Joseph Marion.
" Tim. Clark, ? j p „
" Wm. Welsted, 5 ''"*^- ^"^•
In England the opposition to the new practice of inoculation,
appears to have been even more virulent than in Boston. Dr.
Wagstaffe, a man of high medical standing, invidiously remarked
" that posterity will scarcely be brought to believe that an experi-
ment, practised only by a few ignorant women, should so far ob-
tain in one of the politest nations in the world, as to be received
into the royal palace." One of their writers declared " this new
practice to be founded in atheism, quackery and avarice, which
push men to all the hellish practices imaginable ; men murthcr
fathers, mothers, relations and innocent children, and any that
stand in the way of their wicked desires." But this declaration
was exceeded by a singular sermon preached by the Rev. INIr.
Massey, on Sunday, July 8th, 1722, against " The Dangerous and
Sinful Practice of Inoculation," in which he bestows upon tho
inoculators the most opprobrious epithets, as diabolical sorcerers,
hellish vencfici, &c. &c. His text was very appropriate : " So
went Satan forth from the yreseyice of the Lord, and smote Job
icith sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." Tho
deluded preacher would have it understood that the Devil jvas the
first inoculator, and that poor Job was his first patient.* Hence
he terms inoculation " a diabolical operation, and an anti-provi-
dential project, that insults our religion, and banishes Providence
out of the world." It was alleged by the friends of inoculation
that the practice may be justified upon the principle of curing na-
tural, by raising artificial diseases. " What is bleeding, but an
artificial hfemorrhagy ? purging, but raising an artificial diarrhoea ?
Are not blisters, issues and setons, artificial imposthumations ?" To
this it was replied, " Very good, sir ; but go on : what is correction
at the cart's tail, but the noble art of muscular phlebotomy ? What
is burning in the hand, but the art of applying a caustic ? What
is hanging, but an artificial quinsy, which makes the patient feci
for the ground, and chokes him ? What is breaking on the wheel,
but the art of dislocations and fractures, and diflers from the
wounds and amputations of surgeons only by the manner and in-
tention ?"
* This conceit of the reverend divine gave rise to the following epigram, pub-
lislicd in the Monthly Miscellany for March, 1774 :
We're told by one of the black robe,
The Devil inoculated Job.
Suppose 'tis true, what he docs tell.
Pray, neighbors, did not Job do well ?
I'Voodville on Jnoculalion.
44 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
No instance of inoculation was known in Europe, until the
daughter of Lady Mary W. Montague was inoculated by Mr. Mait-
land, her surgeon, in April, 1721 ; and the next was the son of Dr.
Keith, on the 11th of May following. The Princess Caroline of
"Wales, having nearly lost one of her daughters, Princess Ann, by
natural smallpox, became extremely solicitous to preserve her
other children by means of inoculation ; but not satisfied of its
safety and utility, she interceded with the king, her father, for the
pardon of six criminals, that they might be the subjects of the ex-
periment ; and they were inoculated at Newgate on the 9th of
August, 1721. One of these, however, had the address to con-
ceal the fact that he had previously undergone the smallpox. All
of them recovered, and all escaped the halter. After this, a fe-
male convict was reprieved, and, variolous matter being introduced
into her nostrils, she also escaped with a slight indisposition. But
still more to confirm the confidence of the Princess of Wales in its
safety, she directed, early in the spring of 1722, the experiment to
be made first upon six, and afterwards upon five, charity children,
in all of whom it was attended with the desired success. The
princess now consulted the celebrated Sir Hans Sloane, the court
physician, respecting the propriety and safety of inoculating her
children. Sir Hans being cautious in his reply, the Princess in-
quired if it was his desire to dissuade her from it, and being an-
swered in the negative, she said " then I am resolved it shall be
done," and directed Sir Hans to wait on the king, George the
First. His Majesty readily concurring, the Princesses Amelia and
Caroline were, on the 19th of April, 1722, inoculated by Serjeant
Surgeon Amy, and under the direction of Sir Hans Sloane. In the
year 1724 inoculation was a second time introduced into the royal
family. His royal Highness, Prince Frederick, aged 18 years, was
inoculated by Mr. Maitland, at the court at Hanover, on the first
of May, 1724 ; and his royal Highness, Prince William, was about
the same time inoculated in London, by the king's Serjeant Sur-
geon Amy, and under the direction of the court physician, Sir
Hans Sloane. Both of these princes went through the disease in
the mildest manner. Prince Frederick having not more than from
eleven to eighteen pustules. In the years 1721 and 1722, one
hundred and eighty-two persons were inoculated ; and in 1723
two hundred and ninety-two were the subjects of the operation in
England. But from June, 1721, to the first part of the year
1722, Dr. Boylston inoculated two hundred and forty-seven, and
thirty-nine were inoculated by other persons jn Boston and its
vicinity.
The foregoing statement is compiled from Woodville's History
of Inoculation, published 1796, and Moore's, published 1815.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 45
STATE OF MAINE.
This district of Massachusetts, before the separation, possessed
little claim to the merit of contributing to the improvement of med-
ical science ; a scattered settlement over an extensive country
affords no facilities of union and enterprise in scientific pursuits.
There were, however, some individuals who sustained the honor
of the profession, and were eminently useful in their day. Among
these Dr. Nathaniel Coffm (h), the elder, and Nathaniel Coffm,
M. D. (b), of Portland, were for many years the leading characters
in that district. Dr. Kinsman, of Portland, Dr. Jones, of North
Yarmouth, and Dr. Benjamin Page (b), of Ilallowell, were re-
spectable and popular practitioners. Dr. Samuel Adams, of Bath,
was for some time a surgeon in the American army ; he was a
skilful physician, and an amiable and virtuous man, and in after
life religion and piety were leading traits in his character. Dr.
A. R. Mitchill (b), of North Yarmouth, was a man of great popu-
larity as a physician, as well as for his useful services in political
life, and his practical religious virtues. Dr. Thomas Rice, of Wis-
casset, was much esteemed, and enjoyed extensive practice.
The epidemic termed spotted fever, made its appearance in
1810, and till 1816 prevailed at Ilallowell and its vicinity with
great severity. It fell to the lot of the present Dr. Benjamin
Page, of Ilallowell, to devote a large portion of his attention to the
sick during the prevalence of this epidemic ; more than two thou-
sand cases fell under his observation, and he is entitled to much
honor and the gratitude of the public for his correct observation,
his indefatigable industry, and his very judicious mode of treat-
ment, by which the disease was divested in a great measure of its
malignity and fatal tendency.* In 1820 the Medical School of
Maine, was established at Brunswick, under the charter of Bow-
doin college. This school has three professorships.
Parker Cleaveland, M. D. Professor of Chemistry and Materia
Mtdica.
Nathan Smith, M. D. Lecturer on the Theory and Practice of
Physic and Surgery.
John D. Wells, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
There is a medical society of respectable standing in that state,
of which the Hon. Daniel Coney was for several years the presi-
dent. He yet survives, venerable in years and steadfast in moral
rectitude and public virtue.
* See tlie American Modern Practice, new edition, p. 344.
46 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
In this state many medical characters rendered their names con-
spicuous for professional knowledge at a period when public med-
ical institutions were unknown in New England. The most mer-
itorious of these were Joshua Brackett, M. D. ('ftj, Dr. Josiah
Bartlett (b), the two Drs. Cuttev (b), Dr. Clement Jackson (b).
Dr. Hall Jackson (b)^ and Samuel Tenney, M. D. (b). Sinco
the establishment of the medical school at Hanover, it has honora-
bly supported the medical character of the state, and has sent forth
to public suffrage men- of eminent attainments and signal use-
fulness. The Medical School of Dartmouth College, at Hanover^
was founded by the enterprise of Dr. Nathan Smith, who in 1798
was appointed sole professor of the school, and for twelve years
gave lectures on the different branches of medicine, except two
courses, in which he was assisted in the department of chemistry.
Present professors : —
Reuben D. Mussey, M. D. Professor of Anatomy, Surgery and
Obstetrics.
Daniel Oliver, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of
Physic and Physiology.
Benjamin Hale, A. M. Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy and
Materia Medica.
An infirmary has been instituted at Hanover, to which indigent
patients may resort for surgical operations and medical attendance
gratis ; and the medical class have the privilege of being present
at the operations.
A medical society was incorporated by the legislature of the
state in the year 1791, which now consists of about 160 fellows.
They have adopted a system of laws and regulations similar to
those of Massachusetts.
STATE OF VERMONT.
A VERY limited knowledge only can be obtained respecting the
medical character of Vermont. It is but recently that attempts
were made to establish institutions for medical instruction ; but
(heir zeal in the good cause has produced two establishments of
that description, which now exist in the state. Vennont Academy
of Medicine, established at Castleton in 1818.
William Tully, M. D. President and Professor of the Theory
and Practice of Physic ayid Medical Jtirisprudence.
Theodore Woodward, M, D. Professor of the Principles and.
Practice of Surgery, Obstetrics, and Diseases of Women and
Children.
HISTORY OF MEDICINF, IN AMKRICA. 47
Alden March, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
Jonatlian A. Allen, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and
Pharmacy.
Lewis C. Beck, M. D. Professor of Chemistry and Natural
History.
Amos Eaton, Esq. (of Troy, N. Y.) Professor of Natural Phi-
losophy.
Medical School of Vermont, organized at Burlington in 1822.
Henry S. Waterhouse, M. D. Professor of Surgery and Ob-
stetrics.
George W. Benedict, A. M. Professor of Mathematics, Natural
Philosophy and Chemistry.
John Bell, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
William Sweetser, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice
of Physic and of Materia Medica.
STATE OF RHODE-ISLAND.
Medical science has received considerable patronage in this state
from an early period of its history. The family of Boweu (h) has
enjoyed for more than a century a wide spreading fame for their
medical character, and for their patriotic virtues. The first of the
name emigrated to that colony in 1640. John Bret, M. D. emigra-
ted to this country and settled at Newport about 1740. He was a
pupil of the much celebrated Dr. Boerhaave, and a graduate at the
university of Leyden. He acquired great reputation in consequence
of the extended fame of his preceptor, Thomas Moffat, M. D. a
learned Scotch physician, arrived in this country and settled in
llhode-Island in 1750. He was often consulted in diflicult cases,
but was driven out of the country in 177- on account of his political
opinions. Dr. Thomas Rodman came over at the same time and
settled at Newport. William Hunter, M. D. (&), a native of Scot-
land, was educated under the elder JNlonro at Edinburgh, came to
Rhode-Island about the year 1752, and gave lectures on anatomy
at Newport in the years 1754, 5, and 6, which have been consid-
ered the first lectures given on medical subjects in New England,
if not in America.
The medical department of Brown University was organized at
Providence in 1821.
Levi Wheaton, M. D. Professor of the Theory aud Practice of
Physic and Obstetrics.
John DeWolf, A. M. Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy.
Usher Parsons, M. D. Professor of Anatomy, Physiology and
Surgery.
48 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
Solomon Drown, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and
Jiotany.
There is also in this state a respectable Medical Society, con-
sisting of nearly all its regularl}' educated physicians.
In the years 1797? 1800 and 1805, the town of Providence was
visited by the yellow fever, which was supposed to have been
imported from the West Indies, and which occasioned very con-
siderable mortality. On these occasions Dr. Pardon Bowen en-
gaged with a laudable zeal and assiduity in the investigation of the
subject, and in the most satisfactory manner traced the origin and
progress of the deadly pestilence. His communications on the
subject have been published in the 4th volume of the American
JMedical and Philosophical Register, by Professors Hosack and
Francis of New-York.
STATE OF CONNECTICUT,
Among the earliest settlers of Connecticut colony, was the
Hon. John Winthrop, who in 1662 was made the first governor
of the colony under the charter which he procured of Charles II.
He was the eldest son of the first governor of Massachusetts, and
was an eminent physician, and one of the founders of the Royal
Society, being in England at the time as agent for the colony.
He died 1676, aged 71. The Rev. Jared Elliot (6) was the next
physician of distinction in the colony. He died 1763. The Rev.
Phinehas Fisk was his contemporary and friend, and was particu-
larly distinguished for the cure of epilepsy and insanit3\ Dr.
John Ely was born at Lyme, 1743. He practised in Saybrook,
and was the first physician who regularly practised inoculation
for the smallpox in the state. He erected a hospital, where he
pursued the business of inoculation for several years. The cool
regimen for the smallpox, was generally practised there, success-
fully, earlier than in Europe. During the revolutionary war Dr.
Ely was a colonel of a regiment, and was early made prisoner and
carried to New-York ; on account of his skilful services and
attention bestowed on his fellow prisoners, he was suffered to re-
main in captivity three years for their benefit. He died in 1800,
aged 63 years. Dr. Josiah Rose was a native of Wethersfield,
and received his medical education under Dr. Dalhonde, of Bos-
ton, and for several years served as surgeon on board of a ship.
He was considered as one of the ablest practitioners both in
physic and surgery of his day. He had five sons who were edu-
cated to the profession, two of whom were surgeons of regiments
during the war of independence. He died in 1786, aged 70
years. Dr. John Bird, of Litchfield, Dr. Perry, senior, of Wood-
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 49
bury, Dr. James Potter, of New Fairficltl, Dr. William Jcpson, of
Hartford, were all prominent professional characters of the last
century. Hon. John Bulkeley was born at Colchester in 1704.
He was educated at Harvard college, and was afterwards instruct-
ed in the two professions of divinity and medicine. He was con-
sidered as a man of talents, and well versed in all the literature and
science of the day ; and in law and politics, he was no loss dis-
tinguished than in medicine. He sustained the various oflices of
colonel of the militia, member of the legislature, judge of the su-
preme court, and was one of the most popular characters in Con-
necticut. He died about the year 1754. Dr. John Simpson,
Dr. John Noyes, Dr. John Watrous and Dr. John Rose, were all
respectable surgeons in the American army, and in private life
were held in estimation for professional merit and benevolence of
character. Dr. Benjamin Gale (6) published a treatise about the
year 1750, in which he advocated the utility of a course of mer-
cury as a preparative for smallpox by inoculation, affirming
that before that practice was adopted in 1745, one in a hundred
of the inoculated died, while under the new method of treatment
it proved fatal to one only in eight hundred. This production of
Dr. Gale has been ftivorably noticed by European authors. (See
his biography.) His life was protracted to advanced age, and was
terminated in 1790.
In 17SS, the Medical Society of the county of New Haven,
published " Cases and Observations," a work which has been re-
ferred to by foreign authors, and gives a very favorable view of
the practice in the state of Connecticut subsequently to the revolu-
tionary war. The work on pestilence by Noah Webster, LL.D.
affords evidence of uncommon industry and research, and contains
a body of curious matter illustrating the history of epidemic and
pestilential diseases. Silliman's Journal of Science is unquestion-
ably the most distinguished work of the kind published in this
country, and perhaps it is not surpassed in any other. Although
the plan is not directly medical, it is an auxiliary containing many
very valuable papers upon chemistry, botany, and various articles
of the materia medica. The prevalent diseases of Connecticut
are not essentially diflerent from those of other parts of New Eng-
land ; the yellow fever afllicted the city of New Haven in 1794, but
it was supposed to have been of foreign origin. The same disease
made its appearance in Middletown in the year 1820. But the
malady which has been the most extensively formidable and de-
structive, is the epidemic whicli has received the exceptionable
name of spotted fever, but to which Dr. Thomas Miner has given
the more appropriate term, " Typhus Syncopalis." From 1807
to about ISK), this epidemic prevailed with its usual ravages; and
in 1822 and 1823, it reappeared to an extent almost unparalleled,
but its fatal tendency was greatly subdued by the very judicious
management of several accurate observers and experienced phy-
7
50 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
sicians. (See Dr. Thomas Miner's pamphlet on Typhus Synco-
palis, and Dr. Woodward's communication in the New England
Medical Review and Journal, Vol. I.)
With regard to medical improvement, it must be conceded that
in Connecticut the field of science has been cultivated with great
diligence and the happiest results. Numerous productions have
emanated from that state, which evince talent, industry and re-
search, and which have proved of signal utility. In 1810] Dr.
Nathan Strong published a Dissertation on Spotted Fever, and in
1811 Dr. North published a Treatise on the same disease, and
has since written and published in the periodicals a dissertation
on the vitality of the blood. Henry Fish, M. D. was author of re-
marks on spotted fever. Drs. Monson, senior {b) and junior, wrote
upon the yellow fever of New Haven iu 1794. Joseph Corn-
stock, M. D. is the author of a valuable Essay on Prognosis, and
the compiler of an elementary chemical work, and Dr. Sumner is
the compiler of an elementary system of botany. Thomas ]Mose-
ly, M. D. was a respectable practitioner at East Haddam. He
was for several years president of the Medical Society of Con-
necticut, and died about 1812, aged upwards of 80. Dr. Rock-
well wrote on puerperal hemorrhage, and Drs. Woodward and
Bestor wrote on spotted fever. Professor Smith, besides his
treatise upon Typhus, has published in the periodical works of
the day many interesting surgical and other cases, and has also
written on bloodroot and other articles of the materia medica.
The Hon. Sylvester Wells, JNl. D. published a series of valuable
essays on the spotted fever of 1809 ; and William Buel, M. D. is
the author of an able account of a disease that appeared in Sheflield.
Dr.jWilliam Tully is author of an Essay on Pneumonia Typhoides,
and other papers in the New-York Medical Museum ; of an Essay
upon Sanguinaria Canadensis, Strictures upon Orfila on Poisons
in the New England Journal, and of an essay upon Scutellaria
Lateriflora ; he also wrote a paper on Secale Cornutum in Silli-
man's Journal. He has besides written upon the yellow fever as
it appeared in Middletovvn in 1820 ; a work inferior, perhaps, to
no other on that subject. In 1823 Dr. Thomas Miner and Dr.
William Tully published ''' Essays upon Fevers and other medical
subjects ;" the first part by Dr. JMiner and the second by Dr. Tully.
This is to be considered as a work of superior merit, equally hon-
orable to the authors and interesting to the profession, giving a
correct view of the nature and treatment of febrile diseases. In
1825 Dr. Miner favored the public with his valuable account of
Typhus Syncopalis. This pamphlet is the result of a long course
of experience, and the most accm'ate observation ; as proof of its
acknowledged merit, it may bo mentioned that it has passed
through three editions, and a fourth will shortly appear. Dr.
Miner is also a writer in the periodical works of the day, author
of biographical sketches of several distinguished physicians of
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 51
Connecticut, occasional essays upon medical subjects and transla-
tions from French medical journals.
The science of chemistry, under the able supervision of Profes-
sor Siiliman, and indigenous materia medica under Professor
Ives, are, perhaps, at a higher standing at Yale College than
at any other similar institution in the United States. But the
establishment of a general hospital would be an important acqui-
sition as an auxiUary to the advancement and interest of the dif-
ferent branches of medical science in that state. The Asylum for
the Deaf and Dumb, and the Retreat for the Insane, both estab-
lished at Hartford, redound to the honor of the community, and
are auspicious to the cause of humanitj'. Under the able treat-
ment of Dr. Todd, the practice at the Retreat for the Insane has
been attended, it is said, with an almost unparalleled success, more
than ninety per cent, of all the recent cases having recovered.
The Medical Institution of Yale College was incorporated by
the legislature in the year 1810. Lectures commenced in 1813,
and are continued annually. Professors in 1825 : —
Eneas Monson, M. D. Professor of the Institutes of Medicine.
Nathan Smith, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of
Physic, Surgery and Obstetrics.
Benjamin Siiliman, M. D. Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy,
Mineralogy and Geology.
Eli Ives, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and Botany, and
Lecturer on Diseases of Women and Children.
Jonathan Knight, IM. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology,
and Lecturer on Obstetrics.
There is also in Connecticut an incorporated Medical Society
of very respectable standing, and regulated by laws adopted by
other similar societies.
In this brief sketch it may be proper to bring to recollection
the Metallic Tractors invented by Dr. Elisha Perkins, which
he announced to the public in the year 1796, as a new remedy for
a variety of topical diseases. This singular remedy attained a
considerable share of celebrity and ultimately excited a universal
interest throughout the United States, and in various parts of
Europe. A particular detail of the origin and progress of this
discovery will be found in connexion with the biography of Dr.
Perkins in this volume.
STATE OF NEW YORK.
This state has strong claims to pre-eminence in the noble pur-
suit of improvement in medical science and literature. Among
the earliest physicians we find the names of Dr. Du[)ey, Dr. Du-
52 HISTORY or MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
bois, and John Nicoll, M. D. The latter was a native of Scotland,
who was graduated in medicine at the university of Edinburgh, and
came to this country and settled in New York about the year
1700. He has been noticed as a successful practitioner, and was
beloved for his private virtues. After having spent a life devoted
to the work of benevolence and piety, he died in 1743, aged 63
years. Dr. Magraw, a physician of the Radcliife school, emigrat-
ed to this country and settled in New York about 1740. In 1743
Cadwallader Colden, F,sq.(b) Lieut, governor of the Province of
New York, and a distinguished physician, communicated his
thoughts on the probable method of curing a malignant fever,
which occasioned great mortality in that city in 1741. He also
published a treatise on the cure of cancer, and an essay on the
virtues of the Great Water Dock, which introduced the learned
author to the notice of the celebrated Linnaeus. The same author
published in 1753, some observations on an epidemic sore throat,
which appeared in Massachusetts, and spread over great part of
North America. Dr. John Bard (b), eminently distinguished as a
practitioner in New York for more than fifty years, was the author
of an interesting account of the malignant pleurisy, which pre-
vailed at Long Island in the year 1749, besides some other medi-
cal papers. Dr. Ogden, of Long Island, about the year 1704,
favored the public with valuable observations on the malignant
sore throat, which then was prevalent and very mortal. Dr. Peter
Middleton (Jb)^ a man of professional ttilents, was author of a medi-
cal discourse or historical inquiry into the ancient and present
state of medicine, published in 17^9. In the year 1750 the body
of Hermanus Carroll, a criminal who had been executed for mur-
der, was dissected in the city of New-York, by Dr. John Bard (b)
and Dr. Peter Middleton (b), two of the most eminent physicians
of that day, and the blood vessels were injected for the instruction
of the young men then engaged in the study of medicine; this is
the first essay made in the colonies for the purpose of imparting
medical knowledge by dissection, of which we have any record.
In 17S8 there occurred in the city of New York a popular tu-
mult, commonly called the doctors' mob. This was in consequence
of a suspicion that the physicians of the city had robbed the grave-
yards to procure subjects for dissection. The concourse assem-
bled on this occasion was immense, and some of the mob having
forced their way into the dissecting room, several human bodies
were found in various states of mutilation ; enraged at this dis-
covery, they seized upon the fragments, as heads, legs and arras,
and exposed them from the windows and doors to public view,
with horrid imprecations. The rioters had now become so out-
rageous, that both the civil and military authorities were summoned
to quell the tumult, and the medical students were confined in the
common prison for security against the wild passions of the popu-
lace. The mob continued for two days, setting ut defiance both
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 63
the civil and military authorities of the cit}^ but was at length
quelled without the loss of lives.
In the autumn of 1775 a surgical work entitled " Plain Re-
marks upon Wounds and Fractures," was published by Dr. John
Jones (6) of New-York. This work was intended for the instruc-
tion of the young and inexperienced surgeons, who were about en-
gaging in the American army. A work of this description was at
that time of indispensable importance, and no one in America
could be found so well qualified for the undertaking as Dr. Jones,
who held the highest standing for knowledge and experience in the
art of surgery. The advantages which the surgeons of the army
derived from this valuable production, are incalculable. It passed
through three editions, the latter of tvhich, with notes and observa-
tions, was published in 1795 ; to this is prefixed a biographical
memoir, by a very respectable pupil of the author, Dr. James
Mease, of Philadelphia. It was not till 1768, that a medical es-
tablishment was effected and organized ; in which were united the
learning and abilities of Drs. Glossy (h), Bard (b), Jones ('6),
Middleton (6^, Smith (h)^ and John V. B. Tennent, by whom
lectures on the several branches were delivered. This school was
connected with King's, now Columbia college, where in 1769, the
degree of bachelor in medicine was conferred upon Samuel Kissam
and Robert Tucker. " In 1770 the degree of doctor in medicine
was conferred upon the last mentioned gentleman, and in May of
the succeeding year, the same degree was conferred upon the for-
mer." These were the first instances of medical degrees being con-
ferred in America, being a short time before those which were given
at Philadelphia in the same year. Dr. Kissam's Inaugural disserta-
tion on the anthelmintic property of cowhage, was published in
May 1771, for the medical doctorate in King's college. The events
of the revolutionary war deranged and frustrated in its infancy
the immediate design of this promising establishment. In 1769
Dr. Samuel Bard (h) delivered a public address at the first medi-
cal graduation, in which he inculcated the necessity and utility of a
public infirmary ; and such was the influence of his memorable
discourse, that, upon the same day on which it was delivered, a
subscription was commenced by Sir Henry Moore, then governor of
the Province, and the sum of eight hundred pounds sterling wa«
collected for the establishment of a hospital ; and, three hundred
pounds being added by the corporation of the city, the foundation
of the New- York hospital was laid in 1773. But, unfortunately,
before the edifice was completed, it was destroyed by fire, and,
the war intervening, it was not until January 1791, that it was re-
built and in a proper condition to receive patients.
After the return of peace in 1783, various attempts were pro-
jected with the hope of reviving the medical school of New- York,
but, from feuds and collisions among professional brethren, all ef-
54 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
forts directed to that effect resulted in disappointment. Courses
of lectures, however, were delivered by many learned teachers,
until a new organization of a medical school was effected by the
ti-ustees of Columbia college in 1792. Although the learned pro-
fessors devoted themselves with commendable assiduity and faith-
fulness to their respective duties, from various causes the benefits
arising from this school were very limited and unsatisfactory. The
board of Regents, therefore, deemed it expedient to grant a charter
establishing the presenj college of physicians and surgeons in March
1807. The incorporation of this institution was sanctioned by the
Legislature, and gave very general satisfaction. It was soon dis-
covered, however, that its successful progress was to be impeded
by feuds and discontents arising from competition and rivalry be-
tween it and other medical schools in the same city. In April
1811, the Regents were induced to remodel the college of physi-
cians and surgeons with a view to their union with the medical
faculty of Columbia college. In 1813 this union was happily ef-
fected, and the venerable Samuel Bard, M. D. was placed at the
head of the college as president. By this consolidation of the two
medical schools the most eminent medical talents in the state were
combined into one splendid seminary, under the general superin-
tendence of the board of regents, aided by the patronage and libe-
ral endowments of the legislature.* In 1816 the regents made
the following report to the legislature : " The college of physi-
cians and surgeons in the city of New- York, is advancing to that
celebrity, which must soon place it at the head of similar institu-
tions in the United States. Perhaps no place can afford greater
opportunities for giving medical instruction to the best advantage,
on all the variety of cases in which the human frame is liable to
disease, and where more opportunities are daily offered to exhibit
them to the inspection, and for the instruction of students. It is,
therefore, the decided opinion of the regents, that this institution
should receive the undivided support of the state : and that no
other should be countenanced, which, by a spirit of rivalship or
hostility, might, in any degree, succeed in repressing its justly de-
served and increasing reputation as a medical school." The most
sanguine expectations were entertained respecting the utility of
the institution thus reorganised, and the result of a few years ex-
perience, clearly evinced that the learned professors filled the im-
portant stations assigned them, with ability and success. The
number of medical pupils in 1815, was one hundred and seventy-
one, and the number of graduates was twenty-seven, greatly ex-
ceeding the number attending at any prior session. The author
of a historical sketch of the present institution, concludes his ob-
servations in the following words : " When the advantages which
* The legislature in 1808, made the liberal grant of $20,000 for the benefit of the
medical college.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 55
New-York possesses for a great medical establisliment, arc consider-
ed, advantages arising from its natural situation, its extensive popu-
lation, now nearly equal to most of the capitals of Europe, its
large and well endowed hospital, and other public charities, its
botanical garden, its well organized medical college, and the exten-
sive system of education which it embraces ; and when it is further
considered, that these advantages are increased by tlie munificent
patronage of the state, it is not too much to say that, in the means
of instruction, the College of Physicians and Surgeons is second
to no similar institution in the United States. The college opens
annually, on the first Monday in November, and the several courses
begin, successively, that week, after the introductory lecture of
the respective professors. Tlie session closes on the last day of
February.
For a period of about seven years subsequent to the union of
the two schools, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, whose
weight of character was sustained by the most able teachers which
the state could produce, was on the march to the highest degree
of eminence, and its reputation was recognised in every portion
of the union. The class of students consisted of two hundred,
and the number was increasing with the opening of each session.
But from some cause those professors, whose talents and zeal had
been universally acknowledged, were assailed with clamorous
accusations, and charges of serious import were arrayed against
them : these, however, on investigation by the regents in March,
1S25, were declared to be unsubstantiated, and were pronounced
by that honorable body, in their elaborate Report, to have arisen
from jealousy and professional rivalry. Broils and contention,
nevertiielcss, continued, and the opposition assisted systemati-
cally in their purpose. In April, 1826, the professors, wearied
with unavailing attempts to silence the opposition, came to
the conclusion that " it would best consist with their own self
respect" to withdraw altogether from the institution, and ac-
cordingly they tendered their resignations of their professorships
and offices. The board of regents accepted their resignations,
April 17, 1826, and presented their thanks " for the faithful and
able manner in which they had filled their respective chairs as
instructers and lecturers in the said college." The Professors
were,
David Ilosack, M. D. Vice PrcsidcJit, and Professor of the
Theory and Practice of Physic and Clinical Medicine.
William James Macneven, M. D. Professor of Chemistry.
Samuel L INlitchell, M. D. Professor of Materia 3Icdica and
Potany.
Valentine Mott, M. D. Professor of Surgery.
John W. Francis, M. D. Professor of Obstetrics and the Dis-
eases of Women and Children, and Registrar of the College.
56 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
Wright Post, M. D. Professor of Anatomy. (Had given in his
resignation before.)
The places of the above professors were filled as follows. Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons : —
John Augustine Smith, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Phy-
siology.
Alexander H. Stevens, M. D. Professor of the Principles and
Practice of Surgery.
James F. Dana, M. D. Professor of Chemistry. (Since dead.)
Joseph M, Smith, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice
of Physic and Clinical Medicine.
Edward Delafield, M. D. Professor of Obstetrics and the Diseases
of Women and Childreyi.
John B. Beck, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and Botany.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of the Western District
of the state of New York, was incorporated by the Regents of the
University in 1812, and the legislature made a grant of ^15,000.
It is located in the town of Fairfield, Herkimer county.
Joseph White, M. D. President^ and Professor of Surgery.
Westel Willoughby, M. D. Vice-President, and Professor of
Obstetrics.
James Hadley, JM. D. Professor of Chemistry and Materia
Medica.
T. Romeyn Beck, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice
of Physic and Medical Jurisprudence.
James McNaughton, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Phy-
siology.
Medical School of Auburn, at Auburn :
James Douglass, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
Pliny Hays, M. D. Professor of the Principles and Practice of
Surgery.
E. D. Tuttle, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of
Physic.
S. Mosher, M. D. Professor of Midwifery and Diseases of
Women and Children.
Jedediah Smith, M. D. Professor of Chemistry and Materia
Medica.
The following gentlemen were practitioners of considerable
merit in the city of New- York since the American war, and their
names are deserving of commemoration.
Dr. Malachi Treat was a surgeon in the hospital department
during the whole of the American struggle for independence, and
part of the time officiated as deputy director of the hospital. He
died in New-York of the yellow fever. Dr. William Pitt Smith
was a pupii of Dr. Treat, and was also in the hospital department
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 57
during the war, and he also fell a victim to the yellow fever in
1797. Ebenezer Crosby, M. D. was a native of Braintree, Mas-
sachusetts, was graduated at Harvard University in 1777, and
completed his medical education at the University of Pennsylva-
nia. Dr, Crosby was at an early period of the war appointed sur-
geon to General Washington's guard, and was received into his
military family, in which he continued until near the close of the
war. On the return of peace he took his residence in New-York,
where he soon acquired a respectable circle of practice, and in the
year 1785 was chosen Professor of Midwifery in Columbia Col-
lege, which appointment he retained until his death, which occur-
red 16th July, 1788. Dr. Amasa Dingly was a native of Marsh-
field, Massachusetts, and was graduated at Harvard University in
1785. He settled in New-York, where he displayed abilities and
a spirit of enterprise which would have raised hira to eminence
had his life been protracted. Benjamin DeWitt, M. D. merits
great praise for the services which he rendered to the college,
more particularly in obtaining the liberal grant from the state of
$30,000. He was prematurely cut off by the yellow fever
while in the discharge of his official duties of physician of the
port of New- York, in 1819. He published on the Datura Stramo-
nium, and a paper on the salt works of Onondaga. " Richard
Bayley, M. D. (h) was among the most eminent of the physicians
of his time, and equally distinguished in medical and surgical
practice ; after a life of great activity and usefulness, he died of
yellow fever, which he contracted in the discharge of his official
duties as health officer of the port of New- York, in August, 1801,
aged 56 years. His medical writings are, his letter on Croup,
addressed to his preceptor, Dr. Hunter of London, and his account
of the epidemic fever of New-York in 1795. They are sufficient
ev dence of his talents : his wide and disinterested benevolence
io remembered by thousands." John V. B. Tennent, M. D. com-
{■leted his medical education in Europe. While in London, in
1765, he was created a member of the Royal Society. His
course of instruction in obstetrics was able and satisfactory, and
laid a foundation for improvement in that branch in the Medical
School of New- York. He died at an early age of the yellow
fever, in the West Indies, whither he had gone for the benefit of
his health.
The prevailing diseases of the state of New- York are of a simi-
lar character with those in the New-England states, but it has had
a large share of the epidemics of our country. In the city of
New- York consumption has also been very prevalent and fatal.
The yellow fever has been known to prevail in that city at various
periods during the last century. The same pestilence has revisit-
ed that city and Long-Island in 1798, 1803, 4, 5, 9, and 1822 ;
at some seasons its course has been marked with great mortality.
The year 1798 was most fatal to the faculty, more than twenty
8
68 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
physicians of the city becoming its victims within three months.
The legislature and citizens have been liberal in the establishment
of Hospitals, Infirmaries, Dispensaries, and other humane and
charitable institutions, for the relief of the poor and destitute, for
the insane, and for the deaf and dumb. The Cowpock Institu-
tion was established in New-York in January, 1802, for the pur-
pose of substituting vaccination for the smallpox, more particu-
larly among the poor, and for preserving a constant supply of
genuine matter. The first physician appointed to vaccinate for
the Dispensary was Dr. Valentine Seaman. According to the
annual report, dated January, 1826, no less than 1223 patients
enjoyed the advantage of the city Dispensary, besides those who
had received vaccination gratis. In the year 1808 the number of
patients who enjoyed the advantage of the Dispensary was 1340 :
in 1811 the number was 1446 : the trustees also stated that in
addition to these patients, 1016 had been vaccinated at their office
since the first of January, 1811, gratis, and that in every instance
the cowpock has proved a perfect security against the smallpox.
The state of New-York has furnished a full portion of learned
and scientific professors, lecturers and teachers, by whose labors
medical literature and science have flourished, and been exten-
sively diffused. From this source, also, medical and philosophi-
cal works of sterling worth have emanated, which have received
approbation and applause in various foreign countries. The
periodical journals on medicine and the collateral branches of
science, which have appeared in New- York at different times,
have been the following: — The Medical Repository, first project-
ed in 1798, and the earliest journal which was issued in this coun-
try in this department of learning ; its editors were Drs. Mitchell,
Miller and Smith. It has been extended to twenty-three volumes
by subsequent editors. The New- York Medical and Philosophi-
cal Journal, commenced in 1809, and published anonymously — 3
volumes. The Medical Magazine, by Drs. Mott and Underdonk ;
it terminated with the publication of one volume. The American
Medical and Philosophical Register, edited by Drs. Hosack and
Francis ; it began in 1810, and was terminated in 1814. The
four volumes which it embraced are composed exclusively of
original materials ; and these can safely be referred to for many
papers of great value on medical and surgical subjects, as well as
for biographical memoirs of American physicians, and detailed
accounts of most of the public and literary associations for which
New-York is so much distinguished. The last periodical, which
still exists, is the New-York Medical and Philosophical Journal ;
it was began in 1822, by Professor Francis and Drs. Dychman,
and Beck ; a volume appears annually. The transactions of the
New-York Literary and Philosophical Society contain various
papers on medical subjects, and the collections of the New- York
Historical Society may be referred to for similar topics.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 59
V It may not be irrelative in this account, before we part with
New-York, to state that this city holds no inconsiderable rank, as
having been the place where most of the prominent operations of
American surgery have been first performed. Dr. McKnight's
operation for extra-uterine conception, is well known. Hydrocele,
treated after the manner revived by Sir James Earle, and the ope-
ration for femoral aneurism, though, in the present state of surgical
science they do not afford any particular novel principles, were
carried into successful results by Professor Hosack, then of Colum-
bia College, so long ago as 1795, and in 1807. In 1812 Profes-
sor Post tied the common carotid for aneurism successfully ; it was
the first operation on this artery for aneurism that had been per-
formed in this country. In 1817 Professor Post tied successfully
the subclavian artery above the clavicle, external to the scaleni
muscles, for a brachial aneurism. This is the first successful
operation of this character ever performed. The first ligature
upon the arteria innominata of a human being was applied by
Professor Mott, then of the University of New- York, for an aneu-
rism of the right subclavian artery. It was performed in May,
1818. In November, 1821, Dr. Molt performed his first opera-
tion upon the lovver jaw, for osteosarcoma of that bone. Nearlv
half of the lower jawbone was successfully removed. He has
subsequently operated upon three other cases ; in one the jaw was
removed at the articulation and sawed through on the opposite
side, after extracting the first bicuspid tooth. Three out of the
four patients recovered. Professor Mott was not aware that the
operation on the lower jaw bad ever been performed before that
by himself. For a similar disease of the upper jaw, Dr. Mott has
operated seven times. In October, 1824, he successfully amputa-
ted at the hip joint, for a necrosis of the femur. The same sur-
geon has also tied the carotid artery six times ; the external iliac
three times ; the femoral artery fifteen times. But, as if further
to add to the surgical renown of New- York, the same eminent
operator has lately tied the common iliac near the aorta for an
aneurism of the external iliac, March, 1827. This is the first
operation ever performed upon the primitive iliac for aneurism ;
it was completely successful. These displays of surgical science
are worthy of the highest praise, and with those of Physick, Gib-
son, and Dorsey of Philadelphia, and Warren of Boston, present
essays worthy of the profoundest study of our American youth.
In practical medicine, New-York has also done her part. On
the vexed subject of yellow fever, her authors have furnished
many valuable papers ; and the treatment of the disorder by them
seems to be more rational and better defined than by those who
have so vehemently contended for the lancet and mercury. That
after ihe disorder has affected the human system, the constitution
is rarely affected a second time with the complaint, is now gene-
rally thought to be the fact. This interesting feature in the nature
of the disease, was first promulgated in the United States by Pro-
60 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
fessor J. W. Francis, in his letter on Contagion, dated at London
in June, 18l6, and has been confirmed by numerous observers in
various sections of the country. Tracheotomy has several times
been successfully performed for the removal of foreign substance
from the windpipe by Dr. Mott ; and though, as it is believed,
not yet in croup, still in the membranous or fatal stage as it is gene-
rally called, the vitriolic emetics (white and blue,) have restored
the little sufferer when every other hope has been abandoned. For
this novel and felicitous principle in practice in this truly alarming
complaint, the*public are also indebted to Dr. Francis, who has
published several successful cases. The monographs of Bayley
and of Middleton, on Croup, ought not to be omitted in this cur-
sory enumeration.
The present section of our history of medical affairs in New-
York, would hardly be deemed satisfactory, without a few particu-
lars concerning that extensive charity, the New- York Hospital,
and the Bloomingdale Asylum for the treatment of the Insane.
Both these extensive institutions have been most amply endowed
by legislative munificence, and are directed by the governors of
the New-York Hospital.
The ground on which the hospital stands, is an area of about
four hundred and fifty-five feet in length, and four hundred and
forty in breadth, bounded in front on Broadway, and near the City
Hall. The principal building, denominated the Hospital, is of
grey stone and of the Doric order : in front one hundred and
twenty-four feet ; fifty feet deep in the centre and eighty-six feet
deep in the wings, which project on each side. It consists of
three stories above the basement : the height above the ground is
fifty-two feet. In the third story, looking to the northwest, is the
theatre for surgical operations, fitted up so as to accommodate
about two hundred persons. The building contains sixteen wards,
thirty-six feet long and twenty-four feet broad, in which about three
hundred persons may be accommodated. On the southerly section of
the grounds is another large and commodious edifice, ninety feet long,
forty feet deep in the centre and sixty-five feet deep in the wings,
which project twelve and a half feet on each side. The hospital is
furnished witii a most valuable and extensive library on medical
science and the collateral branches, particularly on botany. It
has a kitchen garden, ice houses, a bathing house, and convenient
stables. From the last printed report of this Institution for^ 1826
we gather the following facts :
Remaining in the hospital, December 31, 1825, pay patients
including U. S. seamen 110
Paupers 55
Admitted during 1826, of the first order 1097
of the second 676
1938
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 61
Of these 1284 are reported to have been discharged cured ; — re-
lieved 123 ; discharged by request 72 ; improper objects 25 ; dis-
orderly and eloped 22 ; died 198. Of the whole, 1177 were na-
tives of America.
The Bloommgdale Asylum for the Insane. — In the month of
April, 1815, the late Thomas Eddy submitted to the governors of
the Hospital a small tract entitled "■ Hints for introducing an im-
proved mode of treating the Insane in the Asylum." This com-
munication met with a favorable reception, and the benevolent
plans of the distinguished projector were carried into effect with
all practicable facility. " It would be," says Mr. E."an undertaking
singularly interesting and instructive, to trace the different methods
of cure which have been pursued in different ages, in the treat-
ment of those laboring under mental derangement ; and to mark
the various results with which they have been attended. The
radical defect in all the different modes of cure that have been
pursued, appears to be, that of considering mania a physical or
bodily disease, and adopting for its removal merely physical reme-
dies. Very lately, however, a spirit of inquiry has been excited,
which has given birth to a new system of treatment of the insane;
and former modes of medical discipline have now given place to
that which is generally denominated moral management."
It is almost superfluous to state the plan of the Retreat at York,
in England; the successful issue of that benevolent establishment,
as made known to the world by Mr. Tuke's publication, fortified
the patrons of the New-York Asylum in their enlarged and en-
lightened views. The legislature ofNew-York were not reluctant in
countenancing the undertaking, and in April 18l6, passed a muni-
ficent act appropriating the yearly sum often thousand dollars for
forty-one years, to enable the governors to erect further and more
extensive accommodations for insane patients. Accordingly a
purchase was made of a suitable location about seven miles from
the city of New-York, near the Hudson river, and fronting on the
Bloomingdale road : the whole quantity of ground is stated to be
somewhat over seventy-seven acres. It is remarkably dry and
pleasant, and from its elevated situation affords an extensive and
delightful view of the East and Hudson rivers and the adjacent
country for an area of nearly forty miles. The plan of the edifice
adopted was that of Thomas C. Taylor ; it comprehends a centre
building which is two hundred and eleven feet in length and sixty
feet deep, with two wings, each placed at the distance of fifty feet
from the principal building and connected with it by a colonnade.
Each wing is one hundred and ninety-four feet in length and fifty
feet deep. The middle or principal centre building is calculated
to accommodate about two hundred patients. It would require
many pages to notice the various accommodations and advantages
which this great institution possesses, and it is to be hoped that au
ample publication of such a nature wdl not much longer be with-
62 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
held from the public. The state, in her patronage to this Asylum,
has added to her renown for public works, great as it has previous-
ly been, and the names of Clinton, Clarkson and Eddy, will be
cherished with the most lively and lasting gratitude by every friend
of afflicted humanity. The"lbllowing is an abstract of the report
of this Institution for 1826. During the above period, admitted,
males 97 — females 45 ; total 142 : of these the recent cases were
93 — old 49. Recovered, including males and females, 56 : much
improved, 6: improved, 5 : discharged by request, 9. Died, all of
them of the old cases, 6, — The forms of the diseases were mania,
63 : monomania, 28 ; delirium a potu, 35 ; dementia, 15 ; idiotisra,
1. Total 142.
STATE OF NEW-JERSEY.
We are destitute of materials for the medical history of this
state. It is, however, well known that medical men of distinguish-
ed character have flourished in it during the last century ; me-
moirs of some of the most meritorious have been procured and
are inserted in this volume. A medical school, connected with
Rutgers College in New-Brunswick, has recently been instituted,
and is conducted by professors of exalted character for scientific
attainments,* a majority of whom lately formed the Faculty of me-
dicine in the University of New- York.
Officers of the College.
David Hosack, M. D. F. R. S. President of fitc Medical Faculty.
Samuel L. Mitchell, M. D. LL.D. Vice President.
Peter Townsend, M. D. Registrar.
Professors.
David Hosack, M. D. Professor of the Institutes and Practice of
Physic and Clinical Medicine.
William James Macneven, M. D. Professor of Therapeutics and
Materia Mcdica.
Valentine Mott, M. D. Professor of Obstetrics and Forensic Me-
dicine.
John D. Godnian, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
John Griscom, LL.D. Professor of Chemistry.
The several courses of instruction commence on the first Mon-
day in November, and terminate on the last day of February, an-
* Rutgers' College, originally called Queen's College, was founded in the year
1770. In that year the Dutch Reformed Church of New-York and New-Jersey,
then united and formed the plan of erecting a college in New-Brunswick, for the
purpose of preparing young men for the gospel ministry, and obtained a charter from
the legislature of New-Jersey.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 63
nually. " Colonel Henry Rutgers, of New-Jersey, has eslablislied
in perpetuitv the premium of a gold medal, to be awarded annual-
ly to the student of that institution, who shall exhibit the most sa-
tisfactory testimonial of talent and attainment in medical science,
in his inaugural dissertation for the doctorate ; the same to be ap-
proved by the board of professors, and the decision to rest with
them. The honor to be delivered to the successful candidate at
the public commencement." A silver medal has also been pro-
posed by the liberality of a distinguished citizen of New-York, to
be awarded to the author of the approved dissertation on some
subject connected with the indigenous diseases and topography of
the country. These incentives to exertion cannot but produce
the most salutary emulation among the students of the newly or-
ganized school. During the first session of this school in the win-
ter of 1S26-7, the total number of students attending the several
classes, was one hundred and fifty-three. At the medical gradua-
tion, held in July, 1827, twenty-nine students of the institution re-
ceived the honors of the doctorate.
The location of the Rutgers Medical College is in the city of
New- York. It is situated in Duane Street, near Broadway, in the
immediate vicinity of the New-York Hospital. It was erected by
the medical faculty at their own expense expressly for the accom-
modation of students of medicine. It is admitted by all that this
building combines with the necessary spaciousness, a degree of
neatness, convenience and comfort, very rarely found in similar
establishments. The lecture rooms are three in number. The
chemical room is on the lower floor, and is provided with neces-
sary furnaces and fixtures. Adjoining the laboratory is the room
for the raincralogical cabinet and such philosophical apparatus as
is employed in pneumatics, hydrostatics, and other departments of
science connected with chemistry. The hall for the lectures on
the practice of physic, materia medica, botany, and obstetrics and
forensic medicine, is on the second floor. This hall is also design-
ed for the delivering of introductory lectures and for public col-
legiate exercises. The library room is on the same floor with the
hall. The surgical and anatomical amphitheatre is on the third
floor. The saloon of practical anatomy on the fourth floor, is un-
rivalled in this country for its extent and the entire convenience of
its arrangements. This apartment is of the length and width of
the whole building, and is during the day lighted by a fine sky-
light and four windows. At night it is brilliantly illuminated by
ten large gas burners, which entirely obviate the necessity of using
table-lamps. The cistern of water is supplied by means of a forc-
ing pump in the basement. A furnace of appropriate construction
is employed for the daily removal of fragments usually allowed to
accumulate in and about anatomical apartments. The use of this
furnace and the regular attention paid to the tables, remove from
the study of practical anatomy all the circumstances usually pro-
64 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
ductive of disgust. An angle of the saloon is screened off for the
accommodation of practitioners of medicine, who may wish to re-
vise their anatomical studies free from interruption. The anato-
mical cahinet is rich and valuable. The collection of the profes-
sor of surgery is so in an especial degree, on account of its being
principally composed of morbid specimens, removed by himself in
his operations, or procured from subjects with whose previous his-
tory he is acquainted. Collections to a valuable extent are form-
ing by the professor of the materia mcdica ; and tiie illustrations,
casts and preparations for obstetrical knowledge, are constantly
augmenting. The whole of this college is furnished with gas
lights, and warmed by a single fire burned in the basement, from
which heated air is conveyed by flues to all parts of the house.
The arrangement is so effectual that but a few minutes are neces-
sary to the production of a summer temperature even in the cold-
est winter. The heated air flows from below the seats in the dif-
ferent lecture rooms, so that they are equally warmed throughout.
The school is abundantly supplied with the material necessary
for practical anatomy at a very moderate expense, and the stu-
dents enjoy the opportunity of witnessing the extensive surgical
and medical practice of the New- York Hospital. The qualifica-
tions of candidates for the doctorate are similar to those of the
New- York College, and the graduates are vested with the usual
powers to practise. The candidate must have arrived at the age
of twenty-one years, and have studied medicine three years under
the direction of a regular practitioner ; during this period he must
have attended two full courses of lectures at the college, or one
full course in another and one full course in Rutgers College.
The examination takes place immediately after the close of the
lectures.
The Medical Society of the state of New-Jersey for the regula-
tion of the practice of physic and surgery,^was incorporated in
1783, and is governed by provisions similar to those of the society
of Massachusetts. There are also three district medical societies.
^ STATE OF DELAWARE.
In this state have originated men of professional talents and
profound erudition. To Dr. James Tilton (6) our country is
greatly indebted for important services in the line of his profession
during both the former and the latter war with Great Britain. Dr.
Sykes (b) was eminently distinguished. Dr. Joshua Clayton was
governor of the state, and a member of the United States senate ;
lie died in 1799. During the war of Independence, from the
great scarcity of the Peruvian bark. Dr. Clayton found an eligible
substitute in the bark of the root of dogwood (Cornus florida) and
HISTORT OF MEDICIXE IN AMERICA. b&
the inside bark of the while oak tree, combined in eqnal parts.
This proved equally efllcacious in all those cases in which the Pe-
ruvian bark is usually employed. In this state a respectable med-
ical society is established, and the professional character honora-
bly supported ; but its vicinity to wealthy and populous cities ren-
ders the establishment of medical schools altogether unnecessary.
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA.
It appears that in the latter part of the 17th and early part of
the 18th century, many learned and enterprising medical men
emigrated from Europe, and established themselves in Pennsylva-
nia and the more southern provinces. Thomas Wynn, an emi-
nent Welsh physician, who practised medicine several years with
high reputation in London, and his brother, can)e to this country
in 1682 with the original settlers, located themselves in Philadel-
phia, and were the earliest physicians of that city. These gentle-
men were followed by a succession of regular and well educated
professional men. Dr. Griflilh Owen arrived in the prime of life,
and is said to have done the principal medical business in the city
of Philadelphia, where he was highly distinguished for his talents,
integrity and zeal. He died in 1717, about the age of 70 years,
and left a son who practised in Philadelphia some time after his
father's death. Dr. Gramme came from Great Britain with the
governor, Sir William Keith, in the year 1717- He was about 30
years of age when he arrived, had an excellent education and
agreeable manners, and was therefore much employed as a practi-
tioner, and greatly confided in by his fellow citizens. Dr. Lloyd
Zachary probably commenced the practice of medicine in Phila-
delphia between 1720 and 1730, and died in the year 1756 in the
meridian of life, greatly and most deservedly lamented. He was
one of the founders of, and a very liberal contributor to, both the
college and the hospital. Dr. Kearsly sen. was for many years a
very industrious practitioner both in medicine and surgery. He
was not deficient in public spirit. The public are more indebted
to him than to any other man for that res|)ectable edifice, Christ
Church; and by will he founded and endowed a hospital for poor
widows. He educated Dr John Redman and Dr. John Bard, of
New-York. Foibles are common to humanity, and we often find
them blended with the most splendid virtues in the human charac-
ter. Dr. Kearsly possessed a morose and churlish temper, which
banished all cheerfulness and social converse from his pupils, and
rendered him an unpleasant companion. Dr. Cadwallader Evans (6)
was one of the first pupils of Dr. Thomas Bond, and completed
his medical education in England. He was descended from a
much venerated early settler, and had a great share of public spi-
9
66 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
rit, as well as of professional worth. In 1769 some observations
appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine of London, from Dr. John
Kearslyjun, of Philadelphia, relative to angina maligna, which pre*
vailed in 1746 and 1760. " It extended," says the author, '" through
the neighboring provinces with mortal rage, in opposition to the
united endeavors of the faculty. It swept off all before it, baffling
every attempt to stop its progress, and seemed by its dire effects
to be more like the drawn sword of vengeance to stop the growth
of the colonies, than the natural progress of disease. Villages
were almost depopulated, and numerous parents were left to be-
wail the loss of their tender offspring." An essay on the iliac
passion by Dr. Thomas Cadwallader (b), a respectable physician
in Philadelphia, appeared in the year 1740, in which the author
opposes with considerable talent and learning the then common
mode of treating that disease. This was one of the earliest pub-
lications on a medical subject in America. Dr. Thomas Bond (6),
about 1754, was author of some useful medical memoirs, which
were published in a periodical work, in London. Phineas Bond,
M. D. (6), a younger brother of Thomas Bond, after studying med-
icine some time in Maryland, visited Europe, and passed a con-
siderable time at the medical schools of Leyden, Paris, London
and Edinburgh ; on his return he settled in Philadelphia, where he
enjoyed a high reputation for many years. He was one of the
founders of the College, now the University of Pennsylvania.
About the middle of the 18lh century Dr. Adam Thompson, of
Pennsylvania, or Maryland, published a discourse on the prepara-
tion of the body for the reception of the inoculated sn)allpox, and
the manner of receiving the infection, as it was delivered in the
public hall of the academy before the trustees and others, in No-
vember, 1750. This production was highly applauded both in
America and Europe, as at that period the practice of inoculation
was on the decline. The author states that inoculation was so un-
successful at Philadelphia, that many were disposed to abandon
the practice ; wherefore, upon the suggestion of the 1392d apho-
rism of Boerhaave,* he was led to prepare his patients by a com-
position of antimony and mercury, which he had constantly em-
ployed for twelve years with uninterrupted success.
As connected with medical science, it might appear improper to
omit the distinguished name of John Bartram, Esq. to whom our
country is so greatly indebted for improvements in natural history
and botany. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1701. His grand-
father of the same name accompanied William Penn to this coun-
try in 1682. This self-taught genius early discovered a great thirst
for the acquisition of knowledge, and especially of botanical know-
* Boerhaave's 1392d aphorism : — " Some success from antimony and mercury
prompts us to seek for a specific for the smallpox in a combination of these minerals
reduced by art to an active, but not to an acrimonious or corrosive state,"
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 6t
ledge. lie travelled in pursuit of it, with unwearied diligence, in
various parts of his native country from Canada to P'lorida, and
made such proficiency in the study tliat Linnaeus is said to have
pronounced him the "greatest natural botanist in the world."
He corresponded with many of the most distinguished men of
science, both in America and in Europe. He was elected a mem-
ber of several of the most eminent societies and academies abroad,
and was, at length, appointed botanist to his Britannic Majesty
George HI. He died in 1777, in the 76 year of his age. Mr.
Bartram was the first native American wlio conceived and car-
ried into effect the plan of a botanical garden for the reception
and cultivation of indigenous as well as exotic plants, and of trav-
elling for the purpose of accomplishing this plan. He purchased
a situation on the banks of the Schuylkill, and enriched it with
every variety of the most cinious and beautifid vegetables, col-
lected in his excursions, which his sons have since continued to
cultivate.
It was reserved for the accomplished Dr. AVilliam Shippen (h)
and Dr. John Morgan (6), to construct a permanent foundation for
the medical institutions of our country. Both these gentlemen
were natives of Philadelphia, and after receiving the usual pre-
paratory course of instruction, repaired to Flurope to complete a
scientific education. Here they enjoyed am|)le means of qualify-
ing themselves for the great duties of professors and teachers, and
while in Europe they concerted the plan of establishing a medical
school in their native city. Accordingly in 1762 Dr. Shippen
commenced a course of lectures on anatomy and midwifery, ac-
companied by dissections, to a class of ten students, and this was
the first systematic course of lectures on medical subjects ever de-
livered in America, if we except those delivered at Newport in
1756, by Dr. Himter. In 1765 Dr. Morgan returned from
Europe and was appointed Professor of the Institutes of iMedicine,
and Dr. Shippen the Professor of Anatomy ; and they were the
only professors of this new institution until 1768, when Dr. Kuhn
(6) was elected Professor of Botany, and in the following vear
Dr. Benjamin Rush (6) was chosen Professor of Chemistry.
These learned characters, assisted by the venerable Thomas Bond
(6) as lecturer on Clinical Medicine, zealously devoted their tal-
ents to the duties of the several departments of medical instruc-
tion. This first Medical School in the American colonies, wa»j
soon after confirmed and established by the authority of the trus-
tees of the College of Philadelphia, while Dr. Franklin officiated as
their president. The science of medicine was unfortunately de-
prived of the benefits and improvements expected from this hon-
orable association, by various circumstances connected with the
revolutionary war. The Pliiladelphia Dispensary fur llie niedical
relief of the poor, the first institution of its kind in the United
States, was founded in 1786. The College of Physicians of Phila-
68 nisTORy of medicine in America.
delphia, was established in 1787, and the labors of the Professors
commenced under circumstances eminently auspicious to the
improvement of medical science ; an unfortunate competition
and discord, however, between the medical college and an
opposition school, for a time marred their prospects, and impeded
that useful progress which the friends of the institution and the
public had confidently expected. But in 1791 some important
changes took place, an harmonious union of the contending parties
was etfected, and Dr. Rush was appointed Professor of the Insti-
tutes and Practice of Physic and of Clinical Medicine. From this
period, the progress and improvement of the institution have been
no less honorable to the venerable founders, than beneficial to the
community. The commanding talents and profound erudition of
Professors Rush (b), Barton (6), Physick (6), Dorsey (b), Chapman
and others, have given the Medical School of Philadelphia a
celebrity, which will probably long remain unrivalled in the United
States, and will enable it to vie with the most elevated seminaries
of the European world. It has become the resort of students
from every section of our united confederacy. Five hundred in
some seasons have attended the various courses of lectures, and
the inaugural dissertations of those who from time to time have
received its honors, have extended the fame of the school from
which they emanated. At the commencement in June, 1771?
the degree of A. B. was conferred on seven, and the degree of
M. D. on four candidates. Such has been the prosperity of this
medical institution, first founded in our country, that from the
most accurate calculation that can be made, it is computed that,
between 7 and 8000 young men have received instruction within
its walls since its first establishment, and from this source the
remotest parts of our union have been furnished with learned phy-
sicians who are ornaments to their profession. During the four
months attendance on the lectures, the class expend not less than
^200,000 in the city of Philadelphia. The present faculty : —
Philip Syng Physick, M. D. Professor of Anatomy.
John Redman Coxe, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and
Pharmacy.
Nathaniel Chapman, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Prac-
tice of Medicine and Clinical Practice.
Thomas C. James, M. D. Professor of Midwifery,
Robert Hare, M. D. Professor of Chemistry.
William Gibson, M. D. Professor of Surgery.
William C. Horner, M. D. Adjunct Professor of Anatomy.
It is ascertained by historical records, that the yellow fever
made its appearance in the city of Philadelphia in 1699 and 1740,
and that the same malady again visited that city, JNew-York and
some other parts of North America, in the years 1744, 1747,
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 6A.
1760, and 1762 : nt the last mentioned period it was attended with
such nialij^nity as ballled the skill of tlie most experienced physi-
cians. Tlie medical characters of those times, as well as the pub-
lic generally, considered the disease to be contagious, and import-
ed from the West Indies. l»ut the city of riiiladelphia was alllicted
with a dreadful visitation of the yellow fever in 1793, which is to
be regarded as a memorable event in the history of the United
States. Such was the magnitude of this awful calamity, as to ex-
cite in the breasts of all classes of people the keenest emotions of
sympathy and commiseration. The city was abandoned by a
large proportion of its inhabitants, and those who remained were
not sufficient to administer comfort to the sick and to bury the
dead. It was not uncommon for persons to expire alone in a
house, and without a human being to witness the awful scene. A
negro leading a horse and hearse was to be seen in every street,
and at almost every hour. If a solitary passenger was met, his
gloom and ghastly visage proclaimed the horrors of his soul, as if
conscious that with every breath is mingled the sting of death.
No less than four thousand and forty-four persons fell victims to
this destructive epidemic in that ill fated city, between the first of
August and ninth of October.*
I'lie same pestilential fever has at several subsequent periods
been permitted to ravage that and almost all the cities and sea-
port towns in the United Stales. The alarm and distress which
pervaded our cities on these melancholy occasions, were in-
expressible. The nature, origin and propagation of this for-
midable disease, became the topics of interesting inquiry and
universal concern. The investigation was pursued by many of
our most distinguished medical philosophers with commendable
zeal and perseverance ; but from the conllict of opinions, a spirit
of illiberality was, in loo many instances, allowed to mingle with
discussion, atid impede the progress and attainment of truth.
AVhether the yellow fever, as then prevalent, was of an inflan)ma-
tory or tyi)hoid character, whether the disease was actually of a
contagious nature and imported from a foreign country, or origi-
nated iti some domestic and local cause existing in our cities, were
questions agitated with j)eculiar interest and considerable warmth,
by the learned laborers in this ample field of controversy. The
discordant opinions of contagionists and nnn-con!agionists, were
little calculated to satisfy and soothe the public mind while afllict-
ed with this awful source of mortality. From the investigation
and inquiries cjf some of the most eminent physicians in the Unit-
ed States, much light has been elicited relative to this recondite
* For a particular narrative of the sufTerings of the inhabitants of Philadelphia
by this tremendous visitation, the reader is referred to Rush on the Yellow Fever
of 1793, and a publication by Matthew Carey, Esq. and the periodical publications
of the day.
70 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
subject. It would require volumes to examine and illustrate the
various points in controversy, and those who may be desirous of
more satisfactory information, may consult the numerous publica-
tions of that period relative to the subject in question.
Dr. Rush, after having experienced the palpable inefficiency of
all the known curative remedies in the yellow fever of 1793, was
induced to adopt the depleting plan, and boldly resorted to the
lancet and to mercurial purges, as his last hope ; at subsequent
periods of its prevalence, however, the lancet was more cautiously
employed, and mercury used as the sovereign remedy. It was
given with tiie view of evacuating the alimentary canal, or in such
form as would speedily affect the salivary glands, in which event
it proved eminently efficacious. Influenced, probably, by the
opinion and example of Dr. Rush, most of the learned physicians
of the United States have declared themselves advocates for the
mercurial mode of treatment. Being thus sanctioned by the high-
est medical authority and by general assent, the mercurial prac-
tice is now received and adopted by a majority of our practition-
ers as the safest and most successful method of cure, not only in
the yellow fever, but also in typhus and other forms of malignant
febrile affections. This plan of treatment was found to be coinci-
dent with the practice of some respectable men of extensive expe-
rience in the yellow fever of the West Indies. Dr. Chisholm,
indeed, is reputed to have been one of the earliest of those who
resorted to mercury as an agent in controlling the violence of that
fatal disease, in that climate, in the years 17^9 and 1790, and he
is worthy of being styled the champion of the mercurial practice ;
having in one instance exhibited by the mouth, by inunction and
by clyster, no less than five thousand seven hundred and four
grains of mercury in five days, and the result was the rapid re-
covery of the patient. It would seem scarcely credible, a priori,
that the human system were capable of sustaining such an enor-
mous quantity of this active metal, and it is presumed that the
learned gentleman will long remain without a rival in this respect
in the United States.
Works of great merit have been and still are produced by the
profoundly learned and literary professors and teachers of Phila-
delphia, particularly Rush, Barton, Wistar, Dorsey, Physick,
' Mease, Currie, Chapman, Dewees and others. Among our peri-
odicals, those published in that city stand pre-eminent in point of
merit and utility. The Medical Recorder has long been establish-
ed and its fame extensively disseminated. The Philadelphia Jour-
■^4 nal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, was commenced in
1820, and is edited by Drs. Chapman, Dewees, &c. This is a
work of superior merit. It is proposed to render it still more
valuable by enlarging its plan, and uniting in its support the prin-
cipal medical talents of the country. It will hereafter be known
under the name of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. ' 71
The North American Medical and Surgical Journal was com-
menced in 1S2G, and is conducted by gentlemen of talent, Tlie
Philadelphia Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery was com-
menced in June last, and is gaining reputation and respectable
patronage.
STATE OF MARYLAND.
The following were the earliest physicians who flourished in this
state. Dr. Hamilton, a Scotch physician of eminence, emigrated
to this country about 1700, and settled in Maryland, where he
practised fur many years with acceptance ; nearly contemporary
with him were Dr. Sprigg, Weisenthall, Pue, Scott, Murray, and
Tootell ; and at a later period Drs. Thomas, Warfield, Stewart
and Gauth. Tliese gentlemen were educated in foreign schools,
and several of them were natives of Europe. They were all emi-
nent practitioners, and did much in forming the medical character
of Maryland in the eighteenth century. Gustavus R. Brown, M.
D., an eminent physician of Charles county, received liis medical
education at Edinburgh, and was graduated in medicine at that
university in 17()8, at which time he defended a thesis on " Ani-
mal Heat." On his return he settled in his native place, and en-
joyed through life an extensive practice. Dr. Rush, who was con-
temporary with Dr. Brown at Edinburgh, used to say of him that he
was not second to any student of the university at that period. Dr.
Brown was not only a well read physician, and an able practitioner
of medicine, but a good classical scholar, and indulged his taste for
general reading during the whole course of his laborious practice.
It is said that he used but few remedies in his practice, and those of a
most eflicient character. Drs. Gustavus Brown and William Brown
were nephews of the preceding, and educated at Edinburgh at near-
ly the same period. They were both eminent practitioners of
medicine, the former of St. Mary's county, Maryland, and the
latter of Alexandria, It is not known that either of these gentle-
men left any medical writings behind them, except the inaugural
thesis which they defended at the time of their graduation. Dr.
Parham, of Charles county, JNIaryland, was contemporary with the
Drs. Brown, and also educated at Edinburgh. He was a distin-
guished practitioner of medicine and surgery in his native state.*
Dr. John Owen practised medicine in the city of Baltimore. He
is eulogised in the newspapers as possessing the qualities which
gained unbouuded confidence in his skill and in his probity. Dr.
John Archer, who first introduced the seneca root as a remedy in
* See Lecture delivered at Columbia College, D. C. by Thomas Sewall, M. D.
Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, to whom I am indebted for this and other
extracts.
72 HSTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
croup, deserves to be commemorated ; but no memoir of his life
could be obtained.
The College of Medicine in Maryland, established at Baltimore,
was regularly organized by an act of the legislature of that state, in
1807. This school owes its origin to Dr. John B. Davidge, who in
1804 commenced a course of lectures in Baltimore on midwifery
to a class of six students. In 1807 two eminent physicians, Dr.
Cocke of Virginia, and Dr. Shaw of Maryland, united in the
school, and lectures were given on the different branches of medi-
cine ; in the same year a charter was granted, and the school be-
came regularly organized by the style of the " College of Medicine
of Maryland." By the influence and zeal of its distinguished
founder, and the labors of other eminent teachers, this institution
has been rapidly rising into importance, and at the present time is
one of the most respectable institutions in the country. An in-
firmary has recendy been erected in connexion with the school,
for the purpose of clinical instruction. The following are the
Professors : —
John B. Davidge, M. D. Professor of the Principles and Prac-
tice of Surgeri/.
Nathaniel Potter, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of
Medicine.
Elisha De Butts, INI. D. Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy.
Samuel Baker, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica.
Professor of Anatomy.
Richard W. Hall, ]M. D. Professor of Midwifery and the Diseases
of Women and Children.
Maxwell McDowell, M. D. Professor of the Institutes of Medicine.
The state of Maryland has an excellent pauper establishment
which contains an infirmary, a lying-in hospital, a workhouse for the
employment of vagrants, an asylum for destitute children, a lunatic
hospital, and a medical and chirurgical school.
STATE OF VIRGINIA.
In the history of this state are recognised the names of distin-
guished medical men among the earliest colonists. " In l608,
being the year after the planting of the colony of Virginia at
James Town, the arrival of Walter Russel, doctor of physic, is
mentioned by the colonists ; and he is afterwards spoken of as
accompanying Capt. Smith on a voyage of discovery, from James
Town to the Chesapeake, and up the Potomac to the Falls ; and
also, of having rendered surgical aid to Capt, Smith, in the case of
an accident which happened to him on this occasion. Some is-
lands, which we discovered in the Chesapeake, during the voyage,
HISTORY OP MEDICIIfE IN AMERICA. ^3
were called Russel's Islands, says Capt. Smith, in honor of Dr.
Russel, Anthony Bagnal, surgeon, is also mentioned by Capt.
Smith, as accompanying him on a similar voyage, made the same
year from James Town to Nansamond, the place where Norfolk
is now situated. Drs. Russel and Bagnall, therefore, wore proba-
bly the first physicians who came over to the colony of Virginia ;
but whether they remained in the country or soon returned to
Europe, we have no account ; but it is probable that their resi-
dence in America was only temporary ; for, in l60<>, when Capt.
Smith was badly wounded by the explosion of gunpowder, he says
there was neither chirurgeon nor chirurgery at the fort ; and he
was compelled to return to Europe, for the recovery of his health.
In ]6ll Dr. Bohun is mentioned, being about to leave the colony
of Virginia, and to take ship with Lord Delaware for the West
Indies. But no particular account is given of either of these phy-
sicians."
John Mitchell, M. D. (&), a distinguished physician and botanist,
came from England and settled in Virginia about 17OO, He wrote
an interesting and original essay on the causes of the different
colors of people of different climates, which was published in the
Philosophical Transactions. He was also the author of several
valuable productions, which will be particularized in his biography
in this volume. Dr. John Clayton (6), an eminent botanist and
physician, came to Virginia in 1705 ; as a practical botanist he
was probably not inferior to any one of the age, and his practical
observations gave him a respectable rank among the learned natu-
ralists of that period, Mark Catesby, F. R. S. though not a phy-
sician, may be noticed as a very eminent naturalist. He was born
in England, 1679, and came to Virginia in 1712, and in 1722 re-
moved to South Carolina. He spent nearly his whole life in the
cultivation of natural science. In 1748 he published a natural
history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, containing
numerous plates. Dr. John Tennent, a respectable physician of
Port Royal, Virginia, who brought into view the virtues of the
Seneca snake root, published in 1736 at Williamsburgh an essay
on pleurisy, in which he treats of the Seneca as an efficient remedy
in the cure of this disease. Dr. Tennent, it is believed, was a
family connexion of the late celebrated Dr. Richard Mead, of Lon-
don. He held a medical correspondence with Dr. Mead for
many years, and it was to him that he first communicated his ac-
count of the Seneca. Dr. George Greham, a respectable physi-
cian of Virginia, emigrated to this country in the early part of the
last century. He was a native of the north of England, and was
educated at Edinburgh. When he came over to this country he
settled at Dumfries in Virginia, where he enjoyed an extensive
practice for many years, and sustained a high reputation. Dr.
Currie, of Richmond, practised through his life with great reputa-
10
74 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
tion. He seemed to possess, intuitively, the facult}' of distinguish-
ing the character of disease, and of discovering the remedy. He
received his medical education at the University of Edinburgh.
Dr. Siccary, a practitioner of medicine, was, it is believed, a Por-
tuguese Jew. It is said by Mr. Jefferson, that we are indebted to
him for the introduction of that admirable vegetable, the tomato.
He was of opinion that a person who should eat a sufficient
abundance of these apples, would never die. Whether he follow-
ed his own prescription, is not known ; but he certainly attained
to a very old age, and particularly for tlie climate in which he
lived. The tomato is raised in abundance in Virginia and the
adjoining states, and is regarded as a great luxury, and by some is
considered a preservative against bilious diseases. Dr. Andrew
Robertson was a native of Scotland, and received his medical edu-
cation at the Edinburgh University. He first served as a military
surgeon in the British army in Flanders, and came to America
with Braddock's arn)y in 1755. He remained in the country, and
settled in Virginia, where he acquired a high reputation, and for
many years enjoyed an extensive practice. He was particularly
distinguished for his charity and attention to the indigent sick.
He made several valuable medical communications, which were
publisiied in the " London Medical Inquiries and Observations."
He died in 1795.
Arthur Lee, M. D. was a native of Virginia, and brother to
Richard Henry Lee, the celebrated patriot of the revolution.
Dr. Lee received his classical education at Edinburgh, and after-
wards studied medicine in that university. As soon as he was
graduated, he returned to his native state and settled at Williams-
burg, where he practised medicine for several years ; but after-
wards abandonedjthe profession, went to England, and commenced
the study of the law in the Temple. He soon entered into politi-
cal life, and rendered important services to his country during the
revolutionary war. He died in Virginia, in 1792. Hugh Mercer,
M. D. a general of the revolutionary war, was a distinguished
physician, who, like Warren, fell in the defence of the liberties of
his country. He was a native of Scotland, and educated at Edin-
burgh. He early emigrated to Virginia and settled at Fredericks-
burg, where he practised medicine for several years with great
reputation. During the revolution, he zealously engaged in the
support of the liberties of his adopted country, and fell in the bat-
tle of Princeton in 1777- James McLurg, M. D. was a native of
Scotland, and was educated at Edinburgh. He was graduated in
medicine about 1771, and defended an experimental thesis on the
bile. He settled at Williamsburg, and was by common consent
placed at the head of the profession. Dr. William Baynham (6)
was long considered as the most eminent surgeon in the southern
states, and was particularly distinguished for his accurate know-
ledge of anatomy, He died in 1814. Walter Jones, M. D. (6),
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 75
one of the most eminent physicians in our country, was born in
Virginia, and received his medical education at Edinburgh, where
he was graduated about the year 1770. He practised in Virginia,
and sustained through life the highest standing both as a scholar
and physician. Dr. James Craik (b), a respectable Scotch physi-
cian, was educated at Edinburgh and came over to this coun-
try with Braddock's army in 1755, and served as surgeon in Gene-
ral Braddock's campaign, after which he settled in Virginia. He
sustained an important office in the medical department during the
whole of the war of independence, and enjoyed the personal
friendship and confidence of Washington, and attended that illus-
trious chief in his last illness. He died at Alexandria in 1814, at
the age of 84 years. Dr. Dick was also one of the attending
physicians of Washington, but we have no information respecting
his life and character.
Medical School of the valley of Virginia, established at Win-
chester in 1826. Professors : —
John G. Cooke, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of
Phi/sic and Obstetrics.
Phillip Smith, Professor of Materia Medica.
H. H. McGuire, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
A. F. Magill, M. D. Professor of Surgery and Chemistry.
STATE OF SOUTH-CAROLINA.
For eighty or ninety years after the settlement of this state,
according to the late Dr. Ramsay, the practice of physic was
almost entirely in the hands of Europeans : among these were
several able physicians, who possessed an accurate knowledge of
the diseases of our country, and, says the great man just mention-
ed, at a period before Dr. Rush began his brilliant career as an
author, there were more experiments made, more observations
recorded and more medical writings ushered into public view by
the physicians of Charleston, than of any other part of the Amer-
ican continent. Between the years 1768 and 1778, ten native
Carolinians obtained the honors of a medical degree at the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh ; three of these were afterwards presidents
of the Medical Society of that state, viz. Drs. Fayssoux, Harris
and Chandler. About the year 1748, John Lining, M. D. (6)
published an accurate history of the American yellow fever, which
was the first on this subject which issued from an American press.
Lionel Chalmers, M. D. (h) in 1754 communicated to the Medical
Society of London some valuable remarks on Opisthotonus and
Tetanus, and he published also an essay on fevers in 1767.
76 HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
Alexander Garden, M. D. [b) presented to the public in 1764
an account of the medical properties of the Spigelia Marylandica,
or Carolina Pinkroot, with a botanical description of the plant.
John Moultrie, M. D. (6), a distinguished physician of Charleston,
was a native of Europe, and came to this country in 1733. For
40 years he stood at the head of his profession in the city. He
possessed great talents for observation, and was wonderfully suc-
cessful in finding out the hidden causes of disease. He was the
idol of his patients ; and such were the affection and attachment of
his female friends that at his death, in 1773, many ladies of the
city went into mourning on his account. The year following his
death, an unusual number of females died in childbed, and appar-
ently from despondency. Dr. Moultrie had a son who was grad-
uated at Edinburgh in 1749, and was a distinguished scholar and
an eminent practitioner of medicine in Charleston. At his grad-
uation he defended a thesis, " De Febre Flava." William Bull,
M. D. (6) was a physician of South Carolina, and a native of the
state, distinguished for his literary attainments, as well as for an
extensive knowledge of the science of medicine. He was the
pupil of Boerhaave, and received the degree of M. D. at the
University of Loyden in 1734, at which time he defended a thesis
on " Colica Pictonum." He is quoted by Van Swieten as his fel-
low student, with the title of the learned Dr. Bull, and was the
first native of South Carolina, and probably the first American,
who obtained a degree in medicine. Drs. Alexander Baron,
Tucker, Harris and Samuel Wilson, should be mentioned in terms
of high respect ; they died in advanced age. But of all the medi-
cal characters which have adorned the southern states, no one has
displayed more brilliant talents, or professional erudition, than the
late David Ramsay, M. D. (b). An interesting memoir of this
learned physician will be found in the biographical department in
this work.
In 1824 the Medical College of South Carolina was established
at Charleston. In this school there are seven professorships.
The students have the privilege of attending the practice of the
Marine Hospital. The professors are : —
John Edwards Holbrook, M. D. Professor of Anatomy.
S. Henry Dickson, M. D. Professor of the Institutes and Prac-
tice of Physic.
James Ramsay, M. D. Professor of Surgery.
Thomas G. Prioleau, M. D. Professor of Obstetrics and the Dis-
eases of Wotnen and Children.
Henry Rutledge Frost, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica.
Edmund Ravenel, M. D. Professor of Chemistry.
Stephen Elliot, LL.D. Professor of Botany and Natural History.
The yellow fever was known to exist in Charleston so early as
the year l699, and again in 1748, when Dr. Lining published aa
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 77
ccurate history of the disease, and pronounced it imported iind
ontagious. At several subsequent periods that city has been
fflicted with the same mortal epidemic.
In the year 1738 smallpox was brought from Africa b)' a cargo
of slaves into Charleston, where from the beginning of June to
the end of August it proved exceedingly fatal. Mr. Mowbray, a
surgeon, was the first vvho introduced inoculation into this Prov-
ince, and in a short time performed the operation upon 450 per-
sons. He was seconded by Dr. Kirkpatrick and others, so that
the number of the inoculated in a kw months amounted to 1000,
including whites and blacks. Six of the former and two of the
latter died of the disease thus communicated.
The Medical College of Ohio was established in Cincinnati in
1818. Professors : —
Jedediah Cobb, M. D. Professor of the Institutes and Practice
of Medicine.
Elijah Slack, A. M. Professor of Chemistry a7id Pharmacy.
John Moorhead, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and Medi-
cal Obstetrics.
Jesse Smith, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Surgery.
Transylvania University. Medical School at Lexington, Ken-
tucky. Professors : —
Benjamin W. Dudley, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Surgery.
Charles Caldwell, M. D. Professor of the Institutes of 3Iedicine
and Clinical Practice.
Daniel Drake, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of
Medicine.
William H. Richardson, Professor of Obstetrics and the Diseases
of Women and Children.
Short, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica and 3Iedi-
cal Botany.
James Blythe, M. D. Professor of Chemistry.
The Medical School of Jefferson College, located in Philadel-
phia. Professors : —
John Eberle, M. D. Professor of the Theory and Practice, and
Clinical Medicine.
George McClellan, M. D. Professor of Surgery.
Jacob Green, A. M. Professor of Chemistry.
B. Rush Rhees, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica.
F. S. Beattie, M. D. Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and
Midwifery.
Nathan R. Smith, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
78 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
Columbia College, D. C. Instituted under a charter of the
Congress of the United States, and located at Washington, Dis-
trict of Columbia, in 1824. Professors : —
Thomas Sewall, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Physiology.
James M. Stoughton, M. D. Professor of Surgery.
Thomas Henderson, M. D. Professor of the Theory aiid Prac-
tice of Medicine.
N. W. Worthington, M. D. Professor of Materia Medica.
Edward Cutbush, M. D. Professor of Chemistry.
Frederick May, M. D. Professor of Obstetrics.
The following is a statement of the several medical institutions
in the United States, with the date of their respective organization,
and the number of students attending the lectures in 1825-6,
as correct as possible.
No. St. No. St.
Med. School of Maine 1820 60
Med. School of Brown Uni-
versity 1821 40
Med. School of the University
of Vermont 1822 42
Berkshire Med. School 1822 94
Med. College of S. Carolina 1824 50
Med. School of Jefferson Coll. 1824
Columbia College, in the Dis-
trict of Columbia 1824
Med. School of Auburn 1823
Med. School of the Valley of
Virginia 1826
Rutgers Med. College 1826 153
University of Pennsylvania 1765 480
Med. School of New-York 1768 196*
Med. School of Harvard Col-
lege 1782 130
Med. School of Dartmouth Col-
lege 1798 80
College of Med. of Maryland 1807 215
College of Physicians and Sur-
geons of the Western Dis-
trict of the state of N. Y. 1812 120
Med. School of Yale College 1813 82
Med. College of Ohio 1818 22
Vermont Academy of Med. 1818 124
Med. School of Transylvania 1819 235
We have now detailed, in the order of time of their respective
establishments, no less than twenty medical schools and colleges
in the United States, and it is hoped that no one is omitted ; there
is the best reason to believe that they have been organized with
great judgment, and are conducted with commendable zeal and
ability. It will be perceived that a course of lectures is given in
all the institutions on the various branches of medical science,
from three to five months annually. The subjects of anatomy and
surgery are illustrated by dissections and operations on the dead
body, and by models, drawings, and dried preparations ; the sub-
ject of chemistry, by the exhibition of chemical experiments. Most
of the schools are in possession of valuable medical libraries, ana-
tomical and mineralogical cabinets, museums, &,c., and, in almost
all instances, hospitals or infirmaries are established in connexion,
affording the young student the best possible opportunities of im-
provement in practical medicine. Every school is invested with
* In 1826-7 reduced to 84.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 7 9
the power of conferring medical degrees on those who, on exami-
nation, are found to be entitled to such honors ; the manner and
form are nearly similar in all the schools. Such is the unexam-
pled progress in medical improvement, and such the ample means
of instruction at the present day, although <^one hundred and fifty-
eight years of our history elapsed after the first settlement of Ame-
rica, before a single medical school existed in the country" 'J and
though about sixty years ago one only was established, and but
ten pupils attended its first lectures, we may at the present time
boast of twenty schools, occupying the talents of more than one
hundred eminent professors, imparting public instruction to more
than two thousand young students annually. Besides the nume-
rous seminaries already noticed, medical societies for the regula-
tion of the practice of physic, and the suppression of quackery and
empiricism,. have been formed in most of the states of the union.
The establishment of these institutions originated with the legisla-
ture of Massachusetts, who in the year 1781 incorporated the first
body of this description, by the name of the Massachusetts Medi-
cal Society. The views and design of the founders of this excel-
lent institution, with the very important advantages which have re-
sulted to the community by its operation, have already been de-
tailed in page 38. Similar societies have since been incorporated
by the legislatures of most of the states. In some of the states
where such societies exist, persons who are not licensed are per-
mitted to practise, and are allowed the benefit of the law ; and in
some states, a severe penalty is inflicted for prescribing medicine
without a licence.
By the establishment of medical schools and societies through-
out our country within the last half century, most important im-
provements have been made in almost every branch of the science
of medicine, and it must be gratifying to every patriot to know
that our citizens have acted a very conspicuous part in effecting an
object, in which the character of our nation and the interest of
mankind are so deeply concerned. These circumstances will be
hailed as propitious omens of the prosperity and literary fjime
which await our aspiring citizens. Important and auspicious effects
are already visible in the character of our physicians. A thirst for
the acquisition of knowledge, a laudable emulation, a taste for ob-
servation, inquiry and reseaich, have been excited, and the talents
and efforts of medical men in various sections of the union have
been happily combined. Within the last half century medical
publications have greatly multiplied in the United States, and many
of them reflect honor, both on their authors and on the national
character. The numerous and valuable works of our late medical
philosopher, Professor Rush, hold the first rank in the American
catalogue. These, with the learned productions of Professors Bar-
ton, Hosack, and Mitchell, have been translated into various for-
eign languages, and received the meed of applause from some of
80 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA.
the most celebrated characters of the European continent. The
|. Anatomy of the late professor Wistar has been received with uni-
*'''versal approbation, as a display of uncommon talent, and will be a
lasting monument to his memory. Dr. Dorsey's " Elements of
Surgery," an original work in two volumes, has been republished,
and, it is said, made a text book in the celebrated medical school
at Edinburgh.* There are numerous other writers in the United
States, who by their labors have honorably contributed to our do-
mestic literature and science. Many handsome specimens of
ability, industry and learning, will be found among the inaugural
dissertations published by the students of our medical schools ; and
the most considerable portion of our journals and periodical publi-
cations, in point of merit and utility, may vie with the long estab-
lished vehicles and repositories of medical intelligence beyond the
Atlantic. The plans and means of instruction in our establish-
ments and seminaries, are continually improving. The road to
medical knowledge is laid open, and is fraught with allurements.
Emulation and fashion are directing their votaries into its various
avenues, and conducting them to the fountain of professional hon-
ors, distinctions and emoluments. No longer, therefore, need our
young men humbly reap the fruits of European fields, but assidu-
ously cultivate and diffuse the ample advantages to be found in
our own. In duly appreciating the advantages of our own institu-
tions we advance the interest and reputation of our native country,
and prevent the necessity of an expensive resort to Europe iu
pursuit of medical knowledge. We recognise in our institutions
no uniform theoretical system as the rule of practice. Medical
history affords abundant evidence of the instability of human sys-
tems. Every age has teemed with theories or visionary hypo-
theses fleeting as the wind, scarcely surviving their authors, but
yielding to others as transient and unsubstantial as themselves.
The medical authorities most respected, are CuUen, Rush and
Good. These, modified and improved according to the judge-
ment and views of the respective professors, are adopted and taught
in the various American universities. In the art of surgery the
leading authorities are Pott, the Bells, Desault, the Coopers,
Abernethy, Cline, Home, Latta and Hey, to whom we may add
our own countrymen, Physick and Dorsey of Philadelphia, Post
and Mott, of New-York, and the late John Warren, and John
C. Warren of Boston, and others, whose names we may with pride
associate with those #vho have adorned the annals of surgery, in
either hemisphere, in ancient or modern times. In the depart-
ments of chemistry and botany, the most modern European authors
are consulted, together whh the labors and improvements of our
own enlightened professors. American botany is now cultivated
* This it is hoped will silence those invidious writers in that country, who for
years have labored to detract from the merit of American physicians.
HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 81
with that commendable ardor and solicitude, which the importance
of the subject demands, and many indigenous medicinal plants have
been introduced as new articles of our materia medica.
Although there is no uniform standard of attainments establish-
ed, in order to graduation, in most of our schools it is required,
that before a student can be admitted to an examination for a de-
gree, he must have attained to the age of twenty-one, have studied
three years with some regular physician, attended two full courses
of lectures on the different branches of medicine, and, if he has not
enjoyed the advantages of a collegiate education, he must furnish
satisfactory evidence of having made respectable classical attain-
ments ; and particularly that he has acquired a competent know-
ledge of the Latin and Greek languages, has studied mathematics,
natural and experimental philosophy, geography, and belles lettres.
In several of our schools it is required that he shall have attended
the clinical practice of some infirmary for a specified term. It is
also required that, before he can receive his degree, he must pass
a close examination in the different branches of medicine, and write
and defend a thesis on some medical subject,
A national Pharmacopoeia, adapted to the present state of medi-
cal science in the United States, had long been a desideratum, as
the only mode by which a uniform system of practice could be es-
tablished. In January, 1817, Dr. Lyman Spalding submitted to
the New- York County Medical Society a project for the formation
of a national Pharmacopoeia, by the authority of all the medical
societies and medical schools in the United States. The plan
adopted for the purpose of accomplishing this great object, was to
divide the United States and territories into four districts, viz. the
northern, middle, southern and western. In each of these dis-
tricts a convention was called, consisting of delegates from the
several medical societies, colleges of physicians and surgeons,
medical schools, faculties of medicine and voluntary associations of
physicians. It was proposed that each district convention should
form a Pharmacopoeia, or select one in general use, and make
therein such alterations and additions as might adapt it to the
present state of medical science. The district conventions were
requested to appoint one or more delegates to meet in a general
convention and submit to the same their Pharmacopoeia. Circu-
lar letters were transmitted to the medical schools and institutions
throughout the United States, and met with universal approbation.
The places designated for the meeting of the district conventions
were Boston, Philadelphia, Columbia in South Carolina, and
Lexington in Kentucky. These district conventions held their
meetings accordingly, and appointed delegates to meet in a general
convention to be held in the city of Washington, for the purpose
of compiling the American Pharmacopoeia from those which were
presented by the district conventions. It was agreed that each
medical society, or medical institution, should defray the expenses
11
i
82 HISTORF OF JIEDICINE IN AMERICA.
of its own delegation and its proportion of the expenses of the dis-
trict convention : that the general convention should adopt a plan
for revising the American Pharmacopoeia at the end of every ten
years ; and that no alteration should be made therein except at those
periods, and then only by the authority aforesaid. The general
convention for the formation of the Pharmacopoeia assembled in
the capitol at Washington on the first day of January, 1820, and
elected Samuel L. Mitchell, M. D. as their president, and Thomas
T. Hewson, M. D. as secretary. Two Pharmacopoeias, being
those prepared in the northern and middle districts, were submitted
to examination. These works were duly examined and compared
in detail, and their contents, with such additions as were thought
necessary, consolidated into one work, which, after full revision,
was adopted by the general convention as the American Phar-
macopoeia, and ordered to be published by a committee appointed
for that purpose. It was a preliminary that the general conven-
tion should sell, for ten years, the copyright of the American
Pharmacopoeia, and that they should defray their expenses out of
the proceeds of the sale, and also that it be recommended to every
medical society, <S6C. to adopt the Pharmacopoeia, and encourage
the use of it by all druggists and apothecaries. It was resolved
by the general convention that tlieir president shall on the first
of January, 1828, issue writs of election to the several incorporated
state medical societies, &c. requiring them to ballot for delegates
to a general convention to be held at Washington on the first of
January, 1830, for the purpose of revising the Pharmacoposia, and
introducing such alterations and additions as the progress of medi-
cal and pharmaceutical science may require.
The following periodical publications on the subject of medicine
have been established in the United States.
The New- York Medical Repository was the first medical jour-
nal published in the United States, and was commenced in that
city in 1797 by the joint labors of Drs. Samuel L. Mitchell, Ed-
ward IMiller, and Elihu H. Smith. Since the commencement of
this work, a succession of periodical journals has been established,
among which are : —
The Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal, com-
menced in - - _ - . 1804
Philadelphia Medical Museum, in - _ _ 1805
Baltimore Medical and Physical Recorder, in - 1808
New-York Medical and Philosophical Journal and Review,
in ------ - 1809
American Medical and Philosophical Register (at New-
York), in .-..-- 1810
The American Mineralogical Journal (at New- York,) in - 1810
Eclectic Repertory (at Philadelphia), in - - 1811
Baltimore Medical and Philosophical Lyceum, ia - 1811
18$> /$
BISTORT OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 83
New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery (at Bos-
ton), in - - - - - " - 1812
American Medical Recorder (at Philadelphia), in - 1818
Philadelphia Journal of Medical and Physical Sciences,
in - - - - - - 1820
American Journal of Science and Arts (at New-Haven),
in-------
New- York Medical and Physical Journal, in - - 1822
Western Medical Reporter (at Cincinnati, Ohio), about - 1822
Hartford Analectic Journal of Medicine and Surgery, in - 1823
Boston Medical Intelligencer, in - - _ 1823
Medical Review and Analectic Journal (at Philadelphia), in 1824
New-York Monthly Chronicle of Medicine and Surgery, in 1824
Carolina Journal of Medicine, Science, and Agriculture
(at Charleston), in - - - - - 1825
The North American Medical and Surgical Journal (at
Philadelphia), in - - - - - 1826
Philadelphia Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, in 1827'
" These publications have, in general, been well sustained, and
while they have been useful in disseminating medical information,
and in exciting a more general taste for reading and inquiry, they
have called forth the talents of physicians in every part of the
United States, in exploring the medical topography of the coun-
try, investigating the causes of its epidemic and endemic diseases,
examining its animal, vegetable, and mineral productions, and in
publishing the results of their observations and discoveries to the
world. They have thus been among the most efficient means of
advancing medical science, and elevating the character of the
profession. Several of the journals which have been established,
are discontinued, and others have assumed a different title."* As
vehicles imparting useful knowledge, and improving the science of
medicine, they have been of the highest importance. If the
advancement of science in the early periods of our history was
marked with tardy and feeble steps, we can boast of honorable
amendment by the rapid strides observable in our own times.
Within the last sixty years our progress has been without a par-
allel. We have established no less than twenty medical schools,
besides medical societies ; numerous hospitals, infirmaries and
dispensaries, devoted to the cause of humanity and benevolence,
have been erected ; a system of medical education and of medical
police has been established, and their benefits extensively diffused.
In the language of a late elegant writer,! " We have produced
a host of able teachers, successful practitioners, and some of the
best writers of the age. If much has already been accomplished,
* Professor Sewall's first lecture at the opening of Columbia College, D. C
March, 1826. t Ibid.
84 HISTORY OF MEDICINE IN AMERICA,
much still remains to be done. Though our large towns and cities
and the more populous parts of our country are supplied with well
educated pliysicians, a large portion of our territory, remote from
the schools, is still without those who have enjoyed the benefits
of public instruction. If we have ten thousand physicians, as
computed by a late writer, we have more than fifteen thousand
practitioners of medicine, many of whom have never heard a pub-
lic lecture, or seen a demonstration in anatomy." " If, in sixty
years, with the limited means we have possessed, and with all the
difficulties we have had to encounter, we have produced the best
system of medical education, the most perfect code of medical
police that has been exhibited to the world ; if we have pro-
duced some of the best practical and elementary books, and some
of the most eminent physicians and surgeons of any age or
country ; if we have done this in the short [)eriod of sixty years
that are passed, what will be our advance in sixty years to
come ?" The foregoing sentiments of Professor Sewall, as it re-
spects the multiplication of medical schools, and the increased
facilities of acquiring professional knowledge, cannot but receive
universal acquiescence, as a happy display of the prosperity of
our country, and auspicious to our national character. But it has
unfortunately happened, that in some of our cities instances have
occurred to prove that prosperity and successful progress depend
less on the number of schools, than the harmoniously combined
efforts of a single institution. Collision and unfair rivalry, ought
to be reprobated by all who have at heart the true interest and
honor of the profession. But so multiplied and copious are now
the fountains of medical honors that the streams flow into every
one's soil, and the diploma is prepared to announce from
numerous sources talent and acquirements with surprising facility.
Notwithstanding, however, we may pride ourselves on the number
of our medical institutions, it is to be apprehended that the degree
of medical knowledge and attainments of our students generally,
is inferior to that which is required of graduates at the European
schools. Experience has verified the fact, that in too many in-
stances degrees are conferred on candidates who are not qualified
to discharge the duties of the profession, or to reflect honor on
their instructers. The subject, therefore, is not unworthy of ma-
ture consideration, whether a more limited number of medical
institutions in our country would not better subserve the great
object in view, the improvement of medical science and literature.
This would afford an opportunity of selecting professors from
among those of the highest grade in point of talent and weight of
character, and the increased number of students would yield them
ample encouragement and support. This object effected, a uni-
form system of instruction and terms of admission to practice
might be established, a longer period for education and a greater
amount of scientific acquirements be made n requisite stipulatioU|
HISTORY OP MEDICINE IN AMERICA. 85
and all pretence obviated for students to prefer a particular school
with the view of obtaining a diploma on more favorable conditions.
In consequence of diligent and learned research, and of emulatioa
among medical philosophers, new and important facts have been
developed, and the restoring art has reached an honorable and
dignified rank among the sciences. Yet it is still fraught with
deficiencies and altogether inadequate to our desires. To what
extent the frail condition of human nature is capable of being
meliorated, and existence protracted by the application of the
principles of medicine, must be reserved to the wisdom and in-
dustry of future generations to determine. It is, nevertheless,
incumbent upon us to consecrate our talents to this noble science,
duly to appreciate and exalt its merit, to cherish its dignity, to
study and improve its principles, and to cultivate a religious sense
of the inestimable blessings which mankind derive from its influ-
ence. " So great," says the pious Dr. Rush, " are the blessings
which mankind derive from the healing art, that if every other
argument failed to prove the administration of a Providence in
human affairs, the profession of medicine would be fully sufficient
for that purpose."
AMERICAN MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY.
Peace to their ashes, and the stamp of immortality on their memory.
AMERICAN MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY.
ADAMS, SAMUEL, M.M.S.S. was the only son of Sam-
uel Adams, late governor of Massachusetts. He was born
at Boston, 27th October, 1751. His preparatory education
was at a Latin school in his native town. He entered Har-
vard University at tlie age of fourteen years, and was gra-
duated in 1770. His professional education was acquired
under the direction of Dr. Joseph Warren, and he prac-
tised one year in Boston.
When hostilities commenced with Great Britain in 1775,
Dr. Adams, imbued Avith the patriotic spirit of his father,
engaged as surgeon in the hospital department of our ar-
my. Commencing his public services at Cambridge, by
attending the soldiers who were wounded at Lexington and
Bunker's Hill, he afterwards removed to Danbury and
successively to various stations in several of the states, and
continued in the service during the revolutionary war ;
after which he returned to his native town with a broken
constitution, and was unable to recommence his profession-
al pursuits. He died of a scrofulous affection of several
of the vital organs, on the 17th of January, 1788. He was
a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He pos-
sessed a substantial mind, social feelings and a generous
heart, and his greatest pleasure was to do good to his fel-
low men.
It was fortunate for Dr. Adams that, instead of sell-
ing his demands upon government for his army services,
as did many of his military companions, for a trifle, he
retained possession of them until by the funding system
they were established at their full value ; and he was thus
enabled to leave to an aged parent a competency for his
declining years, without which the venerable patriot must
12
90 JAMES ANDERSON.
have depended for subsistence upon the kindness of his
friends or the charity of the public.
ANDERSON, JAiMES, M.D. Having successfully ter-
minated his academical pursuits at an early age, Dr. An-
derson commenced the study of medicine under the direc-
tion of his father, a very respectable physician from Scot-
land. He attended a course of lectures by Professors Ship-
pen and Morgan in the school of Philadelphia, then in its
infancy ; and next sailed for Edinburgh, at that time the
focus of medical literature. Circumstances, which it is
unnecessary to mention, not permitting him to remain long
enough to obtain a degree, he returned to this coimtry
with an ample certificate signed by his preceptors, Cullen,
the elder Munro, and the whole board of professors.
Immediately on his return he commenced the practice
of physic in conjunction with his father. Deeply versed
in general, and particularly in medical, science, and devot-
ed almost beyond example to the performance of his pro-
fessional duties, he soon obtained a reputation unenjoyed
by any of his competitors. For a period of upwards of
thirty years, he retained a practice of an extent certainly
without a parallel in this section of the country. Advanc-
ing rapidly towards his sixtieth year, and feeling the infirm-
ities consequent on a life so laborious, he retired to his
seat near Chestertown. In this situation, however, he was
not allowed the repose which he anticipated. Though the
native Angor of his constitution was broken down bv the
invasion of disease and by those accidents to which his
course of life subjected him, he attended, almost to the
close of it, to the calls of his patients.
As a physician, though attached to the doctrine of the
old school, his rank was second to none in the state.
Prompt in his decisions, and drawing from a rich fund of
learning and experience, it may be truly said, that in his
diagnostic discriminations and clinical calculations he sel-
dom failed. As a husband, father, friend, in every domes-
tic and social relation, the world had not his superior. His
rank as a christian was eminently distinguished. Equally
removed from lukewarmness and enthusiasm, he was a dis-
ciple of Wesley, and strenuously contended that not to ad-
mit the truth of his tenets, was to deny the obvious doc-
trines of the holy scriptures. Communicative and affable
in his deportment to all, he never for a moment forgot the
dignity of his charncter, or what it exacted. Easy of ac-
WILLIAM ABPINWALL. 91
cess, and acutely sensible to the wants of others, the needy
sufferer rarely made a fruitless application for aid. His
home was an asylum for the indigent, and such were his
liberality and benevolence, that, though his practice was
extensive and lucrative, he was precluded from the accu-
mulation of wealth.
In his last and painful illness his demeanor was instruct-
ive and exemplary. Patient to a degree seldom equalled,
never surpassed, he was always thankful for the little at-
tentions and services of his friends ; and in the final trying
scenes submitted with meekness to the will of his Heavenly
Father. He died December Stli, 1820, at his seat in the
vicinity of Chestertown, Maryland, in the 69th year of his
ao-e. — Phila. Journal of Med. and Phys. Sciences^ Vol. II.
ASPINWALL, WILLIAM, M.D. M.M.S.S. was born in
Brookline, Mass. on the 23d May (old style), 1743. His
ancestors emigrated from England about the year 1630
with the 4000 emigrants. Peter Aspinwall first settled at
Dorchester, and afterwards at Brookline about the year
•1650, and the farm which he occupied is still in the hands
of the descendants. The house built by Peter, being the
oldest house in Brookline, with the venerable elm near it
which was planted by liim, also remains. William, the
subject of this memoir, was the sole survivor of three gen-
erations which were born in tliis place.* He was fitted
for college by the Rev. Amos Adams, minister of Roxbury,
and Avas graduated at Harvard University in 1764. Having
determined on devoting his life to the medical profession,
he pursued his studies with the celebrated Dr. Benjamin
Gale of Connecticut, and completed his education at the
hospital in Philadelphia, where he received the degree of
Doctor of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania about
the year 1768, Dr. Aspinwall returned to his native vil-
lage and commenced the practice of medicine, being the
first physician who settled in the place.
At the commencement of our revolutionary war, imder
an enthusiastic impulse to espouse the cause of his country,
he applied for a commission in the army ; but his kinsman
and friend Dr. Joseph Warren, afterwards Major General
Warren, dissuaded him from this pursuit and induced him
to serve his country in the medical department. According-
ly Dr. Aspinwall received the appointment of Surgeon in
* See History of New England (Winthrop's) edited by Jamei Savage, Esq.
92 WILLIAM ASPINWALL.
General Heath's brigade, and, soon after, that of deputy
director of the hospital on Jamaica Plain, by the recom-
mendation of General Warren. On the memorable day of
Lexington battle, Dr. Aspinwall was a volunteer and com-
batted personally in the conflict. He bore from the field
the corpse of Isaac Gardner, Esq. Avhose eldest daughter
he afterwards married. Mr. Gardner commanded the
Brookline company of militia, and fell in Cambridge,
having his body perforated with twelve bullets. His son,
the late General Isaac S. Gardner, then at the age of 16,
was in his father's company the day above mentioned.
Dr. Aspinwall had the body of his revered friend carried
to his house and buried at midnight, in order that the num-
ber of our martyred citizens might as much as possible be
concealed from public view.
It was the personal interest which he took in the revolu-
tionary contest, acting upon a mind deeply imbued with a
sense of his country's wrongs, that gave strength and tone
to his sentiments in after life. Dr. Aspinwall's language
on political subjects was bold and strong, his creed being
that of a democratic republican. In tlie unhappy scenes of
party excitement he unwaveringly adhered to what he
deemed original and fundamental principles, but he aimed
to preserve a good conscience, and to do justice to the
honest opinions, the pure motives and undoubted integrity
of his opponents. He was not a political persecutor, and
when he Avas in the councils of the state, resolutely de-
clined acting with his coadjutors, who were disposed to
drive from office incumbents, whose only fault w'as what
they deemed political heresy.
After the death of the eminent and distinguished Dr.
Zabdiel Boylston, the first inoculator of smallpox in
America, Dr. Aspinwall established himself in that under-
taking, and erected hospitals for that purpose in Brookline.
Perhaps no practitioner in the United States ever inocu-
lated so many persons or acquired such skill and celebrity
in treating this malignant disease as Dr. A. Besides his
practice in this disorder when it generally spread, he was
allowed after the year 1788 to keep a hospital open at all
times, to which great numbers resorted, and from which
they returned with warm expressions of satisfaction. He
continued in the successful treatment of this disease till the
general introduction of vaccine inoculation. He had made
ample accommodation for enlarged practice, and establish-
WILLIAM ASPINWALL. 98
ed wliat might liave been justly deemed a sure founda-
tion for prosperity, when vaccine inoculation was first in-
troduced. He well knew that, if vaccination possessed the
virtues ascribed to it, his schemes of fortune and useful-
ness arising from inoculation at his hospital, were ruined,
that he should be involved in loss, and his anticipations of
fortune would be blasted. But as an honest man and faith-
ful physician, he deemed it his duty to inquire into the ef-
ficacy of the novel substitute. With the utmost alacrity,
therefore, he gave the experiment a fair trial, promptly
acknowledged its efiicacy, and relinquished his own estab-
lishment. The foregoing is corroborated by the following
statement recently made by Dr. Waterhouse in the Medical
Intelligencer.
" The late Dr. Aspinwall, a man of great sagacity, and
uncommonly Avell grounded in the principles of his profes-
sion, gave evidence of it on the first sight of a vaccine pus-
tule. I had invited all the elder physicians of Boston and
the vicinity of Cambridge to see the first vaccine pustules
ever raised in the new world. They gave them the ordi-
nary inspection of an unusual eruption on the skin ; — all
but Dr. Aspinwall, whose attention was riveted on the
jDustule, its areola and efflorescence. He came a second time,
and viewed the inoculated part in every light, and re-
viewed it, and seemed loath to leave the sight of it. He
seemed wrapped in serious thought, and said repeatedly —
' this pustule is so like smallpox, and yet it is not smallpox,
that, should it on scabbing take out a portion of the true
skin, so as to leave an indelible mark or pit behind, I shall
be ready to conclude, that it is a mild species of smallpox,
hitherto unknown here.' He had been in the habit of ex-
amining the smallpox pimple and pustule, througli glasses,
to know if it ' had taken ,•' and he remarked that they
were peculiar, unique, and unlilte any otlier eruption he
ever saw ; but that this Kine Pock came the nearest to it.
Sometime after, I gave him a portion of the virus to make
his own experiments, and observe the progress of its ino-
culation, and coincidence of the constitutional symptoms,
when he o1)served, that its progress, febrile aflection, and
mode of scabbing were very like smallpox, and so of the in-
delible mark left on the arm ; yet throughout tlie whole
visible affection, different. To crown the whole of his hon-
orable conduct, he some time after took all those of my
family whom I had vaccinated, into his smallpox hospital,
94 WILLIAM A6PINWALL.
the only licensed one in the state, and there tested them
to his satisfaction, and one to the very verge of rigid ex-
periment ; and then he said to me and to others — ' this
new Inoculation of yours ^ is no Sham. As a man of humanity, I
rejoice in it ; although it will take from me a handsome annual
income.'' His conduct throughout was so strongly mark-
ed with superior intelligence, generosity and honor, as to
excite my esteem and respect ; and I accordingly dedicate
this effusion of gratitude to the memory of the Hon.
William Aspinwall, M. D. ; a gentleman respectable in
public life as a counsellor, and an honor to his profession
as a physician."
In the character of a physician. Dr. Aspinwall was par-
ticularly distinguished. His practice embraced a wide cir-
cle, and he devoted himself to it with unremitting ardor
and fidelity for forty-five years. During the largest part
of his time he rode on horseback, often upwards of forty
miles a day, and it was not usual for him to retire to rest
until after midnight. The natural strength of his constitu-
tion, his constant exposure to the elements, and his resolute
devotion to his profession, enabled him to endure the fa-
tigues of mind and body consequent upon such daily and
incessant labor. The necessity of reading and writing to a
late hour almost every night with but one eye (having lost
the other by accident in his youth), brought on at length a
disease in that organ, which terminated in the formation of
a cataract and deprived him of sight. In his profession he
was distinguished for prompt attendance, for soundness of
judgment, just discrimination, caution in untried experi-
ments, and for fearless confidence in what stood approved
to his reason and resulted from experience. His patients
reposed unlimited confidence in his judgment, skill and
fidelity. To them he was an angel of consolation, a phy-
sician greatly beloved. In the aflairs of his native town,
the birth place, and place of burial of so many kindred,
Dr. Aspinwall ever took a lively concern. He devoted
much time to its interest in various offices. He represent-
ed the town in the general court several years, was thrice
elected a senator for Norfolk county, and served one term
as counsellor. He was solicited to become one of the jus-
tices of the Court of Common Pleas, but he declined and
retired from public employment. In all these trusts he
was faithful to the interest of liis constituents and to the
public weal, as well as unwavering in his political creed.
WILLIAM ASPINVVALL. 95
Dr. Aspinwall made a public profession of religion at an
early age, and during a long life he maintained a good pro-
fession. He honored the institutions and ministers of reli-
gion, and was never absent from pviblic worshijj when pro-
fessional duty permitted his attendance. He imparted re-
ligious counsel, as well as medical aid, at the bed of sick-
ness. Of his holy faith he always spoke with profound re-
spect. Under bereavement, infirmity and sickness, his re-
ligious principles yielded him firm support and buoyed
him above the vicissitudes of life. During a confinement
of several of the last years of his life, when deprived of his
sight, the religion of Jesus Christ was his support and con-
solation. It was the theme of his discourse, and he con-
sidered his testimony in its favor the best legacy he could
bequeath to his children. He died on the 1 6th of April,
1823, of natural decay, having nearly completed his eight-
ieth year. Dr. A. was endowed with a strong intellect, and
a resoluteness that shrunk from no labor or duty. He was
an example of perseverance amidst vmtoward circumstances,
and of accommodating them to his peculiar situation. To
young physicians his example holds out encouragement,
that economy, integrity, constant industry and unremitting
study of his profession, will finally succeed, and bring
reputation and competence. Dr. A. was a fellow of the
Massachusetts Medical Society and a Justice of the peace
throughout the commonwealth.
A few years before his death Dr. Nathan Smith at-
tempted to remove the cataract over his eye, but was un-
successful, and the glimmering light that had remained
was unfortunately totally extinguished. He bore this phy-
sical darkness with resignation and tranquillity. He con-
sidered it a merciful dispensation in his Maker to suspend
his labors and give him leisure and opportunity, which
during a very active life he had too seldom enjoyed, for
religious reflection and preparation for death. By daily
exercise of mind and body he preserved both in full vigor.
His curiosity about public events and daily occurrences
continued, and some of his last thoughts were on his coun-
try, its prosperity, its improvements, its distinguished men,
its relation with foreign powers. He was anxious that wise
and good men should bear sway in our land, and that the
intellectual, benevolent and religious institutions received
from ovir forefathers, should be perpetuated. — Tappan.
96 ISRAEL ATIIERTON.
ATHERTON, DR. ISRAEL, M.M.S.S. This gentleman
was a native of Harvard, Massachusetts, and was graduated
at Cambridge in 1762. He received his medical education
under the able tuition of Dr. Edward A. Holyoke, of Sa-
lem, and commenced his practice at Lancaster, A.D. 1765,
peculiarly qualified for the duties of his profession by his
constitution, his benevolent and amiable temper, and his
acquirements in medical science. He early became eminent,
and practised with increasing reputation until the infirmi-
ties of age, accelerated by the fatigues and privations of a
laborious calling, compelled him to retire from active em-
ployment. He retained his mental powers, and died as he
had lived, collected and resigned, in 1822, aged 82 years.
Commencing his business with a vigorous and discrimi-
nating mind, Dr. Atherton made his knowledge from books
subservient to his practice so far only as it assisted him in
unfolding the great book of nature. He was governed by
no system whose theory was not simple and defined, and
Avhich did not obviously lead to rational and judicious prac-
tice. At the period when he resolved upon his profession,
preparatory knowledge was deemed in most country towns
of little value, except for the pulpit or the bar; the practice
of physic was only in name among the learned professions.
He was the first, and for some years the only, physician
in the county of Worcester, who had passed a course of
collegiate studies, or commenced the profession of medicine
under the advantages of a regular competent prejiaration ;
and for a long period the only one whose professional sci-
ence seemed to entitle him to be made a fellow of the Mas-
sachusetts Medical Society. He lived, however, to witness
what he ardently strove to promote, an emulation among
the faculty to elevate their profession to a respectable
standing in science and substantial usefulness ; and to see
the patronage and preference which the community had so
generally extended to impostors, in a great measure with-
drawn.— Hon. 0. Fiske.
BARD, DR. JOHN. The subject of this memoir was of
French descent ; his ancestors preferring their faith to their
country, became exiles under the provisions of the revoca-
tion of the edict of Nantes. His fiither, Peter Bard, on his
arrival in America, immediately fixed himself on the Ijanks
of the Delaware, not far from Philadelphia, where he
soon became attached to a neighbor and fellow exile. This
ladv was the daughter of Dr. Marmion, an English gentle-
>c
• ^
JOIIir BARBoMB.
I
#"•
JOHPf BARD. 9T
man, who, as appears from a manuscript journal kept by
his wife, a woman of perha})s stronger sense than her hus-
band and equal piety, had ahaiulontnl Enghuid, liis liome
and his church, from the scruples of a misguided con-
science. The sympathy of a similar fate seems here to
have imited tiiose, whom, under other circumstances, dif-
ference of nation and language would probably have repel-
led. From the marriage which ensued, John Bard was
the issue, born in February, 1716.
He received the rudiments of a polite and classical edu-
cation at Philadelphia, and at the age of 14 or 15 years
was, according to the custom of that day, bound apprentice
to Mr. Kearsly, an English surgeon of good talents, but of
so unhappy a temper, that his presence banished cheerful-
ness from his family. He treated his pupils with great ri-
gor and subjected tiiem to the most menial employments ;
to which, Dr. Bard has been heard to say, he would never
have submitted, but from the apprehension of giving pain
to his excellent mother, who was then a widow with seven
children and a very moderate income, and from the en-
couragement he received from the kindness of her particu-
lar friend. Mrs. Kearsly, of whom he always spoke in terms
of the warmest gratitude, affection and respect. Under
such circumstances, he persevered to the end of seven te-
dious years, stealing his hours of study from sleep after the
family had retired to rest, and before they arose in the
morning. Before he was released from tliis thraldom he
became acquainted with Dr. Franklin, of kindred mind,
and no unequal fortune ; whose friendship and cheerfulness
brightened his leisure hours, whose example roused, and
whose indefatigable industry stimulated his exertions and
perseverance. This early intimacy was refined by a simi-
larity of dis])osition into a lasting friendship, which ended
only with their lives, and which, Dr. Franklin reminded
him in a letter not long before his death, " had never been
obscured by the slightest shade."
Dr. Bard first settled in his profession in Philadelphia,
but after practising in that city aliout five or six years he
was induced to remove to New-York, in the year 1746.
By the urbanity of his manners, his professional talents,
and the charms of his conversation, which was enlivened
by an uncommon flow of cheerfulness, enriched by sound
sense, aiul adorned by a large fund of anecdote, he so ef-
fectuallv recommended himHclf to the notice and friend-
98 JOHN BARD.
ship of the most respectable families, that he was almost
immediately introduced into a valuable scene of business,
and very soon arrived at the first rank of professional emi-
nence, which he retained through a long life of more than
fourscore years.
From the confined circumstances of his education. Dr.
Bard was neither classically nor professionally a learned
man ; but he possessed a lively fancy, a sound judgment
and a correct taste. He read with great delight the best
authors, particularly the poets of his own language ; and
whatever he read and admired, he made so completely his
own, that he could recal it almost at pleasure to his memo-
ry, and would frequently surprise and delight his friends
by long and appropriate quotations from authors he had
not seen for many years. In his profession he read all the
best authors of his day ; but his studies were rather select
than general. Sydenham and Huxham were his favorites.
He formed himself upon their plan, was so familiar with
their histories of diseases and their rules of practice, that
he applied them with great ease, and acquired from them
a correct and happy talent in discriminating diseases, and
such sound principles of practice, as rendered his own emi-
nently successful.
About the year 1759 the city of New-York M^as alarmed
by the arrival of a ship from Amsterdam, freighted for the
transportation of Palatines, among whom a malignant fe-
ver had broken out during the passage, and destroyed a
great number. On this occasion Dr. Bard was employed
by the corporation to take proper measures to prevent the
disease from spreading. The sick were quartered at a dis-
tance from the city ; but notwithstanding every attention,
many of the passengers perished ; and, although the dis-
ease was confined within the limits of the hospital, it was
communicated to every nurse and assistant, Dr. Bard only
escaping. He immediately drew up a memorial, in which
he represented the expediency of providing a pest house
against similar occasions, which was immediately eftected
by the purchase of Bedloioh Island and the buildings upon
it ; the care of which, with the appointment of health offi-
cer, was given to him. He was likewise appointed sur-
jBjeon and agent for the sick and wounded seamen of the
British navy at New-York.
Captivated by the pleasures and employments of a coun-
try life. Dr. Bard in the year 1778 retired to an estate h©
JOHN BARD. 99
possessed in Dutchess county. But the events of the Amer-
ican revolution having greatly injured his fortune, he
again returned to New-York at the jDeace of 1783, and was
received with the greatest satisfaction by most of his old
friends who had remained in town, or who returned with
him ; and although now far advanced in life, a good con-
stitution and an active mind enabled him to discharge the
duties of his profession with ease to himself, and much to
the satisfaction of his patients. On the establishment of
the Medical Society of New-York in the year 1788, he was
unanimously chosen their president ; and in the year 1795
gave an eminent instance of his discernment and know-
ledge of diseases by pointing out, in an address to that
body, the existence of the yellow fever, which then ap-
peared in that city, and which he had not seen for forty
years. On this occasion he met much opposition and some
obloquy ; but he persisted in his remonstrances with his
brethren and advice to his fellow citizens, until conviction,
too fatally earned, silenced the most obstinate of his oppo-
nents. He likewise pointed out the sudorific plan of treat-
ing that fatal disease, Avhich on good grounds is believed to
have been more successful than any other Avhich has been
pursued.
At the bed side Dr. Bard was distinguished by an affec-
tionate attention to the situation and feelings of his pa-
tients, a careful examination and correct discrimination of
their diseases, and a diligent application of appropriate re-
medies ; so that, even when unsuccessful, he never had oc-
casion to reproach himself with neglect, and seldom failed
to obtain the gratitude and esteem of their friends. In his
intercourse with his fellow practitioners, he was to all can-
did and sincere ; but between him and his particular
friends, among whom he numbered Dr. Peter Middleton
and Dr. John Jones, both men of distinguished reputation,
there prevailed an unbounded liberality and confidence,
which, whenever it exists between men of eminence in the
profession of medicine, must redound greatly to the safety
and happiness of their patients.
Convinced from his early youth of the great truths of
natural and revealed religion. Dr. Bard never spoke on
these subjects but with the utmost reverence. He would
frequently take occasion from the w onders of creation and
the beauties of nature, of which he was an enthusiastic ad-
mirer, to expatiate on the infinite wisdom and goodness of
100 JOHN BARD.
the Deity ; and on these occasions the feelings of his heart
would glow in his language and glisten in his eye, and sel-
dom failed to warm his hearers into a kindred enthusiasm.
At his own peculiar lot, which was very far from what the
world calls prosperous, he was never heard to murmur or
despond ; but resigning himself cheerfully to the dispensa-
tions of Providence, and pouring forth praises and grati-
tude for the blessings he enjoyed, he rose from every dis-
appointment with renovated hope and more vigorous ex-
ertion.
The charms of his conversation were protracted to the
latest period of his life ; his vivacity and cheerfulness even
then enlivened all companies into which he entered, and
rendered his society peculiarly agreeable to young persons
of both sexes, who never left him but with expressions of
admiration and esteem. When surrounded by his friends
he literally forgot all care, and would frequently beguile
the time until young and old wondered how the hours had
passed. Thus he lived, admired, respected and beloved.
About a year before his death, he again retired into the
country from the fatigues of business. In his eighty-fourth
year, after a few days' illness, the first of which deprived
him of his recollection, and saved him from the only cir-
cumstance he dreaded in death, the pain of parting from
his friends, he closed his long, useful and honorable ca-
reer on the-30th of March, 1799.
For the following very interesting detail I am indebted
to the Rev. Dr. McVickar.* The afternoon which pre-
ceded his fatal attack, was passed by the father at his son's
house. He came, as usual, attended by his servant, (bear-
ing before him two bottles of water from his own favor-
ite spring, with which he contended, with an old man's
partiality, none other could compare) ; occupied, as he was
wont, his high backed elbow-chair, and was more than
usual the delight and admiration of the family circle. As
he sat looking at the brilliancy of the setting sun,^jthe glo-
ries of creation seemed to remind him of his own sources
of happiness, and he suddenly exclaimed, " I think I am
the happiest old man living." Of the two following let-
ters, the first contains the painful reverse of this picture,
(at least to mortal eyes,) which the next morning exhibit-
ed : and the second, his character, drawn by a skilful,
* See Life of Dr. Samuel Bard by the Rev. John McVickar, Profeesor of Mora!
PhiloBophy and Rhetorie, Columbia College, New-Yorlt, 1822.
JOHN BARD. Ml
though, perhaps, ])artiul j)en, after that painful scene was
over.
" I write to you, my dear friends, from the tick cham-
ber of our revered parent, who is in a situation which fdis
us wdtli the greatest aj)i)rehcnsions for his life. On Friday
morning, (having parted from us the night l)cfore in re-
markahly good health and spirits,) his servant found that
on awaking he spoke incoherently ; he, however, attempt-
ed to rise, but returned to bed before he left the chamber.
On arriving, I found him with sym])toms that indicated an
approaching palsy, his ideas incoherent, and his articidation
very bad ; so that, at his age, I dare not encourage either
myself or you with any hopes of his recovery. Our conso-
lation is that he suffers no pain, lying, for the most part, in
a sweet sleep, except when we arouse him to administer a
little nourishment ; and farther, that no one circumstance
is wanting which can either alleviate uneasiness, or add, in
the smallest degree, to his comfort ; and that his enjoyment
of life, to the last moment, was such as to be the continued
theme of his discourse, and of gratitude to Almijihty God.
" Hyde Park. Yours affectionately, S. B."
'' Mv Df. AR Son, — Since the death of your dear and vene-
rable grantlfather, sucli a crowd of business jjas pressed up-
on me, fts almost to prevent me from reflecting npon my
loss ; certainly, to lessen my sense of the bereavement we
have sustained. Indeed his death was attended by circum-
stances which afford the most effectual consolation ; and
such a life as his, terminated by siuh an exit, must be our
best wish for ourselves and our friends. And when I re-
flect on his unblemished honor, unbounded jihilanthropy
and uncxamj)led cheerfulness, his unsul)dued fortitude
which never sunk under the pressure of the severest misfor-
tunes, his jiersevering industry which never tpiitted him
to the last, his steady friendshij)s, his tender attachment to
every branch of his family, and his exalted j)iety which
continually called forth a flow of gratitude for his jiood
fortune, forjjetting every circumstance of ill, I jilory in him
as a parent, aiul recommend him to you as a most worthy
example for vour imitation. Your affectionate father,
^' S. B."
The writings of a professional nature, which Dr. Bard
has left, are an interesting essav on the nature and cause of
the malignant pleurisy, which proved so remarkably fatal
102 JOHN BARD.
to the inhabitants of Huntington and some other places on
Long-Island in the winter ot 1749, drawn up at the request
of a weekly society of gentlemen in New-York, and address-
ed to them at one of their meetings, January, 1749 ; a case
of extra-uterine foetus, published in the London Medical
Observations and Inquiries ; and several papers on the na-
ture and character of the yellow fever and the evidence of
its importation into this country, (published in the Ameri-
can Medical and Philosophical Register, edited by Drs.
Hosack and Francis). In the year 1750 Dr. Bard assisted
Dr. Middleton in the first dissection of a human subject in
America of which we have any record. In all his Avritings
he evinced a strong mind, sound judgment and correct ob-
servation, which will ever reflect honor on his character.
In September, 1761, the beloved and most dutiful son
of Dr. Bard at the age of nineteen, was about to embark
for Europe to receive his medical education. The folloAV-
ing is an extract from a letter of advice, handed to him
at parting, which richly merits being recorded here.
" With regard, my dear Sam, to your moral conduct, I
do not flatter you, when I assure you I have the greatest
confidence in your piety, prudence and honor : still a se-
vere test of all these is now approaching, since you are go-
ing to a part of the world where you will be surrounded
with allurements. Your greatest security will lie in the
first choice of your company. If, according to all your
former conduct, you associate with men of sense and busi-
ness, of sobriety and honor, and with ladies of character
and family, your time will be most agreeably and honora-
bly filled up between a course of business and of pure and
refined pleasure. Tliis will render all your correspond-
ence with tlie world easy and delightful, and enlarge your
sphere of valuable connexions and friends On the contra-
ry, should you suffer yourself to be captivated with the
idle or the'gay, so far as to give in to their schemes of dis-
sipation, you cannot tell how far the powers of yovu' mind
may become enervated, and by habit lose tliat manly firm-
ness which is the principal guard to a generous, virtuous
and innocent life. Remember, my dear Sam, a maxim of
Gay, ' Plant virtue, and content 's the fruit.' I do recom-
mend to you, in a very particular manner, to attend upon
the public worship of God constantly, at least every
Sunday, which your piety, I hope, will naturally prompt
^y.?.»<»'o(N?W>V«?;«5<t!Jtp:iV
ff■\^:cK^>\f^•^ry!Hr■■Clp■>:^^*}s'Hl'y^v■^v^^
.Wl!ie.?«?;«3y«f*«*a'4A.<fAi!tK'
M*"C1. EM-ANT) 1>1
SAS/IIUEIL ]BA]IlID),M.,Ii)„l[..iJ])
SAMUEL BARD. 103
you to ; and arm yourself against any arguments you may
accitlentallv be exposed to, that have a design to lessen the
authority and exceUency of tlie cluisti;in religion. Be as-
sured that it is not only more right in itself, hut infmitely
more lionorahle and becoming the character of a gentle-
man, to appear an advocate on the side of religion, tiian to
give the least countenance to the schemes of deism and infi-
delity. The greatest and the best of men have always i)een
on this side ; and these are the characters I would advise
you to emulate. I do sincerely beg of God to bless you in
all your undertakings, and am your atfectionate father,
"John Bard."
In another letter this pious j)arent says, " Above all
tlungs, my dear son, suffer not yourself by any company or
example, to depart, either in your conversation or prac-
tice, from the highest reverence to God and your religion ;
always remem1)ering that a rational and Ijecoming view of
these duties, is the most likely means of influencing your
moral conduct, and is, in truth, the briglitest ingredient in
a gentleman's character, naturally producing not only
that decent, chaste and polite style in conunon conversa-
tion, so essentially necessary in one of yoiu- profession ; l)ut
also laying the foundation of a virtuous and honorable
life." — Hosack and Francis^ Med. and Phil. Register, and
Rev. Mr. McVickar^s Life of Samuel Bard.
BARD, SAMUEL, M.D. LL.D., son of the preceding,
was born in Philadelphia April 1st, 1742. He was jdaced
at the grammar school of Mr. Smitii, a teacher of con-
siderable merit. Of precocity of talent no evidence ap-
pears ; the few anecdotes, however, related of his youth,
show the peculiar traits of his character to have been rath-
er a felicity of nature, than the tardy fruits of discij)liiie.
He was regarded at school '' as a (|uick, industrious and
amial)le child :" and of the opinion entertained of his ability
at home, the different treatment of him and his brother,
prescribed to the master by their observant luothor, affords
a simj)le, but stronjr proof. "' If Peter," said she, " does
not know his lesson, excuse him — If Sam, punish him, for
he can learn at will." It would, however, be doing in-
justice to his own acknowledffment, to allow nothing to
the carefid disciplino of a watchful father. He attributed
no small portion of the veneration with which he regard-
ed that fust of moral virtues, veracity, to the severe les-
104 SAMUEL BARD.
son which once attended an early departure from it : To
screen from punishment a servant boy of about his own
age, who had broken his father's cane, he falsely took the
blame upon himself; the deceit being discovered, his
father praised his generosity, but punished his falsehood.
His narration of this circumstance seventy years after its
occurrence, shows the strength and value of such early im-
pressions. The lesson he then received, he transmitted to
his children ; " any fault," he used to say, " may be ex-
cused, but want of truth." Nor was he less indebted to
the tender care and valuable instructions of his mother,
who planted early and deep in his mind the seeds of the
truest wisdom. In a paper of religious reflections bearing
the date of his seventy-first year, he thus commemorates it.
'* I thank God for the tender and affectionate care of my
dear mother througli the hazards of a sickly infancy, and
for having impressed upon my mind, almost from the first
dawnings of reason, an early sense of religion."
When about the age of fourteen, his constitution, which
from infancy had been feeble, received so severe a shock
by a continued fever, that his father judged it prudent to
remove him, for a time, both from the city and his studies.
He accordingly passed the ensuing summer at Coldenham,
in the family of one of his father's most intimate friends,
Cadwallader Golden, lieutenant governor of the Province.
His residence not only restored him to health, but filled
his memory with pleasing recollections both of the society
and studies to which it introduced him. In this family re-
sided Miss Golden, well known as the correspondent of
Linnaeus, and in whose honor the Goldenia bears its name
in the Linnaean Gatalogue. With this lady, differing in
years, but united in tastes, Mr. Bard formed an intimate
friendship ; under her instruction he became skilful in
botanizing, a pursuit which ever remained to him a favor-
ite amusement, and which owed, perhaps, a part of its at-
tractions to the pleasing associations with which it was
originally connected, since to the end of life he never men-
tioned the name of his instructress without some expression
of admiration or attachment. Nor was the obligation un-
returned ; with a degree of native taste^ whicli through
life made him a delicate, if not a critical judge of painting,
he had united at this early age much practical skill, which
enabled him to double the value of his companion's botani-
cal researches by perpetuating^ tlieir transient beauties or
SAMUEL BARD. 105
peculiarities. The delicate respect paid him on the fol-
lowing occasion, excited a feeling of gratitude jiroportion-
ed rather to his own embarrassment, than the importance
of the circumstance. The first day of his arrival, Mr.
Colilen l)eing absent, he was called upon at the dinner ta-
ble to ask a blessing ; through confusion or forgetfulness
he began the Lord's prayer : he had not proceeded far, be-
fore lie was sensible of his mistake, and overwhelmed with
confusion ; casting, however, a timid glance around, he
becanie reassured by the composed looks of the ladies, his
auditors, and so proceeded gravely to its close. To this
mistake they never made, he said, the sligiitest allusion,
until the intimacy of friendship justified a smile at his long
and unusual grace.
Young Mr. Bard received his classical instruction at
King's, now Columbia College. His father placed him as
a private pupil in the family of the classical teacher, re-
garding the studies of that department as the broad basis
of a refined and liberal education. Dr. Leonard Cutting
then filled that })rofessorship with conspicuous ability.
He applied in full force that great instrument of learning,
rej)etition, " line upon line," making his pupils thorough
in all they learned, and by frequent perusal filling their
memories with the language, and imbuing their feelings
with the spirit of the great authors of antiquity. Bv sucli
instruction Mr. Bard added to tlie numlier of those of that
school who were distinguished for classical ])urity, and he
always spoke of his teacher, not only in terms of aflfection
and respect, but as one to whose refined taste and critical
acuteness, he owed whatever he himself possessed of either.
Industrious by nature, it Avas here that Dr. Bard laid the
foundation of that liabit of early rising which doubles tlie
powers botli of body and mind ; a practice from which, in
the remainder of his life, he never swerved, but always
most earnestly recommended to the young around him,
as the greatest source of health, of leisure and enjovment.
Daylight in summer, and an hour previous to it in winter,
seldom found him in bed, and this practice traiiied him to
ha1)its of strict economy of time, and a vigorous employ-
ment of it.
In the choice of a profession, his father's wishes coincid-
ed with his own ; while his opening talents were viewed
by ft partial parent in so strong a liffht. as to determine to
11
106 SAMUEL BARD.
attempt educating him abroad : a plan much more conso-
nant with his inclinations, than with his means. The
school of Edinburgh was at this time in the highest repute,
and this was selected as the great source from which the
young pupil was to derive his medical education, and form
his character for future life. After much anxious prepara-
tion, at the early age of nineteen, young Mr. Bard bade
adieu to his native country with a mind stored with such
learning as the colonies then afforded, and a heart not un-
tutored by parental instruction. He embarked in Septem-
ber, 1761, at a period when Great Britain was at war with
France ; nor did young Bard escape the hazards which at-
tend a sea voyage under such circumstances ; the first in-
telligence which his anxious father received from him,
was contained in a letter dated Bayonne Castle, announc-
ing that in three weeks after leaving New-York he fell in-
to the hands of the enemy, and was in confinement. It
was fortunate for Mr. B. that Dr. Franklin, a close friend
of his father, then resided in London as agent for several
of the colonies. By his kind offices the gloom of a prison
was exchanged for the freshness and freedom of the coun-
try, and after five months' residence in France he proceed-
ed on his way to London. In a letter to his father he
says, " But although I cannot charge myself with any un-
necessary extravagance, except it Avas purchasing a Ger-
man flute and employing a teacher, in order to pass my
time with some little content in the prison, I have, during
my stay in France, together with my expenses on my
voyage and journey from Plymoutli, spent near forty
pounds sterling. I am afraid you will think this a very
extravagant sum ; but I do assure you that there was not
twenty shillings, (except my flute) which I spent unneces-
sarily." Upon the great object of his visit he now entered
with that diligence and zeal, which through life marked
his character. During the whole of his five years' resi-
dence abroad, his correspondence with his father and fami-
ly was full and frequent. His letters bespeak good sense
and warm feeling, and never failed to cheer the heart of
his fond parentg»and friends. His letters of introduction
were to the first characters, by which he became imme-
diately introduced to Drs. Fothergill, Hunter, Smith of
St. Thomas's Hospital, Mackenzie and others. The gen-
tleman under whose peculiar instruction he placed him-
SAMUEL BARD. 107
self, was Dr. Alexander Russell, an able and amiable man,
well known l)y his various communications to the Royal
Society ami other Avritinas.
He (juittcd Loiidon in September, I7G2, and repaired to
the jrreat medical school at t:dinburgli. Here, as in Lon-
don, he enjoyed the privilege of associating with charac-
ters of the first eminence. "I attend," says he, " three
classes, Drs. Cullcn, Monro and Ferguson. Cullen, i)ro-
fessor of chemistry, lectures in Knglisii in a clear, nervous
style, and Avitli a natural, strong tone of voice. He has a
new way of examining Ids jmpils in his lecture room ; and,
as I was recommendeil to his notice, he did ine the honor
this winter to commence with me ; from Avhich 1 would
rather have been excused, for I was not a little confused to
l)e thus questioned before above a hundred students, who
all liad their eyes fixed ujion me, to hear my answers ;
liowever, I came off with flying colors." The application
oi Ins time, as given l)y himself, affords no weak proof of
hrmness of mind. Young and ardent, awav from home,
and surrounded by the teini)tations of a large metropolis.
It alfords an honorable example of the conscientious per-
lormance of duty, and a lesson, not without its use, to
those who may be similarly circumstanced. " My dav, in
general," says he, '^ is thus spent : from seven to lialf after
ten I am at present employed in the mathematics, whidi
will soon, however, l)e changed for professional readino-
and the examination of my notes ; I then dress, and am b?
eleven at college, attending Professor Ferguson until
twelve ; from that hour until one, at the hospital • from
one till two, with Dr. Cullen ; from two to three, 1 allow to
dinner ; from three to four, with Monro in anatomv; from
four to five, or half an hour after, I generallv sjicnd at mv
flute and takiuir tea, either at a friend's room, or with a
friend m my own : after this 1 retire to my studv, and
spend from that time until eleven o'clock in connectino-
my notes, and in general readinjT. This is the pbm I have
set down to myself, and am resolved to stick close to it,
for the winter at least. In the summer I shall not be so
busy, but have a little time (if I do not go to London) to
amuse myself with botany, and seeing the countrv ; then
you shall have as long letters as vou j>lease from" me, for
there is nothing I take more pleasure in than writing to
you, unless it be in hearing from you. for in either of
108 SAMUEL BARD.
these, especially the last, I cannot help imagining myself
conversing with you. 1 am very much obliged," he goes
on to add, " by the good opinion my New-York friends
entertain of me, and hope I shall never, by any negligence
of mine, disappoint them. If liking a profession be a good
omen of proliciency, I can assure you I begin to be most
highly delighted with mine ; I daily discover so many
beauties in it, that I am at a loss which first to investigate;
and, were it not for the regular plan I have laid down,
should be bewildered and lost in the labyrinth." To a
zeal thus grounded in love, no labors seemed arduous, nor
any aims too lofty to be attempted. Tiiis is evinced in an-
other letter to his father, in Avhich he suggests, at that
early day, the establishment of a medical school in the
city of New-York ; a plan which, in his riper years, he ef-
fected, and to which his grey hairs brought reverence. At
this period the University of Edinburgh was in a flourish-
ing state : Robertson, the historian, was its principal ;
Rutherford, Whytt, the two Monros, father and son, Cul-
len, Hope, Ferguson, Gregory, and Blair, were its teach-
ers and supporters. Under such men was Dr. Bard train-
ed, and at this pile was that torch lighted, which subse-
quently inflamed many kindred bosoms. Of his teachers
he appears to have enjoyed (so far as a young stranger can
be supposed to do) the friendship as well as instruction ;
was received as an inmate into the family of Dr. Robert-
son, and kept up a frequent correspondence with his Lon-
don instructers, especially Dr. Fothergill. With Cullen's
lectures he was peculiarly deliglited ; in matter he styles
him, " that accurate professor;" and of his manner he
says, " I own I think nothing can exceed it, being so en-
tertaining as well as instructive, that I could listen to him
with pleasure for three hours, instead of one." Of Mon-
ro's anatomical lectures he speaks highly, and comparing
him with Hunter says, " but for want of opportunities of
dissection, I should have no occasion to regret the change
from London ; but to have a subject in my possession here,
would impose the risk of banishment, if not of life." In
his letters he frequently expresses a strong sense of grati-
tude for his father's " bounty ;" " I do assure you, sir, I
never think of the great expense you are at in mj'^ edu-
cation, without sentiments of the warmest gratitude ; at
the same time I feel much uneasiness lest it should fall
SAMULL BARD. l09
heavily on you." " I am laying out to tiie l)est advanlagc
now, to return it double when we come to a reckoning."
" Last week the judges lor tlie uinuuil medal, given by the
professor ol botany of this university, examined the llor-
tus Siccus of the candidates, aiul I have tiie i)hasure to ac-
quaint you decided in my favor ; in consecjuence of which
determination tiie medal is to be i)ublicly given to me
some time in April by J)r. Hope." In another letter, " I
caimot omit this opportunity of sending you a copy of the
papers I read before the medical society this winter ; tliey
may perhaps afford you half an hour's entertainment, ami
let you a little into the nature of that institution of whi( li
I informed you some time ago that I was admitted a mem-
ber." " In the year 1737 tiiis society Avas first organized by
Drs. Cullen, Akenside, and some others, who are now at the
head of their ])r()fession here or in London ; and since that
time it has had many members, wlio have l)ecome orna-
ments to society. As is natural, it has undergone many
chanffcs, and now consists of between twenty aTid thirty
members, who meet every vSaturday evenmg m a room in
the infirmary, when they dispute upon medical subjec ts in
the following manner : each member has, about six months
beforehand, a set of jiapers given him, to write a comment
upon, consisting of a j)ractical case, a question on some
medical point, and an aphorism of Hippocrates. Every
Saturday a set of these pajiers is produc ed and read before
tlie society by the author, having circulated for a week
before amongst the members, who come prepared with
objections, and tiie autiior with arguments to defend tiiem.
In this exercise of disjuitation we spend al)Out four hours,
and to very good purpose, for we are oliliired to muster
our wiiole stock of icnowlediie, to defend opinions, wliicii
are never allowed to |»ass witiiout being tliorougldy exam-
ined ; and as tliere are always a number of members, men
of real knowledge, we young men are not allowed to l)e
carried away iiy false reasoning, nor led into erroneous
opinions." Tiie followinjr letter contains gratifyinij infor-
mation to his father ; " I am at present enuasied in a va-
riety of studies ; l)esides my coli(^ge duties, I iiave two
private tutors who attend me. AN itii one, I sjxMid an iiour
every day in writing and speakinsj Latin ; witli tiic otlier,
French : ami also three liours in tiie week witii a most
excellent drawing master. So many branches, togetlier
110 SAMUEL BARD.
with reading practical authors, entirely fill up my time,
and are attended with considerable expense ; but I hope I
sliall never repent it, and that it will one day be returned
to me with interest. I sent you sometime ago, a letter from
Dr. Hope ; since that the medal has been publicly given to
me, and the enclosed paragraj)h published on the occasion.
I had an opportiniity this winter of showing my prepara-
tions to Dr. Pulleney, a man of eminence in the literary
world, and fellow of the Royal Society ; he praised them
inucli, and assured me they exceeded any in the British
museum. He presented me on going away, with a thesis,
with the following compliment on the first page : —
FROM THE AUTHOR, TO MR. BARD,
AS A SMALL TRIBUTE OF RESPECT DUE TO HIS SUCCESS
IN
CULTIVATING BOTANICAL KNOWLEDGE.
In the following letter we find the father's fond anticipa-
tions, and the arduous toils of the son in a good measure
consummated.
Edinhurghy May 1 5th, 1765.
" My Dear Father, — My work being now over, and
my mind at ease, I lay hold of the first opportunity of
spending an hour Avith you, and communicating to you a
little of the satisfaction I myself feel. The day before yes-
terday I received my degree, with all the form and cere-
mony usual upon such occasions. The two Monros, with
Dr. Cullen, were in all my private examinations. My
good friend Dr. Hope j)ublicly impugned my thesis ; and
to all of them I consider myself much indebted for their
behavior on this occasion, in which, although they kept
up the strictness of professors, they never lost sight of the
politeness of gentlemen."
Dr. Bard described his private instructer as a man
" learned and ingenious, but at the same time bold and
dogmatic ;" nor will medical men be inclined to dispute
tlie justice of this description, when it is added that it re-
lates to Dr. John Brown, afterwards so well known as the
author of the Medical Theory wliich bears his name ; a
pathology so simple in its principles, and so easy in its
application, as to have been lial)lc to great practical abuse.
In the lectures of Dr. Blair Mr. Bard took great delight ;
they gratified a naturally delicate and discerning taste,
SAMUEL BARD. t 1 1
which fitted him to excel in such studies. On one occa-
sion the ahility he displjiyed in the criticism of u jmper
suhmittcd to liiui, drew Ironi the professor Ji marked j>uh-
lic connnc luhitioM. In u mind of sut h a tt'mpcranuiit,
praise stinnduted exertion, and not a littk- of ids snhse-
quent fondness for these studies and ahility in them, may
])e traced to the assiduity witli which he then cultivated
them. In this art Dr. iJard was no mean proficitiit. In
after life he always commanded in pnl)lic delivery, a de-
gree of attention, which went far hryond the ( laims of his
figure or voice ; but which was the result of graceful gest-
ure, correct emphasis anil, above all, the nice discrimina-
tion and animated ex})ression of the sense and feeling of
that which he delivered. Dr. Hard was an orator of no
common stamp ; he threw his heart into his words, and
from the fulness of his own, poured persuasion into the
breast of others. The letter of recommendation which
Dr. Bard received from the medical society on his depart-
ure, has the sign manual of each of its mendiers, aujong
whom may l)e found the names of some whom kiuiis have
since " »lelii,dited to honor," and what is nu)re to their
credit, who have themselves done honor to their profes-
sion. Among such may be mentioned, Saunders of Lon-
don, and Sir Lucas Pepys, physician to the late king ;
Percival of .Man( luster ; Professor Duncan of Ediid)ur<ih ;
Professor Parsons of Oxford ; Ilayuarth, ami AN atson of
Cand)ridge, and Professor Morgan of Philadelphia ; names
widely scattered, yet indebted, perhaps, to this early union
for the first excitement of that native talent which subsc-
(piently rendered them conspicuou;!.
Of his Thesis " de viribus Opii," which he defended
at his examination, medical men have spoken with t;reat
respect. Soon after its a])pearance, it attra<ted the atten-
tion of Haller, and recently has been quoted by Crumpe in
lauffuase sincularly respectful for an academical thesis,
but not perhaj)s beyoml its merits, if we look to the phi-
loso))hical manner in which its materials were collected.
Mavinu sidectedas his subject, the I'ffects of o|)ium on the
human system, which in conunon with his teachers he
regarded as a stimulant, he instituted a set of exi)eriments,
first upon himself, and subse<piently upon a fellow student
to test, or rather to verifv, that o{)ininn. His room-mate.
Dr. Saunders of London, submitted, upon the oflTer of re-
112 SAMUEL BARD.
ciprocal aid, to be the subject of this experimental analysis.
The experiments were frequently and carefully repeated ;
and the results accurately noted. His facts being thus ob-
tained, he proceeded with his inductions, and concluded,
if not with truth, at least with singular freedom from
prejudice, in the opposite opinion from that which he had
proposed maintaining. Whether tliat opinion ])e right or
wrong, the mode of arriving at it was creditable alike to
his candor and his enterprise ; it evinced an openness to
conviction and a fairness of mind, which form not only
the basis of moral excellence, but the corner stone of true
philosophy. In fulfilment of his offer, Mr. Bard became
in his turn the subject of a series of experiments to his fel-
low student. Tlieir object, it is believed, was the opera-
tion of Ammonia ; but, whatever it was, they Avere either
less safe in their nature, or less cautiously conducted ;
since a state of torpor, which continued several hours, Avas
in one instance their result, and probably checked, for the
time, the zeal of these young experimentalists. This the-
sis, thus carefully prepared and ably defended, admitted
Mr. Bard to his medical degree. His diploma bears date
September 6th, 1765, and has the signatures affixed of the
two Robertsons, Rutherford, the two Monros, Whytt,
Hope, Young, Hamilton, Gumming, Ferguson, Russell,
and Blair. With the botanical professor he was a great
favorite. " My good friend. Dr. Hope," is his ordinary
designation of him ; and he justly felt it no small praise
to be thus distinguished in botany by the friend of Lin-
naeus. The particular intimacy with Dr. Monro, of which
Dr. Bard speaks in one of his letters, related to the young-
er of that name ; one whom he resembled much in char-
acter, and not less in fate. Four years older tlian his
pupil, Monro died the same number of years before him ;
both rising to the highest eminence in their profession,
and in the medical schools of their respective countries ;
both retaining, amid the bodily weaknesses of age, all
their mental vigor, and each closing his academical career
by tlie delivery of a valedictory discourse in the seventy-
seventh year of life ; Monro to his medical class, and Dr.
Bard to the graduates of the college over which he
presided.
Among the traits of character which distinguished Dr.
Bard throughout life, was an insatiable inquisitiveness of
SAMUEL BARD. llS
mind, wliich led him, wlierevcr he was, to ransack and
examine whatever came within his reacli, whether of art
or nature. Minerals, j)lants, animals, man and liis works,
were rapidly and by turns the ol)je( t of his attintion. Wliat-
ever was rare or l)eautit"ul or useful, iuiiufdiatcly seized
iij)on his imagination, and aliorded matter lor curious in-
vestigation, or a basis lor ingenious theory. Even while
eniiaiied in his medical studies, the various branches of the
arts and maiuilactures and of agrictdture, received a share
of his iu(|uirv and pursuit. Having completed his course
of medical e(lucation, lie employed some time in an excur-
sion through the most interior j)arts of Scotland, and vari-
ous jiarts of England, and the scenes which presented af-
forik'd him the liiiihest gratification, to which he often
al'terward alluded with the fcdinjis of enthusiastic admira-
tion. But from some unknown cavise he was disap])ointed
in the execution of his project of a continental tour. A
visit to the celebrated Liniversity at Leyden he had long
contemplated with delioht. Boerliaave he venerated as
one of tlic greatest and l)est of men, whose character ho
reconnnendeil to the young as a model for their imitation,
and a high and encouraij;inii; picture of what virtue and in-
dustry can j)erform. He may even l)e said to iiave closed
his professional career with his name ujion his lips, as the
last discourse he delivered to the medical graduates con-
cludes with a forci])ie delineation of the cijaracter of this
great man, as the best embodied pietiu'c he could <:ive them
of the perfection at which th<'y should aim. Of his last
visit to Dr. Fothergill he told the following anecdote.
After nmch salutary advice, suitable to a ]>arting visit. Dr.*
F. con( luded with what he t( rined the secret of his own
success ; " I crept,'' said he, " over the l^acks of the poor
into the j)ockets of the rich." It would be doing injustice
to a character of more than common ])hilanthroj)y, to in-
terpret this as a recommendation of coldhearted selfish-
ness ; as such it was neither intended nor felt ; but as a
prudential maxim, which Dr. Bard often himself repeated,
and enforced uj)on vounij plivsicians, viz. : that the l)asis
of their practice and their faiue, to be permanent, should
l)e laid in tlie ojnnions of the many, and thus L^rowing up
by insensible degrees, it would be free from the dangers
that attend on a prematiire reputation or a narrow and
wavcrinj; j)atronage.
15
114 8A.MUEL BARD.
After a five years absence Dr. Bard was restored to his
anxious and- longing parents. The emotions excited by
their first interview have already been noticed in the pre-
ceding article ; and it may here be added that his cousin,
Miss Mary Bard, a lady highly accomplished and of j)er-
sonal beauty, was then residing in his father's family, who
had previously enjoyed his affection, and was soon to con-
summate his happiness. The expenses of Dr. Bard's educa-
tion had exceeded one thousand pounds, and his father was
involved in debt. He entered at once upon the exercise of
liis profession in partnership with his father, devoting him-
self to it with his native enthusiasm and faithful persever-
ance. For three years he drew nothing from the profits
of their joint business, which amounted to near fifteen hun-
dred pounds per annum, beyond his necessary expenses,
allowing all the remainder that he might justly have claim-
ed, to go towards the liquidation of debts which, in honor,
he regarded as his own. Considering himself, after that
time, as exonerated from all other claim than that of grati-
tude, he proceeded to form a more tender and more last-
ing union by fulfilling his engagement with his cousin ;
and trusting to Providence and his own exertions, the mar-
riage took place upon the slender stock of one hundred
pounds ; " wisely calculating," as he often observed with
a smile, " that his wife's economy would double his earn-
ings." Nor in this loverlike conclusion can it well be
said that he was mistaken. With this lady he was destin-
ed to pass a period equal to the ordinary duration of hu-
man life ; and in its joys and sorrows to find her, to use
his own expressive language, " a steady, judicious and afl'ec-
tionate friend, and a dear and excellent wife."
Dr. Bard's early formed plan of a medical school, was
not abandoned by him on his return from abroad ; but,
instead of the youthful assistants originally proposed, he
had the higher credit of exciting older and abler men to
the task. Within a year after his return it was organized,
and united to King's College. His associates were Drs. Glos-
sy, Jones, Middleton, Smith, and Tennant ; while to him,
then but in his twenty-eighth year, was given by common
consent the most responsible and influential department of
the practice of physic. Thus early did he begin to repay
his debt of education to this literary institution, which for
forty years he continued to serve, as circumstances demand-
ed, in almost every branch of experimental and medical
SAMUEL BARD. 1 15
science ; and for the last twenty years of his residence in
the city, as Trustee and Dean of the Faonlty of Physic.
Medical decrees were first conferred by thisschool in 17G9,
when a public address was delivered by Dr. Bard, in which
he displayed that persuasive elocpience with whicli lie al-
ways urged a <i;ood cause. On the IGth of May, being the
day of its annual conunencenient, he delivered, before the
officers of the college and the governor and council of the
Province, a discourse in which he enforced the usefulness,
or rather necessity of a public hospital, and the j)ropriety
of its immediate establishment, as the most efficient means
of relief to the suflering poor of the city, and of instruc-
tion to medical students. So convincing were his argu-
ments, or so well timed the appeal, that it aroused the in-
dividual upon whom it was, perhaps, most intended to
operate. Sir Henry Moore, governor of the Province, as
soon as the address was closed, expressed warmly both his
admiration of the speech, and his patronage of the plan ;
and immediately headed a subscription paper with the sum
of two hundred j)Ounds. This was followed with propor-
tional liberality by the members of the comicil, and other
gentlemen present, and the sum of eight hundred pounds
sterling was on the same day collected. The city authori-
ties added to the number of its patrons, and a suitable
structure waserected ; but, when on the point of completion,
the building was entirely destroyed by an accidental fire,
so that this noble design remained unaccomplished imtil the
year 1791. From that period until his retirement, Dr.
Bard continued to be its visiting physician, in which he
never omitted a single^day. In this excellent discourse of
Dr. Bard, he exj)os«il the unreasonable and dangerous
practice which then prevailed of the charges of physicians
being grounded solely on the medicine given to their pa-
tients ; thus unjustly deprivini; them of any remuneration
for that wherein alone the value of the services consisted,
and exposing them to the constant temptation, if not abso-
lute necessity, of making prescriptions often needless, and
sometimes hurtfid. Tliis bold expostulation probably
tended to hasten the change which soon afterward took
])lace on this point.
In the year 1772 Dr. John Bard, tlie father, removed to
Hyde Park, his country residence, and his city establish-
ment was purchased by his son, who entered at once into
his father's circle of practice, out of the profits of which he
116 SAMUEL BARD.
continued for five years to allow him a large proportion.
In 1774 Dr. Bard added to his existing duties the labors
of a public course of chemical lectures. But when, in the
year 1775, the sword was about to be unsheathed, and a
mighty contest for liberty was to be decided, Dr. Bard was
found among many other upright and patriotic men who
could not at once shake off their reverence for the obliga-
tions under which they had been born, and educated, and
prospered ; and the native tenderness of his heart render-
ed him averse to all acts of violence. Towards the end
of the year he placed his wife and children under his
father's roof at Hyde Park, and he himself remained in
New-York until the great question of peace or war should
be decided. Finding, however, all hopes of reconciliation
vain, and the torch of discord already lighted, he aban-
doned the city of New-York previous to the British army
taking possession of it, joined his family at Hyde Park, and
after various I'emovals took up his residence in New-Jersey.
But in the following year, finding he could engage in no
employment which would enable him to provide for his
family, and learning that his property in New-York was
wasting in his absence, he came to the resolution of return-
ing to the exercise of his profession in that city. He ob-
tained permission to return thither, and on his arrival
found his house in other and unfriendly hands ; and it was
still more difficult to resume the exercise of his profession.
The government viewed him with suspicion, and his for-
mer intimates with a prudent coldness. His father's resi-
dence witliin the American lines, and his brother's holding
a commission in the continental army, seemed to justify
this caution ; while the moderation#nd candor of his cha-
racter were in those days of hostile zeal misconstrued, or
unappreciated. He remained a considerable time without
a professional call, and was reduced literally to his last
guinea. Walking down the Broadway in a melancholy
mood, his mind filled with painful forebodings, a wife,
two sisters and five children, all dependent on exertions
he had no opportunity to make, he was accosted l)y a for-
mer friend whom he had not before met ; this was Mr. Mat-
thews, then mayor of the city, whose well known loyalty
and official standing setting him above all low suspicion,
he not only addressed Dr. Bard with his accustomed cor-
diality, but immediately on some slight pretext requested
his professional attendance at his house. His frequent let-
SAMUEL BARD. 117
ters to his American friends, had given color to a malicious
accusation preferred against him of maintaining a treason-
able correspondence. The commandant was just issuing an
order for his arrest, when Mr. Matthews entering, heard
the name of Dr. Bard ; he immediately interfered, claim-
ed him as his family physician and friend, pledged himself
for the falsehood of the charge, and calling on Dr. Bard,
gave him an opportunity to refute it. To suspicion now
succeeded confidence ; his talents and professional skill
rapidly extended his business, and wherever he found a
patient, by his kindness and sympathy he made a friend.
It may be allowed to one who has had experience of that
watchful solicitude which characterized him at the sick
bed, to say that in this he was a model to his profession.
His disregard of self, and anxious tenderness for his patient
originated a debt that could never be paid but in returns
of gratitude ; and account for the fact of the permanent
and gratefid recollections that were entertained of his pro-
fessional services twenty years after his retirement to the
country. While these qualities gained him business and
friends, his scientific character gathered around him a lite-
rary circle, with whom, after the labors of the day, he
generally passed the evening. The late bishop Moore ; his
old friends, Mr. Kempe, attorney general, and Lindley
Murray, the grammarian; and his new intimates, Dr. Nooth,
superintendent of the hospital, and Dr. Michaelis, the son
of the learned commentator, were his most frequent and
acceptable guests.
Dr. Bard, in common with all good men, hailed with
pleasure the return of peace ; to him, however, it was not
without its anxieties, as the patriotism and honor of his
conduct were again to undergo a scrutiny from heated, if
not unfriendly, judges. Notwithstanding the advice of
many who urged his removal, he trusted again to the up-
rightness of his motives, and was not mistaken. His coun-
trymen knew how to distinguish between moderation and
indifference ; and Washington, " the father of his country,"
by selecting him as his family physician, marked the opin-
ion he entertained both of his character and medical skill.
A new enemy now assailed his domestic happiness : out
of six children, four perished by a rapid and untimely fate ;
two were buried in the same grave : one, a child of so
much loveliness and promise, as to have called forth, in the
anxious mind of its mother, the usual apprehensions of an
lis SAMUEL BARD,
early death. The disease which thus desolated tliis happy
family, was the scarlatina in its most virulent form. Chil-
dren, parents, nurses and servants, were all seized with it ;
and the delirium which rapidly ensued, added to the hor-
rors of an infection, which already restrained or disabled
their friends from giving assistance. Two children were
hardly snatched from the grave, and recovered hy slow de-
grees. As the mother's care ceased to be necessary, her
health and spirits sunk under the greatness of her loss and
her exertions ; and Dr. Bard was called to forget the feel-
ings of the father in those of the husband. A deep melan-
choly settled upon her mind, which threatened almost the
extinction of reason. Alive only to this great duty, he im-
mediately gave up all attention to business and, for near a
twelve iPionth, devoted himself to her recovery with an as-
siduity and faithfulness which were fully repaid by success.
During this period of sickness and affliction, a series of let-
ters passed between Dr. Bard and his family connexions,
the perusal of which could not fail to arouse the feelings of
sympathy even in the most obdurate heart. The pious re-
signation and edifying devotion displayed, are among the
finest traits of character in this excellent man.* In the
summer of 1784 Dr. Bard resumed the duties of his pro-
fession in the city of New-York, leaving his wife in better
health, at the house of her uncle in New-Jersey. His re-
ligious feelings on the restoration of his wife's health, are
expressed with pious gratitude in a prayer found among his
papers.
Dr. John Bard, having suffered some losses after his re-
tirement, was under pecuniary eml)arrassmcnt, and writes
thus to his son. " I view my aifairs, so far as they are
encumbered with debt, with great anxiety and pain ; and,
old as I am, being blessed with a happy constitution, I find
myself still disposed to exert myself in tlie most efficient
manner to free my estate from this encumbrance ; which
if I could do, I should, I think, leave the world with com-
posure and ease." The appeal was not in vain ; his son
had not forgotten his early debt of education, and inrnie-
diately applied the whole of his accumulations, amounting
at that time to five thousand guineas, to his father's relief,
preferring this application of it to the most tempting specu-
* For the very interesting letters above mentioned the reader is referred to the
Life of Dr. Samuel Bard, by Rev. John McVickrir , New-York.
SAMUEL BARD. 119
lations then opened to cajpitalists by the sale of tonfis< ated
estates. He accordhigly relieved his father from his load
of debt, and by his persuasions induced him to return to
the exercise of his profession in rs'evv-York, in which he
continued until the year 1797, when his son's j)rojccted re-
moval iletermined his own ; and he retired, for tlie last
time, to close a long and chequered, but cheerful life, in
the shades of his early retirement.
Dr. Bard's character having been displayed in the light
of a son and husband, it remains but to sJiow that the (hi-
ties of a parent were fulfilled by him with e(jual tender-
ness and judgment. Out of ten children, but two had been
spared to him ; to these a third was afterward added, not
only the child, but the companion and solace of his old age :
and to tiieir education he now devoted most of the leisure
which l)usy days and broken nights afl'orded liim. His
numerous letters to his children exiiibit a j)leasing picture
of the animated tenderness of his manner.* Kind and ju-
dicious j)raise, as his letters indicate, was the medium bv
which Dr. Bard oj)erated on the minds of his children ;
and seldom did a father succeed better in awakeninii a
warm and generous enthusiasm to deserve it. In all their
early performances they were sure to receive, in his ani-
mated commendation, a sufficient recompense for their ex-
ertions ; and the a})plause which at first arose from paren-
tal fondness, became an excitement to what miiiht l)e truly
deserving of it. "The earliest recollection," says his
youngest daughter, " which 1 have of my beloved father,
is associated with the affectionate caress and animated
praise he bestowed upon me, when, jdaced u|)on his knee,
I repeated to l;im Thomson's Lavinia, which I bad com-
mitted to memory during one of his short absences from
home : it left a very strong impression upon my mind."
Such was the parental discipline by which he guided tlie
tender minds of his childrin. As they grew older, he be-
came their con\])anion and friend ; leadinj; tbem to tune-
served comiiMinic ation of their actions and sentiments ;
coimscUinn tlicm in tbe langua<ie ol aflection ; and resting
all his influence on tbe attachment, and almost veneration,
which his solicitude for their happiness excited. But with
all this fondness he united perfect candor and plain dealing.
This gained their confidence and ripened, as they grew up,
* See the production just referred to.
120 SAMUEL BARD.
into the most reposing friendship : a bond which advanc-
ing years and commerce with the world, instead of weak-
ening, strengthened, by enabling them better to estimate
the value of such a friend and adviser.
While the general government were sitting in New-York,
President AVashington had recourse to Dr. Bard's profes-
sional skill in his own case. In a letter to a friend he
says, " the President's complaint continues to amend, so
that I have not the least doubt of effecting a perfect and,
I hope, a speedy cure. It Avill give you pleasure to be told
that nothing can exceed the kindness and attention I receive
from him." It was a case of anthrax, so malignant as for
several days to threaten mortification. During this period
Dr. Bard never quitted him. On one occasion, being left
alone with him. General Washington, looking steadfastly in
his face, desired his candid opinion as to the probable ter-
mination of the disease, adding, with that placid firmness
which marked his address, "Do not flatter me with vain
hopes ; I am not afraid to die, and, therefore, can bear
the worst." Dr. Bard's answer, thovigh it expressed hope,
acknowledged his apprehensions. The President replied,
" whether tonight, or twenty years hence, makes no dif-
ference ; I know that I am in the hands of a good Provi-
dence." Dr. Bard, senior, was then called in consultation
at the suggestion of General Washington, and by the bless-
ing of that " good Providence" in Avhich he trusted, his
life was preserved to his country, at a period when it never
more needed the counsels of his calm, prospective wisdom.
The resuH of this illness was an intimacy with his patient,
Avhich Dr. Bard Justly felt proud of. It continued unbrok-
en until the removal of the seat of government to Phila-
delphia, an event which he much lamented for many
and obvious reasons.
Temperance, exercise and early rising had strengthened
a weakly constitution, and enabled Dr. Bard to go through
a daily course of extraordinary professional labor. One
of his early students thus speaks of a winter residence in
his family. " He rose at the earliest hour ; at five o'clock
he was superintending the studies of his son and myself, and
engaged in preparing his public lectures ; from breakfast
till night I saw no more of him, except in the streets on
professional liusiness ; there, indeed, himself, his phar ton
and servant were to be seen at most hours both of the day
and nijrht."
SAMUEL BABD. Ift
Into his literary gratifications Dr. Bard carried all the
ardor of his cliararter ; he sei/xil upon every new publica-
tion of merit with the avidity of a fainislad appetite, and
durin<r its })erusal was I)oth deaf and hlind to all causes of
interruption. Tiiis absorption of mind was so great in his
latter years, as sometimes to be made the subject of good
humored experiment ; of which lie seemed to be unaware,
as of every thing else tliat j)assed around liim. On looking
into a cojiy of the " \'icar of AVakefieUr' when it first
came out. lie reserved it for evening reading to his family.
Commencing it at rather a late hour, his high relish of it
would not permit him to lay it down until he finislied it ;
and his hearers not choosing to retire, he closed the volume
as the morninjj; sun was rising. In reading Shakspeare he
not only delighted, but excelled ; and his graceful action
was in just and harmonious accordance with the sentiment
expressed. On (juestions of a moral and religious nature,
where the arguments flow rather from the heart than tlie
heail, he was l)oth powerful and persuasive ; not, indeed,
in the nice distinctions of schoolmen, l)ut in the energetic
enforcement of broad and lcadin<i truths. He had liere
that peculiar tone of eloquence, which arises from full-
hearted sincerity, a language that can neither be riiisunder-
stood nor counterfeited, and wliich never can be otherwise
than persuasive and conunandino;.
Of ])ersonal courage Dr. Bard liad a great share, but it
did not arise fron\ forgetfulness of danger, so much as from
disregard to it. His mind was intent ujjon the duty to be
performed, and weighed not the risk that attended it. A
proof of this occurred during tlie revolutionary war, in
which a fire burst out contiiiuous to a powder magazine in
his neighborhood. Upon the smhlen alarm liis first
thought and motion were to retreat with his family to a
place of safety ; l)nt, immediately checking himself with
the recollection tliat the dreaded explosion migiit yet be
averted, ho committed his wife ami chihh'en to the care of
a friend, forced his Avay throufjh the retreatiuii; crowd to
the scene of danger, and was anions the first who returned
to tlie spot, and by whose exertions the fire was extinguish-
ed without accident. As another instance may be men-
tioned his conduct in the popular tumult, commonly
called the Doctors' Mol), excited in the year 1788 affainst
the physicians of the city, from suspicion of their robl)ing
the grave yards. In this riot, which for two davii set at
16 '
122 SAMUEL BARD.
defiance both tlie civil and military force of the city, Dr.
Bard exhibited a calm and dignified composure, which
seemed to awe even the wild passions of the populace.
Conscious of his innocence of the alleged charge, he re-
sisted the most urgent solicitations to flee or conceal him-
self ; but, as the infuriated mob approached hi? house,
ordered the doors and windows to be thrown open, and
paced his hall in full view of tliem as they drew near. His
calmness, or his character saved him : they approached
with horrible imprecations ; gazed awhile in silence, and
then passed on with acclamations of his innocence.
But Dr. Bard, like his favorite teacher Cullen, possessed
a natural sensibility too keen for a calm and scientific sur-
gical operator. The first operation he performed, he
went through with a steady hand ; but fainted when he
had bound up the wound : and, in a second, he operated
successfully, but, it may be presumed, tremulously, since
the expectation of it had made him pass the night in pacing
his chamber. As a physician, this acute sensibility, so far
from an impediment, was, in no small measure, the ground
both of his popularity and success. It gave the warmth of
friendship to professional formalities, inspired the patient
with confidence in his care ; and, thus giving relief to the
mind, paved the way for that of the body. To the friends
of the sick his manners, or rather his character, was pecu-
liarly comforting ; to the skill of a physician, he added
the interest of a relative : they were satisfied that every
thing was done his art could do ; that neither coldness,
nor selfishness, nor the pursuits of pleasure or ambition,
withheld him from any personal exertion. The compari-
son Dr. Bard once made use of, in a case of violent dis-
ease, will illustrate this excitement. " I feel," said he,
" as if I had a giant by the throat, I must fight for life."
He cautions young practitioners against a readiness to re-
ceive new names, new theories and new remedies. " New
names are always deceiving ; new theories are mostly false
or useless ; and new remedies for a time are dangerous.
This rage for novelty pervades our profession, especially
in this country. Hence our extended catalogue of new
fevers, and hasty adoption of new remedies ; hence the
unlimited and unwarranted application of mercury with-
out weiglit, brandy without measure, and the lancet without
discrimination ; and hence, I am afraid I may say, the
sacrifice of many lives which might have been preserved.
SAMUEL BARD. 123
had tlicy been left to water gruel and good nursing." Dr.
Bard was far from undervaluing the iujprovenients of
modern niedieal seience ; whieli in one of his medical dis-
courses JR- states as consisting in its "• greater knowledge of
the animal economy, the powers of a more cll'cctual phar-
macy, and the rules of a more enlightened practice, which
prescribes witli u view to defmite juul intermediate re-
sults." With respect to his communicating to liis j)atients
a knowledge of their danger he says, " Tliere is in the
liuman mind a j)rinciple of acijuiescence in the disj)ensa-
tions of Divine Providence, wliicli, wlien treated with
prudence, seldom fails to reconcile the most timid to their
situation. Such information I have generally found rather
to calm perturbation of mind, than to increase danger or
liasten the event of the disease. Whenever, therefore, the
duties of piety, or even the temporal interests of friends,
have demanded it, I have never hesitated making, and sel-
dom or never rei)ented such communication."
Having accunudated by his own industry the sum of
fifteen liundred guineas, he sent it to Europe to be invested
in the British fimds ; the banker in whose hands it was
deposited, failed, and the loss was announceil in a letter ;
his wife observed him to change countenance wliile read-
ing it, and anxiously inquired its contents : "■ We are
ruined," said he, " that is all." " If that be all," rejoined
his calmer companion, " never mind the loss, we will soon
make it ujj again." Such a spirit was contagious ; Dr.
Bard took courage from tlie example of his wife, and re-
turned to the task with cheerful resolution. The necessi-
ties of his father three times absorbed all his means, and
involved him in debt ; but the same resolute and prudent
management as often freeil him, and eventually secured for
their declining age, that hap|)y ineiliiim of wealth, which
the wise have ever jjreferred, as allordin^ the greatest
enjovments with the fewest cares ; and which so fully
answered all their desires, tliat they retired to the quiet of
the country at a time when the extent of his practice, and
the rising charges of the profession, woidd have doubled
his fortune in the s\r.icv of a very few years.
Dr. Bard continued devotedly attached to the hospital.
He was one of the fouiulers and physicians of the City
Dispensary ; and an original and active member of the A^-
riculturarSociely of the st.ite. His exertions rontribuled
to the foundation of the first public library ; and. in ^hort,
124 SAMUEL BARD.
his heart and hand were with every scheme of benevolence
and public improvement. In the year 1791 the trustees of
Columbia College, with the co-operation of the medical
society, reorganized the department of medicine, which the
war of the revolution had broken up, at the head of which
as Dean of the Faculty was placed Dr. Bard, who, anxious
to contribute his personal exertions to the advancement of
medical education, gave to the students in the wards of the
hospital a course of clinical lectures. At the bedside of
the patient Dr. Bard exhibited the finest model for imita-
tion, as teaching not merely the learning, but the manners
of tJie physician. His kindness, his patience, his minute
inquiries, and cheering words of consolation addressed
even to the poorest and meanest, had the value of moral,
as well as medical instruction, impressing the minds of the
students with a conscientious sense of the responsibility of
life and health, which rested upon them. " Avoid," he
used to say, " that affectation of quick discernment and
hurried practice, which generally marks the ignorant and
ostentatious, hurrying from patient to patient, without
once reflecting on the mischief and misery they may occa-
sion, and that life thus trifled away will one day be
required at their hands." In one of his sketches of the
good physician, he says " the physician who confines his
attention to the body, knows not the extent of his art ;
if he know not hoAvto soothe the irritation of an enfeebled
mind, to calm the fretfulness of impatience, to rouse the
courage of the timid, and even to quiet the compunctions
of an over tender conscience, he will very much confine
the eflicacy of his prescriptions ; and these he cannot do
without he gain the confidence, esteem and even the love,
of his patients."
The period was now approaching in which Dr. Bard
thought that, consistently with duty and prudence, he
might retire to the bosom of his family and the enjoyment
of those quiet pleasures to which he had always been
attached. He tlxought, too, that some pause for reflection
should intervene between the business of life and its close ;
and he resolved to carry into eflfect a plan, which most
wise men propose, but few execute, — that of retiring vol-
untarily from the bustle of life. To this plan many ob-
jections were started and Avarmly urged ])y his friends.
To the calculations of interest, he replied that he had
enough ; to the predictions of after repentance, he was
SAMUEL BARD. 125
content to answer that lie was not afra'ul to try ; bnt
against tlic solicitations of friontlshij), he Connd it (liiUcult
to maintain his resolution. His tathtr's removal and his
daughter's settlement at Hyde Park, at length decided
him, and in the sj)ring of the year 1798 he removed to his
well known seat, within a short distance of his father's
residence. J)uring a temporary visit he made the year
previous, in Avhich iiis only son accompanied him, a suthiea
and violent illness reduced hoth his son and grandson to
the hrink of the grave. To watch over the declining age
of a fiither who so tenderly loved him, was a consolation
not long sjiared to Dr. Bard. His father survived their
united removal to the country hut two years, and tlien
suddenly sunk, full of days, hut free from the infirjnities of
age ; retaining to the very last that indescril)al)le ciuirm
of manneis and conversation, which attached to him hoth
youns and old, and eidivened every soci(;ty with a con-
tinued How of cheerful and uiuiffected good humor. These
two yeais, thouiih (juickly passed, were long and grate-
fully rememhered by his son. Upon his father's character
he loved to expatiate ; wdiile tlie firm health, the cheerful
mind, and the many blessings wiiich cheered the close of
his lil'e, were a subject to him of frequent thaidvfulness.
For some time })revious to Dr. Bard's removal from the
city, an intimacy luul snlisisted between him and Dr. Da-
vid Hosack ; and as soon as his removal wms decided upon,
he took him into paitnership, j)artly with a view to his
own relief at a j)eriod of nmch exertion, but principally
that he might introthice to his large circle of j)atients one
to whose medical skill he was content to transfer their
safety.
Althougli Dr. Bard bade adieu to the city in the year
KOS, the fearful epidemic (yellow fever) again making its
appearance the same vear, he resolved not to abandon his
post when about to l*ecome one of anxiety and danger.
Amidst that calnmitv lie addressed his Avife as follows.
" I begin to j^roM" very impatient, my d<'ai* Mary, to hear
from you. Drop me a line by the post, to assure me of
your health, of which I cannot bear the least uncertainty.
As to myself, dejiend uj»on it, I will not deceive you ; and
in case of necessity shall call for my friend, my nurse and
comforter, without wIioh' aid I <an neither bear sorrow
nor sickness, and who, I know, would not forgive me,
was I to rob her of her share of either to which 1 must
126 SAMUEL BARD.
necessarily be exposed." For this call her anxious affec-
tion did not wait ; but as soon as the existence of the fever
was ascertained, and his stay determined upon, she in-
stantly joined him to share together a risk which then
seemed almost desperate. His fearless exposure of him-
self, wherever benevolence called him during that season
of flight and alarm, was the means of rescuing many poor,
deserted wretches from death, and still oftener, of bestow-
ing upon them some comfort and consolation when relief
was hopeless. But the aid he so liberally gave others he
soon needed himself, being seized with the prevailing
fever, in wliicli his long tried companion was to him all
that his warm j)en had described her, '' a friend, a nurse,
and comforter." His life was spared to her affection and
prayers ; and with her he returned to his longing family,
who, during his absence and especially his sickness, had
been a prey to the agonizing fears which their own appre-
hensions, or the hasty reports of others, excited.
From this period during the remainder of his life Dr.
Bard made the country his permanent residence ; diversi-
fied, however, by occasional visits to his friends in town.
Few men could bear the change from necessary to volun-
tary occupation so easily as Dr. Bard. The untired
curiosity of his mind found a new and boundless
range in the o])jects and employments of the country.
His poetic enjoyment of the beauties of nature ; his taste
in planning, and fondness for effecting improvements, and
skill in directing them ; his desire of knowledge of what-
ever kind, and eagerness in acquiring it ; his early and
active habits ; and, above all, the enthusiasm Avhich stimu-
lated and supported him in all his undertakings ; set him
above the i)ower of indolence, that " master vice," as
Burke terms it, of our nature, and secured to him to the
very last week of his life all his energy, activity and
cheerfulness. It would not seem easy to crowd into life
more sources of enjoyment than filled the twenty-three
years of retirement wJiich adorned and dignified the close
of his career. All the descendants of his father were l)y
degrees drawn around him ; his own cliildren successively
settled in life, and gathered into the circle ; his grand
children grew up upon his knees, and as he looked upon the
health and prosperity and promise with whicli he was sur-
rounded, he looked, and felt and spoke, like a patriarch of
a better age. But this is anticipating the picture of a later
SAMUEL BARD. 127
period. At the time of his retirement his son was just
comj)letinfr his lef^al studies in the city, and his youngest
daughter was his pujiil and conij);iirH)n at home.
To ilhistrate the eare with whic h he watched over and
guided the formation of his son's character, it mav not l)e
amiss to give extracts from letters addressed to him about
this time.
*' My Dear William, — I am very happy you express
yourself pleased with your new studies ; and at the ardor
with which you enter uj)on them. You j)Ossess very
peculiar advantages in the atfectionate attentions, as well
as in the talents of Mr. P. of which, I doubt not, you will
make the most, and return them by every mark of respect
and regard to his interests. Amidst all your studies, how-
ever, remember to give a j)roper j)ortion of your time to
exercise and polite comj)any ; the one is necessary to
health, the other to cheerfulne.«:s. The manner in which
you say your day is spent, is certainly good for j)rofit, for
pleasure and instruction, and, I hoj)e, not injurious to
health ; to prevent its being so, I would advise you to
walk fre(juently, to stand upright when you study, as long
sitting in a bent posture is always injurious to the digest-
ive organs ; and now and tlien to ritle an Jiour before tlin-
iier, which prevents accumulations of l)ile. Nothing grows
upon a man so much as the habits of a sedentary life ; at
the same time nothing is so })ernicious. I beg, my dear
boy, that for all our sakes you will pay due attention to
this important advice. I have been practising the lessons
received from F. in reading Shakspeare aloud ; at every
new perusal I discover new beauties. Study him ; — to
one destined to speak in public, there must be oreat ad-
vantaiic in a familiar accpiaintance with his beautiful and
expressive lancuaije." * * * * "If vou had made an
appointment with Dr. W. to attend his lecture, 1 think
all the charming Miss C.'s in the world should not have
detained you from it. Remember through life, that
every man, and more particularly a literary man, thinks
what he is engaged in of great importance, and although
it may happen that you do not feel uu)ch interest in it,
it is both jirudiMit and polite to apjiear to be so. Be-
sides, it is a good rule never to break an appointment :
that is a sufficient excuse to leave any company." * * * *
" Employ more of your time in private visits ; you will
128 SAMUEL BARD.
learn more of cliaracter in one family visit, than at a dozen
entertainments, where you see all under tlie mask of false
merriment." ****''! very much commend your reso-
lution to take the advice of your uncle in all matters of po-
litics, or, indeed, any other point of conduct in which you
entertain the least doubt of your own judgment, which,
however, I do not doubt, will be in general no bad guide,
provided you have resolution enough to follow steadily
the dictates of your own unbiassed opinion. Be open, my
dear boy, to conviction ; but never suffer yourself to be
led in opposition to your own judgment, unless in the case
of friends whose age and experience qualify, and whose
relationship authorizes them to give you advice." * * * *
" Never become the hanger on of a party, nor suffer your-
self to be carried beyond the bounds of sober judgment,
when measures are the subject of dispute ; nor of candor
and moderation, when men are : but on all occasions en-
deavor to think for yourself, and support a perfect inde-
pendence both in your conduct and opinions." * * * *
" The late unhappy occurrence between two of my friends,
has filled me with grief and apprehension. In the fate of
Mr. J. I lament the untimely death of an inoffensive and
worthy man ; and 1 sincerely sympathize with the survi-
vor, whose feelings on this occasion are probably such as
to make him envy tlie fate of his antagonist. How tyran-
nical is that custom which can impose such cruel necessi-
ties on us ; and how unbecoming a wise and brave man to
yield to its dictates ! Whatever may be our feelings on
such occasions, the sacrifice of our cool and unprejiuliced
judgment can never ]>e justified, and, at best, admits but of
the Aveak excuse, that our passions were too strong for our
reason and sense of duty. I know the answer to these ar-
guments, and would acknowledge its force, were it put in
our choice or within tlie limits of our duty, to live, or not,
as we might choose. But when we reflect, on the contra-
ry, that it is absolutely our duty to live, under any circum-
stances and trials to which it shall please God to subject
us, and that there can be no valid excuse whatever, but
selfdefence, for depriving another of liis life ; tliis, and
every other argument in defence of duelling must fidl to
the groiind."
Dr. Bard thus addressed his son on his recovery from
sickness : — " Your letter of last Sunday gave us all great
pleasure, as it confirmed the good liopes witli wliich I left
i
SAMUEL BARD. 119
you of the complete re-establish mcnt of your health. Yours
may almost ho called a resuscitation, and fdls us all with
joy and j;ratitude in proportion to our prccciling despond-
ency. I confess to you, my dear boy, that the near pros-
I)ect of your death t\n*ned my thoughts very forcibly to a
self examination how far I had fullilled my duty in re-
spect of your education ; and I felt some apprehension that
in tlie conduct of it I liad not paid that constant attention
to the great object of religion, that its imj)ortance, my du-
ty, and your happiness retpiired. It has ever been my
wisli to build my own and my cliildren's religions opin-
ions on the great and fundamental truths of God's creation
and government of the world. This leads to revelation,
in which, as there is notliing impossible or unreasonable,
so was it very necessary, that God should instruct us in
the knowledge of His laws ; the practice of which alone
can secure our liappiness. And as the external evidences
of God's power, and wisdom, aiul goodness, manifested in
the works of creation, afford the most satisfactory and un-
deniable proofs of His existence and natural government
of the world ; so, on the other hand, do the internal evi-
dences of the christian revelation, manifested in the wis-
dom, purity and sublimity of its doctrines, prove most satis-
factorily its divine origin, and His moral government. If
you will but attentively read the life of our Savior, as de-
livered in tlie Gospels, and form your own opinion of his
character and mission from his conduct, and what he says
of himself, you will, I hope, find no difficulty in believing
that he spake not solely from his own authority, but from
that of Him who sent him, the great God and Fatlier of us
all. I advise you to enter upon this inquiry, and to devote,
at least, a part of every Sunday to it : and I sincerely pray
that God may enlighten your mind, and give you such
conviction as will establish your principles, regulate your
conduct, and secure your happiness."
We next find Dr. Bard addressing his only son on occa-
sion of his marriage. "• I rejoice, my dear son, in your
present liappiness ; auvl I rejoice, too, to find you are not
so much intoxicated with it, as to suffer yourself to dream
of its uninterrupted continuance ; because that conviction
will induce you early and always to apply to the only re-
medy against those evils which you justly call unavoida-
ble, since virtue itself is not secure against them, — I mean
religion. This is our strong hold, our castle and rock of
17
130 SAMUEL BARD.
defence, our refuge in times of adversity, our comforter
under misfortune, our cheerful companion and friendly
monitor in the hours of gladness and prosperity. ' Who-
so walketh uprightly, walketli surely' ; and he is most
likely to walk uprightly, who considers himself constantly
under the eye and government of God and His Providence.
This has ever been the joy and consolation of the good
and wise ; and is the only philosophy which can satisfy a
reasonable mind, and reconcile us to what we daily see,
and hear, and feel. But I am satisfied it is not necessary
to press these reflections upon you ; some expressions m
your letter have led me into them, and I own I delight to
dwell on them." * * * * "I observe by your letter that
some of your friends were to dine with you on Sunday ;
I will take occasion from this circumstance, to caution you
against its becoming a habit ; for, although I do not think
it necessary to hear ' seven sermons on that day,' yet it
should certainly be a day of rest both to yourself and ser-
vants ; and should be spent in devotion, rational retirement
from business and fashion, tranquillity, and, by the lower
ranks, in cheerful relaxation from labor. Avoid it, there-
fore, for the sake of your servants, if not your own. You
know there is nothing I have more at heart, than that you
should deliberately form opinions for yourself upon every
important duty or concern of life ; and that, when you
have settled your own opinions, you should steadily ad-
here to them, nor suffer yourself to be swayed by the
breath of fashion, or the prejudice or custom of others :
think for yourself."
With what mutual pleasure the studies with his young
pupil at home were pursued, it may be permitted to use
her pen to describe. " My father's time after his settle-
ment in the country, was passed with much regularity :
the principal part of my instruction he took upon himself.
Arithmetic, geography, &c. occupied the early part of the
morning ; drawing and botany succeeded ; and our studies
generally ended with a walk in the woods, or a scramble
among the rocks, in which I delighted to follow him.
His pockets, on such occasions, were generally filled with
such new plants as we could collect ; affording a botanical
lesson for tlie day, and specimens for future illustration.
I had a little of his own fondness for drawing and plants,
and look back with delight on the pleasure and employ-
SAMUEL BARD. ISl
inent I thus jifibrtlecl liiiii. An illustration of the system
ol" LiniKiius, iuitl suf)se(|uently of Miss Rowden's hotuuy,
WJis the manner in which he nuuU' nw unite these sluilies ;
orntunentini^ every i>a<5e or two witli a «rioin) or hasket of
flowers, with some approjjriate sentence, either from scrip-
ture, or our hest poets. Thus uniting in my mind, as he
ever enck'avored to th), tlie cuUivation of taste wiih reli-
gious and moral truth ; a favorite sentiment of his, wliich
lie often expresscul in the woids of Langliorne.''
Soon after Dr. Bard hecamc a resident in the country,
his zeal in agricultural jjursuits led him to unite in the
formation of a county society of that nature, over which
he was called to preside ; a trihute due not only to hissci-
entihc knowleilge, hut to the ardor with which lie applied
to its useful purposes. To this society, on its succeetling
anniversaries, he addressed several discourses, which evince
a union of much practical skill in farming w^ith enlighten-
ed tlieorv : and anticipated in some degree the course of
Sir Ilumplirey Davy, in ajjplying the powers of chemistry
to eluciilate the princii>les, and im])rovc tjje practice, of
hnshanilrv. At a later period, when his fiiends Chancel-
lor Livingston and Col. Humphreys introducetl into the
country the merino hreed of sheep. Dr. Bard entered with
more zeal, perhaps, than j)rudence into thai s])ecuhition.
One danger attending their introduction Dr. Bard eaily
perceived and lahorecl to ohviate. Finding them liahleto
jnany new and fatal diseases, the natiue and cure of these
hecame a matter of the first imj)oriance, hoth to save the
individuals, and to prevent infection. With this view he
l)id)lished a work entitled " The Shei)hcr(rs Guide,"
which, thoimh small, was the result of nmcli investigation,
and re|)eateil and carefid experiment.
With all the scrui)ulousness of a moralist. Dr. Bard con-
sidered ids medical skill as a talent committed hy Provi-
deiue to his charije, and one which he was hound to use
diliiTcntly and conscientiously. These feelings prevented
coinjdete retirement irom professional <hities, and made
him alive to every call of sickness in his n(iLdd)orhood ;
especially where poverty |)recluded remuneration, or
wliere the case demamled experience heyoud that of the
resident physician. On these occasions he would hreak off"
from any occupation, however ensaginij, and run almost
any personal risk, rather than fail in his daily visit ; audit
was a moral lesson, which sometimes put to ehame young-
13t SAMUEL BARD.
cr men, to witness such sensibility to duty and such vigor
in its performance, in one whose age and services might
so well have pleaded an apology for indulgence. At such
calls he would often shake ofl' indisjiosition that was con-
fining him to his chamber, and throwing his cloak around
him, mount his horse or chair, be for an hour the active
and vigorous physician, and then return to the quiet and
repose which his health required. His " patients' health,"
he was wont to say, he " considered as committed to his
keeping, — his own as in the hands of Providence."
In compliance with his age and character, he was imme-
diately on his settlement in the county of Dutchess, elect-
ed president of its medical society, in which station he la-
bored to advance the interests and reputation of the pro-
fession by increased strictness in examinations for license,
and by various schemes for its improvement.
It is, perhaps, to be regretted that Dr. Bard did not turn
his attention more to public authorship. The clearness of
his mental perceptions, the inductive character of his rea-
soning, and the manly vigor of his style, would have add-
ed much to his own celebrity, and somewhat, no doubt,
to the advancement of science ; while the warm tone of
moral and religious earnestness which pervades all his
writings, w^ould have given them additional value, and
served to wipe out from the character of his profession
that base stain of irreligion, which has too long, and too
unjustly, rested upon it. Upon this subject he thus ex-
presses himself in one of his academical charges : — " Galen
is said to have been converted from atheism by the con-
templation of a human skeleton ; how then is it possible
that a modern physician can be an infidel ! — one who is
acquainted with the mechanism of the eye and the ear,
witli the circulation of the blood, the processes of nourish-
ment, waste and repair, and all the countless wonders of
the animal economy ! He must be blind indeed, if he do
not see in these the unquestionable marks of infinite wis-
dom, power and goodness."
Besides the works already mentioned. Dr. Bard's publi-
cations consist of a treatise written in the year 1771 upon
" Angina Suffocativa," a disease which then appeared in
the city under a new form, or with new virulence ; anoth-
er upon the use of cold in hemorrhage ; many occasional
addresses to public bodies ; anniversary discourses to medi-
tal students ; and, the largest of his works, a treatise upon
SAMUEL BARD. 133
obstetrics, wliicli was |)rf|)are(l hv lum after liis retiic-
inent. This is a work oi" superior value, if not merit, from
the salutary caution it tea<hcs in the use of those instru-
ments, which in rash and unskilful hands have rendeied
this jxirt of the art rather a curst' than a hlessinjj.
Dr. Hard's literary habits were a moth I for lit<'rarv men.
His early hours, and active employment of them ; bis jireat
temperance, antl habitual exercise, are habits which would
go far, if adopted, in j)reservinf> the race of authors from
those mental diseases which have become their })roverbial
iidicritance ; ami which arise iuu( h more from indolence
of body or imprudent exertion of mind, tiian from that
superior delicacy of temperament, to which they are will-
in<r to impute them. Tliese habits saveil him from the
most melancholy accompaniments of age, and j)revented
that gloom which too often darkens the clos<' of life ; and
in his domestic letters there are j)leasing evidences of a
cheerfid, virtuous and happy old age. Our extracts from
them must of necessity be limited. Feliruary, lfSU2 ;
" Our studies, business and amusements, fill every moment
of our time, cxcej)t what is devoted to food and sleep ;
and in these we waste none. Whatever be the cold with-
out, we l)anish it from within ; and our bla/ing hearth,
around Avhich each of us finds a cond"ortal)le seat, adds
cheerfulness to comfort. Tims ])asses the even tenor of
our days ; whilst you, j)erhaps, under the name of pleas-
ure, are shivering at a feast, or rubbing your fingers and
kicking your heels in the side box of the theatre. Healthy
and at ease, we feel no want of amusement or variety.
Work, conversation and i)ooks, fill up our duv. — Oowper
occupies our evening most pleasantly ; and in his letters to
his friends continually reminds us of our own feelings ; ex-
cept that, thaidv (iod, we know imne of his depression ; a
truth which, although I believe you need not be informed
of, yet it will bear re])etition, and I feel a jileasure in re-
peating it. He exj)resscs, however, all our love for our
friends, and all our impatience to meet again ; oidy nuich
better than we can say it." Decend)er 22, 1.S05 ; "We
are now settled in our plans of study for the winter ; I am
much pleased with those I have adopted for the im])rove-
ment of your sister. Hetweenthis delightful emj.lovinent,
the busiru'ss of my farm, and tin societv of my family, my
time is very j)leasantly and fully filled up ; nor do F see in
any of us the least symptom of ennui. I am deep in Asiat-
134 SAMUEL BARD.
ic researches, and much interested in the study of tliat an-
cient and extraordinary people. As to myself, I never was
better, and do my best to preserve the blessing. I spend
two or three hours every day in the open air, — the rest of
my time is divided between reading and writing ; so that
I hope I shall not rust for want of use." * * # * "My
horse is saddled regularly after breakfast, when I spend
two hours abroad, this winter very often in the deepest
recesses of my forest, where the foot of man has, at
least, seldom trod : and here I find my contemplations
particularly agreeable and soothing." November, 1807 ;
Wednesday. — " I got a tumble to-day ; but as both
aunt and wife say I deserved it, I will say no more
about it, only that to the confusion in my head I
attribute having this evening lost one point at back-
gammon and three at whist. Thursday. — 1 have not
stirred out of the house, owing to a slight indisposition
which succeeded my fall, but which, I thank God, has
now entirely disappeared. Friday. — Yesterday I examir-
ed my desk, and set my papers in order ; read some, and
played ja little : in the evening we pursued our studies as
usual ; which, although serious, we find very delightful.
We so far varied them as to read tlie life of our author
William Jones, instead of his works : thoug-h deliohtful
throughout, his dying moments gave us the greatest com-
fort. A little while before his dissolution, as his curate
was standing by his l:»edsidei he desired him to read the
seventy-first psalm, which he had no sooner done, than,
taking him by the hand, he said, ' if this be dying, I had
no idea wliat dying was before ;' adding in a stronger voice,
' thank God, thank God, it is no M^orse !' He had long
very much dreaded the pains of death : — you may be sure
we read the psalm."
In the year 1813 Dr. Bard was appointed president of
the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in which honora-
ble station he continued during life ; and rendered his ofii-
cial duties valuable to the institution by the warm interest
he took in its success, the judicious plans he framed for its
improvement, and the impressive discourses with which
he accompanied the delivery of its degrees. In these he
drew, with his accustomed energy, a vivid picture of the
accomplished physician ; in his education, in his subse-
quent improvement, in his professional conduct, and in his
private deportment. Over all these sketches he threw a
SAMUEL BARD. 135
moral and religious coloring, which gave them richness
and force ; showing the happy influence which pure morals
and firm religious principles must ever exercise over pro-
fessional success ; and concluding one of his last, as already
noticed, with the character of Boerliaave, as approaching
to this rare union of the physician, the scholar, the gentle-
man and the christian.*
In the flowers and fruits of the garden Dr. B. became a
learned and skilful horticulturist ; conversed, read and
wrote upon the subject ; laid exactions on all his friends
who could aid him in obtaining what was rare, beautiful or
excellent in its kind ; drew from England its smaller fruits,
the larger ones from France, melons from Italy, and vines
from Madeira, managing them all with a varied yet ex-
perimental skill, which bafiled the comprehension of minds
of slower perception. These plans, though novel, were,
in general, judicious ; being the result of much reading and
* At the opening of the school in November he delivered one of the most digni-
fied and impressive discourses on the importance of medical education which can be
found on record. It affords honorable attestations of talent and powers of eloquence,
and is fraught with the purest sentiments of moral and professional rectitude. " In
the study of diseases," he says, "and in the practice of medicine, no histories
however accurate, no reasoning however just, can convey the knowledge necessary
for their treatment and cure. The student must see, and hear, and feel for him-
self; the hue of the complexion, the feel of the skin, the lustre or the languor of the
eye, the throbbing of the pulse, and the palpitations of the heart ; the quickness and
the ease of respiration, the tone and tremor of the voice, the confidence of hope or
the despondence of fear expressed in the countenance, baffle all description : yet all
and each of these convey important and necessary information. Where can these
be learnt but at the bedside of the sick, and where shall a number of young men,
who cannot be admitted into the privacies of families, or to the chambers of wo-
men, acquire this necessary and important information, but in public hospitals,
which are not only intended to relieve the complicated misery of poverty and sick-~
ness, but as schools, should always be made conducive to the public good, and as
.such, even more than as charitable institutions, merit and receive the patronage of
government." " Indolence is the greatest enemy to learning; but indolence is fa
vice bred and nourished in solitude, and can hardly exist at a public school, except
in minds of so heavy a mould as to be incapable of culture. On the other hand,
to labor without plan or design, may indeed accumulate a confused mass of mate-
rials ; but use, beauty, order and proportion, are the result of skill, and to erect
such materials as we have collected, into a convenient and elegant edifice, requires
the hand of a master." " Nor are the happy copsequences of a good education in
medicine confined to the chambers of the sick. A physician must necessarily, in
some measure, become the companion, and frequently the intimate friend of his pa-
tient. His knowledge, therefore, and his example become extensively useful or
prejudicial. Is he wise, and good, and learned '? his learning will instruct, his hu-
manity will bless, and his good example will amend many among those with whom
he daily converses. Is he ignorant, and loose, and debauched '? what mischief may
he not do to the younger members of those families who put their confidence in him,
and who generally look up to him as a character of superior talents, learning and
worth. And again, the medical character is not only very influential, it is the most
numerous among the learned professions ; the example, therefore, of a physician's
knowledge and virtues, or the contamination of his ignorance and his vices, will as-
sume a wider and more extended ran^e " — Amer. Med. and Philo. Res^isfer.
136 SAMUEL BARD.
long experience, and, above all, of an imagination trained
to what Bacon terms " tentative experiments."
In the year 1811, circumstances favoring its establish-
ment, the Church of St. James, at Hyde Park, was erect-
ed, of which Dr. B. was in effect the foinider. Attached,
not only by habit, but by rational conviction, to the Epis-
copal branch of the Protestant Church, he had long been
anxious for its establishment in his neighborhood. So
highly did he value the public exercises of devotion, as
means botli of instruction and conviction, that after the
erection of the church, in order to supply the occasional
absence of its rector, he submitted to the necessity, at the
age of seventy years, of receiving from episcopal authority
the license required to entitle him to act as lay reader in
the church. The following is an extract from the form of
daily devotion made use of by himself and wife : —
" O God ! enlighten our understanding that we may
comprehend thy will, strengthen our resolution to obey
thy commands, endow us with resignation under thy dis-
pensations, and fill our hearts with love and gratitude for
all thy benefits. Give unto us, 0 Lord, whose lives thou
hast continued to so late a day, sincere and true repent-
ance, and grant that, as age advances upon iis, our minds
may be more and more enlightened by the knowledge of
thy will, more resigned to thy dispensations, and more in-
vigorated with the resolution to obey thy commands.
Calm all our thoughts and fears ; give peace and quiet to
our latter days ; and so support us by thy grace through
the weakness and infirmities of age, that we may die in
humble hope and confidence of thy merciful pardon and
acceptance tlirough the merits of our Redeemer."
In one devotional habit he resembled Boerhaave ; and,
perhaps, Avas guided by his example. He regularly devot-
ed a part of his early morning to religious reading and re-
flection ; by which, as he himself expressed it, he endea-
vored to " set his mind to a right edge for the business of
the day."
In the church which he erected, Dr. B. continued to
find, unto the very close of life, a more than ordinary
comfort and satisfaction. " No equal expenditure of mo-
ney," he was used to say, " had ever returned to liim so
large an interest ;" and by those who ever saw him engag-
ed in its services, its truth will not be doubted. His vene-
rable looks, his devout but animated manners, his loud
lAMUEL BARD. 157
response, and eye glistening with gratitude and thankful-
ness, surrounded I)y cliildren and grundchihlren, form a
picture on which memory loves to dwell. From these
meetings, sanctified alike hy devotion and family afl'ection,
he was rarely ahsent. Sickness could liardiy detain him ;
and absence from homo he always lelt as a misfortune.
In passing through Princeton at the period of its public
commencement. Dr. B. received a mark of the high re-
spect in which his character was held by being waited up-
on by a deputation from the trustees of that institution,
and by the honorary degree of LL.D. conferred upou iiim.
In Dr. B. we recognise a remarkable instance illustra-
tive of the position, tiiat the powers of usefulness are not
necessarily lost with age ; tiiat feebleness of mind is rather
the rust of indolence than the decay of nature ; and that
old age may continue to the very latest period, honored
and beloved, teaching the young by its experience, in-
structing them with its learning, and turning into love and
veneration tliose natural feelings of res])ect with which it
is regarded. He was alike the counsellor and the com-
panion, the instructer and the friend of all the young per-
sons who were so fortimate as to have a claim upon liis at-
tentions. His plans for their imj)rovement were novel
and varied, his pursuit of them eatfer, his commendation
warm and animated, and his reproof, though tender, " ve-
hement in love." The correspondence which, under these
circumstances, he maintained with his grandson while un-
der the tuition of his medical instructer, abounds in les-
sons of practical wisdom, and contains tlie result of his
medical experience upon most of the subjects which dur-
ing its continuance attracted public or professional at-
tention.
The following letter of religious reflections was found
m his desk after his decease.
Jipnl2d, 1813.
" Yesterday I entered into my ?eventy-first year; and
when 1 review my past life, I find through the whole
course of it, reason only for gratitude for an almost unin-
terrupted succession of blessings. For the liberality, al-
most beyond his means, with which my kind and generoui
father conducted my education ; for his watchful care
through tlie dangerous period of my youth ; for the excel-
lent example of his just, honorable, useful and benevolent
life : for his early introduction into the business of my
18
133 SilMUEL BARD.
profession ; and for the invariable and affectionate friend-
ship '.vith which he treated me unto the day of his death.
" For the many Ivind friends who took me by the hand
at my setting out in life, and for that success in my profes-
sion, by which I have all along been comfortably support-
ed, and enabled to lay by sufficient for an easy and inde-
pendent old age.
" For the many virtues, and most useful talents of my
dear and excellent wife ; for the good order, neatness and
liberal economy, with which she has always conducted my
family ; for the steady, judicious and affectionate care, with
which she has assisted me in the education of our children,
and to which, I firndy believe, we are in a great measure
indebted for the happiness we now enjoy in their society ;
for her courage and support under domestic afflictions,
professional vexations, pecuniary losses, and other difficult-
ies I have met with ; for the constant love and fidelity
with which she has blest me in health ; and for the patience
with which she has endured my fretfulness, and the ten-
derness with which she has almost annihilated the pains of
sickness.
" For the virtues and affectionate gratitude, the health
and prosperity of the children with which God has blessed
my old age ; for the kind attention of the excellent wife
He has given my son, by whom we are enabled to enjoy
our present easy and tranquil life ; for the virtuous charac-
ter, and kind and affectionate temper of the husbands He
has given to our daughters, by which we enjoy the un-
speakable happiness of seeing them happy, and being as-
sured that whenever it shall please God to take us from
them, we shall leave them under affectionate and tender
protectors.
" For the pleasing prattle and promising virtues of all
our grandchildren ; for the society and affectionate friend-
ship of my sisters and brother-in-law, and for the hopes
and promise of their children ; and lastly, for having, by
His most gracious and singular providence, now in the
evening of my days, brightened my setting sun by collect-
ing all these blessings around me.
" Give me grace, 0 Heavenly Father, constantly to ac-
knowdedge in all these blessings thy most merciful good-
ness ; to feel my own demerits ; to repent sincerely of the
ingratitude of my past life ; and to dedicate the future to
thy service, in promoting to the utmost of my power the
SAMUEL BARD. 139
temporal and eternal happiness of my family, friends,
neiiihl)ors, and all others within the icac'h of iny ability
and inflnencc. Continue thy most irracious j)rotc(tion and
blessing to me and my dear wife, (hiring tlie residue of otir
lives ; sustain us in death, and linally i)aiclon aiul accej)t
us, for the sake and merits of thy Son Jesus Christ, our
Lord and Savior."*
The last winter of Dr. Bard's life was passed by him in
more tlian usual enjovuieut. Preceded by a long aiul sat-
isfactory visit to liis slaughter in town, it rolled rapidly
by in his usual interchange of study and amusemeni.
Engaged in j)rcparing an enlarsred edition of his chief med-
ical work, he found no time to han<j lieavy on his liands ;
and it w^as difTicult to say from wliich of his varied em-
j)loyments, whether of lal)or, or anuisement, lie derived
the greatest pleasure. In a letter to his son dated Christ-
mas, 1820, he says " I walk, ride, and annise myself out
of doors with my green-house, and in doors with my lit-
tle transparent orrery ; to Avhich I am (ontemplating some
additions and familiar illustrations. My gretii-house and
flower stands afford me considerable amusement. The
j)lants flourish exceedingly ; I spent two hours among
them yesterday, and shall do so occasionally through the
winter. Every plant, from the royal orange and myrtle
to the humble crocus, in fragrance, grace and beauty, per-
form their jiart to admiration ; and althouffh tliev excite
no passion of fear or mirth, of love or alarm, yet they do
better, — they calm all my j)assions, sooth disapj)oiiitment,
and even mitigate the feelings of sorrow." Again, '' I
have already mentioned my good health ; and, thank
God, have j)assed the winter free from pain ; and now be-
* In the family of Dr. Bard was the venerable Mrs. Barton, a laJy whose warm
attachment to Dr. and Mrs. Bard through a lonp life, demands some passinp re-
cord,— a tribute now doubly due, since the shock of their united dearh seemed to
breal( the last feeble thread which detained her in this state of mortality ; and with-
in a few days she followed them at the advanced age of ninety years, neither over-
come by <lisease, nor broken down by infirmity. Mrs. Barton was aunt both to
Dr. and Mrs. Bard, and widow to tho friend and brother-in-law of our eminent
countryman, David Rittcnhouse. So highly was she esteemed and so warmly be-
loved, that Mrs. Bard made her aunt's residence with her a previous requisite to
consenting,' to remove to the country. From the period of that event she continued
to reside with them ; not only aiding by her counsel and skill, but enlivening by her
good sense and cheerfulness, the varied employments ol a country life. Indi^rien-
dcnt in her occupations, actively and benevolciillv employed, piriicipalinj iii jil
family festivities, and with a tremulous, thoupli sweet, voice, (which in youth had
gained her the title of the " American nightingale,") leading at the supper table a
united chorus, in which the voices of four nucccMive generatiunt cmulously con'«
tended.
140 SAMUEL BARD.
^in to enjoy the spring by riding on horseback and amus-
ing myself in my garden ; but I do both with caution.
When it is fair over head, but damp under foot, I ride iny
pony into the garden to give my directions, and to see my
plants bursting into life, in which I take very great de-
light.
" I have several beautiful and rare plants coming for-
ward ; and 1 watch their progress with an interest which,
by many people, would be thought trifling in a man of
four score : but I appease my conscience by the innocency
of the pursuit, and my inability for such as are more
active."
About this period the tranquillity of this good man was
tried with affliction by the death of a young, but favorite
grandson, on which occasion he observed, "It is a hard
lesson, and one, I cannot believe, required of us, to receive
pain and sorrow at our Father's hand with the same feel-
ings we do joy and blessing, — submit without murmur-
ing we can, and even acknowledge the goodness and mercy
of the hand which chastises us : yet we cannot but feel
the stripes ; and, indeed, if we did not, they would be no
chastisement. Still I yield him up with the composure of
christian resignation to the will of our merciful Father,
who not only knows, but determines what is best for those
who put their trust in him." In another letter he uses the
following language — " Misfortune properly improved,
becomes the source of our greatest blessings. If it serve to
moderate our desires, at the same time that it rouses us to
greater exertion ; if it control our unridy passions, and
strengthen our virtuous inclinations ; above all, if it excite
in our hearts true religion, and confirm our humble de-
pendence upon the mercy and goodness of God ; then we
may say, with truth, ' it is good for us that Ave have been
afflicted,' Whenever I pursue this train of thought, I gain
strength, and become ashamed and repentant that I suffer
the comparatively slight reverses which Ave have met
with, for a moment to damp me. I buckle on my armor,
and prepare for the conflict Avith rencAved vigor and fresh
hopes. Something like despondence, I confess, will now
and then assail me ; and, in spite of my better convictions,
the prospect of difliculties, now Avhen my strength begins
to fail me, brings a load upon my spirits Avhich I find it
difllicult to shake off" ; until again an appeal to that Good
Being, who has so long conducted me forward in a pros--
SAMUEL BARD. Ml
pcrous and happy career, calms iny troubled mind, and
again I feel able to submit to whatever His wisdom mav
direct."
Having attended this venerable j)liysi( ian and christian
through his long career of honorable life, we come to
notice its conclusion in the ripeness of its age and in the
fulness of its powers.
In the montli of May, 1821, while prej)ariiig for their
annual spring visit to the city, Mrs. liard was attacked
witii a pleuritic alfection ; whicli after a few days gave
evidence of a fatal termination. Dr. Bard, though labor-
ing under a similar attack, would not be sei)arated from
her ; but continued to be, as formerly, her con)j)anion,
nurse and physician. »Such a long and afit'ctionate union
as their's had been, had early excited the wish, the j)rayer,
and the expectation, that in death they were not to be
divided. What was thus both wished for and expected,
had become, it seems, the subject of their sleeping
thoughts ; and a remarkable dream of Mrs. Bard's to this
effect, was now remembered and repeated by her husband
with feelings, not of superstitious, but pleasing antici-
pation.
The last effort of his pen was to give comfort to those
who were absent. On Sunday, 20th instant, three days
before his own death, he wrot(^ with a treml)linq; hand a
consolatory letter to iiis fii<Mids in New-Y ork, who were
anxiously waitiuij Iiis arrival. This letter, wliich convey-
ed to his daughter the first intimation ol" danger, brought
her to lier paternal home a few hours too late to receive a
mother's l)lessing ; but in time to spend a few short ones
of affectionate intercourse with lier dyinjr father. It was
passeti in calmness by both : indeed, there was no room
for sorrow in such a trancpiil, jx-aceful (lej)arture. His
calm, but affectionate inquiiies about absent friends, his
rational directions as to future arrangements, and his free-
dom from all perturbation of s])irit, Avere so foreifin from
the common conception of dejiartiutr humanity, that the
feelings could iu)t realize it, — tlierc were in it ni) imiges
of grief from whicli imagination nii<>ht draw her ])attern.
Under these circiunstances, not of stoical, l)ut ( hristian
composure, he sutdc to rest at 5 o'clock in the morning of
the 2 1th May, in the eightieth year of his age, twenty-four
hours after the death of his wife ! — a common grave re-
ceived their remains. Their affectionate relative, Mr?.
142 SAMUEL BARD.
Barton, sunk under the bereavement, and within a few
days joined them in the kind of rest.
As a summary of Dr. Bard's character, says his able
biographer, I close with the concluding sentence of a com-
munication made to me by one who best knew his worth,
and most deeply felt his loss. " Of my father's general
character," says he, " of his candor, of the purity of his
intentions, of his integrity, of the tenderness of his feel-
ings, of his polite and affectionate manners, of his ardor in
every honorable and virtuous pursuit, of his calm, but
profound religious feelings, of his domestic virtues, of his
cheerful temper, of his love to mankind, I dare not speak,
— the recollection of them is deeply engraven on my lieart,
and but too fresh in my memory." Numerous testimonials
of individual respect and condolence, exhibiting the estima-
tion in which Dr. Bard was held, were called forth by the
lamented event of his death, among which was a very
affectionate letter of condolence from his Excellency Hyde
De Neuville, minister of France at Washington.
The following minute is taken from a meeting of the
governors of the New-York Hospital.
June 5, 1821.
" The governors receive with unfeig-ned regret the
account of the decease of their late fellow member of this
corporation. Dr. Samuel Bard.
" It is due to the memory of that eminent physician
and philanthropist, to state, that by means of his benevo-
lent exertions, in the year 1769, setting forth in a public
discourse the benefits to be derived from the establishment
of an hospital in the city, the present institution was ori-
ginally founded. That for a number of years, amidst the
arduous avocations of an extensive private practice, he
performed with imceasing fidelity and punctuality, the
duties of a physician to tliis establishment, and was the
means, under Providence, of extending its usefulness, and
of elevating its character, not only as an asylum for the
sick poor, but as an important means of promoting medi-
cal education in the city. The signal services rendered by
Dr. Bard to this community in general, and to this institu-
tion in particular ; the virtuous and religious character for
which he was uniformly distinguished ; the zealous devo-
tion to the interests of humanity which he ever manifested
as a citizen, as well as in discharge of the duties of his pro-
fession ; render it in a peculiar manner becoming this
JOSHUA BARKER. M.)
board to express their high sense of his great worth, his:
professional merit and services, and the benefits he has
conferred upon his native city and country."
CONCLUSION.
Ahliough in the narrative now conchided, affection may
a})pcar in some instances to have dictated the huiguage, the
author is not aware that in any it has exaggerated the
sentiment. He believes it will meet the recollection of
those who best knew the subject of it. Indeed it was not
easy to know Dr. B. intimately, without loving and reve-
rencing him ; so that to exclude affection from giving the
picture, is to exclude that knowledge wliich is necessary
to secure resemblance. Of his public conduct and profes-
sional character, the author believes he has sj)oken with
due deference to the o})inion of those who may be better
judges. Of that wliich has been the great aim of the me-
moir, the display of private character, he has spoken con-
fidently, because he knew intimately ; and in the varied
relations of social and domestic life, having j)ro]iosed him
as a model to himself, he is not afraid to hold him up to
others as an example worthy of imitation.
The foregoing is an abridged narrative from the life of
Dr. Samuel Bard by the Rev. John McVickar, A. M. Pro-
fessor of Moral Philosophy and Rhetoric, Columbia Col-
lege, New-York. The reader will require no apology for
its length, when it is considered, as it unquestionablv will
be, that the memoir affords one of the best of models for
imitation for the physician, the cliristian and the philan-
thropist.
BARKER, JOSHUA, M.M.S.S. was the son of Fran-
cis Barker, a respectable shipwright in Hingham, Massa-
chusetts. He was born 24th of March, 1753, and was
graduated at Harvard University in 1772. Havinii chosen
for his profession the practice of medicine, he acquired his
education under the instruction of Samuel Danforth, M.D.
of Boston, and established himself as a physician in his
native town, where his ])ractice, thoush not very exten-
sive, was successful and satisfactory. Had he been j)laced
in a situation in which his whole powers could have been
developed, he would have taken elevated ground, and his
reputation been more extensively diffused ; but in the sit-
uation he selected, he had to contend with all the preju-
dices incident to a location in the place of iiis birth, v.ith the
144 ALEXANDER BAROTf.
competition of old and experienced physicians who had
preoccupied the business and possessed the public confi-
dence, and in a part of the country stationary, or nearly so,
in its population. With all these disadvantages his repu-
tation stood high, and he acquired and preserved the
friendship and confidence of his fellow citizens.
He had a good taste and respectable acquirements in
general literature, and was an excellent scholar. As a
physician his attention to the sick was always prompt,
kind and impartial, administering with the same readiness
to the rich and poor. In the domestic and social relations
and as a member of civil society, few men weie more
justly esteemed and respected than Dr. Barker. An easy
politeness, refined taste, cheerful hospitality and intelligent
conversation, made his house a pleasant resort to his
friends and acquaintances ; and by attentive notice of
strangers who visited Hingham, he was an honor to tlie
place in which he lived. In friendship he was warm and
affectionate, yet steady and faitliful. In his dealings he
was regular, methodical, punctual and conscientiously
upright. As a citizen, a firm friend to liberty, order and
peace, he was a friend to all the institutions of his country-
which have the promotion of these for their object,
whether civil, religious or literary, and was always ready
by his example, influence, exertions and contributions, to
promote them.
He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society,
and contributed to its usefulness, until he was visited with
an attack on the nervous system, which after a gradual
and distressing decay of near eleven months terminated in
dissolution in April, 1800.
BARON, ALEXANDER, M. D. was born of respecta-
ble parents in the year 1745 in the county of Kincardine,
in Scotland, where he received the first rudiments of his
education. When sufficiently prepared, he was sent to
Aberdeen and entered upon his course of academical study
in the college of that place. Being gifted with genius and
of quick apprehension, he made rapid progress in the
classics and philosophy, so that he was qualified much
earlier than is usual for the study of one of the learned
professions, for which he was designed. The bent of his
genius inclining him to medicine, he made choice of it as
his profession, and was accordingly placed as a private
pupil under the care of Drs. Livingston and Robertson,,
ALEXANDER BAROn. 145
two eminent pliysiciuns in Aberdeen, and when sufficiently
instructed, he entered the medical scliool at Edinburgh
and commenecil a nuulical cour.-c under thr patronage of
the Lite celebrated Dr. John Gregory, Professor in that
university.
Having attended three courses of lectures with great
diligence, he was graduated the 12th Septemljer, 17G0, on
which occasion he published and j)ublicly defended a
"• Tliesis de Tusse Convulsiva." During bis residence at
Etliuburgh, bis correct moral deportment, his extensive
erudition, his habits of study and observation deservedly
secured to him the friendship and esteem of all his ac-
quaintances ; and among the number of his intimates were
several medical students and others, distinguished ])y tbeir
virtues and scientific acquirements. Being now qualified
for the exercise of tiie duties of his important and ardu-
ous profession, he embarked for Cliarleston, South Caro-
lina, where he arrived and commenced his medical career
in the year 1769.
Endowed by nature with almost every attribute of
genius, he cultivated her choicest gifts with unabating ar-
dor ; antl possessing a sound and discriminating judgment,
gentleness of manner and an affectionate disposition, few
men Avere better qualified for the discharge of all the im-
portant duties of tlie j)rofession ; and of course his pros-
pect of an early establishment in practice, was highly
flattering to his friends and himself. Exclusive of all this,
his studies had been so various, that he had something
to say uj)on almost every topic of discourse, so that he
rendered himself the delight and ornament of every cir-
cle ; and surely a physician with such professional attain-
ments, could not fail to make a favorable impression upon
those of his own profession, as well as others ; and accord-
ingly. Dr. Milligan, at that time conspicuous as a j)ractis-
ing physician in Charleston, was induced to offer him a
share of his practice, which was accepted, and the connex-
ion continued a considerable time. Dr. Baron afterwards
connected himself in professional copartnership with Drs.
Oli|)bant, and Samuel and Robert A\ ilson.
With a rich fund of miscellaneous knowledjie derived
from reading and an extensive intercour.*;c with the world,
he rendered himself one of the most a<;recal)le and instruc-
tive conqianions. In the familiar intercourse of life, in
the capacity of physician or friend, his manners, cheerful
19
146 ALEXANDER BARON.
and graceful, with the affability and dignity of true polite-
ness ; his sympathy Avitli the distressed, and his mind well
stored with anecdote, he seldom visited the hale or the
sick, upon whom he did not make a favorable impression.
Of christian charity, the vital principle of religion, he was
endowed with an uncommon share, and so unbounded was
his generosity, that his heart and purse were always open
to his friends ; considering every one as his friend, whose
situation was such as to require his assistance. Dr. Baron
was easy of access and agreeable, in consequence of which he
became so great a favorite among the younger members of
the profession, whom he invariably patronised, that they
were extremely fond of consulting with him in all cases of
difficulty ; for, while they derived benefit from his coun-
sels, they never had reason to apprehend that they should
be borne doAvn by an ostentatious display of his superior
talents, whicV too frequently occurs on such occasions.
He was one of the founders of the Medical Society of South
Carolina and was elected its vice president in 1790.
Like the great Sydenham, Dr. B. was an accurate ob-
server of nature. Patient and minute in the investigation
of diseases, and deliberate and cautious in forming his judg-
ment, the sick had a well founded prospect of deriving bene-
fit from the advice and prescriptions of such a physician. As
might be supposed, his practice was influenced by his great
master, the celebrated Cullen ; but it appeared that the
theories of all the various medical schools, as well ancient
as modern, with which he was acquainted, had lost much
of their weight upon his mature understanding. Dr.
Baron in the year 1770, soon after his arrival at Charles-
ton, joined the St. Andrew's Society, the oldest charitable
association in the state ; and was elected its annual presi-
dent for twenty-eight successive years. From his first
settlement he continued the exercise of his profession with
great reputation, to a short period before his death. His
constitution had for some time felt the effects of a long and
laborious practice, and the progress of old age ; but his
mind had lost none of its vigor. In almost every case of
difficulty or danger, he continued to be consulted, and his
opinions were always received with the greatest respect.
For a few weeks before his death, he became unable, from
his increasing infirmities, to attend to the arduous duties of
his profession ; and he died on the 9th day of January,
1819, universally regretted. — [Jlbridged from a Sketch by
Samuel Wilson^ ,M. 7).]
JOSIAH BARTLETT. 147
BARTLETT, JOSIAH, M.D. Governor of New-Hamp-
shire, was born in Anicshury, Massachusetts, in Novenilier,
1729. He was early put to learn the rudiments of the
Latin and Greek langua<>;es, wliich he accomplished with
consideraMe rapidity, having a quick perce])tion and tena-
cious memory. At the age of sixteen he was i)laccd with a
Dr. Ordway to study physic, but he soon exhausted tlie
Doctor's scanty library and resorted to others for a
suj)j)ly.
In 1750, having completed his medical education at the
age of twenty-one, he commenced the practice of his pro-
fession at Kingston in New-Hampsliire. Two years after he
was seized with a fever which in all probability would
have proved fatal to him, had not his own reason counter-
acted tlie hackneyed modes of his attending j)hysician. At
the apj)roach of a crisis his strengtli Avas so much exhaust-
ed by a warm and stimulating regimen and seclusion from
the air, that his physician pronounced his disorder fatal ;
but the patient prevailed upon two young men that night
to procure for liim a (juart of cider, which he took by
half a teacupful at a time, by which he was so invigorat-
ed that in the morning a coj)ious j)erspiration ensued, and
his fever was effectually checked. Ever after this event
Dr. Bartlett was a strict observer of nature in all diseases,
and rejecting all arbitrary medical rules, he founded his
practice upon the details of nature and experience. He
soon became j)opidar as a j)hysician, and secured a large
share of ])ractice both lucrative and honorable to himself,
and highly useful to the peoj)le.
In the year 1733, and again in 1735, a " distemper"
originated in Kingston, Avliich eluded ail the powers of
the physicians of that period. It was called the " throat
distemper" (angina maligna.) This disease was considered
a.s entirely new in the country, and was not understood,
althougli in some ancient authors a similar disease has been
noticed. The physicians considered it to be of an inflam-
jnatory nature, and adopted their mode of treatment upon
that princij)le. The disease spread rapidly, and among
children it ])roved almost universallv mortal, like the
plague in warm climates ; many families lost nearly all
their children under ten years of age, death often taking
place in twelve hours from the attack, and some dying
while sitting with their playthings in their liands. The
depleting and antiphlogistic course of practice wa« pursued
148 JOSIAH BARTLETT.
almost invariably with death, and the physicians were
entirely at a loss for a successful method of cure. In
1754 the angina maligna again made its appearance, but
with less malignity ; Dr. Bartlett being now in practice
in Kingston, iinding the antiphlogistic course constantly
unsuccessful, devoted much attention to the investigation
of the disease and decided in his own mind that it was of
a highly putrid character, and that antiseptic remedies were
clearly indicated. In the case of one of his own children,
therefore, he employed the Peruvian bark and other anti-
septics with a happy result, and he afterward adopted the
same mode of }>ractice with such general success as to
establish his fame.
From his integrity and decision of character Dr. B. was
soon designated as a magistrate and sustained various
offices from the lowest to the highest. He was also ap-
pointed by Governor John Wentworth to the command of
a regiment of militia, where he discharged his duties Avith
much promptness and fidelity. In the year 1765 Col.
Bartlett began his political career as representative for the
town of Kingston in the legislature of the Province. He
seems to have been endowed with the innate principles of
civil and religious liberty, and although young and inex-
perienced in politics he was soon found with a small
minority in opposition to royal policy ; voting against
what they supposed to be unjust violations of a right, and
arbitrary usurpations. Governor John Wentworth, know-
ing Dr. B. to be an influential member of the assembly,
appointed him a justice of the peace, but his independent
spirit was not to be allured from his sense of duty and his
principles. In 1774 he was a conspicuous and zealous
advocate for the cause of the whigs, and was among the
principal leaders in the house of assembly against the
measures pursued by the governor and his friends. He was
elected a delegate to the general congress who were to meet
at Philadelphia, but, having recently lost his house by fire,
he declined the office. In February, 1775, Dr. B. was by
Governor Wentworth deprived of his commission of the
peace and also of his command in the militia. In Septem-
ber, 1 775, he was appointed to command a regiment by the
provincial congress, and being again chosen a delegate to
the Continental congress, he attended in that honorable
assembly, and when the vote for American independence
was taken Col. Bartlett'g name was first called, as repre-
.UiblAll BAKTLtlT. 149
scntinff the most easterly province, aiul he boldly ans^er-
ex\ in the anirmntive. He was the first, tlierefore, who
voted for, and the iin^t alter the ]»resident who sicrned tliat
nieniorahU' iiistrunient. Col. BarthHt's task was extremely
ardnoMs and ialioninir, con.jress heinjr oecn])ied from nine
o'elo( k, A. M. to fonr, P. M. hefore dining ; after which
he was on committee till nine or ten o'clock in the eve-
ning. The increasinij j.rospect of nntried events in which
their lives, their families and their estates were pnt tr) tin;
hazard ; the deatli of their late valnahlc jjresident ; the
death of General iMontiromery, and other disastrous
events ; the ravaces of the infnViated enemv ; their un-
justifiahledestrnction of an innocent people ; "together with
the thoughts of his distant family who were in arfemharrass-
ed situation in consecjuence of his recent loss by fire ; all
conspired to de])ress his spirits. He, hoAvevef, sustained
these cares with a consciousness of the justice of his cause
and a reliance on the goodness of the Supreme Disjioser of
all events, which confirmed his j)erseveran(e in dutv.
In 1779 Col. Bartlett Avas ajjjjointed chief justice "of the
superior court, whidi oftice he held until he was apj)oint-
ed chief justice in 1188. Col. B. was an active member
ol the ( onvention for adopting the confederation in 1788,
and was chosen a senator in congress in 1789, but this
oflicc he declined through the inhrinities of age. We next
find this estimable man occupying the statioirof President
of the state of New-Hampshire in 1790, and in 1793 he
was elected the first governor of the state under the new
form of government. In this ofiice, as in all others, his
duties were promptly and faithfully discharged. He was
indeed a ruler in whom the wise placed confidence, and of
whoni even the captions coidd find nothing to coin])lain.
In 1791 Governor B. retired from the chair of chief matris-
trate of the state and from all public emplovment. ^
On the 19th of May, 1795, this distinguished patriot paid
the debt of nature, being in the 65th year of his age. The
following just description of his character is e"\tracted
from the sermon |)reache(l at his interment bv the Bev.
Mr. Thayer. '' His mind was (puck and penetrating, his
memory tenacious, his judgment souml and prospective ;
his natural temper was open, humane and compassionate.'
In all his dealings he was scrupulously just, and faithful in
the performance of all hi? engagements. These shining
talents accompanied with distinigiushed probitv, early in
150 JOSIAH BIRTLETT.
life recommended him to the esteem and confidence of his
fellow citizens. But few persons by their own merit, with-
out the influence of family or party connexions, have risen
from one degree of honor to another as he did ; and fewer
still have been the instances in which a succession of hon-
orable and important offices even to the highest, have been
held by any man with less envy, or executed with more
general approbation." — Jfew- Hampshire Hist, and Biograph.
Collections.
BARTLETT, JOSIAH, M.D. M.M.S.S. was born in
Charlestown, Mass. in the year 1 759. At an early period
he became a pupil ol Dr. Isaac Foster, a very respectable
physician of the same town, who entered the medical de-
partment of the American army on its first formation at
Cambridge, on the 20th of April, 1775, the day following
the battle of Lexington.
Young Bartlett continued his pupilage under Dr. Foster,
who was appointed chief surgeon in the general hospital
at Cambridge, and who subsequently procured the office
of surgeon's mate for his pupil, then at the age of sixteen
years, in which station he continued to serve until the
year 1780, wJien he resigned both his pupilage and his
commission, and was engaged for two voyages as surgeon
to ships of war. During his public service Dr. Bartlett
manifested a degree of activity, attention and faithfulness,
which secured to him a high reputation and the approba-
tion of his superiors in office. About the close of the war
he settled in his native town, and soon became distinguish-
ed as a practitioner in medicine.
Dr. Bartlett attended a single course of lectures on anat-
omy delivered by Dr. John Warren in 1780 ; and, not-
withstanding his extensive practice, he attended a com-
plete course of medical lectures at Cambridge in 1790, and
in 1791 became Bachelor of Medicine, and in 1801 the de-
gree of M. D. was conferred upon him. In 1789 he was
admitted to l)e a member of the Massachusetts Medical So-
ciety, soon after became recording secretary of that high-
ly respectable body, and continued in office in various
situations until his death ; and perhaps no man contributed
more time and active exertion to improve tlie state of tlie
society, and tlirough it the interests of medical literature.
He delivered two public discourses of a medical nature,
one before the Middlesex Medical Association, the other
before the Massachusetts Medical Society, the latter of
BENJAMIN B. BARTON. 151
which is well known as aflbrdintj a very interesting his-
torical sketch of medical cliaractcis in this j)art of the coun-
try, from its settlement. Me also j)iil)lisheil various pajiers
on meilical subjects in the communications of the Medical
Societv and in the New-Enjrland Medical Journal.
Althouirh en<ra<red in a most extensive practice, Dr.
Bartlctt found time to emj)loy a })art of his activity in civil
olKces, and was at varioiis times elected rej)resentative,
senator, and counsellor, in the state government. Soon
after his settlement at Charlestown, he became a mend^er
of the honorable fraternity of masons, among whom he
was very distinguished, and occupied all the posts of hon-
or to that of grand master, and especially was cons])icuous
for the number of occasional and appropriate addresses
which he delivered in that society.
Dr. Bartlett's character was remarkable for industry,
activity and intelligence. He never declined any duty
which was assigned him, and always executed it speedily
and thoroughly ; and was of course constantly resorted to
for difficult services. Perhaps no individual in this vici-
nity delivered so great a numl)er of pu])lic orations, medi-
cal, political and literary. He possessed a physical consti-
tution which promised a long as well as active life ; but
his spirits being broken by unfortunate occurrences, his
health in consequence became impaired. Two years be-
fore his death his activity was paralyzed, his desire of life
was extinguished, and at length on the third day of March,
1820, he was struck with an apoplexy, which in two days
after terminated his existence.
BARTON, BENJAMIN SMITH, M. D. Professor in the
University of Pennsylvania, was born at Lancaster, Penn-
sylvania, February 10th, 1766. His mother was the sister
of the celebrated philosopher, Rittcidio\ise. The deatli of
his parents occasioned his lemoval in 1782 to the family
of a brother in Philadelphia, where he spent several years
in the study of literature, the sciences and medicine. In
1786 he went to Great Britain, and prosecuted his uiediral
studies at Edinl)uriih and London. He afterward visited
Gottingen, and there obtained the dejjree of Doctor in
Medicine. On returninfj to Philadelphia in 17S9, he es-
ta])lished himself as a physician in that city, and his supe-
rior talents and education soon ])rocured him competent
employment. He was that year appoitited Professor of
Natural History and Botany in the (College of Philadel-
^^2 BE>fJAMm S. EARTOX.
phia, and continued in the office on the incorporation of
the college with the university in 1791. He was appoint-
ed Prolbifsor of Materia Medica on tlie resignation of Dr.
Griffiths, and on the deatli of Dr. Rush succeeded him in
the department of the Tlieory and Practice of Medicine.
He died December 19th, 1815.
Dr. Barton was highly distinguished by his talents and
professional attainments, and contril)uted much by his lec-
tures and writings to the progress of natural science in the
United States. He published " Elements of Zoology and
Botany," in which he made respectable additions to the
zoological science of our country, and displayed a degree
of genius, diligence, learning and zeal in this pursuit,
wliich do honor to our repvddic, and which bid fair to
place him among tlie most accomplished and useful natur-
alists of his time. In 1803 Dr. B. pu1)lished " Elements
of Botany, or Outlines of the Natural History of Vegeta-
bles, &c." He has the honor of being the first American
who gave to his country an elementary work on Botany,
and if Ave judge, says Dr. Miller in his Retrospect of the
18th Century, of the subsequent harvest from the first
fruits, it will be rich indeed. This work is illustrated by
thirty plates, and discovers an extent of learning, an acute-
ness and vigor of mind, and an elegance of taste, highly
honorable to the author. Of the thirty plates which ac-
company this work, twenty-eight have claims to more or
less originality, and many of them are completely original.
They are well executed ; and most of the subjects selected
for delineation, are remarkable for their rarity, their beau-
ty, or some other j)eculiarity of character. Every part of
this work discovers that the author has not been contented
with compiling the facts and opinions of his predecessors,
but that he has accurately observed and thought for him-
self. He will, therefore, no doubt, be pronounced by the
best judges to have presented his countrymen with the
most comprehensive and instructive work of this kind in
the English language.
Dr. B. published " Collections for an Essay towards a
Materia Medica of the United States," which "^is the only
work professedly on the subject of which it treats that hai
at that time issued from the American press. In 1810 the
author puljlished a third edition of this very valuable pro-
duction. It is an original work of great merit, and was
peculiarly acceptable to the public, as it brought into no-
EDWARD BARTO:^. 163
tice numerous medicinal remedies, the produce of our own
soil, which hud been entirely ncpflected, but which have
since luiiiuuMiled and enriched the American materia niedi-
ca. Ill \^0b Dr. 13. commenced the pulilicatioii of the
" Medical and Piiysical Journal," to which he contributed
many valuable articles.
As a naturalist, the merits of Dr. B. arc of no common
kind ; and he has deservedly received a lar^e share of
praise in Ids own and in foreign countiies for his many
and successfid exertions in enlar<riiig the sphere of natural
knowledge, lie j)ublished "• Fragments of the Natural
History of Pennsylvania," " Essay on the Fascinating
Power ascribed to Serjjents, &,c." and several memoirs on
particular sj)ecimens in zoology in the American Piiilo-
soplucal Transactions. In his new " Views of the Origin
of the Tribes and Nations of America," will be found vo-
cabularies of a number of Indian languages that were never
before committed to the jjress ; comparing these with lan-
guages more generally known, both on the eastern and
western continents ; and thence deducing new evidence in
support of the opiiuon that the nations of America and
those of Asia have a common origin, and that all mankind
are derived from a single pair. But the public have been
called to lament his premature deatli, which took place in
1815. " His various works evince a closeness of observa-
tion, an accuracy of in(|uiry, an extent of learning, and a
vi<Tor and comprehensiveness of mind, which are equally
honorable to their j)Osses>or and to his country."
In conclusion, it is but justice to observe that American
science and literature are immensely indebted to the inde-
fatigable labors of him whose memoirs we have now re-
corded.— J\fillcr's Retrospect and sundry Doctnnentt.
BARTON, EDWARD, iM. D. was a native of England.
He came to the United States at an early period of life,
under the immediate care and superintendence of the Ab-
be Tisserant, a French gentleman of uncommon attain-
ments, exemplary piety, and of peculiar sweetness of man-
ners and disposition. To the parental care of this accom-
plished scholar Barton was indebted for an excellent fomid-
ation in classical learninff, which was built upon with sig-
nal success. After the usual course of academic instruction,
he passed some time, with great advantage to himsell and
with usefulness to others, at the Roman Catholic Collejie
at Bahimore, where hi« classical education may be consid-
30
154 EDWARD BARTON.
ered as having been completed. His views relative to the
business of life, were directed to the profession of medi-
cine. He s})ent some months at Hanover, N. H. and at-
tended a course of lectures delivercil by Dr. Smith. He
came to Philadel])hia and, as an immediate pupil of Dr.
Pliysick, passed tlirough the course of medical studies re-
quired by the vmiversity, and received his degree with pe-
culiar favor and approbation from his instructers.
Soon after he Avas graduated Dr. Barton went to Europe,
and devoted himself assiduously to the attainment of know-
ledge in his profession, l)y means of all the advantages
which he could command in Great Britain and France.
He returned to the United States in a few years, and set-
tled in Philadelphia for the purpose of practising physic
and surgery. With the aid aH'orded by the kind and
friendly patronage of a gentleman whose name is another
name for benevolence, he was favorably introduced into
this community ; and by means of the most diligent study
and attention he fulfilled every expectation concerning him.
His progress in the practice of his profession, though grad-
ual, was such as convinced those Avho regarded him with
kindness, that he was advancing with a certain march to
distinction and usefulness. He had passed through the
tedious and exhausting noviciate, which must be passed by
every man of merit in his profession, and he was known
with higli esteem by the most eminent of his medical breth-
ren, and with favor by a respectable portion of this com-
munity. At this moment, when, it may Avitli truth be
said, the hopes of many were fixed upon him as calculated
for signal usefulness, when he had already acquired some-
thing of the strength and confidence of success, and when
his ambition was most ardent, and his prospects most flat-
tering, it pleased God to visit him wilh a pulmonary affec-
tion, from which he and his friends apj^rehended his speedy
dissolution. Under the advice of his friend and preceptor,
Dr. Physick, he sailed from Philadelphia on the fourth
day of August, 1821, for Lisbon, and from that port he
went to Genoa, at which place his eyes were closed in
death by the hands of strangers.
It is believed by the friend who writes these lines, that
few yotmg men have been removed by death, who were
more entitled to be lamented, and whose loss could be re-
garded as more truly severe upon the community, than the
subject of this notice. We do not u,ndertake to speak from
EU>VARD BARTON.
155
our own knowledge of his jjiofessional attainments ; hut
we are authori/.od (Voni the known sentiments of those
most conijutt'nt to jiulgr, to spc.ik of the in ;is unc o)nn;on
for his period of life. We can sj)eak, and with the (Uep-
est sincerity, of the manners and deportment of our fiiend
in the chamher of disea-e ; they were all that all'ection and
feelinjj couUl recpiiri* and prudence diitate. lie was viiii-
lant, ten(U'r, untirin<r and fiithful to the last. Ills pnticnts
will readily assent to the truth of our assertion, that he
never spared himself, nor regarded iiimselias an ohje^t of
thousfht, when his presence, his care, his watchings, could
tend even to allay the anxiety of the sick. lie visited,
Avith ecpial fidelity to the patient, the ahode of pove;ty
and the man-ion of the rich ; and it may he allirmed with
justice that he took jx'cidiar pleasure in his ministrations
to the lowly ami the liumhle. His mind was of too lofty
a character to suffer him to avail himself of adventitious
circumstances to ohtain the favor of the community. He
scorned even the apj)earance of seckinof to win thivt favor
by anv other means than his merit ; and though sometimes
inclined to (U'sj)on(U'n(V, hr confided for uUimate success
in that just discrimination of talents, to which alone the
professional man who has duly qualified himself for his
business, can look, as the sure foundation of his hopes.
The friends of Dr. Barton only can speak of him in the
character of a friend ; and they, if tiiey did justice to his
memory, would probably incur the chariic of extrava-
gance. We will venture to assert tliat the imj)ressions
which he made uj)on the hearts of those who were in the
enjoyment of his friendship, will never be effaced. It is
most consolintj to those who immediately feel the loss of
this young man, and must be irrateful to all to whom it
may be known, that in the latter staiics of life his impres-
sions of the solemnity of tin' c haiiuc which he was about to
make, were deej) and affectiuii. He was enabled to look
back upon the toil and trials, through which he had jiass-
ed to the very verge of eminence and usefulness, without a
pang of rcLjret : he was enabled to contemplate the fading
of earthly prosj.ects and promises with comi)Osnre ; be-
cau-e lie was enabled to look forward to the scenes of an
immortal existence with hope and with joy. His friends
have suffered a bitter loss : tliis community has suffered a
loss : but he has, we humbly trust, mad<' that exchange
which is infinite gain.
156 RlCHAnD BATLET.
The above memoir has been taken from the Philadel-
phia Journal of the Medical and Pliysical Sciences, edited
by the learned Professor Chapman, wJio in a note to the
above gives the following addition. " We cannot let the
above obituary notice, Avhicli has been executed by the
hand of kindness, be committed to our pages, without
bearing testimony to the truth and fidelity with which the
character and attainments of our deceased friend have
been delineated. It was our good fortune very early to
have becojne acquainted with Dr. Barton, and the relation
of preceptor and pupil Avas soon ripened into the more in-
timate connexion of a cordial friendship. He was a man
of no ordinary talents, highly cultivated by a liberal edu-
cation, of great proficiency in his profession, and with that
excpiisite sense of honor which feels ' a stain like a
wound.' Deeply conversant with medical literature, he
lent to this journal his ready support, and contributed to
it some of its most valuable articles. By the energies of a
determined spirit he pushed on in ' sickness and in sor-
row,' and though retarded by other trials and difficulties,
had already won hisAvay to a very enviable degree of emi-
nence, when it pleased his God to dash the hopes of his
friends and his OAvn bright prospects, by the termination
of his earthly career." — Philadelphia Journal of Medical and
Physical Sciences, Vol. 5.
BAYLEY, RICHARD, of New-York. The subject of
the following sketch has long since received at the hands
of French pathologists the credit so justly his due ; but in
his own country, excepting some few brief and detached
notices by sucli as from personal knowledge were enabled
to speak of him as he was, nothing has been known of him
to the profession in general.
It is Avith feelings of regret that Ave find ourseh'es crip-
pled by a Avant of facts in a biography, Avhich to the phi-
lanthropiht and physician must neces-sarily have been pecu-
liarly interesting, and to the student most instructive. But
small as are tlie materials, AA'e cannot consent to their loss,
nor force ourselves to believe that the name of Bayley is
to be lost from the records of American physicians and
surgeons, when his practice and obserA^ations did so much,
and at so early a period, to bring their profession honora-
bly before foreigners.
Richard Bayley AA'as born at Fairfield, Connecticut, in
the year 1745 : his father Ava« of English and his mother
RICHARD BAYLET. 157
of French descent. From this connexion on the mollier's
side and the rosiihuico of his pnieiits amongst the French
protcstant emigrants at New Uoc hcile, N. V. yonnji; Hayley
was early faiuiliarizcil with the J'^rcnch hm<!;uajr(', to wliicli
was adtled an actiuaiiitance witii the Latin chis-sics whii h
the constant occnj)ation of his after life j)revented him
from renewing or continuing. How his youth Avas pas^t'd
is ludvuown. Althouuli some degree of uncertaiiitv rests
U])on our chitcs throuuhout, still a multitucU' of colhitcral
events tend to prove that the extent of thai uncertaintv is
comprised within a very few months antecedent or poste-
rior to the time assumed. In 17GG, when ahout twenty
years of age, we find him engaged as a student of medicine
uniler Dr. Charlton, a nuich respected })hysician of the day.
Havinii completed his studies to the ])erfect satisfaction of
his j)reccptor, by his advice he determined to avail him>elf
of the l)enefits of the London lectures and hosj)itals,
whither he went in 1769 or 70, having j)reviously married
Miss Charlton, the sister of his instructer.
In London he aj)])ears to have excited tiie attention of
his instructers by his industry, ])eiseverance and dexterity :
for in a letter to his wife, written at this period, he says,
" The Anatomist Dr. Hunter gives me great encourage-
ment, and thinks that by applying myself closely to ana-
tomy and the operative j)art of surgery this winter (1770),
which I shall have entirely at my power in his dissecting
rooms, and after that to be punctual next summer in my
attendance on the hospit.ds, I may with case (|nalily my-
self for a practitioner in surgery in any j)art of the world;"
adding in the fullness of confidential intercourse " I will
mention to you that they tell me I have a very uncommon
dexteritv with the knife, but this LoTidon is a sad j)lace for
fl.atterv." llavinu remained at Lon(U)n a year oi* two, he
returiu (1 to Psew-Vork in HTi, and commenced jtractice
in coimexion with Dr. Chailton.
At this period his attention was first drawn to the then
prevalent and fatal* croup ; a disease of which so little was
known that men of hiiih character and good education
confounded it (])eriiaps from its fret|uent comjjlii ation with
that disorder) with putrid sore throat, and thus, overlook-
ing its inllammatory character, treated it witli due regard
to the still immortal phantom, putrescency, until extinc-
• Michaelip ft«te<i that until H.ivIpv's active treatment wat adopted on* half of
all »ffect»d died.— 5i6. Chi. dt Richter.
158 RICHARD BAYLEY.
tion of life gave full play to a physical demonstration of
its existence. How such an error could have been in-
dulged by the observant Bard, we cannot understand ; but
are willing to receive his e.vcuse even at the hands of a
foreigner, who after remarking that " L'ouvrage de Bard
n'apprend rien de precis sur le sief^e du croup, et que I'opin-
ion de ce medecin sur la nature de cette maladie est
fausse,"* thus proceeds, " Mais Ics circonstances dans les-
quelles se trouvait S. Baid lorsqu'il a ccrit sur le croup,
excusent, en quelque sorte, I'opinion erronee qu'il a mani-
festt'e sur la nature de cette maladie ; l'ouvrage de Home
venait de paroitre ; Thumorisme regnait encore. Home
avait cu occasion de voir le croup simple en Angleterre ;
Bard Tobserva en Amerique complique d'angine couen-
neu^e trts intense. C'est pour ces raisons, sans doute, qu'il
attribue cette maladie a la putridite, et lorsqu'il observe
des phenomenes inflammatoires, il en trouve la cause dans
un genie malin qu'il combat par les mercuriaux a haute
dose."f Such indeed were the prevalent opinions at the
period when Bayley's attention was first drawn to this dis-
ease, which was in April, 1774, when he saw a child perish
in thirty-six hours under the use of stimulants and antisep-
tics. Another case soon presented itself with a like result;
this he obtained permission to examine, and found an ashy
mucus lying upon the palate and tonsils, beneath which
covering the lining membrane was found entire, without
abrasion, but highly inflamed and gorged with blood.
The trachea was lined with an adventitious membrane of
extraordinary tenacity, which extended into the broncliial
tubes, where it gradually changed into a glairy mucus.
Such is his own record of the case. A few days after this
examination he saw another child whose voice was loud
and Jioarse, wiih sore throat, and ulcers visible upon the
tonsils ; this case terminated fatally upon the seventh day.
This case was also examined by Bayley, who found the
tonsils and the palate both involved in a slough, but no
marks of inflammation, nor any membranous deposit in the
trachea. Comparing these two cases in his own mind,
and reflecting upon their morbid ap])earances, he was con-
vinced that tliere were two distinct diseases prevalent, the
one of a highly inflammatory character, the other less so ;
which diseases might be complicated the one with the
* DesniellBS Traite du Croup, p. 105.
t DssruclUs Traitc, p. 135.
RICHARD BAYLEV. 159
other, and even when s^o complicated rcqniring j[rreatrr en-
ergy of troatiuent than Avas then m'licrally recommended ;
for, as has hcen statetl, tlie j)nl)lic mind had heen mishnl in
a treatise of the day* hy the antlior's coidounding the two
dise,is(>s ; and yet with the accuracy of the dissections
which lie appears to have ma(U% how he couM have fallen
into an error so fital,t is diilicwlt to conceive ; not inten-
tionally, clearly, for when the treatment of Bay ley, of
which we shall speak, hecame so decidedly successful,
Bard with honorable regard to truth rejected his own
views and ad()])ted those of Bayley.:}: Bard's dissections,
as Bayley remarks, show croiij) in its simple state, and as
complicated with the putrid sore throat and sloughs ;
"which slouglis, as they were termed, were not in croup
strictly such, for tlierc was no membranous abrasion
heneath, and no ulcers ; they might be wiped off, and the
lining membrane woidd appear whole, thou<iij gorned with
blood ; therefore Bayley inferred that they were adven-
titious or newly formed parts of hardened mucus oi' in-
spissated lymph, adding the following passag<; on the
pathology of croup, which is the more remarkable as
ivQ^n dates it is evidently antecedent to any other author.
'^ When Angina Trachealis" says Bayley " is theoretically
considered, there Avill j)rol)al)ly be formed, as is generally
the case when facts are not ascertained, oj)inions as various
as the information and different faculties of men may sug-
gest— I am induced to adopt the following; :
" That the larynx, trachea and bronchial jiipeshave one
common membrane, which we are informed l)y injection
consists of little more than an infinity of blood vessels,
and is consecpiently liable to inllammation, as all vascular
parts are. An increased action of these vessels, as in pleu-
ritic and ])uerperal fevers, occasions a preternatural secre-
tion of lymph, which from the ingress and egress of air
becomes condensed and assumes the appearance of a mem-
brane, whose comj)actness will dej)end upon the use and
liabit of the ])atient, the violenct of the inflammation and
the state of the atmosphere.
* BarH'i Essay on Angina Siiffbcativn.
t Hard on rapport a la putriilitc dii Croup administrc Ics Antiscptiques ct pprd
beaucoup dr. maladu. — Lettrei de MichatU* a Richler. Journal Gen. de Mtd.
t. 35, p. 44.5.
X Ccpoml.inl ce dernior aiitcur (Bard) frappc do non siicrcs de la mothodc adopla
cello do B.iyloy. — DrtrMtlltt Trait f, p. 296 an the authority of MirhaeliM. Al'o
Valentin titr Croup.
160 RICHARD BAYLET.
" The common opinion is that they who die of tliis com-
plaint, are suffocated by the mejnhraiie's closing the wind-
pipe. Another jnoie respectable opinion is that a spasm
of tlie muscles of the larynx closes the scene. The cir-
cumstances which precede death in this disease, compared
with those appearances which have rei^ularly taken place
in the cases which I liave seen successfully treated, explain
the cau?e of tlie patient's death from the laws of the
blood's circulation. To preserve the healthful state of an
animal, it is necessary that the whole mass of blood should
circulate through the luno;s in a given time ; the free ad-
mission and expulsion of air contributes to this regular
process ; the change, also, Avhich grachially takes place in
the lungs, seems more diiectly to account for the swelled
face, tumid jugulars and tlie full staring eyes, M'liich are
the symptoms that accompany the progress of this com-
plaint ; and add to this that the larynx, trachea, and bron-
chia have been found pervious in every subject I liave
dissected, whilst their ramifications have been as regulai^ly
filled with a glairy mucus."*
Nothing can be more explicit or more accurate than the
above, wliether we consider it as to its pathology, or as
giving in very clear terms the cause of death so long re-
ferred, and even at no very distant period, to suffocation
from membranous obstruction of the trachea.
Such was the view of croup taken by Bayley in the
years 1774 and 5, although not published by him until
several years after, as he was always particularly careful
to have his facts well weighed before he hazarded tliem in
print : and it is a singular fact that Bayley's opinions on
this disease, and his successful practice in coui^onance to
those opinions, were published in Richter's Surgical Re-
pository several years antecedent to the appearance of his
own letter on croup. These opinions were conveyed in
the letters of Michaelis, the distinguished chief of the Hes-
sian Medical Staff, whose celebrated dissert ationf on this
subject had yet to be improved by observations in America
derived from the views, practice and dissections of an Amer-
ican surgeon. It is no less true than honorable, that to
Richard Bayley did his friend, the celebrated Michaelis,
yield up his own opinions of the croup ; and with a candor
* Med. Rep. vol. 14, p. 346, Bayley's paraphlst.
t De Angina polyposa sive membranacea.
KICHARD BAYLCr. 161
and love of truth so characteristic of a scientific man, the
titled authority, as he then was, u(k)ptr(l the opinions and
practice of a young American j)liy.»ician, tiic unknown
Day ley.
After Iiavini^ thus distinguished himself, Baylcy in the
autunm of 1775 revisited En<rlan(l, to avail liimstlf ol the
aid of Hunter and liis collection. His conversations with
that dislin<]juished man led to a request that Bavley's
observations and dissections mii^ht be placed before tlic
public : wliich finally, in 1781, nine years after his oj)in-
ions were first formed and after they had fully stood the
test of experience, was done in the form of a letter to Dr.
Hunter, wliich notwithstanding its merits would long
since have perished but for tiie treasury of the American
Medical Repository. Bayley spent a winter in London,
where he was busied in studies, dissections and compari-
sons xipon the merits of different modes of treatment and
views of disease as evinced in Loiulon and Edinburgli,
whicii resulted in a preference of the former.*
In the spring of 1776 he returned to New-York in the
capacity of surgeon in tlie English army under Howe.
This was a step of neressity rather than of inclination, as
the sequel proves. For like genius in every clime, Bavley
was poor ; aiul the necessity of a lovely wife and beloved
children, will often dictate a course which sober reason
might not approve. In the fall of this year he proceeded
with the fleet and a detachment of five or six thousand
troops wlikJi took possession of Newport, Rhode-Island,
and was there established as hospital surgeon of that po^t.
His wife being then at New-York and in delicate health,
his desires and affections strongly coincided to induce a
return to that city ; but the sternness of military law
yields not to the entreaties of private affection, whilst the
duties of the station forbade even a short furlough. Under
these circumstances, his wife being in an exposed citv, ill
and dependant upbn the charity of strangers, the very
object of his exertions was lost ; and in addition he learned
with mortification that, under a certain term of service,
not even a half pay establishment, the object of his enter-
ing the service, could be expected. His ardent mind ex-
cited by anxiety aivd distress saw but one alternative left,
viz. resignation ; he accordingly threw up his commis-
* Vide MS. letter ofEdnvd Siovena to Baj'U/.
21
162 RICHARD BATLEY.
sion, and returned to New-York in the spring of 1777, just
in time to receive a last pledge of aflection from his expir-
ing wife.
A new scene now opened upon him. Beloved by his
former officers, and esteemed by his fellow citizens, he
seemed to be fast gaining repu*tation and comfort ; whilst
the influence he possessed with the several commanding
officers, was often exerted in saving the lives and rescuing
the property of his absent friends and fellow citizens from
confiscation or destruction. About this period the croup
again made its appearance, and Bayley adopted his old
method of treatment, still however instituting post mor-
tem examinations ; one of which in particular, as being
very decidedly characteristic of Bayley's views, was
shown to Michaelis, and was one of the causes that indue-
ed the latter to adopt Bayley's opinion of its highly in-
flammatory character. Three years afterwards, viz. 1781^
his " Letter," was published recommending venesection ad
deliquium and from the jugular vein, blisters to the throat,
antimony to nauseate and occasionally pushed to emesis,
and calomel and enemata as evacuants and alteratives of
secretion. It was added in a postcript, " That as a recent
publication dissuades from venesection in the advanced
stage from a fear of its putrid tendency, he would state
that unless ulcers accompany it, there is no fear of putres-
cency, dissections proving the inflammatory action of the
trachea and bronchia and its fatality in the inflammatory
stage."
Appended to Bayley's tract is a very interesting and
valuable letter to him from that gentleman and scholar^
Dr. Middleton, bearing date November 30th, 1780, in
which, after adverting to their frequent previous conver-
sations upon the subject, he fully coincides with Bayley's
view of the inflammatory nature of the disease, and the
efficiency of the prompt remedial applications by him re-
commended. It is remarkable, however, in this letter of
Middleton that nothing is said of emetics ; for it was not
to his bold and extensive venesection alone, that Bayley
was indebted for success in croup ; he constantly and effi-
ciently employed emetics, generally however premising
venesection ; because, in addition to the rapidly inflam-
matory progress of the disease, he had once observed an
emetic to produce convulsions from a want of such pre-
liminary treatmei>t.
RICHARD BATLET. 163
All things then considered, it is to Richard Baylcy that
we are indebted for our present active and sncres^l'urniode
of treatment in cronp ; and this method lie adopted con-
trary to popnlar o|)ini()n and in tlie teeth of j)roles>ional
disaj)prol)ation, for lie knew that there was but one nnerr-
injT record of disease, viz. Pathology, and that taught him
the luiihly inflannnatory character oVcronj).
Indeed such was Hayley's attention to m()rl)id anatomy
and intiM-nal pathology, that it iKHame the subject of in-
vitlious objeition to him l)y some of his narrow minded
contemporaries, who circulated a report that during his
winter residence at Newport he was in the hal)it of cut-
ting up his patients, and performing cruel experiments
upon the sick soldiery.
But IJayley was not only assiduous in cultivating know-
ledge ; he^wa-s likewise disposed to impart it ; and so
early as 1787 he delivered lectures, in a then unoccupied
edifice since converted into the New-York Hospital, upon
surgery, whilst his son-in-law Dr. Wrijiht Post, so distin-
guished by his subclavian operation, lectured uj)on ana-
tomy. In the year 17S8, however, in consecpience of
imprudence on the part of some students, the populace
became excited against the profession, and the celebrated
*' Doctors' Mob" broke into the building, especially in its
south wing, where they found Bayley's alreadv valuable
cabinet, which Avas forthwith hea})ed into carts, carried
forth and trinm])hantly buried ; a loss which is the more
to be regretted, as in addition to a rare collection in mor-
bid anatomy, of which sj)ecimens he had the particular
histories, there \vere some extremely delicate preparations
which evinced his anatomical dextc'ritv, as strikingly as
the former illustrated the accuracy of his ])at]iorogical
])rofnieiu'V.
In the spring of 1792 the Faculty of CoInmI)ia College,
in conformity with their charter privileges, deeming it
expedient to erect a medical faculty elected both Bayley
and Post as professors, the former of Anatomv, and the
latter of Surcery ; Imt as Dr. Post rej)aire(l inunediatelv
to London, Bayley dis( barged the chitiis of ho[]i profess-
orshijx during the winter of 1792 and ;J. Po>t, however,
returnin«r in the fall of 1 793 asstnne.j the anatomical chair,
whilst Bayley took his favorite subject, surgery, in which
he was certainly distiuLTuished as a clear, precise and
practical lecturer ; for his surgery was not theoretical nor
164 RICHARD BATLET.
founded upon reading and authorities, but was the result
of experience and observation. In addition to being a
most experienced and successful lithotomist, notwithstand-
ing his constant use of Hawkins' gorget, he also in the
year 1 782 successfully removed the arm from its glenoid
cavity by the operation of the shoulder joint ; an operation
at which Dr. Post, then a student, assisted ; and which,
as far as it has been in our power to examine, is the first
instance of its being practised in the United States, and
among the first of its proving completely successfnl in
any country. As an optician, a department of surgery
then as little known as it lias latterly been widely estab-
lished through the country by the creditable exertions of
two gentlemen whom we are gratified to claim as fellow
citizens,* he gained deserved celebrity ; whilst his general
preference of extraction above depression of the lens in
cataract, sufficiently indicates his sound judgment and
ready skill.
Devoted to his profession, he left no individual exertion
unemployed to elevate its character and give permanence
to its utility ; hence he was one of the earliest promoters
of the New-York Dispensary, as is evinced by his corres-
pondence on that subject with Dr. Bard. To him, then,
amongst others are we to ascribe the benefits of that Avell
conducted charity, whose exertions are limited only by a
want which in a city like New-York is of all others the
most disgraceful, a want of funds.
Soon after the war of the revolution, that scourge of
unclean places, yellow fever, appeared among our cities.
Its fatality clothed it with all the mysticism implied in the
often used though still little understood terms of Conta-
gion, Infection and Pestilence, until the populace became
so excited with these chimeras of terrific and mysterious
influence, that an attack of this fever became a death war-
rant to the patient ; from whose presence or proximity
physicians, nurses, friends and relatives fled, leaving the
sufferer's last hope to be extinguished by the desertion of
all whose assiduities and attentions might have soothed at
least, if not prevented, his hour of doom. But during this
period of alarm Bayley stood firm and undismayed :
busied in giving personal attentions to the sick, he became
practically familiar with the disease and its more success-
* ProfosBor Edward Delafield and Dr. J. K. Rogers, of New-York.
RICHARD BAYLLf. IG5
ful rem'^dial applications. Not satisfied with this, lie
investigated its causation, and in July 2(Jth, HOG, he
writes to tiie Rev. R. C. Moore in reply to a letter from
that geiitkinan intpiiriiig if lie njight with safety return to
the city, that he might so return to the district in whith
that gentleman resided, as the dock fever, as he termed it,
was a murderer of our own creating, wIiojc origin is local
and referriMe to the recent filling in of docks with filth,
ofllids, the carcases of horses, &.c. iLc. afilirming " that when
a more rigid police prevails to free the city from nui-
sances, no more will he heard of particular diseases."
In 171)7 he puhlished his Avork " on Yellow Fever,"
wherein he is at great j)ains to give distinctiveness to the
terms Contagion and Infection, saying " By contagion we
underst md something peculiar and specific, poss^essing
properties essentially different from any thing else, e. g.
measles, small})OX, &.c. not requiring the concurrence
of certain causes to render them contagious ; they are so
under all circumstances. But other diseases may or may
not be infectious, according to the conditional state in
whi(h tliey are j)laced."* In tlie same essays he adchices
the strongest te>timony of its local origin. Indeed so
strong was his belief upon this point, and so clear and
just his conce])tions of the causes pioducing it, that he
predicted the very spot where it afterward appeared in
the year 1799. This work of Bayley's, now little known
except to his contemporaries, is written in a concise, plain
and nervous style, with a lucid and methodic arrangement
of facts, whence his deductions leave it free for every read-
er to Judge how fir the one may justify the other : it is
a work j)urely practical, the fruit of a painful and hazard-
ous experience in the disease, which he most uuhesitat-
inirly pronounces not contagious, an o])iiiion, jjrofessorial
dicta to the contrary notwithstanding, which he never
pubse(|uently saw reason to alter or modify, and which has
now become tiie opinion of the impartial practitioners of
every clime. His remarks upon the condition of the
atmosphere and its remarkal)le deficiency of eledricity
combined with excessive humidity, as illustrated by the
observations of Mr. Gardiner Baker at the nniseuni, are
highly curious and valuable, and strongly tend to corrobo-
rate his views and opinions.
• Em*j on Yellow F»T«r, p. 38.
166 RICHARD BAYLEY.
Not satisfied with this exposition of his opinion and
practice, and having in 1795 or 6 been appointed Health
Physician to the port of New-York, he in 1798 published
*' Letters from the Health Office submitted to the New-
York Common Council," being a series of letters in the
years '96 — 7 and 8 ; one letter, dated December 4th, 1798,
assigns his reasons wliy the fever of '98 was more exten-
sively prevalent than in '95 — 6 or 7, which refer to the
excessive rains flooding large portions of the city, its low
levels, neAV made ground and a hot sun.
In this same year, 1798, a correspondence took place be-
tween Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, and the Phila-
delphia College of Physicians, and afterward between the
city of Philadelphia and the city of New-York. In the
course of this a proposition was made by the Philadelphia
committee to the committee of New-York, soliciting their
co-operation in a memorial to the general government for
a Quarantine Law, in which, amongst other clauses, one
amountinor to the total exclusion of all West India com-
merce, or a non-intercourse act for the summer months,
was proposed ; but it was objected to by the New-York
committee. A modified memorial was, however, jointly
presented to the Congress of the United States, for the pass-
age of some general Quarantine Regulations. This exact-
ly suited Bay ley, who served on one of the New-York
committees, for he had been long and ardently engaged
winter after winter at the capitol of New-York, seeking
the adoption and enactment of certain regulations proposed
by him ; and he in fact is the person to whom we are chief-
ly indebted for our State Quarantine Laws, although they
have been since altered and amended. Accordingly Bay-
ley seized this opportunity of impressing upon the general
government the propriety of a quarantine establishment
or lazaretto below and at a distance from the city, or port
of entry, where suspected vessels might be brought to an-
chor, examined, suffered to pass on if deemed proper, or
imladen, ventilated and purified ; the sick removed from
their confined situation on ship lioard, and comfortably
established in a well appointed hospital, &c. &c.
Accordingly this joint petition was granted by the pass-
age of the Act of 1799. In November of that year Bay-
ley addressed a letter to Governor Jay upon the fever of
1798, in which, after referring to his pamphlet on the fe-
ver of 1795, and recapitulating its local causes, he remarks
RICHARD BAYLCr. 167
that cool weather, thTindcr and rain suspeiKleil it for a
time, and that its extension from its sonne was in the di-
rection of tho i)rov;deMt winds ; addini; tliat moist weather
not only predisposes to the causation of this disease, but
also predisposes the constitution to he more easily acted
upon by it, whilst in a hot dry air there is less liahility to
Its spreadinjj, as it then recpiires persons to be innucnced
af the i)la(e where the excitinjr cause is most concent rate,
spreadii.ir very little beyond that point. He concludes by
dwellinjr on the importance of be iM<r aware of its local ori-
gin, in order to remedy it by the adoption of suitable and
efficient means ; and he particularly animadverts upon the
then prevalent mode of makincr new ground, and states
that, in a district which suH'ered under this condition, af-
ter covering the surface with a few feet of fresh and good
earth the fever soon began to abate, the weather remiiinincr
unchanged. Human contagion he denies, adducing as a
proof that there was no instance of a nurse or attendant in
the hospitals taking the disease ; but that it may be con-
veyed by goods or foinites, as they arc technically termed,
he gives an instance by statincr that, when tiie liosj)ital at
Bedlow's Ishuul was first opened, for want of proper bed-
ding, &c. the old ones which had that summer been used
for fever patients, had been brought unventilated from
Bellevue to it, and that such as were encjaged in their
transportation, and the nurses who received and arranged
them, fell a sacrifice to the disease ; but every tliintr w-ent
on well after their destruction and purification. *
But the period had now arrived when Bayley Avas to
end a life of active utility upon the very spot aiid in the
very cause where his labors had been so 'extensively bene-
ficial to his profession and to humanity. In the discharcre
of his duty as Health Physician in Auir„st, 1801, he dirert-
ed the passengers and crew of an Irish emicrrant ship with
ship f,.vcr to ffo on shore to the rooms and tents ai)j)ointed
lor them, leaving their i)a<Tgage behind. This was in the
evening ; early the foUowiiifr morning upon froinfr to the
Hospital he found that his orders had been disolu'ved ;
an( that crew and passengers, men, women and children,
well, sick and dyinii, ^vith all their bag era rre, were huddled
together in one apartment, where thev had passed the
nicht. Into this apartment, before it had been ventilated,
he imprudently entered and remained but a moment • be-
ing compelled to retire l)y the most dcadlv sicknesi at
WILLIAM EAYNHAM.
stomach and intense pain in the head, wliich seized him
immediately upon entering the apartment. Returning home
he retired to bed, and in the afternoon of the seventh day
following he expired, leaving behind him a high character
as a clinically instructed physician, an excellent and bold
operator, a prompt practitioner, of rapid diagnosis and
unhesitating decision. In demeanor a perfect gentleman ;
honest and chivalrously honorable ; of perfect integrity,
and therefore little tolerant of obliquity in others ; ever
ready to serve the cause of his profession ; inflexible in
his attachments ; invincible in his dislikes, and unbrooking
of insult : in temper fiery, yet suddenly cool ; a fault which
he knew and regretted ; thoroughly fearless, somewhat
too strongly partial to certain patients, but withal chari-
table to a fault. — MS. Letter to the Author.
BAYNHAM, WILLIAM, ESQ. Surgeon, was the son
of Dr. John Baynham of Caroline County, Virginia, and
was born December 1749. After having devoted five years
of his early life to acqviiring the elements of his profession
\mder the auspices of Dr. Walker, at that time considered
as one of the most eminent surgeons in America, and thus
by a regular and laborious apprenticeship laid that founda-
tion for future eminence, which unfortunately by too many
is deemed unnecessary, he was sent by his parents or guard-
ians to complete his education in London in 1769, where
he entered as a student at St. Thomas's Hospital.
Here he soon acquired the notice of Mr. Else, the Pro-
fessor of Anatomy, which ripened into a reciprocal attach-
ment that continued through life. Under his direction he
became particularly attached to the study of anatomy and
surgery, and by application and perseverance he soon ac-
quired a complete knowledge of both these departments of
science. He Avas remarkable for unwearied and minute
attention and diligence in every thing he attempted, and
thereby ensured success if at all attainable. As a proof of
his early anatomical knowledge it may be mentioned that
he was employed in 1772 by the Professor of Anatomy at
Cambridge to dissect and prepare the subjects for his lec-
tures. Mr. Baynham continued to assist the Professor in
his dissections, &c. for several winters, and in the remain-
ing part of the year was a partner of Mr. Slater, an emi-
nent surgeon of Margate, which was a very profitable and
agreeable connexion, as appears from some observations in
Mr. Baynham's own hand writing. Whilst he was in thi«
WILLIi^M BAYNHAM. 169
situation he received an invitation from Mr. Else, the dis-
tinguished Professor of Anatomy at St. Thomas's, to re-
turn to London and become his assistant demonstrator.
A proposition so flattering and apparently so advantageous,
was immediately acceded to by Mr. Baynham, Avith the con
sent of Mr. Slater, who, however, wishing to retain him,
offered liim an equal share in the partnership.
Mr. Baynham engaged with Mr. Else on the following
terms : he was to superintend the anatomical theatre and
dissecting room, prepare the bodies for his public demon-
strations, make preparations for the museum, and to instruct
the pupils in the arts of dissecting, injecting, making ana-
tomical preparations, &c. with a salary of eighty and nine-
ty pounds the two first years, and one hundred pounds a
year for five succeeding years ; at the expiration of which
(having qualified himself in the interim for the office) Mr.
Else was to relinquish to him the professor's chair, or to
take him as joint professor on equal terms, as he (Mr.
Baynham) might choose. Having returned to St. Thomas's
he pursued his occupation with unremitted assiduity, and
thereby acquired that minute knowledge of anatomy for
which he was so justly celebrated. He prepared for the
museum more than three times the number of rare and
valuable preparations which he found there. Their con-
nexion continued five years, at the end of which time Mr.
Else died suddenly of an apoplexy, without making any
preparation for him as his successor. Mr. Baynham was
even an entire stranger to the governors of the Hospital,
in whom was vested the power of appointing a successor
to the late professor. His reputation as an anatomist and
surgeon, hoAvever, was so Avell established, that when the
election was made his opponent obtained the appointment
by one vote only, and that because two of Mr. Baynham's
friends Avere absent.
Mr. Else bequeathed to him the museum by his Avill at
the price of six hundred pounds, Avhich he afterAvards sold
to Mr. Cline, Avho obtained the aj)pointment, for eiffht
hundred pounds ; reserving to himself some very beautiful
and valuable preparations Avhich Avere on hand and unfin-
ished at the time, and which with others occasionally made
by himself, were sold for one hundred guineas to Mr.
Blizard, Professor of Anatomy in the London hospital.
Among these Avas a very fine preparation of a testis, beau-
tifully injected, which satisfactorily df^rlded the lon§ din-
22
170 WILLIAM BAYNHAM.
puted question between Else, Pott, Hunter, and others,
whether in the operation for hydrocele by caustic as per-
formed by Else tliC cure was ellectcil by adhesion, or by a
total dei^trut tion of the tunica vaginalis, as was asserted by
Else. In this case the caustic was applied in his ordinary
way by Mr. Else, and, the patient having died of another
disease, Mr. Baynham dissected out the parts and injected
them by the spermatic artery with a very fine injection
colored with vermilion. The tunica vaginalis was much
tliickencd, l)ut otherwise perfectly sound in every part,
except where the caustic had acted ; and every appearance
clearly demonstrated the actual existence of what Mr.
Hunter termed adhesive inflammation and, conjointly with
the aj)pearance of soundness in the tunica vaginalis, estab-
lished the fact beyond a doubt, that the cure is perform-
ed by adhesion and not by the destruction of the sack.
Mr. Baynham injected and demonstrated a fine vascular
membrane on the surface of the cutis immediately under
the rete mucosum, separate and distinct from the cutis and
capable of separation from it throughout its whole extent.
Dr. William Hunter was satisfied of this fact from the pre-
parations which were made and shown to him, expressing
his surprise by saying, " what have we been doing so long,
that we never observed this before .'"' Mr. Cruikshanks was
then about to publish his observations on the absorbents,
and proposed to attach an account of this discovery to his
book, which was agreed to ; and in that book is the only
notice of it which the writer of this has seen, except one
apparently taken from the same source in Wistar's Anato-
my. The account given by Cruikshanks is a gross mis-
representation, and an attempt to confound this with that
part of the cutis he had been operatinjsf^upon to discover the
seat of the variolous pustules. He presented a copy of this
work to Mr. Baynham, which has on its margin various
remarks in his (Mr. Baynham's) writing, expressing his
indignation against the author for so doing, and clearly
marking wliat he ought to have j)ul)lished. This mem-
brane explains the seat and appearance of erysipelatous in-
flammation, the cure of it l)y blistering, and the probabili-
ty that scarification throiigli this membrane would arrest
its progress, and accounts for the progress of superficial
gangrene being stojjped by a blister applied above it.
On the 7th day of June, 1781, Mr. Baynham became a
member of the company of surgeons of London (which is
W'lrHAM DAVNHAM. 171
to the surpjeon what the degree of M. D. is to the physician)
and rominrncod the praclico of sur^rry in London, and
])rol)al)ly continued to do so while he remained in (hat city.
Having resided sixteen years in England, Mr. Baynha n
returned to his native country, and shortly after settled in
Essex, where he contiinied until his death, which took
place on theSth of l)e<«Mid)er, IHl 1, liiiviiiir the day hefo e
conij)lete(l tlu> Glith year of a life which had hetn actively
and usefully spejit in the j)ursuit of a hihorious prole-sion
and in the service of his fellow creatures. It is not to hv
wondered at that having laid such a solid foundation, and
brouiiht with hitn so di^tinfJuished a reputation, he should
immediately obtain an extensive practice, and support and
even augment his celelirity. To enumerate the difl'erent
operations upon which his re])utation rested, would he
suj)errtnons ; many arc already known to the public, and
especially to medical men. There is scarcely any tlifhcult
operation in surgery which he did not perform, and with
almost invarial)le success. He particularly sitrnalizetl him-
self hv several ojierations for stone, cataract and extra-ute-
rine conce])tion. A detailed account of a case of the latter
may !)e wen hv reference to the New-Vork Medical an. I
Surgical Journal.
It is no sinall proof of the siiperior merit of Mr. Bayn-
ham, tliat, nolwithstandinij (he obscure and confined thea-
tre of his practice, his talents hitlden as (hey were in some
measure from (he public eye by the seclusion of a country
life, and restricted l)y a limited po|)ulation, he acquinil a
reputation tpiite as spleuditlaml almost as extensive as any
of those eminent surgeons, who possessed for the display
of their abilities the advantage of the most populous citif^s^
and the most consj)icuous oflicial stations. Ilewasfrtf-
(pientlv sent for to oui- lar<;c cities and sometimes eVi-n ih-
to other states. He was applied to for ad\ ice by pers(fVis
living in remote parts of the union, and had patients at-
tencling him at his own residence who were brought thith-
er by his fame to obtain the benefit of his skill. As a
surgeon, it is probabl(> that .Mr. Baynham had n(» su]>**rior;
as an anatomist, it i>: certain that be had none. The "most
ample testimonies exist to prove the resjM-ct in wlitcli his
talents havr alwavs been held l)otli in Europe and America.
He is always mentioned bv the several Professor*: of Ana-
tomy in our Universities in their lectures with the greatest
respect, and we have heard a distinguished teacher assert
171
niLLIAM BAII^UAM.
that he considered him in the art of making anatomical
preparations only second to Ruysch. One remark I
will add, says his biographer, which is that Dr. Physick
and Mr. Baynham are the only persons whom I know in
America that have really improved the surgical proiession.
It has been falsely supposed by some, who were probably
misled by his great surgical reputation, that he was not
eminent as a physician. But if success can be assumed as a
criterion of excellence, he deserved tlie highest credit in
the latter character ; and accordingly it has been awarded
him by the suffrages of those Avho had the l)est opportu-
nity of judging of his merit, his own patients. To the super-
ficial observer, Avho measures the altitude of the mind by
the vibrations of the tongue, and considers fluency and
eloquence of discourse as the only unerring criterion of
talents, he could not have appeared worthy of his high
reputation. He was slow ancl not very distinct in the
enunciation of his ideas. Entirely unambitious of orna-
ment, talking only to be understood and never for effect,
despising the prismatic glare of factitious refinement and
exaggerating declamation, by which the feebleness of the
idea is so often concealed beneath the sj)lendor of the dress,
it is not to be wondered at that he s-eldom made a favor-
able impression on strangers, and that he generally on first
acquaintance disappointed those whose expectations had
been raied, and whose opinion of him hacl been formed
from the report of fame.
We now approach that part of his character which to
himself and to his posterity is of infinitely more import-
ance than all the fame andall the favors which the world
can be.tow, his moral worth, his merit as a man and a
mendjer of the great human family. In most of the rela-
tions in which Mr. Baynham was connected with society,
he discharged all his duties in an unusually exemplary
manner. That he had some eccentricities of temper must
be confessed, but that they have been exaggerated by mali-
cious observers is also true. AVith an exterior somewhat
gloomy and austere he possessed the kindest and most
philanthropic feelings — indeed few men had naturally
warmer hearts. In him the poor ever fotmd a friend and
benefactor ready by the humane offices of his skill to as-
suage the pangs of bodily disease, or by his beneficent
liberality, which sometimes bordered even on munificence,
to relieve them from the equally cruel pangs of poverty.
JOHN BLATTT. 1*73
He was one of those very few men, says another writer,
whose loss will he a puhlic inisforlune, for I know not
who is to suctced him in \ iiaiiiia as a Mirycon. In his
profession he was second to Dr. Fhysic^k only, and nothing
hut the most narrow, inveterate and mali^jiiant jealousy
rould asperse his medical reputation. He was a memher
of the Royal College of 8ur<ieons, and con>e(|U('iillv had
the same >taiulini2, in the proles>ion as Pott, John liuiiter,
(,'o()pi'r and Aherneth\'. In the dis>e(tin<r room he was
j)re-eminent, heinj" uncpiestionahly the hest pra(ti(al ana-
tomist in Great Britain. The hest j)rej)arations in the
museum of Messrs. dine and Cooper were made hy him ;
one j)articularly of a female hreast, it is supposed, has never
been e(|ualled.
His name is mentioned in anatomical works as the dis-
coverer of the vascularity of tlie rete mucosum. In the first
volume of the Medical and Philosojihical Journal and Re-
view printed in New-York, is a paper of Mr. Baynham
containinij an account of an operation which he is supposed
to he the first to have performed successfully, and in the
Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences
are to i)e ft)und m.uiv i)Osthumous puMications of sur<[ical
cases, which reflect the highest honoi* on his talents and
character. — Philadelphia Journal of JMedical and Physical
Sciences^ Vol. 4.
BEATTY, JOHN, M.D. This gentleman was a native
of Buck's county, Pennsylvania, l>ut received his educa-
tion in New-Jersey, where he resided for more than forty
years of his life. He was the eldest son of a clergyman
of distinguished i)iety, learning and usefulness, and de-
scended from Governor Reading of New-Jersey, who Avas
his maternal grandfather. He was graduated at Princeton
in the year HGO, and was highly respected for his dili-
gence and learning ; and afterwards studied the science of
medicine imder the celebrated Dr. l{ush.
In the vigor of youth at the commencement of the revo-
lutionary war, his pacific profession was soon exchanged
for the habiliments of the warrior ; at a very early j.eriod
of that contest, he enrolled himself among the defenders
of his country, and so ra])id was jiis promotion, that in
Septemiter 1170. he had attained the rank of lieutenant
colonel in the Pennsylvania line. In this caj)acily he
greatly distinguished himself, until by the unfortunate
capture of Fort AN'ashington in the autumn of that year.
174 JOSHUA BELDEN.
Jie was consigned to imprisonment by the enemy at a cri-
sis when the severity of their treatment exceeded that of
any other period of the war. It was a considerable time
before he was exchanged, and the hardships endured in
his military career materially impaired his constitution
and health, which it was some years before he fully
recovered. Being able at length to resume the active
duties of life, he was appointed in the year 1 779 successor
to Elias Boudinot, Esq. in the responsible and laborious
office of commissary general of prisoners, which station it
is believed he held till the conclusion of the war, and in
which he was particularly distinguished for activity and
fidelity in the discharge of his duty.
At the close of the war he settled at Princeton, where
he pursued his professional calling as a physician with
approbation and success. At different times he was elected
a member of both branches of the legislature, and was
chosen speaker of the house of assembly ; he also repre-
sented the county of Middlesex in the convention which
adopted the federal constitution. In 1793 he was elected
to congress ; and served in that body with distinction as
an active and useful member. After the death of Samuel
W. Stockton, Esq. then secretary of the state, the office
was conferred on General Beatty by the legislature at the
autumnal session of 1795, the duties of which he most
faithfully and ably discharged for the space of ten years.
He was soon after selected by the Delaware Bridge Com-
pany to superintend the erection of the bridge across the
Delaware at Bloomsbury. After the decease of the late
Col. Jonathan Rhea, he was elected president of the Tren-
ton bank, which appointment he held with unblemished
integrity, for the last eleven years of his life. He was a
member of the society of Cincinnati of New-Jersey, and
held the office of treasurer at the time of his decease,
which took place April 30th, 1826, in the 78th year of his
age. For many years before his death he was a ruling
elder in the Presbvterian church in Trenton.
BELDEN, DR. JOSHUA, was born in Wethersfield,
Connecticut, March 29th, 1768. He was the son of the
Rev. Joshua Belden, long the pious and exemplary minis-
ter of that place, under whose instruction and influence he
was trained in correct habits, and taught the usefulness of
good principles by which his future life was controlled.
He was prepared for Yale College imder the tuition of the
BETH BIRD. 175
Rev. Dr. Perkins of West Hartford, and having passed his
collegiate course with reputation both as a scholar and a
youth of correct deportment, he received his degree in
1787 at the age of nineteen years. After leaving college
he commenced the study of divinity under the instruction
of the Rev. Dr. Smalley of Berlin ; he continued, how-
ever, but a short time, when he changed his plan of life,
and commenced and pursued the study of medicine vmder
the direction of the celebrated Dr. Lemuel Hopkins of
Hartford. When prepared for practice, by the influence
of his venerable father he took up his residence as the
physician of his native village, where he soon gained the
entire confidence of the people. He was well furnished
with books, and made it his care to unite study with prac-
tice, as the surest mode of being always prepared for the
duties of his profession, and of increasing and correcting
his experience, by comparing the observations of others
with his own.
The native tenderness of his feelings, cultivated by hab-
its of kindness to those whom he visited, rendered him
extremely solicitous for their safety and recovery, and
their cases would dwell upon his mind with such intense-
ness as often to deprive him of his sleep. Such was the
general satisfaction in the skill and judgment of Dr. Bel-
den, that the inhabitants considered themselves as enjoying
under his care all that could be reasonably desired in the
healing art, and it is gratifying to the lover of excellence
to hear his old patients at this day portray his merits as a
physician and his kindness and sympathy as a man. The
traits of his character in domestic and social life were
honorable, for he was affable, frank and sincere, full of
filial piety and respect for his venerable father, who at the
age of ninety years leaned upon him with satisfaction as
his staff" and comfort in life. He was employed in various
offices of public trust, and took a warm interest in public
improvements, in the diff'usion of general knowledge, in
literature and in education. He was an ardent friend and
supporter of religious and charitable institutions, and pub-
lic schools ; and his whole life was an exhibition of moral
and religious virtues. Dr. Belden fell a victim to the
fatal epidemic called spotted fever, prematurely and sud-
denly, June 6th, 1818, aged forty years.
BIRD, DR. SETH, was born in Bethlem, state of Con-
necticut in 1733. He studied his profession under the in-
176 8ETH BIRD.
struction of the eccentric Dr. Hurlbut of Berlin, and settled
in the town of Litchfield, society of South Farms, Avhere ht
soon gained great and extensive celebrity as a physician.
Dr. Lemuel Hopkins, who was his i)upil, used to say of
him that lie was the greatest physician with whom he was
ever acquainted, and believed him not inferior to Boer-
haave himself.
Dr. Bird possessed a vigorous and investigating mind,
ardent love of his profession, and zeal in its pursuit. He
was more distinguished for acute sagacity, correct judg-
ment, and talent at discrimination, than for learning or
science ; his reading was principally confined to his pro-
fession, and he became early accp.iainted witli the works of
Boerhaave, probably while yet a student with Dr. Hurlbut,
who understood them better perhaps than any man of his
time in the state. Dr. Bird was enthusiastic in his attach-
ment to the works of this great author, and to the last day
of his medical career, would vindicate his theory and
practice from the aspersions of the more modern followers
of CuUen and Brown, with much warmth of feeling and
force of argument.
In his person Dr. Bird was of middle size, rather corpu-
lent, his complexion dark, hair black, face ruddy ; his
speech was slow and apparently laborious. He had a>.
peculiar mode of raising his hand when al)out to speak,
which was always an indication that something was to be
said ; his remarks were learned and pithy, often severe
and sarcastical, and sometimes on medical subjects lie was
interesting and even eloquent. His education was limited
in general science and literature, but nature made him a
philosopher and a physician ; he had a genius for investi-
gation, and a relish for inquiry into the operations of
nature, especially as regarded man in a healthy or diseased
state. His prescriptions were simple, often inelegant, but
always well adapted to the circumstances of his cases.
His powers of memory were remarkable, which, joined to
correct judgment and habits of observation, with the very
ample opportunities which his extensive practice afforded,
enabled him to accumulate a vast fund of experience. Dr.
Bird was employed in consultation more frequently than
any other in a Avide extent of country, and he was always
precise in point of punctuality on such occasions ; he once
reproved a young physician, whom he met, for a short
delay, observing that he had never made a physician wait
TI1(»M\S P,(iND. n7
a moment during a prart'uT of (oilv vcais, :illhouj;Ii fie
lived in ;i tliinly settled eoimtry and olu n r()<le from
lliirly to fifty miles.
His last illness was linj^crin^, he heinfr of a dropsieal
haltit induced hy liberal j)otations of ardent spirits, to
Avliieli lie was jrreatly addicted in the last years of his life.
His eollin was niade hy his directions a considerable time
before his death, and kept (onstantly by the side of his
chair ; beinp; asked by a friend if it did not make him
melancholy to have that unwelcome tenement so eon>tant-
ly in view, " No," said he with his sitrnificant motion of
the hand, " I shall slide into it in a few days." lie lived
to the age of seventy-two years, and died in 1805. Dr.
Bird ac(|uired a handsome fortum^ l)y his ])rofessional
business and riijid economy, while others of his standing
with ecpial advantaiics died without j)roperty.
ROND, THOMAS, M. D. This celebrated physician
and surgeon was a native of Maryland, and sttidied his
profession there un(h>r Dr. Hamilton, a very learned jirac-
titioner. Afterward he travilled in Europe, and spent a
considerable time in Paris, where he attended the practice
of the Hotel Dieu.
He began the practice of medicine in Philadelphia about
the year 1734, and soon attracted the ])«d)lic attention.
He was the founder of the college and academy, and one
of the most active managers of tlie Pennsylvania hosjiital
at its commencement. With his brother Dr. Phineas
Bond and Dr. Lloyd Zachary, he made the first offer to
attend that institution as ])hysicians and surjieons. In the
year 1769 Dr. Bond was selected to give clinical lectures
in the Pennsylvania Hospital, and about the same time he
drew »ip some useful m<'dical memoirs, which were pub-
lished in a])eriodical work in London. He was an otlicer
of the Philosophical Society from its first establishment,
and appears by the old records to have been a member of
a smaller society instituted in 1713, of which Dr. Benja-
min Fraiddin, William Coleman, John Bartram, Thomas
Godfrey the inventor of the fpiadrant, and Dr. Phineas
Bond were also nKinbers. This society in 17GS united
with another which had also been a lon^j time in existence,
and the two bodies then assumed the name and form
which are now employed. The oriLMnal proposals for
this society, drawn up by Dr. Fraiddin himself, mav be
23
178 PHINEAS BOND.
seen in the American Medical and Philosophical Register,
Volume II,
Dr. Bond's publications were, 1. An account of a worm
bred in the liver ; Medical Observations and Inquiries of
London, Volume I, dated May 1, 1754. This was the case
of Charles Holt of Philadelphia. Upon dissection, the
liver was found very much enlarged and partly scirrhous.
On its internal part there was a large cavity containing
nearly two quarts filled with bloody water, and a few
lumps of coagulated blood. The worm was annular, and
discharged by stool a short time before death in two parts.
The first was thrown away before Dr. Bond saw it, but
from the description given to him by the sister of the suf-
ferer and l)y the nurse, and the resem1)lance of the remain-
der to that described by Mr. Paisley in the second volume
of the Edinburgh Medical Essays, this appears to be
exactly of the same kind.
2. A Letter to Dr. Fothergill on the use of the Peruvian
Bark in Scrofula. Two cases are related of the decided
efficacy of the bark. The disease appeared in the form of
numerous tumors, some of which were ulcerated. Med-
ical Inquiries and Observations, Volume II.
In 1782 he delivered the annual address before the
American Philosophical Society. The subject was " The
rank and dignity of man in the scale of being, and the
conveniences and advantages he derives from the arts and
sciences, and a prognostic of the increasing grandeur and
glory of America, founded on the nature of its climate."
He was for half a century in the first practice in Philadel-
phia, and remarkable for attention to the cases under his
care, and his sound judgment. He was an excellent sur-
geon, and in the year 1768 performed two operations of
lithotomy in the Pennsylvania Hospital with success.
By nature Dr. Bond was of a delicate constitution, and
disposed to pulmonary consumption, for which he went a
voyage when a young man to the island of Barbadoes.
By unremitted care of his health, the strictest attention to
diet and to guard against the changes of temperature, and
also by frequently losing blood, Avhen he found liis lungs
afiected-,-.jje lived to an age which the greater part of man-
kind never re.^©k. He died in the year 1784, aged 72.
BOND, PHINEAS, M. D. This gentleman was seve-
ral years younger than his brother Thomas abovemention-
PARDON BOWEN. 179
cd. He also was educated in Maryland, the jilace of liis
nativity, and j^ubscfjiK'ully stiulicd nicdicint! npon a most
extensive scale. He pJisM'd a consiiUrahh' time at Lcyilen,
Paris, iMlinlxiriih and London, and was not less disjtoM'd
to j)ronu)te tiian well (jnalilied to jndjie of every nndcitak-
ing for the improvement of the medical character of his
country. In conjuiution with the nnicii respech'd Tliomas
llopkinson, he originated the scheme of tiie coUeffe, now
the University of Pennsylvania.
lie enjoyeci a liiuh reputation as a successful practitioner
of medicine in Philadelphia. Not practisinfj surgery he
moved in a ditl'erent line from his brother ; but no medi-
cal man of his time in this country left behind him a
higher character for professional sayacity, or the amiable
qualities of the heart. He was lemarkable for convivial-
it v, but never habituated to intemperance. Hi- died in
June 1773, aged fifty-six years.
BOWEN, PARDON, "M. D. This accomplished j.hy-
sician and excellent man was born in Providence, Rhode-
Island, on the 22d of March, in the year 1757. His
remote ancestors were useful and hiiibly resj)ectable mem-
bers of the society in which they lived ; and the irre-
])roachable name they left behiiul them several of their
descendants have sij^nalized in the medical history of
Rhode-Island, by no ordinary attainments in ])rofessional
science, and by a diligent, successful and honorable prac-
tice. Richard Bowen, the ancestor of this family, emi-
grated to this country al)ont the year 1G4().
The sul)jcct of this notice was the fifth son of Dr.
Ephraim Bowen, an eminent physician of Providence,
whose valuable life, protracted to near a century, termina-
ted in the year 1812. During the professional career of
this venerable patriarch, tli(> character of the ])revailing
diseases iu Providence and the adjacent reuion underwent
material chaniies, produced, it is not unreasonable to con-
clude, partly by the gradual melioration of the climate,
and partly by those habits of life which accompany a pro-
gressive advancement in the comforts and luxuries of
social existence. Of these changes it is umiecessary to
produce more than two examples. Fever ami aijuc, and
dysentery were formerly extremely prevalent in and
arouiul Providence. A case of the former, it ix b< lieved, has
not oriijinated in that town for more than half a century,
and the latter, wiiich is seldom epidemic, has parted with
180 PARDON BOWEiX.
much of its former malignancy, and yields generally,
except in the case of children, to judicioui? medical treat-
ment.
The incidents of Dr. Pardon Bowen's early life, avc
have been unable to collect with nullicient accuracy to
warrant us in committing them to the pages of an authen-
tic memoir. The com})anions of his youth unite their
testimony in praise of his singular exemption from the
vices and the follies of youth. They speak with imcheck-
cd complacency of his amiable conduct and manners in
the different relations of life, of the disciplined enthusiasm
of his heart, and the well directed energies of his under-
standing. His academical education he acquired at
Rhode-Island College, now Brown University, under the
presidency of the Rev. Dr. Manning, receiving in the
year 1775, at tlie age of eighteen, the honors of that institu-
tion. After the usual course of preparatory study, under
the direction of his brother Dr. William Bowen, he in the
year 1779 embarked as the surgeon of a private armed
ship, fitted out for the destruction of British commerce.
He was soon destined to experience the fortune of war, the
ship being captured and carried to Halifax, where during
an imprisonment of seven months he endured no common
privations and sufferings. After Ijeing regularly exchanged,
he returned home, and with ardor undiminished by the
disastrous issue of his first cruise, he in the course of the
tw^o subsequent years engaged in several enterprises of a
similar nature. Capture and imijrisonment were the result
of two of these cruises, and a third was signalized by an
obstinate engagement for more than two hours with an
enemy's vessel, which was finally captured, though not
without bloodshed. After experiencing a variety of peril-
ous fortune, he reached home some time in the year 1782,
and never again committed himself to the chances of war
or encountered the storms of the ocean.
In all his domestic connexions Dr. B. w'as blessed and
happy beyond the common lot of man. Early in life he
was married to Miss Elizabeth Ward, daughter of Henry
Ward, Esq. for many years secretary of the state of Rhode-
Island. This lady, who participated with him largely in
educating an interesting family, still survives.
Resolved to establish himself in his native town, he in
the year 1783 repaired to Philadelphia, for the purpose of
perfecting himself in the knowledge' of his profession. In
PARDON BOWEN. 1^1
tlic distiii(ruislii.>(1 incilical school of that city lie was a
Uili^nit student, aiul prolitcil larj^cly hy the instructions
of its cnrment professors. Acconl|lli^hiIl^ the h*iu(hihh;
object of iiis tempoiary residence in IMiihuKlphia, h«'
returned to Proviih-nce and ininuiliately coniineiued the
practice of his profession in its diil'erent branches, lie
tlitl not escape the lot of nearly all yomijr physicians at
their outset in professional lile. JLnteriiig uj)oa a fieUl
already prt'occupied by more e.\j)erienced practitioners, his
early practice was far from extensive, ami several years
elaj)sed before his |);rseverinu; endeavors were atUciuatelv
rewariled. lie continued, however, to advance >tea(lily
in the coniidence and favor of the comnmnity till amjile
success fdled tiic measure of his hopes. For a lonfj .series
of years j)rior to the lanientetl calamity whit h terminated
his usefulness, he was almost incessantly eii<ia<fed in pro-
fessional duty, his rej)utatioii as an eminent j)hysician and
surgeon beinj^ extensive and undisputed, and ids character
as a man composed of s\ich pure and bland elements, that
love and veneration mingled for him their spontaneous
tribute. Dr. Bowen was devoted to his profes>i()n. He
perceived its imi)ortant relation to the cond'ort ai.d happi-
ness of society ; and faithful to his liijih trust, he indulged
no complacent toleiatiou for the arroijaiit pretensions of
ignorance and emj)iricism. To his j)atients of every de-
scription he was invariably faithful, and, though devotedly
fond of domestic satisfactions, and alive to the pure rel-
ishes of social converse, he never post[)oned the wants of
the sick to tlie joys of iiis own fireside or to tiie attrac-
tions of yeneral society.
During the prevalence of the yellow fever in l*rovi-
dencc, when dejection and dismay sat upon many a brow,
and the sense of j)ersonal danjjer threatened to absorb the
sympathies of our common nature, and death mocked at
tlie exjx'dients of human s<ienc(^ tt) avi-rt hi> blow, ])v.
IJowen shnmk not from the p»'rils in Iiis wav. More than
once was his life endanjiered by an attack of that fearfid
malady, ])ut God j)re>erved him from thus becoming a
victim to his noble intre])idity in tlie service of humanity.
Dr. Bowi'n confined his attention to no |)articular <le-
partment of his profession, but aimed at excclleiu-c in all.
For bis skill in operative suryerv lu" was hiuhlv respected;
and duriiii; many years most of the sur<fical o|»er;ition-- in
and aroiuul Providence were jierformed by him. In medi-
182 PARDON BOVVEN.
cal surgery he was thought to be extremely judicious ;
and his uncommon science, experience and success in
obstetrics left him without a superior in that difficult branch
of his profession. In the treatment of fevers and of chron-
ic affections generally, he was excelled by no one within
his sphere of practice. Wedded to no system, he followed
the indications of nature and the directions of true science,
avoiding a timid caution on the one hand, and vmauthoriz-
ed experiments on the other, never dogmatizing in support
of a favorite opinion, but seeking to establish the truth by
sound analogies and cautious induction. For much of his
skill and success as a practitioner he was indebted to his
nice philosophical discernment of the moral, intellectual
and physical idiosyncrasies of his patients. He regarded
man not simply as a machine, but as a being mysteriously
compounded and organized, exposed to morbid influences
from the combined operation of moral and physical
agencies.
Dr. Bowen contributed occasionally to the medical
journals of the day, and in the fourth volume of Hosack
and Francis's Medical and Philosophical Register may be
found an elaborate account from his pen of the Yellow
Fever, as it prevailed in Providence in the year 1805. De-
sirous to keep pace with the progress of his profession, he
was diligent in reading those periodical publications which
treat of new phenomena in diseases and improved modes
of medical treatment.
Dr. B. was an active member of the Rhode-Island Medi-
cal Society, and for some time its presiding officer. He
was also a fellow of the American Antiquarian Society, and
a member of the Board of Trustees of Brown University.
In the winter of 1 820 the professional usefulness of this
eminent and beloved physician was terminated by an at-
tack of hemiplegia, which seized him without premonition,
and threatened the immediate extinction of life. The
worst fears of his friends were not, however, thus sudden-
ly realized ; he partially recovered the use of his limbs, and
not long afterward retired to the residence of his son-in-
law, Franklin Greene, Esq. at Potowomut (Warwick)
about fifteen miles from Providence. This spot had been
for many years his favorite retreat from the toils of pro-
fessional life, and was destined to receive his last sigh.
There, in the bosom of an affectionate family, he passed
years of suffering, which, though sometimes relieved by
PARDON BOWEN. 183
intermission and cheered by the hope of restoration, was
but too often exasperated to agony, in spite of every alle-
viation which the instinctive promptitude and ingenuity
of affection could administer. These, however, were not
years of melancholy vacuity, of hopeless dejection, or of
monotonous anguish. The exercise of benevolent affec-
tions, the reciprocation of domestic endearments, and the
pleasures of a cultivated intellect, brightened the path of
the sufferer with intermittent gleams of tranquil enjoy-
ment, while Christianity, with its train of gracious in-
fluences, purified him for the joys and comforted him with
the hopes of heaven. In his hours of health and ease, he
had an eye for nature, he loved her sweetest influences, he
observed her mighty energies, her wonderful operations,
her varied appearances of sublimity and beauty, and he
delighted to refer these glorious things to the wisdom and
benignity of the Parent of the universe. But it was in the
page of revealed truth, it was in the life giving energy of
the doctrines, precepts and promises of the Bible, that he
found the only adequate support and solace, when pain and
anguish came upon him, and his way upon the earth look-
ed dark. Death at last approached, kindly commissioned
to relieve him from protracted suffering, and, sustained by
the promises of that Savior in whom alone he trusted, he
cheerfully resigned his being on the 25th of October, 1826,
aged 69 years.
We cannot close this imperfect sketch without again ad-
verting to the personal character of Dr. B. ; and, happily,
such were the gifts and graces of his moral being, that in
dwelling upon these there is no hazard of incurring the
charge of exaggeration. By his friends he was, indeed, a
man to be ardently loved ; for they daily witnessed the
benignity of his nature, the engaging suavity of his man-
ners, the variety and richness and clear intelligence of his
conversation, the generous expansion of his sensibilities,
and the inflexible rectitude of his principles. The pressure
of business never made him careless of the feelings and in-
terests of others. Indeed he was remarkable for that moral
cultivation which respects the rights of all, and few showed
a nicer discernment of the essential peculiarities which
distinguish one being from another, and a more benevolent
and delicate adjustment of conduct to all in every class.
Notwithstanding his elevated reputation as a physician,
and the opulence of his intellectual attainments, hewas on
184 WILLIAM C. nOWF.N.
all occasions a pattern of cnj^aging modesty, seeking rather
to promote the happiness of others than to win their ap-
plause. Singularly exempt from that feverish thirst for dis-
tinction Avhich is allayed by the cheap honors of society, he
was happy in his walk of revered hut unobtrusive usefulness,
ministering to the comfort of his fellow creatures when
bereaved of health, or oppressed by poverty, or sinking
in death. Though for nearly half a century engaged in
the active discharge of professional duty, his heart retain-
ed its original purity, imcorruj)ted by an undue attach-
ment either to wealth or to fame. His fortune was never
ample, but the stream of his beneficence flow^ed Avitli an
ecpial and imchecked current. Such were some of the
prominent characteristics of Dr. Pardon Bowen. He had
high cajiacities, and he exerted them for the good of his
kind. His life, in all its stages, was a beautiful exhibition
of the virtues, and, at its close, an example of christian
holiness. His pin-e spirit, wdiile on eartli, took a wide and
lofty range ; and now that it has ascended to its Maker,
the belief is not presumptuous that it is gladdened by the
joys of Heaven, and svdilimed by the contemplations of
immortality. — William G. Goddard^ Professor in Brown
University.
BOWEN, WILLIAM C, M. D. was the only son of
Dr. William Bowen of Providence, wdio is at this time
actively engaged in professional business, and enjoying the
undiminished confidence of the most respectable part of
the communitv, thousfh arrived at the advanced age of
eighty years. Tlie subject of this notice was born June 2,
1785. He entered Rhode-Island College, but removed to
Union College in the State of New-York with the Rev. Dr.
Maxey, at the time he accepted the presidency of that in-
stitution, and was graduated there in 1803. On his return
to Providence he commenced the study of medicine with
his uncle Dr. Pardon Bowen, Avith whom lie continued
till 1806, when he embarked for Europe to complete his
education. He studied in Edinburgh under the instruc-
tion of Professor Hamilton, and in 1809 received his de-
gree, choosing for the subject of his dissertation " De
Sanguine Mittendo." Having passed some months in
Holland and Paris, he returned to London and became
tlie private pupil of Sir Astley Cooper, with whom he
continued till August, 1811, wlien he returned to Provi-
dence and there commenced the practice of physic and
ZABDIET. BOYLSTON. 185
surgery. In 1812 he was chosen professor of chemUtry
in JJrown University, atul sul)sc(|uenlly delivered two
courses of lectures. At this time he coniuicnced ;i course
of e.vperinients to discover tlic basis of the hhachiii^ Tujuor,
whicli was just iliscovered and apjilied in l^nglaud, j)rc-
paratory to the formation of a hleai hiiio estahlishnicnt in
Providence ; and it was the exj)Osure of his luuf^s to the
action of powerful acids in lids j)ursuit, tliat laid the foun-
ihition of the disease that finally destroyed him, April 23d,
1-S15, in the tlurticth year of his a<re. In tlic death of Dr.
William C. Bowen, Rhode-Island lost its bri<;ht('.-t orna-
ment of the medical profession. No one before his time
enjoyed the advantages of such distinguished instructers
.so great a length of time, and with his ardor in the ])ursuit
of j)rofessional knowledge, his discriminating and compre-
hensive powers of mind, he was uncommonly ca])al)le of
being improved by such advantages. Mis suavity and
kindness of maimer endeared him to all who were the
subjects of his professional care, and no one could be more
successful in gaining the respect and confidence of the
good and the wise ; in proof of whicli it may be ol)>erved
that his j)receptor, Dr. Hamilton of Edinburgh, called on
him as a consulting physician in a perilous disease of his
own wife, and the writer of this notice had the satisfaction
of hearing very honorable mention made of his acqiiire-
ments by Sir Astlcy Cooper. His labors upon chlorine,
though destructive to his own jjroperty and life, laid the
foundation of the present very flourishing bleaching estab-
lishments of Rhode-Islanil, which, in connexion with the
extensive manufacturing interest of the state, have become
of immense value to the proprietors and to the public
general! v. — U. Porsonf!.
BOYLSTON, DR. ZABDIEL, F.R.S. This distinguish-
ed g(;ntleman was the son of Dr. Thomas Boylston, a native
of England, who, after obtaining tiic degree of Doctor of
Medicine at the University of Oxford, came over to Amer-
ica, and settled at Brookline, Massachusetts, in the year
1635.
Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, his eldest son, was born in the
year IGSO. He married Jerusha Minot of Boston, and had
several children. He accpiired his professional education
under the instruction of his father, and Dr. John Cutter,
an eminent physician and surgeon of Boston ; and com-
menced the practice of phvsir in that town under very
24
186 ZABDIEL BOYLSTON.
favorable circumstances in the early part of the last cen-
tury. In a few years he arrived at great distinction in his
profession and accumulated a handsome fortune. He was
remarkable for his skill, his humanity, and close attention
to his patients. He had been led under the direction of
his father to the study of Botany and Natural History,
whicli he so successfully cultivated as soon to establish a
correspondence with several learned societies and eminent
individuals in England, particularly with Sir Hans Sloane,
president of the Royal Society, and one of the most cele-
brated naturalists of his time. In order to illustrate the
subjects on which he wrote, Dr. Boylston spared no labor
nor expense in obtaining rare plants, animals and insects,
a great variety of which, then unknown in Europe, he at
different times transmitted to England. Indeed such were
his ardor, industry and research in these pursuits, that he
acquired no inconsiderable degree of distinction as a
naturalist.
In the year 1721 the smallpox appeared in Boston, and
pursued its usual desolating career, carrying with it the
utmost terror and confusion. On this alarming occasion
Dr. Cotton Mather, the learned and distinguished divine,
communicated to Dr. Boylston a publication in the Trans-
actions of the Royal Society, announcing the discovery of
a new method of mitigatinff the virulence of this fatal dis-
ease. This intelligence was from Drs. Timoni and Pila-
rini,* being a concise account of the process of inocula-
tion, as then practised in Turkey by scarifying the skin
and applying the matter under a nut shell, but giving no
other directions concerning the practice or mode of treat-
ment. Dr. Boylston was forcibly impressed with the
benefit of the discovery, and accordingly, after deliberating
on the most safe and expeditious mode of thus artificially
introducing the disease into the system, he communicated
to the medical gentlemen in Boston the plan he proposed
to adopt, and the source whence he derived the first hints
of the operation, desiring their concurrence in the under-
* Dr. Emanuol Timoni Aljspcck, who was graduated both at Padua and at Ox-
ford, was residinj,' in Constantinople in the year 170.3, and was then struck with
liie instances which he witnessed of the mitigated nature of the smallpox, when the
virus was artificially communicated to the human frame. Ho wrote an account of
his observations to Dr. Woodward, by whom it was inserted in the Pliilosophical
Transactions of the year 1714. Pilarini was a Venetian physician, and published
m 1715 at Venice a statement of the success of the Turkish practice.
ZABDIEL DOYLSTON. 187
taking. But Dr. William Douglass, a Scotch physician of
sonic eminence, who Jiatl i^ceIl tlir puhlication in Dr.
Mather's possession, and Dr. DaihomUs a French j)liysi-
cian, also of some repute in liostoii, united in a violent
opposition to the plan, and ])ublicly denouncctl it as intro-
ductory of the j)lague, which had so often visited and
nearly depopulated many cities in Europe and Asia ; and
declared that the attempt to put it into practice woukl be
no less criminal than murder. The other j)liysicians in
Boston not oidy reluseil their co-operation in so novel and
hold an experiment, bui condemned it in their writings,
and opposed it in every shape. Dr. Boylslon, however,
was a man of benevolence and courage, and fniding before
him a promising opportunity for diminishing the evils of
human life, he was not afraid to struggle with prejudice,
nor uuAvilliiig to encounter abuse in the nol)le cause. The
clergy in general were disposed to aid the j)roject, but a
few of the less liberal were instigated to preach against it,
and such was their influence, added to that of Douglass
and Dalhonde, that the inhr.bitants became enraffed, and
were excited to commit atrocious acts of outrage on the
person of Dr. Boylston. They patvoled the town in par-
ties with halters, threatening to hang him on the nearest
tree. The only place of refuge left him at one time was
a private place in his house, where he remained secreted
fourteen days, unknown to any of his family ])ut his wife.
During this time parties entered his house, by day and
by night; in search of him. Nor was this all ; their ran-
cor extended to his family ; for one evening, while his
wife and children were sitting in the parlor, a lighted hand
grenade was thrown into the room, but the fusee striking
against some of the furniture fell off before an explosion
could take place, and thus providentially their lives were
saved. Even after the madness of the midtituile had in
some measure sulisided, Dr. Boylston ventured to visit his
patients only at midniirht and in disguise.
Undismayed, however, by all this violence, and un-
5\ipi)orted by the friendship of any but Dr. Mather,
he commenced on the 2*th of June Hil, whih' the
smalli)ox was in its most destriictive progress through
the town, this untried experiment of inocuhition on
his own son, a child of thirteen years of age, and two
blacks in his family, one of thirty-six and the other of
two years of age ; and on all with complete success.
188 ZABDIEL nOYLSTON.
This rekindled the fury of the poi)ulace5 and induced the
authorities of the town to summon him before them to
answer for his practice. He underwent repeated exami-
nations, and although he invited all the practitioners in
Boston to visit his patients and judge for themselves, he
received only insults and threats in reply. These facts
we have thought worthy of notice, as remarkable in them-
selves, and as in some degree characteristic of the excitable
spirit of the times. In thus encountering obloquy and re-
proach, however, Dr. Boylston but experienced the for-
tune of most of those who have attempted to innovate on
long established usages, or to take the lead in the career of
public improvement. The smallpox ceased its ravages in
May 1722, and during its prevalence Dr. B. continued the
practice of inoculation to all who could be induced to
submit to it. He inoculated, with his own hand, two hun-
dred and forty-seven of both sexes, from nine months to
sixty-seven years of age, in Boston and in the neighboring
towns ; thirty-nine were inoculated by other physicians
after the tumult had in some measure subsided, making in
the whole two hundred and eighty-six ; of whom only six
died, and of these, three were supposed to have taken the
disease in the natural way some days previous to their
being inoculated ; three of those who died, were his old-
est jjatients. It appears by the account published by the
selectmen, that during the same period five thousand seven
hundred and fifty-nine had taken the natural smallpox,
eight hundred and forty-four of whom fell victims to the
disease, being more than one in six. In the vicinity of
Boston it had been still more malignant and fatal. The
utility of the i)ractice was now established beyond dis-
pute ; and its success encouraged its more general practice
in England, in which country it had been tried upon but
a few persons, most of whom were condemned convicts
and charity children. The daughter of Lady Mary W.
Montague was inoculated in London in April 1721, being
the first instance in Europe, arid the convicts were made
the subjects of the experiment in August of the same year.*
il Dr. Boylston therefore is justly entitled to the honor of
*' being the fir.-t inoculator in America, and this even before
\ the single instance of the experiment in Europe had come
to his knowledge.
* Sec page 20 and 44 of this volume.
ZABDIEL BOYLSTON. ISO
III tlic prosecution of this good work, Dr. B. it h.is been
shown, was oliliged to meet not only tlio most virulent,
but the most dangerous opposition. Dr. William Doug-
lass, a Scotchman, violent in his j)reju(lices and bitter and
ontraireous in his conduct, bent his whole force to annihi-
late the practice which hud been iiitroihiced ; and Dr.
Dalhonde was prevailed upon to make a sin^fidar deposi-
tion relative to the subject, which, however absurd, the
selectmen had the etfrontery to j)ublish in support of their
opposition. (This production may be seen in page 42
of this volume.) The newspaj.ers of the day teemed with
calumny and a])use of all the friends of inoculation, and
numerous pain[)hlets were published with the design of
prejudicing the pul)lic mind against the new practice.
Douglass asserted that it was a crime, which came under
the description of poisoning and spreading infection,
which were made penal by the laws of England. Some
of the pamphlets contained sucli language as tliis, " To
spread abroad a mortal contagion, what is it but to cast
abroad arrows and death .•' If a man should wilCully throw
a bomb into a town, burn a house, or kill a man, ought
he not to die .'' I do not see how we can be excused from
great impiety herein, when ministers and people, with
loud and stroncf cries, made sujiplications to AlniiLdity God
to avert the judgment of the smalliiox, and at the same
time some have been carrying alioiit instruments of inocu-
lation, and bottles of the })oisonous humor, to infect all
who were willing to submit to it, whereby we might
as naturally expect the infection to spreatl, as a man
to break his bones by castins; himself headlong from
the hifrhest jiinnacle. Can any man infect a family in
town in the morning, and pray to God in the evening
that the distemper may not sjneaii ?" It was contended
that, as the small^jox was a judgment from God for the
sins of the j)eoj)le, to endeavor to avert the stroke, would
but provoke him the more ; that inoculation was an en-
croachment upon the prerogatives of Jehovah, whose
right it is to wound and to smite ; and that as there was
an appointed time to man upon earth, it would be useless
to attempt to stay the approach of death.
Dr. B. durinii his unjust persecution held a ( orrespond-
ence with Sir Hans Sloane of London, the court jdiy^i-
cian, who beiu:f apprized of his very eminent services
in first introducing inoculation into America, honored
190 ZABDIEL BOYLSTON.
him Avith an invitation to visit London.* He accordingly-
embarked for that city, and on his arrival was greeted
with the most cordial affection and respect. He was
elected a member of the Royal Society, the first American,
we believe, ever admitted to that honor. He was, more-
over, honored by being introduced to the Royal family,
and received the most flattering attentions and friendship
of some of the most distinguished characters of the nation.
The same spirit of calumny and misrepresentation, which
he had experienced in his native land, it is said pursued
Dr. B. in England. He and his practice were violently
denounced, and Dr. Wagstaffe and others cautioned the
public against him. He continued, notAvithstanding, dur-
ing his residence of a year and a half, to enjoy the respect
and friendship of the wise and good in England, and was
repeatedly solicited to settle there ; but his preference of
his native land induced him to forego all the advantages
wliich might residt from such a determination. Before
leaving England, however, he published at the request of
the Royal Society, an account of his practice of inocula-
tion in America, which he dedicated to the Princess
Caroliiie. This was in 1726, and it was republished in
Boston in the following year. A copy of this edition ele-
gantly bound, has been deposited in the medical library of
Harvard University by Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq. Dr.
Woodvillc in his History of Inoculation, observes that
Dr. Boylston had the discernment to discover that the
smallj)Ox, as usually received, is much longer in taking
effect than when communicated by inoculation ; and that
the latter precedes the former by four or five days : a
discovery, of which a more modern inoculator has taken
the credit.
* These memoirs are composed chiefly from documents furnished by Ward
Nicholas Boylston, Esq. a descendant of Dr. Boylston. This gentleman asserts
that the letter of invitation was addressed to Dr. Boylston by order of the king,
•with the intention that he should inoculate the Royal Family, and that he did
actually perform tliat operation first upon Princess Caroline, and subsequently upon
other members of the Royal Family, and that the king compensated his services bjr
a purse of one thousand guineas. But this statement is opposed by the history of
inoculation by Drs. Woodville and Moor, two English physicians, who have detailed
an account of inoculation of the Royal Family, performed by his majesty's Serjeant
surgeon Amyand in 1722, and others in 1723. (Sec page 44 of this volume.) It
would appear by the family tradition and documents that Dr. Boylston visited Lon-
don in 1723, and it is clear that he published his book in London and dedicated it
to Princess Caroline in 1726. Whether he did or did not inoculate the Royal
Family, his merit and highly important services would naturally claim for him the
royal bounty, and it is certain that he returned home with ample funds to cnablo
him to retire from professional business.
ZABDICL BOYLITUN. 101
After his return to his native country, Dr. H. continued
at the ht'ad of his profrssiou, and <ii<iaiiril in literary pur-
suits, uiaUiiii" nianv in^ieiiious and iisrl'id coinuninicatioiis
to the Royal Society, and corresponding witii his numer-
ous friend?, nmonn; whom he used to mention with ^rcat
respect and atU'ction the Rev. Dr. Watts, wlio appears hy
his h'tters to have heen a warm advocate for inoc idation.
After a lon^ peiiod of oininence in his profession, his ajie
and infirmities calhd for retirement ; and h( in<,M'SM nlially
aideil in his pecuniary concerns hy his visit to I^oncU)n, he
was enabled to reliinpusli ids professional avocations and
retire witli his family to his paternal seat at IJrookline,
where he passed the residue of his days in indei)endence
ami comfort. He had the })leasure of seeing ino( ulation
universally ])ractised, and his efforts crowned with the
attainment of a noble object, whi( h has heen received as
an invalua1)le acquisition to the science of medicine.
Having retired from professional labors, Dr. B. devoted
himself to the cultivation of his farm, and the pursuit of
his favorite studies. Amon<T his aiiricultural oc(iij>ations
was the im])rovement of the breed of domestic animals,
particularly of horses, for which his farm was cchbrated.
Nor was he content with merely breedinii fine animals, but
being an excellent horseman, he broke them for the car-
riage and saddle. This practice he followed almost to the
last days of his life. He has been seen in Boston at the
age of eighty-four, ridinjj a colt he was breakinir.
Dr. B. possessed a stronn aiul rctlcctino; mind, and acute
discernment. His character throu<i;h life was one of unim-
peached integrity. He was charitable in his opinions of
others, i)aticnt under the severest persecution, and forgiv-
in<r of his l)itt('rfst enemies. When his family were alarm-
ed for his safctv, he expressed to them his resiirnation to
the will of I haven, and at the close of his usefid life, he
was consoled with the reflection, that the sj)irit of malevo-
lence, so hostile to his merit and fame, became attem])ered
to the grateful duty of enhancing and perpetuating the hon-
or so ju.Mlv due to his cliaracter. He was not dis])Osed to
doixniati/.e on any subject, but communicated his extensive
knowlediie in the m<»st free manner. These (pialities. add-
ed to ti>e natural ease and suavity of his manners, which had
been improved by intercourse with the xvorld, caused his
society to be much sought, and to his family and his
friends rendered him a most interesting and instructive
MB JOSHUA BRACKET?.
companion. His health was often interrupted by severe
attacks of asthma, to which he was subject for tlie last forty
years of his life. He met death with calmness and perfect
resijcf nation in the eiojhty-seventh year of his age, saying
to his friends, " My work in this world is done, and my
hopes of futurity are briglitening." He was buried in the
family tomb at Brookline, on which is inscribed the fol-
lowing appropriate and just language. " Sacred to ihe
memory of Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, Esq. physician and
F.R.S. who first introduced the practice of inoculation
into America. Through a life of extensive benevolence,
he was always faithful to his word, just in his dealings,
affable in his manners, and after a long sickness, in which
he was exemplary for his patience and resignation to his
Maker, he quitted this mortal life, in a just expectation of
a happy immortality, March 1st, 1766." His wife died a
few years before him.
BRACKETT, JOSHUA, M.D. M.M.S.S. Hon. The
subject of these memoirs was born at Greenland, in the
vicinity of Portsmouth, New-Hampshire, in May, 1733.
Having gone through the preparatory studies under the
tuition of the Rev. Henry Rust, at Stratham, he became
an alumnus of Harvard College in 1748, the usual honors
of which he received in 1752 and 1755. His collegiate
course being finished, lie attended to various pidjlications
on the science of theology. In contemplating this for a
profession, he consulted the pleasure of his parents, more
than his own inclination. However, he proceeded in his
studies, was licensed and became a preacher ; but the state
of his health soon became such, as obliged him to deter-
mine on some other pursuit. He then devoted himself to
the study of a profession, whicli was ever more congenial
to his turn of mind, and in which Providence had design-
ed him for eminence. He devoted his time diligently to
the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Clement
Jackson of Portsmouth, where he continued a practitioner
until his death.
On the SOth of October, 1783, lie was chosen an
honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
He was one of the nineteen who first formed a similar in-
stitution in the state of New-Hampshire, for whicli an act
of incorporation was obtained in 1791. In 1792 he was
presented by his alma mater with a medical doctorate.
On the 19th of June, 1793, he succeeded the late Dr.
JOSHl'A UriACKtTT. 1 93
Bartlctt in the presidency of the New-FIami)slure Medical
Society, and by repeated elections continued in tfiis olVue
till the 15th ot May, n!)9, Avhen in c()n^c(^nen(•e of his
declniing state of health he resigned it. He had j)^-
viously presented the institution with one hinuh-cd and for-
ty-three volumes of valuable hooks, as a foundation of a
medical library. On retirinjr from the j)residciicy, he
received an adih'css, which haiidsomelv exj>ies>cd the rc-
sj)ectful acknowlediiinent of this society for his diliirent
and friendly attention to its interests, and for his lil)eral
donation. Dr. Brackett had interested himself in the sub-
ject of a professorship for Natural History and IJotanv, at
the University in Cand)rid<!;e. He lolil the write r of these
memoirs, not many weeks before his death, that it was a
s»d)ject which hail much eunrossed his mind for thirty
years. It aflbrded him no small satisfaction that, before
his decease, a plan had been adoj)ted for carrying so use-
ful an establishment into etiect, and that donations for the
p>n-pose, to the amount of several thousaml (h)llars, had
i)een sul)scribed. He left the re(|uest with his consort,
that a certain property of the value of tifteen hundred
dollars, when she should have done Avith it, might be con-
veyed to the corporation of Harvard College for the be-
fore suggested design. Mrs. Brackett, after his decease,
said sin' >hovdd " hold his every wish oj« the sid)ject
sacred as a word from Heaven." She accordinglv con-
veyed the property, with a generous additional sum, a
])e(juest of her own, to the coi])oration of the college, the
benelits of Avhich are now expeiienced in the beautiful
establishment at Cambridge.
Dr. Brackett was nnuh distiiiijuished for his activity
and zeal in the cause of American inde])endeiice. He Avas
one of the conunittee of safety during the revobitioirirv
war. At an early period of it, he was appointed judjie of
the maritime court in New-Hampshire, and sustained that
office with re])utation. His profe-sioji, however, in which
he was eminent, was his peculiar deliiiht, as the natural
bias of his soul led him to the relief of those wants and
vlistresses, which it c<nitiini;illy presented fo his view. To
increase his knoA\ l(>dirc and usefulness in it, his rea(]ing,
which was uncommonly extensive, his observations, Avhich
were accurate, and his reflections, which were judicious,
were principally directed. He was pxtremily attentive to
his patien(5, and spared no pain5 \o investigatP the cant«
25
194 JOSHUA BRACKETT.
and the nature of their maladies, and to afford relief. Ar-
tis obstetricae valde peritus fuit, (jiiippe quo curante nun-
quam fjemina part ur lens morti succiibuit. While a happy
general success attended his professional ministrations, his
tenderness and sympathy with tlie sons and daughters of
disease and distress, were striking traits in his character,
and greatly endear his memory. Dr. Brackett occasion-
ally made minutes of important cases which came under
his care, and of the measures pursued ; but as these were
merely for his own use, few of t'.iem have been found in
a finished state. He also kept for twenty-five years before
his death, a thermometrical and meteorological registry,
which would be a valuable acquisition to the archives of
any philosophical society. Although his religious tenets
were different from those of the writer of his memoirs, he
has no hesitancy in saying, that his moral deportment ap-
peared to be founded on the principle recognized in the
golden rule. He was mild in his temper, of an affable
turn, amiable in his disposition, unassuming in his man-
ners, and was sincerely beloved and highly respected in the
social walks of life. He was a man of warm friendship,
great benevolence, an enemy to flattery, and no one was
ever less ambitious of popular applause. Humanity made
a prominent appearance in the group of his excellences.
It ought to be recorded that, in his professional labors, he
was pecvdiarly kind to the poor, and never made a charge,
where he had reason to think the payment would occasion
the smallest embarrassment. This was a conduct which
would not have been unworthy of the man of Ross.
For a considerable time before his death, he found that
his constitution was under a gradual and general decay
through a disease in the region of his heart, as to the na-
ture of which he never could be satisfied. At length he
determined to try the efficacy of the Saratoga waters, for
which purpose he set out from Portsmouth on the 23d of
June, 1802. Having arrived at the springs, he continued
there but a few days, for he found that his disorder must
bring him to the grave ; and, feeling a consciousness that
the time of his departure was at hand, he hastened to re-
turn, that he might be among his friends before the closing
scene. He reached home on Friday the 9th of July, vis-
ited several patients, and continued to walk out till the
Tuesday following. From that time he, was confined till
his death, which took place on Saturday the 17th of July,
WILLIAM BllADFOUD. 195
1802. On the ensuiiif^ Monday the remains of this philan-
thropist and pliysiciaii were inttrred with great resj)e(t,
and tlie tears of the widow ami the orj)Iian wateied his
grave. He was, in jud<rinent, sound ; in friendship, linn ;
in sentiments, liberal ; and in h«;nevolenee, inihounded. —
JMcdical Ucpv'iiiory by Rev. T. Jl.
In early life Dr. lirackett was married to Miss Hannah
Wliipplc of Kittery, who was a most amiable, accom-
plislied and dii^nified woman. Her mental endowments
were inferior to none. Her education and ac(|uirements
surj)assed those of her sex in the vicinity of her residence.
Her favorite studies were Natural Philosophy, and more
especially Botany. She had an excellent gartlen well
stored with choice and rare shrubs, plants ami fruits. In
henevolence she was not exceeded by her husl)and, for it
was by her Avill the New-Hampshire Medical Society real-
ized a letjacy of 500 dollars. She died May, 1805, aijed 70
years. To perjietuate in the New-Hampsiiirc Medical So-
ciety's Library the name of its founder, it was resolved by
the Society, that the name of Brackett shall be marked in
golden letters on the covers of all the books that were pre-
sented by him or j)urchased by Mrs. Brackett's legacy, in
manner and form as under written.
BRACKKTT
TO THE NEW HAMPSHIRE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
BRADFORD, Hon. WILLIAM, was a son of Lieut.
Samuel Bradford, and a descendant in the fourth genera-
tion from the Hon. William Bradfoid, the second gov-
ernor of the Old Colony of Plymoutli. His descent was
in a direct line, through families of distinction ; many of
the collateral branches of which are removed into various
parts, and are respectable. He was horn at Plympton in
the County of Plymouth, on the 4th November (old style)
1729. His j)romisiug talents and early jjroficiencv in lit-
erature, gave his friends fair hoj)es that he was destined to
adorn a professional character ; advantages were, accord-
ingly, afl'orded him for acipiiring a good education. The
natural bias of his mind led him to turn bis attention to
the medical art ; and he was regidarly instructed under
the tuition of Dr. Ezekiel Hersey of Ilingbain, a physi-
cian of eminence, and one of tlie generous benefactors of
Harvard College.
At the age of 22 he left his instructcr with sentiments of
friendship and esteem, which were cherished to the end of
196 WILLIAM BRADFORD.
liis life, and commenced tlie practice of physic in the
town of Warren, State of Rhode Ishiiul. His affable and
affectionate manner, imited to his skill and success, soon
trained him a liberal encouragement, which seldom falls to
the share of so young a practitioner, however meritorious.
He was particularly well qualified in the art of surgery,
■was considered as tlie principal operative surgeon in the
vicinity where he resided and in an extended circle, per-
forming difficult operations with great dexterity, skill and
judgment. In April, 1751, he married Miss Mary LeBaron,
daughter of Dr. Lazarus LeBaron of Plymouth. A union
with an amiable partner, rendered his domestic life happy,
as his public life w'as honorable and useful. After a few
years he found it convenient to remove from Warren to
iBristol, where he erected an elegant seat on that memora-
ble and romantic spot. Mount Hope. Some time after his
residence in this town, he entered upon the study and the
practice of the law, not only from motives of indulging
his own taste for juridical science, but to gratify that pro-
pensity to industry and usefulness, which animated him in
all his pursuits. His great assiduity, correctness and can-
dor in his office at the bar, procured him a rank among
the first civilians of Rhode Island, and it may be justly
said of him that very few^ ever arrived so near to superior
eminence, in two professions which required so much at-
tention necessary to a proper discharge of each.
He was a leading member of the committee of corres-
pondence when our struggle with England commenced,
and having taken a decided part in favor of the rights of
the colonies, he was considered as a jiillar in the cause of
the revolution, and sustained a distinguished rank in the
councils of New England in those trying times. During
the cannonade of Bristol in the evening of October 7th
1775, by the Rose, Glasgow and Siren men of war. Gov-
ernor Bradford went on board the Rose in behalf of the
inhabitants, and treated Avith Captain Wallace for the ces-
sation of the bombardment. His own house was among
the ruins of this invasion, (See Providence Gazette, Octo-
ber 14th, 1775). In the year 1792 he was elected by the
suffrages of his fellow citizens a Senator to Congress,
wliere he was chosen President of that body pro tempore ;
biit unambitious of public honors, and, like liis friend the
immortal Washington, fond of retirement from the busy
V^orld, he soon resigned his seat in that august body, for
Sl;jM-rt fi
iirt:-
s' (()) m H m iR eO) <:()) ik. § i^ii oiii)
I'eitd/etcjis- Li.tht;. Hostvn,.
JOHN BROOKS. 197
tlic deliglitful shades of his fiivoritc retreat at Mount
Hope. He "Was frequently called to fdl oflices of jjreat
trust in his own state, as l)ej)wty Ciovernor, and Sjx-aker of
the Ilotise of Assemhly, the duties of which olhce for many
years he disch:ir<!,ed with honor and fuh-iity. It may he
said of him that, excepting a few years hefore his death, lie
Avas continually in the alternate discharj^e of the duties of
jnihlic anil private life. Me, notwithstandintj, acijuired an
independent fortune, not more from his characteristic hah-
its of industry, than from the practice of economy ; in each
of which he was an e\am])le worthy of imitation.
His conduct through life, was modelled on the standard
of strict morality and the warmest j)hilanthropy. His
heart Avas ever open to the wants of the poor, and it was
his practice, for many years, to dej)Osit with the clergy-
man of the parish, a liheral sum to he distrihuted at the
discretion of the minister among the worthy ohjects of
charity. He was averse to ostentation and parade in at-
tendance, although hospital)le to a provcrh, and he would
often say that he wished not to survive his ahility to wait
upon himself. He was an early riser, walking over his
extensive domains hefore the sun a])peared ; temperate and
moderate in his enjovments, and uniformly retirinir in the
evening at an early hour ; he thus j)reserved health and
activity to fourscore jTars. He was sociahle in his dis])0-
sition ; and his greatest solicitude was to make his family
and friends happy, from whom he derived more than com-
mon satisfaction and enjoyment. By his liheral entertain-
ment of associates and strangers, he cheered the solitary
hours of a single life during 38 years ])revious to his de-
cea.«!e, his wife having died Octoher 2d 1775. His own
departure took place in Bristol, Rhode Island, July 6ih
1808. Bisho]) Griswold, then Rector of St. Michael's
Church, delivered a sermon at his interment, from Gene-
sis -lOth chaj)ter. ^Oth and 3 1st verses, whi( h was j)rinted.
His eldest son, M.ijor Williiun Bradforil, was aid to Gen-
eral ("harles Let' of the revolutioiiarv armv.
BROOKS, JOHN, M.I). M.M.S.S. et LI>.I). The
Honorahle John Brooks was horn in Medford, Massachu-
setts, in the year 1752. His father. Captain Calel) Brooks,
was a resjx'ctahle, independ(>nt farmer, and the son spent
his earliest years in the usual occupations of a farm. He
received no education preparatory to his professional stud-
ies, but that of the town school ; at which, however, he
198 JOHN BROOKS.
was able to acquire sufficient of the learned languages to
qualify him for the profession of medicine. At the age of
fourteen he was placed under the tuition of Dr. Simon
Tufts of Medford, by a written indenture as an apprentice
for seven years ; this being the usual custom of that day.
No master was ever more faithful to his charge, and the
pupil by his amiable deportment and excellent conduct
abundantly repaid his master's care. At this school the
celebrated Count Rumford was his companion and friend,
and their intimacy was continued by correspondence until
the death of the Count. The skill and science of the in-
structer and the indefatigable attention of the pupil, sup-
plied the deficiencies arising from the want of a liberal
education. His progress in medical science and in judi-
cious practical observation, was such as to secure the con-
fidence and respect of his master during his pupilage ; the
amiable traits of his character were more fully developed,
and he began to manifest that talent and fondness for mili-
tary discipline which were eminently displayed at a sub-
sequent period, and contributed to establish that erect and
manly port for which lie was so remarkably distinguished.
In the hours of relaxation from study he amused himself
with the drill and exercise of the soldier. His manners
were so gentle and attractive, that he was the delight of
all the village boys : they collected about him as the chief
source of their pleasures and amusements ; he formed them
into companies, and trained and exercised them in all the
duties of military discipline. Dr. Tufts's yard was often
converted into a trainfield, and displayed in miniature all
" the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war."
Having finished his studies, he chose the neighboring
town of Reading as his residence, and commenced his
practice there. But by this time the storm" of the revolu-
tionary war was gathering, and, as its distant thunders
rolled towards our shores, the hearts of the gallant youth
of our country responded to the sound, and preparations
for the field superseded the minor concerns of life. A
company of minute men was raised in the town, and young
Brooks was chosen its commander. He was indefatigable
in drilling and disciplining them, having first gained some
knowledge himself by observing the military trainings of
the British soldiers in Boston. He was soon called upon
for actual service. On the news of the expedition of the
British to Lexington and Concord, he instantly marched
JOHN BROOKS. 199
with such of his company as were prepared, and ordered
the rest to follow. Tiicy were delayed on the road l)y the
orders of a higher oHicer ; hut Brook.';, tlu']i about twenty-
two years of age, and the brave yoiuig men of his cojnpa-
ny, puslied on towards Concord, and as they drew near to
the town they met the whole British force returning. He
immediately ordered his corps to place themselves l)ehind
the barns and fences, and fire continually on the British.
Tiiey did great execution, and contribulcd much to pro-
duce that panic with which the proud, but humbled, troops
retreated to their (piarters in Boston.
The military talents and calm courage which he dis-
played on this occasion, were remarkable in a young man
only twenty-two years of age, wiio had never seen a battle.
They were noticed by those who had the direction of pub-
lic affairs, and he soon after received the commission of
Major in the continental army. He now entered on the
duties of a soldier with ardor, and devoted all the powers
of his mind to the cause of his country and the j)rofession
of arms. He carried into the service a mind pure and ele*
vated, and ardent in the pursuit of knowledgi-. He had a
high sense of moral rectitude, which governed all his ac-
tions. Licentiousness and debauchery were strangers to
his breast ; they fled from his presence, awed l)y his supe-
rior virtue. His gentlemanly deportment and unassuming
manners securetl the favor of his superiors in office, and
rendered him the delioht of his ecjuals and inferiors. When
our troo})s were preparing to fortify Buidier's Hill, Major
Brooks volunteered his services, and was active during the
whole night of the 16th of June in throwing up intrench-
ments, in reconnoitring the groimd, and in watch iiifr the
movements of the enemy. On the morning of the 17th,
Avhen it was perceived that the enemy were making prepa-
rations for an assault, he was desjiatched by Colonel Pres-
cott as a confidential oflicer to inform General Ward, then
at Cambridge, of the movements, and to press him to send
on reinforcements. Not a horse could be jirocnreil for this
service, and he went on foot. This duty jnevented his
beinj; engaged in that glorious ])attle, which has immortal-
ized the heroes who were engaged in it, and consecr.ited
the ground to everlastinjx fame.
Major Brooks had already acquired such knowledge of
tactics that he had been consulted by superior officers on
a system of discipline to be introduced into ourannv. He
200 JOHN BROOKS.
now applied himself with renewed diligence to this impor-
tant part of his duty, and soon acquired a high reputation
as a disciplinarian. The corps he commanded were dis-
tinguished during the Avhole war for the superiority of
their discipline, evinced by their gallant conduct in battle
and by their regular movements in retreat. He was con-
sidered second only to the celebrated Baron Steuben, in
his knowledge of tactics. After the Baron joined the army
and was appointed Inspector General, Ave ftnd that Brooks
was associated with him in the arduous duty of introduc-
ing a uniform system of exercise and manoeuvres. In the
battle of White Plains the regiment to which he belonged
was the last to quit the field, and it retired under his com-
mand with the steadiness of veteran soldiers, and received
the distino[uished acknowledo:ments of General Washington
for its gallant conduct. In the year 1777 he was promoted
to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the 8th Massachusetts
Regiment, the command of which devolved on him in
consequence of the sickness of the Colonel.
In August, 1777, Colonel Brooks was detached with a
command under General Arnold against Colonel St. Leger,
who with a body of Canadians, Indians and tories had be-
sieged our fort on the Mohawk river. Advancing toward
the enemy he captured Major Butler, and found within
our lines one Cuyler, a proprietor of a handsome estate in
the vicinity, who, having been much with the enemy, was
taken up as a spy. Colonel Brooks proposed that he should
be employed as a messenger to spread the alarm and induce
the enemy to retreat from before our fort. General Ar-
nold soon after arrived and approved of the scheme ; it
was accordingly agreed that Cuyler should be liberated,
and his estate secured to him, on the condition that he
would return to the enemy and make such exaggerated
report of General Arnold's force as to alarm and put them
to flight. Tliis stratagem was successful, the Indians in-
stantly determined to quit their ground and make their
escape, nor was it in the power of St. Leger and his offi-
cers, with all their arts of persuasion, to prevent it. The
capture of General Burgoyne and his army may be attri-
buted in no small degree to the gallant conduct of Colonel
Brooks and liis regiment, on the 7th of October, in the
battle of Saratoga. Witli fearless intrepidity he led on his
regiment, turning the right of the enemy, stormed their
entrenchments, entering them at the head of hi?: men with
JOHN BROOKS.
«0I
sword in hand, and put to rout the veteran German
troops which defeniled tlieni. It was on this occasion that
he wrote to a friend: — "We have met the British and
Hessiims and have beat them ; and not content with this
victory, we have assaulted their intrenchments and carried
them." In the battle at Monmouth lie was acting Adju-
tant General, and on this as on all occasions conducted
with great coolness and l)ravery.
The confidence wiiich Washington reposed in him was
shown on many occasions, and particularly in calling him
to his councils in that terrible moment when at Newburgh,
in March, 1783, a conspiracy of some of tlie officers, ex-
cited by the ])ublication of inflammatory anonymous let-
ters, had well nigh disgraced the army and ruined the
country. On this occasion the commander in cliief, to
whom this was the most anxious moment of his life, rode
up to Brooks with intent to ascertain how the officers stood
affected. Finding him, as he expected, to be sound, he
requested him to keep his ofiicers within cpiarters to j)re-
vent tliem from attending the insurgent meeting ; Brooks
replied, " Sir, I have anticipated your wishes, and my or-
ders are ;^iven." Washington, with tears in his eyes, took
him by the hand and said, "Colonel Brooks, this is just
what I expected from you." Colonel Brooks was one of
the committee who brought in the resolutions of the offi-
cers expressing their abliorrcnce of this vile })lot. So
strongly were his brother officers impressed with his wis-
dom and j)rudcnce, that they appointed him one of tlieir
connnittee to make an adjustment of their accounts witli
Congress. W^ishington did not forget him after the war
was over, Imt afterward when an army was raised in ex-
pectation of a war with France, he designated him for the
command of a brigade. Believing, however, that the dan-
gers of the coimtry were not so imminent as to recjuire a
second sacrifice of domestic comfort, he declined the ap-
pointment.
The following pages are copied from Dr. Dixwell's me-
moir of Governor Brooks.
" After the army was disbanded Colonel Brooks return-
ed to private life, rich in the laurels he had won, in the
affections of his fellow soldiers and in the esteem of the
wise and good. He was not only free from the vices inci-
dent to a military life, but, what was remarkable, he had
acquired more elevated sentiments of moralitv and religion.
«6
202 JOHN BROOKS.
He was received in his native town with all the kindness,
the congratulations and attentions wliich love and friendship
could elicit; or respect inspire. He was rich in honor and
glory, but he had nothing to meet the claims of his beloved
family, but the caresses of an affectionate heart.
" His old friend Dr. Tufts being infirm and advanced in
life, was desirous of relincpiishing his practice into the
hands of his favorite pupil, whom he thought so worthy of
confidence. His fellow townsmen responded to the wishes
of his patron. He accordingly recommenced the practice
of physic, under the most favorable auspices, in Medford
and the neighboring towns. He was' soon after elected a
fellow of this society, and was one of its most valuable and
respected members.* On the extension and new organiza-
tion of the society, in the year 1803, he was elected a
counsellor, and continued to discliarge the duties of this
office with fidelity until he Avas Governor of the Common-
wealth. He was then discontinued at his own request. In
the year 1808, by the appointment of the board of coun-
sellors, he delivered an anniversary discourse on Pneumo-
nia, which has been published, and evinces a mind well
stored with medical science and correct practical obser-
vation.
" On his retiring from the chair of state, he was again
chosen a counsellor, with the view of electing him Presi-
dent of our society. It is unnecessary for me to expatiate
on the pride and satisfaction we derived from his accept-
ing this honor. Yovir own feelings will best convey to
you the height of tlie honor wliich he reflected on our so-
ciety. That he felt a deep interest in our prosperity, we
have ample evidence in his so kindly remembering us in
his will.f
" As a physician he ranked in the first class of prac-
titioners. He possessed in an eminent degree those quali-
ties which were calculated to render liim the most useful
in his professional labors, and the delight of those to whom
he administered relief. His manners were dignified, court-
eous and benign. He was kind, patient and attentive.
His kind offices were peculiarly acceptable from the feli-
citous manner in which he performed them. His mind
was well furnished with scientific and practical knowledge.
* Massachusetts Medical Society.
+ Governor Brooks benuf^athed to tlio Massachusetts Medical Society the wholt
of iiii medical library, wiiicli contains niamv valuabla works.
JOHN BROOKS.
203
He was accurate in his invest iyat ions, and clear in his dis-
cerinncnt. He, therefore, rarely iaihd in fbrniin<r a true
diatrnosis. If he were not so bohl and (hirin<r as some, in
the administration of renietlies, it was because liis jud<;nient
and «'ood sense k'd him to i)refcr erring on the side of pru-
dence rather than on that of rashne^s. He watched the
0])erations of nature, and never interfered, unless it was
obvious he could aid and support her. He was truly, the
'■'■ Hierophant of nature,'' studying her mysteries and obey-
ing her oracles.
'^ In his practice, he added dignity to his profession by
his elevated and ui)righl conduct. His lofty spirit could
not stoop to the empirical arts which are too often adopt-
ed to obtain a temporary ascendancy. He soared above
the sordid consideration of the property he should accu-
mulate by his professional labors. Like the good and
great Boerhaave, he considered the poor his best patients,
for God was their paymaster. In short, he was the con-
scientious, the skilful and the benevolent j)hysician — the
grace and ornament of our profession.
'' His mind, however, was not so exclusively devoted
to his professional duties, as to prevent his taking a deep
interest in the affairs of state. He had contributed so
lart^ely toward*; establishing the independence of his coun-
try, and had exhibited such sincere devotion to its welfare,
that his countrymen, who have ever been distinguished for
the acuteness of their discernment in judging of public
men and measures, were always ready to display their con-
fidence in him. They felt an assurance that they might
safely rci)()se on his conscientious integrity, wisdom and
patriotism. He was consc<iuently called to fill numerous
offices of hiiih importance in the state.
" He was for m:uiv years major-general of the militia
of his county, and established in his division such excel-
lent discipline, and infused into it such an admiral)le spirit
of emulation, that it was a mosi brilliant example for the
militia of the state. In tlie insurrection of 17SG, his divi-
sion was very ellicient in th'eir protection of the courts of
justice, and in their supjiort of tlie iiovernment of the
state. At this time Gen. Brooks represented his town in
general court, and he gave support to the firm and judi-
cious measures of Gov. Bowdoin for suppressing that
alarming rebellion. He was a dilerrate in the state conven-
tion for the adojjtion of the federal constitution, and was
204 JOHN BROOKS.
one of its most zealous advocates. After the establishment
of the federal government, he was the second marshal ap-
pointed by Washington for this district, and afterwards re-
ceived further evidence of his confidence and approbation,
by being appointed inspector of the revenue.* He was
successively elected to the senate and executive council of
the state. He was appointed by the acute and discriminat-
ing Gov. Strong, as liis adjutant-general, in that perilous
crisis of our affairs, the late w^ar with England. Tlie pru-
dence and discretion with which he discharged this ardu-
ous duty, will be long remembered by his grateful coun-
trymen.
" These multifarious and laborious public services were
performed with so much punctuality and ability, and with
such dignity and urbanity, that on the retirement of Gov.
Strong in the year 1816, wise and discreet legislators from
all parts of the commonwealth, selected him as the most
suitable candidate for that high and responsible office. It
will be recollected, how forcibly every judicious mind was
impressed with tlie excellence of the selection, and how
strongly the public suffrages confirmed that opinion. His
very name seemed to disarm party spirit with talismanic
power ; for many, who had never acted Avith his political
friends, prided themselves in testifying their unlimited
confidence in him.
"It is fresh in your memories, with what trembling ap-
prehensions he shrunk from the lofty altitude of the chair
of state, and yet when placed there, with what singular
ease and dignity he presided, and with what signal ability
he discharged its various important duties. His govern-
ment was firm and decided, yet it was so mild and gentle,
that its influence was chiefly perceptible in his happy faci-
lity of allaying party spirit and all the angry passions of
our nature. It Avas like that of a beloved and revered
parent, whom all are disposed to honor and obey.
" Amidst these high military and political honors which
his fellow citizens took delight in bestowing on him, al-
most every institution of a literary, religious, patriotic, be-
* When President Washington visited JNIassachusctts in the year 1789, he ap-
peared solicitous to show Gen. Brooks that he held his character in high estimation,
and cherished a strong; personal regard for him. Among other attentions he review-
ed his division ol Ihc militia, and expressed the highest approbation of its discipline,
and when he was about to depart for Salem he requested to take Gen. Brooks's
house in his course, although a deviation from his route, that he might take leave of
his friend and compatriot in arm?.
JOBIt DROOKft. 205
nevoleiit or j)rofessionnl character, seemed to vie wilh each
other ill conlcrriiij; their hii^hest lionors on liim. Harvard
University a(kii()\vlrcl<;ed the vahie of his litcrarv a( (juirc-
incnts, hy coiih'rriiijj on him the tlejjree of A. ftl., in the
year 1787, ami in ISIG lie received the liighest honors of
that seminary, the degrees of M.D. and LL.D.
" The society of (yincinnati recoijiiiscd liiiii a< one of
their most ilistiiimiishcd members. lie was cU'( ted to dc-
liver the first oration heCorcthem onthelth ol July, 17iS7 ;
and on the deatii of Gen. Lincoln, their first presitlcnt,
Gen. Brooks was elected to succeed him.
" He was a member of tlie Academy of Arts and Sciences.
He was President of tlie Washin<rton Moiniment Associa-
tion, of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, and of
the Bil)le Society of Massachusetts.
" Having; faithfully and ably discharj^cd the duties of
chief maiiistratc for seven successive years, he expressed
his determination to retire from the cares and anxieties of
public life. How fjreat were the j)ublic regrets, and how
gladly would a larije majority of his fellow citizens have
retained his valuable services ; but tliey forebore urging
liiin to any further sacrifices for the good of his country.
He retired to private life with dignity, ami with the love
and blessings of a grateful jieople.
'■'■ Having imperfectly traced the brilliant patli of his pub-
lic career, let us for a moment contemplate Gov. Brooks
in his private character ; and perhaps we may discover the
true source of all his greatness, ihe charm which bound
the hearts of his countrymen to him in ties so strong. He
j)Osscssed a heart free from all guile, and every inor-
dinate fclfish feeling — an eveimcss of temjicr and sweetness
of disj)osition. His discordant passions, for we presume
he had thi'in, being human, were kept in comj)lete subjec-
tion to his virtues. He hatl a peculiar tomposureand
complacency of countenance ; and the ilclicacy and courte-
ousncss of his manners were imcommonly attractive. But
above all, his conduct was regiilated by the influence of
that jiure morality, derived from our holy religion, which
was impressed deeplv on his mind at an earlv period of
life.
" The mind of Gov. Brooks was clear in its perceptions,
and discriminating in its judgment ; it was active, ardent
and industrious in the pursuit of every valuable attain-
ment, and powerful in the a]»j)lication of those attainnicntt
J206 J^OHN BROOKS.
for the benefit of others. Although his mind shrunk from
observation, with the delicate excitability of the sensitive
plant, it was like the oak in sustaining the pressure of every
duty to his friends or his country.
" In his relation to his native town, he completely re-
versed the maxim, that a prophet has no honor in his own
country, for the inhabitants of Medford idolized him.
They knew liis worth, and fully appreciated it. He was
truly their friend and benefactor. He took so deep an in-
terest in all their concerns, let their station in life be ever
so humble, that they could always approach him with ease
and confidence. They referred to him all their disputes,
and so judicious were his decisions, that he had the rare
felicity to satisfy all parties, and to reconcile them to
bonds of amity. It was observed by an eminent lawyer,
who resided there, that he had no professional Inisiness in
Medford, for Gov. Brooks prevented all contentions in the
law. In addition to these intrinsic services, he was the
grace and the ornament of their social circles, and seemed
to fill up the measure of all their enjoyments.
" But what avail these noble talents, these splendid
achievements or these godlike virtues ! The grim messen-
ger of death has swept them from our reach. Our beloved
and revered friend- in whom they were so eminently dis-
played, now lies a cold and inanimate clod of the valley,
' and the places which knew him, shall know him no more
for ever.' ' But thanks be to God, who giveth us the
victory !' his spirit has risen to Him who gave it, and his
virtues shall remain engraven on our hearts."
His death took place March 1st, 1825, in the 73d year of
his age. His wife died early in life. He had one daughter,
who married the Rev. George Oakley Stewai-t of Quebec,
where she resided until her decease. His sons were Alexan-
der Scammel and John, both of whom devoted themselves
to tlie service of their country.. The former is a major
in tlie artillery of the United States army, and inherits his
paternal estate. The latter, beautiful and accomplished,
was a lieutenant in the navy, and died in the midst of vic-
tory, heroically fighting for his country, in the glorious
battle of Lake Erie.
At a meetiu<5 of the counsellors of tlie Massachusetts
Medical Society, March 2d, 1825, it was '■'■Resolved, that the
coimsellors regard witli deep sensibility the loss by death
of the late president of the society; and that they feel as-
ARCHIBALD BRUCE- 207
sured that they shall express the sentiments of the society
as they do their own, in stutinir that the society has derived
honor from l\avin«r luid as tlieir head a mun lieloved in
private life, justly respected in ins profession, and distin-
guished in his state and coi'.ntry, for the faithful and hon-
orable performance of hi;:h miliiary and civil duties."
A large nnmbcr of the members of the society attended the
funeral solemnities in conjunction v/ith the mendiers of
the Cincinnati and several other societies to v/hicJi the de-
ceased bclonircd, a:id a p;reut concourse of our most distin-
guished citizens, who uiilL'-.i with the afllicted relatives and
connexions in te.Uifying th.'ir respect for his memory
BRUCE, ARCHIBALD, M.D. was born in thecity of
New-York, in February, 17'?7. His father, William Bruce,
was at that time at the head of the medical department of
the British army tlicn statioiied at New-York. He had
early determined that his son Archibald should not be
bronglit np to tlie medical profession ; fvnd enjoined such
instruction upon his wife and friends to wdiom the charge
of the boy was committed upon the occasion of his being
ordered to the We^t India station. After his decease the
same injunction was repeated by his uncle, then in Europe.
Young Archibald Avas first placed ])y his mother under
the care of William Almon, M.D. of Halifax, a particular
friend of her husband. Here, however, he remained but
a sliort time, and returning to New-York was taken to a
school on Long-Island, under the direction of the late Pro-
fessor Wilson, LL.D. a distinguished teacher of the dead
languages.
He was admitted as a student of tlie Arts in Colund>ia
College in HOi, and duly graduated A.B. Nidiolas Ro-
mayne, M.D. was about this time engaged in delivering
lectures on several branches of medical learninj;, and the
instruction of this eminent teacher was the first advance
young Bruce made in a knowledge of phy>i<-. This he
commenced notwithstanding the prohibition of his friends,
and even while engaged in the school of arts. He after-
ward became a private pu})il of Dr. Hosack, and attended
the several courses of instruction delivered l>y the Medical
Facnlty of Colnmbia Collece. In 1793 he repaired to Eu-
rope, and in ISDO obtained the degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine from the I'niversity of KdinbMr<rh, after havinir de-
fended his inaugural exercise, •• De \ ariola \ accina."
SOS ARCHIBALD BRUCE.
He was now amply prepared to make an advantageous
visit to the Continent, and enlarge the stock ol medical
and physical science which he had already accumulated
both in his own country and at the famous Scotch school
of medicine. If there was any one particular branch of
natural study whicli was more peculiarly attractive to him,
it was mineralogy ; and his subsequent success in this de-
partment is to be accounted for from the admirable and
peculiar opportunities he possessed in New-York while
under the care of his medical preceptor. Dr. Hosack. Dr.
H. had but a short time previous to this period returned
from Europe with a cabinet of minerals, the first one in-
troduced into the American States, and it was arranged by
the conjoint assistance of young Bruce. This exercise first
awakened his attention to this branch of study, and laid
the foundation of that reputation which was afterward so
readily awarded him.
During a tour of two years in France, Switzerland and
Italy, Dr. Bruce collected a mineralogical cabinet of great
value and extent. Upon his return to England he married
in London, and came out to New-York in the summer of
1803, to enter upon the duties of a practitioner of medicine.
In 1806 was passed the act establishing the state and
county medical societies, one of the most important meas-
ures ever adopted by the legislature of New-York ; and in
the following year was organized the College of Physicians
aiKl Surgeons of tlie University of New-York by the hon-
orable the Board of Regents. In this new institution Dr.
Bruce was appointed Professor of Materia Medica and Min-
eralogy, and continued to give public instruction on those
branches to the students of the university until the reor-
ganization of tlie college in 1811, when the presidency of
that establishment was placed under the authority of the
venerable Samuel Bard, and his own professorship of Mate-
ria Medica transferred to Benjamin DeWitt, M.D. and the
office of Registrar to John W. Francis. The chair of min-
eralogy was subsecjuently filled by Professor DeWitt, who
upon the demise of Dr. Bruce became the proprietor of
his valualde cal)inet of minerals. These and other changes
in the college were the result of the deliberations of the
regents, who assigned as a reason for their adoption, that
intestine feuds had greatly marred the progress of the in-
stitution, and that these as well as other measures had be-
THOMAS BULFmCH. 209
come necessary in orilor to cnaMc tlie college to go on in
the nuircli of ofl'octive ini|)i()vt'ni(iit.
J)r. Hnice, in coinuxioM with his friend Romayue and
sevcivil other gentieuuMj, afterward constituted another
medic^ faculty, and lie delivered lectures on his favorite
studies, mineralogy and materia medica, for some short
while, when the institution was dissolved.
In 1810 lie coiniuenced the editorshij) of a Journal of
American Mineralogy, after the manner of the well known
work issued by the School of Mines at Paris. It met with
becoming success, and had many valualde contributors to
its pages ; but owing to various causes was never carried
beyond the completion of the first volume ; a circumstance
the less to be regretted by the friends of science, as the
jieriodical work of Professor Sillijnan now started into ex-
istence. The mineralofjical journal contributed materially
to extend the fame of Dr. Bruce, as well as his discovery
of the hydrate of magnesia, at Hoboken. He was enrolled
as a member of the American Philosophical Society, of
the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, be-
sides other institutions in his own covuitry and learned asso-
ciations in Europe. Among his distin<Tuishcd (•orresj)ond-
ents abroad, it is sufficient to mention llauy and Jameson.
After repeated attacks of severe indisposition Dr. Bruce
died in his native city, of an apoplexy, on the 22d of Feb-
ruary, 1818, in the forty-first year of his age. About the
same time his wife also died, leaving no i.ssuc. — Sec Silli-
inan''s Journal^ Voh. I. and I J".
BULFINCH, THOMAS, M.D. was the son of Adino
Bulfinch, who came to this country from England about
the year 1C80. He was actively engaged in < ommercial
pursuits in Boston, and was cho.«en by that town Surveyor
of Hifjhways in HOO. His son, the subject of this me-
moir, was born in 1G94. He did not receive a college ed-
ucation, l)ut obtained the rudiments of medical instruction
under Dr. Zabdicl Boylston. Letters from him still ex-
tant show that he studied anatomy and surgery in London
under the famous Cheselden in 1718, and afterwards com-
pleted his medical studies at Paris in 1721. Dr. Boylston
wished him to join him in partnership, which he dcclinrd,
as at the time of the invitation he had not completed his
regidar course of lectures. On his return to Boston he
married the (huiffhter of John Colman, a distinjruished
merchant, brother of Dr. Benjamin Colman, first pastor
«7
jjH) THOMAS BULFINCH.
of Brattle Street Church. Tlie following obituary notice
is from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper, who mar-
ried his only daughter.
Boston^ December Stk 1757. Last Friday morning, died,
universally lamented, Dr. Thomas Bulfinch in the 63d
year of his age. He was a gentleman whose knowledge,
fidelity and success in his business rendered him an orna-
ment to his profession ; as the easiness and composure of
his behavior, and the agreeableness of his manners, made
him amiable in f\imiliar life. He was a tender husband, an
affectionate father, a just and kind master, and a constant,
unshaken friend. His piety was sober and unaffected, his
temper luunane and benevolent, his heart felt for the dis-
tresses of others, and his hands were ever ready to relieve
them. He was a lover of English liberty, of good order,
and good government ; and in Itis family a pattern of econ-
omy and hospitality : so that the public have reason to
regret his loss, not only as an excellent physician, but as a
good citizen whose example was beneficial to the commu-
nity.
BULFINCH, THOMAS, M.D. the only son of the
preceding, was born in Boston in 1728, and fitted for col-
lege in the Latin school under Mr. Jolin Lovell ; he was
distinguished for his classical attainments, and entered col-
lege in 1 742 ; the class was small on account of the trou-
bled state of the times occasioned by the efforts making by
the Pretender of the house of Stuart for the recovery of
the British crown. It consisted of only twelve members,
of whom the venerable Dr. Holyoke of Salem survives.
After leaving college he entered upon his studies with his
father in 1753, and afterward passed four years in Eng-
land and Scotland, attending the hospitals in London, and
going through a regular course of instruction at Edin-
burgh, where he took his degree of M.D. in 1757. Being
called home by the deatli of his father, he returned and
commenced the practice of medicine at Boston. In Sep-
tember, 1759, he married Susan, tha daughter of Charles
Apthorp, Esq.
At the general spread of the smallpox in 1763, he was
actively engaged in introducing the antiplilogistic mode of
treatment in that disease, which was attended with extraor-
dinary success ; and in conjunction with Drs. Joseph War-
ren, Gardiner and Perkins, attempted the establishment of
a smallpox hospital at Point Shirley in Boston Harbor,
THOMAS fiULFir^CH. 211
which was soon relinquished for want of encouragement,
the prejudice beiii<j very stronii; aa;ain.st ii vohiiitary ami, as
it was (hen ralicil, a j)icsiiiii|)tu()us cxpOKure to ilihease.
Dr. HuHiiuii lived in the sti>rniy jieriod which led to the
revolutionary war ; he was in feeliujj; and jjriiiciple a
decided friend to the rights of the colonies, but remained
with his family in Boston while the place was occupied by
the British troops in lllo. He was t-ubjccted not only to
the j)rivatious ( onunon to llie inhal>itanls, hut to tlif loss
of a lariiC quantity of niedicinc lorcihly taken by order of
the British oeneral for tlie use of ihv troops, without any
acknowleilgment or renuuieration. lie had, however, the
pleasure of seeing the enemy abandon our shores in March,
177t), and tlie town immediately occupieil by the patriot
army of liis fellow countrymen. Aft<'r tiiis time he enjoy-
ed an extensive jjractici-, aiul numbered among his friends
Governors Ilancot k ami Bowdoin.
The character of Dr. Bullinch was of tiie same mild and
unobtrusive kind as that of his father ; he was possessed of
the same cheerfulness and noodnt.'ss of heart, ami sincere
and uiq)retendin;r pi^^'ty- Contented witli the love and es-
teem of his munerous accpuiintance, and especially of all
who came under his professional care, he avoided every
occasion of public disj)lay ; and when on tlie formation of
the Massachusetts Meilical Society he was invited to take
a Icailintj part in that institution, he declinetl it u})on the
plea that such undertakings should of ri^ht devolve on the
younger mendjers of the profession. He j)ublished only
two small treatises, one on the treatment of scarlet fever,
in the cure of which he was remarkably successful ; and
the other on the yellow fever, a subject tiien but little un-
derstood, and which seemed to baflle at the time all the
efforts of medical practitioners. Of an active, healthy
frame, ami distiii<ruished for an imconunon attraction of
j)erson and elegance of manners, he continued in jtractice
until two years previous to Ids death, which took plate in
February, 1802. He left one son, who is the ingenious
architect and superintendent of the public buildings at the
city of Washington, and two daughters ; all of whom
were married durin<i the life of the father, the son to Han-
nah, the daughter of John Apthorj), Est)., his elder dan::Ii.
ter to Geoijie Storer and the younger to Josej)h Coo-
lidge, son of Joseph Coolidge, Esq.
t\% WILLIAM BULL.
BULL, WILLIAM, M.D. was the son of the Hon. Wil-
liam Bull, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in
1738. He was the first white })orson horn in South Caro-
lina, and is supposed to he the first American who ohtaincd
a degree in medicine. He was a pu})il of the great Boer-
haave, and distinguishetl for his knowledge of medicine
and literature. In 1734 he defended and published at the
University of Leyden, his inaugural thesis ••' de Colica Pic-
tonum ;" and he is quoted by Van Swieten as his fellow
student in very respectful terms, as the learned Dr. Bull.
After returning from Europe to his native State, he was
elected successively a member of the Council, Speaker of
the House of Representatives, and in 1764 Lieutenant Gov-
ernor, wliit h office he held for many years. When the
British troops removed from South Carolina in 1782, he
accompanied them to England, and died in London, July
4th, 1791, in the 82d year of his age.
CADWALLADER,' THOMAS, M D. This eminent
physician was born in Philadelphia, and was the son of
John Cadwallader. After finishing his studies in this coun-
try, which were conducted under the father of Dr. John
Jones, late of New-York, he completed his medical educa-
tion in Europe, and settled in Philadelphia, where he
practised medicine many years with the most distinguished
reputation.
Upon the establishment of the Pennsylvania hospital in
the year 1752, he was elected one of its physicians, and was
honored by an annual re-election until the time of his
death, which was more than thirty years after the erection
of that institution. Having studied anatomy under the
celebrated Dr. Chcselden in London, on his return home
he made dissections and demonstrations for the elder Ship-
pen and some others who had not been abroad. This
probably was the first business of tlie kind ever performed
in Pennsylvania. He was greatly useful in promoting the
interest of the Hospital, College and Philosophical Society,
and always had a great share of well merited influence
with his fellow citizens. Among the earliest publications
on a medical subject in America was " An Essay on the
Iliac Passion," by Dr. Cadwallader, printed about the year
1740, in whicli he exploded the practice, which till that
time was common in the country, of giving quicksilver
and drastic purgatives. He recommended in their place
THOMAS CADWALLADER. 213
mild cathartics, and the use of opiates. Dr. Ruph used to
quote it constantly in his h'cturcs \villi praise. In some of
the British Journals this practice is mentioned as the most
successful in Enijland in tho.-^e counties Aviiere the di^ease
still prevails ; in our own country it seldom occurs at
present.
As a j)hysician, he was uncommonly attentive and hu-
mane ; and as a man, he was as remarkable for the tender-
ness and benevolence of his disj)()sition. Constantly l)lcst
with a serene mind, it was as rare to sec him too much
cast down l)y bad, as tmusually elated by good fortune.
So distinguished a trait was this cheerfjd disj)osition in his
character, that it was once the means of saving his lile on
an occasion so extraordinary as to deserve mention ; for
while it serves lo point out the importance of good humor,
more than the perusal of volumes on the subject, it also
tends to show that an amiable behavior, and politeness of
manner, are not only pleasing, l)ut useful in our inter-
course with the world. A provincial officer before the
independence of this country, soured by some disirust,
became weary of life, and resolved to deprive himself of
an existence which was no longer a ])leasure, ])ut a bur-
then to him ; with this view he walked out early one
morning with a fusil in his hand, determiniuf; to shoot the
first person he should meet. He had not gone far before
he met a pretty izirl, whose beauty disarmed bim. The
next that presented was Dr. C:ulwallader ; the Doctor
bowed jiolitely to the officer, who tiiouyh unknown to
him had the appearance of a gentleman, and accosted
him with, '* Good viornins;, Sir, %chat sport V The officer
answered the Doctor civilly, and, as he afterward de-
clared, was so struck bv his pleasing manner and address,
that he had no resolution to execute his desporat«' intention.
Impelled, howrvei", by the same yloomy disj)osition that
actiuated him when he set out, he repaired to an ac'joining
tavern, and shot a Mr. Scull, and therel>y obtained his
wished for end ; bein" afterwards himg in sight of the
very housc> where be conunitted the premeditated act.
The ceh brated Dr. John Joiu's of New-Vork was a pupil
of Dr. ( adw;ill;uler, and when lie j)ublislie(l bis surgical
work, he dedicated it to his venerable preceptor in the
following language. " To you, whose whole life has
been one continued scene of benevolence and humanity,
the most feeble ctforts to soften hiiman misery aiul smooth
214 ISAAC CATURALL.
the bed of death, will, I know, be an acceptable present,
however short the well meant zeal of the author may fall
of his purpose. Nor will you suspect me of the vanity
of sup])03ing I shall convey any thing new or instruct-
ive to men ot knowledge and experience in their prof s-
sion, much less to yourself ; to whose excellent precepts,
both in physic and morals, I owe the best and earliest les-
sons of my life ; and if I have attained to any degree of
estimation with my fellow citizens, it is with the most sin-
cere and heartfelt pleasure that I publicly acknowledge the
happy source."
CATHRALL, ISAAC, M.D. was a native of Philadel-
phia, and studied medicine under the direction of the late
Dr. John Redman, the preceptor of Rush and Wistar.
After acquiring all the instruction in his profession, which
the opj)ortunities of our capital offered, aided by a dili-
gent attention on his part, he visited Europe, and attended
the practice of the London hospitals, and the lectures of
the most distinguished professors in that city. He con-
tinued his studies at Edinburgh, and finally visited Paris.
He then returned home in the beo;inning of the year 1793,
and commenced practice in Philadelphia. He obtained a
very respectable share of business, and was uniformly dis-
tinguished by regular attention to his patients, and the
faithful performance of the duties imposed upon him by
his profession. It may be safely said that he never lost a
patient for want of either. During the prevalence of the
widely destroying epidemic fevers of 1793, '97, '98, and
'99, he remained in the city, instead of seeking safety by
flying, and was a severe sufferer by the disease of the first
of those years. Previously to his illness, and after his
recovery, besides attending to practice, he lost no oppor-
tunity of investigating every phenomenon connected with
that pestilential epidemic, which could in any way tend to
illustrate its pathology, or the peculiarities it exhibited ;
and in the year 1794 he published his remarks thereon,
and the mode of treatment he pursued. In conjunction
with Dr. Physick, he dissected the bodies of some subjects
of the fever of 1793, in order to discover the morbid ef-
fects produced by it on the system, and in particular refer-
ence to the nature of that singvdar, and generally fatal
symptom, the dark colored ejection from the stomach in
some cases of the disease. The result of their joint labors
was published by them, with their individual signatures,
ISAAC CATHRALL. 213
and he afterwards continued his dissections alone, with
iinabatiiijT zeal, whenever opportunity oHered, cluriiifr the
Kubsequeut ei)ideini(s, and occasioual appfaiancc oi" the
disease, \vhi< h more or less occurred lor f^everal years,
until he obtained all the lifrht \viii( h he tboujTht dissec-
tion and experiment could throw tipon its j)rodu(tion and
1 ature. In the year If^OO lie reacl to tiie American I'hi-
losoj)hical Society, of wITu h he had been ele( ted a mem-
ber, an interestinij paper on that subject. Tliis paper
affords ample evidence of the patient and accurate manner
in whicli he investigated that hitherto inexj)li<al)le and
suj)posed pestilential ajipearance, and of his fearless zeal in
the prosecution of medical science. It is inserted in the
5th volume of the Transactions of the Society, and was also
piddished in jiamphlet form of 32 ])ages. A full account
of it may be found in the 4th volume of the New-York
Medical Repository. Like the admirable papers of God-
win on the respiration of animals, Stevens on digestion,
and the writings of the immortal Rush, it is pointed, con-
cise, and sententious, and shoidd be read by every mem-
ber of the medical profession. It may well serve as a
model for those who are engaged in exj)erimental inquiries.
In the year 1802 he published a pamphlet in conjunc-
tion with Dr. Wm. Currie, on the epidemic pestilential
fever that prevailed in that year in Philadelphia.
In the year 1806 he was elected one of tiie surgeons of
the city Alms-IIouse, and was continued by the successive
managers of that institution until the year 1816. The ])en-
sioners of the Aims-House warmly expressed their regret,
when they were informed that their old friend had ceased
to attend them.
In the year 181 G he was appointed by the governor of
Pennsylvania, a mcml)er of the Board of Health of Phila-
delphia, but was contiiuied only one year, astheboartl was
reorganized, and new mend^ers chosen by the city coun-
cils, to whom the power was by law then given.
In that year he was suddeidv seized, without any pre-
vious indisposition, with a ])aralvtic affection of the nms-
clcs of his face, tongue, and lower extremities, from which
he ])artially recovered by medical aid in a few weeks.
He suffered two subsecpient attacks, and his speech and
mind became evidently affected. He frequently wandered
in conversation, anil exhibited svmptoms of wrong associa-
tion of ideas. At length, on the night of the 22d February,
216 ISAAC CATHRALL.
1819, a stroke of apoplexy, in the course of three hours,
deprived him of life, in the 56th year of his age.
Dr. Cathrall was not only a most judicious physiciEui,
but an excellent anatomist and surgeon ; a close student,
and sedulously bent on improvement in those branches of
his profession, to wliich he more esj)ecially devoted him-
self. He paid great attention to morbid anatomy, and lost
no opportunity which his public practice in the alms-
house, or private patients afibrded him, of making collec-
tions of such parts of the human structure, as had been the
subject of disease. Of these he left a numerous and in-
structive collection of wet and dry preparations, and of
bones, which, having suffered various accidents or opera-
tions, evinced either the eflbcts of disease, or the wonder-
ful power of nature in tlie restoration of parts, or substitu-
tions for those which had been destroyed. He also made
several masterly prej)arations calculated to explain certain
nice and important operations, which to a yovmg surgeon
must be sources of great instruction. Had his life been
spared, it was his intention to publish a volume of interest-
ing surgical cases he had met with, the rough materials for
which he left ; but it is mentioned with regret, and for the
benefit of those who read this sketch, that they are written
in so hasty a manner, as to be decyphered with difficulty.
He is not the first medical or scientific man, whose useful
labors have failed to do all the good tliey might have pjo-
duced, in consecpience of this unfortunate careless manner
of writing. The celebrated Haller deemed an apology
necessary in the preface to a learned Avork,* for the mis-
takes he made in quotations, arising from this fault. But
the evils therefrom have been so fully pointed out in a
volumef which it is taken for granted is in the office of
every medical man, that no remark on the subject is here
necessary.
Dr. Cathrall was educated in the religious principles of
the Society of Friends, and naturally possessed a grave
turn of mind, and a serious deportment. Retired in his
habits, he was shy in making acquaintances, but firm in
his friendships, and a well })red gentlemcan in his manners.
In the important and endearing relations of a son, husband,
and father, he was truly estimable. As a member of so-
* Bibliotheca Medicinas Practicac, vol. iii.
t Ruih's 16 Introd. Lectures, Philadelphia, 1811, p. 171-
LIONEL CHALMERS. 217
riety, he set an example of ri^id morality and infle\ibl •.
integrity, attributes which every medical man ought to be
jiroud to have annexed to his character, however dibtin-
gui^hcil his literarv ac(|niicinents may be. — J. J\l.
CHALMKRS, r.IONKL, iM.D. a'native of Great Bri-
tain, was a graduite of the University of lidinbtirgii, and
came to this country and settled in South Carolina. He
was an eminent physician, and distinguislied for his va-
rious and extensive attainments. lie made and recorded
observations on the weather of Soutli Carolina for ten i-uc-
cessivc years, viz. from H-OO to 17G0. He coiniMunicatcd
to the Medical Society in London a pa])cr on '• Opi-thoto-
nus and Tetantis" in 1751, which was published in the first
volume of the Transactions of the society. He aho wrote
" A Treatise on tlie Weather and Diseases of South Caro-
lina," which was public-lied in London in 177G, and "■ An^
Essav on Fevers," a valual)le work, published in Charles^
ton7'l767. *' In this he unfoldeil the outlines (tf the mod-
em spasmodic theory of fevers. Holfman had before
glanced at the same principles ; but their complete illus-
tration was reserved for Cullen, and laid the foundation of
his fame."
CHAUNXY, CHARLES, M.D. secoml President of
Harvard College, xvas born in England in L'.89. He had
his grammar education at Westminster, and was at the
school when the gunpowder plot was to have taken effect,
and must have perisiuul if the i>arliament house had been
blown iij). At the I'niversity of Cambridge he commenced
Badielor of Divinity, and took the deiiree of M.D. Being
intimately actpiainted with Archbishop I'vher, one of the
finest scholars in Euroj)e, he had more than common ad-
vantages to expand his mind and make improvements in
literature. A more learned man' than Mr. Chauncy xvas
not to be found ainons the fathers of New Enoland. He
had been chosen Hebrew Professor at Cambrid<ie by the
heads of both houses, and exchanged this branch of in>truc-
tion to oblige Dr. Williams, Vice Chainellor of the Uni-
versity. Ho was well skilled in many oriental languages,
but especially the Hebrew, which he knew by very close
study, and l)y conversing with a Jew who resided in the
same house. He was also an a<<urate Creek s( ludar, and
wa.<5 made professor of this lan<:uai:c ^^ hen he left the other
professorship. This uncommon «( holar be( ame a pr«'a( h-
er, and wa« settled at Ware. lit displeased Archbishop
2S
218 CHARLES CIlAUNCy.
Laud by opposing the book of sports and reflecting upon
the discipline of the church. This being viewed as a de-
sign to raise a fear among the peojjle that some alteration
of religion would ensue, he was questioned in the High
Commission, and by order of that court the cause was re-
ferred to the Bishop of London, being his ordinary, who
ordered him to make a submission in Latin.
This worthy man came over to New-England in 1G38,
arriving at Plymouth January 1st. He was soon after or-
dained at Scitiiate. In 1G54 he was appointed President
of Harvard College, and for a number of years performed
the duties of that office with honor to himself and to the
reputation of that seminary of learning. He was very in-
dustrious, and usually employed his morning hours in
study or devotion. He constantly rose at four o'clock,
winter and summer. In all his avocations he acquitted
himself to universal approbation. At length on the Com-
mencement of 1671 he made a solemn address, a kind of
valedictory oration ; and having lived to some good pur-
pose, he prepared to die in peace, like a good servant who
expected his reward. He died at the end of this year,
aged eighty-two, having been about sixteen years pastor of
the church in Scituate, and seventeen years president of
Harvard College.
• • • • 1
President Chauncy is said to have been an emment phy-
sician ; but we are not informed to what extent he devoted
himself to the practice. He left six sons, all of whom
were educated at Harvard C.ollege, and were preachers.
Some of them were learned' divines. Dr. Mather says
they were all eminent physicians, as their father Avas be-
fore them. " In a new country," says the author of the
New-England Biographical Dictionary, " where there are
no physicians, a minister, who is a scientific man, may
render himself eminently useful if able to practise physic ;
but we are not of the opinion of Dr. Chauncy that there
ought to be no distinction between physic and divinity."
Dr. Channcy's character was singular in many respects ;
he allowed himself but little time for sleep, he fasted and
prayed frequently and fervently, and in his sermons often
spoke of the wearing of long hair with the utmost detesta-
tion, representing it as a heathenish practice, and one of
the crying sins of the land.
CHILDS, TIMOTHY, M.D. M.M.S.S. was born at
Deerfield, Massachusetts, February, 1748. He was enter-
iiMOTiiv ( iiiLni. 219
ed as a member of Harvard Collecjc in \1Q4, but was under
the necessity of taking a disinissioii at the ( lo>e of his ju-
nior year, hy the failure of the funds on \vhicii he liad
relied to carry him throu<r|i the regular cours-e of that
seminary. From Camhridt^e he returned to Deerfield,
where he studied jihysic and surgery with Dr. AViUiams,
aiul from uiunc*' in 1771, at the age of twenty-three, he
removed to practise in Pittsfield.
An ardent and decided friend of civil liberty, he took a
deep interest in those great political (juestions, which at
that period were agitated between Great Britain and her
American colonies. No youn<r man, perhaps, was more
zealouslv ojiposed to the arhitrary encroachments of the
British j)arliament than Dr. Clnlds, and as a proof of the
confiden(e reposed in him ])y the fathers of the town, it
need only be mentioned that in 1774, when the crisis of
open liostility was approaching, he was appointed chair-
man of a committee to draw a })etition to his Majesty's
Justices of Common Pleas in the county of Berkshire, le-
monstratinij against certain acts of j)arliament which had
just been pronudgated, and praying them to stay all jjro-
ceedings till those unjust and oppressive acts should be re-
pealed.
In the same year, 1774, Dr. Childs took a commission
in a company of minute-men, wliich, in compliance with a
recommendation from the convention of the New-Enorland
states, Avas organized in that town. When the news of the
battle at Lexington in 1775 was received, he marched with
his company to Boston, where he was soon after apjiointed
a surgeon of Colonel Patterson's regiment. From Boston
he went with the army to New-York, and fiom thence ac-
companied the expedition to Montreal. In 1777 he left
tlie army and resumed his practice in the town of Pitts-
field, and continued in it till less than a week before his
death, at the advanced age of seventy-three.
In 1792 Dr. Childs was elected a representative to the
General Court, and for several years received the same
pledge of public confidence . He also held a seat in the
senate for a number of years, by the sutrraces of the county
in which In* lived and died. But it was in his jirofcssion
he was most hisihly honored and extensively useful. He
was early elected a mend)er of the Massachusetts Medical
Society, and held the ofhce of counsellor of that society to
the time of his death. In the year 181 1 the University of
220 BENJAMIN CHURCH.
Cambridge conferred on him tlie degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine. When a district society, comj)oscd of the fellows of
the state society, was established in the county in which he
lived, he was appointed censor and elected to the office of
presiilent.
As a practitioner Dr. Childs stood high in public esti-
mation, both at home and abroad. For more than thirty
years he was the only physician of note in the town, and
this single fact strongly testifies to the uncommon estima-
tion in whicli he was held by those who were most com-
petent to judge of his professional skill and success. He
was also highly esteemed and often employed in the neigh-
boring towns. Dr. Childs was always the steady advocate
and supporter of religious institutions, and during the last
year of his life he manifested an uncommon interest in ex-
perimental religion, and in his last sickness, especially, he
spoke often of the blood and righteousness of Christ as the
only hope of a sinner. Few men have continued in the
practice of the profession so long, or have held out with
such vigilance of body and mind to the last, or have been
more useful in their professional and social circles. He
died on the 25th of February, 1821, as he lived, honored,
respected and lamented. — J^ew-England Journal of Medicine
and Surgery.
CHURCH, Dr. BENJAMIN, was graduated at Harvard
College in 1754. He established himself as a physician in
the town of Boston, where he rose to very considerable
eminence in his profession. As a skilful and dexterous
operator in surgery he was inferior to no one of his con-
temporaries in New-England ; and as a physician he was
in a career of distinguished reputation. He possessed a
brilliant genius, a lively poetic fancy, andAvas an excellent
Writer. For several years preceding the American revolu-
tion he was a consjiicuous character, and had great influ-
ence among the leading w]iig.> and patriots of the day.
When the Avar commenced in 1775, his ciiaracter was so
high that he was appointed pliysician general to the army.
But while he was performing the duties assigned him,
circumstances occurred which led to a suspicion that he
held a treacherous correspondence with the enemy- Cer-
tain letters in cypher were intercepted, which he had writ-
ten to a relation in Boston. lie was immediately arrested,
imprisoned, and tried before a military tribunal appointed
to investigate his conduct, and was pronounced guilty of a
BENJAMIN CHURCH. 221
criminal correspondence with the enemy. It appears that
the only c\ idciuc by wliirh he was (orivicteil, rested on
an inttM(( pled Ictlor diiettod to a friend in Boston. This
letter was wiitten in cypi»<'r ; and wlien do(;yj)lierrd and
exanuneil, its contents seemed in a consideruljic decree to
justify the plea which he had made, that it was de^i<Tned
as an innocent stratagem to deceive and draw from the
enemy some infornjation for the l>eiielit of the pnMic*
Dr. C. was at the same time a nu^mln'r of tlu- Iloiiso of
Re])resentatives, from whidi he wouhl have hecn exju Ihd
hu(.l lie not resigned his seat. He was, however, arraigned
before the House, subjected to a rigid examination, and
his letter was read by himself by parafjrajjhs, and com-
mented upon and ex])lainod. His defence before the House
may l)e considered as a specimen of l)riiliant talents and
great iufjenuity. " Confirmed," said he, *' in assured in-
nocence, I stand prepared for your keenest searchinjjs."
" The warmest bosom here does not flame with a blighter
zeal for the security, happiness and liberties of America,
than mine." So high was party zeal, and such the jeal-
ousy and ])rejudice of the day, that a torrent of indi<rna-
tion was ever at haiul to sweep from the land every guilty
or suspected charai ter. In the instance of Dr. C. there
were not a few among the most respectable and intelligent
of the community, who expressed strong doubts of a crimi-
nal design in his conduct. It was, however, his hard fate
to pine in prison until the following year, when he ob-
tained permission to dejiait for the West Indies. The ves-
sel in whicit he sailetl was supposed to have foundered at
sea, as no tidings respecting Iut were ever obtained.
The writings of Dr. C. both in poetry and prose, have
been much celebrated. Of his poetical ])ieces there remain
some which are now read witli ])leasure. The *•' Elegy
upon Dr. Mavhew,'' who died HOG ; and the " Eleuy up-
on Mr. U'hitetield/' 1170, are serious and pathetic. The
" Kletiy uj)on the Times," printed in tlie year 1705, is
rather satirical ; but breathes the spirit which animated
the patriots of that day. The poem No. XI. in the col-
lection styled " Pietas et Gratulatio," in the opinion of
the monthly reviewers, had the preference over the others.
• It TT15 for sometime difficult to find any person rapaM* of drcyphering Dr.
Church'* Inter ; but at length the task was undcrlakerj by the R*v. Samuel W^eii,
D.D. of Dartmouth, county of Rrmtol, who pcrfomed it with arruracy and pr«-
ciaion.
222 JOHN CLARK.
His prose writings are mostly essays of a witty and philo-
sophical kind, which are scattered in e})hemeral })ublica-
tions, though some of tliem, perhaps, are known by those
who were contemporary with him. The oration on the
5th of March, which he pronomiced before the town in
1773, discovers a rich fancy ; it is certainly one of the very
best of the " Boston Orations."
CLARK, JOHN. The name of John Clark has been,
for a longer succession of years than any other in our coun-
try, distinguished in the ranks of medical practitioners.
Of the earliest physician of that name, who probably
came from England in 1631 or 1632, and after living a
few years in Boston removed to Rhode-Island, where he
died April 20th, 1676, filling a long course of service in
administering to the religious as well as natural wants of
1 • • •
his neighl)ors, it cannot be necessary here to give any
larger account, as it must be only a transcript from the
American Biographical Dictionary of Rev. Dr. Wm. Allen.
CLARK, JOHN, a copy of whose portrait adorns this
volume, arrived in America about the year 1650, as the
first notice that can be discovered of him is in March,
1651, when it appears by the records of Boston he obtain-
ed liberty to build a wharf before his premises. Nothing
is discoverable of this gentleman in print ; but the tradition
in the family is, tliat he was lionorcd with a diploma in
England for his success in cutting for the stone. An error
of the date in the engraving may be corrected. It should
be 1664 ; and of course he died soon after the artist paint-
ed him. His age, being marked 66, makes his liirtli to be
in 1598. It has not been generally known that portraits
were so early taken on tliis side of the ocean.
By the family tradition credit is claimed for the care
which he bestowed in the introduction of a breed of horses
into our country, long known, it is said, in Plymouth, as
Clark's breed ; and some confirmation of this report may,
perhaps, be obtained from tlie will, by which to his son
John, besides liis books and instruments, are given " horses,
mares and colts, both in this colony of Massachusetts and
in Plymouth colony." The inventory shows, for those
days, a respectable estate, amounting to £1295.6, wherein
is found " the mares and horses, young and old, 12 at £5
each = J£60." Other interesting items are, " money, gold
and silver, £50 ; hooks and instruments, with several chi-
rurgery materials in the closet, £60 ; medicines and drugs,
jEIO ; and a pocket-watch, £3."
JOirflM (DJI.AEK M,D,
• '/•: 60'. f&inffj .^£?. /&OV.
JOHN CLARK. 223
CLARK, JOHN, the son of the last named, j)ursucd his
father's profession. He, however, partook of the interest
of his fellow citizens in civil iiH'uirs, and in the iii-li lilnrty
times was chosen a representative for Boston, 1G8D and
1690, in wliich latter year, 17th Dei ember, he died with-
out leavin<r a will. The inventory ol his estate returned
by his eldest son, John, makes the value of his books X2-1,
of the «rraiUllather's tl2.
JOHN, the grandson of the first ancestor, born 27th
January 1C68, was graduated at Harvard College in 1687,
and inherited the patriotic feelings of iiis father, for which
he was liighly honored. He was a representative for Bos-
ton from 1708 to 17 11, and was chosen Speaker in 1709.
In tlie controversy with Governor Sliuie, he was a strong
O])poser of j)reroj';ative, and for his service was elected to
the Council in 1720, when the Governor interposed his
negative. Upon this he was ajiain ( hosen in the autunm
of that year a representative for Boston, and so continued
till n24, being Sj)eaker of the House for the last three
years. While he was a representative, in 1721, a contro-
versy arose between the House and the Council, and at the
same time began to spread that destructive disease, the
smallpox, against winch in that year the preservative of
inoculation was first introduced. Hutchinson, in his His-
tory, Vol. II. 271, says : "In the niidst of the dispute,
Mr. Hutchinson, one of the members for Boston, was
seized with the smallpox, ami died in a few ilavs. The
Speaker, Mr. Clark, was one of the most noted physicians
in Boston, and notwithstanding all his care to cleanse him-
self from infection after visiting bis patients, it was sup-
posed, brouffht the distemper to his brother member,"
which so terrified the Ct)urt, that it was not possible to
keej) them toi^i'tlier.
From 1724 to his deatli, Gth Decendier, 1728, in the
60th year of his age, he was in the Comicil of the Pro-
vince. His epitaph may here be inserted.
KPITAPII.
He who amone Physicians shona so lato,
And by his wise Proscriptions conquered Falc,
Now lies extended in the Silent Grave,
Nor him alive would his vast Merit save.
But itill his Fame shall last, his Virtues live,
And all sepulcl\ral Monuments survive :
Still flourish shall his name ; nor shall thin ston*
Long 4s his Piety and Love b« known.
224 JOHIt CLATTON.
His first wife, Sarah Shrimpton, to whom he was mar-
ried 30th April, 1691, died 20th November, 1717; his
second, Elizabeth Hutchinson, married 16th April, 1718,
died 2d December 1722. A third wife, Sarah Leverett,
married 1 5th July, 1 725, survived him, and became wife of
the celebrated Rev. Dr. Benjamin Colman. All his instru-
ments and utensils of surgery whatsoever, he gave by his
will to his son John. In the inventory of his estate is
mentioned the jjicture of old Dr. Clark, which is, without
doubt, tjiat of his grandfather, engraved for this work.
JOHN, son of the Counsellor, born 15th December,
1698, died of paralysis, 6th April, 1768, in his 70th year.
He was a practitioner of medicine in Boston, and had a
son of the same name, also a physician, who died before
his father. Two other children are remembered by the
father's Avill, William, to whom he gives all his drugs and
medicines, and Elizabeth, who was wife of the famous Jon-
athan Mayhew, D.D. To the grandson, John, son of the
deceased fifth John, were bequeathed all the books, chests
of utensils, &c. relating to surgery or pliysic.
This grandson was educated at Harvard College ; after
graduation in 1772, he studied medicine with James
Lloyd, a distinguished pliysician, and after visiting Eu-
rope for enjoyment of experience in the Hospitals, return-
ed to participate the practice of his instructer. Being
threatened with consumptive appearances, he removed to
Waltham, where he died 29th July, 1788. He left a son,
John, the seventh in succession of the family, who was
graduated at Harvard College 1799, and received his de-
gree of M.B. 1802. He died at Weston on Sunday, 21st
April, 1805, aged 27, leaving no male issue.
^ CLAYTON, Dr. JOHN, an eminent botanist and phy-
sician of Virginia, was born in England in 1685, and came
to Virginia in the year 1705, and resided near Williams-
burg. He was elected a member of several of the first
literary societies of Europe, and corresponded with many
of the most learned naturalists of that period. As a practi-
cal botanist he was probably not inferior to any one of the
age. He passed a long life in exploring and describing
the plants of his country, and is supposed to have enlarged
the botanical catalogue as much as any man who ever lived.
He is the author of " Flora Virginica," a work published
by Gronovius, at Leyden, 8vo. in 1739, 1743, and 1762.
He published in the Philosophical Transactions several
JOSHUA CLAYTO.X. 225
communications, treating of the culture of the diflercnt
species of tohacco, and an an)})le account of the medicinal
plants whicli lie had discovered in Virginia. He also left
l)eliiiul hiiii two volumes of manuscripts neatlv prepared
lor the i)rcss, and a llortus Siccus, with marginal notes
and references, for the engraver who slioidd prepare the
jdates for his proposed work. He died Deccn.her 15th,
1773, m the S8lh year of his age. During tlie year pre-
ceding Iiis decease, such was the vigor of his colistitution
even at this advarued period, and such iiis 7.eal in hotani-
cal researches, that he made a botanical tour through
Orange county ; and it is believed that he had visited
most of tlie settled parts of Virginia. His cliaracter stands
very high as a man of integrity, and as a good citizen.
He was a strict, thongli not ostentatious observer of the
practice of the Cluircli of England, and on all occasions
seemed piously disposed. He was heard to say, whilst exam-
ining a tlower, that he could not look into one without see-
ing the display of infinite power and contrivance, and that
he thouirjit^ it impossible for a botanist to be an atheist.
Clayton's Flora Virginica is frecjuently referred to by Lin^
n.-eus, and by all the succeeding botanists, who have had oc-
casion to treat of the plants of North America. His valua-
ble manuscripts in two volumes, with the Hortus Siccus,
were in possession of his son when the revolutionary war
commenced, and were lodnred in the olHce of the clerk of
Ne\y-Kent, as a place of security from the invading enemv.
An incendiary i)ut a torch to the buildinu ; and thus per-
islied not only the records of the countv, but the labors
of Clayton. Mr. Jefferson in his Noteson Viroinia says
that Dr. Clavton was a native of Vircrinia. "^
CLAYTON, Dr. JOSHUA, was Governor of the state
of Delaware, and a member of the United States Senate •
he died in 1799. He was hiirhlv respectable in the medi-
cal profession, in which lie j)ractised for manv vears.
In 1792 he addressed a friend as follows. " During the
late Mar the Peruvian bark was very scarce and dear. I
was at that time engaged in considerable practice, and was
under the necessity of seeking a substitute for the Peru-
vian bark. I conceived tliat the poplar, Uiriodendron
tulipifera, had more aromatic and bitter than the Peru-
vian, and less astringency. To correct and amend those
qualities, I added to it nearly an equal quantitv of the
bark of the root of doffwood, cornu* florida, and' half the
SJSS SAMUEL CLOSSEr.
quantity of the inside bark of the white oak tree. This
remedy I prescribed for several years, in every case in
which I conceived the Peruvian bark necessary or proper,
with at least equal, if not superior success. I used it in
every species of intermittent, gangrenes, mortifications,
and in short, in every case of debility."
CLOSSEY, SAMUEL, M.D. was an Irish physician, of
very respectable attainments, who established himself in
medical practice in New-York. He had, previously to his
arrival in America, attained a high degree of eminence in
the medical profession, both as a practitioner, and an au-
thor of an interesting volume on morbid anatomy. This
was entitled " Observations on some of the Diseases of the
Human Body, chiefly taken from the Dissections of Mor-
bid Bodies." It was published in London in 1763. He was
for a short time chosen to the anatomical chair, and the
Professorship of Natural Philosophy in King's College,
now Columbia College. Upon the organization of the first
medical school in New-York in 1768, Dr. Clossey was
chosen the Professor of Anatomy ; and directed his labors
with great assiduity to the establishment of that institution.
Political difficulties in the American government caused
him to return to his own country, where he died a short
time after his arrival.
COCHRAN, JOHN, M.D. This gentleman was born
on the 1st of September, 1730, in Chester county, in the
state of Pennsylvania. His father, James Cochran, was a
respectable farmer, who had come from the north of Ire-
land, and the lands which he first purchased still continue
in the possession of his descendants. Discovering in his
son John the desire of a learned profession, he sent him to
a grammar school in the vicinity, that was conducted by
the late Dr. Francis Allison, who was confessedly one of
the most correct and faithful grammarians that ever taught
in this country. Having finished his preliminary educa-
tion, Mr. Cochran betook himself to tlie study of physic
and surgery under the late Dr. Thompson, in Lancaster.
Under this gentleman he improved greatly, by his dili-
gence and attention, in the knowledge of his profession.
About the time at which he finished his medical studies,
the war of 1755 commenced in America between England
and France. The army then presented to the mind of Dr.
Cochran a scene of usefulness and further improvement.
As there were not any great hospitals at that time in the
JOHif COCHRAN. 22*
provinces, he readily perceived that the army would ]>« an
excellent scliool lor his iinjjrovenient, especially in sur-
gery, as well as in the nu'dic al treatment ol many diseases.
He soon obtained the appointment of surpjeon's mate in
the hospital do])artment ; an<l havinjj contiinied with the
northern arujy dnrin;>r the whole of tiiat war, enjoying the
friendship and advice of Dr. Munro, and other eminent
surijcons and physicians, ho quitted the service with the
character of an al)le and experienced practitioner.
At the close of the war lie settled in Albany, where he
married Miss Gertrude Schuyler, the only sister of the
late General Schuyler. From that city he removed in a
short time to New-Brunswick, in the state of New-Jersey,
where he continued to j)ractise physic and surtrery with
great reputation. In discharging the duties of his jirofes-
sion he bestowed that attention, and exercised that tender-
ness and liumanity, which never fail to solace the feelings
of the afilicted.
When the war became serious between Great Britain and
the United States, Dr. Cochran was too zealous a whig,
and too much attached to the interests of his native coun-
try, to remain an idle spectator. Towards the last of tiie.
year 17*0, he offered his service as a volunteer in the lios-
pital dejiartment. General Washington was too good a
judge not to discover the value of a physician who joined
great experience to diligence, fidelity and a sound judg-
ment, and accordingly, in the winter of HTT, he recom-
mended him to Congress in the following words: " I would
take the liberty of mentioning a gentleman whom I think
highly deserving of notice, not only on account of his abil-
ities, but for the very great assistance which he has afford-
ed us in tlie course of tliis winter, merely in the nature of
a volunteer. This gentleman is Dr. John Cochran, well
known to all the faculty. The j)lace for which he is well
fitted, and which would l)e most agreeable to him, is Sur-
geon General of the middle department ; in this line he
served all the last war in the British service, and has dis-
tinguished himself this winter, particularlv in his atten-
tion to the smallpox patients and the wounded.'' He was
accordingly appointed on the 10th of April. 1777, Phvsi-
cian and Surgeon General in the middh' dejiartment. In
the month of October, 17S1, Congress was pleased to give
him the appointment of Director General of the hospitals
of the United States, an appointment that was the more
228 NATHANIEL COFFIN.
honorable, because it was not solicited by him. It is hardly
necessary to observe that the Doctor was much indebted
to his observation and experience wliile he was in tlie
British service, for the great improvement lie made in the
hospital department, from the time it was put under his
care. Nor is it necessary to observe that while other gen-
tlemen, high in the medical stall', were disgusting the pub-
lic with mutual charges and criminations, Dr. Cochran
always preserved the character of an able physician and
an honest man.
A sliort time after the peace, Dr. Cochran removed with
his family to New-York, wliere he attended to the duties
of his profession until the adoption of the new constitu-
tion, AvJien his friend. President Washington, retaining, to
use liis own words, " a cheerful recollection of his past
services," nominated him to the office of Commissioner of
Loans for the state of New-York. This office he held un-
til a paralytic stroke disabled him in some measure from
the discharge of its duties, upon which he gave in his re-
signation, and retired to Palatine, in the county of Mont-
gomery, where he terminated a long and useful life, on
the 6th of April, 1807, in the 77tli year of his age.
In reviewing the character of this respectable physician,
we have only to remark that without the flights of ima-
gination which tempt some gentlemen to theorize and
specidate at the risk of their patients, lie united a vigorous
mind and correct judgment, with information derived and
improved from long experience and faithful habits of at-
tention to the duties of his profession.
He had in early life received impressions, under the
care of a religious father, which he never lost ; for though
he served long in tlie army, in which men are too apt to
become infidels or deists, he never cherished a single doubt
concerning the truths of revelation. — Medical and Philoso-
phical Res^ister.
COFFIN, Dr. NATHANIEL, M.M.S.S.* Dr. Nathan-
iel Coffin came to Portland in 1738 from Newburyport,
his native place, where he studied physic with Dr. Tap-
pan. In 1739 lie was married to Patience Hale, by whom
he had eight cliildren. Dr. Coffin had an arduous task
in pursuing his professional duties, having nearly the
whole of the eastern country to attend, from Welles to the
♦ Written by Iiif »o»>, Dr. NAfhaniel Coffin, at the advanced age of 82.
i^ATHANIEJL fHOlKFJlir., M,
NATHANIEL COFFIN. 229
Kenncbcck. He was frc(iuontly called to perform opera-
tions oil persons who liiul hoeii toiiiiiliawked iiml scalped
hy llu" Imliaiis. lie was so inucii re>>j)ettc(I l>y tliese that
they always fjirnished him with a safe coiivevaiice throiiijh
their settlements, and treated him with tiie greatest kind-
ness and hospitality.
From his stuilies in Newhuryport he coidd not have ac-
quired the information lu; possessed, ami which made liim
so extensively useful, j)articulai"ly in surncry ; hut it may
be easily accomtted for, l>y the opportunity he had of in-
tercourse with the youni; irentlemeii who came out in the
ships as surgeons. After having served their apprentice-
ship in London, they were admitted for one year or more
into some of the hospitals there, to finish their education,
and were then employed in the above ca})acity. Discov-
ering their superior advantages, he always matle them wel-
come at his house, ami also provided them with tlu- means
of accompanying him to visit his patients. In this manner
be obtained yearly information of every new discovery or
improvement relative to the science of medicine or surge-
ry. In May, 1703, he was attacked with a palsy, notwith-
standing which he persevered in his intention of sending
bis son to London, to attend the bosj)itals of St. Thomas
and Guy in the horough.
In January, 176G, he had anotber attack of tbe palsy, of
which he died, ajred fifty years.
COFFIN, NATHANIEL, M.D. M.M.S.S. son of the
j)recediiig, was at the time of his decease the oldest and
one t)f the most eminent j)hy>i(ians in the State of Maine.
The first ancestor of his family who came to this country
was Tristam Cotrin,* who emigrated from Englaiul in IG 12.
Dr. Collin was born in Portland, on the 3d of May,
1741, in which j)lace he always lived, and where he closed
liis loiuj and us<ful life. The country at the time of his
birth, for many miles round Casco hay, includiiiif the site
of Portland, was called Falmouth ; afterward the part
most thickly settled, lying on the harbor, was incorpo-
ratril into a separate town by the name of Portland.
• Some few years linco Sir Isanc Coffin, Bart, had a medal struck in commemo-
ration of his anoe!iif)r, Trisitam Coffin ; which with hin acr\Mtomrd hberality he
presented to all the male descendants of the name. It boro on one side a full lcn;;th
figure of their ancestor in the Spanish costume, with this inscription, " Tristaoi
Coffin, the first of the raro that settled in America. 1642"; and on the roTtrso wore
bar hands joined — '• Do honor to his nam<»" — *' Be united."
230 NATHANIEL COFFIN.
He completed his preparatory medical education under
his father ; but the limited means of scientific improvement
then existing in this thinly peopled section of the country,
induced the son with the advice of his father to embark
for England at the age of eighteen. He there prosecuted
his studies at Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, under the
distinguished Hunter, Akenside, McKenzie and others ;
and returned to commence the practice of his profession at
the early age of twenty-one.
The time which he passed in a land, then as far excel-
ling his own in the advancement of the arts and sciences,
as the vigor of manhood excels the weakness of infancy,
was faithfully improved. His industry and desire for
knowledge were greatly promoted by the ready tact and
practical good sense which were distinguishing features of
his mind ; and at the death of liis father, which occurred
in 1766, he was qualified in no ordinary degree to succeed
to an extensive and arduous practice. He married in the
26th year of his age the only daughter of Isaac Foster,
Esq. of Charlestown, by whom he had eleven children.
In consequence of the rapid increase of population in
this part of the country after the close of the war, his la-
bors, though greatly multiplied, soon became confined
principally to his native town. His father, who had re-
sided on the same spot with himself, had within the memo-
ry of his son been compelled to travel with his healing art
over an extent of country reaching forty miles west, and
more than fifty on the east, the only messenger of health
and consolation that could then be procured within these
limits ; while the son found in his native town and its vi-
cinity, a constant demand for his time, his talents and his
benevolence. At the commencement of his professional
career, Dr. Coffin might often be found travelling tlirough
unfrequented and dangerous roads, to visit patients who
possessed none of the comforts and scarcely the necessaries
of civilized life, while the cannon of the enemy was sound-
ing in his ears, and before his eyes lay all the desolation
with which war ravages the land. Could this amiable and
enterprising physician, while watching in the abodes of
miserv, have relieved the tedious hours with an anticipa-
tion of the peace and prosperity which were so soon to
reward the constancy of his covmtrymen, how would his
benevolent heart have been cheered at the prospect ! He
loved his country, and ardently desired her freedom and
NATHANIEL COFFIN. 231
advjinccmcnt ; but fcw j)crsons at that period dreamed of
independence. It was not long, however, l)efore tlie pros-
pect hriiihtened, anil America, though struggling with a
power incalc ulahly sujterior to liti- own, gave signs ol" a
resolution not to he overcome.
'riu> inhahitants of Falmouth caught the jfeneral :-:pirit
of patriotism which was daily gaining grouml, and deter-
mined to reliiu|uish their commerce with England, 'i'his
resolution was first enforced on Mr. Coulson, an Eniilish
resident there, who hait married a sister of Dr. Collin. In
consetjucnce of the>e oifcni-ivc j)roceedinus an order wa^
oblained from the admiral on this station for tlie destruc-
tion of the town ; and Captain Mowatt drew uj) his naval
force in the port to execute tlic order.
On this occasion Dr. Collin, with two others, was em-
ployed by his townsmen to repair on hoard the Canceau,
to expostulate with the commander upon the severity of
his commission, and to endeavor to avert or mitigate its
evils. In this attempt he was unsuccessful. Caj)tain Moav-
att was determineil to burn the town, and a short interval
onlv was ohtaiiicd for the iidiahitauts to iemo\c some of
their effects, §Hid to escaj)C with their families into the ad-
jacent country. Tliis excellent man contiimcd to share
the lot of his sulfcrins" townsmen dm ing that trying sea-
son, and his faithfulness deserves to be recorded with that
of the respectable and worthy pastors of the flotk, who
abode by their charce in their dispersion. Alter the alarm
had a little subsided, the inhalitaits ventured to return to
their ruined homes, and bejran grachially to rebiiild their
houses. Dr. Coffin was the first to er.ler the town, and to
animate by his couirifre and theelfull.es^ the hearts of the
people, sunk into despondency by the melancholy specta-
cle which on all side^ met their view. His services as a
physician were at this time particidarly acceptable to his
fellow-citi/ens, liar;is<ed as thev were In* a foreiirn enemy,
and lial)le to all those diseases and misfortunes incident to
j)erilous times. In seasons of public calamity an intelli-
gent and benevolent physician is indeed an anijel of mercy
wherever he appears. Sickncs.s is one of the severest ag-
gravations of ])overty and misfortune ; it unnerves the
strong arm and the stout heart, whic h in the vigor of
health fmd new resources and new enterprise from peril
and dillicully.
233 NATHANIEL COFFIN.
During the period of the revolution sick and disabled
feamcn and soldiers were frequently brought by our fhips
into Poiilaiul. Dr. Coffin was thus offered repeated op-
j)Oituiiitict for a display of tliose principles of j)ractice
which he had previously acquired in foreign hospitals,
and which a lare skill and discriminaiing judgment ena-
bled him at all times to apply with the most successful re-
sults. As a surgeon, Di'. Coffin was in his native town
ranked at the head of the profession ; always prompt and
ready, with a resolution that never wavered in the boldest
operations, with an eye s-teadily fixed on its object, and a
hand that never trembled,* and all the practical know-
ledge of anatomy essential to«the successful treatment of
surgical diseases, he was prfi|)ared to accomplish what no
other practitioner around him presumed to undertake. If
he possessed a peculiar facility in any one branch of his
profession, it was certainly operative surgery. Some of
his operations were performed at the advanced age of 80,
with all the promptness and decision of a youthful
professor. His reputation was also high as a medical
practitioner ; and what is said of the learned and distin-
guished Dr. Baillie may Avith truth be applied to him :
" He had a most natural, unassuming but decided manner,
which in the exercise of his professional duties was the
same to all persons and on all occasions. His mind was
always quietly, ])ut eagerly directed to the investigation of
the symptoms of the disease, and he had so distinct and
systematic a mode of putting questions, that the answer
often presented a corrected view of the whole, and could
not fail to impress the patient with his clear and compre-
hensive knowledge."
He was honored with all those professional distinctions
which his merits and attainments so truly deserved. The
honorary degree of Doctor in Medicine was conferred on
him by the College of Brunswick ; he was the first Presi-
dent of the Medical Society of Maine, and for many years
discharged the duties of Hospital Surgeon for marine pa-
tients in the district of Maine.
Possessing a constitution naturally healthy and vigorous,
and a mind resolute and intelligent, there was no peril
which he was not prepared to encounter, and no adversity
* It is worthy of remark, that Dr. Coffin performed operations equally well with
cither hand.
NATHANIEL COFFIN. 233
Avlilth lie could not endure, and he has well deserved the
distinction awarded him by the pithlic for his constant and
unremitted exertions durin<; a j)eriod of more tlian i-ixty
years.
Dr. Collin was surrounded in theearlv j)art of his career
hy sullerinii frieiuls and patients, hut his life was closed
amid the hlessin<rs of freedom and indejxndence. In the
peaceful eveninj; of his days, all tlie enjoyments of pros-
perity and aflection chistered round his dweilin^i ; hut it
tiliould not he foriiotten that the resj)C(tal)ility and hapj)i-
ness he then exjxrienced, were the well earned reward of
the virtues, tlie tidents and the iaithftdness of early years.
It appears that Dr. Coihn had no ambition to figure as
an author, thouuh he read the best medieal publications,
and reflected attentively upon what he read. We are not
aware that he has left behind him any pajurs for the pid)-
lic eye. This is to be re<rrette(l, for no oni- had a better
opj)ortunity of noticinu; the diseases of our climate for the
last half century, and of re(oriling the various (hancrs
which they have assumed and the consequent chanjie of
practice which must have necessarily followed in their
treatment and cure.
His private cliaracter, thouoh known oidy to a small
ciri le of fellow citizens and friends, will never be eflaced
from their memory. The keenness and ready tact of his
intellect, increased by the peculiar and diflicult circum-
stances in which he commenced practice, his sound judg-
ment, founded on lonji experience and rational dedu( tion,
the j)erfe(t sinipru ity and sinileness of his heart, his ])cne-
volence and readiness to answer the ctdl of (hity or human-
ity at the risk of any personal sacrifice, his fondness for the
young and his affectionate solicitude to promote their hap])i-
ness, and his equaiumity and courage in cases of misfortune
and (Hffnulty, are qualities, which, althouuh they do not
make much fii^ure in a narrative, insure to their ])osse^sor re-
sped and ]iaj)piness, anil slu'd a pure and sacred li<iht around
the memory of departed worth.
In his manners he was a polished specimen of the state
of American society existing before the revolution ; he was
one of the most eraceful eentlenien of the old school, and
his deportment was marked by a uniform and cajUivating —
urbaiiitv.
His long experience, added to ]\\u varied knowledge, ren-
dered his services valuable to the last, and the faculties of
SO
254 CADVVALLADtR I OLDEN.
his mind retained a singular fresliness even in tlic ordin-
ary decays of nature.
He made an early profession of liis religious principles
and was one of tiie iirst who united in tlie Unitarian faith
with the Rev. Dr. Freeman of Boston, more than 40 years
ago ; and for a number of years since, he was associated
with the church of the first parish in his native place.
The manner of his decease is briefly told. In 1823 lie
had a slight attack of asthma, which disappeareil in a few
days ; but it returned in April, 1824, and brought on ex-
treme dc])ility which threatened his life, and ended by a
general l^rcaking up of his robust and healthy constitution.
From this period he began to decline, while a gouty affec-
tion appearing, produced, according to its ordinary effects
on a debilitated system, hydrothorax, which at last })roved
fcital ; and notwithstanding the unremitted and affection-
ate attentions of an anxious family, and the constant ser-
vices of his medical friends, with as little bodily suffering
as could be expected, and a mind but slightly impaired,
he expired on the 18th October, 1826. It may be no-
ticed that he died on the anniversary of the destruction of
Portland, which he survived 51 years.*
GOLDEN, CADWALLADER, Esq. This truly emi-
nent and worthy character, who united in himself the
several qualities we are accustomed to admire in the phy-
sician, naturalist and philosopher, was the son of the Rev.
Alexander Colden, of Dunse in Scotland, and was born on
the 17th day of February, 1688. After he had laid the
foundation of a liberal education under the immediate in-
spection of liis father, he went to the University of Edin-
burgh, where in 1705 he completed his course of col-
legiate studies. He now devoted his attention to medicine
and mathematical science until the year 1708, when ])eing
allured by the fame of William Penn's colony, he came
over to this country about two years after. He practised
physic with no small share of reputation till 1715, when he
returned to England. Wliile in London he was intro-
duced to that eminent pliilosopher, Dr. Edmund Halley,
who formed so favorable an opinion of a paper on Animal
Secretion, written by Dr. Colden in early life, that he
read it before the Royal Society, the notice of which
* W« are inriebteci to the n^wsfnipRr notices of the decease of Dr. Coffin for much
4>f th« information contiiined in tliii memoir.
CAUWALI.M)r.H ( OLDEX. 235
Icarnoil hody it greatly atlractod. At this tiino lie formed
au :i((|uaiiitau(t' with some ol" the most distiiimiishcd litiT-
nry and sciriitilic, i haraitors, with whom he cvrr after
maintained a regular eorresjjondenee. From London he
went to Scotland, and married a younir lady of a respecta-
ble Scottli family by the name of C'hristie, with whom he
relurncd to Anu-iica in 171G.
In 1718 lie settled in the city of New-^'oik ; hut soon
after reliiujuished the practice of j)hysic, and became a
j)ublic charat ter : he helil in succession the office of Sur-
veyor General of the province, Master in Chancery, Mem-
ber of the Council, and Lieutenant Governor. Previous
to his acceptance of this last station, he obtained a ])atent
for a tract of land, designated by the name of (^oldenham,
near Newburgh, to which place he retired with his i'amily
al)out the year 1755, and spent a great part of his life.
Here he appears to have been occupied without interrup-
tion in the pursuit of knowledge, particularly in botanical
and mathematical studies, at the same time that he con-
tinued his corresj)ondcnce with learned men in Europe
and America.
In 17GI lie was aj)pointed Lieutenant Governor of New-
York, which commission he held until the time of his de-
cease, the administration of the government repeatedly
falling on him by the death or absence of several govern-
ors in chief. His political character was rendereil very
conspicuous by the firnmess of his conduct during the vio-
lent commotions which preceded th<' revolution. His ad-
ministration is also memorable for several charters of in-
corporation for useful and benevolent purpo.«es. After the
return of Governor Tryon, in 1775, he was relieved from
the cares of govt-rnment. He then retired to a seat on
Long-Island, where a recollection of his former studies,
and a few select friends, ever welcomed bv a social and
hospital)le disposition, cheered him in his last days. He
died in the S9th year of his age, on the memorable 28th of
September, 1776, a few hours before the city of New-York
was in flames, retaining his senses to the last and expiring
without a groan.
Dr. ("olden began at an early period of hi< life to pay
great attention to the vegetable jiroductions of America, in
which delightful study his dauohter afterwards l>eeame
distinguisheil. In honor of Dr. (dlden Linnxus named a
236 CADWALLADER COLDEN.
plant of the tetrandrous class, Coldenia * This plant Miss
Golden had first described. He was attentive to the phy-
sical constitution of the country, and left a long course of
diurnal observations on the thermometer, barometer and
winds. He also wrote a history of the prevalent diseases
of the climate, and, if he Avas not the first to recommend
the cooling regimen in the cure of fevers, he was certainly
one of its earliest and warmest advocates, and opposed
with great earnestness the prevailing mode of treatment in
the smallpox.
In the years 1741 and '2 a fever which occasioned great
mortality, prevailed in the city of New-York, and created
much alarm. He communicated Ids thoughts to the pub-
lic on the most probable method of curing the calamity in
a small treatise, in which he enlarged on the pernicious
effects of marshy exhalations, moist air, damp cellars,
fdthy stores, and dirty streets ; showed how much these
nuisances prevailed in many parts of the city, and pointed
out the remedies. The corporation of the city presented
him their thanks, and established a plan for draining and
clearing out the city, which was attended with the most
salutary effects. He published a treatise " On the Cure of
Cancer." Another essay of his " On the Virtues of the
Great Water Dock," introduced him to an acquaintance
with Linnaeus. In 1753 he pvdDlished some observations
on an epidemical sorethroat, which appeared in Massachu-
setts in 1735, and had spread over a great part of North
America. These observations are to be found in Cary's
American Museum.
When he became acquainted with Linnasus's system of
botany, he applied himself with new delight to that study.
His descriptions of between tliree and four hxnidred Amer-
ican plants, were printed in the Acta Upsaliensia. He pub-
lished the " History of the Five Indian Nations," in 2 vols.
12mo. But the subject which drew Dr. Colden at one
time of his life from every other pursuit, was what he first
published under the title of The Cause of Gravitation,
which, being mucli enlarged, was re]nd)lished by Dodsley,
in 1751, in 1 vol. ^Ito., entitled, The Principles of Action in
Matter, &c.
Tliough his principal attention, after the year 1760, was
necessarily directed from philosophical to political mat-
* See the Correspcndence of Lirnaeus by Sir James Edward Smith.
CADWALLADER COLDEN. 237
ters, he maintained with great pinw tuality his literary cor-
respondonto, particuhiily Avith l>imKXMis of U])sal, Groin*-
viiis of Luydoii, Drs. Poitciruhl and W hyttc of Kdiii-
burgh, Dr. Fothcrgill and >Ir. Colliiison, F.R.S. of Lon-
don. TluM'c were also several eonuiuinications on niathe-
inatical and astronomical subjects, between bini and the
Earl of Macclesfield. With most of the eminent men of
onr own country he held an almost nninterrn])te(l epistol-
ary corresjiomlence. Among them we may mention the
names of Dr. Garden, Mr. J. Bartram, Dr. Douglass, Dr.
John Bard, Dr. Samncl Bard, James Alexander, Es(p, and
Dr. Franklin. With Dr. Franklin in particular he was a
constant and intimate corresj)Ondent, and they regularly
comnnmicated to each other their j)hilosopliical and phy-
sical discoveries, especially on electricity. In theii" letters
are to be observed the first dawnings of many of those dis-
coveries which Dr. Franklin has communicated to the
world, and which so much astonished and benefited man-
kind. In a letter to one of his friends Dr. Fraidvlin gives
an accoimt of the organization of the American Philosophi-
cal Society, in which he mentions that Dr. Golden first
suggested the idea and plan of that institution.
The numerous manuscript paj)ers left by Dr. Golden at
tlie time of his death, whicli for many years were supposed
to have been lost, have been lately found, ami are iu)w in
the possession of his grandson, Gadwalladcr D. Golden,
Esq., Attorney General for the Southern district of tiie
state of New-York. They are chiefly on historical and
philosophical subjects, and many of them are of the great-
est value. Among these are Ol>servations on Smith's His-
tory of New-York, in a series of letters to his son Alexan-
der Golden : An Introduction to the Study of rhilosojjhy :
A corrected copy of his Account of the Fever which pre-
vailed in New-York in the years n41 — 2. This protluc-
tion may be found in Hosack and Francis's Register, vol.
1. An ln(|uirv into the Principles of Vital Motion: A
Translation of the Letters of Giccro, with an Introduction
by G. Golden : Planta? Goldenhamia? in jirovincia \ove-
boracensi spontanea crescentes, (pias a<l jnetJKxhun Linnaei
Sexualem, anno 1712, observavit Gadwallader Golden :
A corrected and augmented copy of his Prin( i|)lcs of Ac-
tion in Matter : \ Treatise on Electricity, &c. Besides
these there is a great ma>s of correspondence on medical,
philosophical, and literary subjects, with many eminent
238 JAMES CRAIK.
pliy^icians and philosopliers in Europe and America.
These letters carry his correspondence back to the year
1710, and bring it down, almost uninterruptedly, till the
time of his death. There are, too, a great variety of i)apers
on public affairs, which must be considered as documents of
primary importance, as they necessarily contain numerous
facts which throw light on the history of this state. Dr.
Colden was unquestionably a man of various and exten-
sive learning, of superior talents, of the most indefatigable
industry, and, indeed, in many respects, his character will
not sutler by a comparison with that of our illustrious
countiyman, Benjamin Franklin. — -American Medical and
Philosophical Register ^ vol. 1.
CRAIK, JAMES, M.D. Dr. Craik was born in Scotland,
where he received his education for the medical service
of the British army. He came to the colony of Virginia
in early life, and had the honor to accompany the youth-
ful Washinjrton in his expedition against the French and
Indians in 1754, and returned in safety after the battle of
the Meadows and surrender of Fort Necessity. In 1755
he attended Braddock in his march through the wilder-
ness, and, on the 9th of July, assisted in dressing the
wounds of that brave, but unfortunate commander. At
the close of tJie French war, the subject of this article re-
sumed and continued his professional labors till the com-
mencement of the revolution in 1775. By the aid of his
early and fast friend. General Washington, he was trans-
ferred to the medical department in the Continental army,
and rose to the first rank and distinction. In 1777 he liad
an opportunity, which he gladly embraced, to show his
fidelity to his general and to his adojttcd country, by tak-
ing an active part in the d('velo})ment of a nefarious con-
spiracy, the oljject of wliich was the removal of the com-
mander in chief. In 1730 he was dc})uted to visit Count
De Rochainbeau, then recently arrived at Rhode Island,
and to make arrangements for the establisliment of hospi-
tals to accommodate the French army. Having performed
this difficult duty, he continued in the army to tlie end of
the war, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis,
on the memorable 19th of October, 1781.*
* Dr. Craik was the Director General of tlie Hospital at Yorktown, and the
present author has a distinct recollection of receiving from his hands the necessary
surgical im])lemcnts when a battle was expected on our approach to the British
lines, and of receiving his directions to keep near in the view of tho Marquis De
Lafayette, and to pay the first attention to liim in case he shodd bo wounded.
.IAMr.» IKAIK.
239
After the cessation of hostilities, the Doctor settled as a
physician in Charh's coinity in Maryland ; but soon re-
moved to the nc'iiihhorhooil of his illustrious iVirnd and
coiupanion, the fanner of Mount \ rrnon, at his ])arti<ular,
ropcateil anil urgent request, in HUb, when, like a guard-
ian angel, the never to be forgotten Washington again
stepped forth to redress the wrongs of his country, the
venerable Craik was once more appointed to his former
station in the medical stalf. VN ith the disbandnicnt of the
army tlu>n called into service, ceased the j)uhlic profes-
sional labors of the subject of this memoir, whose life, for
nearly half a century, hatl been devoted with zeal and high
reputation to the cause of his country.
One trying duty yet remained to be performed. It was
to witness the closing scene, anil to receive the la^t sijili of
his revered commander, the most distinguished man ol his
age. Their youthful commissions had been signed on the
same day. They had served together in the ranks of war.
Their friendship Avas cemented by a social intercourse of
fifty years continuance, and they were greatly endeared to
each other by common toils, privations and honors. At
lenglli the moment of j)arting arrived. It was tender, af-
fectionate, solemn, and im[)ressive. In reference to that
painful event, the Doctor is said to have expressed himself
in this manner : " I, who was bred amid scenes of human
calamity, who had so often witnessed death in its direst
and most awful forms, believed that its terrors were too
familiar to my eye to shake my fortitude ; but when I saw
this great man die, it seemed as if the bonds of my nature
were rent asunder, and that the pillar of my country's
happiness had fallen to the ground."
As a ])hysi( ian. Dr. Craik was greatly distinguished by
his skill and success, and his professional merits were
highly and justly appreciated. In tlic various relations of
private life, his character was truly estimable, and his
memory is precious to all who had the happiness and the
honor of his acquaintance. He was one, ami what a
proud eulogy it is, of whom the inunortal AVashinjiton
was jileascil to write, '^ »n/ roinpatrint in arws. mij old and
intimittr fricml.'" He departed this life at flu* jilace of his
resilience in Faiifax countv, onthe()lh of February, 1811.
in the 8tth year of his age. — Jlldcn's Epitaphs^ and other
DocumciUs.
JOHN CUMING-
CUMING, JOHN, M.M.S.S. was the son of Mr. Robert
Ciiniiiig, who emigrated from Scothmd at the close of the
rebellion in 1745. He settled and died in the town of Con-
cor'l, Massachusetts. His son John entered college at Cam-
bridge, but was not graduated. He left college, and en-
tered the army in the French war of 1755, in the capacity
of Lieutenant, and was taken })risoner by the French and
Indians: After the termination of the war, he studied
physic, and became a respectable and successful practition-
er in his native town.
Dr. Cuming had a taste for military operations. He
held the commission of Colonel in the militia, and had
the offer of a General's commission at the commencement of
the American revolution. But the situation of our army and
country appalled his spirit, and liis courage failed him.
Being a member of the Provincial Congress, which sat at
Watertown, he was one of a committee appointed to view
the sea coast from Boston to Plymouth, and to report
what defence might and ought to be made against the in-
vading British. The defenceless state of the coast, and
our inability to erect any works of importance, discour-
aged the spirits of the Colonel, and on being appointed
to the command of a ])rigade in the Northern army, he
declined the commission, retired to his house, and scarcely
visited his patients till our affairs brightened, and a good
prospect of success opened to view. Owing to this cir-
cumstance, j)robably. Dr. Cuming has not been publicly
noticed according to his real merit. Some years before
his death, he was admitted to the degree of Master of Arts
in Harvard University. He died of pneumonia, July 3d,
1788, aged 60 years. In his last will he bequeathed five
hundred pounds sterling to Harvard University for the
support of a medical professor : several legacies to indi-
viduals, and to the churcli and town of Concord ; one of
fifty pounds sterling to procure plate for the church ; one
of twenty-five, for the silent poor of the church and town ;
and one for schools.
Dr. Cuming was remarkably active and affable in the
exercise of his professional duties ; an able and honest
physician, and a sensible, generous friend. He was early
disposed to the profession and practice of religion, andwas-
considercd to be a sincere Christian.
CUTTER, AMMI R. M.D. M.M.S.S. Hon. The sub-
ject of this memoir was born in North Yarmouth, in the
AMMI U. CI TTER. 5Jl
utatc of Maine, in the year 1734. His father, who was
graduated at Candiridj^e in n2;3, was the first minister in
North Yarmouth, and at the time of his deatli was chap-
lain of one of tlie Now-Enjrhmd regiments at the siege of
LouisbonrjEj in 1715. Ilis mother, whose name was Brad-
bury, was from Newli\nyj)ort, in tlic county of Essex, and,
as a[)j)ears from lier letters now remaininj^ in the posses-
sion of her descendants, was a j)ious anil well echjcated
woman. Soon after the decease of lier husband, she sent
this, her eldest son, at the early aye of twelve years, to be
educated under the care of a clergyman at Cambridge.
The distance was then, probably, not less than 150 miles,
and much of the road lay through a thick wilderness.
The journey was performed l)y the youth on horseback,
attended by a servant ; it was a difficult and perilous en-
terprise, and more than seventy years afterward the
writer of this has heard the venerable old man recite his
" hair-breadth 'scapes" during the ride. He entered Har-
vard College in 1748. Among his contemporaries were
some young gentlemen from Portsmouth, S\ H., one of
whom was John Wcntworth, afterwards Governor of the
Province of New-Hampshire. With these, particulaily
with Mr. Wentworth, he formed habits of close intimacy,
and was prevailed upon by them to select that town as the
place to pursue his professional studies, after being gradu-
ated at Harvard in 1752. There are now before us letters
to Dr. Cutter fiom his yo\in<r friends, which indicate that
the cpialities of his mind and heart, which in after life ren-
dered him so justly beloved and esteemed, were then fully
developed.
He commenced the study of medicine under IJie care of
Dr. Clement Jackson, an eminent ))hvsician in Portsmouth,
in 1752, and immediately upon being admitted to practice,
was appointed surgeon of a body of rangers under the
celebrated Robert Rogers, which formed a part of the
army on the frontiers in the war with the Indians
in 1755. He remained with these troops in their fa-
tiguing and hazardous service, until tliey were disband-
ed. In the year 1758 he was appointed surgeon of the
New-Hampshire troops which en<:aged in the successful
expedition against Louisbourg. ^^ hile employed in this
service he was near falling a victim to the smallpox, which
committed greater ravajjes among the Americans than
the arms of the enemv. and whicli carried off, nmon£r-t
31 ■
243 AMMI R. CUTTER.
others, the commander of the New-Hampshire troops,
the friend and patron of Cutter. We have often
heard Dr. Cutter speak of the events of this inter-
esting expedition, in which the military resources, cour-
age and talents of New-England were a second time suc-
cessfully displayed to the world. He delighted to speak
of General Wolfe, the second in command, whom he per-
sonallv knew, and whose easv and engaging manner?
and chivalrous character, rendered him no less the idol ot
tlie army, than his subsequent services justly made him the
favorite of his country. Dr. Cutter used to say that the
death of Wolfe was a fortunate event for the Americans ;
an opinion which the remarkable incapacity of the British
generals during the war of our revolution, seems to justify.
Upon his return from Louisbourg in 1758, he married
the lady who now survives him, and immediately entered
upon the sober duties of life. As he united great court-
eousness and suavity of manners to unwearied diligence
and unwavering integrity, he soon obtained a very exten-
sive range of practice. In 1759 Major Rogers urged him.
to resume his station in the service in another expedition
of the Rangers to the frontiers and into Canada ; but his
professional engagements and the sweets of domestic life
counterbalanced his inclination. From tliis period until
the commencement of the revolution, it does not appear
that there were any events in Dr. Cutter's life worthy of
being made public ; the cares of an increasing family, and
the duties of a responsible and laborious profession, were
enough to fully occupy his attention. The breaking forth
of the revolution presented tlie great question to his mind
under circumstances of more than common embarrassment.
Sir John Wentworth, Governor of the Province, had been
the friend of his youtli, and their mutual friendship had
ripened with their years. He was an amiable and accom-
plished gentleman, and an efficient, liberal and public-
spirited magistrate, and he had projected schemes for ad-
vancing the prosperity of the Province, which were al-
ready in the course of successful completion. In joining
the whigs, therefore, against the Governor, which Dr.
Cutter did early and decidedly, he had to make a sacrifice
of private feelings upon the altar of patriotism, which fell
not to the lot of all. The Governor had previously pro-
cured for him a commission as a mandamus counsellor,
•\rhich, foreseeing the embarrassments which were coming>
AMMI R. CUTTER.
243
he very wisely declined accepting. Tlicir friendly inter-
course, however, was not iiiterru])tc(l l)y ditrerenit; of po-
litical opinions ; for after the (Joveraor had heen compel-
led to take refuge on hoard the ship of war near the lort,
he sent a pressing recpiest to Dr. Cutter to give him an-
other meeting. It was their last interview, as the Govern-
or soon after left the liarhor never airain to return, and Dr.
Cutter Avas prohahly the last New-Hampshire gentleman
he had an ()p|)ortunity of seeing within ilw. limits of the
republic. Forty years afterward, when a gentleiuaii from
Portsmouth hapj)ened to see Sir John at Halifax, Nova
Scotia, when he was Governor of that Province, tiie first
question he askcul, after the usual salutation, was as to the
welfare of his early friend.
In the heuinning of the year 1777 Congress resolved to
reorganize the medic.il department, and Dr. Cutter was
called upon to give his time and services to his country in
her hour of need. He had then a family of ten young
children, and an extensive and lucrative range of practice ;
btit in those days no man felt at lil)erty to choose between
tlie service of his country and his own convenience. The
post olfered to Dr. C. was that of Physician General of
the eastern department, and his station was to be at Fish-
kill, on the North River. The followinj extract of a let-
ter from General A\'hipj)le, who signed the declaration of
independence, and who Avas then a member of the Congress,
will show the nature of this appointment, and serves to
exhibit the hish estimation in which Dr. Cutter was held.
It is dated at Philadelphia, April 15, 1777. "The army
now forming will, I hope, under Heaven, free America
from the calamities of a destructive war. The scenes of
horror and distress occasioned by some mismanasement in
\hv medical department last year, were reallv shockiiiir to
humanity. Congress being sensible of this, and determined
to remedy the evil if possible, have formed a plan on the
most liberal princij>les, with a design if po-sible to draw
into the service of their country, {gentlemen of the first emi-
nence from different parts of the continent, many of whom
have already eiifjaijed. Voiir humanilv, and firm attach-
ment to the most glorious cause that ever mankind Avas
•rniiaiieil in, Avill, I Hatter myself, induce you to forego the
]>leasures of domestic happiness for a time, as you Avill
thereby render a most essential service to your country.
I hope, tlicrefore, soon to have the pleasure of hearing of
344 A.MMI R. CUTTER.
your acceptance of the trust, and of your arrival at the
hospital, which for the department in which you are placed
will be at some convenient place on the eastern side of the
Hudson River."
Dr. Cutter remained at Fishkill and its neighborhood
during the greater part of this year, and did not return
home until the beginning of the next, when the circum-
stances of his family compelled him to resign his office,
and he returned once more to the business of his profes-
sion and to the task, to him a delightful one, of educating
his children. He was, in the New-England phrase, emi-
nently a domestic man ; he sought no higher enjoyments
than he could find at his own parlor fire side ; that was
the scene of his pleasures and the centre of his hopes, and
his absence from it during the past year had been render-
ed doubly distressing by the death of his oldest son, then
a promising youth at college.
Dr. Cutter had no taste and no time for political life ;
and it is believed that he held no other civil office than a
seat in the Convention which framed the Constitution of
New-Hampshire. His opinions, however, on political
questions were not wavering ; he was a whig before the
revolution, as we have before stated, and when our own
governments were establislied, he attached himself from
the beginning to that party which formed and carried in-
to operation the Constitution of the United States, and he
adhered to it so long as it remained a distinct party.
About the year 1794 he admitted his third son William,
a scion wortliy of the parent stock, into partnership in his
{)ractice ; and gradually withdrawing himself from the
aborious duties of his profession, as the infirmities of age
came upon him, he finally resigned the whole into his hands.
As a physician Dr. Cutter was intelligent, kind and attent-
ive ; he remained in active practice more than fifty years,
and no one ever possessed in a greater degree the afiection
and entire confidence of his patients. His scientific attain-
ments were greater than those of most physicians of the
times in which he was educated ; his literary acquisitions
were very respectable, and his fondness for literary pur-
suits continued to afford employment and gratification un-
til the very close of his protracted life. He was one of
the original members, and for a long time President of the
New-Hampshire Medical Society, and, without derogating
from the merit of others, it may be said that for many
JAMKS FKEIiMAN UA.NA. 245
years he was at the liead of the profession in tliis state.
He received the honorary degree of M.D. from Harvard
College, and was chosrn an honorary mcniher of tlie Ahis-
sachuM'tts Medical ami Iluinanc Socielifs.
He was ahont the niitUlle height ; his manners were dig-
nified, yet courteons, and his conntenance was strongly
marked with the moral energy, intelligence and benevo-
lence, which formed the leading traits of his character.
He imited to a naturally (ine trnijxT, great vivacity and a
social <lisj)Osition ; his collociuial powers were remark:i-
ble ; he had a tenacious memory, and the diversified
scenes of his long life he used to relate with a felicity of
language and happiness of allusion, interspersed with fre-
(juent flaslies of native humor, that made him an instructive
and delightful comjianion.
Dr. Cutter's distinguishing intellectual powers, were
quickness of perception, a retentive memory, an vmder-
standing which rarelv erred in its decisions, and a will
"whose energy seldom failed of accom])lishing its determin-
ations. His prominent moral qualities, were an unbend-
ing integrity, a lofty sense of honor and a benevolence
which came from the heart, and which reached the hearts
of all around him. This "■ good man," as he was emphat-
ically called by the reverend clergyman who ])reached
liis funeral sermon, died suddenly on the eighth of Decem-
ber, A.D. 1819, aged 85 years, in the midst of his family,
breathing out his pure and kind sjtirit in a short ejacula-
lory ])rayer to the Being who created it, and who now re-
ceived it willing to depart ; before the frosts of age had
palsied his intellect, or lessened in the slightest degree the
warm affections of his heart. The influence of his charac-
ter, and the remend)rance of his kindness and his virtues,
yet remain, and will not soon jierish amid that commun-
itv, of which he was so long an active and valued uuMn!»er.
DANA, JAMES FREEMAN, M.D. was the oldest son
of Luther Dana, E.«<<j., and was liorn in AnduM'st, in the
state of New-Hampshire, September the 23d, 1793. His
mother's maiden name was Lucv Giddings. At the age of
sixteen he entereil tlie Universitv of Cambridne, after com-
pleting his preparatorv course of studies at riiiHij)< Acad-
emy in Exeter, N. H. He passed through the usual course
of instrtiction at the University, and received his first de-
gree in 1813.
246 JAMES FREEMAN DANA.
After his graduation he commenced the study of medi-
cine under Dr. John Gorham, at that time Professor of
Chemistry in Harvard University. In the year 1815, be-
fore he had completed his professional studies, he had be-
come so well known as a practical chemist, tliat he was
selected by the University to go to London as an agent for
the pur})0se of procuring a new apparatus for the chemi-
cal department. While in England, where he remained
several months, he prosecutecl the study of chemistry in
the laboratory of Accum, a celebrated operative chemist.
In this situation so favorable to his views, he became fa-
miliarized with the details of practical chemistry, and laid
the foundation for a dexterity in its manipulations, which
has probably been seldom surpassed, and which afterward
became one of his most striking excellences as a Lecturer.
On his return from England he was employed in superin-
tending the repairs of the laboratory, and in preparing it for
the reception of the new apparatus, a task which he exe-
cuted with great judgment and ingenuity ; and soon after
was appointed assistant to the Professor of Chemistry, his
former instructer. In 1817 he receiv^ed the degree of
Doctor of Medicine ; and in the autumn of the same year
he was appointed Lecturer on Chemistry in Dartmouth
College, and soon after married a daughter of the late Pre-
sident Webber of Harvard University.
With Dartmouth College he remained connected in the
capacity of Lecturer on Chemistry until the year 1820,
when he received the appointment of Professor of Chemist-
ry and Mineralogy in the same Institution. This office
he held until the year 1826 ; and tliose M'ho enjoyed the
privilege of liearing his admirable lectures, will long re-
member witli what a])ility and success he discharged its
duties. In 1826 he was appointed one of the Board of
Visiters of the Military Academy at West Point, and im-
mediately after his return from the discliarge of this duty
he was chosen Professor of Chemistry in the University of
New-York. This appointment, which opened a wide field
for the exertion of liis talents, he readily accepted, and re-
moved with his family to the city in the autumn of the
same year.
A severe calamity awaited him on his removal to New-
York, in the ^untimely death, under circumstances pecu-
liarly distressing, of his only child, a beautiful female in-
iAMF.S FREEMAlt DAITA. 841
fant a few months old. Those who were ncquaintcd with
the streiiiilh of his iittaclmn'iits, and with thr fxtrj me tfn-
derness ol" liis allt'ctioii iov this inti'rt'>tiii<^ ohjcct, prctlid-
cd the most serious fonstMjui'nccs to his own h<-altli from
this uiislortune ; and a lew niontlis were sulhcicnt to vtri-
fy the predidion. Under the j)ressnrc of a calnniity,
which, with fetliuirs such as liis, was almost the greatest
which could have heCallen him, he made extraortlinary
exertions to support his spiiits. IJut the >ho( k in its ( on-
se([uenccs was prohal)ly fatal to him. lie submitted with
calm resi<ination to a blow, which destroyed in a moment
his most cherished antl tleli}rlitlul hopes ; but his appetite
and health ileclined, and in Ajiril, 1827, uhout six nu)nths
after his removal to New-York, he sunk under an attack
of erysipelas, at the early ai^e of thirty-three, and when
just entering upon an extended sphere of usefidness and
honor.
Professor Dana's taste led him at an early period to the
cultivation of the natural sciences, jiartictdarly chemistry,
in wliich he afterward attained so hiiih a de<:;ree of excel-
lence, mineralojiy, entoiuolony, and l)otany. To these
pursuits he tjave much of his leisjire time when in collet^e ;
and to those who were acquainted with the character of
his mind and the decided tendency of his genius, it must
be a source of regret, that nuuh of his time when in col-
lege, was necessarily devoteil to subjects wholly unconge-
nial to his taste. He affords one instance among many
others of di^tinguislied tahMits, to the cultivation of wirKJi
the system of study estal)li>hed in our colleges is wholly un-
suitable. He had one characteristic of genius in an eminent
degree, a decided and almost exclusive taste for studies of a
particular class ; and these sul)jects are j)recisely those to
xvhich least attention has beeu usuallv |)ai(l i'l our higher
seminaries of learning, and whicli, indeed, until lately, seem
scarcely to have fallen within the sco|h' of a college eiluta-
tion. To a mind like his, remarkably active, incpiisitive and
observing, the subjects of philologv, meta|)]ivsics and ab-
stract mathematics, whii h constitute so large a portion of
the studies enjoined at our colh'ges, possessed no attrac-
tions ; and however eri'oneoiis an estimate he may have
formed of the general imj)ortancc of these stinlies, it is cer-
tain that to him they possessed little value ; and a reluct-
ant attention to them exacted bv the laws of the universi-
ty, must be regretted as a sacrifice of talent, perhaps un.i-
248 JAMES FREEMAN DANA.
voidable, to the spirit of system. In the character of his
mind one striking feature was a disposition to convert its
acquisitions to practical purposes ; to estimate the value of
scientific pursuits chiefly by their susceptibility of this ap-
plication ; and, as a natural consequence, to undervalue
those speculations which lead to no practical results. His
mind was fertile in those analogies which suggest the
means of accomplishing any practical effect in science or
the arts ; and hence he was even from childhood distin-
guished by his mechanical ingenuity. His perceptions
were remarkably keen and discriminating, and his talent
for observation of external objects, of their distinguishing
qualities, their analogies, and of the slightest shades of dif-
ference between them, was perhaps seldom surpassed.
This talent, which was the foundation of his accurate and
extensive knowledge of mineralogy, was frequently illus-
trated in a very amusing manner by the facility with which
he would seize upon and exhibit, by an exquisite power of
imitation, those undefined peculiarities of manner or ap-
pearance which distinguish individuals, and which are
often very difficult to catch and to analyze. Connected
with the same talent he possessed a keen perception of the
beauties of the fine arts, particularly architecture and mu-
sic. As a lecturer on chemistry he had few superiors. His
excellence consisted in a thorough and profound know-
ledge of every part of the science ; great clearness of me-
thod and of illustration ; a manner interesting and impress-
ive ; and extraordinary dexterity and success in his expe-
riments.
But his greatest excellences were those which leave no
memorial of themselves except in the cherished recollec-
tions of friendship. In these his character was rich. His
heart was the abode of every kind and generous sentiment,
and of every social virtue. The quickness and ardor of
his feelings sometimes betrayed him into hasty and incor-
rect judgments of persons and things ; his resentments
were sudden, though never deep nor lasting ; but the kind-
ness and benevolence of his disposition were uniform and
invariable, and exercised alike upon enemies and friends.
In his professional practice this amiable trait was exem-
plified in his unwearied personal attention to the comfort
of his patients. Tliis most estimable part of his character
was sustained and guided by great rectitude of moral prin-
ciple, and a firm belief in the momentous truths of re-
JAMES FREEMAN DANA. 249
vcaled relisjion. With tliese graver excellences of charac-
ter were imiteJ a disposition eiiiiiuntly social, and a tal-
ent for pleasantry and humor, \n lii( li rendered his society
irresistibly nltractive. His personal aj)pearance and his
manners were extremely prepossessing, and perfectly ex-
{)ressivc of the frankness and gentleness of his disposition.
«'ew individuals have enjoyed the affections of a wider
circle of j)ersonal friends.
Professor Dana died young ; hut his talents and indus-
try enabled hiin to accomplish enough for science to jus-
tify high expectations of future excellence, and to create
deep regret at the premature fate by which these were
destined to be disappointed.
His principal publications were the following, viz.
" Outlines of the Mineralogy and Geology of Boston and
its vicinity," a work of considerable merit, the joint jjto-
duction of himself and his brother Dr. Samuel L. Dana,
published in 1818. " Epitome of Chemical Philosophy,"
published in 1825, while he was Professor of Chemistry
in Dartmouth College. This is a work of no ordinary
merit ; though designed merely as a text book for the use
of students while attendinii lectures on ciiemistry. It ex-
hiliits a condensed view of the j)hilosc>phy of chemistry,
with a reference to all the imj)ortant facts of the science,
and to the principal recent sources of information, well
arranged and written in a style of great clearness and puri-
ty. It is evidently the result of much research, anil in
one respect may be proposed as a model for elementary
treatises on scientific subjects. He exhibits the j)rin( ipal
facts and doctrines of chemistry in a clear but concise and
scientific manner, stripped of all unnecessary matter, and
not diluted by difl'usc and tedious commentary. A very
interesting " Report on a singular Disease of Horned Cat-
tle in the town of Burton, New-Hampshire," the ca\ises of
which he was appointed to investigate by tlie New-Hamp-
shire Medical Society, and which he traced with greai
probability to the presence of muriate of lime in the waters
of that town.
Besides these publications he contributed several papers
to the American Journal of Science, the New England Jour-
nal of Medicine, and the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural
History of New-York, some of them of very considerable
merit, and some of which have been reprinted in Kurope.
The principal of tlie.<e arc the followin<i. '■'■ An Accomit
3J
850 JaHN SYNG DORSET.
of the Grand Monadnock Mountain of New-Hampshire" ;
an elaborate " Account of Iodine" ; " On a new form of
the Electrical Battery" ; " Chemical Examination of the
Berries of the Myrica Cerifera, or Wax Myrtle" ; " On
the Effect of Vapor or Flame" ; " On the Existence of
Cantharidin in the Lytta Vittata, or Potatofly" ; " Chemi-
cal Examination of some Animal Products" ; " Notices on
the connexion of Electricity, Heat and Magnetism, the
preparation of Euchlorine Gas, &c." ; " Account of a
Galvanic Magnetic Apparatus" ; " On the Theory of the
Action of the Deutoxicle of Azote, or Nitrous Gas, in Eudi-
ometry" ; '• On the Ignition of Platinum" ; " Remarks
on Mr. Patten's Air Pump" ; " Remarks on the common
Method of detecting Cobalt" ; " Additional Remarks on
Mr. Patten's Air Pump" ; " Analysis of the Copper Ore
of Franconia in New-Hampshire," &c. published after his
death.
In 1815, while a medical student. Dr. Dana received the
Boylston medical prize for a Dissertation on the Tests of
Arsenic, and on his passage home Irom Europe he wrote
a Dissertation on the Composition of the Oxy muriatic
Gas, to which the Boylston premium was assigned in
1816.
DORSEY, JOHN SYNG, M. D. Professor of Anatomy
in the University of Pennsylvania, was born in the city of
Philadelphia, December 23d, 1783. In early life he re-
ceived an excellent elementary and classical education at a
school in Philadelphia of the society of Friends, then in
high repute, and here manifested the same vivacity of
genius and quickness in learning with the mild and gra-
cious dispositions, for which he was subsequently so con-
spicuous. At the age of fifteen years he entered the office
of his relative, the celebrated Dr. Physick. Medicine he
cultivated with unusual ardor, and so successfully that,
though by far the most juvenile member of the class, he
had no superior in the estimation either of his teacher or
fellow students. Of the force of his application and
its results, a conception may be formed when it is told
that, while still very much within his minority, he was
fully prepared for the highest medical honors of the vmi-
versity. In the spring of 1802, then in his nineteenth
year, he was graduated as a Doctor in medicine, having
previously defended with ability an Inaugural Dissertation
'' On the Powers of the Gastric Liquor as a Solvent of the
JOHN SYNr. D0R8LY. 25l
Urinary Calculi." This, says his Mofrraphcr, exhibits
some oriirinal views, illustrated and maintained by a set of
pertinent aiul well conduct(>d experiments.
Not long after receiving his donree the yellow fever re-
appeared in the city, and prevailed so widely that a hos-
pital was opened for the accommodation exclusively of
the sick with this disease, to which he was appointed resi-
dent physician. So great was the value attaclicd to his
services, that it is difficult to sj)eak too hiiihly of tin* man-
ner in which he discharged the duties of this'office of haz-
ardous benevolence. Nor did he neglect the vast oppor-
tunities which his situation afforded of investigating the
disease, ami happily by his extensive dissections elucidated
some of the more intricate parts of its j)athology, and aid-
ed in the establisjiment of u better system of j)ractice. It
may be safely affirmed that no one was more correctly
informed on the subject of this epidemic, and not a little
which has appeared under the authority of other names,
was derived from his observations and researches. At the
close of the same season he proceeded to Europe for the
purpose of improving his medical knowledge, and liberal-
izing his views by a wider survey of the world. During
his absence he divided his time between the English and
French metroiwlis, and diligently availed himself of the
immense advantages, which in these respects each city
affords. That his talents and ac(piisitions were d»dy ap-
preciated abroad we have ample evidence in the attention
wliich was paid him, and in tlie very flattering notices he
has since received in several foreign i)u])lications. In De-
cember, 1804, he returned home and immediately entered
on the practice of his profession. The rej)utation he
brought with him, his amiable temjier and po|)ular man-
ners, his fidelity and attention, speedily introduced him
into a larjxe share of business. From this jyeriod j)rofes-
sional honors were heaped on him with j)rofiision. He
was appointed surijeon to the dispensarv, the alms-house
and hospitals, and in all our medical associations he held
some elevated office. But there was reserved for him a
still hiuher and more diffuified station. In 1S07 he was
elected adjunct Professor of SurL^ry, in which office he
continued till he was raised to the chair of Anatomy by the
lamented death of the venerable Dr. Wistar.
Consiclering himself now placed for the first time in the
pi-oi>er sjihere for the cxerci>P of his talents and the grati-
Zo2 JOHN SYiNG DORSEY.
fication of a generous ambition, the appointment gave him
much delight, and with ample preparation he opened the
session l)y one of the finest exhibitions of eloquence ever
heard in these walls. But here his bright and prosperous
career ended, and the expectations of success thus created,
were not permitted to be realized. Elevated to a position
above which he could liardly ascend, and surrounded by
all that we most value, Providence seems to have selected
him as an instance to teach a salutary lesson of the short-
ness of life, the insignificance of things transitory, and the
importance of that eternity which absorbs all being and all
time. On the evening of the same day that he pronounced
his introductory lecture, and while the praises of it still
resounded, he was attacked with a fever of such vehe-
mence that in one short week it closed his existence, leav-
ing to us only his enviable name and inestimable example.
He died November, 1818, aged 35 years.
Dorsey was a man of no ordinary powers, and deserv-
edly occupied a large space in the public eye. Naturally
acute, vigorous and discriminative, his mind was highly
improved by education, and embellished by taste. Every
department of medicine he had cultivated assiduously :
but it was surgery for which he evinced a decided predi-
lection, and in which he had the greatest proficiency. As
a science he thoroughly studied it, and^>y the unequalled
advantages he enjoyed, had become no less expert in the
practice. Excepting one illustrious character, who has no
rival, he was indisputably the most accomplished surgeon
of our country, and this higli praise is conceded to him on
account of the number, the variety, the difiiculty of his
operations, and the skill, dexterity and boldness, with
which they were performed. So many, indeed, were his
qualifications that, under almost any circumstances, he
must have attained excellence in this province of his pro-
fession. Clear in his views, and of sound judgment, he
had also great mechanical ingenuity, delicacy of touch, and
promptness of decision ; and hence, in conducting an ope-
ration, however new or complex, there was a tone and
firmness of manner which always inspired confidence and
insured success. As a teaclier of medicine, his merits were
great and universally acknowledged. Early employed in
this field of exertion, his mind became perfectly disciplin-
ed, and it developed witliont faltering or embarrassment
the various subjects to whicli it was directed. It was this
JOHN SYN(; DORSEY, 253
quickness of apprehension, and fncility of execution, wiiich
caiised him constantly to he rosorticl to in seasons of tjnrr-
gcncy, to sii|)ply the deficiencies produced by casualties
Ml the school. We have seen hiui, on these occasions, in
the same day illustrate the operations of surfrery, and de-
liver the details of the materia medica, demonstrate the
minntifc of anatomical structure, and exponntl the laws of
the animal economy. Talent so flexible, and kiiowledfre
Ihiis diversified, have rarely been concentrated in one in-
dividual, and still more rarely exhibited ^vith sm h impos-
ing etiect. Never failino; in whatever he enframed to teach,
it was, however, in the cleujon&trative branches of medi-
cine he j)articularly excelled. He was fitted for the un-
dertakiniT not less by nature than study. To exactness of
knowledge, which lie owed to a retentive memory, cor-
roborated by the habit of intense application in early life,
he added a fluent elocution, an entire self possession, imd a
methodical and luminous mode of exposition.
But in no situation did lie appear to j^reater advantage
than in the discussions of our Medical Society. Constitu-
ted of many of the more active, intellif^ent and enterpris-
ing of the practitioners of the city and of the members of
the medical class, this institution is adiHiral)ly adapted for
the display of talent and the reciprocation of j)rolcssional
information. As a debater he never had a superior among
us. The style of his speaking was peculiar and distinct-
ive. De-stitute of rhetorical pretensions, it had the char-
acter of warm and elevated < onvcrsation, and while it was
sufliciently strong to cojie with the most j)Owerful, it was
intelligible by its simplicity to the meanest capacity.
E(|ualiy adroit in attack or defence, the resources he exhi-
bited in these contests, and esj>ecially when pressed by the
weight of an adversary, were surprising, and often drew
forth strong expressions of admiration and npj.lause. It
has been objected to his s))caking, that though always in-
genious and forcible, it was occasiouidly loose and desul-
tory. But this defect was visible only in those extempore
effusions which escaped from him without ])remeditation
or reflection, and proceeded in a great measure from the
fecundity of his genius, and the <o])iousness of his matter.
Teeming with ideas and exuberant in fads, he could not
always preserve his arrangeuu'iit, nor the chain of his rea-
soning, jHirspicuous antl consecutive. As a medical writer
he is certainly entitled to be placed among the most
254 JOHN SYNG DORSEY.
prominent we have produced. He contributed many
valuable papers to the periodical journals, and published
the " Elements of Surgery" in two large octavo volumes,
which is probably the very best Avork on the subject ex-
tant. Composed in a plain and unornamented style, it
embraces within a narrow compass a digest of surgery,
with all the recent improvements it has received in Eu-
rope and this country. Dedicated as he was to his profes-
sion, he still did not neglect elegant literature nor the
liberal arts ; on the contrary, he cultivated them with care,
and found in the intervals of his leisure, that they smooth-
ed the ruggedness of his severer studies, and afforded a
refuge from the care and irritation of business.
Extraordinary as were the powers of his mind, they did
not surpass the qualities of his heart. What was said by
Burke of Fox, " that he was born to be beloved," is strik-
ingly applicable to our friend. As much as any man whom
I ever knew, was he calculated to win attachments and dis-
arm enmities. Cordial, warm, generous, practising all
the courtesies, and extending every kindness in his inter-
course with society, it Avas impossible to approach him
without being conciliated, and further acquaintance served
only to confirm the agreeable prepossessions. Frank and
unreserved, there was nothing in his deportment to inspire
awe, or excite doubt or suspicion of his sincerity. No
one, such was his habitual graciousness, however humble
was thrown at a distance, or rendered uncomfortable in
his presence. Easy, cheerful and good humoured, he dif-
fused these pleasant feelings around him, and enlivened
every scene into which he entered. Mixing much in the
circles of fashion, his manners, naturally urbane, were
highly polished, and his conversation, so various was his
intelligence and such the pliancy of his address, would
amuse the gay, and instruct the illiterate, entertain the
learned, and delight the grave and pious. Yet, with this
versatility of genius and diversity of pursuits, he overlook-
ed no important concern, nor slighted any material duty.
The review already presented sufficiently shows how at-
tentive he was to his leading occupation, and its collateral
engagements. Endowed with that peculiar constitution
of character which readily accommodates itself to circum-
stances, he could in the most remarkable degree intermix
amusement and business without any serious encroachment,
WILLIAM DOUGLASS. 255
and preserve to a great extent undisturbed the order of
systematized life
As he livcil, so lie died ; never shall I forget the truly
imi)re>sivc scene. When ]>y his jxTomptory cojninand the
awful toninuuiication was niacle of his irrecovcral)h' state,
he was loniposed, firm and resolute, confiilinir in the mercy,
and resi<fned to the will of Heaven. As a Christian, prac-
tising with more than ordinary punctuality the duties of
his religion, death had to him few terrors. Emphati-
cally and witii fervor did he reiterate the expression of
his confidence in the atonement of his Savior, and tlic
comfort which he derived from this source. What else
indeed can sustain us at such a crisis .'' An audacious spirit,
roused by the pomp and pride of war or a sense of duty
or honor, will in the field affront death, and brave its con-
sequences. But even he, in the gloomy chamber, and
under the anguish of disease, where no such adventitious
impulse exists, without this only support, will shudder at
the idea of dissolution, and the destinies of eternity. — Pro-
fessor Cliapman^s Eulogium delivered before the JMedical Class,
1st March, 1819 ; See Philadelphia Journal of JMedical and
Physical Scieiices, Vol. I.
DOUGLASS, WILLIAM, M. D. was a native of Scot-
land, who came to America when a young man, ai)out the
year HIG. He fixed himself in the north part of Boston,
and soon became conspicuous for his abilities as a physi-
cian, and for his general intelligence and enterj)rise. He
was a man of great learning, but deficient in judgment,
prudence and correct taste ; yet he assumed the task of
animadverting upon the actions and characters of others,
filling the ncwspa|)ers with political essays fraught with
sarcastic remarks uj)on the magistrates, the clergy, the
physicians, and the people of New-England.
When Dr. Cotton Mather conununicated to him the
success of Timoni of Constantinople in inoculatinjj for
the smallpox, he treated the account with contempt though
recorded in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Lon-
don. When Dr. Bo) Iston, in the vear 1721, introduced
the practice in Boston and met with the greatest success,
he still raved against Timoni, Mather and Boylston. He
published several tracts on the subject, in wJiit h he at-
tacked with intemperate language, the clergymen, the
physicians, and all who encourtigcd the practice of inocu-
lation, which he held to be a presumptuous exposure to
25C WILLIAM DOUGLASS.
disease and death. His prejudices were very strong, and
such was the obstinacy of his temper, that he would
never retract his errors, however palpable or unjust. His
notions of religion were very loose and unsettled.
His publications were, The Inocidation of the Smallpox
as practised in Boston, 1722 ; Tiie Abuses and Scandals of
some late Pamphlets in Favor of Inoculation, 1722 ; A
Practical Essay concerning the Smallpox, containing the
History, &c. 1730 ; Practical History of a New Eruptive
Miliary Fever, with Angina Ulcusculosa, which prevailed
in Boston in 1735 and 1736. This publication may be
considered a valuable practical essay on angina maligna,
in which are detailed the characteristics of the disease and
the method best adapted to its treatment. Some physi-
cians about that period adopted the plan of bleeding from
the vein under the tongue, which proved extremely fatal ;
and Douglass says, " most of those who died of the phy-
sician, died by immoderate evacuations." He publisiied
a summary, historical and political, of the first planting,
progressive improvements, and present state of the British
settlements in North America ; the first volume appeared
in 1748, and the second in 1753. In this work he is said
to be often incorrect in point of fact. It can only be con-
sidered as a strange medley of aflairs relating to his family,
his private squabbles, and public transactions, without
judgment or sound discretion. He would not take pains
to arrange his materials, nor to inform himself of particu-
lar facts.
He was so opinionated that he never would correct his
mistakes. When Cape Breton was taken, it frustrated
many of his printed declarations. He had ridiculed the
expedition because it was a measure of governor Shirley's
administration, and called that place the Dunkirk, which
such forces would never dare to assail. But though the plan
succeeded, it did not make any difference in his views.
Instead of having his pride wounded, he, porcupine like,
wrapped himself in his own down, and darted his quills at
others. He said he was right in his conjectures, but for-
tune would always wait upon blunderers and quacks !
Douglass was a mathematician ; in 1743, 44, he published
an Almanac, which was useful at the time, and is now
valuable for its list of chronological events, and also the
account of all the sovereigns of Europe and their families.
It was called " Mercurius Novan^licanus," bv William
.I.\( or DYCKMAN. 267
NniVir, S. X. Q. A town in llic (oimty of Worccf^tcr,
State of M:iss;i(liu<(tts, of wliicli lio was a |ti(>|trirt()r and
hcnofactor, hear.-; tlio name of Doiijilass. lie ilinl Octo-
ber 21vf, \'ii)2. — A'///n/\ and .'Jllcn^s liinu^raphy.
• DYCKMAN, JACOB, M. P., was Wn of highly re-
spcctahlc parontaiic at Yonkcrs, Wcstclicstcr coiiiilyi in
tlic state of New York, on the first of Dec «inl)rr, 1*88.
His oarly years, spent as they were in the retirement and
of)senrity of the eotnitry, fnrnish no remarkable inri<lents
for the narrative of the hio^rajjher. Yet it can liardly be
s»ipj)Osed that a mind snch as his did not develop some
prominent featnre, even in the days of his childhood ;
and esjx'cially as he was always the subject of j)raise
nmon^ his a((|naintance, and of ambitious hoj)e amon^
his friends. AVithout jiossessinj]^ that vivacity of s])irits, or
that sj)ri£,ditliness of remark, which are fre(|ueiitly the indi-
cations of infant jjenins, tliere is said to have been somethinij
peculiar in his deportment, and jiointed in his conversa-
tion, Avhich, at a very early period, excited in the bosoins
of his friends a hope that he was d<>>tined to be no ordi-
nary man. Accordiniily he was sent to the city to be
l)repared for his entrance into college. After receiving a
very complete and solid preparation at a grammar school,
he Was admitted into Columbia College in the year 1806.
Althonirh he did not possess that flippancy which often
passes for brillian<y of parts, and obtains for a youni;
man a rank above his fellows Avho are in realitv possesse<l
of more capacity and solidity of mind, he maintained,
during the whole period of his collefriate studies, a highly
respectable station in his class. There was not in him
any of that frivolity of character which leads young men
to engage in the fashionable anuisements of life ; and he
was too stronfjly fortified by prin( iple to be led into dis-
sijiation. It is no wonder, then, that he should surpass
many of his coUeniate associates, who trifled away the
time which he devoted to study, in tlie pursuits of ])le:i-
sure or the haunts of dissipation. He was graduated in
the year 1810, after passing through all the classes of that
excellent institution.
Shortly after his fjraibiation in the arts, he commenced
the study of medicine under the jiupilace of Dr. Hosack.
He w.as a pattern of dilifjence in his studies, of proprietv
in his deportment in the office, and an example in nil
respects worthy of imitation. From the character he
33
258 JACOB nrCKMAN.
then held, every one augured his future usefulness and
distinction. In the spriug of 1813 he received the honors
of the doctorate, in one of the early classes that were
graduated in tlie newly organized College of Physicians
and Surgeons. On his public examination he presented
and defended an Inaugural Tlicsis on the Pathology of
the Human Fluids ; a production which, afterwards revis-
ed and enlarged, laid the foundation of his professional
fame, and is destined to be remembered as a work of
standard excellence on the subject of whicli it treats.
Immediately after liis graduation he was apj)ointed one
of the Physicians of the City Dispensary, a situation
which, at that time, was not to be obtained by the influ-
ence of family connexions, or by acquiescence in a con-
tracted and mercenary policy. Dr. Dyckman was then
an obscure young man, without friends to urge his claims,
or to exert their influence in his behalf. He continued to
discharge the arduous duties of this charity for several
years ; and at last resigned his situation, partly, as he told
me, through disgust at the conduct which he witnessed in
the institution, and partly in consequence of increased de-
mands upon his time by the duties of a more important
office.
In the year 1819 Dr. Dyckman was appointed the Sur-
geon of the New-York Alms House. This charity, al-
though extensive in its character, presents, in consequence
of its location beyond the limits of the city, and the
peculiar description of the objects of its bounty, a very
limited field for the cultivation and display of surgical
dexterity. During Dr. Dyckman's attendance, however,
several great and important cases occurred in the institu-
tion, which gave him an opportunity of exhibiting that
versatility of talent, which can familiarize itself to the knife
without an exclusive attention to operative surgery. From
the judgment and deliberation with which he conducted his
operations, and the prudent dexterity which he exlxibited
in their performance, there is good reason to believe, that
when experience had given him a necessary confidence,
and matured the dexterous talent he possessed, he would
have become a highly respectable and '^kilful surgeon.
In ihe year 1819 he was commissioned by the Board of
Health of New-York to })rocced to Philadelphia, for the
purpose of investigating tlie nature and origin of a pesti-
lential fever Avhich prevailed in a section of that city.
.IA( on I)V( K5IAN, 259
Ho (lisi li;irjT(>(l this iiitporlHiit duty with so iniich manly
in(le[)en(UMu»», so miirh piofossioiial (lisrrction, and so
inn'h satisfaction to the niil»li( , that hr was si'iit upon a
siujilar mission to l'hihi(ltl|ihia in the suocrcdiuir year.
In th(Mrar ISil ]iv was chrtcd rccordinir socrt'tary of tho
Now- York Liti'rary aiul l*hilosophi<al SocictN, an ollice
uhicli ho licUl to tlie day of his ilcatli, with universal
satisfaction to the members of that body. Nothinjr caii
show in n more convincinij manner the e>timation in
which he was lu'ld by that learned society, than the fact,
that a special (ommiilee has, by their nnaidinons n solu-
tion, been appointed to prejiare a biographical nuinoir of
him in the next volume of their tran-^actions. The respect-
ability of the committee charffed with this duty, is an
additional honor to his memory. In the year 1821 J)r.
Dyckman was ap|)ointed to the ofhce ol Health Commis-
sioner, and in 1<S22, in spite of the intrijrues whi( h were
used for a host of others, lie was appointed hy thi* honor-
able rejjeuts of the university, a trustee of the CoUeire of
Physicians and Sur<^cons. By his appointment as Health
Commissioner, he became, c.r o/^cto, a memherof the Board
ol Healtli. It is priiuipally in seasons of pestiieiu-e that
a member of that body has any oj)poitunit v of sirriializing
himself as a public olHcer. No sooner had the epidemic
which lately desolated the fairest portion of our city,
made its aj)pearance, than the profession, the board, and
the public, looked to J)r. Dyckman as their princi])al
counsellor. His medic al associate in the couunission of
health, hy an unfi)rtunate inadvertence whicji the Uiost
experierued mi<iht hav«> committed, or, perhaj)s, throunh
the mischievous insimiations of jealousN and malice, lost,
in a ^reat measure, the confideiue of the puhlic* Or,
J)yekman at this time was laboring; tinder a severe indis-
position ; yet, feeling the importance of his station, and
animated by a sense of duty, he scorned to evade by
flight the iesponsiI)ilities and the dangers of his ollice.
Contrary to the renu)nst ranees of his friends. In* determined
to remain in the city, anil for some weeks spent his time
alternately in his bed and at the sittings of the Board of
Health. His fet>ble constitution, already undermineil by
a strong predisposition to j)ulmonary disease, could not
support the anxieties of his mind, and his unusual bodily
• Se« TownacDd on Ihe V< How Fever ol New-York, in 1822.
;^G0 JAIJUIJ DVtKMAN.
exertions at tliis period of terror and dismay. He Avas
shortly conHJcUcd to request j)ermission of the Board
to retire into the country to recruit his health. He pro-
ceeded to the residence of his father, at King's Bridge —
never to return. Alter lingering for several weeks, ex-
hausted l)y the hectic and the cough of consumption, he
died on Thursday, the 5th of December, 1822, with the
comjjosure and the triumpii of a christian.
It is impossible to contemplate the character of Dr.
Dyckman, without feelings of respect, and even emotions
of admiration.
As a physician, he was versed in the scientific depart-
ments of his profession, not contenting himself with mere
elementary knowledge, but ambitious of becoming famil-
iar with the great masters of the art. He delighted in his
books, and justly merited the character of a well-read
physician. But he was not a mere speculative man, vers-
ed in the doctrines of the schools, and unskilled in their
practical application. It was in his admirable practical
sagacity that his great merit consisted.
The success of his practice is the best eulogy that can
be pronounced upon his professional skill. I have often
heard him speak of it as one of the most delightful con-
templations of his life, (and indeed have had constant
opportunities of verifying his assertions by personal
knowledge,) that of the numerous cases of disease which
presented themselves in tlie practice of the Dispensary,
Avhere a physician necessarily prescribes under many disad-
vantages, he lost so very few patients. It is no inconclusive
evidence of a physician's skill, that he should not lose
more than two or three patients out of the hundreds that
annually fall under his care, whose constitutions are brok-
en down by the accumulated miseries of poverty and
complicated disease, and who cannot procure even those
comforts of life which are indispensalile to the efficient
operation of medicines.
But Dr. Dyckman was not the mere physician. He
possessed a noble expansion of soul, which would not per-
mit him to confine himself to the routine of practice. He
has justly attained no humble character as an author. I
claim not for him, indeed, the veneration that is due to
exalted genius, but the more enviable praise of being a
useful and a practical writer. His style was by no means
splendid or ambitious, but neat, perspicuous and sim])le.
.lAtun urcKMAu. 2G1
His first literary cirort, " An Inuiijrursil Dit^Kcitulioii on
the Putlioloiry of the Iluiniui Fluids," would have done
licuior to tin- j)on ot" an oIiUm- ;uul luoic rxpniciic «(1 wiiicr.
his ji jUUmko of the huinoi;d j):itliolo^y in the njodificd
form ill which it is tinijrht, and has lor ytars been tau<^ht,
by the distinguished Professor of the Practice of Physio
in tills University. J)r. Dy« kman, as I have before said,
w;is his \)U]n\ ; and fired with the zeal of his prec <'j»tor, he
boldly stepped forward in the vindication of truth, at a
time when it could only be exjjccted to draw down uj)on
him the ridicule and the condemnation of the facnltv.
The doctrine is defended, however, with acknowledjjcil
dexterity ; and exj)laincd with a readiness and in^reiuiity
which show hiin to have been familiar with his subject.
In the judgment of the avowed oj)ponents of the theory
it espouses, it displays more reci»ndite research, more
dexterity of statement, more in<jenuity of arjiument, more
j)lausibility of style and manner, than almost any other
production of the kind.*
Dr. Dye kman's improved edition of Duncan's Disj)cn-
satory, pul)lislu(l in the year 181.S, is by far the best and
most useful work upon that subject. His monthly reports
of the dis<\ises occurrini: in the City Dis|iensary, j)ul)lished
originally in the Monthly Majiazine, and afterwards in the
Literary Journal, evince a talent for close ol)servation, and
a judgment in recording facts, which would not dishonor
the niasterly reports of Dr<. Willan and liaieman.
Several fuuitive productions of his pen are preserved in
the periodical journals of our country ; the most remark-
able of which are, an Essay upon Adipo(ire, pii})lished in
the Transiictions of ihe New-York Lyceum of Natural
History ; and an anomalous case of siirgery whii h fell
under his care.f
He had lonir had in contemplation a work upon the ve-
getable Materia Medica of the United States, and had made
very considerable progress in the collection of materials
towards it. He, however, had resolved that it should be,
as it ought to be, the lal>or of years. Man pr(.j)OM's, but
Ciod disposes. Death suddenly "interrupted his labors, ami
leaves xih another instance of the untertainty of human
plans, and the vanity of human hoj)es. In contemplatinfr
• Sec Pliiladclphia Journal of iho Mclienl and Phytical Scioncoi, vol. iv. [..370.
t S<jc Mcdic&l and Pliysical Journal of >'cw-V'ork.
262 JACOB DYCKMAN.
the charat ter of Dr. Dyckman as a literary man, and as
an author, it is i)ropcr to notice his connexion as one of
the editors of the New-York Medical and Physical
Journal. He zealously entered into the enlightened
and lofty views of the spirited gentlemen who projected
tliis work ; and was proud to associate his name as an
editor with the names of men, who, though only com-
mencing life, liad justly accjuircd a character for talents,
and a literary reputation, of Avhich veteran cultivators of
science might have been ambitious.
Respectable as he was as a professional and literary
man, it is in his personal and private character that he
appears to highest advantage. Time would fail me to
speak of all the virtues of this estimal)le character ; and
to tell you of his filial affection, and of his excellence
in tlie relations of a brother and a friend. O ! there
was a tenderness in his friendship, which I have a thou-
sand times experienced, but which I would in vain en-
deavor to describe. Hear the touching language of
bereaved affection bearing testimony to his worth : " All
who were acquainted with the deceased, will delight to
dwell on the amenity of his disposition, and the blameless
tenor of his life. Remarkably free from the malignant
passions, his heart was the seat of generous feelings, and
was ever alive to the sensibilities of humanity. In every
sphere in which he moved, his worth was confessed ; and
in every situation to which private confidence or public
favor called him, his zeal and assiduity were incessant and
unwearied. He has left behind him many connected by
the endearments of friendship : none who can deny the
benevolence of his heart, or the purity of his character."*
Dr. Dyckman, in the days of his health, did not view
religion as the great and important subject in wliich every
man has a personal concern superior to every otlier inter-
est. So far as a becoming respect for it was concerned,
he was unexceptionable ; and in the duties of morality .
trenerally, I believe he was as sincere, as conscientious, and
as irreproacliable as any man can be without tlie saiutify-
'm<r influence of religion. He never made any religious
profession, though he was often lieard to express a partial-
* Now- York Medical and Physical Journal, vol. i. p. 523. To this editorial
obituary notice of Dr. Dyckman, marked by a beauty^f style, a loftiness of senti-
ment, and a tenderness of feeling, highly creditable to The work, 1 am iudcLted for
acvcral jidrticulars in the lile of our friend.
JARF.n F.I.IOT. 2G3
ity for the Episcopal Cliurth. His faiill on this great
suhject was, that he considered morality as the sum and
substance of relioion : and eonsc ions of an irreproaehahle
eharactei- on that score, he rested contented here. But in
his last ihiys he obtained a truer view of the subject. He
was enabled to discover that the high and holy law of
God is the required standard of morality, and' not our
own imperfect and often erroneous con( ept'ions of duty.
The foregoing is an al)ridged tribute to the memory of
Dr. D. by Henry W. Ducachet, M.D., delivered attlie
desire of the Medico-Chirurgical Society of New York.
ELIOT, DR. JARED, a clerical j)hysician, was tlic son
of the Rev. Joseph Eliot, of Guilford, "in Connecticut, and
grandson of the Rev. Joseph Eliot, of Roxbury, Mass.
the celebrated Indian apostle. He was l)orn Nov. 7th,
1685, and dicil April 22d, 17G3. He was one of the ear-
liest students of Yale College, and received hi.? bachelor's
degree in 1706. From 1730 to 1762 he was one of the
corporation of that institution ; and from 1709 to his
death, was the minister to the first ecclesiastical society
of Killingwortli, in Connecticut. He was uiujue^tion-
ably the first ]»iiysician of his day in Connecticut, and was
the last clerical physician of eminence, prol)ablv, in New
England. He was an excellent botanist, and was equally
distinguished as a scientific and practical agriculturalist.
He introduced the white mulberry into Connecticut, and
with it the silk worm, and jiublished a treatise uj)on the
subject. He was also a mineralogist, and in HGl received
from a society in London a gold medal, as a prenuum for
his discovery of a process of extracting iron from black
sand. He was the j)ersonal friend and correspondent of
Bishop Berkely and Dr. Franklin, and of several other
fhilosophical characters both in Euroj)e and America.
le \yas, liowever, in his life time, more known by tiie
j)ublic as a |»hysician, and was very eminent for hi> iud;r-
ment and skill in tlie manajrement of <iironic complaints.
In these he apj)ears to have been more extensively consult-
ed, than any other pliysician in New Enjiland, frr(|ncntly
visiting every county of Connecticut, and bein<r often call-
ed to Ro>ton and Newport. He was a good lingui-t, and
fromtlie libraries left l)y him and his ( ontemporaries it is
evident, that he was in the habit of reading and studying
Hippocrates, Celsus, Galen, Aretaeus, tV:c. in the oriyinals^
Some very hunjorous anecdotes arc still related, which
264 JAUKD ELIOT.
serve to show that he managed melancholies and maniacs
with fjn at ingenuity and s^uccess. All of Dr. E.'b s( ience
and philosophy were of the practical kind, and adapted
to the improvement of his infant country. He puhli.-^hed
" agricultural essays," and devised various plans for drain-
ing swamps in the interior, and also for reclaiming marsli-
es from tlie sea. He was very industrious and methodi-
cal, and was peculiarly careful that whatever he under-
took, should be well executed. It is difficxdt to conceive
how one could be successful in such a variety of pursuits,
as those in which he was engaged ; for he seldom if
ever failed in any important undertaking. He possessed
a very large estate in land, which consisted of farms in
different sections of the state, or rather colony. These
were generally better cultivated, and furnished more pro-
fits, than those of his neighbors. Amidst all his avoca-
tions, he was distinguished for his i)iety and talents as a
clergyman. He published several sermons, and so consci-
entious was he in the discharge of his duties as a minister,
that he always so contrived his journies, as to be, if possi-
ble, with his people every Sunday, and for forty success-
ive years in the course of his ministry, he never omitted
preaching either at home or abroad on the Lord's day.
Dr. E. resided on the main road from New-York to Bos-
ton, and was always visited by Dr. Franklin, when he was
journeying to his native town, as well as by most of the
literary and religious characters of his day, who always
met with a very affectionate reception in his hospitable
mansion. He was distinguished for his charities, .and
many of his medical services were performed gratuitously.
It is mentioned of him that, though an ardent
friend of his country, and a great patron of improve-
ments, and though as a clergyman and philosopher,
a physician, and a trustee of Yale College, his influence
with the public was very great, and his opinions and ad-
vice much esteemed, yet he always avoided interfering, or
taking an active part, in any of the purely political strug-
gles of his day. Such men as Eliot are not only highly
useful and honorable to the age they live in, but are a
blessing to future generations. They give a spring to the
human intellect, and excite a spirit of inquiry, experiment
and observation, and thus diffuse a light among their con-
temporaries, which has an influence upon remote posterity.
See Eliot's Biographical Dictionary. — Medical Intelligencer.
CADWALLADER KVAiNS. 2G5
EVANS, DR. CADWALLADER, was ii dcsccncUmt
from Olio of tho niaiiy rcspochihle faniilios who oniij^raUd
from Wales to Pennsylvania nj)on tlir -cltlcmenl of liie
Provinco, ami rosicUul in PliilaiUljjIiia connty. He was
one of the first j)uj)ils of Dr. Thomas Hond, ami sailed
with a view of fmishinf^ his medical education at Kdin-
burn;h. But as the war was then j)revailin<r between Spain
and France and England, the vessel was taken hy a Span-
ish privateer and carried into Hayti, where he was attack-
ed hy a severe fever, from which he happily rc( overed.
After some time he was permitted to sail for Jamaica,
where he resolved to enter into professional practice for a
short period ; but finding the climate disagree with his
constitution, he sailed for England after a residence of two
or three years. After a year spent at Edinburgh, and a
short time at London, he returned to Philadelphia and
commenced practice, in which he continued al)ont twenty
years, and died in 1773, aged 57. He was long one of
the physicians of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and highly
esteemed its a physician and a man.
Dr. Evans published, when a student, a case of convul-
sions which occurred in a girl about fourteen years of atjo,
and were repeated forty times in twenty-four hours. Af-
ter an intermission of a month or two, they would return.
Sometimes she was affected by violent craiTH)s in different
parts of her body : at others with the whole train of hys-
teric symptoms. She continued to be thus afflicted for
ten years, when in 1752 she was perfectly cured by elec-
tricity kindly administered by the scientific hands of Dr.
Franklin. She received four severe shocks moriiinos and
evenings, and was cured in two weeks of the fits : hut the
cramp continued somewhat longer. The lady was the
sister of Dr. Evans, and the cure was perfect and j)erma-
ncnt. Her mind was not affected, as is common, l)y tlie
disease ; she possessed uncommon powers of reasoning,
and was distinjiuished for the sprightliness of her wit, ami
the charms of her conversation. She lived to the age of
79 vcars.
FLAGG, DR. JOHN, M. M.S. S. was son of the Rev.
Eiienezer Flagg, the first mini>ter of Chester in New-
Hampshire. He was graduated at Harvanl Tniversity in
1761, and studied medi< ine under the direction of Dr.
Osgood of Andover. He commenced practice at ^^ oburn,
but in 1760 removed to Lynn, where he enjovcd the full
34
JOHIt FLAGG.
confidence of his fellow citizens, and acquired a high
standing in his profession.
When, in 1775, tlie dark cloud overspead our political
hemisphere, Dr. Flagg was prepared to unite in the strong
measures of resistance against every encroachment upon
the rights and freedom of his country. He was an active
and useful member of the committee of safety, and con-
tributed largely to the promotion of the military prepara-
tions to meet the exigences which soon after happened.
From a native modesty, he declined any appointment in
the councils of the state, but was prevailed upon to accept
the commission of Lieutenant Colonel of Militia under the
venerable Col. Timothy Pickering, which, however, he
soon after resigned, that he might devote his whole atten-
tion to the practice of medicine, which he preferred to
military pursuits.
He was elected a member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society immediately after its incorporation, when the
number of fellows was restricted to seventy in the whole
Commonwealth. He held a commission of Justice of the
Peace before the revolution and after the adoption of our
state constitution, till his death. The fatigues of an exten-
sive circle of practice and the exposures incident to a pro-
fessional life, impaired his constitution, and he fell a victim
to pulmonary consumption. May 27th, 1793, in the 50th
year of his age.
FULLER, DR. SAMUEL, one of the memorable plant-
ers of Plymouth, who came over with the first settlers in
1620. He was the first regularly educated physician that
visited New England. He was a deacon of the Rev.
John Robinson's church, with Mr. Carver, who was after-
wards governor of the plantation. His services were in
very special request both for the souls and bodies of the
people. Besides his duties in the church, which he was
active in performing, he was eminently useful as a surgeon
and physician.
Nor did he confine his benevolent offices to the inhabi-
tants of New Plymouth and to the al)originals of the coun-
try, but readily gave his assistance to the people of Naum-
keak (Salem) and Charlestown, after Mr. Endicot came
to that part of Massachusetts Bay. Several of the people
died of " scurvy and other distempers," and many were
subjected to diseases arising from unwholesome diet and
want of proper accommodations. Having no physician
• AMUEL FULLER. 2G7
among themselves, it was fortunate for those planters that
Plymouth could supply them Willi one so well qualified
as Dr. Fullei-, who visited them at the reauest of Governor
Endicot, and met with great success in his practice. He
visited Salem first in 1628, and again in 1G29, on account
of the sickness introduced there by the newlv arrived
ships. When he arrived at Plymouth from .Salem. Gov-
ernor Endicot wrote to Governor Bradford a letter of
thanks, speaking liighly in prai>c of tiu' physician, and
also expressing his hearty concurrence with their clnirch
at Plymouth, its form and discij)line. From which it is
evident that the conversation of Dr. Fuller had some
effect upon his religious o])inions, for there was a differ-
ence of sentiment before this interview, and a jealousy
le>t the Plymouth church should exercise a jurisdic-
tion over the church in Salem. lu a letter to Governor
Bradford, June 28th, 1630, Dr Fuller says, " I have been
to Matapan, (now Dorchester), and let some twenty of
those people blood." What disease j)revailed among those
people tiiat required tlie loss of blood in the warm season
of June, we are unable to determine.
In his medical character, and for his christian virtues
and unfeigned piety, Dr. Fuller was held in the highest
estimation, and was resorted to as a father and wise coun-
sellor during the j)erils of his day. He was fmally one of
several heads of famili<s avIio died of a fever which pre-
vailed in Plymouth in the summer of 1633, and was most
deej)ly lamentetl bv all the colonists.
GALE, DR. BENJA.MIN, was born on Long-Island in
1715. When a child, his parents removed with him to
Goshen, in the State of New-York. He studied medicine
with the distinguished Dr. Jarcd Eliot, of Killiiiixsworlh,
Connecticut, and afterwards married his daughter, and
settled in that town.
Dr. Gale was author of a Dissertation on the Inocula-
tion of the Smallpox in America about the year 1750, in
which he advocated the utility of a course of mercurv as
a jtreparative to the disease. This production was ([uoted
by Dr. Wilson Philip, and also by the celebrated Dr.
Huxham, who in a letter pul)lislied in Jamiary, 1765. says
" the use of mercury and antimony in jircpariniT persoiis
for ino( Illation, will more Wully aj)pear by what the inge-
nious Dr. IJ. Gale, of Connecticut in New Ennland, has
communicated to me in his " Dissertation on the Inocula-
268 BENJAMIN GALE.
tion of the Smallpox in America" : in which he says,
" Before the use of mercury and antimony in preparing per-
sons for inoculation, one of one hundred of the inoculated
died ; but since, only one in eight hundred." According
to Dr. Gale the use of mercury in the smallpox was first
resorted to in the English American colonies in 1745,
when it was employed with success by Dr. Thompson of
Pennsylvania or Maryland, and Dr. Morison of Long-Isl-
and, in the Province of New-York.
Dr. Gale published some Essays in the Transactions of
the Medical Society of New-Haven. His reputation for
medicine and other sciences was little, if at all, inferior to
that of his father-in-law ; and he kept up the same scien-
tific correspondence with distinguished foreigners, and the
eminent men of his own country. Like Eliot, he was
both a scientific and practical agriculturalist, and he re-
ceived a medal from a society in England, for the inven-
tion of an improved drill plough. But he was unlike his
predecessor in his attention to the politics of the day, as
he took great interest in the events of the American revo-
lution, and in those that passed during the formation of
the Federal Constitution, and employed much of the latter
part of his life in writing political essays for the newspa-
pers of the time. It is believed that as a politician, he
was not inferior to many of his contemporaries, and that
his talents would have been much more serviceable to his
country had he confined them to subjects more immedi-
ately connected with his profession. He was also an
ingenious and speculative divine and a biblical critic, and
wrote a Dissertation on the Prophecies. He is said to
have been a good Greek scholar. He died in 1790.
GARDEN, ALEXANDER, M.D. F.R.S. born in Scot-
land about the year 1728, was the son of the Rev. A. Gar-
den of Aberdeen. He received his first medical education
under the celebrated Dr. John Gregory, and studied also
twelve months in Edinburgh, having received his philo-
sophical and clerical education in the University of Aber-
deen. He arrived in South Carolina about the middle of
the 18th century, and commenced the practice of physic
in Prince William parish in connexion with Dr. Rose.
Here he began liis botanical studies ; but having lost
his health he was obliged to take a voyage to the north-
ward for its recovery. In the year 1754 he went to New-
York ; where a professorship in the college, recently form-
ALEXANDER GARDEN. 269
ed in that city was offered to him ; but he declined the
acceptance of it. On his return he settled in Charleston,
and continued to practise physic about thirty years. In
this period he amassed a handsome fortune, being deserv-
edly in very high esteem and extensively employed. He
brought with him a haernoptoic constitution, but the com-
plaint was suspended during his residence in Carolina.
He was well acquainted with the Latin and Greek class-
ics, understood the French and Italian languages, and was
a considerable proficient in the knowledge of the belles
lettres, in mathematics, philosophy, history and miscella-
neous literature ; but his attention, when the tkities of his
profession permitted any relaxation, was chiefly directed
to the study of natural history, and particularly to that
branch of it which is called botany. Linnaeus, with whom
he corresponded in Latin, gave his name, Gardenia, to a
most beautiful flowering shrub, and often mentioned him
with applause. He was also highly esteemed by the lite-
rati throughout Europe, with several of whom he corres-
ponded. About the year 1772 he was elected a Fellow of
the Royal Society of London. Shortly after his return to
Europe in 1783 he was appointed one of its council, and
afterwards one of its vice presidents. To extend his
knowledge in natural history Dr. Garden accompanied
James Glen, governor of South Carolina, in the year 1755,
when he penetrated into the Indian country and formed a
treaty with the Cherokees in their own mountains. In
this expedition Dr. Garden discovered an earth, which
upon a fair trial by the manufacturers at Worcester in
Great Britain was deemed equal to the finest porcelain
that was ever imported from India. Unfortunately no
precise knowledge can now l)e had of the spot where this
valuable earth was found. Hitherto no advantage has re-
sulted from the discovery, though no doubt exists of its
reality and importance.
On Dr. Garden's return to Europe his consumptive
diathesis, which had been long suspended, began to show
itself. He endeavored to parry its attacks by travelling.
This answered a valuable purpose, but failed in its pri-
mary object. He found that wherever he went, his lite-
rary fame had preceded him and induced many to court
his acquaintance. In France he was treated by men of
science with the most pointed attention and hailed as a
brother. He met with a similar reception in Switzerland,
270 SYLVESTER GARDINER.
and was particularly caressed by Lavater, the author of
the elaborate work on Physiognomy. In the course of his
travels he tried the effects of breathing his native air and
of revisiting the haunts of his youth, hoping that the pleas-
ing recollections of juvenile scenes would have a salutary
influence in arresting the progress of his disease. He was
received as a man who had done honor to his native land
and extended its reputation as the soil of genius. He
found that his venerable father, after reaching his 90th
year, had lately died. Nought remained but to do honor
to his memory. The son drew up a monumental inscrip-
tion in elegant classical Latin, commemorative of the vir-
tues of the father. This is shown to strangers as honora-
ble to both, and is respectfully mentioned in the statistical
account of the parish, edited by Sir John Sinclair.
Dr. G. was highly pleased with the attentions he every-
where received in his travels, but all this time his disorder
was advancing. Having made every exertion to preserve
his life he finally made up his mind to his situation, re-
solved to travel no more and to meet his approaching fate
in the bosom of his family. He accordingly settled at
London, and soon after expired in that city in the year
1792. The high reputation for literature which he attain-
ed, reflected honor both on his native and adopted coun-
try. In the first a good foundation was laid, especially in
classical learning ; in the latter the superstructure was
raised. He came young to Carolina, and was then barely
initiated in the favorite studies in which he particularly
excelled. He acquired most of his botanical knowledge in
the woods of Carolina. He was fond of good company,
and particularly of refined female society, and to it he de-
voted a considerable portion of his time ; but enough was
reserved for mental improvement. He introduced into
medical use the spigelia marilandica or Carolina pinkroot,
a valuable vermifuge, and published in 1764 an account of
its medical properties and gave a botanical description of
the plant. — JVeic-York Medical Repository, Vol. 5th ; also,
Linn(Ban Correspondence by Sir J. E. Smith.
GARDINER, DR. SYLVESTER, was born in the year
1717, in Narragansett, in the colony of Rhode Island, on
an extensive estate purchased by his grandfather, who
with a younger brother emigrated from England at an
early period of the settlement of the country. In early
youth it was observed that the bent of his genius led him
SYLVESTER GARDINER. 271
to traverse the fields and meadows for the purpose of bo-
tanical discoveries, and the investigation of the medicinal
properties of plants ; and manifesting a predilection for
the medical profession, he was at the age of fourteen years
put under the tuition of Dr. Gibbin, an English physician
residing in Boston.
In process of time, however, his ardent thirst for
knowledge painted to his imagination the more ample
advantages to be enjoyed in Europe for tlie accom-
plishment of his education. Being indulged in his incli-
nation by his parents, he repaired to France and devoted
himself with great assiduity to the study of medicine
and surgery in the various hospitals at Paris. After
a residence of four years in that city he visited England,
where he continued two years engaged in the same pursuit,
when he returned to his native country and united himself
in marriage with the daughter of Dr. Gibbin, to whom
he was previously engaged. Still, however, his insatiate
mind prompted him to a further prosecution of know-
ledge in the various branches of science, especially that of
optics. With this view he embarked a second time for
France, where he devoted one or two years more to his
favorite studies.
Thus accomplished and abundantly qualified for the
duties of his profession. Dr. Gardiner commenced his
career of practice in the town of Boston, where uncom-
mon success, wealth and fame awaited him in anticipation.
For his skill in the several branches of medicine, operative
surgery and obstetrics, he became eminently distinguish-
ed, and on occasions of capital operations it was not un-
common for him to receive calls at the distance of fifty
or sixty miles. Being amply qualified as a medical in-
structer, he took students under his direction for educa-
tion, and read to them private lectures, which he illus-
trated by anatomical preparations which he brought from
Paris. In a few years his enterprising spirit led him to
the establishment of an extensive drug store. He import-
ed in this line on a very large scale, and soon became the
most noted druggist in New England, and from his know-
ledge in the art of pharmacy^ and his well known honor
and integrity, he commanded the principal share of
custom.
From his various sourcjes wealth had at length accunm-
lated so abundantly in his coffers that it became a matter
212 SYLVESTER GARDINER.
of some concern in what manner to appropriate his funds.
With this view he became a member of the Plymouth
land company, and purchased extensive tracts in the un-
cultivated regions of Maine. Here in the vicinity of the
Kennebec river he erected churches for public worship in
the Episcopal form, and at his own expense supported the
Rev. Mr. Baily to preach the gospel for many years. He
erected a town in that territory which still bears the name
of Gardiner, and imported people from Germany to culti-
vate the soil, furnishing them annually with the needed
supplies of cattle, implements of husbandry, food and
clothing ; here houses and mills were built, and a church
endowed at his own expense. From his high standing and
extensive acquaintance, Dr. Gardiner's select associates
were those most distinguished in his day for rank and fami-
ly, and his house in Boston was the resort of the literary
and scientific from both sides of the Atlantic. Among his
select guests were Sir William Pepperil, Governor Hutch-
inson, Earl Percy, Admiral Graves, Major Pitcairn, Gen-
eral Gage, Major Small, &c. &c.
But he was not destined to enjoy uninterrupted pros-
perity, a revolution in human affairs awaited him, and he
was called to witness the annihilation of his earthly en-
joyments ; his fortune, his peace and happiness appeared
to be dissipated as the morning dew. In the midst of his
prosperous career he became, in common with many oth-
ers, involved in the political struggle between the mother
country and her oppressed colonies in 1775. Having im-
bibed from his ancestors a great veneration for a monarch-
ical government, he united with his loyal associates, and
justified the hostile proceedings of the British parliament
against the liberties of his native country. He was of
course stigmatized as a tory, and became at once odious to
the majority of his countrymen who were engaged in the
great cause of liberty and freedom. He continued in Bos-
ton during the siege with part of his family, and was sub-
jected to great privations and sufferings. When the Brit-
ish army evacuated the town, he was compelled to embark
in a small crowded cabin, badly provided with provi-
sions, and in this forlorn condition he bade adieu to his
native country to seek a temporary shelter in Quebec :
from thence he repaired with a heavy heart to England,
where for ten or twelve years he experienced all the calam-
ities of exile, having it in his power to take with him
THOMAS GREEN. 273
four hundred pounds only of his princely fortune. The
legislature of Massachusetts having enacted that all pro-
perty belonging to tory refugees should be confiscated for
the use of the public, Dr. Gardiner's whole estate was ad-
vertised and sold at auction. The estate consisted of one
undivided twelfth in the Plymouth patent lands in Massa-
chusetts, and county of Lincoln, amounting to 98,700
acres, with houses, mills and wharves. His stock of drugs
was said to fill from twenty to twenty-five wagons. But
in consequence of some informality in the legal process by
the attorney general, the heirs of Dr. Gardiner were re-
invested with the land in the District of Maine, on favor-
able terms.
Not long after the close of the war of independence
Dr. G. returned to Newport in Rhode Island, where he
was attacked with a malignant fever, which after the se-
verest sufferings terminated his eventful life, August 8th,
1786, in the 69th year of his age. In the life of Dr. G.
piety and family devotion, charity and benevolence, and
all the moral virtues were united and conspicuous. He
compiled a formula of prayers, and distributed many
hundred copies among the poor and destitute.
GREEN, THOMAS. The family of Green has made
itself remarkable in the medical profession by its humble
and singular origin. The subject of this notice, the me-
dical ancestor of the family, was born in Maiden, and was
one of the first settlers of Leicester, county of Worcester.
He received his first medical impressions and impulse from
a book given him by a surgeon of a British ship, who re-
sided a few months at his father's, and took an interest in
his vigorous and opening intellect. His outfit for the wild-
erness consisted of his gun, his axe, his book, his sack,
and his cow. His first habitation was built by nature, its
roof composed of a shelving rock. Here he passed the
night in sound repose after the labor of the day in felling
and clearing the forest.
Soon after he began his settlement, he was attacked by
a fever. Foreseeing the difficulties which must attend his
situation without a friendly hand to administer even the
scanty necessaries of life, he had the precaution to tie a
young calf to his cabin formed under the rock. By this
stratagem he was enabled to obtain sustenance from the
cow, as often as she returned to give nourishment to her
young. In this manner he derived his support for some
35
274 JOHN GREEN.
weeks. By the aid of his book and the knowledge of
simples, a proficiency in which he early acquired by an
intercourse with the Indians, he was soon enabled to pre-
scribe successfully for the simple maladies of his fellow
settlers. By practice, from the necessity of the case, as
well as from choice, he acquired theory and skill, and
soon rose to great reputation. Thus, from fortuitous cir-
cumstances and a humble beginning, the name of Green
has attained its present eminence in the medical profession.
GREEN, DR. JOHN, Senior, son of the abovemen-
tioned, was born at Leicester, in the year 1736. By the
aid of his father he early became a physician, and settled
at Worcester. He married a daughter of Brigadier Rug-
gles, of Hardwick, and became the father of a large fa-
mily. Not satisfied, as too many are, with the limited
means of knowledge which necessarily fell to his lot, he
afi'orded his children the best education in his power. He
was extensively employed ; and distinguished himself for
his tenderness and fidelity. He inherited a taste and skill
in botany, with his profession, from his father. In his
garden were to be found the useful plant, the healing herb
and the grateful fruit ; which either his humanity bestow-
ed on the sick, or his hospitality on his friends. He died
November 29th, 1799, aged 63 years.
GREEN, DR. JOHN, JR., son of the preceding, was
born A. D. 1763. Descended from ancestors who made
the art of healing their study, Dr. Green was easily initi-
ated in the school of physic ; and from his childhood the
natural bias of his mind led him to that profession which
through life was the sole object of his ardent pursuit. To
be distinguished as a physician, was not his chief incen-
tive. To assuage the sufferings of humanity by his skill,
was a higher motive of his benevolent mind. Every duty
was performed with delicacy and tenderness. With these
propensities, aided by a strong, inquisitive and discriminat-
ing mind, he attained to a preeminent rank among the phy-
sicians and surgeons of our country. To this sentiment
of his worth, correctly derived from witnessing his prac-
tice on others, a more feeling "tribute is added by those
who have experienced his skill ; for so mild was his de-
portment, so soothing were his manners, and so indefati-
gable was his attention, that he gained the unbounded con-
fidence of his patients, and the cure was in a good meas-
ure performed before medicine was administered. To
SAMUEL POWEL GRIPFITTS. 275
those who were acquainted with Dr. Green the idea
that " some men are born physicians" was not absurd ;
for he not only possessed an innate mental fitness for the
profession, but was constitutionally formed to bear its
fatigues and privations. Few men of his age have had
such extensive practice, or endured a greater variety of
fatigue, or have been so often deprived of stated rest
and refreshment. It is worthy of remark that in all the
variety of duty incident to his calling, he was never known
to yield to the well intended proifer of that kind of mo-
mentary refreshment, so ready at command and so often
successfully pressed upon the weary, exhausted and incau-
tious physician.
The firmness and equanimity of his mind, which were
conspicuous in all the exigences of life, forsook him not
in death. With christian resignation he " set his house
in order," knowing he " must die and not live." In per-
fect possession of his intellectual faculties, with a mind
calm and collected, he spent the last moments of life, per-
forming its last duties with the sublime feelings of a phi-
losopher and christian. And when by an examination of
his pulse he found the cold hand of death pressing hard
upon him, he bade a calm adieu to his attending physi-
cians, who he wished should be the sole witnesses of
nature's last conflict. Placing himself in the most favora-
ble posture for an easy exit, he expressed a hope that his
fortitude would save his afliicted family and friends from
the distress of hearing a dying groan. His hope was ac-
complished ! He died August 11th, 1808, aged forty-five
years. At his request his body was examined. The cause
of death was found in the enlargement and consequent
flaccidity of the aorta. — Hon. 0. Fisk.
GRIFFITTS, SAMUEL POWEL, M.D. born in
Philadelphia, on the 21st day of July, 1759, was the third
and last child of William Griffitts and Abigail Powel.
His parents were members of the religious society of
Friends ; the tenets of which sect he adopted, and so
steadfastly adhered to, as to afford a happy illustration of
their influence upon the human character.
The classical education by which he was so well quali-
fied for the study of a liberal profession, he received for
the most part in the College of Philadelphia ; an institu-
tion which, from the changes eflfected by the revolution,
has been subsequently supplanted by the University. He
276 SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITTS.
possessed an accurate knowledge of the Greek and Latin
languages, and such a mastery of the French as to enable
him to speak it with the greatest fluency and correctness.
From the benevolence which predominated in his cha-
racter, it is highly probable that, in the choice of a profes-
sion, he fixed on the medical as applying most immediately
to the relief of human suffering. He studied under the
late Dr. Adam Kuhn, professor of materia medica and
botany in the College of Medicine, then the only school
in America where the science was taught by public lec-
tures. The intimate friendship which commenced at this
time and ever afterwards subsisted between him and his
preceptor, may be adduced as an infallible evidence not
only of his early merits, but of his subsequent good con-
duct.*
It was during the period of his professional studies that
the disastrous battle of Germantown was fought. Re-
strained by the strictest precepts of his religion from the
performance of military duties, humanity led him to com-
miserate the sufferings of the wounded, and to apply his
efforts towards their relief.
Aiming at the highest honors of the profession, he cross-
ed the Atlantic in 1781, to visit the schools of Europe.
He attended upon the lectures and the practice of the hos-
pitals in Paris, and afterwards attended a course of lectures
at the much celebrated school of Montpelier, and having
taken a tour through the south of France, he repaired to
London in June 1783. Here he availed himself of all
the opportunities for collecting information which were
offered, until the following autumn, when he repaired to
Edinburgh, which was then, as it is now, the chief seat of
medical science in Great Britain. The eminent advanta-
ges held out by this school may be estimated from the
names of its professors, the several chairs being then filled
by CuUen, Monro, Gregory, Black, and Hamilton. In
the spring of 1784 he returned to London, soon after
which he embarked at Portsmouth for his native country,
and arrived in Philadelphia early in the fall, after an ab-
sence of about three years.
With the superior qualifications which he now possess-
ed, he commenced practice in his native city ; where he
* For an intcrestinjr and faithful biographical notice of the late Dr. Kuhn, writtcii
by Dr. Griffitts, see the Eclectic Repertory, vol. viii.
SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITTS. 277
soon displayed strong proofs of the maturity of his talents ;
and to these added a striking evidence of the natural bene-
volence of his disposition, by his successful exertions in
establishing the Philadelphia Dispensary.
The chief design of this charity vras to afford medical
relief to such of the poor, whose former circumstances
and habits of independence, would not permit them to
expose themselves as patients in a public hospital, when
afflicted by diseases. It was the first institution of its kind
established in America, and was founded early in the year
1786, without any other patronage or support than the
voluntary contributions of many excellent citizens, and the
gratuitous attendance of humane physicians.
It deserves record as a remarkable fact, that, during its
primitive obscurity in Strawberry street, and its sub-
sequent more eligible location in Fifth street, he was, with
very few exceptions, a daily visiter of the Dispensary
for more than forty years ; a circumstance in itself suffi-
cient to account for the prosperity of the institution, and
the uncommon regularity with which its affairs have been
managed. In addition to his duties as manager, he dis-
charged the laborious office of physician to that institution
for seven years. Satisfied when he saw the establishment
ably fulfilling the objects for which it was instituted, he
seemed anxious to shun notoriety and every thing like
public commendation. His great ambition was to effect the
most good with the least show. The beautiful sentiment
applied by Sallust to Cato — esse, quam videri, bonus malebat
— ^liappily illustrates the christian spirit by which he was
always actuated.
In the year 1816, thirty years after the institution of the
first Dispensary in Philadelphia, the extended limits and
multiplied population of the city, and consequent increas-
ed number of the poor, rendered it necessary to establish
two others, one for Southwark and one for the Northern
Liberties. In the foundation and support of these addi-
tional charities, he took an interest and an active part, not
less perhaps than he displayed in the origin of the first ; so
that he may be fairly considered as the father of the Dis-
pensaries of his native city.
In the same year in which he was so actively engaged in
establishing the Dispensary, he joined the Humane Soci-
ety, instituted for the purpose of rendering timely assist-
ance in cases of suspended animation, and encouraging
278 SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITTS.
efforts to restore life. This institution always received a
large portion of his attention. He was likewise chosen a
member of the Philosophical Society, of which Dr.
Franklin was then president. In the following year the
College of Physicians of Philadelphia was founded, he
being one of its original members.
The particular interest which he entertained for the
College of Physicians, was evinced by a constant attend-
ance of its meetings, from its first organization until his
death ; during all which time he rendered it the most effi-
cient services, both as a zealous member and faithful officer.
In 1817 he was chosen its Vice President ; an honor
which he retained until his death.
Strongly impressed with the belief that great advan-
tages would result to the medical profession in this coun-
try from the adoption of a National Pharmacopoeia, he
entered warmly into the project when it was brought for-
ward. For this object a convention of the middle states
met on the 1st of June, 1819, in the chamber of the Col-
lege of Physicians of Philadelphia ; and closed its session
on the 4th instant, after having made what was deemed a
proper selection of the several articles and preparations,
and appointed delegates to represent the middle district of
the United States in a general convention, for the forma-
tion of a Pharmacopoeia, to be held at Washington, on the
1st of January, 1820. The College of Physicians having
appointed him a member of a committee to prepare an
Essay of a Pharmacopoeia, to be laid before the general
convention, this arduous task was chiefly performed by
him.
In the pursuit of knowledge, he never permitted him-
self to be borne away by those ingenious speculations and
sophistical arguments, which in scientific works and asso-
ciations are so often advanced and plausibly supported.
Endowed with a clear perception and sound judgment, his
mind was always directed to subjects of practical utility.
Upon these, and especially upon such as were connected
with his profession, he was always capable of contributing
important information. He was a diligent reader, and
never allowed himself to be left in the rear of the march
of improvement. Unlike those whose learned pursuits
are for the most part limited by mere selfish gratification,
or the pride of possession, his main object was to attain
that wliich miglit be applied to some useful or humane
intention.
SAMUEL POWEL GRIPFITTS. 279
In the great pestilence which in 1793 desolated Phila-
delphia, he remained in the city, actively engaged in ex-
tending professional aid to the sick, except when laboring
himself under the disease. Nor was it alone in this season
of calamity that he remained firmly at his post, and per-
formed the most laborious and hazardous services. In the
memorable epidemics of 1797, '98, '99, 1802, and 1805,
he stood in the midst of the desolation, and regardless of
personal danger, was solely intent upon extending relief to
his suffering fellow-citizens, who, wasted by pestilence in
darkness and at noonday, were falling on every side. In
1798 he united his own exertions with those of the late Dr.
Rush, in preparing and publishing accurate directions for
the prevention and treatment of the prevailing fever ;
which, under the sanction of their names, they affection-
ately recommended to those who were unable to procure
the regular advice and attendance of physicians. Surely
nothing can more strongly recommend a physician to
grateful remembrance than such meritorious acts and mag-
nanimous devotion ; and when we take into consideration
the nature of the calamity, and all its distressing accom-
paniments, we can readily appreciate that affectionate
ardor of the Athenians, which, for services rendered by
Hippocrates in one of their plagues, led them to bestow
upon him a golden crown, and to honor his memory with
divine festivals.
The distress which in the year 1793 fell upon the for-
mer proprietors of St. Domingo, in consequence of the
successful insurrection in that island, furnished an addi-
tional opportunity for the display of his benevolence.
Most of the French who were driven by this event to seek
refuge on our shores, had on their arrival little else to
boast of than their lives. Their strong claims for assist-
ance were liberally answered in Philadelphia, where in a
short time twelve thousand dollars were collected for
their relief. On this occasion Dr. Griffitts made himself
very active, both in procuring the means and appropriat-
ing them to the necessities of the sufferers. He was parti^
cularly qualified for this last office, by the facility he pos-
sessed of making himself intimately acquainted with their
situation and circumstances. Besides the money collected
by himself, he was entrusted with the distribution of large
sums raised by public or individual bounty. The part
which he bore in alleviating the sufferings of the unfortu-
280 SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITTS.
nate French emigrants, both in 1793 and several subse-
quent years, left an impression which I have often heard
them express with tokens of the most heartfelt gratitude.
A circumstance which we may here introduce, is calculat-
ed to throw a very strong light upon his character. It
might reasonably be supposed that his constant intercourse
for several years with the French refugees, the forlorn
condition to which they were reduced, and the distressing
and sanguinary details they had to relate, would be direct-
ly calculated to inspire a hatred of the successful conspira-
tors, which no philanthropy could overcome. Such,
however, was not the result. Deeply as he sympathized
with the vanquished, he continued to the day of his death
to evince a strong solicitude for the general welfare of the
present masters of Hayti ; forwarding to them gratuitous-
ly, by every favorable opportunity, supplies of fresh vac-
cine virus, withojit which that island would be almost
deprived, by the nature of its climate, from sharing in the
advantages of Jenner's discovery.
In the year 1790 he joined the " Pennsylvania Society
for promoting the abolition of slavery, the relief of free
negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and improving the
condition of the African race" ; a charter for which had
been obtained the year previous. The objects embraced
by this association, he always had very much at heart.
The community of feeling which subsisted on these sub-
jects between him and Gregoire, bishop of Blois, the
famous champion for the abolition of negro slavery in
France, led to a long continued and intimate correspond-
ence between them.
Dr. Griffitts was always a strenuous advocate for the
salutary modifications, which for many years have been
gradually finding their way into the penal code of his
native state, and felt the most lively interest for the suc-
cess of the humane system of punishment, which is now
about to be applied on a scale well calculated to test its
efficacy.
In the year 1792 he was chosen Professor of Materia
Medica in the University of Pennsylvania ; and during the
four years for which he filled this chair, his lectures
evinced great industry in the acquisition of useful mate-
rials, method and perspicuity in their arrangement, and
zeal for the advancement of his class in solid information.
But the situation of a public lecturer was not altogether
SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITTS. 281
congenial to his feelings ; which were most gratified by an
active discharge of the less conspicuous duties of private
life. Perhaps, too, the disinclination which he always
manifested to hold any place of emolument, may have
exercised some influence in producing his resignation of a
chair, which was every year becoming more profitable^
and even at that period conferred one of the highest hon-
ors within the reach of his profession.
Dr. Griffitts was one of the first to appreciate the im-
portance of vaccination, and to introduce it into this city ;
and in no way did he display more zeal and industry than
in advocating and spreading, by every means in his
power, the blessings flowing from this inestimable discov-
ery. Besides what he accomplished in his individual ca-
pacity, he was an original member and active promoter of
the Vaccine Society, instituted in the year 1809, by a.
number of benevolent citizens, who formed themselves
into committees, and sought out the objects of their Asso-
ciation among the poor and obscure inhabitants of the
city, Southwark and the Northern Liberties, persuading
them to submit to vaccination, which was performed at
their own dwellings, by physicians appointed by the
Society.
Of the various afflictions entailed upon mankind, that of
mental derangement makes the strongest appeal to human-
ity for sympathy and assistance. We might therefore rea-
sonably expect to find Dr. Grifiitts actively engaged in
some plan for the relief of individuals and families suffer-
ing from the eflfects of this dispensation. Accordingly,
when, in the year 1811, proposals were made to the Phila-
delphia yearly meeting of the religious society of Friends,
to make provision for such of their members as were de-
prived of their reason, he eagerly embarked in a subject
which had already occupied his mind for many years.
The information he had previously acquired, the zeal by
which he was actuated, and the persevering disposition for
which he was so remarkable, qualified him peculiarly for
rendering the most essential aid towards an establishment
of the nature proposed. The highest expectations of him
were fully realized. It was agreed upon by the society,
that an establishment should be formed, and placed under
the direction of such members of the Pliiladelphia yearly
meeting as might become contributors. The original plan
was draAvn up by him, and he took a most active part in
36
282 SAMUEL POWEL GRIFFITTS.
all the arduous duties connected with the erection of the
extensive buildings, and the necessary arrangements for the
reception of inmates. This admirable institution, such as
it was formed by the joint labors of himself and his val-
uable colleagues, amply attests the judgment and wisdom
which guided its projectors and managers.*
In stature Dr. Griffitts was about the middle size ; and
although his constitution was by no means robust, it was
nevertheless capable of supporting considerable fatigue.
As the best proof of this we may mention, that although
his practice was very extensive, yet he always visited his
patients on foot. Such indeed was his predilection for
walking, that he never could be induced either by the en-
treaties of his friends, the increased extent of the city, or
the advance of age, to adopt the usual method of riding.
He was extremely plain, abstemious and regular in his
mode of living ; which, with the free exercise he took in
attending to his patients, no doubt contributed greatly to
the preservation of his health. His dress was such as be-
came an elder of the religious society to which he belong-
ed ; and conformed with the simplicity and dignity of his
manners and character. Free from even a shade of affec-
tation or ostentation, his deportment was distinguished for
its ease and courtesy.
The situation of a physician, who, in the performance
of his duties, is liable to be called upon at all hours of the
day, does not readily admit of that accurate distribution
of time which is allowed by many other avocations. Up-
on this account, the extreme regularity acquired and main-
tained by Dr. Griffitts, in all his habits and pursuits, forms
a more distinguished trait in his character. He was an
early riser, and always began the day by reading a portion
of the New Testament in Greek or Latin. Impressed with
a deep sense of the paramount obligations of religion, he
was seldom known to be absent from the meetings of wor-
ship or business of his society. The punctuality with
which he visited the Dispensary, has been already remark-
ed, and as an additional proof of the regularity of his
habits, and a striking example of parental solicitude, we
may mention, that it was his uniform custom to visit daily
such of his children and grand-children as resided in the
* A detailed and highly interesting account of this institution, will be found ia
the Philadslphia Joiu-nal oif Medical and Physical Sciences, for August, 182S.
SAMUEL POVVEL GRIPFITTS. 283
city. Bat it was in his professional engagements that his
punctuality shone forth most conspicuously. Rarely indeed
did it occur, that in keeping the time set for consultation,
or other purposes, he was so long as five minutes from the
hour appointed. This strict observance of such engage-
ments, he regarded as one of the cardinal virtues of a
medical practitioner, considering all violations of it as so
many deviations from truth, productive of endless incon-
venience. The example of his preceptor, whose conduct
in this respect, during a practice of half a century, has
perhaps never been surpassed, was well calculated to con-
firm him in the same habit.
In his consultations with other physicians, his conduct
was ever open and ingenuous ; whilst the thorough know-
ledge he possessed of the rules and etiquette prescribed by
medical ethics, was strongly demonstrated by his scrupu-
lous observance of them.
The practice of Dr. Griffitts was distinguished by close-
ness of observation, clearness of judgment, and when the
occasion required, prompt decision and efficient energy.
To the well established principles of medicine, he adhered
with great strictness ; but was nevertheless always ready
to adopt useful innovations, when these were in accord-
ance with the dictates of sound reason, and attested by im-
partial experiments. His attentions to his patients were
sedulous, evincing a strong interest in their welfare, and
inspiring confidence of a happy result.
As a writer. Dr. Griffitts had one formidable obstacle to
contend with, and this was his reluctance to appear before
the public. His communications, which were never made
except when drawn forth by a sense of duty, possess an
easy, plain and concise style. Fidelity and perspicuity
in narration were more his objects than grace or elegance
of composition. He was one of the editors of that highly
useful medical journal the Eclectic Repertory ; a publica-
tion which reflects great credit upon the judgment and
talents of those by whom it was conducted, and the sus-
pension of which is a loss to the profession. Among the
original papers it contains, are some valuable contributions
by Dr. Griffitts ; in all of which he has strictly confined
himself to a relation of facts, without advancing any theo-
retical remarks. They are very much condensed, ;ind
strongly impressed with that candor and good sense for
which he was eminently distinguished.
284 SAMUEL POWEL GHIFriTTS.
In the first volume he has evinced the particular interest
he felt in the success of vaccination, by giving some very
useful observations on the best means of preserving and
using the vaccine crust. In the third volume he intro-
duces the subject of blistering as a remedy for preventing
and arresting mortification. The sixth volume contains a
paper upon the subject of re-infection in the yellow or ship
fever of tropical climates ; the non-occurrence of whicli
he ably maintains. Among other evidences which he
brings in support of his position, he states, that during the
seven years of its appearance in Philadelphia^ he did not
meet with one instance of the same person's having the
yellow fever a second time. He was a firm believer in the
contagious nature of this disease, and a warm advocate for
enforcing restrictions and precautionary measures, calcu-
lated to prevent its introduction from abroad. In the
ninth volume he has recorded an instructive " Case of
supposed aneurism of the right carotid artery ;" which is
intended as a salutary caution to his medical brethren. It
affords a fine specimen of his candor.
In the year 1787 he married Mary Fishbourne, daugh-
ter of William Fishbourne, formerly a respectable mer-
chant of Philadelphia. From this marriage six children
with their mother yet survive. (1827.)
The private worth and domestic virtues of Dr. Grifiitts
will forever endear his memory to his family, and to all
who knew him intimately. As a friend, he was kind,
sincere and obliging ; as a husband, attentive and affect-
ionate ; as a father, fond and indulgent. His piety was
founded upon unshaken faith in the doctrines and efficacy
of the christian dispensation, as inculcated in the precepts,
and maintained in practice by the religious society of
Friends.
Thus, by the purity of his life and the possession of
religion, was he happily prepared for the final summons,
Avhich on the 12th of May, 1826, so suddenly called him
away. For several days previously he felt rather more
debility than usual, but continued to visit his patients,
although he was unable to attend them all. Early on the
morning of his death he complained of some unpleasant
feelings about his chest, which he thought might be re-
lieved by bleeding. He arose and began to dress himself.
In the mean time, his wife became alarmed and sent for
his friend Dr. Parrish ; who, although he attended imme-
TUCKER HARRIS. 285
diately, found on his arrival the lifeless body of Dr. Grif-
fitts resting in an easy posture upon the bed. Having es-
caped the infirmities of age, he was thus removed in his
67th year, and, as if through a special interposition of
divine favor, exempted from the ordinary penalties of sick-
ness and pain. — G. Emerson, M.D.
HARRIS, TUCKER, M.D. was born in the city of
Charleston, South Carolina, in the year 1747. While a
youth, he was remarked for his prudent conduct and assi-
duity ; and discovering a predilection in favor of medicine,
his parents were induced, at a suitable age, to place him
with Dr. Lionel Chalmers, a physician of great respecta-
bility and distinguished abilities. Under such a preceptor
he made a flattering progress in the acquisition of know-
ledge. The correctness and acuteness of observation in
his pupil, were early appreciated by Dr. Chalmers, who
was himself an accurat^e observer of nature. The Ameri-
can medical schools being in their infancy, after acquiring
a proficiency in pharmacy, young Harris was sent in 1768
to Edinburgh to prosecute his studies. Here he diligently
attended three courses of lectures of the most illustrious
professors of the age, among whom was the father of mod-
ern medicine, Dr. Cullen, as well as Dr. Gregory. He
there wrote and defended an inaugural thesis, " De Chole-
ra Spontanea," and received from that celebrated Univer-
sity the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
On his return to his native country, in 1771, Dr. Har-
ris commenced the practice of medicine under the most
favorable auspices ; his talents were recommended to the
people by his friend and former preceptor. Dr. Chalmers,
who, a few years after, departed this life, leaving Dr.
Harris a successor to his fame, in every respect worthy
the patronage bestowed. An eventful political epoch, the
revolutionary war, had now arrived ; the patriotic ardor
of Dr. Harris induced liim to engage in the cause of liber-
ty, and during the great conflict, he not only served as
Hospital Surgeon in garrison, but occasionally discharged
his duties in camp. On the restoration of peace he resum-
ed the practice of his profession in the city of Charleston,
which increased rapidly, and soon became respectable and
extensive. From 1783 to '86 Dr. Harris was connected
in business with the venerable Dr. Oliphant ; but for ma-
ny years posterior to this, and during the greatest part of
his life, his professional duties were conducted by himself.
LEMUEL HAYWARD.
Dr. Harris was one among the first of the officers of the
Medical Society of South Carolina, and for the years 1796
and '97 Avas chosen president.
As a physician he was eminently skilful, and greatly es-
teemed for his sensibility and affectionate attention to his
patients. His purity of manners, circumspection, inflexi-
ble integrity and sound judgment, exalted him in the es-
teem of his fellow citizens, by whom he was elected to fill
important and responsible municipal offices. His attain-
ments in literature were respectable ; he was of a studious
disposition, and continued through life a diligent inquirer
cifter truth. During the several melancholy seasons of the
prevalence of epidemics in the city, he was faithful and
constant in the discharge of his practical duties, and his
pen was profitably employed, and with profoundness of
reasoning, in several well written essays which have ap-
peared in the public journals. As a friend Dr. Harris was
ever sincere, kind and undeviating ; his deportment and
conversation were unafiected, pleasing and instructive ;
from him the cause of religion uniformly received the
most liberal support ; he was a zealous advocate of every
measure tending to its advancement ; his charity was ever
active and always unostentatious ; his sympathetic feelings
Were at all times alive to the complaints of the widow and
the orphan.
Having arrived to advanced age he suffered a lingering
illness, which he was well aware would eventuate in disso-
lution ; he sustained his infirmities with becoming forti-
tude, and with calm resignation awaited the awful crisis.
So perfectly composed and prepared was this excellent
man, that on the day of his decease, with his fingers upon
his faltering pulse, he seemed to employ his last moments
in contemplating the solemn transition from time to eter-
nity. The approach of death was gradual, and he expired
on the 6th of July, 1821, in the 74tli year of his age,
without a struggle. Always averse to pomp and pa-
geantry, pursuant to his earnest request made some time
previous to his decease, his remains were attended to the
grave by his nearest male relatives only, and privately in-
terred in the family burial place, at St. Paul's Church. —
G. Logan, M.D.
HAYWARD, LEMUEL, M.D. M.M.S.S. was born in
Braintree, Massachusetts, and received his degree at Cam-
bridge in 1768. In about a year after, he came to Boston,
LEMUEL HAYWARD. 287
and placed liimself as a medical pupil under the direction
of Dr. Joseph Warren, who afterwards fell at the battle on
Bunker's Hill. He had for his fellow students three gen-
tlemen, all distinguished for their patriotism and public
services, Dr. Samuel Adams, Dr. Eustis and Dr. Town-
send.
Having completed the usual term of study, he establish-
ed himself, by the advice of his preceptor, at Jamaica
Plain, near Boston, and soon acquired a lucrative and re-
spectable practice. When the revolutionary war broke out,
he was, in June, 1775, appointed a surgeon in the general
hospital in the continental army, and served in that post
till the British evacuated Boston, and the American troops
marched to the middle States. In 1776 he began the prac-
tice of inoculation for the smallpox in connexion with the
venerable Dr. Isaac Rand, of Charlestown, the first of the
name, and continued it for several years successively, in
company with Dr. Davies of Roxbury, Dr. Aspinwall of
Brookline, and Dr. John Warren of Boston. In 1783 he
removed to the capital, without at first intending to en-
gage in medical practice ; but he was afterwards induced
to resume his business, and from this time his reputation
increased rapidly, and his professional occupations soon
became very considerable, and continued so until the year
1798. The appearance of the yellow fever in that year,
induced him to purchase a retreat for his family in the
country; and his property being now ample, and his health
impaired by a severe asthmatic complaint, he afterwards
spent several weeks in the country during the summer
season.
Dr. Hayward was admitted to the Massachusetts Medi-
cal Society in the year 1784 ; and was chosen correspond-
ing member of the London Medical Society in 1791. He
was also a member of the Bristol Medical Society in Eng-
land ; and of the Massachusetts Agricultural and Humane
Societies. For many years he was a counsellor in the
Massachusetts Medical Society, and also for a long time
filled the responsible and delicate otfice of chairman of
the censors, and of the committee of Boylston Prize Quest-
ions. In the early part of his life his professional read-
ing was extensive ; but in his latter years he preferred
reading history, theology and works of fancy. Though
he read and thought much, and often committed his reflect-
ions and observations to writing, he was wholly unambi-
968 EZEKIEL flERSEy.
tious of literary and professional honors, and never could
be brought to overcome the reluctance he felt to publishing.
He was a firm believer in the truths of Christianity, and be-
came a public professor of it at the early age of nineteen. In
the social and domestic relations of life he appeared to the
greatest advantage ; for he was cheerful, kind, hospitable,
and full of agreeable and instructive conversation. As a
physician, he was excellent for his powers of discriminat-
ing diseases, and especially for his skill in varying the re-
medy according to the stage of disease. His interest in
his patients was very strong, but his sensibility did not
brook any neglect or want of confidence.
The asthmatic affection, which had troubled him through
a considerable part of his life, disappeared some years be-
fore his last illness ; instead of it, he exhibited symptoms
of an organic disease of the heart. Probably this derange-
ment disposed him to the complaint of which he died. In
the early part of March he was seized with inflammation
of tlie lungs, which, after more than once assuming a flat-
tering aspect, terminated fatally on the 20th of March, 1821.
HERSEY, DR. EZEKIEL, was a native of Hingham,
Massachusetts, and one of three sons of James Hersey, all
of whom were respectable practising physicians. He was
graduated at Harvard University in 1728, and was a dis-
tinguished scholar. He studied medicine with Dr. Dal-
honde, a Frenchman considerably distinguished as a phy-
sician in Boston, and not less so for his violent opposition
to Dr. Boylston, when he first introduced the inoculation
of smallpox. Young Hersey had the courage to enter the
class with those who were first inoculated, and his exam-
ple was an encouragement to others.
Having completed his professional studies he established
himself in his native town ; and his fame soon spread, and
his practice became greatly extended, especially in cases of
surgery, embracing a circuit to the westward as far as
Dedham, and to the south and east to Middleborough and
Plymouth, and occasionally through the whole county of
Barnstable. He was a man of strong powers of mind and
correct judgment, and emphatically the agent of humanity
and kindness, visiting the afflicted under all circumstances
indiscriminately, faithfully acquitting himself of the moral
duties which his profession imposes, without consulting his
own pecuniary interest. His fees were moderate, and he
never distressed the poor. He was heard to say that he
ABNER HERSEV. 289
never sued but one person, and that was to recover a dis-
puted demand of £8 ($26.66), for two journies of more
than sixty miles, and performing a capital surgical opera-
tion. He educated a considerable number of pupils, many
of whom attained to professional eminence, and reflected
honor on his character. His attachment to literary estab-
lishments was evinced by his liberal bequest at his death
of f 1000, and a like sum at the decease of his widow, to be
applied to the support of a Professor of Anatomy and Sur-
gery at Harvard University ; and it was by his influence
that his brother Abner added £500 to the same fund. Dr.
Hersey is said to have extended his liberality also to an-
other important literary object, the establishment of an
academy at Hingham. Having no children, it is under-
stood that he entrusted his wife with funds for the estab-
lishment of this institution. After his decease she married
Captain Derby of Salem, and erected the academy, which
was incorporated by the name of Derby Academy.* Dr.
E. Hersey died December 9th, 1770, aged 62 years.
Upon the character of Dr. Hersey we ponder with ven-
eration and love ; it is that of intelligence, fidelity and
kindness ; of one eminently humane and a benevolent
friend to the poor, sacrificing his ease, his domestic pleas-
ures, his health, and even exposing his life, to aflford relief
to those in distress. Of this we have a striking example,
which is to this day remembered. Dr. Hersey was called
to a colored female while in critical circumstances, another
physician having failed to afford relief. It was in a winter
night, and during a cold snow storm, the distance eight
miles. The message was delivered to him under some
doubts whether he ought to expose himself, but he replied,
" Whetlier black or white, she is of the human family and
shall have my assistance." When lie arrived at the log hut
in the woods, he found he had left some articles at home,
which the case required ; he returned for the purpose, rode
a second time to the patient, and administered tiie neces-
sary assistance, and her life was preserved.
HERSEY, DR. ABNER, M.M.S.S. a younger brother
of the jireceding, a native also of Hingham. His advan-
tages of education were greatly deficient, having labored
* The reverend and venerable Joseph Thaxter, from whom the above information
was obtained, in a letter says, Mrs. Derby was, not long before her death, sensible
of the error in giving the name of Derby to the academy, and had she lived a little
longer would have had it altered.
37
290 ABNER HERSEY.
with his father in husbandry during his early years. He
commenced the study of medicine under his brother James
of Barnstable, a physician of reputation and extensive
practice, enjoying entire confidence and popular favor
wherever he Avas known. After a pupilage of about one
year the decease of his brother proffered him, at the age
of nineteen, the benefit of his name, and the field of his
professional labors.
At a youthful period of life, perliaps unexampled in the
annals of medicine, and under the disadvantage of a penu-
rious education, young Hersey began his career, and ever
after pursued it with a zeal and fidelity in the highest de-
gree honorable to his character. He at once embraced the
whole circle of practice which his brother had enjoyed,
and it was not long before he acquired the confidence and
respectful regard of the people. For many years he com-
manded without a rival the whole practice on Cape Cod,
a distance of forty miles, and containing a population of se-
ven or eight thousand inhabitants, controlling at pleasure his
practice and his fees. He possessed a sound judgment, and
by his correct observation and experience he supplied in a
considerable degree the deficiency of medical education.
He was indefatigable in his pursuits, faithful and punctual
in his engagements, and successful in his practical applica-
tions. As a surgeon he was considered judicious and skil-
ful, though he performed no capital operations. He pos-
sessed a rigid sense of moral rectitude and honesty, no man
ever suggested that he had suflfered injustice from him.
Often has the writer of this sketch, while under his pupil-
age, received his warning voice, that if a patient die
through the ignorance, neglect or inattention of the phy-
sician, that life will at a future day be required at his
hands. He strictly and religiously regarded the Sabbath,
seldom riding on that day unless from imperious necessity,
and as seldom absenting himself from public worship,
when his health would permit. He was moderate in his
charges, punctual in making his annual demands, and an
example of economy in all his appropriations and expen-
ditures, by which he accumulated an ample competency.
Dr. Hersey was subject to hypochondriac afiTcctions, and
in his domestic character he was eccentric in the extreme,
a mere compound of caprice and whim ; domestic happi-
ness and social intercourse were strangers in his family.
During an apprenticeship of five years I was oftener chast-
ABNER HERSEY". 291
eiied by his frowns, than clieered by any expressions of
approbation or regard. He had never passed through the
smallpox, and the idea of receiving that disease was dur-
ing life a gieat terror to him. He was more than once
greatly exposed to the infection ; on one occasion he had
seated himself by the bedside of his patient, when he per-
ceived that her face was overspread with pustules, which
could be no other than smallpox. Struck with alarm he
immediately left the house, and as soon as he reached
home, he changed his garments and exposed them to the
air, and proceeded to prepare both soul and body for the
awful event. He dispersed his family, and with a single
attendant, who had gone through the disease, shut himself
up in his house to await the result. At the usual time for
the attack his imagination was not idle, he complained of
the usual precursory symptoms, these were allowed to agi-
tate his mind for a few days, when the scene was happily
changed, and all apprehension removed. He adopted a very
abstemious mode of living, rejecting all animal food, ardent
spirits, and even wine, and confining himself chiefly to a
diet of milk and vegetables. But in nothincr was his sin-
gularity more conspicuous, than in the peculiar fashion of
his dress. He was a declared enemy to the follies of the
world, and an admirer of simplicity in dress and manners,
detesting every thing that approached the prevailing fash-
ions of the day, and making it his constant theme of ani-
madversion. His own garments were of a fashion pecu-
liar to himself, remarkably large and loose, and lined
throughout with baize. In a warm summer day, he was
seen to chase a flock of sheep from his enclosure ; he soon
found himself drenched in perspiration ; throwing off" his
wig he said to a friend, "This is not strange, for I have more
wool upon my back, than the whole flock of sheep."
Such was his whimsical fancy, that he had a great coat
made of tanned leather ; seven calfskins were cut and
formed into an outer garment as a defence against the rain.
At the commencement of the American revolution Dr.
Hersey was not found in the ranks of those bold spirits
who would at all events stand in defence of the rights and
liberties of our country ; he was among the doubtfid, the
prudent and the timid. He was no political partisan, but
was a friend to his country, and it was his sentiment that
those who are girt with the sword of the law, should be
found enroI)ed in the garment of moral rectitude and re-
292 ABNER IIERSEY.
ligion. He suffered much in his pecuniary affairs by the
instability of our paper currency, and he always deemed
it unjust that his patients should avail themselves of de-
preciated money to pay his demands at par. He would
often relate the story, that in the spring he sold a cow for
thirty dollars, and that in the ensuing autumn he paid the
whole sum for a goose. He was by nature churlish in his
temper and abrupt in manners, and when in his peevish
mood, it was common for him to express himself in such
language as this, " I had rather be chained to a galley oar,
than to suffer such vexation." A curious instance of this
kind occurred when Mrs. D. the widow of his brother,
contemplated in company Avith another lady making him a
visit. She informed him by letter of their intention. The
doctor knowing they would appear in a style rather dif-
ferent from that to which he had been accustomed, was
greatly agitated, and immediately replied to the letter as
follows. " Madam, I can't have you here> I am sick, and
my wife is sick ; I have no hay, nor corn for your4iorses ;
I have no servants in my family, and I had rather be chain-
ed to a galley oar than to wait on you myself." Dr.
Hersey was elected a member of the Medical Society of
Massachusetts. He died January 9th, 1787, in the 66th
year of his age, leaving no children.
His last will may appear as a fair epitome of his char-
acter. It may be considered as one of the strangest
schemes ever devised to preserve and perpetuate an estate,
and the event has proved its absurdity. In his last will
he gave to Harvard University, towards the establishment
of a professorship of anatomy and surgery, the sum of
£500, equal to $1666,66. The remaincler of his estate,
which was ample for the region in which he spent his
days, he gave to thirteen of the congregational parishes
in the county of Barnstable in different proportions, accord-
ing to the siiare of professional business he had performed
in each, the net proceeds of which, after the demise of his
widow, were to be laid out annually, for one hundred
years, in the purchase of Doddridge's Rise and Progress
of Religion in the Soul, and other works, Evans's Sermons,
and Grove on the Lord's Supper. After the completion
of one hundred years, those who shall then be the ministers
of the thirteen parishes, are to be at liberty to select any
other books, calculated to promote piety and religion,
except one year in every four, when the other prescribed
ABNER HERSEY. 295
books are still to be purchased. The deacons of the thir-
teen parishes have the sole care of the estate, the particu-
lar mode of managing which is specified with great mi-
nuteness in the doctor's will, in the same manner as had
been usual with him ; the fences to be kept entire, certain
lots of land to be ploughed in rotation, but not oftener
than once in seven years, a limited quantity of wood to be
cut annually, &.c. &c. The deacons were to pay over the
net income to the ministers of those parishes, who were
to vest the same in books agreeably to the testator's direc-
tions, and distribute them gratuitously among the members
of their respective churches. The scheme of the doctor's
will was carried into execution for a few years, when it
appeared, that by the annual meetings of the deacons of
the several churches, and other contingent expenditures, a
large proportion of the income was exhausted ; very few
books were distributed ; the parties interested became dis-
satisfied, and petitioned the legislature to have the will
abolished, and the whole property sold and divided in
due proportions to the several churches interested. This
petition the legislature deemed proper to grant, and the
property has been sold and distributed accordingly, a com-
promise, however, Avith some distant heirs being first
effected.
Dr. Hersey never wearied his mind with theoretical
investigation, but contented himself with simple practical
observations. In chronic diseases he was, with his con-
temporaries, in the constant practice of administering a
mercurial alterative course accompanied with a milk diet.
Mercury combined with antimony in the form of Plum-
mer's pills, was the favorite alterative in which he reposed
the fullest confidence. In some gastric affections it was
his practice to administer a moderate course of antimony
in the form of Dr. Lockyer's pills, beginning with one or
two, and increasing to eight or ten according to the effect ;
in this way he considered the medicine as a sort of intelli-
gent agent, indicating by its effect either that the stomach
or intestines required evacuating. Six or eight of Lock-
yer's pills* when reduced to powder, he often administer-
ed as an efficacious emetic, but he never employed emetic
tartar in any case. The Turpeth mineral was a prepara-
* The panacea of antimony was the basis of Lockyer's pills, and they were for
near a century highly celebrated.
294 SAMUEL HOLTEN.
tion in which he had great confidence, especially as an
expectorant in peripnenmony and pleurisy ; and he fre-
quently combined this with ipecacuanha as an emetic. In
tlie low nervous fever, the compound powder of contra-
yerva with calomel and camphor constituted his favorite
remedy. Opium was sparingly used by the physicians of
that period, the dose rarely exceeded one grain, and the
liquid laudanum of Sydenham was always held in prefer-
ence to opium in its crude state. Dr. Hersey was much
attached to the use of chalybeate medicines in chronic dis-
eases, but his only preparation was the simple rust of iron
reduced to powder. He also employed the oak bark as a
sulistitute for the Peruvian bark.
HOLTEN, SAMUEL, M.M.S.S. was born of respecta-
ble parents in that part of Salem long knoAvn by the name
of Salem Village, now Danvers, June 9th, 1738. His an-
cestors rank among the early settlers of that ancient town.
Nature w^as kind and liberal in her endowments. His
form was majestic, his person graceful, his countenance
pleasing, his manners easy and engaging, his address
courtly, his talents popular, his disposition amiable and
benevolent, and he possessed good intellectual powers.
It was the intention of his parents that he should have a
collegiate education, but while pursuing the preparatory
course at twelve years of age he was visited with a danger-
ous indisposition, which so enfeebled his constitution and
impaired his hearing, that the favorite object was relin-
quished, and the medical profession received his devoted
attention. His cjualifications for the practice of medicine
were acquired under the direction of Dr. Jonathan Prince
of Danvers. So intense was his application, and so rapid
the progress he made in this pursuit, that at the age of
nineteen he commenced practitioner in the town of Glou-
cester, from whence in two years he removed to his native
town, where with growing reputation he pursued his pro-
fessional course during sixteen years.
In the year 1768 he was elected by the town of Danvers
a representative in the general court, and this was a pre-
lude to his constant employment in offices of civil govern-
ment in after life. During the difficulties between the
parent country and her American colonies, and the politi-
cal fermentation in the public mind indicating the ap-
proach of revolutionary scenes, Dr. Holten took a noble
and decided i)art in behalf of his country, and soon became
SAMUEL HOLTEN. 295
a very active and influential character, which he continued
to be during the whole of the ensuing revolution. He
was at an early period elected a member of public conven-
tions and committees. Highly electrified by the spirit of
the times, few men were more zealously engaged in the
common cause, or more constantly employed on important
services preliminary to the freedom and sovereignty of
our country. In 1775 Dr. Holten relinquished his medi-
cal profession entirely and all private business, and as a
venerable patriot courageously stepped forward at his
country's call, and risked his life and fortune to save its
sinking liberties. Holding a seat as a representative from
Danvers in the Provincial Congress at Watertown, he was
appointed one of a committee of safety, and one of the
medical board for the purpose of examining candidates for
the medical department in the continental army then form-
ing at Cambridge. The present author has a perfect re-
collection of undergoing a rigid examination before Dr.
Holten and Dr. Taylor, who formed the medical board in
1775. In 1776, when independence was declared, he was
appointed judge of the court of general sessions of the
peace, and also justice of the quorum, which office he held
for forty years.
In 1777 he was one of the delegates from Massachusetts
who assisted in framing the confederation of the United
States, and in the following year he was chosen a delegate
to the American congress, and annexed his ratifying signa-
ture to that constitution of government. To this station
he was repeatedly elected, and so high did he stand in the
esteem of that august body that they elected him president
of congress, and thus raised him to the first seat of honor
in his country. For more than a year Dr. Holten was
the only medical character in congress ; and to him Avas
committed the charge of the medical department in the
army. He held a seat in congress, when in the year 1783
a party of insurgent soldiers surrounded the hall of their
session, imperiously demanding compensation for their
services. He and several otiier members, with their lives
in their hands, ventured to expostulate and reason with
them to pacify their minds and quell the tumult. But so
violent and outrageous were the insurgents that with bayo-
nets pointed at their breasts, for several hours they loaded
them with execrations and threatened immediately to sac-
rifice tlicm unless they would grant their request ; at
296 SAMUEL HOLTEPr.
length, liowever, they were prevailed upon to desist and
await the issue. When the first minister of state was re-
ceived by congress from the United Netherlands, Dr. H.
was appointed to conduct the business as master of cere-
monies. When the Federal Constitution was submitted to
the people, he was one of the delegates in the convention
of the state of Massachusetts which adopted that excellent
plan of republican government. In 1793 he was again
elected representative to congress ; and twice he was ap-
pointed an elector of president and vice president. He
Avas one whose name is found in the act of incorporation
of the Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he was a
counsellor and a vice president ; and he was a member of
many other societies.
Though he made no pretensions to the liberal arts and
sciences, and never attempted to shine in the republic of
letters, he was a steady friend to civil, religious and lite-
rary institutions, ever consulting and promoting their best
interest. Dr. H. continued to sustain his popularity Avith
the public and the confidence of his compatriots to the last.
Having been elected eight years as a representative in the
general court, five in the senate, twelve in the council, five
in congress under the confederation, and two under the
federal constitution ; in 1796 being in feeble health, he de-
clined a reelection to congress, but accepted a commission
as judge of probate for the county of Essex, and discharg-
ed the duties of the office to general approbation nearly
nineteen years. In May, 1815, he resigned, and spent the
remaining months of his life in contemplative retirement.
In his native town he served in various offices many years,
and possessing a happy talent at healing breaches and set-
tling private differences, he was frequently employed as an
arbitrator in difficult cases, and occasionally attended
ecclesiastical councils. Forty-seven years he served his
country in public stations ; a period that comprised one
of the most extraordinary revolutions the world had ever
witnessed. Patriotism warmed his heart, and his feelings
imiformly sympathized with the aspect of public affairs ;
but not even in the darkest season did he despair. The
righteousness of the cause in which he was engaged, and
dependence on Heaven for success, supported him. Integ-
rity, fidelity and perseverance were prominent features in
his character ; a noble rectitude of heart marked his judi-
cial proceedings ; and never did he sacrifice the public
ROBERT HONYMAN. 297
good to private emolument. Skilled in human nature and
the art of government, he rendered his country eminent
services. Whatever station he filled, he was all attention
to its duties, and remarkably punctual to his engagements.
Judge Holten affected no parade of living, but chose a
truly republican style. He lived to be useful ; and being
ever ready to counsel, advise and assist, he was a favorite
of the people. The charm of popularity he felt in full
force, nor was he insensible to the love of fame. No man
possessed more ambition to please, and few had a happier
talent. His heart was alive to the tender sympathies of
humanity. Formed " to feel another's wo," objects of
distress, the widow's sigh, and orphan's tear, contained a
rhetoric he could not resist. He was the poor man's
friend ; and his hand was open to the relief of misery and
indigence. Nor was he a brighter example of the public,
than of the private and domestic virtues. Never was there
a more affectionate husband and kinder parent, nor one
more studiously attentive to consult the convenience and
promote the happiness of every branch of family connex-
ions : and his affability, urbanity and instructive conver-
sation endeared him to his numerous friends. But piety
is the consummation of human character. We should
leave his memory under a cloud, did we forget to notice
the uniform regard he paid through life to God and divine
things. Blessed with pious parental instructions, his mind
became serious at an early period. Before he had attained
twenty-one years, he was admitted a member of the
church ; and amidst the greatest multiplicity and pressure
of business, he manifested a sacred veneration for divine
institutions. The cause and interest of religion he ever
patronised ; the sacred scriptures he searched for himself ;
he shone a pattern of family devotion, but he was no friend
to bigotry, superstition or religious enthusiasm. Catholic
in his sentiments, he embraced in the arms of charity the
pious and good of every denomination, wherever found.
When the load of years and decay of nature premonished
him of approaching dissolution, he declared his resignation
to the will of God, and breathed out life in an assured
hope of a blessed and glorious immortality, January 2d,
1816, in the 78th year of his age. — Funeral Sermon by B.
Wadsworth, A. M. Pastor of the First Church in Danvers.
vHONYMAN, DR. ROBERT, a native of Kincardine in
Scotland, for several vears held tlie rank of surgeon in the
38
298 LEMUEL HOPKINS.
British navy. In 1774 he resigned his commission and
emigrated to America. Soon after his arrival in Virginia
he settled in the county of Louisa, and commenced the
practice of medicine and surgery, which he pursued with
unrivalled skill, fidelity and industry until a short time
before his death.
At the commencement of the revolutionary war, unlike
most of his countrymen, Dr. Honyman espoused the
cause of his adopted country, and from the station of a
common soldier was speedily promoted by General Scott
to the rank of surgeon in a regiment.
Although daily employed in the duties of a most labor-
ious profession, he was so great an economist of time,
that he made extraordinary attainments in literature. Be-
sides a knowledge of almost every book in our language,
worth reading, JDr. Honyman was thoroughly acquainted
with the works of the most eminent Greek, Latin, French
and Italian authors, and read them with nearly as much
facility as English. It would hardly be saying too much
to affirm, that he had read more and remembered better
what he had read, than any man in Virginia. Neither age
nor affliction could abate his ardent thirst for knowledge,
and his astonishing memory was vivid and retentive to his
last hour. As a man and a citizen, the whole tenor of his
life was honoral)le, upright and truly exemplary.
Dr. Honyman wrote a journal of his voyage to St. He-
lena, while surgeon of the Portland in 1771, together with
an interesting account of the picturesque and romantic
scenery of that island.
His will, bearing date June, 1821, and admitted to re-
cord at the Hanover superior court, April 29th, 1824,
which disposes of a very large estate, is admirably written.
The following is an extract from it : — " I also give and
bequeath to my son, my thermometer, my diploma of
Doctor of Physic, also a human rib which will be found
in a small trunk in my chest, with my earnest request that
he will carefully keep the said rib, wliich is of James the
Vth, king of Scotland, and transmit it carefully to his
descendants."
HOPKINS, DR. LEMUEL, M.M.S.S. Hon. From the
time of the Hon. Edward Hopkins, one of the early gov-
ernors of Connecticut, the name has been frequently dis-
tinguished by several men of eminence. A branch of the
family removed from Hartford to Waterbury in 1680, in
LEMUEL HOPKINS.
299
which town, in the parish now called Salem, Dr. Lemuel
Hopkins was born June 19th, 1750. The Rev. Samuel
Hopkins, D.D. the distinguished theologian, was a native
of the same town, and a cousin of his father's. Dr. Lem-
uel Hopkins began the study of his profession under Dr.
Jared Potter of Wallingford, and afterwards pursued it
with Dr. Seth Bird of Litchfield ; after having practised
some years at Litchfield, he removed to Hartford, where
he continued in practice during life.
He was the most distinguished pupil of his two eminent
instructers, being among the first physicians of the state,
if not at the head of his profession, for several years pre-
vious to his death. In addition to a full practice in Hart-
ford, he was extensively employed in consultation, and
had a greater reputation in chronic diseases, more particu-
larly in the early stages of phthisis pulmonalis, than any
practitioner of his vicinity. He was possessed of a great
originality of genius, and had a peculiar facility of investi-
gating the causes and seats of obscure diseases, the events
of which generally proved him to be uncommonly correct
and discriminating upon these subjects. It may with jvist-
ice be remarked that he retained the highest reputation
both in the theory and practice of medicine, of any physi-
cian in his county, or perhaps in the state. The eccen-
tricities of his character were peculiarly striking. He
possessed strong confidence in himself, and a talent to iH-
spire the same in others ; he had a just sense of the influ-
ence of the mind upon the body when either were particu-
larly diseased, and often remarked " a wounded spirit who
can bear." To obviate this he uniformly administered
comfort and consolation, and even hope, as long as life
remained.
In his person Dr. Hopkins was tall, lean, stooping, his
countenance strongly marked, his features large, eyes light,
limbs uncommonly long, yet in his youth he was very
muscular and strong. He was for a short time in the
American army as a volunteer, and at one time some of
the ofHcers were attempting to fire a king's arm held in
one hand, and extended at full length ; all failed in the
attempt, but Hopkins on trial was completely successful to
the astonishment of all present.
Dr. H. was one of the founders of the Medical Society
of Connecticut, and while he lived was an active and use-
ful member of it. He received the degree of Master of
300 LEMUEL HOPKINS.
Arts from Yale College in 1784. He was intlefatigablc in
his literary and scientific labors, his knowledge was very
extensive, his mind highly cultivated, he was not only
thoroughly read in the best writers of his profession, but
in those of the arts and sciences and modern literature
generally. His memory was remarkably strong and
retentive ; he would quote every writer he had read,
whether medical or literary, with the same readiness that
a learned clergyman quotes his bible. So familiar to him
were the great English poets, that he would entertain his
friends by repeating their more interesting writings ; the
works of Pope and Milton were his particular favorites.
His powers of abstraction were uncommon ; he not un-
frequently sat up the whole night, when engaged in any
subject that greatly interested him ; his wife has said that
she has frequently found him sitting in the same attitude
and position in the morning, that she left him in on retir-
ing at night.
On visiting a patient in the crisis of fever. Dr. H. found
that her friends supposed her in a dying state ; the father
said to him " My daughter is dying, had I not better send
for a clergyman .^" " No," replied the doctor, "but you
may send for the undertaker, and have her measured for
her coffin." The father, indignant at the harshness of the
reply, remonstrated in severe language for trifling with
his feelings in this moment of anxiety and affliction. The
doctor explained, " My meaning is, you may as well send
for one as the other ; if your daughter is left undisturbed,
and allowed to be quiet, she will recover, or I will forfeit
my reputation ; but if you disturb her as you propose, she
will in my opinion certainly die." The doctor's advice
was followed and she recovered.
In acute diseases Dr. H.'s practice was efficient and ener-
getic. He used the lancet, and antimony, and calomel and
opium with a liberal hand. Whenever he became much
interested in a case, his attentions were unceasing ; denying
all other calls he would devote his days and nights often
for many days in succession to the case, and not unfre-
quently administer every dose of medicine with his own
hand. In one case, about a critical period, he was suspi-
cious that his medicines might require variation ; he could
not sleep, got up in the night, rode four miles to his pa-
tient, entered the room without uttering a word, felt his
pulse and skin, made signs for him to put out his tongue,
LEMUEL HOPKINS. 301
and left the house without speaking to the patient or nurse,
being satisfied that his patient was better. Physicians pre-
vious to that day were in the alexipliarmic practice in
febrile diseases, but Dr. H. introduced the antiphlogistic
regimen and practice. Being called to a child in scarlet
fever, the little sufferer was loaded with bed clothes, the
room heated, and every crack and key hole stopped ; the
day was pleasant in summer, Dr. H. was a stranger in the
family, his personal appearance was ugly and uncouth ; he
entered the room in his usual unceremonious manner, his
large eyes staring around, without uttering a word, he
took the child into his arms, and proceeded hastily out of
the house and sat down with it under a refreshing shade.
The whole household and neighborhood followed, and
threatened the doctor with broomsticks. He kept them
off however, and ordered wine to be brought, and soon
recovered the child.
Dr. H., it is believed, fell a victim to the pursuit of an
improper remedy in his own case ; he was always appre-
hensive of nulmonary consumption. After exposing him-
self to col^, he was attacked with pain in the side ; he
was bled repeatedly, notwithstanding the opposition and
remonstrance of his medical friends, lived upon the low-
est diet, and took repeated doses of neutral salts. Unex-
pectedly a hydrothorax ensued, and proved fatal to him
in a few weeks. He died April 14th, 1801, in the 51st
year of his age.
The moral character of Dr. H, was irreproachable, and
his whole life was distinguished for the practice of moral
virtue. In early life, it has been said, he was an admirer
of the writings of Voltaire, Rousseau, Volney, D'Alembert,
and other infidel philosophers, who flourished about the
time of the French revolution. But a friend says, that in
the latter part of his life he made the bible his particular
study, and thought very favorably of the christian religion
and its author. His friend by particular request passed
the night with him when he died, and witnessed the calm
and dignified composure of a great mind ; his last words
were, " God, who is the great author and governor of all
things, regulates and controls all events ; even the smallest,
as well as the greatest, are the objects of his care. It is as
necessary for us to die as to be born, that we may fill up
the changes essential to the perpetuation of our natures."
He then paused, and said " let my family be called," which
S02 LEMUEL HOPKINS.
was done ; after this interview, which was more tender and
affectionate than can be described, he said " I have now
finished the last duties of life, lay me upon my bed and
stay by me till I die." With the assistance of his friend he
walked to his bed, composed himself in his last attitude and
never moved again. Such was Dr. Hopkins ; his life was
full of incidents, full of usefulness, full of honor ; he
lived the admiration of his friends, he died, deeply and
extensively lamented with the blessings of thousands
resting upon him.
Dr. Hopkins was a star of the first magnitude in the
constellation of poets and political writers, who were dis-
tinguished about the time of the revolution, and after that
event. It is well known that from a few years previous to
the struggle, to about 1800, several branches of literature,
and more particularly poetry, were so much cultivated in
Connecticut that the state was frequently during that pe-
riod denominated the Athens of America. Among the
most distinguished literary characters were the Hon. John
Trumbull, the Hon. Joel Barlow, General David Hum-
phries, the Rev. Timothy Dwight, D.D., Noah Webster,
LL.D. the Rev. Nathan Strong, D.D. and Dr. Lemuel
Hopkins. Beside works upon various subjects, which
most of these gentlemen published with their names,
Trumbull, Barlow and Hopkins, were the joint authors of
the Anarchiad, a satirical work which contributed much
to draw the attention of the public to the precarious state
of the union, under the old confederation. They were
probably assisted by Strong and Humphries, and perhaps
by Dwight. Subsequently the doctor was associated with
Richard Alsop, Esq. the Hon. Theodore Dwight, Mason
F. CogsAvell, M.D., William Brown, Esq., and several
others. The Echo, Political Green House, many satirical
poems, and several able essays in prose, were produced.
This association, it is believed, were occasionally assisted
by the Hon. Zephaniah Swift, the Hon. Uriah Tracy, the
Hon. Tappan Reeve and many other public characters of
that time. Out of Connecticut, they were generally
known by the appellation of the Hartford wits. They
were strong supporters of the administration of Washing-
ton, their efforts giving a tone to the public feeling and
sentiment in its favor ; and their influence was acknowl-
edged to be very great with tlie literary and cultivated
])art of tlie community, not only in their state, but in all
LEMUEL HOPKINS. 303
parts of the union. Of the poetry that was exclusively
written by Dr. Hopkins, the Hypocrite's Hope, and an
Elegy on the Victim of a Cancer Quack, arc the best
known. He also versified the 88th Psalm in Barlow's col-
lection, which has been much admired for its spirit and
justice to the original. As he published nothing with his
name, it is difficult to distinguish all the pieces that were
written by him. The associates of Hopkins were a large
proportion of the ablest men of the state and of the day.
Under their exertions and influence, during the last quarter
of the eighteenth century, Connecticut was the seat of the
muses in the United States ; and the political characters
were also prominent in the council of the nation. Previous
to his death, his friend and one of his literary associates.
Dr. Elihu H. Smith, published in one of the London jour-
nals a well written sketch of his life and character, which
was republished in some of the periodical works of this
country. Exclusive of this, it is believed, no authentic
account of him has ever appeared. As a number of his
friends and later associates still survive, his scattered works
might yet be ascertained, collected, and published in a vol-
ume by themselves ; and since, after Trumbull, the author
of McFingal, he was the most eminent satirist of his day,
they ought to be preserved. Some of his poems may be
found in the volume of " American poems ;" one on
Ethan Allen, the Hypocrite's Hope, and the Cancer Quack.
The four most distinguished, that are nearly or quite lost,
were his Political Green House, the Anarchiad, the Echo
and the Guillotine. He left some manuscripts on medical
subjects, and particularly one on consumption, which is
too valuable to be lost ; it is now in the hands of one of
his medical friends. The Echo was published in a series
of newspaper numbers ; the Anarchiad in tAventy-four
numbers, and the Guillotine in the newspapers of the day.
Dr. H. has the credit of devising the plan of the Anarchi-
ad ; it is apolitical poem published by the " Hartford wits."
Anarchiad, the evil spirit of the poem and the hero, was
supposed to he the author of all the confusion and politi-
cal jarring which was so much the order of the day before
the states had a confederate head. The object of the poem
was to lash certain characters whom the authors supposed
either too liberal, or too strict in their notions of govern-
ment. The characters represented were the very men who
figured in tli0i<c times, and especially in Connecticut. The
304 JOHN C. HOWARD.
speech of Hesper, the best specimen of serious poetry in
the work, is preserved in the same volume of American
poems with the Hypocrite's Hope and Cancer Quack ; it
was an address to the convention of 1787. These poems
may be found in the periodical publications from the year
1786 to about 1791, 2, S.— Thos. Mimr, M.D ; Samuel
B. Woodward, M.D.
HOWARD, DR. JOHN CLARKE, was born at Bos-
ton, A. D. 1773. His father was the Rev. Dr. Simeon
Howard, who was graduated at Harvard, A. D. 1753, and
for a number of years was connected with the university
as fellow, and as secretary of the board of overseers. He
was a sound divine, a classical scholar, and the worthy suc-
cessor of Dr. Mayhew. His mother, a woman no less re-
markable for the qualities of her mind, and her christian
virtues, than for her personal charms, was the widow of
this celebrated man, and a lineal descendant of Dr. John
Clarke, one of the earliest practitioners and first graduat-
ed physicians that arrived in this country. Dr. H. the
subject of this memoir, was graduated at Cambridge, A.
D. 1790, in the class with Joseph Dennie, &c. He pursu-
ed his professional studies with Dr. Samuel Danfortli, and
after receiving his degree, visited Europe.
Dr. Howard was eminently qualified for the profession he
had chosen ; he had a sound, discriminating mind, and an
affectionate heart. His countenance, strongly marked with
good sense and integrity, and beaming with benevolence,
at once inspired confidence, and conciliated regard. His
simple unaffected manners indicated the ingenuousness of
his disposition, and the uprightness and singleness of his
purpose ; whilst his tender sympathy and unwearied at-
tention evinced that he had not failed to profit by his OAvn
experience of the sufferings incident to feebleness and dis-
ease. No one of his profession has been more popular as
a practitioner, none more truly loved, or more deeply la-
mented. He fulfilled the relations of social life, as a son
and brother, husband, father, and friend with a fidelity,
that endeared him to all who had the happiness of being
connected with him. He died August 11th, A. D. 1810,
aged 37 years.
HUNTER, WILLIAM, M.D., was a native of Scotland,
a near relative of Drs. William and John Hunter, who
have done so much for the world's benefit and the honor of
the profession. Dr. Hunter was born about the year 1729,
WILLIAM IIUiNTER. 305
and died at Newport, 1777. He was educated under the
elder Monro at Edinburgh, was a contemporary of Cullen,
with whom, as Avell as with his own illustrious kinsman,
he corresponded after his removal to this country. He
was one of the young men, who, personally addressed and
flattered by the Pretender, left their collegiate studies, and
followed him to the fatal field of Culloden ; a mere boy,
he held the place of surgeon's mate, the celebrated Dr. Mid-
dleton, formerly of New-York, being his jirincipal. His
offence, or treason, was easily forgiven, and he afterwards
pursued his studies with great assiduity, both at Edinburgh
and Leyden.
He came to Rhode-Island somewhere about the year
1752, gave lectures on anatomy, on the history of anato-
my, and comparative anatomy, at Newport, in the years
1754, 5 and 6, which were the first lectures given on the
science in New-England, if not in America. Advertise-
ments of these lectures may be seen in the Boston papers
of that day. He was soon appointed by the colony of
Rhode-Island surgeon to the troops sent by them to Cana-
da, where he rendered important professional services, and
afterwards returned to Newport, to reap the fruits of his
distinguished and well earned professional fame. He
married the daughter of Godfrey Malbone, Esq. one of the
most opulent merchants and land proprietors of the
country.
Independent of his lectures, his literary contributions in
behalf of his profession, were principally letters addressed
to his London namesakes ; and his name and communica-
tions are often referred to by them. He was a most emi-
nently successful practitioner, as well as an operator in
surgery ; he appeared at that day to be bold and rash, but
the truth was, he brought with him from Europe a more
exact knowledge of anatomy, and greater chirurgical skill
grounded on that knowledge, than existed in the colonies
at that period. As to person Dr. Hunter is reported to
have been " somewhat too handsome for a mem ;" his man-
ners were courtly and amiable, his opinions liberal, and
his literary relaxations were tlie classics. His medical li-
brary was the largest in New-England at his day, and con-
tained most of the standard Greek and Latin authors of
antiquity, as well as the modern works of his own time.
The latter were mostly dis})ersed by the accidents of the
revolutionary war ; what remained of llie former have
39
306 JAMES HURLBUT.
been distributed to individuals and medical institutions by
his only son the Honorable William Hunter, late senator
in the Congress of the United States from the State of
Rhode-Island. According to the New-York Medical Re-
pository his manuscript lectures are said still to be in
existence.
HURLBUT, DR. JAMES, was a native of Berlin in
Connecticut, and was born in the year 1717. His advan-
tages of early education were probably no other than such
as were ordinarily attainable at that period. It appears,
however, that in the course of his life he acquired a know-
ledge of the Latin, Greek and Hel)rew languages ; for on
hearing it observed that clergymen, from their learning,
possess superior understanding of the true import of the
Bible, he remarked that he had read it in as many differ-
ent languages as any of the clergy. It is supposed that he
was permitted to make use of the library of the elder Dr.
Osborn of Middletown, where he became acquainted with
the works of the celebrated Boerhaave, which he greatly
admired, and it is said he committed the greater part of his
aphorisms to memory.
He was a man of great and various reading, of extensive
and accurate observation, and in consequence of his inti-
mate acquaintance with the writings of Boerhaave, he pos-
sessed advantages over most of his contemporaries, which,
united to the strength and sagacity of his mind, and a
thorough knowledge of the laws of diseases, gave him
great celebrity with the Faculty and the public. With the
latter he was in high repute, by the former he was consid-
ered as an oracle. His attention was not exclusively de-
voted to the medical profession ; he examined with great
attention and research the subjects of moral and natural
philosophy, was a thorough scholar in theology, and an
able controversialist, although his own opinions were ex-
tremely wavering on the subject of religion. Locke on
the Human Understanding, Boerhaave and Sydenham in
medicine, Bishop Sherlock and Foster in divinity and
morals, were his favorite authors. The mechanical arts
also received much of his attention, particularly architect-
ure. One of the ablest architects in this country acknow-
ledged the extent of his acquaintance with this department
of the arts, and is said to have derived great advantages
from intercourse and conversation with him on the subjects
JAMES HURLBUT.
307
In early life the personal appearance and selfrespect of
Dr. Hurlbiit comported with the conspicuousness of his
station ; he possessed considerable property, and had col-
lected a handsome and valuable library. But he Avas de-
void of economy, and set no value upon money ; of course
he became destitute, and finally dependent. His books
were taken by an officer on attachment to satisfy debts ex-
hibited against him. In the latter part of his life he be-
came a spectacle of wretchedness and despair, and his ap-
pearance was like that of a vagrant. A respectable patient
of his once said that " he never knew so much good sense
covered by a bundle of rags." In his old age he was una-
ble to ride on horseback on account of a diseased leg of
long continuance, and he walked with a staff in visiting
his patients. His early residence was in Berlin, but the
latter part of his life was spent in Wethersfield, where he
had many friends and employers on whom he was depend-
ent for support. Many inhabitants of that town, assisted
by the public authorities, contributed to his comfort in the
season of affliction and want, in a manner least calculated
to wound the delicacy of his feelings, or those of his
friends. They also afforded a decent burial of his remains
in the churchyard of that village. He died at the house
of one of his early patrons, of a lingering illness, April
11th, 1794, at the advanced age of 77 years.
In the meridian of his medical fame Dr. Hurlbut was
the instructer of many pupils, some of whom attained to
eminence. His mind was eccentric, but powerful, acute
and discriminating ; his memory was uncommonly active
and tenacious, he remembered every thing that ever occur-
red to him, and being extremely inquisitive he treasured
up and retained in his memory a vast fund of facts and an
ecdotes. On hearing others say that they had known liut
had forgotten, he would lose all patience and exclaim with
vehemence, " You never half knew or you would never
forget." It is said of him tliat after reading a pamphlet
or sermon, he would repeat the whole or most of it. As
a physician Dr. H. bears the title of one of the fathers of
medicine in Connecticut, although he has not favored the
profession with any production from his pen.
In his intercourse with his professional brethren, he was
overbearing and dogmatical, his own opinions were not
to be questioned, nor op])OPed by any one, he would '' go
for the whole or not at all." He was not to be employed
SOS JAMES HURLBUT.
to prescribe, and then have the propriety of his prescrip-
tions questioned on any ground. If the attending physi-
cian or the friends deviated in the least point from his
directions, he would often, upon the discovery of it, take a
sudden departure without giving a single reason. His
manner with the sick was that of close attention and nice
observation of every symptom and every change. He was
very particular in examining the pulse, and wished to do
it repeatedly, and at different times in the day. He often
remained a whole day in the house of his patient, before
he would give an opinion, or make a prescription. He
maintained that he did not wish the patient to point him
to the seat of pain or disease, but he would describe it to
the patient; and his knowledge of actual changes in acute
diseases, and his predictions of changes founded on that
knowledge, were so often seen and verified, as to lead
many to suppose him endowed with the gift of prophecy,
or foreknowledge. It was rare that he seated himself in
any house ; it was his custom to walk slowly about the
room with his hat on his head, but he was in the habit of
uncovering his head when in the presence of a certain cler-
gyman whom he greatly respected. In the latter part of his
life he was very attentive to his patients, and when he felt
interested in a case, no entreaty would induce him to re-
linquish his charge. He examined, reflected, i-ead, and
remembered so much that almost all changes of which dis-
ease is susceptible, were entirely familiar to him. He had
a high respect for the members of the learned professions,
and an utter contempt for the opinion of the illiterate in
the medical profession, and ever detested cpiackery and
imposture.
Many of his prescriptions are yet to be found amongst
his eariy employers, which attest his knowledge of that
branch of his profession. Some of his recipes still visit
the apothecary shops, having maintained a reputation for
half a century. Dr. Hurlbut's knowledge of our indige-
nous materia medica was probably superior to that of any
other physician of his time. The blood root, geranium,
the asclepias, the cornus, the trillium, and other native
articles, were in common use in his practice. He often
directed the potentilla norvegica in strangury and other
affections of the urinary organs under the common name
of dropwort, and from repeated trials the writer is of
opinion that it is more useful than uva ursi
JAMES HUTCHINSON. 309
All who have heard of Dr. Hiirlbut, have been ac-
quainted with his strong attachment to the use of ardent
spirits and opium. In speaking of his intemperance, the
common expression is, " a square bottle of rum a day !"
He would not prescribe or even look at a patient in the
last years of his life, till the full bottle was placed in his
entire control, and daily replenished ; it was his practice
to take very frequently small potations, and at tlie same
time swallow enormous quantities of opium. For many of
his last years all the avails of his medical practice were
expended in the purchase of this one drug ; his spirits he
obtained from his employers, which was a heavy tax, and
he probably took as much opium as the most devoted
Turk. He was rarely intoxicated, and when so much
under the influence of alcohol as not to be able to stand,
his mind would appear to be clear, and his judgment un-
impaired. When in the attire of a vagrant, he walked
about supported by his staff, lame, filthy and miserable ;
if his attention was engaged in any subject of learning, or
branch of science, he would exhibit such resources of in-
formation, such powers of logic, such judicious and sensi-
ble remark, as would astonish all his auditors, and parti-
cularly surprise strangers.
Such was Dr. James Hurlbut, the greatest genius, per-
haps, that could be found in the ranks of the medical pro-
fession in Connecticut during the last century. A man,
the bright side of whose character exhibited a lustre in
science, and original conceptijons of mind, that would not
suffer in comparison with the brightest ornaments of Eu-
ropean fame. Tarnished on the other by indulgence in
the grossest and most degrading vice ; and thereby sunk
down to the lowest state of human wretchedness, poverty
and disease, dependant upon charity for support, and dy-
ing without the means to procure decent interment, and
now lying without a stone to tell us where ! — /S. B. JVood-
icard, M. D.
HUTCHINSON, JAMES, M.D. was born in Wake^
field township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on tlie 29tli
of January, 1752. His education commenced first under
Paul Preston, then a distinguished teacher, was continued
at the Burlington, New-Jersey, academy, and at another
in Virginia, and finished at the College of Philadelphia,
where he obtained the first honor when he received the
degree of Bachelor of Arts. He studied medicine under
310 JAMES HUTCHINSON.
Dr. Evans of Philadelphia, and finished his studies in
London tinder the particular patronage and direction of
the celebrated Dr. John Fothergill. In the year 1774
the trustees of the Philadelphia College, presented him
with a gold medal for his superior knowledge in chem-
istry.*
While he was pursuing his studies in Europe, the dis-
putes between England and the American colonies were
approaching a crisis, which he saw must end in an open
rupture. The prospect of this event hastened his return
to his native country, the cause of which he warmly
espoused. He returned home by the way of France, and
was entrusted with important despatches from Dr. Frank-
lin, the American minister there, to the Congress of the
United States ; when near the American coast the ship in
which he was passenger, was chased by a British armed
ship, and being anxious to save the despatches he left the
vessel in an open boat under a heavy fire from the enemy,
and landed safely. A short time after he escaped from
the vessel, she was captured by the enemy in sight, and he
lost every thing he had, including a fine medical library
which he had collected in England and France. He join-
ed the American army soon after he arrived, and served as
a surgeon and physician during the Avhole of the war.
A change in the establishment of the University of Penn-
sylvania was effected in the year 1779, and he was appoint-
ed one of its trustees by the legislature, and continued a
member of the board until his death. He was elected a
member of the American Philosophical Society and served
several years as one of its secretaries. In the year 1789
the corporate rights of the old college, academy and char-
itable school of Philadelphia, which had been suspended
by the establishment of the University of Pennsylvania,
were restored, and a medical department being attached to
each institution. Dr. Hutchinson filled the chair of Materia
Medica and Chemistry in the University, and upon the
union of the two institutions and the new organization of
the medical faculty in 1791, he was elected Professor of
Chemistry. He held the office of physician of the port for
many years, and until his death. He was also for several
* The medal presented to him had on one side a laurel branch with this inscrip-
tion on the exergue, " Jacobus Hutcliinson, 1774." On the reverse, a retort : on
the cxctgue, natuRjE aktisquk akcana retexi. — Coll. Philad.
CLEMENT JACKSON. 31 i
years one of the physicians of the Pennsylvania Hospital,
and was continued until his decease. He possessed emi-
nent talents as a physician and surgeon ; and was fitted for
the exercise of his profession, by his natural axniability of
temper, pleasant address and agreeable manners.
Dr. Hutchinson took a warm part in the local politics
of Pennsylvania, both during the American war and after
the peace. He belonged to the democratic party, and pos-
sessed great influence. But although often solicited to fill
respectable offices at the choice of the people, he always
declined the compliment. After the evacuation of the city
of Philadelphia by the British, he was called upon as one
of the committee of safety to arrange the affairs of the
city, and was active in that capacity. He was the intimate
and confidential friend of the leading men of the revolu-
tion, and was at all times received at head quarters and
often invited to give his advice by the commander in chief
relative to the medical department. He died of the yel-
low fever on the 6th of September, 1793.
He married Miss Sydney Howell, the daughter of a
respectable citizen of Philadelphia, and left two sons, one
now Consul of the United States at Lisbon, the other a
lawyer resident in Philadelphia. His widow survives him.
He was an excellent husband, a fond father, and a most
generous and humane man.
JACKSON, DR. CLEMENT, was esteemed one of the
most eminent physicians in Portsmouth, N. H., and indeed
in the state. He had laid the best foundation for profess-
ional knowledge, which the limited advantages in tliis
country then afforded ; and possessing a discriminating
mind and habituating himself to accurate observation, he
soon became acquainted with the diseases prevalent in this
climate, and the best method of treating them. His dis-
position was amiable, his benevolence universal, his prac-
tice extensive, and he was tndy " a man greatly beloved."
He died the 10th October, 1788, in the 83d year of his
age.
^JACKSON, HALL, M.D. M.M.S.S. Hon., son of the
above, was born in Portsmouth, and received the rudi-
ments of his education in his native town. He studied the
theory of his profession under his excellent father ; after
which he Avent to London and attended the lectures in
the hospitals for three years, to perfect himself in liis pro-
fession. While here he received honorable notice from the
312 ' HALL JACKSON.
Faculty for an ingenious invention by which a ball was ex-
tracted from a gunshot wound, whicJi had baffled ,tlxe sldll
of all the surgeons.
After his return to his native town he soon become emi-
nent, more especially as a surgeon. No operation of im-
portance was performed for many miles round, without
consulting him, and seldom without his aid. He had great
experience in the smallpox, had the superintendence of
many hospitals for inoculating with that disease, and was
remarkably successful in conducting his patients safely
through its stages. In the year 1764 he resided two or
three months in Boston, where he inoculated several classes
and carried them safely through, which added much to
his reputation in the commencement of his medical career.
His reputation as an accoucheur was deservedly high, and
often called him into families which he did not usually
attend. He was the first surgeon who ever attempted, in
that part of our country, if not in America, the operation
of couching the eye ; this operation he frequently per-
formed and always with success. He was remarkable for
his friendship, his readiness to advise, instruct and patron-
ise all young physicians within the sphere of his acquaint-
ance, whom he considered worthy to be countenanced.
Harvard University conferred on him the degree of
M.D. in 1793, and placed his name among her honorary
graduates with the class of 1757. The Massachusetts Med-
ical Society elected him an honorary member of their body.
He was Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons at
the time of his decease. His sprightly talents, lively im-
agination, social habits and strong memory, rendered him
a welcome guest in every circle ; facetious and pleasant,
his friends enjoyed in his company the " feast of reason
and flow of wit ;" and the several societies of which he
was a member, found their entertainment greatly heighten-
ed by his presence. When visiting his patients he was
overset in his gig, and some of his ribs were fractured ;
this resulted in the termination of his useful life, in the
58th year of his age. He died September 28th, 1797.
Dr. Jackson was author of a small tract containing ob-
servations on the putrid malignant sore throat, which pre-
vailed in New-Hampshire from 1784 to 1786 inclusively,
but it was published without his name. He was the first
surgeon of his country, it is believed, who introduced the
method of healing wounds by the first intention ; and if
CHARLES JARVIS. 313
it was not till the practice had been tried in Europe, with
him it was entirely original and the result of experiment
and observation. Dr. Jackson was one of the first, if not
the earliest physician who introduced the use and cultiva-
tion of foxglove into New England. In a letter to the
present author, dated April 29th, 1789, he says, " with
much pleasure I send you some of the seeds of foxglove,
and some of the leaves of the same for your trial of its
efficacy until you can cultivate it. It is a beautiful flower
in a garden, and has arrived at full perfection in my gar-
den from seeds sent me by Dr. Withering." Dr. Jackson
was then in correspondence with Dr. Withering, an emi-
nent English physician, from whom he received the article
with directions for its use and culture.
JARVIS, CHARLES, M.M.S.S. This gentleman was
born in Boston in 1748, and was the third son of Colonel
Leonard Jarvis, an eminent merchant of that place. At
an early age he discerned in his son singular marks of
genius and strength of mind, and in consequence determin-
ed to educate him for one of the learned professions.
Accordingly, he was sent to the Public Latin School in
Boston ; entered Harvard College at the age of fourteen,
and received the customary degree of Bachelor of Arts in
1766. His diffidence in youth was so remarkable, that
until he had nearly completed his collegiate studies, he
mingled in conversation in company reluctantly, and spoke
with embarrassment. This may appear the more extraor-
dinary, since as he advanced in years, he became decided
in his opinions, and distinguished for fluency, energy and
copiousness of speech.
Mr. Jarvis on leaving college determined on the study
of physic ; and in this choice his parents concurred, enter-
taining apprehensions of his success at the bar on account
of his uncommon diffidence. He commenced his studies
with Dr. Perkins, a learned and distinguished physician
of Boston ; who shortly after going to England, he fin-
ished them with Dr. Joseph Gardner. After he had com-
pleted the usual course of study, he went to England,
where he was thoroughly prepared by lectures and prac-
tical courses in physic and surgery for the duties of his
profession.
On his return he commenced the practice in his native
town, and perhaps no young man of his time was better
fitted for his vocation. He had not contented liimself with
40
314 CHARLES JARVIS.
the mere routine of his collegiate and professional studies ;
but, possessing a taste for reading, and a desire of know-
ledge, he devoted nearly all his spare time to searching the
fields of science and literature. Having always enjoyed
the advantages of the best society, he Avas affable and ele-
gant in his manners ; and, being by nature frank and sin-
cere, he was peculiarly engaging in his intercourse with
society. In conversation he developed extensive and vari-
ed resources, and was remarkable for the ease and bril-
liancy of his wit and repartee.
With such endowments and qualifications, he immedi-
ately entered into a highly respectable and successful
practice, and could early number among his patients some
of the most opulent and fashionable families in the town.
In his practice Dr. Jarvis was not an implicit follower of
systems. He had studied with care Hippocrates, Aretaeus,
and Celsus, and favorably considered their practice, so far
as it related to the diseases of his own time. Indeed he was
not inclined to countenance hasty departures from it. He
did not, however, oppose the more modern discoveries and
improvements, but availed himself of the advantages they
afforded. He was particularly attentive to investigate the
remote, as well as proximate causes of the complaints, for
which he was to administer ; and in discerning the peculiar
habits and diatheses of the sick he seemed to possess intu-
itive skill and perspicacity. His prescriptions were gener-
ally simple. He was opposed to the use of a variety of
medicines and remedies, and would often remark that he
only wanted opium, antimony, mercury, cantharides, bark
and the lancet, in the general course of his practice, aided
by judicious nursing and regimen.
In the practice of physic, as in the profession of arms,
the quality called the coup d'oeil, is sometimes important.
This enables the physician, as well as the general, to collect
all the circumstances of the case, and from this combination
to draw some conclusion, which often favorably decides it.
These sudden conclusions are sometimes called lucky
thoughts, but ordinary minds are not usually blest with such
fortunate emanations. The doctor was somewhat remarka-
ble for this description of resource, and many instances might
be adduced to illustrate its happy effects upon patients at
the point of death. In surgery, on accoimt of the many ad-
vantages he derived from practice and observation in the
Englisli hospitals, and availing himself of the improve-
CHARLES JAHVIS.
3ia
ments of the French in this art, he performed the most
difficult operations with uncommon dexterity and success.
But he never resorted to the knife, while any rational
hope remained of bettering the condition of the patient.
In various cases, where he decided against operating in
opposition to tlxe opinion of others, he saved limbs and
effected cures.
On the accession of Mr. Jefferson to the presidency Dr.
Jarvis was appointed Physician and Surgeon to the Marine
Hospital at Charlestown.
In the year 1773 Dr. Jarvis married the sister of Sir
William Pepperell, and granddaughter of Sir William
Pepperell who took Louisburg in 1756. This was a loyal
family, and left this country for England about the time
hostilities commenced. But the doctor was true to the
cause of his country, notwithstanding that flattering in-
ducements were held out to give his principles a different
direction. Dr. Jarvis's liberality was evinced by advocat-
ing, in the legislature, the recall of those imfortunate men
who had been exiled for an adherence to the enemy ; by
defending the toleration of theatrical representations ; and
by his friendly aid to schools and seminaries of learning.
He was a member of the state convention that adopted the
federal constitution, and was for several years a member
of the state legislature, until 1796 when he declined being a
candidate on account of ill health. It may be truly said that
he had uncommon qualifications for public life. He possess-
ed quickness of perception and acute penetration, and was
a very powerful and impressive orator. He had the ad-
vantages of a fine person, countenance and voice, and
spoke with fluency, accuracy and elegance. As his head
was bald and finely shaped, his nose aquiline, and his
countenance remarkable for its expression, he was called
by a gentleman of taste and learning, in compliment to his
manner and appearance, the Bald Eagle of the Boston seat,
an appellation by which he was afterwards familiarly
known. The doctor entered with great zeal into the po-
litical events of his time, and was popular, until his opin-
ions in regard to Jay's treaty and the French revolution,
left him in the minority. He favored tlie cause of France
through all her mutations, and, whether in democratic dis-
order or under imperial misrule, he thought her success was
more propitious to the rights of man, than that of her alli-
ed enemies ; and that there was no danger of changing for
316 JOHN JEFFRIES.
the worse by breaking the galling chains of the old govern-
ments. Upon the last clay of his existence, when he had
given up all hopes of life, he remarked, with composure,
tliat " he should not die, like a certain French philoso-
pher, who boasted that he died without hope and without
fear ; for though he should die without fear, he should
not without hope." In his last illness, which lasted but
two or three days, during which he was subjected to the
most excruciating pain, he behaved with exemplary pa-
tience, fortitiule and resignation. He watched the progress
of his own disease to the last, and, what is remarkable, as
he raised himself up in his bed, he remarked " I am
gone, for my mind wanders ;" he then threw himself
out of his bed, with much muscular strength, rose upon
his feet, and fell dead into the arms of an attendant, on the
15th day of November, 1807.
^> JEFFRIES, JOHN, M.D. M.M.S.S. was born at Bos-
ton on the 5th of February, 1744. He was the third son
of David Jeffries, Esq. (who for more than thirty years
honorably filled the office of town treasurer) and Sarah,
daughter of George Jaffrey, Esq. of Portsmouth. At an
early age he was adopted by his uncle, the Hon. John Jef-
fries, who placed him under the care of Mr. Lovell, a
popular and experienced tutor. In 1759 he entered the
University of Cambridge, where he was graduated with its
first honors, and immediately afterwards commenced his
medical studies under Dr. Lloyd.
The smallpox, which raged at this period with uncom-
mon violence, afforded him an ample field for observation
and improvement. A close and careful investigation of
this disease induced him to consider it as one of the most
important that could afflict mankind ; not on account of
its general fatality, but because its regular stages furnished
data, which tended to elucidate many of those anomalous
symptoms of other diseases, that perplex and baffle the
most experienced practitioners ; and the principles he de-
duced therefrom, as he has remarked frequently, " stood
him in good stead" at the bedside of his patients. While
■under the tuition of Dr. Lloyd, Mr. Jeffries was sent by
his instructer to attend the Smallpox Hospital on Castle
Island, where the following accidental occurrence afford-
ed him an opportunity of evincing that peculiar talent of
attributing effects to their proper causes, and of founding
rational theories on practical observations, which subse*
r 'W^:.
>/<'A',-/r iy Ore-en
eU (0) M^T uD rw WW RIDE S . M B
JOHN JEFFRIES. 317
quently marked the course of a long and successful pro-
fessional career. Four of his patients, in the delirium of
the most active stage of smallpox, escaping from their
attendants, proceeded across the flats and plunged into the
channel ; they were, however, rescued from the water and
brought back to their apartments ; favorable symptoms
immediately succeeded, and, although many of the other
patients fell victims to the malignity of the disease, these
all speedily recovered. Reflecting deeply on the manner
in which this beneficial efiect was produced, Mr. Jeffries
was convinced that the popular mode of treating inflam-
matory affections was erroneous, and he therefore success-
fully resorted to the antiphlogistic practice, before advo-
cated and since adopted by the most distinguished practi-
tioners of Europe.
The degree of Master of Arts having been conferred
upon him by the University of Cambridge, Mr. Jeflfries
arrived at that important period when the principles he
had imbibed as a pupil^ were^to be submitted to the test
of more extensive professional practice ; on their correct-
ness and efiicacy depended every hope of future success :
the event exceeded his most sanguine expectations. Un-
aided by friends, and devoid of private patronage, he
speedily obtained, by his merit and exertions, a considera-
ble share of town and country practice. The first entry
in his professional day book, of which the whole is ex-
tant, was made on the 16th of March, 1766, from which
time his emoluments were progressively increasing.
But notwithstanding these flattering prospects, his am-
bition to excel in his profession impelled him to visit the
medical schools of Europe ; he accordingly embarked for
England, and placed himself under the tuition of Dr.
William Saunders, whose lectures on chemistry and on the
theory and practice of physic, have been justly celebrated
He also sedidously attended two courses of lectures on
anatomy and surgery, by Mr. Joseph Else ; twelve courses
on the theory and practice of midwifery, by Dr. Colin
Macken?:ie ; and ofliciated for twelve months, as dresser at
Guy's Hospital, under Messrs. Way, Smith, Else and
Martin. From all these distinguished professors he then
received testimonials of approbation, and subsequently en-
joyed their friendship and esteem. On the first of June,
1769, having written and defended a Latin dissertation,
the University of Aberdeen conferred on him the degree
318 JOHN JEFFRIES.
of Doctor of Physic, he being, as it is believed, the first
native of the American provinces who obtained that hon-
orable rank.
In the same year he recommenced his professional labors
in Boston, with very great success. His friend. Admiral
Montague, commander in chief of the naval forces on the
North American station, appointed him in 1771 assistant
surgeon of the Captain, ship of the line, then lying in the
harbor, and having her hospital on shore, which he regu-
larly attended until the 30th of June, 1774, when the ves-
sel changing her station. Captain Symonds, her command-
er, sent him a handsome written acknowledgment of the
benefits which the service had derived from the exercise
of his skill in surgery and medicine. At the commencement
of the American revolution, having previously acquired
the principal share of military patronage, he was profess-
ionally engaged by the commander in chief of the British
forces ; and many of those who w^ere wounded at the
dreadful conflict on Bunker's Hill, both Americans and
British, experienced the advantage of his skill and atten-
tion. He identified to General Howe, the lifeless body of
the lamented Warren.
The British garrison having evacuated Boston, Dr. Jef-
fries accompanied their general to Halifax, who on the
24th of May, 1778, conferred on him the appointment of
Surgeon General to the forces in Nova Scotia, to which on
the 21st of August, 1778, was added by his friend, Gen-
eral Eyre Massey, commander in chief of the province,
that of Purveyor General to the Hospitals ; and in De-
cember following, he received from the British govern-
ment the rank and pay of Apothecary General. While he
filled these important stations, and largely benefited by
their incidental private practice, he eagerly availed him-
self of every opportunity to alleviate the afflictions of his
captured countrymen, as appears from the numerous
grateful letters and other documents found among his pa-
pers. The commander in chief ordered fifteen hundred
men to be inoculated for the smallpox at one time, which
was accomplished without any loss, for which service he
received a letter of thanks and voluntary certificate sent
by General Massey when about to sail for Europe. Hav-
ing obtained leave to return to Europe, he and his family
embarked on board the Iris frigate, commanded by his
intimate acquaintance, Captain Keppel ; and, after a dan-
JOHN JEFFRIES. 319
geroiis voyage of twenty -eight days, landed at Portsmouth
on the 28th of March, 1779.
His stay in England, however, was but of short dura-
tion. His friend General Massey had spoken so favora-
bly of his abilities to the Secretary of War and other
leading members of the government, that he was ordered
to be examined at Surgeon's Hall on the first day of July
following, preparatory to his receiving the appointment of
Surgeon Major to the forces in America, a newly created
office. He accordingly underwent a rigid examination by
the celebrated John Hunter and other distinguished pro-
fessors, at the conclusion of which he was told by the
president, Mr. Hunter, that his answers and observations
did infinite honor, not only to himself, but to his instruct-
ers, and that he would be reported in every way qualified
for the important office for which he was destined by
government. Mr. Hunter invited him to attend a capi-
tal operation which he was about to perform ; and, during
the remainder of his stay in London, he daily witnessed
the operations and dissections of that eminent surgeon.
Having received his commission, he embarked on board
the Raleigh frigate, Captain Gambier, on the 4th day of
October, 1779, and sailed in company with the Richmond
for Cork, to collect a fleet of transports which they were
to convoy across the Atlantic. Here he had the happiness
of meeting his esteemed friend General Massey, now com-
mander in chief on this station, whose former kindness he
partly repaid by essential professional services.
Contrary winds and the delays incident to collecting a
fleet of transports, detained the Raleigh and Richmond at
Cork for a considerable time, during which Dr. Jefiries
was actively and profitably employed by the military and
by numerous families in the vicinity ; from some of whom
he obtained recommendatory letters to the commanding
officers and other distinguished persons in America.
At length he re-embarked, and proceeding to sea on the
24th of December, arrived at Savannah on the 1 7th of the
succeeding February ; here, however, he did not land, but
proceeded to Charleston, South Carolina, and on the 11th
of March joined the grand army under Sir Henry Clinton,
who ordered him back to Savannah, where his services
were urgently required, numerous important surgical ope-
rations waiting his arrival. The opportunity he here en-
joyed of observing the progress of inflammation and dis-
320 JOHN JEFFRIES.
ease in a hot climate, materially benefited his future prac-
tice, particularly during the torrid summers of his native
state.
He now received intelligence of a severe domestic
affliction, which rendered him extremely anxious to return
to England. As a preparatory step, he solicited and, with
some difficulty, obtained an order for his removal to New-
York, where, after having again visited Charleston, he
arrived in the Beaumont man of war, on the 14th of July,
1 780, and was immediately employed at the head of the
surgical department. His private practice also became so
extensive, that he received from Dr. Baillie, who has
since become one of the most eminent physicians of Eu-
rope, very advantageous proposals to join him in a per-
manent medical establishment ; the motives which urged
him to visit England were irresistible. Having resigned
his commission in favor of Mr. Loring, surgeon of the
hospital, he obtained a passage on board the Yarmouth of
sixty-four guns, and, much to the regret of his American
friends, recrossed the Atlantic ocean, and on the 26th of
December, 1 780, safely landed at Falmouth. Soon after
his return he was appointed by Lord McCartney as his
private physician and head of the medical staff then about
to embark for India, a situation which in a short period
would have afforded extensive wealth and gratified every
wish for fame ; but his love for his native place and the
hopes of returning there, prevailed over these flattering
prospects, and it was accordingly declined.
The following anecdote evinced a laudable state of feel-
ing in relation to liis professional obligations. He had
become particularly acquainted with a family of high
rank and station in consequence of preserving the life of a
son in his own country. During one of his visits he wit-
nessed much suffering from the advice of an eminent pro-
fessional gentleman to one of the family ; he promptly
interposed, and immediately afforded the relief which he
asserted was withheld from indolence under the weight of
a great name. On the following morning he received a
note requesting him to consider himself as the physician
of the family, and was informed that a chariot was at the
door which he must accept, as they could not be regularly
attended by a physician who walked. This he promptly,
but courteously, declined, observing that he wished to
stand upon his own merit, and not to rise by the adventi-
JOHN JEFFRIES. 321
tioiis aids to which some of the profession resorted. In
the course of iiis practice in America, Dr. Jeffries had
essentially benefited the honorable Captain Fielding, who
gave him a letter of introduction to his relation. Lady
Charlotte Finch. This lady filling an exalted station in
the house of the Queen, her patronage and influence were
extensive, and slie gratefully exerted both in the service of
her relation's benefactor. She introduced and strongly
recommended him to the royal physicians, Drs. Turton
and Warren, from both of whom he subsequently receiv-
ed much kindness and attention. They consulted with
him as to the best means of promoting his future interests :
Dr. Warren advised him to conform to the usual custom
of the metropolis, and confine himself to a particular de-
partment of the profession. Although of opinion that the
several branches, in as much as they tended to elucidate
and assist each other, should always be united, he thought
it prudent to follow this friendly advice, and finally de-
termined to confine his attention to midwifery and the
diseases of children. His American friends, however, in-
sisted upon his violating this determination, and he in
consequence procured a special license to practice also in
surgery and medicine.
He was busily engaged at this time, not only in storing
his mind with useful professional knowledge, but in phi-
losophical enquiry and scientific research. Pursuing such
objects he was led to undertake two aerial voyages, which
originated in an ardent desire to ascertain experimentally
the correctness of certain preconceived hypotheses relative
to atmospheric temperature and the practicability of some
aerostatic improvements which had suggested themselves
to his inventive imagination. The first voyage was on
the 13th of November, 1784, from the Rhedorium near
Grosvenor Square, London, into the Parish of Stowe in
the county of Kent. The second voyage was on the 7th
of January, 1785, from the cliffs of Dover across the Bri-
tish channel into the forest of Guines in the Province of
Artois in France, and was the first successful attempt to
cross the sea par la route de Pair. These engagements
were not without professional advantages ; for, besides
procuring him the notice of the King of France, the
personal civilities of the unfortunate Maria Antoinette,
and the friendship of the Duke of Dorset, the Britisli
ambassador, they obtained him an introduction to all the
41
322 JOHN JEFFRIES.
learned and scientific societies of Paris, of which he was
elected an honorary member, and facilitated his access to
the medical and anatomical schools of that intellectual
metropolis. But his duty to his patients in England, urg-
ed his speedy return to that country. He drew up a pa-
per, detailing the result of his various experiments, and
presented it to the Royal Society, before whom it was
read with much approbation. Dr. Blagden, secretary of
that learned body, had assisted him with many valuable
hints previously to his first ascension, and was subsequent-
ly most active in promoting his professional interests, ob-
serving that a private individual, who had voluntarily
expended so large a sum in the cause of useful science, was
truly worthy of public patronage. The collateral benefits
that resulted from his aerial expeditions, were greater than
he expected ; they secured him the interest of Sir Joseph
Banks, President of the Royal Society, the Duchess of
Devonshire, and other powerful friends.
His practice and his reputation rapidly increased from
this period until the summer of 1789, when he received
letters urging the necessity of his immediately repairing
to Boston, to secure some property which had devolved
to him by the death of a near relative ; in compliance
with which he embarked on board the ship Lucretia, on
the 13th of August, in that year, and on the 11th of No-
vember following arrived in his native town. He was
affectionately welcomed by his earliest medical instructer
and many others, for whom, in the days of his youth, he
had formed a sincere attachment. The entreaties of his
friends, and the love of his native town, prevailed over
his successful practice in London, and on the 11th of April,
1 790, he resolved to establish himself once more as a med-
ical practitioner in Boston. The political animosities
resulting from the recent successful struggle for independ-
ence had not yet subsided ; and few individuals who, like
him, had filled offices of high responsibility under the
British government, during the greater part of the con-
flict, would have ventured to make an experiment of such
doubtful success ; but he felt that, while he had honorably
discharged his duty towards those in whose service he had
been before the commencement of the revolution, he had
neglected no opportunity, consistent with that duty, of
benefiting his countrymen ; and he now confidently relied
upon their justice and liberality. To the honor of both
JOHN JEFFRIES. S23
parties, this confidence was amply repaid ; and he Bi)eedily
acquired the esteem and professional patronage of a large
proportion of the most respectable population of Boston
and its vicinity.
Dr. Jeffries was eminent as a surgeon, midwife and phy-
sician. He became early attached to anatomy, and, it is be-
lieved, delivered the first public lecture in this branch in
Boston. It was, however, but a single one ; for on the
second evening a mob having collected, entered his anatom-
ical room and carried off in triumph his subject, whicli was
the body of a convict given him by the governor after ex-
ecution. This study he pursued with attention up to the
period of his death ; many of his most valuable prepara-
tions were made but a few years before his decease. From
his acquaintance with William Hunter, he probably adopt-
ed the principles of that great man. His surgical records
show that he had early learned that but little action was
required to carry inflammation to its adhesive stage ; his
mode of dressing after operations was always light and
cool. He was opposed to the knife when possible to avoid
it, averring that more skill was required to save, than to
remove a limb ; by which he escaped that fondness for
operation to which he was exposed by the extent of his
surgical practice in the English hospitals. Midwifery he
regarded as the handmaid of medicine. He considered
the regular constitutional changes effected by nature in the
various stages of gestation, and her extraordinary efforts
to afford relief, as loadstars, not only in this particular
department of his profession, but in the investigation of
other constitutional changes under nature's guidance,
which his intelligence discovered to be analogous. In the
medical department he was much afraid of visionary spe
culation. He was, however, an ardent promoter of phy-
siological inquiry, and readily adopted rational improve-
ments. His own systems in medicine were what Lord Ba-
con's were in moral philosophy ; being chiefly founded on
inductive reasoning. The vast importance which he at-
tached to the chylopoietic viscera, was a distinguishing
peculiarity of his physiological opinions. To the digest-
ive organs he referred for an explanation of many of the
phenomena in the animal economy ; regarding them as
the emanating point of most morbid affections, lie Avas en-
abled to establish those pathological principles u])onwlu(li
was founded the successful administration of cathartic
remedies.
334 JOHN JOIfES.
The sick chamber was the point to which all his attain-
ments were made to bear, and for this he was particularly
qualified, not only by the experience of practice, but by
the more solid experience of reflection. The name of the
disease lost much of its weight when he prescribed ; the
actual state of the system at the time was the subject of
investigation and the object of relief.
He was never known to refuse a professional call, but
bestowed his attentions indiscriminately on the poor and
the rich. This enabled him to educate a large number of
pupils, and gave them what he considered most highly
necessary, a good opportunity for practical improvement.
Had he been fond of public life, his talents, attainments and
attention would have added much more to his public use-
fulness : but he resisted every effort of his friends to place
him before the public as a professor or as an author. A
proof of liis industry is found in the fact that he kept for
more than forty years a surgical diary of all but unimpor-
tant cases ; a medical diary of every serious affection ; a
history of nearly two thousand cases in midwifery ; and
a meteorological journal noted three times a day.
After an uninterrupted and successful practice of fifty-
three years, he was seized with an inflammation in his
bowels, originating in a hernia, occasioned by great exer-
tions in his first aerial voyage ; which defying the skill of
able and friendly brethren, he died on the 16th of Septem-
ber, 1819, aged 76, deeply lamented, but most by those
who knew him best.
. JONES, JOHN, M.D. The family of Dr. Jones was
of Welsh extraction, and of the religious society of
Friends. His grandfather, Edward Jones, who was a phy-
sician of eminence in his native country, married Mary,
the eldest daughter of Thomas Wynne, who was likewise
a physician, and one of the original settlers in Pennsyl-
vania.
Their son Evan, the father of the subject of these me-
moirs, studied medicine with his father, and practised it
many years in Merion ; for causes not known he removed
to the city of New-York, and afterwards to Long Island,
and there married Mary, the daughter of Mr. Ste-
phenson, by whom he had four sons ; John, Thomas,
Evan and James.
John Jones was born in the town of Jamaica, Long
Island, in tlie year 1729 ; and received his education partly
JOHN JONES. 325
from his excellent parents, but chiefly at a private school
in the city of New-York. He was early led, both by the
advice of his father and his own inclination, to the study
of medicine, and was placed under the care of the late
Dr. Thomas Cadwallader, of Philadelphia, with whom he
continued during the period of his studies in this country.
Dr. Jones early indicated an attachment for that profes-
sion, which at a subsequent period he cultivated with so
much ardor, by his fondness for anatomical researches ;
and though, as it may be readily supposed, these could
only be of the comparative kind, yet it is a remarkable
fact, that this love for pursuits of the same nature, has
been noticed in the youth of some of the most distinguish-
ed anatomists that ever lived.
At the age of eighteen years he began to study medi-
cine under the above mentioned physician. This country
then afforded no opportunity, by means of public institu-
tions, of increasing the knowledge of the student. The
private practice of physicians was almost the only source
from whence the student could derive any practical infor-
mation ; to this Dr. Jones paid the greatest attention, and
I have heard that his preceptor bore testimony to the assi-
duity and marks of early genius in his pupil ; and pre-
dicted from them his future eminence in his profession.
After completing his studies in this country. Dr. Jones
visited Europe, in order to improve himself still further
in his profession. He first went to London, and there at-
tended the lectures of Dr. William Hunter, M'Kenzie, and
others, who were then eminent in the several branches
which they taught ; and the practice of the different hos-
pitals, particularly that of St. Bartholomew, of which
Mr. Pott was senior surgeon, and in the height of reputa-
tion. From London he went to France, where he arrived
in May 1751 ; and obtained the degree of Doctor in Medi-
cine from the University of Rheims. He then proceeded
to Paris, where he remained until the month of April in
the following year ; and attended the anatomical lectures
of Mr. Petit and the practice of the Hotel Dieu, of which
well known institution, Messrs. Le Cat and Le Dran were
then surgeons. He afterwards spent some time at the Uni-
versity of Leyden, and finally visited Edinburgh, which
completed his medical tour.
Under masters like these, and enjoying such opportu-
nities, he could not fail, with the assiduity which he em-
326 JOHN JONES.
ployed, of acquiring all the knowledge at that time to
be obtained. In consequence of the zeal which he showed
in the acquisition of every species of useful knowledge,
he attracted the notice of the above celebrated surgeons,
which was of essential benefit to him in the prosecution of
his studies : to Mr. Pott in particular he considered him-
selfgunder peculiar obligations for the marks of friendship
he experienced from him.
During the prosecution of his studies in Europe, Dr.
Jones was industrious in collecting all the useful informa-
tion in his power, especially upon those branches of sci-
ence more immediately connected with his profession.
To anatomy, as the handmaid of surgery, and the basis of
medical science, he paid the greatest attention ; but he did
not suffer this to engross the whole of his time ; convinced
of the intimate connexion between the different branches
of the profession, he considered the separation of them
as highly detrimental to the progress of the science, and
therefore believed that a knowledge of the one part, was
indispensably requisite to a right understanding of the
other.
Upon the return of Dr. Jones to this country, he settled
in New-York, where his abilities soon procured him ex-
tensive practice. To the profession of surgery, in parti-
cular, he devoted much attention : he was the first who
performed the operation of lithotomy in that city, and
succeeded so well in several cases that offered shortly after
his return, that his fame as an operator became generally
known throughout the middle and eastern states of Ame-
rica. The operation had likewise been frequently attempt-
ed in the other states ; but the want of success attending
it was generally so great, as to prevent it from being per-
formed there in future ; the fortunate manner, however,
in which those cases under his care succeeded, fully prov-
ed that it was no longer the dangerous operation many
had been made to apprehend, an opinion which induced
them rather to submit to a miserable life, than to suffer
the risk of falling a sacrifice to the means instituted for
their relief.
In the year 1 755, during the existence of a war between
France and the colonies, as a part of the British domin-
ions, a considerable alarm was occasioned by the report of
an intended attack of the enemy upon the frontiers of the
state ; and Dr. Jones, among others, entered as a volunteer
JOHN JONES. 327
surgeon to the troops raised upon the occasion. In that
capacity lie served with distinguished reputation until the
close of the campaign. In a severe repulse which the
French suffered on the borders of Lake George, from the
American and British troops under Sir William Johnson,
General Dieskau, commander of the French, was danger-
ously wounded, and being taken prisoner, immedately
placed himself under the care of Dr. Jones, who carefully
attended him for a considerable time in New-York.* At
the close of the campaign he again returned to private
practice with increased reputation ; and some years after,
upon the establishment of the Philosophical Society of
Philadelphia, was elected one of its first members.
Upon the institution of a medical school in the College
of New- York, Dr. Jones was appointed professor of sur-
gery, upon which branch he gave several courses of lec-
tures, and thereby diifused a taste for it among the stu-
dents, and made known the improved modes of practice
lately adopted in Europe, with which most of the prac-
titioners in this country were entirely unacquainted.
Viewing tljie science in an enlarged and honorable light,
as tending to the alleviation and abridgment of human
misery, he taught his pupils to despise the servile conduct
of those, who consider the profession as worthy of cultiva-
tion, only in proportion to the emoluments which it
yields ; and to rely upon the solidity of their own endow-
ments, as the best security of general esteem, and for
acquisition of business. He could with propriety recom-
mend the pursuit of this conduct to others, having in his
own person furnished an instance of its success, and on an
occasion also, which, though trifling in itself, deserves to
be recorded as a proof of the triumph of abilities over
ignorance and pride.
At an early date of Dr. Jones's settlement in New-York,
some of the physicians entered into a resolution to distin-
guish themselves from the rest of their fellow citizens by
a particular mode of wearing their hair ; and among the
rest, it was proposed to Dr. Jones ; but instead of reeeiv-
* Professor Silliman in his tour to Canada, in a note n»akes a query as to the
death of Baron Dieskau. It appears in the Pennsylvania Journal, January 14th,
1768, that the Baron died at Surene, in France, on the 8tli September, 1768. His
death is said to have been occasioned by the wounds he received on the 8th Sep-
tember, 1755, in the battle of Lake George. His name was John Harmahd,aB(i
he had attained the high rank of Lieut. General in the French army.
328 JOHN JONES.
ing his assent, the principle of it was strongly opposed by
him. Persuaded of the dignity of the medical chai-acter
in itself, he did not see the need of calling in artificial aid
to increase it, and therefore refused to consent to the plan,
and insisted upon the great impropriety of establishing
any external mark to distinguish them from the rest of
mankind. He declared at the same time, that he consid-
ered that and every similar means to impose upon the
weakness or credulity of others, as unworthy the members
of a liberal profession, and as intended to enforce that
attention and respect, which their own conduct and abili-
ties should always command. While the rest of the prac-
titioners, therefore, were seen strutting about in their new
fashioned bob, Dr. Jones could not be distinguished from
any well bred gentleman of another profession. It might
be naturally supposed that the persons who were weak
enough to enter into the resolution, would likewise be
capable of the low passion of envy, and seek for a proper
occasion of revenge upon those who should dissent. This
was actually the case in the present instance ; for the
consequence of Dr. Jones's refusal to adopt the plan, was
an agreement among the rest, not to consult with him.
This resolution, however, was of but little avail ; for one
of the associates, on expressing this determination to a
respectable citizen in whose sick room they happened to
meet, was, to his great mortification, unexpectedly dis-
missed, and Dr. Jones was retained. Such a compliment,
paid to the abilities of a young man, must have been flat-
tering in the extreme ; and so effectually did the disclos-
ure of the scene operate, and so general was the ridicule
which followed, that the object of the association was en-
tirely defeated ; and the members were under the necessity
of wearing their hair like the rest of their fellow citizens.
The same principle which actuated Dr. Jones in the
trifling circumstance of refusing to distinguish himself
from the rest of his fellow citizens, by any peculiar self
created badge, actuated him in matters upon a larger
scale. Pure in his principles as a republican, he consid-
ered titles as the pageantry of coxcombs, and like the
royal stamp set upon false coin ; by covering much base
metal, instead of creating respect, they serve to detract
from the little honor to which their possessors might oth-
erwise be entitled.
JOHN JONES. o29
For a considerable part of the previous life of Dr.
Jones, he had been afflicted by tlie asthma, and for a long
time had struggled to overcome that painful disease ; but
the exertions of both his own skill, and of the rest of his
medical brethren, in most parts of the continent, had
hitherto proved ineffectual towards even his relief. He
determined therefore to take a voyage to Europe, and
accordingly sailed for London. Here, in a thick smoke,
and an impure atmosphere where so many asthmatics have
found such remarkable benefit, he also experienced a con-
siderable alleviation of his complaint ; and probably the
permanent alteration in his health which he afterwards
enjoyed, may in some measure be attributed to the effects
of his residence in London. He also employed himself
during his continuance in the metropolis in collecting sub-
scriptions for a hospital in New-York, which he had been
chiefly instrumental in establishing.
In London he again had an opportunity of seeing his
friend Mr. Pott, at the head of his profession, and of re-
newing that intercourse which liad been previously com-
menced between them. He had now been for some years left
to the guidance of his own judgment ; but, unlike many
who suppose all knowledge to become stationary at the
time of their leaving college, he was still willing to be
taught by those who had formerly been his instructers,
and who, from the greater opportunities they enjoyed,
would be enabled to afford him much information. Eager
for the acquisition of knowledge, whenever and wherever
it was to be obtained, he again attended the lectures of
his old master Dr. Hunter, and those of his friend Mr.
Pott, who lost no opportunity of showing the consistency
between liis professions and proofs of respect : during his
short stay there he paid Dr. Jones the most particular
attention, and presented him with a complete copy of his
lectures, just before his departure from London. His
kindness, however, did not end here ; for in the frequent
applications which he received for advice from all parts
of this country, in difficult and important cases, he never
failed to recommend his old pupil, as capable of affording
any relief to be derived from surgical assistance. In con-
sequence of this his attendance was frequently desired in
the different states ; and while he showed by his skill ;ind
success that the opinion which had been formed of him
42
330 JOHN JONES.
was just, his fame became thereby diffused throughout the
continent of America.
The following year he returned to his native country,
the political situation of which at that time called loudly
for the exertions of all her citizens. He again resumed
his lectures, and delivered several courses, and in the
autumn of the next year, 1775, published his " Plain Re-
marks upon Wounds and Fractures," which he inscribed
to his old preceptor Dr. Cadwallader in a neat dedica-
tion.* A work of this kind which would give the young
practitioner clear notions of the improved mode of treat-
ing diseases, without embarrassing him with refined specu-
lations or useless disquisitions, was much wanted. He
attempted no systematic arrangement ; but simply treated
of those subjects, to which the attention of the surgeons of
the army and navy would be most continually directed.
No present could have been more acceptable to his country,
and no gift more opportunely made ; for, in the situation
of American affairs, many persons were chosen to act as
surgeons, who from their few opportunities, and their
ignorance of the improvements that had lately been made
in practice, were but ill qualified for the office. His well
meant endeavors were not lost ; for the improvements
which he made known, though new to most practitioners
and surgeons, were readily adopted when recommended
by such authority. This was the only work ever pub-
lished by Dr. Jones ; it might have indeed been readily
supposed that more would have come from his pen, con-
sidering how well qualified he was to make observations,
and to impart to others some portion of that knowledge
of which he himself possessed so great a share. Such was
actually his intention ; and he had prepared another work
for the press, but was prevented by the most base treache-
ry from giving it to the world. This was a complete col-
lection of meteorological observations, made for ten suc-
cessive years in New -York, with an account of the reiffning
* In the dedication to Dr. Cadwallader we have a good specimen of the public
virtue and benevolence of the author. " The present calamitous situation of this
once happy country, in a peculiar manner demands the aid and assistance of every
virtuous citizen : and though few men are possessed of those superior talents,
which are requisite to heal such mighty evils, as now threaten the whole body poli-
tic with ruin and desolation, yet every man has it in his power to contribute some-
thing towards so desirable an end, and if he cannot cure the fatal disease of his
unfortunate country, it will, at least, afford him some consolation, to have poui-ed
a little balm into her bleeding wounds."
JOHN JONES. 331
diseases during that period ; which, as he has often in-
formed me, was ready for the press at the time of his
departure from New-York, when he placed it, together
with all his valuable manuscripts and the anatomical pre-
parations he had collected during his two voyages to Eu-
rope, in a place of apparent safety in a neighboring state :
and in safety they might have remained, had not a brother
professor, who became acquainted with the circumstance
and knew the value of the deposit, perfidiously seized on
it, with a view of converting it to his own profit ; by
whom the whole were lost to the world and himself.
The business of teaching, as well as of private practice,
was soon after interrupted by the commotions of his coun-
try, and by the actual existence of the storm, which had
for some time before been collecting in its political hori-
zon. War was already declared, and the blood of hun-
dreds had been shed in the cause of freedom. The British
army having taken possession of New-York, and the adja-
cent country becoming the seat of war. Dr. Jones, with all
the friends to the American cause, had previously left the
city, and retired to some distance into the country. Many
of his friends who were attached to the British interest,
protested against this measure with all the warmth that a
sincere esteem and disinterested friendship could inspire ;
and though he received the most positive assurances of not
being disturbed on account of his political principles, if
he remained in the city, but of having full liberty to fol-
low the extensive and very lucrative business in which he
was engaged, he refused to accept the oifer of protection,
that he might not be under the painful necessity of wit-
nessinof, much less countenancinop the devastations commit-
ted by the enemy. Fully convinced of the danger with
which the liberties of America were threatened, he con-
ceived it criminal even to be a silent spectator of a contest
carried on against a country that gave him birth, and
therefore accepted of a seat in the senate of New-York, for
the southern district, to which he was appointed by the
convention chosen for the organization of the state gov-
ernment. When he could no longer be useful in his legis-
lative capacity, he exerted his professional abilities by
entering the medical department of the army, where he
rendered important services to his suffering fellow sol-
diers, by healing the wounds which they received in the
cause of liberty. But this liigldy satisfactory employment
SB% JOHN JONES.
was of a short duration ; for the natural delicacy of his
constitution not comporting with the hardships of a mili-
tary life, and the manifest injury his health had already
received, rendered it necessary for him to return again to
private practice ; accordingly on the evacuation of the
city of Philadelphia by the British troops, in 1778, he
went thither, and found that during a short stay there he
enjoyed so much freedom from the asthma, that he deter-
mined to take up his future residence in that city. In the
latter end, therefore, of the following year, or beginning
of 1780, he removed to Philadelphia. This separation
from his former friends and acquaintances, was, as might
be naturally expected, severe in the extreme. The great
alteration, however, in the state of his health, which he
had observed since his change of situation, was sufficient
to overbalance every other consideration, and determined
him in his choice. The citizens of Philadelphia were not
insensible of his merits ; for the same success in practice
as a professional man, and the same agreeable manners as
a gentleman, which placed him so high in the esteem of
his fellow citizens at New-York, could not fail of attract-
ing those of his new place of residence.
On the resignation of Dr. John Redman, as one of the
physicians of the Pennsylvania hospital, in the year 1780,
Dr. Jones was unanimously elected by the managers to fill
the vacancy, and was continued in office until the time of
his death. In liis attendance upon this institution he
was as remarkable for his regularity, as for the success of
his practice ; and the plain, though honorable mention
made of him by the managers in their minutes, sufficiently
testifies the sense they entertained of his services in the
cause of suffering humanity. In the same year he was
elected first president of the Humane Society.
In the year 1786 the attention of the citizens of Phila-
delphia was called to the poor of the place, who at that
time were in a peculiar and distressing situation from the
want of proper medical assistance wlien sick. The Penn-
sylvania Hospital, which previously to the late revolution
used to contain a great number of patients at a time, was
prevented from extending its charity, in consequence of
the loss it sustained by the removal of many who were
indebted to it, and by the depreciation of tlie paper bills
of credit in which others paid the sums due by them to
the institution. In consequence of this, the managers were
JOHN JONES. 33S
under the necessity of confining within narrow limits that
charity which was formerly so liberally dispensed, and
many poor people being thus precluded from proper medi-
cal attendance, often suffered very materially. A design
was therefore formed of establishing a Dispensary, by sub-
scription, from which the poor might be furnished with
medicines at their own houses, and attended by eminent
physicians. This humane plan met with all the encour-
agement which it deserved, and the institution was in a
short time duly organized. A number of physicians and
surgeons were appointed constantly to attend the patients,
and others of longer standing in the profession to consult
occasionally with the former in extraordinary and difficult
cases. Among the latter number Dr. Jones was elected,
and annually rechosen until the time of his death.
In the succeeding year the physicians of Philadelphia,
influenced by the many advantages which have arisen in
every country from well conducted literary institutions,
agreed to establisli a college among themselves, for the
advancement of the interests of medicine in general, but
especially in this country ; they elected Dr. Jones vice pre-
sident, the chair of the college having been conferred upon
Dr. Redman. But a part of the first volume of this society
is published, and to this he has communicated one of the
most interesting papers, upon anthrax.
Dr. Jones was not only the intimate friend, but also phy-
sician to Dr. Franklin, and attended him in tlie last ill-
ness, which deprived his country and the world of that phi-
losopher. As it may not be unsatisfactory to know some-
thing of the manner in which so great a man conducted
himself, when about to close his earthly scene and enter
upon another, the existence of which he was falsely report-
ed to have disbelieved, I have preserved the following
short account of his last illness, drawn up by Dr. Jones,
and published at the time.
••' The stone, with which he had been afflicted for several
years, had for the last twelve months of his life confined
him chiefly to his bed ; and during tlie extremely i)ainful
paroxysms, he was obliged to take large doses of lauda-
num to mitigate his tortures ; still, in the intervals of pain,
he not only amused himself by reading and conversing
cheerfully with his family and a few friends who visited
him, but was often employed in doing business of a public,
as well as of a private nature, with various persons who
334 JOHN JONES.
waited upon him for that purpose ; and in every instance
displayed not only the readiness and disposition to do
good, which were the distinguishing characteristics of his
life, but the fullest and clearest possession of his uncom-
mon abilities. He also not unfrequently indulged in those
jeux d'esprit, and entertaining anecdotes, which were the
delight of all who heard him."
" About sixteen days before his death, he was seized with
a feverish disposition, without any particular symptoms
attending it till the third or fourth day, when he com-
plained of a pain in the left breast, which increased till it
became extremely acute, attended by a cough and labori-
ous breathing. During this state, when the severity of his
pains drew forth a groan of complaint, he would observe
that he was afraid he did not bear them as he ought ; ac-
knowledging his grateful sense of the many blessings he
had received from the Supreme Being, who had raised
him from small and low beginnings, to such high rank and
consideration among men : and made no doubt but that
his present afflictions were kindly intended to wean him
from a world in which he was no longer fit to act the part
assigned him. In this frame of body and mind he con-
tinued until five days before his death, when the pain and
difficulty of breathing entirely left him, and his family
were flattering themselves with the hopes of his recovery ;
but an imposthume which had formed in his lungs, sud-
denly burst, and discharged a quantity of matter, which
he continued to throw up while he had power ; l)ut as that
failed, the organs of respiration became gradually oppress-
ed ; a calm lethargic state succeeded ; and on the 17th of
April, 1790, about eleven o'clock at night, he quietly
expired, closing a long and useful life of eighty-four years
and three months."
In tlie summer of the year 1790 the President of the
United States then at New York, after having been for
some days indisposed, became so ill, that other assistance
in addition to that of his attending physician became neces-
sary. An express arrived for Dr. Jones, and notwith-
standing he was then much engaged in private practice at
Philadelphia, he lost no time in flying at the call of a man,
in whose welfare so many millions of freemen were inter-
ested. Upon his arrival at New York, he found that the
disease from being of an inflammatory nature, had termi-
nated in an alarming state of debility, and violent spas-
JOHN JONES. 835
modic difficulty of breathing, which threatened the greatest
danger. An unacquaintance with the i)articular circum-
stances of the case prevents me from asserting positively
to whose fortunate advice the happy recovery is to be at-
tributed ; but the fact is that in a few hours after the first
visit, a manifest alteration for the better was perceived,
and in a few days the President was out of danger. The
importance of the service rendered was not forgotten.
On the removal of the federal government to Philadel-
phia, the President chose him physician to his family,
and he continued in that honorable station until the time
of his death.
But at the very time when he was reaping the benefits
of a long and steady pursuit of his profession, and was
happy in the possession of the highest confidence of his
fellow citizens, death put a stop to his earthly career. In
the month of June, 1791, Dr. Jones rode out on horse-
back some miles from town to visit his friend Mr. Charles
Thompson, secretary to congress during the late war. The
day was warm, and he was so fatigued by his excursion
that he did not entirely recover himself for several days.
On the evening of the 17th he paid a visit to the President
of the United States ; and previously to his return home,
from being a very sultry day the air became remarkably
cool ; he was dressed in a light manner suitable to the
weather when he set out ; but it was not sufficiently warm
for the remarkable and sudden alteration in the tempera-
ture of the air that succeeded. Having some patients who
required his attendance, he visited them before his return
home, where he had no sooner arrived, than he felt him-
self much indisposed ; the next morning he awoke with a
smart fever, attended with a diarrhoea and great prostra-
tion of strength. He continued for four days in this situ-
ation, with but little alteration, passing almost sleepless
nights. Upon the fifth day he became considerably better ;
was able to sit up, and the most flattering prospects were
entertained of a quick recovery ; exhausted, however, by
the violence of the disease, the want of sleep and the con-
versation of numerous friends, who had that day visited
him, he retired early to bed in the evening, with a view
by the help of an anodyne to procure some rest. This,
however, was denied him, and he continued in a very rest-
less and uneasy state the whole night, during wliich time
he had a violent return of his aithma. Early in the morning
536 JOHN JONES.
of the 23d he felt some inclination to sleep, and desired to
be left alone. His orders were perhaps too punctually obey-
ed ; at eiglit o'clock his servant entered his room, and
observed him in a calm slumber ; he again visited him
two hours after, when he found him in the same position
with his hand under his head, to all appearance in a pro-
found sleep, but on approaching the bed he perceived that
he breathed no more. The quiet and easy manner of his
death, and the apparent strength of body exhibited the
preceding day, induced some of his brethren to hope that
a suspension of animation only had taken place ; the usual
means of recovery were accordingly tried for some time,
but all in vain ; the scene was finally closed. He died in
the 63d year of his age. His remains were deposited in
the Friends' burial ground, Arch-street ; and his funeral
was conducted agreeably to a desire he often expressed, in
a plain manner, and strictly suitable to the excellent regu-
lations of that religious society. It was attended by the
members of the Philosophical Society, his medical breth-
ren of the college, and those numerous citizens who knew
his worth, and will long regret his death.
The person of Dr. Jones was about the middle size ; his
chest was moderate, but perfectly well formed ; his habit
was thin, owing to his constant affliction with the asthma.
His eye was quick and penetrating, his countenance cheer-
ful but sedate, and his whole deportment was easy, though
polite. He was free and easy of access ; for as he owed
his fame and reputation neither to powerful friends or con-
nexions, nor to any of those lucky circumstances, which
exclusively of abilities so frequently determine the fortune
of physicians, but rose into the esteem of his fellow citi-
zens solely by merit, so he depended upon this alone for
the continuance of that interest and support in the profess-
ion by which he lived. There was, notwithstanding, such
a gravity of appearance and dignity of manners, as never
failed to command respect and esteem. Few persons have
died more sincerely regretted ; for few persons possessed
more of those engaging qualities, which render a man
estimable, whether in liis professional character or private
capacity, than Dr. Jones. His conversation was of the
most pleasing and interesting kind. While his language
flowed in that easy spontaneous manner, which evinced at
once how little it was studied, he at the same time enliv-
ened it liy a sprightly vein of wit that delighted as well as
JOHN JONES. 337
commanded the attention of the hearer. He was, however,
never known to make use of it to the injury or even em-
barrassment of another, as is frequently done by tliose who
possess that power, and who woukl rather suffer the risk
of hurting the feelings of their friend, than lose the mirth
that was raised at his expense. He was fond of the belles
lettres, and read much poetry of the best authors, whose
happy expressions he had the utmost readiness in introduc-
ing and applying to proper and seasonable parts of a con-
versation. He had seen much of life, and his memory
suffered few things to escape which were worth retaining.
These accomplishments rendered him a most agreeable, as
well as entertaining and instructing companion ; and being
joined to professional merit, served to fix and secure the
regard of his friends in a most powerful and remarkable
manner.
As a surgeon, Dr. Jones stood at the head of the pro-
fession in this country ; and he may be deservedly con-
sidered as the chief instrument in effecting the remarkable
revolution in that branch of the healing art, which is now
so apparent, by laying aside the former complicated modes
of practice, and substituting those which are plain and
simple. The operation to which he principally confined
himself for many of the last years of his life was lithoto-
my ; and his success in this difficult and important object
of a surgeon's duty, was great indeed. Even in the month
before his death, in a most capital and nice operation,
there did not appear to be any diminution of that dexte-
rity and steadiness of hand, for which he had always been
remarkable, and of which those not half his age might
have boasted. From long practice also, and from that
readiness wliich appeared to be constitutional, he had
acquired a facility in operating, to which few surgeons
have arrived ; I have seldom known him longer than three
minutes in lithotomy, and he has sometimes finished the
whole in one minute and a half ! Happy, however, as he
was as to the manner, and fortunate as to the event of the
operation, he was not so anxious about the shortness of
the time in which it was performed as to the certainty of
its success. " Respice finem," was the rule of his conduct,
as it ought to be of every surgeon and physician ; and as
much as he attended to the shortness of the operation, as
connected with tlic important consideration of alleviating
pain, he nevertheless considered it of secondary conse-
43
JOHN JONES.
quence, and rather wished to accomplish that well in a
little longer time, than slight his work by a studied des-
patch.
Connected with this part of his professional character,
was his merit as an accoucheur ; and in this difficult and
important branch his success was great. During the
prosecution of his studies in Europe he paid particular
attention to this subject ; and availed himself of every
opportunity, to become qualified to practise it, both by a
strict attendance upon the various hospitals founded for
this particular purpose, and upon the private practice of
the different jirofessors. In the lectures which he himself
delivered in the College of New-York he dwelt much upon
this subject, and he may justly be considered as the first,
who gave the medical students of that state a proper and
rational notion of the art. Convinced that nature, or,
more properly speaking, the exertions of the system, were
in the greatest number of instances sufficient for its own
necessities, he seldom had recourse to those artificial aids,
by the frequent use of which the lives of the subjects were
formerly often endangered, and whose general neglect
now marks an era in the history of the art. In cases,
however, of absolute necessity, which sometimes, though
fortunately seldom, occur, he never failed to derive from
them every possible aid ; and while on the one hand his
becoming modesty and delicacy of deportment not only
marked the gentleman, but held him dear to the female
sex, his expertness in operating sufficiently testified his
knowledge of its use.
The merit of Dr. Jones as a physician, was likewise con-
siderable. Though educated in the school of Boerhaave,
he never professed an implicit faith in that, or any other
system. He was guided by just general principles, and he
varied his practice like every judicious physician, with
the varying circumstances of the case. The success of
his practice, was the best proof of the truth of his
principles, and of the judgment which directed their ap-
plication. He lamented the imperfection of the science,
and never refused the adoption of any rational means of
increasing its certainty, or the use of any remedy because
it was new, which had been sanctioned by experience, and
had reason and probability to recommend it ; on the other
hand, the caution with which he gave way to many much
JOHN JONES. 339
famed antidotes whose short lived reputation proved their
merit, marked him the safe and prudent practitioner.
There was one particuhir trait in the character of Dr.
Jones, which as aiFording a very uLieful lesson of instruc-
tion, deserves to be mentioned. He made it a rule never
to offer advice, and seldom to give it, except lie liad well
grounded assurance that it Avas asked in sincerity ; and in
this case, when demanded upon a subject concerning which
he thought himself capable of informing, he seldom scru-
pled to give it, observing, however, never to make use of
any persuasion to induce it to be followed, but leaving the
party to decide for himself.
The same prudential motives, which influenced Dr.
Jones in the above particular, likewise showed themselves
in the caution with which he contracted friendships. The
best knowledge, and that Avhich is of the greatest advan-
tage to mankind, is derived from experience. In the early
part of his life he had suffered, as I was informed, by the
villany of a man, in whose honor he had the greatest rea-
son to confide ; and dear as the price was at which this
specimen of human nature was afforded, it was not pur-
chased in vain : it taught him a lesson by which he profit-
ed during the remainder of his life ; and pointed out the
necessity of not placing such implicit confidence in men,
who, though they sliow a specious outside garb of friend-
ship, are actuated solely by selfinterest in their apparently
disinterested conduct. Though thus cautious in contract-
ing friendships, yet when tried worth had induced him to
form an attachment, he was sincere and firm. His friend-
ship did not show itself by those convulsive acts of gener-
osity, which sometimes are performed ; but in a constant
and uniform disposition, which was ready to assist in the
hour when most needed : not like the bursting of a scorch-
ing sun from behind a cloud, wliich brings on disease
while it flatters with health ; but like the moderate and
gentle sunshine, which imparts health to thej body and
serenity to the mind.
He is now gone to that " country from whose bourn no
traveller returns ;" and while we mourn his loss, let us if
possible derive instruction from the record of his life. To
my fellow members of the profession, and especially to
those who are about to commence their medical career, I
would set him as a pattern every way worthy of imitation.
He was their friend while living, and he contributed
340 NOBLE WIMBERLY JONES.
much to their improvement by his labors. Like him, let
them entertain a just sense of the dignity of the medical
profession ; let them rely upon actual merit and real
worth for their advancement, and despise every art that
Avould tend to raise them in the esteem of mankind upon
any other than this solid and substantial basis. — James
Mease. M. D.
JONES, DR. NOBLE WIMBERLY. This gentleman,
distinguished in the political as well as in the medical an-
nals of Georgia, was born at a village near London, about
the year 1723 or 24. His father, Noble Jones, was a phy-
sician, and being intimately acquainted with General Ogle-
thorpe, was prevailed upon to accompany him in his enter-
prise to fovmd a new colony on this continent. His family
then consisted of a wife and two children, a daughter and a
son, the subject of this memoir. General Oglethorpe, with
a military force and about forty families, arrived at what
was afterwards called the city of Savannah, on the first of
February, 1733. The colonists had to encounter all the
difficulties and dangers incident to anew settlement, which
nothing less than the diversified talents of its founder could
have surmounted. General Oglethorpe possessed a combi-
nation of qualities rarely seen united in the same individual.
He was an able military leader, a benign legislator and ma-
gistrate, and a man of most extensive philanthropy. His
character has been well sketched in the following extract.
" The life of General Oglethorpe would require but little
embellishment to make it a tale of romance. It was full
of variety, adventure and achievement. His ruling pas-
sions were the love of glory, of his country, and of man-
kind, and these were so blended together in his mind that
they formed but one principle of action. He was a hero,
a statesman, an orator, the patron of letters, the chosen
friend of men of genius, and the theme of praise for great
poets.*
Amid the scenes of turbulence and danger to which the
new settlement was constantly exposed, it was not to be
expected that many facilities for education could be afford-
ed. Accordingly, the only instruction that Dr. Jones
received, both in the common branches of education and
in his profession, was from his father. In the early years
of his life he took an active part in the military expedi-
* Verplanck's discourse before the New- York Historical Society.
NOBLE WIMBERLY JONES. S4I
tions in which the colonists were engaged against the Span-
iards and Indians, and both himself and his father were
honored by the particular regard of General Ogle-
thorpe, who sent them his portrait from England, which
was unfortunately lost when the British troops took pos-
session of Savannah in 1778.
Dr. Noble Jones had continued the practice of his pro-
fession after his arrival in Georgia, and about the year
1748 associated his son in business with him. This connex-
ion was maintained to 1756 ; and as the settlement extend-
ed, the professional duties of Dr. N. W. Jones, upon
whom the business chiefly devolved, became very arduous,
as his circle of practice reached many miles from Savannah.
At the commencement of the dissensions between Great
Britain and her colonies, Dr. Jones became conspicuous as
a political leader. He early joined with others in stating
to the mother country the grievances of the colonies, and
held a correspondence with Dr. Franklin, then the agent
of Georgia in England, on the subject. He was also among
the first who associated for the purpose of sending dele-
gates to a general congress at Philadelphia, and was either
chosen or was offered the appointment ; but his father,
who was the treasurer of the province and a member of
the council, being then advanced in years, and becoming
infirm, prevailed upon him to decline it. The provincial
legislature through him as their speaker, had frequent al-
tercations with the governor and council } the house of
commons was in consequence several times dissolved, but
in every new election he was returned, and again chosen
speaker. During his residence in the state he was speaker
of the first legislature of Georgia, which during the revo-
lution consisted of a single branch.
On the British taking possession of Savannah, in De-
cember 1778, Dr. Jones left that city with his family,
and went to Charleston, where he commenced practice
in January 1779, and continued until November or De-
cember 1780. He was then arrested by order of the Brit-
ish commander, conducted on board a ship, and, with a
number of other gentlemen, carried to St. Augustine, then
in possession of the British forces, in violation of the arti-
cles of capitulation entered into at the surrender of
Charleston in May 1780, by which these gentlemen were
to remain in that city on parole until exchanged. Dr. J.
remained in St. Augustine until the following July, when
342 NOBLE WIMBERLY JONES.
he was released on a general exchange of prisoners effected
by General Greene. He sailed for Philadelphia, and ar-
rived about the 15th of August, where he soon after began
the practice of his profession, having scarcely any other
means of supporting his family, as all his property in
Georgia had been sequestered by th€ British, and sold by
Governor Wright and Lieutenant Governor Graham, for
damages which they alleged they had sustained from him
by his signing, as Speaker of the General Assembly, the
act of the state that confiscated their property.
Dr. Jones received great attention from the medical gen-
tlemen of Philadelphia, particularly from Dr. Rush, and
soon derived an income from his practice sufficient for his
support. In the course of a few months he was appointed
a delegate to congress by the legislature of Georgia, and
continued in that capacity until December 1782, Avhen
hearing of the evacuation of Savannah by the British
troops in July preceding, he left Philadelphia and return-
ed to Georgia, having advised the legislature of his in-
tention. He had been previously elected a member of the
general assembly, ajid at their meeting in January 1783,
was chosen speaker. This was a session of considerable
commotion ; several of the members on a question of im-
portance to the finances seceded ; a mob collected at night,
and was guilty of many excesses. Mr. Telfair, an active
member in the majority, had his house attacked by the
mob, and Dr. Jones, who was in the house advising the
leaders to disperse, was wounded by a broadsword on
the head. He called upon the Governor at a late hour of
the night, demanded his interference, and the mob was
quieted. The next day the seceding members refused to
come in, but were at length brought to a sense of duty.
After the adjournment of the legislature. Dr. Jones
visited Charleston ; and by the solicitation of many of his
former patients was induced to resume the practice of med-
icine in that city. He remained there in extensive and
very lucrative business until December 1788, when he
again returned to Savannah, where he continued to reside,
with the exception of a few weeks, actively engaged in
practice during the remainder of his life. In 1795 he was
chosen President of the Convention at Louisville, which
amended the constitution of the state ; after which he de-
clined public employment. He was taken ill on the first
of January, 1805, in consequence of exposure the two pre-
NOBLE WIMBERLY JONES. 343
ceding nights in attending several obstetric cases, and died
on the ninth, universally regretted.
Few men have lived to witness greater vicissitudes than
Dr. Jones. The colony, which he may be said to have
assisted in planting, had become during his life a powerful
and independent state ; and the very spot on which his
father's family had encamped, he bequeathed as a valuable
lot in a flourishing city to his descendants. Of the active
share which he had in bringing about these changes, it
belongs perhaps to the political historian of his state to
speak. The foregoing sketch, however, affords sufficient
evidence of the confidence reposed in him by his fellow
citizens, and of his worth as a public character. In the
various offices to which he was elected, he displayed a
firmness and decision peculiarly suited to the troubled
times in which he lived. Cautious and deliberate in form-
ing his opinions, when he had once taken his determina-
tion he was not to be diverted from his purpose. He was
always ready to sacrifice his private feelings and interest
to the welfare of his country, the object he had most at
heart, and he was not unfrequently called on to make
this sacrifice. His political situation necessarily brought
him acquainted with Generals Washington, Greene,
Wayne, and most of the statesmen and military command-
ers who had a conspicuous part in the revolution. In
common with every American citizen he esteemed and
revered Washington's character, but he disapproved of
the British treaty, and was chairman of the meeting of the
citizens of Savannah who addressed tlie President on that
subject. He deprecated all foreign influence and party
violence, and believed that talents, combined with virtue
and moderation, would most effectually secure our union
and independence.
As a pliysician Dr. Jones was skilful, humane, attentive
and regardless of personal hazard or danger when visiting
or contributing to the relief of his patients. These quali-
ties gave him an extensive practice, which he Avas enabled
to continue, in every branch of the profession, to the
period of his last illness.
In the relations of private life, Dr. Jones was most ex-
emplary. His benevolence and charity were unbounded.
He was a member and for several years president of the
Union Society, the oldest charitable institution in the
state ; and, although attached more particularly to the
344 WALTER JONES.
Episcopal Church, he contributed liberally to religious
societies of every denomination. He was remarkable for
extreme delicacy and refinement of manners, and for the
most affectionate disposition. So exceedingly fearful was
he of occasioning trouble to any of his friends, that he
would scarcely make known the simplest want. In his
personal habits and appearance, he retained that neatness
and love of order which he had acquired from his mili-
tary service. He was temperate and abstemious in his
modes of living, of the strictest morality, and a sincere
believer in Christianity, and he terminated a long and val-
uable life the object of the veneration and regard of all
who knew him.
JONES, WALTER, M.D. one of the most eminent
physicians of our country, was born in Virginia, and re-
ceived his medical education at the University of Edin-
burgh, where he was graduated about the year 1770.
While at this institution he became a favorite of the school,
and enjoyed the particular friendship and esteem of CuUen,
and the other professors of that time.
On his return to his native country, he settled in North-
umberland county, Virginia, where he acquired an exten-
sive practice, and sustained through life the highest stand-
ing both as a scholar and physician. " He was," says a
distinguished gentleman, who for some time enjoyed his
acquaintance, " for the variety and extent of his learning,
the originality and strength of his mind, the sagacity of
his observations, and the captivating powers of his conver-
sation, one of the most extraordinary men I have ever
known. He was an accurate observer of nature and of
human character, and seemed to possess intuitively the
faculty of discerning the hidden cause of disease and of
applying with a promptness and decision peculiar to him-
self, the appropriate remedies." For a few years he was
returned a member of the national legislature ; but he
spent the most of his life in tlie practice of that profession
of which he was a distinguished ornament. — Setvall.
KAST, THOMAS, M.M.S.S. was born in Boston, Au-
gust 12th, 1750. He was educated at Harvard College,
where he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1769,
and of Master of Arts in 1774. He commenced his medi-
cal studies under the care of his father. Dr. Philip God-
frid Kast, in Boston. In the year 1770 he went on board
the British ship Rose, Benjamin Caldwell commanderj
THOMAS KAST. 345
as a surgeon's mate, and sailed for Halifax, Newport and
New-York, and continued in that station until 1772, when
he arrived in England and spent two years in London at-
tending the several profess^ional lectures at Guy's and St.
Thomas's Hospitals, as dresser to Mr. Warner, and the
lectures and practical part of midwifery as taught by Dr.
Mackenzie.
. In 1774 he returned to Boston and commenced tlie prac-
tice of physic, surgery and midwifery, which he continu-
ed to follow until December, 1804, when a very severe
rheumatic fever deprived the public of his usefulness.
With the view of improving his health he was induced,
in the autumn of 1810, again to visit Europe, and he pass-
ed seven years in England, Scotland, France, Switzerland,
Italy and Holland. The change of climate partially re-
stored his health ; but in September, 1817, his debility and
weakness increasing to an alarming extent, hastened his
return to his native country, where in October he arrived.
He continued gradually to decline until June 20th, 1820,
when he departed this life in Boston.
Dr. Kast was one of the original members named in the
act of incorporation of the Massachusetts Medical Society,
and for several years was their treasurer. He enjoyed a
very respectable and extensive circle of practice, was a
neat and successful operator in surgery, and performed
with success the first operation for aneurism in the thigh
in the town of Boston. (Vide medical papers of Massa-
chusetts Medical Society.) His obstetric practice was more
extensive than that of any of his contemporaries, and in
this branch he obtained a deserved popularity.
^ KISSAM, RICHARD S., M.D. The father of this dis-
tinguished surgeon was Benjamin Kissam, an eminent prac-
tising lawyer in the city of New-York, where the subject
of this sketch was born in 1763. Richard was the third
of five brothers, two of whom engaged in medical studies
and followed the practice of the profession. At an early
age he was sent to the grammar school under the super-
intendence of the late eminent scholar, William Cutting,
at Hempstead, on Long Island. Here he became imbued
with a fondness for the classics, which he continued to
cherish throughout life. On the completion of his ele-
mentary education he became a pupil of the late Dr. Mc-
Knight, a gentleman of great professional merit ; with
him he continued for some time ; but subsequently rei>air-
44
$4G RICHARD S. KISSAM.
ed to Europe and became a resident of Edinburgh, at the
famous university of which he was matriculated as a stu-
dent, and continued for the long period of five years.
Among his contemporaries at this great seat of medical
education, were Sir James Macintosh, the late Professor
Wistar, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, and Thomas Addis
Emmet, the late profound jurist and eloquent advocate
of New-York. Upon receiving the Doctorate in 1789,
he published an inaugural dissertation " De Rheuma-
tismo." From Edinburgh he repaired to the continent,
whence he retuj'ned to his native city. In 1791 he com-
menced the practice of that profession of which for thirty
years he was a most distinguished ornament, and his re-
nown as a surgeon was founded upon the promptitude and
success of his operations. As a lithotomist he was particu-
larly celebrated. It is stated that of sixty-five operations
in his hands for the stone, three only proved fatal. He
at an early period in his practice had recourse to tapping
for dropsy of the ovarium with success. In one case nearly
six quarts of water were drawn off ; the patient afterwards
proved pregnant, and became the mother of five children.
Upon the formation of the medical faculty of Columbia
College in 1792, he was appointed Professor of Botany,
but declined the honor. For the period of thirty years
he was one of the surgeons of that extensive charity, the
New-York Hospital.
Dr. Kissam died in October, 1822, in the 59th year of
his age.
Notwithstanding some untoward events in his early life,
Dr. Kissam arose to the height of celebrity and reputation.
To a mind admirably adapted by nature for the practice of
the profession, clear, acute and sagacious, he united a firm-
ness of nerve which was equal to the urgency and magni-
tude of any undertaking. It is not known that he left be-
hind him any writings, by which posterity may be enabled
to judge of his merits ; but his career was too long and too
triumphant amidst powerful and vigorous competitors to
leave the possibility of a doubt as to the solidity of his
pretensions. His fame as a successful operator must rest
upon the verbal and vanishing testimony of his contem-
poraries. It may be proper to add that his integrity was
beyond the reach of calumny or cavil.
» KITTREDGE, THOMAS, M.D., M.M.S.S. was dis-
tinguished as a practitioner of surgery and medicine
THOMAS KITTREDGE. 347
throughout the state of Massachusetts. He was born at
Andover in July, 1746, received his academic education
at Dummer Academy in Byfield, and studied his profession
with Dr. Sawyer, a distinguished physician in Newbury-
port.
In 1768 he returned to Andover, and began the prac-
tice of medicine and surgery. At the commencement of
the revolution he was appointed a surgeon in the army,
and being stationed at Cambridge, had an opportunity of
being present at the action of the seventeenth of June,
1775. Dr. Kittredge sustained many municipal and
political offices ; he was often a member of the legis-
lature of the commonwealth, and was there useful to
the Medical Society by exerting his extensive influence
in its favor. His practice as a physician was very large ;
but he was most distinguished as an operating surgeon for
a great number of years. In the practice of medicine he
was thought remarkable for his readiness in discrim-
inating diseases. He begun to be affected by angina pecto-
ris in the year 1810, and died of this disease in October,
1818, after an illness of three hours.
The family of which he was a member, has become so
distinguished for surgical skill in New England, that in
many places the name alone is a passport to practice ; and
the number of practitioners of this name is very consider-
able. This is to be attributed, not only to the well earned
reputation of Dr. Kittredge, but to that of his father, who
had also a high reputation in surgery ; and it is not impro-
bable that his grandfather and greatgrandfather, the latter
of whom came to this country from Germany at an early
period and settled at Tewksbury, were eminent in the
same line.
In political sentiment Dr. K. was of the party denomi-
nated republican, and on all occasions a strenuous advo-
cate for their measures ; but his patriotism and public vir-
tue were nnimpeached.
KNEELAND, WILLIAM, M.M.S.S. was a native of
Boston, and graduated at Harvard College in 1741. While
a child he discovered a capacity above the common level.
Under the care of worthy and pious parents, he received
those impressions, which were never obliterated, and which
he ever acknowledged with filial gratitude. At school
he outstripped most of his fellows, and was exceeded by
none. While a student in the university, the expansion of
$4S WILLIAM KNEELAND.
his intellectual powers was equal to the sphere in which
they were to be displayed. He received from the govern-
ment of that institution an ample testimony of his attention,
industry, and progress in literature and science, by the
assignment of a distinguished part in the exercises previ-
ous to his receiving the first honors of the University.
Soon after he went through a regular course of medical
studies with an eminent physician, whose approbation and
patronage he justly merited.
While he was qualifying himself for his profession, he
ardently pursvied various branches of science, acquired the
character of a scholar, and became particularly eminent
in logic and metaphysics. Before he entered on the prac-
tice of physic a tutorship in the college became vacant,
and his qualifications pointed him out to the government
of that institution as the most suitable person to fill the
office. In this a field was open for the full display of his
talents. He did not disappoint the fondest hopes of his
friends, nor the expectation of his electors. He showed
himself well skilled in each department of his office. He
communicated his instructions with perspicuity, and
governed with impartiality ; and he hereby commanded
the respect and esteem of his pupils. Having with dig-
nity and approbation discharged the duties of his ofiice
about nine years, he quitted it for the pleasures of domes-
tic life.
His eminence in his profession was honorably recognis-
ed by the Medical Society of Massachusetts, who repeat-
edly elected him their president. While Register of Pro-
bate, the widow and orphan had frequent experience of his
aid and friendship. His accuracy, fidelity and inflexible
integrity as a civil magistrate and in every other depart-
ment of life, were acknowledged by all who were conver-
sant with him. The social virtues formed a distinguished
trait in his character. Facetious, ingenuous, hospitable
and agreeable in his deportment, his acquaintance was
sedulously cultivated by those of a similar disposition. He
wished the happiness of mankind ; and the religious soci-
ety and church of which he was a member, experienced
in an especial manner the beneficial effects of his benevo-
lent exertions in their behalf. Truly catholic and unaffect-
ed in piety and devotion, he exemplified the religion of
which he was a professor, by the morality of his conduct.
ADAM KUHN. 349
Dr. Kneeland departed this life in November, 1788, aged
56 years. Sagacious in many things, lie gave counsel to
many who consulted him, and performed punctually and
faithfully his private and public duties. He was a sincere
friend and pleasant companion, an honorable man, and a
guardian of the poor.
KUHN, ADAM, M.D., M.M.S.S. Hon. was born at Ger-
mantown, near Philadelphia, Nov. 17th, 1741, old style.
His grandfather, John Christopher Kuhn, and his father,
Adam Smith Kuhn, were natives of Farfeld, a small town
near Heilbronn, on the Neckar, in the circle of Swabia.
They both came to Philadelphia in September, 1733. His
father was a man of bright natural parts, improved by the
benefits of a liberal education, and was considered as a
very skilful, attentive and successful practitioner of med-
icine. He was a magistrate of the borough of Lancaster,
and an elder of the Lutheran church ; and was the princi-
pal, and almost the only person, who was actively con-
cerned for the promotion of classical learning amongst
the youth of that place. For this end he procured
the erection of a school house, in which tlie Greek
and Latin languages were taught by the best qualified
masters. There was no one amongst his contempo-
raries, who had more at heart the spreading of religion ;
and there was no place of worship built throughout the
country, to which he did not liberally contribute. The
utmost pains were bestowed by him on the education of
his numerous offspring, to enable them to become useful
members of the community.
Dr. Adam Kuhn's first studies in medicine were directed
by his father, until the autumn of 1761, when he sailed
for Europe, and arrived at Upsal, by tlie way of London,
in the beginning of January, 1762, having traversed Nor-
way and part of Sweden. He studied medicine and bota-
ny under Linnasus, and the other professors of the Univer-
sity of Upsal, until July or August, 1764, when he leturn-
ed to London, where, it is believed, he remained a twelve-
month. The particular estimation in Avhich he was held
by Linnasus, will be sufficiently manifested by the letters
of that eminent man addressed to Dr. Kuhn, and publish-
ed in the 8th volume of the Eclectic Repository. They
will also serve to show the correctness of his pupil's con-
duct, and his unremitted attention to his studies.
^50 ADAM EUHI7.
At what time Dr. Kuhn went to Edinburgh cannot be
precisely ascertained. He took his degree of Doctor of
Medicine in that university on the twelfth day of June,
1767. The Thesis published by hina on the occasion, " De
Lavatione Frigida," was dedicated to his friend and in-
structer Linnjeus.
He visited France, Holland and Germany ; but whether
before, or after his residence at Edinburgh, is not known.
In the month of January, 1768, he returned from Lon-
don to his native country, and settled in Philadelphia,
where he quickly rose to a high degree of estimation
amongst his elder medical brethren, and soon succeeded to
the most respectable practice. He was appointed profess-
or of materia medica and botany, in the College of Phi-
ladelphia, in January, 1768; and commenced his first
course of botany in May following
A society for inoculating the poor with the smallpox, was
instituted at Philadelphia in January, 1774, and Dr. Kuhn
was chosen one of the physicians. It appears from the
bills of mortality for 1773, that of one thousand three
hundred and forty-four persons, who died in the City and
Liberties during that time, above three hundred perished
with the natural smallpox. The labors of the society ter-
minated in the April following, on account of the unset-
tled state of public affairs. What a happy contrast does
the important discovery of vaccination offer to this afflict-
ing report !
In May, 1775, Dr. Kuhn was elected one of the physi-
cians to the Pennsylvania Hospital ; which he attended
until his resignation in January, 1798, having served the
institution, with his usual diligence and faithfulness, up-
wards of twenty-two years. It may not be improper to
add that his medical prescriptions bore the stamp of ener-
gy and simplicity.
The Philadelphia Dispensary for the medical relief of
the poor, the first institution of its kind in the United
States, was founded in 1786. Dr. Kuhn was appointed
one of the consulting physicians, and ever proved himself
to be amongst the foremost of its steady friends and
patrons.
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia was estab-
lished in 1787 ; of v/hich Dr. Kuhn was always an active
member. On the decease of Dr. William Shippen, in July,
ADAM KUHN. 351
1808, he succeeded him as president, and was continued
during his life in this distinguished station.
In November, 1789, he was appointed professor of tiie
theory and practice of medicine in the University of Penn-
sylvania ; and on the junction of the two medical schools
of the College and University, was chosen professor of the
practice of physic, in January, 1792. In 1797 he resigned
his medical chair. As a teacher, he was faithful and clear
in the description of diseases, and in the mode of apj)lying
tlieir appropriate remedies ; mostly avoiding theoretical
discussions. His lectures were eminently calculated to
form useful practitioners in the healing art, to the pro-
motion of which his whole life was devoted. Dr. Kuhn
was also a member of the American Philosophical Society,
and an honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society.
Of his writings nothing can be recollected but his Thesis,
and a short letter addressed to Dr. John Coakley Lettsom,
on the diseases succeeding the transplantation of teeth,
which was published in the first volume of the memoirs
of the Medical Society of London. This is not the only
instance, in which a dislike to appear before the public has
deprived us of the experience of those, who were best
qualified by their talents and observation to communicate
instruction.
The account of men who have been uncommonly use-
ful, although they may have passed through life without
much eclat, is of great importance, when they can be held
up as profitable examples to survivers. Of the subject of
the present notice it may truly be said, that in him were
united the characters of the able and of the conscientious
practitioner. His contemporary medical brethren will
unanimously adjudge him the palm of excellence as a phy-
sician ; and his uTimerous patients will unite in deploring
the loss of a friend, whose judgment and attention have
not been surpassed.
In his common intercourse with mankind Dr. Kuhn ap-
peared to be reserved ; but this was not his natural dispo-
sition. He placed a high value on a real friend, and in
the company of his friends no man was more affable and
communicative. His kind and unassuming behavior to
younger physicians, his manners void of ostentation, and
his firmness and decision of conduct, will long be remem-
bered.
3S2 JASON V. 0. LAWRENCE.
But a most prominent feature in his character was a
strict punctuality, and observance of all his engagements.
This inestimable virtue can never be too highly inculcated
on a physician. The want of it is a deviation from truth,
and the cons^equence of such deficiency is replete with
endless inconvenience. It would be difficult justly to
charge him v/ith a voluntary departure from this correct
course, in the long period of nearly fifty years practice.
And whilst we admire and applaud the propriety of his
conduct, an occasion like the present should not be lost,
of holding up to public view the practice of an estimable
fellow citizen, who always acted like one that regarded
punctuality as a sacred duty.
Dr. Kuhn was not remarkable for the powers of imagin-
ation ; but in sound judgment he greatly excelled. His
talent for observation was profound. He was through life
a studious reader, a lover of music from his youth, re-
markably abstemious and regular in his diet, and neat in
his person. During a long and active attention to the
duties of his profession, he enjoyed so much health, as to
use his carriage only in inclement weather. He was mar-
ried in May, 1780, in the island of St. Croix, to Elizabeth,
daughter of Isaac Hartman, Esq. by whom he had two
sons, respectable characters, now living in Philadelphia.
For some time before his death his bodily strength began to
fail ; which induced him, in the autumn of 1815, to relin-
quish his practice, to the great regret of the families whom
he had attended. It has fallen to the lot of the compiler
of the present notice, very frequently to be gratified with
hearing the expressions of regard for his medical abilities,
from those who had long known him as a physician, and
who continue to lament his loss.
After a confinement to the house of about three weeks,
he expired July 5th, 1817, aged 75 years, without pain,
and fully sensible of his approaching dissolution. — Eclectic
Repository^ volume Sth.
« LAWRENCE, JASON VALENTINE O^BRIEN, M.D.
was born in the city of New-Orleans, in the year 1791, to
which place his father had emigrated from the state of
New-Jersey, and where he had married a lady of Irish
descent. He was early deprived of his paternal protector,
and the guidance of his youth devolved on his maternal
grandmother, who resided near Baton Rouge, on the Mis-
sissippi. His early education was at the s<hools then af-
JASON V. 0. LAWRANCE. oOJ
forded by his native city, after attending which till his
fifteenth year, he entered at Lower Dublin Academy, near
Pliiladeli)hia. When his stay in this seminary, which was
extended to upwards of three years, was expired, he re-
turned to New-Orleans, to commence the study of medi-
cine under his stepfather. Dr. Flood. Here he possessed
practical opportunities not always enjoyed by the pupils
of physicians in large cities ; having frequently the charge,
in the violent and acute diseases of that climate, of a part
of his father's patients.
In December, 1812, Dr. Lawrance quitted New-Orleans
and repaired to Philadelphia, that he might avail himself
of the advantages it presents to the medical student, and
terminate his studies by crowning them with the honors
of her widely and justly celebrated school. He became
one of the pupils of Dr. Physick, then professor of sur-
gery, whose private friendship he had the honor of enjoy-
ing during; the remainder of his life. After distinguish-
ing himself among the class for talents in the acquisition
of knowledge, and a remarkable degree of assiduity in
any employment, however laborious or disgusting, w^hich
belonged to his profession, he entered the Pennsylvania
Hospital in 1814, to fill a temporary vacancy as house
physician and surgeon. In this establishment he remained
till the ensuing spring, when he was graduated, and soon
after returned to New-Orleans to commence the practice
of physic under the paternal auspices of Dr. Flood. Here
he immediately obtained a large and lucrative business,
and continued, till he left that city, the acting physician
and surgeon of the New-Orleans Hospital, of which his
stepfather was principal. Dr. Lawrance could not, how-
ever, remain long satisfied in this situation. The recollect-
ion of the advantages which Philadelphia possessed in
every scientific point of view, an early attachment, the
friendships which he had formed there, and particularly
its great facilities for the prosecution of his favorite pur-
suit, the study of anatomy, worked upon his mind, until
he finally resolved to sacrifice the present possession of a
large, profitable and increasing practice, w^ith the best
grounds for confidently expecting, at an early period, to
reach the summit of professional eminence in the place of
his birth, for the object of living where he could to more
advantage pursue his inquiries into nature. The increase
of knowledge was a tonic to his mind, with which he
45
354 JASOIf V. 0. LAWRANCE.
could not dispense ; and every consideration of ambition
or pecuniary advantage was small in the comparison.
From the period of his settling in Philadelphia, Dr.
Lawrance was obliged to buffet all the difficulties to which
those physicians are subjected who settle in large cities.
His talents were universally, and with pleasure acknow-
ledged by his numerous acquaintance ; his industry, which
was of a kind beyond that usually termed indefatigable,
was obvious to all ; his experience and acquirements were
great, and generally known ; his conversation was courted
with pleasure and pride by the first names in science, and
with some of them he was intimately bound in the relat-
ions of private friendship : yet neither talents, nor indus-
try, nor learning, nor experience, nor influential friend-
ship could supply the place of the opportunities which he
had so magnanimously relinquished ; and it is believed
that, though his prospects were fast brightening at the
close, he continued to struggle with difficulty, till the ter-
mination of his useful life. An attack of the epidemic
fever, which has in such a distressing manner visited the
neighborhood of our city, augmented by a continuance of
the unparalleled exertions which he was in the constant
habit of making, rapidly hurried him to his end. He
was taken ill on the 9th of August, 1823, while visiting
in the infected neighborhood of the Ridge-road, and im-
prudently continued to labor in the day and curtail his rest
at night, till the eleventh, when he was obliged to be con-
veyed home in the carriage of a friend, from an operation
at the almshouse. He immediately took his bed, soon
became delirious, rapidly sunk, and in defiance of the best
medical attendance, on the 19th he expired.
Thus was society deprived of a man, of whom, although
it had already began to award him fame, it had never
known the value. Assiduous and noiseless in his pursuits,
he was, perhaps, the individual whose real merit bore the
largest proportion to his pretensions. Always actuated by
the love ofscienceandof his species, he was uniformly more
ready to labor for the advantage of otliers than for his
own. His assistance is gratefully acknoAvledged by many
whom he has obliged in this way. This temper gained
him many friends among tlie medical students, at the sug-
gestion of whom he commenced, in the spring of 1822, to
give a six months course of lectures on anatomy and
surgery, perhaps one of the fullest courses of lectures ever
JASON V. 0. LAWRANCE. 355
given in this city, Philadelphia. In this novel and labor-
ious undertaking, which began immediately after the
spring commencement, and lasted, with the exception of
the month of August, till the ensuing November, six lec-
tures being delivered every week, he was encouraged by a
considerable class. In the progress of this year he gradu-
ally acquired the habit of lecturing witli ease and perspi-
cuity ; his enunciation, which originally was rapid and
somewhat difficult to be understood, gained a more even
flow. He at all times possessed the warm personal attach-
ment of his pupils, and their high estimation of his talents,
to which he was rapidly adding the elegance and facility
of an eloquent lecturer. He was engaged in a second
course of lectures of the same kind, at the period of his
lamented decease. Dr. Lawrance's principal medical merit
was the prosecution of morbid anatomy. The opportuni-
ties for this pursuit in Philadelphia, are very great, and
he embraced them to the fullest extent. He was in the
constant habit of recording facts and observations of every
kind, relating to medical science, which occurred in his
daily pursuits, and particularly accounts of dissections.
His accumulations of this natui-e rose to the vast amount
of above three thousand pages ; and an index was carefully
kept, referring to every case. This was the common em-
ployment of those hours which he uniformly stole from
sleep. By these means lie became, probably, the best qual-
ified among our American physicians to publish one of those
useful works on morbid anatomy, which do honor to the
names of their authors, and form, in fact, the greatest and
surest support of medical knowledge. His inaugural thesis
was upon fracture of the thigh, a subject which he treated
from observation in the hospital and elsewhere, with a can-
dor and caution in stating the results of different modes of
practice, highly creditable to his feelings and principles.
He was bred a Roman catholic, though upon the subject of
religion he maintained, in his conversation, a reverent silence.
He did not deem it a fit theme for discussion in mixed com-
panies. His friends, however, knew that he had a toler-
ance for all, nor thought that belief in any particular was
a part of the necessary duties of man in tliis world, or of
the commands of theCreator. In all the duties of social
life he was truly exemplary. Dr. Lawrance was a mem-
ber of the American Philosophical Society and of the me-
dical associations existing at the time among his equals in
356 FRANCIS LE BARON.
age. Beside the two copious courses of lectures mention-
ed above, lie delivered the greater part of another on ana-
tomy, during one winter, at the university. He had been
for aliout a year surgeon to the Philadelphia almshouse.
Such was the unostentatious life of one, who would
probably, in a few years, have become a light of the age.
In merit solid, as in disposition benevolent and kind,
though his worth may not be known to future times, it
will be deeply felt and remembered during a period co-
equal with the life of his friends, his fellow laborers, and
his pupils.
^ LE BARON, DR. FRANCIS, a native of France, in
the year 1696 was surgeon to a privateer fitted out of Bor-
deaux, cruising on the American coast, which was wrecked
in Buzzard's bay. The crew were carried prisoners to
Boston. The surgeon, the subject of this notice, came to
Plymouth, and having performed a surgical operation, and
the town being at that time destitute of a physician, the
selectmen petitioned the executive, Lieutenant Governor
Stoughton, for his liberation, that he might settle in the
town. This was granted, and he married and practised
physic during life in Plymouth, where he died in 1704,
aged 36 years. Items of his goods, surgeon's instruments,
medicines and books, £10.7.0. Dr. Le Baron did not re-
linquish the Roman catholic religion, and was so strongly
attached to the cross that he never retired to rest without
placing it on his breast ; this constantly reminded the peo-
ple of a religion which they abhorred, and which they
were scarcely willing to tolerate even in a single instance.
His son Lazarus Le Baron studied medicine with Dr. Mac-
kay,* a Scotch physician of Southampton, Long Island,
about 1718. He enjoyed a long and extensive course of
practice in Plymouth and the vicinity, and died 1 773, aged
75 years. Two of his sons, Joseph and Lazarus, were also
physicians, both of whom after residing a short period in
the West Indies died in Plymouth, as did three other sons ;
and the only surviver is Rev. Mr. Lemuel Le Baron, min-
ister of a church and congregation in Rochester, county
of Plymouth.
LEE, ARTHUR, M.D., was a native of Virginia, and
brother to Richard Henry Lee, the celebrated patriot of
.^-. — .^ „ ■ i
♦Father of the late Dr. Andrew Mackay of Wareha m, who died April, 1817
aged 70 years.
ARTHUR LEE. 367
the revolution. Di*. Lee received his classical education
at Edinburgh, and afterwards studied medicine in that
university. As soon as he was graduated, he returned to
his native state, and settled at Williamsburg, where he
practised medicine for several years ; but afterwards aban-
doned the profession, went to England and commenced
the study of the law in the Temple.
He soon entered into political life, and rendered impor-
tant services to his country during the revolutionary war.
To the abilities of the statesman, he is said to have united
the acquisitions of the scholar. In the year 1775 Dr. Lee
was in London as the agent of Virginia, and he presented
in August the second petition to the king. All his exer-
tions were now directed to the good of his country. He
was appointed minister to France in 1776 ; and he was for
many subsequent years engaged in the afi'airs of the public
until the close of life, which, after a short illness, took
place December 14th, 1792, at Urbanna, in Middlesex
county, Virginia.
He was a man of uniform patriotism, of a sound under-
standing, of great probity, of plain manners and strong
passions. During his residence in England for a number
of years he was indefatigable in his exertions to promote
the interests of his country. He was a member of tlie
American Philosophical Society. He published the Mon-
itor's Letters in vindication of the colonial rights in 1769 ;
Extracts from a Letter to the President of Congress in an-
swer to a libel by Silas Deane, 1780 ; and observations on
certain commercial transactions in France laid before con-
gress, 1780. — Jlllen^s Biographical Dictionary^ and other publi-
cations.
LINING, JOHN, M.D., an eminent physician and phi-
losopher of South Carolina, was a native of Scotland, and
received an excellent education. He came to America about
the year 1730. He corresponded with Dr. Franklin on
the subject of electricity, and was the first person who in-
troduced an electrical apparatus into Charleston. He
made and published a series of judicious statistical experi-
ments, which were conducted through the whole of the
year 1740. lu 1753 he published a history of the yellow
fever, which was the first account of that disease that was
given to the world from the American continent. He
seems to have been satisfied that this disorder aflfected the
358 JOHN LINING.
system but once in life, an opinion which has been recent-
ly maintained by several physicians. — Miller and Ramsay.
" LITTLE, MOSES, M.M.S.S., was born at Newbury-
port, Massachusetts, in the year 17G6 ; graduated at Har-
vard University in 1787, and was a very distinguished
scholar. He studied his profession with Dr. Jonathan
Swett of Newbiiryport, and for the purpose of procuring
funds to enable him to commence the duties of his profess-
ion, engaged in instructing some pupils in Virginia for
one year.
Soon after commencing business in Salem, he was em-
ployed by the town to inoculate with the smallpox, and
carried great numbers through tlie disease with remarkable
success. About this time he performed some difficult op-
erations in surgery, which gave him such reputation that
he rapidly rose into extensive practice. One of the oper-
ations referred to, was puncturing the liver through the
external integuments ; a vast quantity of matter was dis-
charged and the patient recovered. He was particularly
celebrated in Salem and its vicinity as a surgeon and accou-
cheur, though his practice in all the branches of his profes-
sion was continually increasing. In 1808 he was present at
the births of precisely one half of all the children born in
Salem during that year. Notwithstanding his numerous
professional engagements he found time for very respecta-
ble acquirements in literature, and his gentle and amiable
manners and benevolent disposition rendered him univer-
sally beloved. Soon after his return from Virginia he was
afflicted with an obstinate attack of jaundice, but under the
direction of his preceptor Dr. Swett, who recommended
his living on raw eggs and milk, and using exercise on
horseback, he entirely recovered.
The manners of Dr. Little were very gentle, but his
purpose was on all occasions firmly fixed, and he was as
remarkable for his great prudence in his words and con-
duct as for his perseverance. He was able to judge of the
characters of men, as well as of their diseases, with great
quickness and discrimination. Although much engaged
in his profession, his services were bestowed upon the poor
and wretched, as readily as upon the affluent, by night as
well as by day, and without regarding the inclemencies of
the weather. His mind was intelligent and discriminat-
ing, rather than brilliant, practical rather than speculative.
He was not governed by prejudice either in regard to his
MOSES LITTLE.
359
theory or practice ; but having investigated as well as he
could, he then resolved, and pursued his course in the
mildest manner.
He married the daughter of George Williams, Esq. an
eminent mercliant of Salem, who was a most excellent and
accomplished lady. She fell a sacrifice to a consumption
of the lungs, and from her in consequence of his unceasing
attentions, it is believed, he inhaled the fatal disease. In
the year 1809, being sensible that he was threatened with
some hectical complaints, he determined to spend the en-
suino- winter in a southern climate, but on accoimt of the
multiplicity of his professional avocations that measure
was neglected. He was perfectly aware of the rapid ap-
proach of the insidious disease, and marked all its differ-
ent stages with peculiar accuracy. He wrote for himself
the following epitaph :
Here lies the body of Doctor Moses Little who died aged 45.
Phthisis insatiabilis !
Patrem matremque devorasti —
Parce ! O parce ! liberis.
Which his executor placed upon his grave stone, filling
up the blank of the time of his death with 13th October,
1811.
He left three children, two of whom have already fallen
victims to the same all destroying disease.
- LLOYD, JAMES, DR., for nearly sixty years a dis-
tinguished physician of Boston, Massachusetts, was the
son of Henry Lloyd, Esq., of the Manor of Queen's Vil-
lage, in Queen's County, on Long Island, in the state of
New-York.
His grandfather, James Lloyd, was the first of the fami-
ly who emigrated from Somersetshire in England to Amer-
ica, about the year 1670, and having married a lady at
Shelter Island resided there for a short time, and then at
Rhode Island, but finally settled in Boston, where he de-
ceased in 1693 ; having become possessed by purchase,
and from marriage of a valuable estate in New-York, sub-
sequently the property of his son Henry Lloyd, the father
of the doctor, who removed to, and resided on it greatly
respected during a long life ; having prior to his removal
from Boston married the daughter of a respectable gentle-
man, a relative of the families of Temple and Grenville,
who came to America in 1675, as the executor of his uncle
360 JAMES LLOYD.
Sir Thomas Temple, a former governor of Nova Scotia,
and the proprietor of large landed estates in that province,
in Maine, and in New-Hampshire.
This gentleman is referred to, by Hutchinson in his His-
tory of Massachusetts, as "John Nelson, a revolutioner."
Probably the first person to whom that appellative was
ever applied in New-England ; and which designation was
given him, in consequence of being one of the signers of a
message to Sir Edmond Andros in 1689, then governor of
the colony, requiring him " forthwith to deliver up the
government and the fortifications ;" to the latter of which
he had retired for safety, and heading the Bostonians for
the enforcement of the demand ; and to whom the gov-
ernor eventually surrendered both himself and the fort ;
and whose subsequent disinterested public services, and
severe and long continued suiferings and privations in con-
sequence of them, entitle his memory to be embalmed in
the annals of Massachusetts and New-Hampshire ; from
having at the peril of his life, and at the price of being
transported to France, and for several years imprisoned in
the Bastile, a considerable part of which time he was im-
mured in a dungeon, saved those provinces from a bloody
and merciless invasion, which was then meditated by the
French and the Indians against them.
The books and papers of James Lloyd the elder, which
still remain, indicate that he was a man of intelligence and
education ; of uncommon regularity in the management
of his concerns, and that great confidence was reposed in
him ; while the executors of his will, and the guardians
of his children show, that his intimates were to be found
among those of the most note and standing at that date in
the colony. The traditions of the family also show that
it had been both ancient and respectable ; while one of his
nearer ancestors, having been " Doctor in Physic to Queen
Elizabeth," probably gave a professional destiny to the
subject of the present memoir, who was born on Long
Island in April, 1728, the youngest of a numerous family
of ten children.
At an early age he was sent for his education to Strat-
ford in Connecticut ; where, and at New-Haven, but with-
out entering Yale College, he remained for this object
several years ; at school he became associated with the
late justly celebrated Dr. Samuel William Johnson, exten-
sively and honorably known, by his talents and services
/E. ^0.
S62 JAMES LLOYEf.
this gentleman Dr. Lloyd had in his pupilage been more
intimately connected, than with the other professors ; as for
twelve months he had constantly attended him as an assist-
ant in the duties of the hospital, or as technically denomi-
nated, his first dresser.
It was a custom at that time which probably may yet
be continued, after the students had gone through the usual
routine of lectures, and conducted unexceptionably, to
give them at tlie end of their terms, a certificate in a print-
ed form, stating only in writing the single characteristic of
their conduct ; the blank left for which, was generally
filled, if deserved, with the words " diligently," or
" carefully" as applied to their attendance ; this Mr.
Warner considered as a too feeble, and common-place tes-
timonial, to do justice to the merits and acquirements of
Dr. Lloyd ; to whom on taking leave of him he volunteer-
ed, in presenting the following autograph certificate.
Guy^s Hospital^ London, March, 1752.
These are to certify, that Mr. James Lloyd, hath diligent-
ly attended the Hospital under me as a dresser, and the lec-
tures of anatomy and surgery for one year ; during which
time, he hath behaved with the utmost diligence and care.
And as I know him to be perfectly well qualified in his
profession, I think it incumbent on me to recommend him
in the strongest manner I am capable of ; and should think
myself happy, was it in my power to serve him further.
Witness my hand,
JOSEPH WARNER.
During his attendance on the hospitals. Dr. Lloyd was
the contemporary of John Hunter, afterwards distinguish-
ed as the first surgeon, physiologist and anatomist of his
age, and made not only the acquaintance of this gentle-
man, but of most of the prominent medical men in Lon-
don at that time, with many of whom he subsequently
long continued in friendly and professional correspond-
ence.
In 1752, Dr. Lloyd returned to America, with a high
degree of reputation from his deportment, while previously
resident at Boston, and the character he had acquired in
his attendance on the hospitals in London, and shortly at-
tained to extensive professional employment ; in the pro-
secution of which, he adopted t!ie modern practice then
existing in England, and especially in surgery and midwife-
JA.MES LLOYD. 363
ry ; in the former introducing the much improved meth-
od of amputation of Chesselden, by the double, instead of
the single incision ; and it is believed Avas the first prac-
titioner of surgery in Boston, if not in New-England,
w^ho performed the hazardous operation of lithotomy ;
and also the first v^dio substituted ligatures, in lieu of sear-
ing the mouths of the arteries by actual cautery, as had
been previously in use ; the latter a mode of practice at
all times dangerous, and not unfrcquently fatal in its con-
sequences to the patient, from the sloughing of the surface
of the wound, and the exfoliation of the bone.
Not long after his return, he was appointed Surgeon of
Castle William in the harbor of Boston, now Fort Inde-
pendence ; at that time a garrison station, and depot for
the king's troops, on the various changes of the British
forces, as it was needful to transfer them, from one post
to another in the colonies ; during his holding this station
Sir William Howe, then an officer in the army of Genera!
Amherst, part of which, after the reduction of Louisbourg,
had been ordered to the Lakes, in a severe and dangerous
illness fell under the immediate care of Dr. Lloyd, his re-
covery from which, he always gratefully and publicly at-
tributed to the skill and unceasing attention of his young
]>hysician.
The increasing professional calls on Dr. Lloyd, soon
obliged him to retire from the Castle ; and when the pro-
posal was agitated of a general inoculation for the small-
pox in Boston in 1764, and was again the subject of much
apprehension, opposition, and superstitious excitement. Dr.
Lloyd became a strenuous advocate for its adoption ; and
on its being permitted by the municipal authority, the
applications to him for inoculation, in which he was greatly
successful, were so numerous as to deprive him of the [phy-
sical ability to comply with them, as promptly as was desir-
ed, although aided by the able and intelligent students tlien
with him, Drs. Rand senior, and Jeffries ; he inoculated
five hundred persons in one day, as stated by the former
of those respectable gentlemen.
At this period his profession employed all his time, and
his practice became more extended, than had been known
to have been before possessed by any physician in Boston ; it
being said, that in the course of the year, he scarcely enjoy-
ed an undisturbed night's rest ; and that the inhabitants of
the street in which he resided, as regularly expected to
364 JAMES LLOYD.
hear during the stillness of the night, the well-known
clatter of his horse's feet, as the cry of the watchman.
To this animal the doctor was always much attached, and
was not only a good master to it, but an excellent judge of
its properties, as well as an able and graceful horseman to
a late period of his life ; and even until his decease, when
something more than an octogenarian, he continued to be
remarked for the beauty and goodness of his horses.
From the date just referred to, or from about 1758 to
1775, the medical engagements of Dr. Lloyd were as ac-
ceptable as could have been desired, while many pupils
were attracted to him for the benefit of his instruction,
and the advantage of witnessing his practice ; the exact
number of these cannot now be ascertained, as neither a
list of them has been kept, nor his professional books pre-
served ; they are known however to have been numerous,
several of them to have possessed great merit, and some of
them to have attained to great distinction. Among those
justly entitled to be thus characterized, may be named,
Major General Joseph Warren, who immortalized his fame,
by his patriotic death at Bunker's Hill ; Dr. Isaac Rand,
senior, Dr. John Jeffries, Dr. John Clarke, and Theodore
Parsons.
On the arrival of the British troops in Boston, in 1775,
under the command of General Howe, he immediately
sought out, and renewed his acquaintance with his former
physician ; and together with Lord Percy, subsequently
the Duke of Northumberland, who had become the tenant
of Dr. Lloyd, from occupying an estate adjoining his own,
now the property of Gardiner Greene, Esq., and then un-
der his care from belonging to his relation William Vas-
sal, afforded to him every accommodation, the circum-
stances of a beleagured and garrisoned town under martial
law would admit ; and from his having remained in Bos-
ton during the siege, into which the smallpox was intro-
duced by the soldiery, he was happily enabled from his
influence with those officers, to aid in procuring permiss-
ion for a general inoculation, which after being some time
refused, from an apprehension of its effects on the troops
then exposed to an attack at any moment, was eventually
granted ; when he renewedly devoted himself, to relieving
and guarding his fellow citizens from this pestilential
distemper.
JAMES LLOYD. 3G5
On, or before tlie evacuation of the town, many of tlie
connexions and friends of Dr. Lloyd, from being in the
employment of the government ; the possession of estates
in the British West Indies ; or from other causes left the
country ; the Doctor was urged to pursue the same
course, and to take up his future residence in London,
where he was assured of professional patronage and sup-
port ; this he declined to do, having determined to remain
at Boston.
Lnmersed in the labors of his profession, and interfering
no further in political discussions, than to express his sen-
timents as an individual when called for ; not theorizing as
to the future, and seeing the country at large generally
happy, and rapidly increasing, and enjoying himself great
prosperity, it could not be a matter of surprise, that with
many others, and some of them among the prominent and
patriotic actors in the early scenes of that day, he should
have thought that the most suitable hour for final separa-
tion had not arrived ; that the fruit was not sufficiently
matured to be plucked from the j:)arent tree ; and that a
course less decisive might have procured a redress of
grievances,^with a repeal of the oppressive measures of the
British government, and have ensured for a still further
time, the tranquillity and happiness of the country, with-
out passing for their attainment through the hazards of a
revolution.
The error of tliese opinions, the event has amply proved ;
but as the results of an honest independence of judgment
they were never disguised by Dr. Lloyd ; without, how-
ever, his seeking to find for them either advocates or pro-
selytes, and accompanied also with the avowal, that if lie
did not wholly coincide with a majority of his country-
men, in the expediency of the measures they pursued, his
fortunes were embarked in the same venture with theirs,
and would not be counteracted by him. Exempted by his
profession from military duty, and taking no active part
in political life, this disposition could alone be evinced in
an obedience to the laws, tlie countenance of some of his
younger friends in the American service, and in meeting,
when required, his proportionate contributions to the
public necessities ; which he always did, promptly and
without a murmur.
But although ever exulting in the growing greatness of
the land of his nativity and his residence, it was scarcely
566 JAMES LLOYD.
to be expected, that in the vivid periods of revolutionary
excitement, sentiments qualified even as these were, should
not have been to a certain extent unpopular, if not obnox-
ious to suspicion. If this were the case for a short time,
the integrity of his character, and the manly unreserved
consistency of his conduct, speedily dissipated all unfa-
vorable imputations, and secured for him the continued
regard and confidence of his friends, and the respect of the
public ; and of so little weight was any such impression
when it would have most strongly existed, that the first
house entered by the veteran and intrepid American
Orion,* when in 1776 with the army from Cambridge, he
marched into Boston, to take possession of the toAvn, on
its evacuation by the British, was that of his friend the
Doctor, to inquire of his welfare, and that of his family,
during their protracted confinement, and to take up his
abode with them for a short period.
And of the estimation entertained, not only of himself,
but of his more immediate connexions, by those who had
known both him and them, long and well, not only prior
to, but at the commencement, the progress, and issue of
the revolutionary contest, some opinion may be formed
from the following extract of a letter from the late Presi-
dent Adams to the son of Dr. Lloyd, under date of January
28, 1815, in which he writes :
" Although I have no recollection that I ever met you
in society more than once, and that I presume was the in-
stance you have recorded, yet I feel as if I was intimately
acquainted with you ; the want of familiarity betAveen us I
regret, not only because I have known, esteemed, and I
may say loved, your family from an early age ; but espe-
cially— " for other reasons, which this venerated statesman
then assigned, but which having only a personal reference
to the gentleman to whom they were addressed, are irrele-
vant to the present occasion.
Of tlie patriotic and successful leader of the armies of
the revolution, and the earliest President of the United
States, under that benign, and equal, yet efficient form of
government which he assisted to prepare, and give to the
American people, under the influence and impress of his
mighty name ; of the man, equally without compeer or
rival, and standing first on the lists of fame, Dr. Lloyd
* General Israel Putnam.
JAMES LLOYD. 367
was a warm admirer, and to the period of his deatli, a
constant supporter of the system and policy he introduced.
Until the commencement of the American war, the
course of Dr. Lloyd had been eminently gilded with sun-
shine ; he had married at Boston a lady of Scotch parent-
age, of refinement, and considerable intellectual j)owers,
to whom he was strongly attached ; his connexions were
numerous, and of the first standing, embracing a large
proportion of those most conspicuous for wealth, or sta-
tion in the Province ; his engagements occupied all his
time, his medical reputation ranking high both at home
and abroad, with his professional brethren, as well as
with the public ; and to complete this circle of felicities,
he was personally beloved by his friends, and respected
and esteemed by his associates. p
But this summer sea of prosperity was destined like all
other human possessions, to feel its ebb, as well as flood ;
and although not a political partizan, nor probably having
ever attended a political meeting in his life, the tempera-
ment of Dr. Lloyd was one of too great sensibility not to
be affected by the collisions and contentions of the times,
pregnant as they were with momentous results ; the sharp
divisions of sentiment between friends of long standing ;
the emigration of his family connexions ; and perhaps
even more than these, the loss at nearly the same time, of
two of his children, sons who were just reaching their
adolescence, with the prospect, as he thought, of affording
him much future gratification, threw a pall over his hith-
erto unclouded course, greatly prostrated his spirits, and
although constitutionally and habitually of a cheerful and
social disposition, caused a depression from which he did
not entirely recover for many years, and induced in him a
strong desire to withdraw from active life, and to give up
or very much abridge his professional business.
This inclination never wholly forsook him, recurring at
intervals with great force ; but continuing in the same
residence, amid families who had been in the habit of rely-
ing on his friendly and professional aid in the hours of
adversity and disease, and who were personally attached
to him, it was not easily to be effected, without a decision
of purpose, alike foreign to his feelings and his habits ;
the consequence therefoie was, that he retained in the cir-
cle of his more immediate friends, a respectable but com-
368 JAMES LLOYD.
paratively limited practice so long as he was enabled to be
abroad, and until witliin a few months of his decease.
That this change in the flattering adventitious circum-
stances with whicli he had been before surrounded, created
in the mind of Dr. Lloyd, no alienation of feeling towards
his country, may be demonstrated by sometliing more
than by professions. From inheritance he had become
possessed of between six and seven hundred acres of the
eastern part of his father's estate on Long-Island in
New-York, called Queen's-Viilage or Lloyd's Neck, then
remarked for the old and fine growth of timber with
which it was covered. This estate, situated about forty
miles, by land or by water from the city, and bounded,
east and north by the sound, with a navigable bay on the
south, (j^asily accessible to shipping, presented too invit-
ing and important an object, either to be overlooked or
neglected by the British commander, with his army coop-
ed up in New-York, hemmed in by the American forces on
every side on the land, and in extreme want of fuel, both
for the use of the garrison and the inhabitants.
A strong detachment of troops was therefore sent on to
the estate, who took and retained military possession of it,
as long as the British army remained in that vicinity ; and
stripping the neck, about three thousand acres in extent,
of its wood, forming its greatest value, of a growth coeval
with the first settlement of tlie country, yielding from
thirty-five to forty cords the acre, and which had been
preserved with great care, it furnished so abundant a sup-
ply of fuel, as not only to meet the wants of the troops,
but as was said, to give handsome fortunes to some of
those, who iiaving a commodity thus indispensable under
their exclusive control, were enabled to dole out the sur-
plus beyond the wants of the army, to the destitute and
distressed inhabitants of the city, at prices far beyond its
accustomed value.
A few years after the termination of the revolutionary
war, when compensation was made by the British govern-
ment to those who had suffiered in their property under
it, Dr. Lloyd was strongly advised by his friends in Eng-
land to visit that country, and prefer a claim for the wood
that had been taken from his estate on Long-Island. After
consulting the late Judge Lowell, a friend of many years,
and on whose good judgment the doctor placed great re-
liance, as to the propriety and expediency of doing this ;
JAMES LLOYB. 269
and preparing the needful documents under the direction
of this distinguished jurist, Dr. Lloyd visited England for
that purpose in 1789.
On his arrival he was received with great kindness and
cordiality by his former friends, who also manifested
every disposition to aid him in the recovery of his claim ;
after an examination of Avhich, a single, but apparently
an insuperable objection was stated to exist against its
allowance ; this was, that as the remuneration was grant-
ed to British subjects, he must avow himself to be one,
before he could receive a proportion of it. As the declara-
tion of independence had conclusively settled that ques-
tion in his mind, he at once declined doing this ; after a
time it was however suggested from a source whicli, though
not official, was entitled to respect, that if he would state
an intention of becoming a British subject at some future
period, the difficulty might probably be gotten over, and
compensation be awarded him.
To this he also replied that having no such design in
contemplation, he could neither affirm nor intimate it ;
the object of his voyage in consequence wholly failed, and
in about twelve months after his departure he returned
home, sustained for the inconvenience and expense of his
absence by a consolation, not without its value, which
was derived from the gratification of his having met
the wishes of his friends in his efforts to promote the
interests of his family ; and from the preservation of a
conscious integrity, of greater wortii to him, than the
treasures of the exchequer.
In 1800 the invaluable discovery of the preventive
power of vaccination was made known to the civilized
world by Dr. Edward Jenner of Gloucestershire in Eng-
land ; who by so doing, and by his able, and unremitting
endeavors to extend a participation in this blessing to every
region of the habitable globe, has entitled himself to the
noble characteristic of a benefactor of the human race.
Dr. Jenner's first correspondent in America was Dr.
Benjamin Waterhouse, at that time Professor of the Theo-
ry and Practice of Physic at the University in Cambridge ;
to whom he made early, detailed and precise communica-
tions of the nature, the symptoms, and the effects of the
cowpox in its original state, as wftll as in its progress.
and operation on the human system.
47
JAMES LLOYD.
These communications, together with the admirably
colored engravings which accompanied them, giving the
most minute and striking representations of the disease in
all its tints and phases, Dr. Waterhouse immediately on
their receipt, submitted to the inspection and examination
of Dr. Lloyd, with whom he had long been in habits of
intimate acquaintance, and on whose experience, frankness
and good judgment he had an entire reliance.
Fully persuaded of the magnitude of the discovery. Dr.
Lloyd promoted the exertions to introduce the practice of
vaccination into general use in the United States, by his
private consultations ; by his attention to the progress and
effects of the disease in the first experiments that were
made of it ; and by the public professional certificates he
gave of his belief in its importance, its mildness, and its
efficacy.
To literary occupations Dr. Lloyd did not give an atten-
tion, further than was needful to become possessed of the
current, and more popular topics of the day, and of the
improvements and discoveries in his profession ; of the
latter of which he kept himself well informed, and ever
gave to them an earnest observance.
In physic, surgery, and obstetrics, which at the period
of his practice were required to be united, he was distin-
guished for his skill and ability ; having carried to them
a mind more than commonly retentive, and well ground-
ed in his profession, and prepared by a seven years prev-
ious, and assiduous application under the best instruction,
and advantages the time afforded, both in England and
America ; to which were added in after life, an experience
which had not been exceeded in the sphere of his residence ;
and at all times an interest, tenderness, and humanity
rarely equalled.
Except in cases of emergency, he was a cautious rather
than bold practitioner, preferring to mark the indices of
nature in her efforts to obtain relief, and by judiciously
following out, to aid all the minute indications, which the
*' vis medicatrix" could afford him, rather than by hastily
prejudging, perhaps rashly to mistake them.
As remarked in a " notice" published in the New Eng-
land Medical Journal of 1813,* " Dr. Llovd owed much
* By Dr. James Jackson, President of the Massachusetts Medical Society and
Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in Cambridee UnivoraitV.
JAxMEB LLOTD. $ti
to his education ; but he owed much also to the kind-
ness of nature ; to an excellent disposition, and to a cor-
rect deportment. He was endued with senses, which
were remarkably accurate and acute ; with a faculty of
perception unusually prompt ; and as he thought not of
words but of things, his combinations were rapid. He
read the language of nature with the eye of watchful
intelligence, and ministered to her aid with the hand of s^
master."
Keenly sensitive in his feelings, he at times sympathized
perhaps too deeply in the sufferings of his patients, espe-
cially when the harrowing siroc of our climate, swept
from the scene of earthly action, the opening buds of
beauty and of promise, he has occasionally appeared to
experience a degree of distress and of sorrow, little less
poignant than that of the nearest relatives of the sufferer ;
but if this propensity, from the hazard it might sometimes
create, of the effect of intense anxiety operating on the
judgment, should in the estimation of cooler professional
men be considered as a defect ; it would at least in a
measure be counteracted, by the sustaining influence, which
a knowledge of such dispositions and interest on the part
of a physician could scarcely fail to excite in the mind of
the patient.
From pretension, jealousy, or sinister projects of every
description, no one could be more entirely exempt than
Dr. Lloyd ; with his professional brethren he constantly
harmonized, his treatment of them being ever courteous,
open and respectful ; with them he could have no conten-
tions, for he envied no man's fame, nor feared his competi-
tion. To the younger members of the profession, more
particularly when he discerned the germs of future useful-,
ness and respectability, he was at all times accessible, and
his counsel and patronage to them were as freely afforded,
as they were constantly solicited.
Few individuals have been more exempt from a selfish
ambition of fame, or avarice of money ; official honors
he not only omitted to seek, but was desirous to avoid, and
at an early period after the institution of the Massachusetts
Medical Society, in opposition to the wishes of his friends,
he declined the office of its President.
One of the first diplomas of Doctor in Medicine from
the University at Cambridge was granted to Dr. Lloyd,
without his previous solicitation or knowledge ; and in
372 JAMES LLOTD.
1771, under the like circumstance?, he was elected an hon-
orary member of the American Philosophical Society at
Philadelphia, probably on the nomination of his friend
Dr. Morgan of that city, afterwards Surgeon General of
the American forces, who had been long known, and much
esteemed by Dr. Lloyd, and who with his family were
domesticated w^ith him when attached to the medical statf
of the army at Boston and its vicinity, in 1776. He was
also a member of numerous benevolent and charitable in-
stitutions, to wliich, although he declined to partake their
honors, he always readily afforded his counsels, and his
contributions.
The very extended practice of Dr. Lloyd, in the early
and middle parts of his professional career, undoubtedly
afforded him the means of accumulating a large estate, but
he was moderate in his fees, and for some years negligent
of their collection : to the poor his services were at all
times most humanely rendered, and ever free from charge ;
not content with this, lie frequently became not only their
medical adviser, but the almoner to their necessities, and
one of the provisions of his last will was, that the debts to
him, from those who could ill afford to pay them, should
be cancelled ; an injunction that was scrupulously compli-
ed with by his executor.
While in the fulness of his business, it is believed he in-
cluded in the list of his patients, every gentleman of the
clerical profession in Boston ; and notwithstanding he had
for many years previously been desirous of narrowing his
practice, many of these revered and respected pastors
aslced a continiiance of his services, and remained greatly
attached to him to the latest period of their lives.
In his person Dr. Lloyd was about the middle stature as
to height, not broad, but erect, compactly formed, and re-
markable for agility, muscular strength, and a resolution
which never faltered. He received from his parents, a
sound constitution, which was confirmed in youth, by
rural habits, simple diet, and the healthful occupations of
the country ; and among them, the pursuit of the deer,
which then abounded at the place of his birth, during
the moonlight nights of the winter, when the hoofs of the
stag breaking through the crust of the snows, left him after
short chaces at the mercy of his pedestrian pursuers :
these gave to him a vigor of health, which never trespass-
ed on by irregularity, and fortified in after life, by tem-
JAMES LLOYD. 373
perance, and by constant exercise in the open air, which
his profession required, remained nearly unimpaired, and
secured to him the enjoyment of this inestimable blessing
with some slight exceptions, for the long period of more
than eighty years.
In his intercourse with the world, he was decorous,
spirited, and gentlemanly, avoiding at all times to
give offence ; but easily excited thougli plac.ible in his
dispositions, promptly repelling it when considered as
so intended against himself ; sympathetic and generous
in his own dispositions, and readily participating in the
feelings and misfortunes of others, not a small number of
those who commenced as his patients, became his personal
friends, and made him, not only their physician, but the
depository of their sorrows, and their counsellor in afflic-
tion.
Fond of society, and of employment ; a familiar inter-
course with his family and friends, and an attention to his
garden, which from a rude hill of gravel, he fashioned
into a picturesque, terraced panorama, ornamental of the
city ; they afforded to him his chief sources of amusement,
and relaxation, when in middle life, he escaped from the
toils of his profession ; and at a later period when in its
decline, he sought in tranquil and innocent occupation, to
smooth the onward progress of his course from time to
eternity.
In the cultivation of this garden, he was a scientific and
practical horticulturist, and which although circumscrib-
ed as to its area, from its position in a densely populated
seaport, he stocked with the choicest fruits the climate
would mature ; for many years, trimming for the greater
part, his trees, his vines, and his bushes, Avith his own
hands, and the grapes, the pears, and the English mul-
berries, the latter a very line fruit when fully ripe, and
scarcely even yet cultivated among us, wliich it produced,
were much prized, and in the vicinity nowhere surpassed.
In making this appropriation of part of his time, he de-
rived a sensible gratification in addition to the pleasing
resource it afforded, from its ena1)ling him, not only to
contiibute to the enjoyment of the immediate circle of his
friends, but from the means it gave him, of occasionally
assuaging the feverish anguish even of hopeless disease, by
an offering of this balsam of nature, to the parched and
burning lips of a dying sufferer ; as well as from a wide
374 JAMES LLOYD.
distribution of the scions of liis trees and vines, to extend
their propagation, and a participation in them by others
as far as they could be supplied ; and many of the pro-
prietors of gardens in the capital, and its neighborhood,
are indebted to the care and selection of Dr. Lloyd for
some of the best fruits they now possess.
Believing that an overgrown estate, contributed neither
to the felicity of its possessor, nor the benefit of his poster-
ity, and that wealth was valuable, not as the end, but the
means of enjoyment, he had no avarice of money, and
was at all times free in his expenditures, and regardless of
them, provided they did not exceed his income ; on this
point he was rigidly tenacious, and without urgent cause
would not have departed from it ; averse through life
from incurring debts, and entering into no speculations,
he was enabled, from keeping an aggregate account of his
annual expenses to regulate his disbursements in this re-
spect according to his wishes ; but while doing this, his
hospitality, although wholly exempted from parade or os-
tentation, was liberal and expanded ; his house being open
to his friends, especially for those of them who had seen
better days, and whose fortunes were on the wane, from
the interruption of their pursuits, the emigration of their
connexions, the event of revolutions, and the unavoidable
casualties, and vicissitudes of life ; for several aged and
respectable persons of this description of either sex, his
mansion was long an Oasis, and probably for the space of
thirty years, a week never passed, without the civilities
and accommodations of his table, being participated by
some one, or more, of these ancient acquaintances.
In domestic life, the conduct of Dr. Lloyd was exem-
plary ; his attention to his lady whom he married shortly
after his establishment at Boston, and who soon became
subject to frequent illness from pulmonary affections,
which confined her to her chamber, exhibited an instance
of the utmost conjugal affection and devotion, as well as
of professional skill, and probably by them, her life was
preserved for many years ; to do this, was to him an ob-
ject of his unceasing care, of his morning thoughts and
nightly vigils ; and for nearly a quarter of a century, he
literally would not suffer the winds of Heaven to visit her
too rudely. To his children he allowed an indulgence so
unlimited, as could alone find its source, and perhaps its
excuse, in the tenderness of his affection, the warmth of
JAMES LLOYD. S75
his feelings, and the external occupations by which, at the
earlier period of their lives he was engrossed. Of his
domestics, he was at all times considerate ; especially in
sickness, when they were sure to receive all tlie care and
comfort he could afford them ; and who in return fre-
quently becoming duly sensible of his kindness, remained
long in his family, in which several of them deceased,
after a service of from thirty to forty years.
The religion of Dr. Lloyd Avas of the heart ; educated
in the Episcopal form of worsliip, he adhered to it during
life, and attended divine service at Trinity Church in
Boston, whenever his professional engagements would ^id-
mit. He was not, however, the slave of forms, or of dog-
mas, but was ever in charity with all sects of Christians ;
believing that those who improved the talents committed
to their charge, according to the best lights of their un-
derstanding, in purity of purpose, and in imitation of the
blessed example of Him who went about doing good,
would, as he trusted, hereafter receive, from an all-merci-
ful and bountiful God, the reward of good and faithful
servants.
Tiie health of Dr. Lloyd, which had remained unbrok-
en for so long a period, a fe v years before his death met
a severe shock from two falls he received, one with his
horse, and the other on the icy steps of his garden ; of
these he said little, for he rarely permitted himself to
complain, but they evidently shook his frame ; from the
time of the occurrence of these accidents, which were not
distant from each other, his strength obviously declined
until the autumn of 1809, v/hen his debility so much in-
creased, as to induce him to confine himself to the house,
and shortly after to his chamber ; occasional slight hae-
morrhages from the .chest supervened, but without any
great suffering ; his prostration of strength gradually be-
coming more marked, until March, 1810, when after a full
knoAvledge of the approaching termination of his course,
and within a few days of his attaining to the age of eighty-
two years, he deceased, leaving two children ; a son, be-
fore mentioned, bearing his name, and Mrs. Sarah Borland,
relict of Leonard Vassal Borland.
Dr. Lloyd bequeathed to his descendants a moderate,
but wholly unincumbered estate ; leaving to them also a
remembrance greatly endeared to those who knew him
best, from an experience of his probity, Ids skill, Ids sym-
S76 JAMES LOW.
pathies and his tenderness ; and still after a lapse of nearly
twenty years from his death, it not unfrequently happens,
that on viewing an almost speaking likeness of him, from
the pencil of the most eminent portrait painter of his
time,* by persons of this description, it is apostrophized
by them in terms of mingled respect, affection and regret.
The concluding remarks in the discourse delivered
March 25th, 1810, on the occasion of the death of "this
excellent physician," by the Rev. Dr. Gardiner, will close
the present biographical sketch, in which the eloquent
divine, after describing the character, and many of the
occurrences in the life of the deceased, observes, " for
most of these, relative to his profession, I am indebted to
one who knew him well,f who loved and revered him
while living, and will never cease to cherish his memory
with the fondest recollection."
" Such, my bi'ethren, was Dr. James Lloyd ; and if the
value of a citizen is to be estimated by his public and pri-
vate utility, this town has never, perhaps, sustained a
greater loss : for nearly fifty-eight ^^ears he was in exten-
sive practice, and there is perhaps no physician now liv-
ing, to whom so many individuals have been under pro-
fessional obligations.
" The public have lost in him a practitioner of first rate
skill and respectability ; polished society, a gentleman of
consummate good breeding ; his country, a firm friend ;
the poor, a most benevolent benefactor ; his own family,
the fondest parent and grandfather ; and his domestics, the
kindest master and patron.
" He has descended to the grave full of years and honor,
an ornament to his profession, and an example to his sur-
vivers, with the esteem and veneration of all who knew
him, and with the blessing of those ready to perish." —
Hon. James Lloyd.
LOW, JAMES, M.D., was born at Albany, December
9th, 1781. His early education was completed at the acad-
emy and college in Schenectady. He then commenced the
study of medicine with the late Dr. William McClelland,
of Albany, and after remaining with him for three years,
proceeded to Edinburgh, where he spent four years in at-
tending the lectures at the celebrated university in that
place. During a part of the above time he was a private
* Gilbert Stewart. t Dr. Rand, senior.
JAMES LOW. 377
pupil of the late eminent lecturer on chemistry, John Mur-
ray, M.D. Dr. Low was graduated at Edinburgh in
1807. The subject of Iiis inaugural dissertation was Teta-
nus, but the writer of this sketch lias often heard him men-
tion that he had prepared one on the non contagious na-
ture of yellow fever ; objections were, however, made to
it from a quarter which could not be resisted, and he was
obliged to select another subject. The standing of Dr.
Low among his fellow students, may be estimated from
the fact that he was elected one of the presidents of the
Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh.
After travelling over many parts of England and Scot-
land, Dr. Low returned to his native country in 1808, and
shortly after commenced the j^ractice of medicine in con-
nexion with his former preceptor Dr. McClelland. His
reputation as a skilful and learned physician, and an able
and expert surgeon, soon became widely diffused and in-
troduced him into extensive business. He was also distin-
guished as a man of science, and became one of the most
useful and active members of the society for the promotion
of useful arts. Among his successful labors, besides those
mentioned below, was the publication, in 1809, of Hoop-
er's Physician's Vade Mecum, with translations of all the
formula?, and the addition of many valuable notes. In
1814, in conjunction with another, he edited Benjamin
Bell's Treatise on the Venereal Disease, adding copious
notes adapted to the improved state of practice in these
diseases.
During the last years of his life his health was much
impaired, and after much suffering he died at Albany, Feb-
ruary 3d, 1822. His loss to society was great, as he bade
fair at one period of his life, not only to be one of the first
physicians in the state, but also to become a leading agent
in promoting the interests of learning. During sev^eral
years he delivered lectures on chemistry with great accept-
ance, and displayed a perfect acquaintance with that im-
portant and popular branch of study. He was a scholar
well versed in the languages, an entliusiast in poetrv, and
a man of extensive and varied information. The follow-
ing is believed to be a complete list of the publications of
Dr. Low.
1. Dissertatio Inauguralis De Tetano. Edinburgh, 1807.
Dedicated to John Murrav and Alexander Macdonald, Esq,
48
378 JOHN MANNING.
2. Account of the Epidemic Pneumonia, which lately
prevailed at Albany ancl other parts of the state of New-
York. Published in the Medical Register, Volume IV .
3. Researches on the Light manifested in the Combustion
of inflammable Substances. Translated from the French
of Count Rumford. Transactions of the Society of Use-
ful Arts, Volume III.
4. Observations on the Moth which proved destructive
to Bees. Ibid. Volume IV.
5. Notes to Hooper's Vade Mecum.
6. Notes to Bell on the Venereal.— T. R. Beck.
* MANNING, DR. JOHN, was the oldest son of Dr.
Joseph Manning of Ipswich, Massachusetts, a respectable
practitioner of medicine in that place for nearly sixty
years, who died in the 80th year of his age. Dr. John Man-
ning was born in November, 1737, was fitted for the prac-
tice of medicine under his father's instruction, and com-
menced practice at Newmarket, New-Hampshire, in 1759.
He returned to Ipswich in 1760, where he continued to
practise in his profession until 1771, when with the laud-
able view of a more finished education he repaired to
England, and visited, as a medical student, several hos-
pitals in London, particulaily Westminster Lying-in Hos-
pital ; attended Professor John Leake's lectures, and re-
ceived his certificate under the hospital seal, declaring
that Dr. John Manning had frequent and uncommon op-
portunities of extensive practice ; also of seeing the method
of treating, and the manner of prescribing for the various
disorders incident to childbearing women, and infants ;
and that he was in all respects regularly qualified for the
practice of midwifery. Dr. Leake has, at the close of his
second volume on chronic diseases, seventh London edit-
ion, printed 1793, included Dr. Manning's name in his list
of medical students. While in London, he made himself
particularly acquainted with Dr. Sutton's improved mcth-
odof treating smallpox, and was himself inoculated in
London.
He returned to America in 1772, and resumed practice
in his native town ; and having erected insulated tempora-
ry hospitals he carried several classes through the smallpox
successfully by inoculation. After the battle on Bunker's
Hill he volunteered his assistance in dressing tlie wound-
ed, was at Cambridge with the American troops, and serv-
ed as surgeon one campaign on Long Island and Rhode
JAMES MC CLURG. 379
Island. Dr. Manning was frequently employed in Boston
as an inoculator of the smallpox, and by his address and
successful mode of practice he overcame tlie prejudice and
opposition which he was called to encounter. As a prac-
tising accoucheur he attained to considerable celebrity, and
was highly valued not only in his native town, but in an
extensive surrounding country, where he was frequent-
ly called in consultation, and he enjoyed the confidence
and affection of the people.
He was for several years a member of the house of re-
presentatives, and constantly adhered to the party denom-
inated democratic republicans. He was a regular attend-
ant on })ublic worship, and always opposed to sectarian
controversies. lii his habits he was undeviatingly temper-
ate and regular. His life was long protracted, and after
about a week's illness he quietly departed in November,
1824, having nearly completed his 87th year. Among the
children of Dr. Manning, three sons have been initiated
into the medical profession, and are respectably estab-
lished.
McCLURG, JAMES, M.D. was born in the county of
Elizabeth City in Virginia, and was educated at the Col-
lege of William and Mary in Williamsburg. He was
highly distinguished for his attainments in classical learn-
ing at a place where at that period this department of lite-
rature was taught by able professors from the English uni-
versities, and cultivated Avith as much ardor and success
as in any other part of this country.
The state of his healtji induced his father, Dr. Walter
McClurg, to send him to Europe before he had attained
the age of manhood, and he devoted a much longer time
than is usual to the study of his profession. He was en-
gaged several years as a student of medicine in Edin])urgh,
where his genius and acquirements were held in the higli-
est estimation by the professors of tliat university, ;md
obtained for him the friendship of the celebrated Drs
Cullen and Black, and other eminent men at that seat of
literature.
In June, 1770, he took the degree of Doctor of Modi-
cine. His inaugural essay "• De Calore," was highly
thought of at the time, as containing profound and oriia-
nal tlioughts on the subject to wliich it relates, and has
been since said to have the credit of first advancinir sonu-
380 JAMES MC CLURG.
of the opinions which have been confirmed by the found-
ers of the French school of chemistry.
From Edinburgh he went to Paris, where he attended
several courses of medical lectures, and he afterward
spent some time in the study of his profession in London.
While in that city he published his " Essay on the Bile,"
a work which at once established his character as a man
of talents and a learned physician, and still maintains a
high reputation, as well for acuteness and accuracy of in-
vestigation, as for a purity and classical elegance of style,
seldom attained by writers on professional or scientific
subjects.
Though strongly advised by some of those who occu-
pied the highest standing among the Faculty in London to
fix in that capital, he returned to his native country about
the year 1772 or 1773, and established himself in Wil-
liamsburg, then the seat of government ; and though in
that part of Virginia there was a number of able physi-
cians, educated in the first schools in Europe, he was in a
short time universally admitted to be at the head of his
profession, and that station, without effort or pretension
on his part, was by common consent assigned to him until
at an advanced age he retired wholly from practice. The
seat of government being removed to Richmond, he
changed his residence to that city about the year 1783, and
continued to reside thereuntil his death, which took place
in July, 1823, at the age of seventy-seven.
In the exercise of his profession Dr. McClurg enjoyed
the advantages derived from the study of the works, in
the languages in which they were wri'tcn, of the most
distinguished authors on the science of medicine, ancient
and foreign, as well as English, from an assiduous attend-
ance on the first schools abroad, and a personal acquaint-
ance Avith many of the most learned physicians in Europe ;
and his profound views of the philosophy of the art, his
intuit! re sagacity, his minute attention to the varying
symptoiiis of diseases in different constitutions and under
different circumstances, the eminent success with which
his methods of treatment were attended, and his humanity
and tenderness towards his patients, while they inspired
confidence, secured respect and affection. Those diseases
of climate most freqiient in the country where he practis-
ed, were necessarily the constant subjects of his observa-
tion, and in the course of a long and successful treatment
JAMES MC CLURG. 381
of them it can hardly be doubted that much public benefit
would have accrued from his publishing the result of his
experience ; and it is to be regretted that he never wrote
for the public on professional subjects after his return
from Europe. This might in some degree be owing to
his pecuniary circumstances, which rendered it unnecessary
for him to engage actively in general practice, but more
to his modesty and aversion to every appearance of dis-
play, which perhaps he carried too far. Had he remain-
ed in Europe, or established himself in one of our large
cities, it is not improbable that his zeal for the advance-
ment of medical science might have led him to a different
course. For many years before his decease he was most
generally employed as a consulting physician, and although
well acquainted with the science of anatomy, and in his
earlier years with the art of surgery, from the beginning
of his practice in Virginia the great delicacy of his nerves
rendered him averse to the performance of any surgical
operation, and in his own opinion unfit for it ; and he
rarely, if ever, performed one.
In private life his habits were studious and sedentary.
Though well acquainted with the modern history of medi-
cal science, his attention, after lie had passed the meridian
of life, was more generally directed to the study of polite
literature. Averse to mixing in crowds, his conversation
and acquaintance were sought after and cultivated by most
of the eminent men who in his time have done honor to
Virginia ; and he took pleasure in improved and intelli-
gent society, where he Avas always distinguished by the
simple dignity and amenity of his manners, the extent of
his knowledge, the solidity of his understanding, and the
brilliancy of his wit ; never obtrusive and always control-
led by taste and good breeding.
Though never a candidate for public favor, he was for
a long time one of the council of state in Virginia. He
was also a member of the convention that formed tlie con-
stitution of the United States, lal his private affairs called
him from Philadelphia before a final vote was taken on
that instrument.
Having had the misfortune to lose first his only son, and
afterwards his wife, a number of years before his decease,
he passed the latter period of his life in the family of his
daughter and only remaining child.
382 JAMES MC CLURG.
In old age his constitution, always delicate, became
more infirm ; but the faculties of his mind remained unim-
paired, and the serenity of his temper undisturbed to the
last. He died as he had lived, universally esteemed and
respected, and most beloved and venerated by those who
best knew him.
Such was Dr. McClurg, and none will deny the fidelity
of the delineation. It has been already stated that his
work on the Bile may be considered as a most favorable
exhibition of his powers, and the curious will revert to it
as one of the early efforts made for the purpose of unfold-
ing animal chemistry, a science since so elaborately and
successfully cultivated. In his introductioii on reasoning
in medicine he fully shows that his views of the study of
physic were of the most extensive sort. He considered
every branch of science as kindred and capable of mutual
illustration. " The sciences," says he, " like the graces,
march hand in hand, and nothing would be more vain
than an attempt to pursue any one of them separately."
He warmly opposed the separation of physic and surgery
as unnatural, and insisted that it would be for the advan-
tage of both to unite them : yet he does admit, as far as
simple dexterity is concerned, the chirurgical art has been
improved by the separation. " We expect," says he,
" that the surgeon should be acquainted with the powers
of the machine, and be able to tell, quid ferat, atque faciat
natura. And thus, his art is so strictly connected with
medicine as to justify the remark of Petit ; and though it
may be useful to practise them separately, they should
certainly be studied together." The interesting paper of
Dr. McClurg from which the preceding is taken, will be
found in the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and
Physical Sciences, edited by Professor Chapman, Vol. I.
The local situation of Dr. McClurg prevented him from
witnessing the operation of that malignant pestilence
which has so frequently desolated our large cities. Yet
his active mind appears to have reflected much on tlie
subject, and with his usual force and discrimination. In
a letter to his friend Dr. Hosack, from whom many of
the particulars of the present article are derived, written
some time previous to his death, in speaking of the nature
of the yellow fever, he puts this query ; " May not tlie
Philadelphia fever, which seems to depend upon lieat for
its exiilcnce, have been ratlier suspendcHl, in some inj^tances.
CHARLES MC KNIGHT, 383
than extinguished by the winter's cold, and have revived
again in a favorable season without a fresh importation ?"
This is a suggestion which has had some little influence,
but its support on the solid basis of facts cannot be
admitted.
i Mcknight, charles, m.d. m.m.s.s. The sub-
ject of the present memoir was born on the 10th of Octo-
ber, 1750, at Cranbury, Monmouth county, New-Jersey.
His father was Charles McKnight, a native of Ireland aiid
son of the Rev. John McKnight, a dissenting minister of
respectability in that country. At an early age he gave
evidence of superior talents, and after having passed
through his preparatory studies with much credit, was
admitted a student in the college at Princeton, and receiv-
ed the degree of A. B. in 1771.
He now commenced the study of medicine under the
direction of the late Dr. Shippen of Philadelphia. Before,
"however, he had qualified himself for the exercise of his
profession, the revolutionary war in America took place,
and young McKnight, with a num1)er of medical gentle-
men, entered the army, considering that the place best
calculated to enlarge his practical knowledge. Here his
abilities soon attracted the attention of the commander in
chief, and lie was in a short time promoted to the rank of
senior surgeon of the flying hospital in the middle depart-
ment. In the discharge of the important and arduous du-
ties of his station, his talents and indefatigable zeal were
equally conspicuous. Although surrounded by the most
discouraging circumstances, and exposed to all the hard-
ships necessarily connected "^v/ith that department of the
American army, he was preeminently conspicuous for the
performance of all those duties, which the peculiar situa-
tion of his country required, and his humane disposition
led liim to undertake.
At the conclusion of tlie war lie removed to New-York,
and married Mrs. Litchfield, only daughter of the Hon.
John M. Scott. Our city could not, at that time, boast
of the medic al school it now has, or his talents Avould un-
doubtedly have procured for him the Professorship of
Anatomy and Surgery. He, however, delivered lectures
on these two ])ranclies of Uiediral science to a numerous
and attentive class of schokirs, while the profundity of his
researcli, and the acutcness of liis genius, gained for liim
the approl)ation even of the most fastidious. In a life of
584 PETER MIDDLETON.
constant activity, both as a practitioner and a teacher, he
continued until he arrived at his forty-first year, when a
pulmonic affection put a period to his labors and use-
fulness.
Dr. McKnight, though eminent as a physician, was par-
ticularly distinguished as a practical surgeon, and, except
ing the late Dr. Richard Bayley of New-York, was with'
out a rival in this branch of his profession. Gifted by
nature with talents peculiarly calculated for the exercise
of the important duties of a surgeon, his education, in an
especial manner, enabled him to attain the highest reputa-
tion. The only production of Dr. McKnight which is
published, is an interesting account of a case of extra-ute-
rine foetus, in the memoirs of the Medical Society of Lon-
don, Volume IV. This case is often referred to by med-
ical writers, and its interest has lately increased by the
discovery of the preparation itself, preserved in a glass
jar and found in the ground of a cellar in New-York. It*
confirms tlie views of those who believe in the entire pro-
duction and perfection of the human foetus extra uterum.
— Hosack and Francises Medical and Philosophical Register^
1^0 IV/'ilX B IT*
MIDDLETON, PETER, M.D. This gentleman, a na-
tive of Scotland, flourished in the profession of medicine
in the city of New- York about the middle of the last cen-
tury, and was one of the very few medical men of this
country who at that early period were distinguished
equally for various and profound learning and great pro-
fessional talents. He with Dr. J. Bard, in 1750, dissected
a human body and injected the blood vessels, which was
the first attempt of the kind to be found on medical re-
cord in America, and in 1767 he proffered his services for
carrying into effect the establishment of a new medical
school in the city of New-York, of which he was appoint-
ed the first professor of Physiology and Pathology, and
afterwards was the instructer in Materia Medica.
In his profession he was learned and liberal, and his
whole life was a practical illustration of his doctrines.
He wrote an able letter on the Croup, addressed to Dr.
Richard Bayley, which was published in the Medical Re-
pository, Volume IX. He was also author of a Medical
Discourse or Historical Inquiries into the ancient and
present state of medicine, the substance of wliich Avas de-
livered at the o]ion!ng of tlie Medical School of New*
CbWARD MILLER. 385
York ; it was published in 17G9, and is an honorable spe-
cimen of his talents and attainments.
This liighly respectable man for a considerable period
struggled with an impaired state of health, induced by the
toils of a laborious practice, and after enduring the se-
verest bodily suffering for more than ten months from a
stricture and scirrhous state of the pylorus, died in the
city of New-York in i7M.- / j </ / ' "
MILLER, EDWARD, M.D., was a native of Dover,
in the state of Delaware. He was born on the 9th of May,
1760. His father was the Rev. John Miller, A.M., origin-
ally of Boston, Massachusetts, who, for more than forty-
three years, sustained the office of pastor of the Presby-
terian Church in Dover, and who died in the year 1791.
His mother was Margaret Millington, daughter of AUum-
by Millington, Esq. of Talbot County, Maryland, a wo-
man of extraordinary prudence, piety and benevolence,
who was removed by death about eighteen months before
her husband. Edward was their third son, and received
the early part of his education under the paternal roof.
His father who was an excellent Greek, Latin and Hebrew
scholar, commenced his instruction in classical literature.
At the age of fourteen, he was sent to the Academy of
Newark, in his native state, which then enjoyed a very
high reputation. There, under the direction of the Rev.
Drs. Francis Allison and Alexander McDowell, he devoted
four years to the diligent study of the Latin and Greek
languages, and went through the usual course of arts and
sciences pursued in colleges. Indeed the academy of New-
ark was at that time a college in every thing excepting
the name. Having completed his academic course in 1778,
he entered on the study of medicine soon afterwards under
tlie direction of Dr. Charles Ridgely, an eminent physi-
cian of Dover, who regarded him as a favorite pupil, and
always treated him with peculiar and affectionate con-
fidence.
He had been a little more than two years with Dr.
Ridgely, when, in the autunm of 1780, fired with that pa-
triotic ardor which he manifested till his latest breath,
not at all discouraged by the loss of a beloved brother,
also a physician, who a little more than three years before,
had fallen a sacrifice to the liardships of the revolutionary
contest ; and desirous also of enjoying the advantages for
medical improvement, which a large militarv hospital cm-
49
38<J EDWARD MILLER.
inently affords ; he accepted the appointment of surgeon's
mate in the army of his country. In this capacity he serv-
ed a little more than a year. In tlie latter part of the year
1781, at the solicitation of some friends, he accepted the
place of sur.oeon on board of an armed ship bound to France.
In this voyage, and in that country, he spent the greater
part of a year. In the course of this time he acquired the
French language, which he ever afterwards read and spoke
with fluency. Towards the close of ViS2 he returned to
his native country. In each of the two following winters
he attended regular courses of medical lectures in the
University of Pennsylvania ; and in that institution re-
ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine, after WTiting,
defending, and afterwards printing, as was then required,
a medical dissertation De Physconia Splenica.
Dr. Miller in the year 1784 commenced the practice of
medicine in the village of Frederica, a short distance from
his native town in Delaware ; but soon afterwards removed
to Somerset County, in Maryland. Here also his stay was
short. In 1786 he returned to Dover, and entered on the
practice of his profession in his native place. Here he
remained ten years, enjoying a large and lucrative prac-
tice, and rapidly growing in knowledge and reputation.
During this time he was not only a devoted and successful
student himself ; but he was unwearied in his exertions to
promote medical science throughout his native state. In
company with his venerable friend, Dr. Tilton, and
others, he assisted in forming the first " Medical Society
of Delaware ;" delivered its first annual Oration ; and as
long as he remained in the state, took an active part in all
the important proceedings of that association.
In the year 1793, when the yellow fever first prevailed
to an alarming extent in Philadelphia, the medical contro-
versy respecting its origin began to attract general atten-
tion in this country. Dr. Miller, though then residing in
Dover, and of course considerably removed from the cen-
tre and heat of the battle, was by no means inattentive
to its nature or its progress. He at that time, from the
best comparison of testimony on the subject which he was
able to make, decided in favor of the doctrine of domes-
tic origin, and wrote a long and interesting letter to Dr.
Rush, stating his views, and the grounds of his opinion.
This letter was afterwards published in most of the Ameri-
can newspapers, and drew from the illustrious man to
ED'.VARU MILLCR. S8T
whom it was addressed, the public declaration, that he
considered its author as " second to no physician in the
United States." It is believed that tho letter in question
was one of the earliest publications made in support of the
opinion which it espoused.
In 1796 Dr. Miller removed from Dover to the city of
New-York. Here he soon conciliated the esteem and con-
fidence of Ids medical brcthien ; and notwithstanding the
many disadvantages vuuler which a stranger engages in the
competition for medical practice in a great city, he suc-
ceeded beyond his most sanguine expectations. His busi-
ness, in a few months, became such as to afford him an am«
pie support, and continued to become more and more ex-
tensive until his death.
In a few weeks after liis removal to New-York, Dr.
Miller, in connexion with his friends, Dr. Mitchell and
the late Dr. Elihu H. Smith, formed the plan of a period-
ical publication to be devoted to medical science. Their
prospectus was issued in November of that year, 1796 ;
and in the month of August, 1797, the first num1)er of the
work a])peared, under the title of the " Medical Reposit-
ory." The commencement of this publication undoubt-
edly forms an era in tlie literary and medical history of
our country. No work of a similar kind had ever ap-
peared in the United States. Its influence in exciting and
recording medical incpiiries, and in improving medical
science, soon became apparent. It led to the establishment
of other and similar works in different parts of our own
country, as well as of Europe ; and may thus, with great
truth, be said to have contributed more largely than any
other single publication to tliat taste for medical investi-
gation and improvement, which has been, for a number of
years, so conspicuouslj' and rapidly advancing on this side
of the Atlantic. Dr. Miller lived to see tiie fifteenth vol-
ume of this work nearly brought to a close, and rejoiced
in the generous competition which it had been so evi-
dently the means of exciting.
Dr. Miller had not been many years established in the
practice of his profession in New-York, before he received
testimonies of public confidence of the most decisive and
honorable kind. In 1803, under the act of the legislature
of the state for preventing tb.e introchution of pcstilenti.il
diseases, lie was appointed " Resident Physician" for the
city of New-York. This office lie continued to hold from
388
EDWARD MILLER.
tliat time, with the exception of a single year, until his
death ; and through the several pestilential seasons which
succeeded this appointment, he fulfilled its duties, as all
acknowledged, with skill, intrepidity, and universal ac-
ceptance. The summer and autumn of 1805 was the last
season in which Dr. Miller was called to witness, to any
considerable extent, the ravages of yellow fever. At the
close of the season, in his official character as Resident
Physician, he addressed to His Excellency Governor Lewis,
a report of the rise, progress and termination of that dis-
ease. To this detail he added an exhibition and defence
of the doctrine concerning the origin of yellow fever,
which, after much inquiry and long experience, he had
adopted. This report was shortly afterwards laid before
the public ; and has been pronounced by good judges to
be one of the most luminous, forcible, comprehensive and
satisfactory defences of the doctrine which it supports,
that ever appeared, within the same compass, in any lan-
guage.
In 1807 Dr. Miller was elected Professor of the Practice
of Physic in the University of. New-York. This appoint-
ment was made in the month of March, he entered on the
duties of the office in November following ; and continued
to fulfil tliem, with increasing popularity and usefulness,
until near the period of his death. In 1809 he was
appointed one of the physicians of the New-York Hos-
pital ; and soon afterwards received the appointment of
clinical lecturer in that institution. To the arduous duties
of these several stations he devoted himself with indefat-
igable zeal and fidelity, and, at the same time, with an nr-
banity of manner, which conciliated the respect and ad-
miration of all who had an opportunity of witnessing
them.
While Dr. Miller was assiduously and ably fulfilling
these duties, and attending also to the multiplied calls of
a large professional practice, he carried on an extensive
correspondence with distinguished physicians, and other
literary gentlemen of eminence, in almost every part of
Europe and America. From Great Britain, Ireland, France,
Germany, and the West India Islands, he habitually re-
ceived communications, which rendered him, in a degree
which could be ascribed to very few medical gentlemen
in the United States, a centre of intelligence for every
thing pertaining to the improvement of the science to
EDWARD MILLER. 389
which he had devoted Iiis life. For this (:orresi)ondciw;e
he was peculiarly qualified. He had a facility and ele-
gance in letter writing, wliich have been rarely equalled,
and perhaps never surpassed.
In 1805 he was elected a juember of the " Philosophical
Society held at Philadeli)hia, for promoting useful know-
ledge.^' The principal medical societies of almost all the
states in the Union also enrolled his name among their cor-
responding or honorary members. And tlie letters which
every week flowed in upon him from all quarters, com-
municating medical intelligence, or soliciting professional
advice, furnished the most decisive evidence of the large
share of public confidence which he enjoyed, and of his
growing reputation.
Thus occupied in public and private business, accumu-
lated to such an amount as scarcely to leave him an hour
of repose, either by day or by night, he was arrested by
that iron grasp of Disease, from which he had so often
been the means of disengaging others ; and to the grief of
all who knew him, sunk under its power. He fell a vic-
tim to an inflammatory attack upon the lungs, which, after
symptoms of convalescence, degenerated into a tyj)hus
fever, which put an end to his valuable life on the 17th
day of Marcli, 1812, in the 52d year of his age.
From the foregoing details it will be manifest that Dr.
Edward Miller was a physician of very uncommon en-
dowments, and that he filled an uncommonly large and
important space in the republics of medicine and literature
in his day. His native talents were, undoubtedly, of the
first order. Nor was his intellectual culture less eminent.
His acquaintance with the best writers in his own language
was unusually intimate and extensive, and hence his own
style of writing had an ease, elegance and spirit very rare-
ly attained. He was also a radical and accurate Latin,
Greek, and French scholar, and took pleasure in maintain-
ing to the end of life a familiarity with many of the best
works in tho^e languages. But in medical science, and as
a practitioner of the healing art, he shone with peculiar
lustre. Dr. Rush, as we have seen, pronounced him " in-
ferior to no physician in the United States."
Dr. Miller's published writings were not numerous. A
few of them were originally printed in detached pamph-
lets ; but the greater part first appeared in the Metlical
390 EDWARD MILLER.
Repository. Since his decease they have been collected
and reprinted in one large octavo volume.
The moral and social qualities of Dr. Miller were
worthy of no less praise than his talents, learning and pro-
fessional skill. His probity and honor were of the most
scrupulous and delicate character. From his earliest
youth he appeared not only to abhor every thing directly
and openly dishonest ; but even to recoil with the most
delicate sense of moral obligation from every species of
intrigue and questionable dealing. This characteristic
became more strongly marked as he advanced in life. If
any measure approaching to obliquity were proposed in
any association of which he was a member, he never fail-
ed to express his entire disapprobation of it, and utterly to
decline taking any part in its execution. Nor could any
thing more decisively induce him to take a final leave of
such an association than the discovery, that it was begin-
ning to be the theatre of cabal, or of any kind of crooked
policy. It may be doubted whether any man ever left
behind him a reputation for integrity and honor more per-
fectly unsullied.
His humanity and practical beneficence were no less
conspicuous. These were manifested througliout his pro-
fessional life, and especially in his attendance on the poor
and friendless, to an extent truly rare. The amount of his
gratuitous services to this class of his patients, has been
seldom equalled in a medical life of eqiial length. But to-
ward all classes of his patients, kindness, gentleness, lib-
erality of feeling and generosity shone with unrivalled
Ivi. tre.
His delicacy in conversation has been seldom equalled ;
perhaps never exceeded. Nothing ever escaped from his
lips, even in his most unreserved moments, to which the
most refined and scrupulous might not listen Avithout
offence. This was remarkably the case even in those
periods of his life when he was less under the influence of
religious principle, than during the latter stages. To say
any thing which might tinge the cheek of modesty, or
wound the ear of piety,^ he considered to be as unworthy
of a gentleman, as it was criminal.
Nor was hi> temperance less conspicuous than his deli-
cacy. He not only avoided the use of ardent spirits, with
a scrupulousness which to some might appear excessive ;
but he was unusually sparing, and even abstemious in the
EDWARD MILLER. 391
use of every kind of drink stronger tlian water. He re-
jected the use of tobacco in every form, not only as an
odious and unhealthful practice, but also as a most insidious
provocative to the love of drinking. Nor was his temper-
ance confined to a sin^-le class of stimuli. It was no less
exemplary, and even rigid witli regard to all the indul-
gences of the palate. Perhaps no man, who, from early
life, mingled so much with all classes of society, was ever
more uniformly abstemious both in eating and drinking
than Dr. Miller.
His superiority to the love of money, was anotlier dis-
tinguishing feature in his character. Had the acquisition of
wealth been his supreme, or even among his principal objects,
he might have died rich. But he was too much engaged
in the studies and duties of his profession, to think much of
its emoluments. It was seldom that he could be prevailed
upon to present an account, and even when it was pro-
duced, his debtors themselves being judges, it was seldom
to such an amount as justice to himself required. From
the great extent of his practice, some of his less intimate
acquaintances imagined that its profits were propoitionally
great. But besides medical services, to tlie amount of
many thousand dollars, which his benevolence prevented
him from charging at all, many thousands more were
either voluntarily surrendered at the solicitation of real
or fancied poverty, or totally lost from having never been
sought after.
Dr. Miller never married. But although he left no im-
mediate family to mourn over his premature death, it may
be truly said, that such was his social amiableness, as well
as his profe>:sional eminence, that thousands, Avhen his
death was announced, considered themselves as having lost
a beloved relative.
Although Dr. Miller never united himself to the chris-
tian church, in what is commonly called full communion,
he was always a firm believer in Revelation ; often declar-
ed his persuasion that the system usually deemed correct
by the denomination of christians in connexion with
which he was educated, is the sys'tem taught in the Holy
Scriptures ; uniformly treated religion as an object of in-
finite importance, and worthy of the deepest veneration ;
and toward the latter part of his life, was employed as
much as his numerous engagements permitted, in the de-
vout perusal of the Holy Scriptures. There was scarcely
392 JOHN MITCHELL.
uny thing which he more disapproved, or which was more
apt to excite his indignation, than sneers or scoffing direct-
ed against religion or its professors.
Perhaps this imperfect record of a distinguished man
cannot be more properly closed than by the following sen-
tences, from the pen of Dr. Rush, who, after having spoken
in the most exalted terms of his professional learning and
skill, concludes thus. " But his principal merit was of a
moral nature. The charm that was constantly diffused
over his countenance and manners, was the effect of the
habitual benevolence of his temper. The silence of pain,
and the eye of hope, which took place in his patients the
moment he sat down by their bedsides, were produced,
not more by their conviction of his skill, than by their
unlimited confidence in his sympathy and integrity ; and
the affectionate attachment and esteem of his friends were
founded in a belief that his deeds of kindness to them were
not simply the effects of spontaneous feeling, but the result
of a heartfelt sense of moral obligation ! Let the profess-
ors and students of the healing art, and the lovers of sci-
ence every where, deplore the death of this eminent phy-
sician and excellent man. Let the friends of humanity
drop a tear over his untimely grave. In the records of
illustrious men who have promoted and adorned the sci-
ence of our country. Dr. Miller will always maintain a
distinguished rank." — S. Miller.
MITCHELL, JOHN, M.D. F.R.S. a distinguished
physician and botanist, came from England to this coun-
try about the year 1700, and settled in Virginia at the
small town of Urbanna, situated on the Rappahannock.
While he was occupied in an extensive practice, he spent
considerable time in the cultivation of botany, and wrote
a useful work on the general principles of the science, con-
taining descriptions of several new genera of plants, which
was published in 1769. In 1743 he wrote au interesting
and original Essay on the Causes of the Different Colors
of People of Different Climates, which was published in
the Philosophical Transactions. He attributes the differ-
ence of complexion in the human species to the influence
of climate and the modes of life ; and thinks that the
whites have degenerated more from the original complex-
ion of Noah and his family, than tlie Indians, or even Ne-
groes. The color of the descendants of Ham, he considers
a blessing rather than a curse, as without it they could not
AMMI R. MITCHKLL. .
well inhabit Afri<a. His principles were afterwards adopt-
ed by President Smith, of Princeton College, New-Jersev*
who wrote a more extended essay on the subject.
lie wrote various other essays, which were pulilished in
the PhilosoplH(al Transactions, and which did him great
credit as a man of genius and observation ; but liis most
valuable production, perhaps, is a paper which lie drew
up on the yellow fever as it appeared in Virginia in 1737,
1741 and 1742. This paper, left by him in manuscript,
fell into the hands of Dr. Franklin, who communicated it
to Dr. Rush. Dr. Rush not only read tlie essav with in-
terest, but acknowledges that he derived from it hints
which assisted him in detecting the true nature and method
of treating the yellow fever, as it appeared in Piiiladelphia
in 1793. Few physicians who have lived in our country,
have been more justly celebrated for originality of genius
and accuracy of observation, than Dr. Mitchell. He lived
to practise his profession nearly fifty years in Virginia.
TJie series of highly interesting papers above mentioned,
including the account of yellow fever written in 1744 by
Dr. Mitchell, with a reply of Dr. Coldcn of New-York to
Dr. M., and a subsequent letter of Dr. Mitchell on the same
subject, were placed in the hands of Dr. Hosack by the
late Professor Rush, a short time previous to his death,
with the intention of their being published in the American
Medical and Philosophical Register. These, with addi-
tional observations on the yellow fever of Virginia, ad-
dressed to Dr. Franklin by Dr. Mitchell in 1745, may be
found in the fourth volume of that work. Few papers, it
is believed, v/ill be read with more interest, particularly
when it is considered how extremely important Dr. Rush
viewed them as affording him new facts respecting the
nature of the same epidemic at the time it prevailed in
Philadelphia in 1793.
MITCHELL, DR. AMMI RUHAMMl, M.M.S.S. was
born at North Yarmouth, District of Maine, May 8th,
1762. He was the eldest son of the Honorable David
Mitchell, who was for nineteen years a judge of the Court
of Common Pleas for the County of Cumberland, and was
repeatedly chosen into both branches of the legislature of
Massachusetts. The subject of this notice was in infancy
dedicated to God, and enjoyed the faithful religious in-
structions and examples of pious parents during the period
of his childhood and vouth. He early discovered a rijjor-
50
394 AMMI R. MITCHELL.
ous and active mind, and particularly a ready and retentive
memory, He had an ardent thirst for knowledge, and
made more than ordinary attainments in classical learning
in the grammar school of his native town. Tiic '' trou-
blous times" of the revolutionary war jorevented his enter-
ing college agreeably to his own desire and his father's
intention.
Before he had completed his nineteenth year, he com-
menced the study of medicine Avith the late Dr. Cutter, of
Portsmouth. While there, a favorable opportunity pre-
sented for going abroad to finish his professional stu-
dies. The America, a 74 gunship built at Portsmouth
by the United States, was presented to the French na-
tion by our Congress as a token of gratitude for the
services rendered in the struggle for Independence, and to
replace a French ship which had been lost on our coast.
Dr. Meaubec, an amiable French gentleman of professional
eminence, had come to this country to return as surgeon
in the America. During his short stay in Portsmouth
he had formed a strong attachment for young Mitchell,
and invited him to accompany him on his return to France,
offering him the place of surgeon's mate. The kind offer
was accepted ; and in a short time they landed at Brest,
where he enjoyed all the advantages which the large ma-
rine hospital in that city could supply. Here he had con-
stant opportunities of witnessing or assisting at almost
every variety of chirurgical operations which were known
at that time. He received while in France every proof of
affection and kindness, not only from Dr. Meaubec, wliose
friendship was abiding and whose conduct truly paternal,
but also from others, and his voyage abroad, with all its at-
tending advantages, was without expense to himself, ex-
cept, perhaps, his passage home.
Soon after his retiirn to the land of his nativity, he com-
menced practitioner of physic and surgery at North Yar-
mouth, where he continued during life. As a physician
and surgeon, his abilities were undisputed ; and in the
early part of his life his practice extended into the sur-
rounding region, affording him constant employment, and
acquiring for him professional fame. His practice was at-
tended with success, and the confidence of his patients in
him was unlimited. If they could procure Dr. Mitchell,
they were satisfied that all would be done for them which
human skill could effect. There seemed to be two causes^
AMMl R. JlITCllKLL. 395
independently of his medical skill, which contributed ma-
terially to his success ; one, his habitual practice of asking
the blessing of God on the means he employed ; the other,
the power which his winning and affectionate manner gave
him of quelling the groundless and unreasonable apprehen-
sions of his patients. Yet when he believed them to be in
real danger, it was his uniform practice to urge them in
the tenderest manner to prepare for the worst.
His memory was uncommonly retentive, his mind well
disciplined, and so versatile, that he could apply it to a
new task every half hour in the twenty-four, if there was
a call for it ; and appear as much at home in each, and
with as entire a command of his faculties, as if that had
been his only and constant study. With all his weight
and influence he had a vein of humor, which sometimes
flowed to excess, and an exhaustless fund of anecdote, the
effect of Avhich was not easily resisted, but would spread
like contagion through the company, even when sobriety
would have been more suitable. His flashes of wit und
facetious remarks rendered him an entertaining associate in
all companies. With his affectionate manner, his winning
address, his obliging disposition, his noble generosity, his
fascinating conversation, and the readiness with which he
could make his way to the heart, he might have allured
thousands to destruction. But he perverted not his gifts
and faculties, but employed his influence in resisting the
tide of human depravity, and in promoting moral rectitude
and the eternal welfare of the human species.
Religion was indeed the most prominent trait in his
character. For thirty-five years he was a preeminently
active member of the church, nor did his exertions in her
cause cease but with life. Dr. Mitchell was a deacon in
the first church in North Yarmouth tweiity-one years, his
father twenty-six years, and the same office was sustained
by his grandfather and great grandfather. His engaged-
ness in the cause of religion and the welfare of the church,
was indeed extraordinary, and appeared to be the ruling
affection of his soul. He was zealously attached to all the
ordinances and institutions of religion, and was remarka1)lc
for his liberal and benevolent contributions, and for his
love and hos])itality to the ministers of tlie gospel. Tho
manner of Dr. IJitchcirs death was somewhat singular.
He was returning home from professional visits, and within
oneiinilc of iiis dwelling was seen descciiding a small hill.
396 JlMMI R. MITCHELL.
and a minute after his horse was seen ascending another
with an empty carriage. The spot was immediately visited,
and he was found a corpse, but without any visible marks
of injury, or of any struggle or convvdsion. This happen-
ed on the 14th of May, 1824, in the 63d year of his age.
Dr. Mitchell knew too well the connexion of religion
with sound learning, to be indifferent to the interests of
literature and science. As a guardian and patron of learn-
ing, he for several years held a seat in the board of over-
seers of Bowdoin College. He was one of the Trustees of
the Maine Charity School. He was among the most lib-
eral contributors for founding an academy in his native
place. There are few situations of importance in which
he has not served the town. Before the part he took in
its municipal regulations, he was its representative ten
years in the legislature of Massachusetts. His knowledge,
accuracy and despatch eminently qualified him to preside
in public assemblies ; and his townsmen availed themselves
of these talents by electing him moderator of all their an-
nual meetings in April and May, excepting one, and of
many special meetings, from 1801 to 1823. He presided,
also, with great dignity and propriety at the meeting of
clergymen and delegates, when the Cumberland Confer-
ence of Churches was organized, and the constitution
adopted. The poor and necessitous always found in Dr.
Mitchell a liberal benefactor. His affectionate attachment
and solicitude in conjugal life can scarcely be described.
As a parent, he was unceasingly affectionate and faithful
to his charge, and, happily for his children, many tokens
of his regard survive him. His private correspondence
was extensive, and his letters were full of piety and feel-
ing. There are some specimens of his composition before
the public, particularly an Eulogy on General Washington,
pronounced February 22d, 1800, and "an Address on Sa-
cred Music, delivered before the Beneficent Musical So-
ciety in the County of Cumberland," in 1812 ; which dis-
play the eloquence of feeling, some beautiful imagery, and
the same savor of piety which characterized most that
he did.
Happy would it have been were there no blighting
traits in the active life of Dr. Mitchell ; but it must be con-
fessed that he was not faultless, there was a want of uni-
formity and consistency of conduct, which bespeaks the
imperfection of human character. Blemishes in those who
GEORGE MONRO. 397
havo rendered themselves conspicuous, always attract pub-
lic observation, and their example is more injurious in its
effects than that of ordinary persons. From some cause,
either an excess of good nature, or too strong a desire to
accommodate, he would give a reluctant assent to many
solicitations, which he ought to have met l)y a prompt de-
nial. There was a culpable negligence in tlie managenu.nt
of his worldly concerns, and a want of punctuality to mi-
nor engagements, by which all concerned sufl'ered much
perplexity, and which greatly embarrassed his own affairs,
and occasioned an incalculable loss of property. A settle-
ment of pecuniary accounts, whether the balance was in
his favor or against him, was equally his aversion. These
frequent disappointments occasioned irritation to the feel-
ings of those concerned with him, and afforded a pretext
for remarks discreditable to his veracity. But we woidd
not too severely censure those foibles in Dr. Mitchell,
which had not their origin in vmworthy motives or vicious
propensities ; and which in their aggregate bear no propor-
tion to his numerous excellences. It appears that during
the last months of his life he was deeply conscious of the
errors upon which we have animadverted, and most feel-
ingly lamented them. That his repentance was genuine
is evident, for he had resolved upon reformation, and
commenced the work with alacrity.
The principal part of the foregoing sketch was taken
from the funeral sermon by Rev. Asa Cummings.
'MONRO, GEORGE, M.D. was a native of the state of
Delaware. He was born in the town of Newcastle, Feb-
ruary 22d, 1760. His father, of the same name, was a na-
tive of Scotland, who had emigrated to this country a few
years before. His mother was Lydia Hall, of Delaware,
a niece of Governor Hall, of that state.
His education in English and in the learned languages
was begun at Newcastle, and continued at the academy at
Newark, in his native county, a seminary of great excel-
lence and celebrity. He studied medicine witli Dr. John
Archer, of Hartford county, Maryland, a gentleman of
much professional respectability, though of eccentric me-
mory. After completing his studies with Dr. Ai cher, lie
attended the regular medical lectures in the University of
Pennsylvania, antl received the degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine from that institution.
398 GEORGE MONRO.
Toward the close of the revolutionary war, Dr. Monro
served a number of months as surgeon in the army of his
country. He was connected with that part of it termed
the " Virginia Line ;" and during his military career was
tent-companion with the venerable General Finley, of
Chilicothe, Ohio.
Immediately after the close of the war he went to Eu-
rope, to avail himself of the advantages to be enjoyed in
the mature medical schools of the old world. After spend-
ing about a year in London, attending the lectures and
hospitals of that great metropolis, he went, in October,
1784, to Edinburgh, where he remained nearly two years,
diligently employed in gaining every species of profession-
al and liberal knowledge, for which the capital of Scotland
has been long so eminently distinguished. The well-
informed reader does not need to be reminded that the
professors who adorned that far-famed medical school at
the time of which we speak, were Drs. Cullen, Gregory,
Black, Home, Brown and Monro. On the lectures of all
these gentlemen he had the privilege of attending ; and to
any one that knew him it would be unnecessary to add,
that he availed himself of the privilege with industry,
with intelligence, and with great success.
Before leaving Edinburgh Dr. Monro received the de-
gree of Doctor of Medicine in that University. On tliis
occasion he composed, and, agreeably to the laws of the
institution, defended and printed a Latin dissertation on
the disease called " Cynanche Trachealis." It is believed
that in that dissertation Dr. Monro first recommended
calomel as an efficient medicine in this disease ; a remedy
which has been since extensively, if not universally, adopt-
ed. Dr. Cullen, in some of the medical reviews of that
day, spoke of this dissertation in terms of the most mark-
ed respect, and more particularly of the remedy just men-
tioned.
Dr. Monro left Edinburgh in the month of July, 1786 ;
and after spending a few months in Paris, he returned to
the United States in the autumn of that year. He first
estai»lished himself on a valuable farm which he possessed
near the town of St. George's, in NeAvcastle county,
where for some years he combined the practice of iiis pro-
fession, with the amusement of farming, of wliich he ap-
pears to have been extremely fond.
GEORGE MONRO. 399
In 1793 Dr. Monro formed a matrimonial connexion
with Miss Jemima Haslet, youngest daughter of Colonel
Jolin Haslet, whose patriotism and bravery during the
revolutionary war were greatly distinguitlied, and whose
fall, at the battle of Princeton, has been so often commem-
orated and deplored among the honored martyrs to tlie
cause of freedom in that great national conflict.
In 1797 Dr. Monro removed to Wilmington, in his na-
tive state, and established himself in the practice of his
profession in that borough. Here, as might have been
expected from his talents and advantages, he soon attained
a high standing. Both as a pliysician and surgeon he was
eminently popular, skilful and successful. No man in the
state, it is believed, had a higher reputation. In this place
he spent the remainder of his life, daily growing in public
Iionor, confidence and usefulness.
Up to the time when Dr. Monro settled in Wilmington,
he had been an infidel. But about the year 1799 or 1800,
his views on this subject underwent an entire change. He
publicly renounced his deistical sentiments, professed his
cordial belief in the religion of Jesus Christ, and united
him elf to the Presbyterian church of Wilmington in fidl
comiunnion. Not long afterwards he was elected a ruling
elder of the church of which he was a meml)er, and to
the end of life discharged and adorned the duties of the
office, in the most exemplary and edifying manner.
Dr. Monro published but little. His inaugural disser-
tation printed at Edinburgh, and a few medical papers pub-
lished in the Medical Repository at New-York, were
all that can now be recollected. They all did him honor,
and evinced a sound, cultivated and rich mind.
The character of Dr. Monro was very strongly marked
in a variety of respects. He had peculiar sensibility of
tem.perament. In his friendships he was warm, constant
and active ; and although naturallj'^ irritable, he was, at
the same time, easily appeased, and ever ready to do good
to those wlio liad offended him. The same warmth was
carried into all his social relations. The attachments of
few men have been more fervent ; the benevolence of feiv
more unwearied.
Dr. Monro was also remarkable for his great simplicity.
It extetulcd to every thing ; his diet, liis dress, his man-
ners, all were as simple as possible. He drank nothing but
water ; and appeared reluctant to spend the smallest por-
400 GEORGE MONRO.
tion of property to gratify appetite, or tlie love of show,
while he gave liberally and cheerfully to every benevolent
object. Indeed so uncommonly large and frequent were
his donations to pious and charitable objects, that he was
generally supposed by his friends to be in the receipt of
a large income ; whereas it was barely sufficient, after
these charities were deducted, to support his family with
the most rigid economy.
Another remarkable trait in his cliaracter was perfect
punctuality to all his appointments. He always made his
arrangements to be on the spot where he had promised to
be, a few minutes before the specified time, and would
wait but a few minutes afterwards, if others failed to at-
tend. And on tjie Sabbath, he never failed to have all his
regular visits despatched, and to be in his seat in church
some minutes before the commencement of public worship.
But by nothing was this excellent man more distinguish-
ed than by the uniformity and fervor of his piety. He
was not only punctual in his attendance in the house of
God, and on every public religious ordinance ; but in
all of them he manifested a spirit of sincere and elevated
devotion truly luiusual. He appeared to drink in the
truths of the gospel from the preacher's lips with the most
marked avidity. Every pious, orthodox sermon, however
plain, was to him a feast. Every one was good ; but the
last always seemed the best. Every thing approaching to
levity or unseasonable criticism in speaking of sermons or
preachers, appeared to give him pain, and to be an object
of his abhorrence. He uniformly carried his religion with
him, too, into the chambers of the sick and dying. He
never failed to seek the eternal as well as the temporal
salvation of his patients. For this purpose he took every
opportunity to converse with them on spiritual subjects, to
pray with them, and to distribute among tliem appropriate
religious tracts. During the latter years of his life by far
the largest portion of his time was spent in devotional ex-
ercises. In fact, all his time not necessarily expended on
domestic and professional calls, was employed in preparing
for eternity. His Bible was always open before him ; and
he seemed to relish no company, book, or employment,
but that which was spiritual and heavenly. He often
prayed in social meetings ; and the prayers of few men
were ever more remarkable for their humility, compre-
hensiveness, variety, and spirituality.
,<p/fy<C/?.€yi^j^(^Af^" (U.^n^Tzeci^r///
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of
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I
402 ^NEAS MONSON.
upon the stage before many of the great modern discove-
ries and improvements had been made, he maintained an
extensive acquaintance at home, and a correspondence with
eminent men abroad ; he procured and studied the most
recent and celebrated works ; obtained specimens of new
and important substances ; made many experiments in
pharmacy and in the kindred branches of physical science,
and allowed no valuable improvement to escape his ob-
servation. He first introduced many indigenous articles
of the materia medica into regular practice, and laid the
foundation for the study of that important branch, which
has since been so successfully pursued at Yale College.
Had he entered on professional life thirty years later, he
would probably have been one of the most successful and
distinguished cultivators of science, which lie always lov-
ed for its own sake ; but his great object was practical
utility, and he hastened to carry to the bedside of his
patients every remedy and every alleviation, the efficacy
and safety of which had been fully ascertained.
His devotion to his patients was unwearied, and the
spirit which prompted his efforts was highly benevolent.
He was the active friend of the poor, the distressed and
the forsaken, and his deportment was happily adapted to
the varying character and situation of his patients. When
immediate danger was not apprehended, and especially
where the spirits of the invalid needed the cordial of
cheerfulness, no man knew better than he, how to dissipate
the gloom which grows out of the habitual contemplation
of corporal infirmities. This he effected by kind and en-
couraging remarks, by sallies of humor and pleasantry,
and by the historical, biographical and characteristic anec-
dotes and recollections, which a life eventually covering
nearly one half of the whole existence of English America,
and rendered the more interesting by personal acquaint-
ance with many distinguished men of the very momentous
epochs in which he lived, had enabled him to collect and
preserve in his capacious and retentive memory. But
Dr. Monson knew also when to be grave, and no unsea-
sonable sprightliness was permitted to appear when serious
danger filled the sick room with anxiety. On such occa-
sions, he was able and willing to proffer the comfort and
consolations of religion ; and in that awful hour, when all
the aids of science and skill avail no more, he could act
.the part of a christian friend and instructer, and in solemn
WILLIAM MOORE. 403
prayer at the bedside of his patient could commend the
departing soul to tlie mercy of God through the Savior
of men.
During the war of the revolution he was repeatedly a
member of the legislature, and for many years in the com-
mission of the jieace. While in public life he actively
cooperated with those who now sleep with him in the
dust, in securing the rights of the people of his native
state. His profession, however, was his theatre of action,
and for the long period of seventy years he was here emi-
nently respected. Such Avas the habitual and even filial
confidence, reposed by the community in his superior tal-
ents, knowledge, skill and professional zeal, that in the
risinor and risen g;enerations this feeling had become almo-t
traditionary ; and it was with extreme reluctance that bis
numerous friends and patients could be induced to relin-
quish his services, even when old age had rendered this
indulgence indispensable. After he became confined for
the greater part of the time to his own house, he was still,
in difficult cases, the oracle for advice and cons»dt;Uion ;
and his capacity and his disposition to be in this manner
useful, continued to the last.
Through his long career of almost a century, when he
had lived until no one remaining in his native city had
survived so long, he found religion the staff of his age, as
it had been the guide of his youth. His habitual trust in
God tlxrough Christ, brightened as he advanced into tlie
full glow of assured hope, and, although his last days
were distressed by bodily suffering, his sun set with un-
clouded splendor, tlie cheering harbinger of a glorious
morning. He died June 16th, 1826.
vMOORE, WILLIAM, M.D. This ornament of the
profession and of Christianity, was born at Newton on
Long-Island, in 1754. His father Samuel, and his grand-
father Benjamin Moore, were agriculturalists. He receiv-
ed Ihe rudiments of a classical education under the tuition
of his elder brother, afterwards Bishop Moore, and Presi-
dent for many years of Columbia College. He attended
the lectures on medicine delivered by Drs. Clossey and
Samuel Bard.
In 1778 he went to London and thence to Edinburgh.
In 1780 he was graduated Doctor of Medicine, on which
occasion he pu])li<hcd his dissertation De Bile. For more
than forty years he continued unremittingly engaged in
404 WILLIAM MOORE.
the arduous duties of an extensive practice, particularly in
midwifery, estimating his number of cases at about three
thousand. He died in the seventy-first year of his age, in
April, 1824.
The medical papers of Dr. Moore may be found in the
American Medical and Philosophical Register, the New-
York Medical Repository, and tlie New-York Medical and
Physical Journal. For many years Dr. Moore was Presi-
dent of the Medical Society of the county of New-York,
and an upright and vigilant Trustee of the College of Phy-
sicians and Surgeons. On his death the college recorded
their testimony to his preeminent worth.
With the consent of Dr. Francis, at that time Professor
of Obstetrics in the College, I insert a part of his notice of
this estimable man as delivered to the class. " Before I
conclude, permit me to pay my feeble tribute of homage
and respect to the memory of the late Dr. William
Moore, recently called from among us by the fiat of
Providence ; a bright exemplar of the various and im-
portant qualifications demanded of the practitioner in that
department of the profession, the duties of which I have
attempted to exhibit. I am persuaded that I do not allow
feelings of personal friendship to prevail over the decis-
ions of the severest scrutiny, when I assert that no member
of our profession has exhibited in his life and conduct a
more beautiful example of the dignity and benignant lustre
of the medical character. Honored for many years with
his friendship, and admitted to the privilege of his con-
versation, I was early taught to look upon Dr. Moore
with a respect and veneration, which all my subsequent
acquaintance with him served only to strengthen and con-
firm. Thousands among us can testify to the mildness
and urbanity of his manners ; to his tender and watchful
regard to the suffering patient and sympathizing attend-
ants ; to his warm hearted benevolence of feeling, and de-
votedness to the good of all whom his eminent attainments
or the lesson of a pure and vmspotted life could profit ; to
his strictness of moral principle, and uniform devotion to
the sacred obligations of religion. It was but a few
months ago, that the governors of this institution were
honored with his cooperation and enlightened by his coun-
sels. How great their loss has been can be known to
those only who were acquainted with the liberality of his
views, and his freedom from every mean and selfish bias.
JOHN MORGAN. 405
Dr. Moore rose to liis great eminence by tlic force of per-
sonal and professional merit. A liberal education had pre-
pared him to commence with advantage his medical pur-
suits, and amid the toil and cares of his lal)orious career
he ever continued to recur with ardor and delight to those
classical studies in which he had been imbued in his
youth. Seldom, indeed, has it hapj.ened that the two
professions were adorned with such attainments and sucli
private excellence, as were exhibited in the instances of Dr.
William Moore, and his brother the late pious and venera-
ble bishop of the church. While we cherish their worth,
let the regret at our bereavement give place to a noble
emulation of their pure virtue and active benevolence."
.MORGAN, JOHN, M.D. F.R.S. was born in the city
of Philadelphia. He discovered in early life a strong i)ro-
pensity for learning, and an uncommon application to
books. He acquired the rudiments of his classical learning
at the Rev. Dr. Finley's Academy in Nottingham, and
finished his studies in the College of Philadelj)hia under
the present provost and the late Rev. Dr. Allison. In
both of these seminaries he acquired the esteem and affec-
tion of his preceptors, by his singular diligence and profi-
ciency in his studies. In the year 1757 he was admitted to
the first literary honors that were conferred by the Col-
lege of Philadeli)hia. During the last years of his attend-
ance upon the college he be2;an the study of physic under
the direction of Dr. John Redman of Philadelphia. His
conduct as an apprentice was such as gained him the es-
teem and confidence of his master, and the affections of all
his patients.
After he had finished his studies under Dr. Redman, he
entered into the service of his country, as a surgeon and
lieutenant in the provincial troops of Pennsylvania, in tlie
last war which Britain and America carried on against tlie
French nation. As a surgeon, in wliich capacity only he
acted in the army, he acquired both knowledge and repu-
tation. He was respected by tlie officers, and beloved ])y
the soldiers of the army ; and so ffreat were his diligence
and humanity in attending the sick and wounded, who
were the subjects of his care, tliat I well remember,
says Dr. Rush his biographer, to have heard it said,
*' that if it were possible for any man to merit Heaven by
his good works. Dr. Morgan would deserve it for his
faithful attendance upon his patients."
406 JOHN MORGAN.
In the year 1760 he left the army, and sailed for Europe
with a view of prosecuting his studies in medicine. He at-
tended the lectures and dissections of the late celebrated Dr.
William Hunter, and afterwards spent two years in attend-
ing the lectures of the professors in Edinburgh. Here
both of the Monros, Culien, Rutherford, Whytt and Hope,
were his masters, with each of whom he lived in the most
familiar intercourse, and all of whom spoke of him with
affection and respect. At the end of two years he publish-
ed an elaborate Thesis upon the Formation of Pus, and
after publicly defending it, was admitted to the honor of
Doctor of Medicine in the University. From Edinburgh
he went to Paris, where he spent a winter in attending the
anatomical lectures and dissections of Mr. Sue. In this
city he injected a kidney in so curious and elegant a man-
ner, that it procvired his admission into the Academy of
Surgery in Paris. While on the continent of Europe he
visited Holland and Italy. In both these countries he was
introduced to the first medical and literary characters.
He spent several hours in company with Voltaire at
Geneva, and had the honor of a long conference with the
celebrated Morgagni at Padua, when he was in the eight-
ieth year of his age. This venerable physician, who was
the light and ornament of two or three successive genera-
tions of physicians, was so pleased with the doctor, that
he claimed kindred with him from the resemblance of
their names, and on the blank leaf of a copy of his works,
which he presented to him, he inscribed with his own
hand the following words : " Affini suo, medico prrecla-
rissimo, Johanni Morgan, donat auctor." Upon the doc-
tor's return to London he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society. He was likewise admitted as a licentiate
of the College of Physicians in London, and a member of
the College of Physicians in Edinburgh.
It was during his absence from home that he concerted
vvith Dr. Shii)pen the plan of estaldishing a medical
school in the city of Philadelpliia. He returned in the
year 1765 loaded with literary honors, and was received
with open arms by his fellow citizens. They felt^an in-
terest in him for having advanced in every part of Europe
the honor of the American name. Immecliately after his
arrival he was elected Professor of the Theory and Prac-
tice of Medicine, and delivered soon afterwards at a public
commencement, his plan for connecting a medical school
JOHN MORGAN. 407
with the College of Philadelphia. This discourse was
composed with taste and jud<i,incnt, and roiilained many
of the true principles of liberal medical science. In
the year 17G9 he had the pleasure of hecinf^ the first fruits i
of his labors for tlie advancement of uiediciii". Five
young gentlemen received in that year from the hands of
the present provost the first honors in medicine tliat ever
were conferred in America. The historian who shall here-
after relate the progress of medical science in America,
will be deficient in candor and justice, if he does not con-
nect the name of Dr. Morgan with that auspicious era, in
which medicine was first taught and studied as a science
in this country.
But the zeal of Dr. Morgan was not confined to the ad-
vancement of medical science alone. He had an active
hand in the establishment of the American Philosophical
Society, and he undertook in the year 1773 a voyage
to Jamaica, on purpose to solicit benefactions for tlie
advance; ent of general literature in the college. He pos-
sessed an uncommon capacity for acquiring knowledge.
His memc y was extensive and accurate ; he was intimate-
ly acquainted with the Latin and Greek classics ; had
read much in medicine, and in all his pursuits he was
persevering and indefatigable. He was capable of friend-
ship, and in his intercourse with his patients discovered
the most amiable and exemplary tenderness. I never knew
a person who had been attended by him, that did not
speak of his sympathy and attention with gratitude and
respect. Such was the man who once filled the chair of
the Theory and Practice of Medicine in our College. He
is now no more. His remains now sleep in the silent
grave ; but not so his virtuous actions. Every act of
benevolence which he performed, every public spirited
enterprise which he planned or executed, and every tear
of sympathy which he shed, are faithfully recorded, and
shall be preserved for ever. — Rush''s Jiccountof Dr. Morgan.
In October, 1775, Dr. Morgan was ap]iointed by con-
gress Director General and Physician in Chief to the Gen-
eral Hospital of tlie American army. He immediately re-
paired to Cambridge, where by direction of Washington
he commenced a new arrangement of the hospital depart-
ment, and instituted examinations of the surgeons and
mates of the hospital and army. The rompiler of this
work passed a strict examination by him. From Cam-
408 ABNER MOSELEF.
bridge he removed to New-York with the army. The
duties of his office were extremely hiborious and em-
barrassing. He attempted to establish a systematic
method of conducting the medical department, and labor-
ed with indefatigable industry to effect the object ; but his
utmost exertions proved ineffectual ; the sick and wounded
suffered for want of medicine and stores which it was im-
possible for him to provide ; unjust clamors were raised
against him, and in 1777 congress removed him from of-
fice without an opportunity to vindicate himself. After
his removal a committee of congress, appointed by his re-
quest, investigated his whole conduct, which resulted in an
honorable acquittal of all the charges exhibited against
him. He died at Philadelphia, October 15th, 1789, in the
54th year of his age.
Dr. Morgan was elected an honorary member of the
Massachusetts Medical Society. He published " Tentamen
Medicum de Puris Confectione,"* Edinburgh, 1763 ; " A
Discourse upon the Institution of Medical Schools in
America," 1765 ; "A Recommendation of Inoculation
according to Baron Dimsdale's Method," 1776. In the
year 1766 John Sergeant, Esq. a merchant of London and
a member of parliament, presented to the College of Phi-
ladelphia a fund for a prize of a gold medal for the best
essay on the reciprocal advantages of a perpetual union
between Great Britain and her American colonies. For
this prize there were nine competitors. Dr. Morgan pro-
duced four dissertations on the subject and was the success-
ful candidate for the gold medal. In 1777 he published
a vindication of his public character in the station of Di-
rector General of the military hospitals.
MOSELEY, ABNER, M.D., was born in the town of
Glastenbury, Connecticut, in the year 1765. His parents
w^ere respectable, especially his mother who was distin-
guished for strength of mind and energy of character.
He received a good early education, took his first degree
at Yale College in 1786, and studied his profession under
his venerable uncle, the highly respected Dr. Thomas
Moseley, of East Haddam, who was afterwards President
of the Connecticut Medical Society. The subject of this
notice, after spending some time with his instructer, attend-
* Dr. Morgan is said to be the first who proposed the theory of the formation of
pus by the secretory action of the vessels of the part.
JOHN MOULTRIE. 409
eel one of the early courses of lectures in Philadelphia, un-
der Rush, Shippcn, Morgan, &c.
After completing his education lie settled in his native
town, from which he removed to Wcathersfield in 1795.
Here he soon found himself established in an extensive
and profitable course of practice, which he continued with
increasing reputation till his death, which occurred in Scp-
tem])er, 1811, in the 4Gth year of his age. Di-. Moseley's
education gave him advantages over most of liis contem-
poraries as a physician, and particularly as an accouclieur,
in which department of his profession his reputation was
deservedly great and extensive. As a man and a member
of society he was useful, active and public s})irited, and
greatly respected. As a husband and father he was kind
and affectionate, assiduous in his attentions, and much de-
voted to his family. In his person he was tall, strait, of a
commanding figure and noble countenance ; he possessed
great bodily strength and activity.
In Dr. Moseley the sick ever found a real friend ; his
kindness, his assiduity, his frankness, his sympathy, and
his efforts to relieve their distress and increase tlieir com-
forts, secured the affection of his employers, and each in-
dividual considered him as his personal friend. lie marri-
ed Miss Wells of Glastenbury, by whom he had a numer-
ous family. She died a few months before him. At his
death the whole town in which he lived was in mourning,
and manifested a scene of gloom and sorrow. Such an
expression of public opinion is the best eulogy a man can
possess, and speaks a language of applause more to be de-
sired than any other tribute however splendid or mag-
nificent.
MOULTRIE, JOHN, M.D., was a native of Europe,
and came to this country in 1733. He established himself
in Charleston, South Carolina, and for forty years stood
at the head of his profession in that city. He possessed
great talents for observation, and was wonderfully success-
ful in discovering tlie hidden causes of diseases and adopt-
ing remedies for their removal.
His death was regretted as a great public calamity. Sev-
eral of the ladies of Charleston bedewed his grave with
tears, and went into mourning on the occasion. The year
after his decease was distinsruished by the deaths of several
women in childbirth. While he lived, they tliought them-
selves secure of the best assistance in the power of man or
52
410 JACOB OGDErf.
of art, in case of extremity. In losing him, they lost their
hopes. Depressing fears sank their spirits, and in an un-
usual number of cases produced fatal consequences. He
died about the year 1773. He was the idol of his patients.
They who had him once, could not be satisfied, in case of
need, without having him again. So great was the confi-
dence reposed in his judgment, that they who were usuallj^
attended by him, preferred jiis advice and assistance, even
on the festive evening of St. Andrew's day, to that of any
other professional man in his most collected moments.
Dr. Moultrie left'a son, John, who was eminent in litera-
ture and medical science ; he was the first Carolinian who
obtained a medical degree from the University of Edin-
burgh, where in 1749 he defended a thesis " De Febre
Fiava." He was afterwards lieutenant governor of East
Florida.
OGDEN, DR. JACOB, was the descendant of an English
family, and was born at Newark, New-Jersey, in the year
1721 . He received the elements of a good classical education
in Yale College ; and after having prosecuted his medical
studies under such circumstances as the colonies then afi'ord-
ed, entered upon the practice of medicine at Jamaica, on
Loner Island. He soon obtained a large share of public pat-
ronage, and was distinguished as an excellent practitioner
for nearly forty years. The sphere of his professional em-
ployment was not limited to his place of residence,
but embraced a large district of the country ; he enjoy-
ed the confidence of many of the eminent men of his
day, particularly of Dr. Colden, and Dr. John Bard, of
the city of New-York. He was an able supporter of the
practice of inoculation for the smallpox, and made free
use of mercury as a precautionary means in the manage-
ment of that disease, according to the popular tlieory of
the time. He placed much reliance upon the free use of
the same medicine in the treatment of pneumonic affect-
ions. A manuscript account by him, detailing his opin-
ions of hydrophobia, is said to be in existence : he main-
tained the utility of mercury in this disorder.
But Dr. Ogden is best known by his letters addressed
to Mr. Hugh Gaine, on the " Malignant Sore Throat Dis-
temper," which is the only printed production of his pen,
so far as can be ascertained. These letters were reprinted
several years after their first appearance, in the New-York
Medical Repository, Volume V. The date of them h
JOSEPH ORNK. 411
Jamaica, October 2Sth, 1769, and September 14th, 1774.
In these letters he has been sufficiently careful to con-
fine himself more er^pccially to a consideration of the
sore throat distemper, without involving the disorder
with croup cr cynanche trachealis, a circumstance
which has unfortunately taken place with some later
and more eminent authors. It is coritested whether the
honor belongs exclusively to him of having first introduc-
ed the mercurial practice in the treatment of inflammatory
disorders in the United States. The venerable Dr. Ho-
lyoke of Salem, Massachusetts, informs us that so early as
in the years 1751 or 1752 he was in the habit of prescrib-
ing this 3iiineral. " About that time, says lie, pleurisies and
peripneumonies were remarkably prevalent and might be
called epidemical." About twenty years before the date
of Dr. Ogden's first letter, he assures us, he adminit-tered
the " mercurius dulcis" freely in the sore throat disease
both in children and in adults. It would further appear
that the eccentric Dr. Douglass of Boston had recourse to
mercurials in the sore throat distemper of 1736. Perhaps
it is most safe to divide the merit of this bold and adven-
turous innovation in practice between Drs. Douglass and
Ogden. The authority of the latter, however, had great
weight in extending the mercurial treatment in the sore
throat affection, and in other diseases of an acute nature.
" While other physicians, says Dr. Francis, were timid-
ly and capriciously prescribing small doses of mercury,
in combination with other articles, for the cure of the
malignant sore throat distemper, Dr. Ogden of Lono- Is-
land with higher and more correct pathological views,
introduced mercurial remedies in this disorder, with a
confidence which his success amply warranted. The hon-
or therefore must justly be conceded to him of having
been the first who in the United States availed him-
self of the free use of mercurials in the treatment of inflam-
matory diseases. His letters on this occasion prove him
to have been a bold and vigorous practitioner, and de-
serve to be referred to as creditable evidence of his attain-
ments in medical literature." After an active and useful
life Dr. Ogden suffered an accident by the fright of his
horse wdiich induced a fatal illness. He died in the 69th
year of liis age.
ORNE, JOSEPH, M.M.S.S. was a native of Salem,
born in 1749. In his childliood he was remarkable for the
412 JOSEPH ORNE.
precocity of his understanding ; tit the age of twelve
years he entered Harvard College, and received his first
degree in 1765. He then began his medical studies under
the direction of Dr. Edvv^ard A. Holyoke of Salem. In
1770 he removed to Beverly, and established himself in
medical practice with a fair reputation and increasing
fame. In 1777 he returned to .Salem under auspicious cir-
cumstances, where he continued in his professional pur-
suits until his death.
Application being made to the venerable Dr. Holyoke
for information relative to Dr. Orne, he, now in tlie 99th
year of his age, replied with his own pen as follows :
" In answer to your's respecting the character of the late
Dr. Orne as a physician. He lived with me upwards of
four years, and appeared to me well informed in the line
of his profession, to which he was diligently attentive.
He resided, after leaving me, several years in Beverly,
where, I believe, he was esteemed as a successful prac-
titioner. Upon his return to Salem, though I had not
many opportunities of seeing his practice, I know he was
in good repute in those families in which he was employ-
ed : but I cannot say that I ever heard that he was noted
as a bold practitioner ; if I did it has slipped my memory.
If his life had been protracted, I have no doubt but he
would have been eminent. That he had genius, wit and
learning is certain ; he was, in my opinion, one of the
best poets our country has produced ; though I believe
he never gave any thing to the public."
As a practising physician Dr. Orne is recollected as pos-
sessing a sound and discriminating judgment, and was
often consulted by his brethren in difficult cases. His
sagacity and medical knowledge were happily manifested
in a case which he pronounced Hydrocephalus internus at
a time when that malady had not been discriminated by
other physicians, and on examination after death his prog-
nostic was found to prove the correctness of his judgment.
His ardor for the improvement of medicine and in enrich-
ing his own mind with scientific knowledge was evinced
by his exertions in importing from Europe the most recent
valuable publications, and dedicating all his leisure to the
investigation of new subjects. That he was not inattent-
ive to the medical remedies of our own soil appears by
an ingenious communication to the Massachusetts Medical
Society. His object was to bring into notice a new article,
JOHN OsBORN. 413
the Heracleum Lanatiim, Cowparsnip, as a remedy in epi-
lepsy. He gave an accurate botanical description of tlie
plant, and detailed five cases in which he had employed
it, iu three of which radical cures were ciiicted.
Dr. Orne possessed not only a taste for poetry, paint-
ing and the belles lettres, but also for natural philo-
sophy ; and had his short sojourn in life been protract-
ed, his talents would probably have been devoted to
the most useful purposes. But insatiate consumption seiz-
ed him as its victim, and terminated his earthly career,
January 28th, 1786, in the 37th year of liis age. That
the public voice duly appreciated his talents and acquire-
ments, will appear from the circumstance, that his name is
found among the first associates in the charter of the Aca-
demy of Arts and Sciences of this state, and that of the
Massachusetts Medical Society, and he was abo a member
of the Philosophical Library Companvin Salem.
OSBORN, JOHN, M.M.S.S. Hon.\vas born at Sand-
wich, Massachusetts, in 1713, and was i^:r;;duated at Har-
vard College in 1737, wheie he displayed great talents for
mathematical investigations. After leaving college he re-
paired to his father's house at Eastham, and spent some
time in a state of irresolution. To while away this inter-
val, and to gratify the wishes of his father, he paid some
attention to divinity. At an association of the neighbor
ing clergy in Chatliam, he delivered a sermon of his own
composition. TJie ingenuity of this discourse, though not
perfectly orthodox, commanded the approbation of his.
reverend hearers.
He next turned his attention to medicine, and being duly
qualified settled as a physician at Middletown, Connecti-
cut. He married about this time ; and in 1753 wrote to a
sister, then living at Plymouth, the following account of
himself and family. " We are all in usual plight except
myself. I am confined chiefly to tlie house ; am weak,
lame and uneasy ; and never expect to be hearty and strong
again. I have lingered along almost two years a life not
worth having, and how much longer it will last I cannot
tell. We have six children, the oldest fourteen years old
the last November, the youngest two years last January ;
the eldest a daughter, the next a son, and so on to the end
of the chapter." The illness he mentions was the effect
of a fever from which he never recovered. The life,
which he thought " not worth having," lasted but a short
414
JOHN OSBORX.
time after he wrote the abovementioned letter. He died
May 31st, 1753, at the age of 40.
He was a very respectable physician, but was more cele-
brated as a scholar and a poet than most of the literary
men of his day. When at college he was distinguished
for his Latin verses, and one of the professors pronounced
his hexameters truly Virgilian. His Whaling Song has
continued to be celebrated to this time, and no whaleman
ever sings or speaks of it but with rapture. He also wrote
a very beautiful elegiac epistle addressed to one sister on
the death of another. Dr. Osborn's Whaling Song deserves
to be pieserved, and is given below.
WHALING SONG.
When spring returns with western gales,
And gentle breezes sweep
The ruffling seas, we spread our sails
To plough the watery deep.
For killing northern whales prepar'd.
Our nimble boats on board,
With craft and rum (our chief regard)
And good provision stor'd.
.:i
Cape Cod, our dearest, native land
We leave astern, and lose
Its sinking cliffs and lessening sands,
While zephyr gently blows.
Bnld, hardy men, with blooming age,
Our snndy shores produce ;
With monstrous fish they dare engage.
And dangerous callings choose.
Now towards the early dawning east
We speed our course away.
With eager minds, and joyful hearts,
To meet the rising day.
Then as we turn our wondering eyes,
We view one constant show ;
Above, around, the circling skies ;
The rolling seas below.
When eastward, clear of Newfoundland,
We stem the frozen pole.
We see the icy islands stand.
The northern billows roll.
As to the north we make our way,
Surprising scenes we find ;
We lengthen out the tciious day.
And leave the night beliind.
Now S3e the northern regions, where
Eternal winter reigns;
One day and night fills up the year,
And endless cold maintains.
We view the monsters of the deep.
Great whales in numerous swarms ;
And creatures there, that play and leap,
Of strange unusual forms.
When we our wonted station gain
And whales around us play ;
We launch our boats into the main.
And swiftly chase our prey.
In haste we ply our nimble oars.
For an assault designed :
The sea beneath us foams and roars,
And leaves a wake behind.
A mighty whale we rush upon.
And in our irons throw :
She darts her monstrous body down
Among the waves below.
And when she rises out again.
We soon renew the fight ;
Thrust our sharp lancets in amain.
And all her rage excite.
Enrag'd she makes a mighty bound :
Thick foams the whiten'd sea :
The waves in circles rise around.
And widening roll away.
She thrashes with her tail around.
And blows her reddening breath ;
She breaks the air, a deafening sound.
While ocean groans beneath.
From num'rous wounds, with crimson flood
She stains the frothy seas.
And gasps and blows her latest blood.
While quivering life decays.
JOHN OSBORN. ^jg
With joyful hearts we see her die, Whpn in tK» u u
And on the surface lay : ' ^^ i y ^ ^"^'^ ""^ ^^' «e<^"'"«'
While all with eager haste apply, I„1:"n.''lr """"i ^""^ ^'"^ °'''
To save our breathless prey. ^ wZ P""? '' °"'- sovereign cure,
^ ■' "C «iowii all care and toil.
M?rT'^^^',nI^- ^^^^' ^o" <"■"'« preceding, was born
reading, and for nlany >-earno.™ssed U.rZ f '"""!"
medical library in the state. H'^^kTowledt be.t private
teria medica was very accurate »nd^v.-^ f *'"' '"*-
to the return of Profesor SiUil fr''"'^''"'' P?^'""^
:«^rt:d''ir''^,f'';''''^^'^''-^'^"^
o ai,d :r L fir'^r cV'^ rj"'''T ■>«"- ""<^^^^^^^^
, duu wdb ine nrst in Connecticut who intrnrlnn^ri +1,^
ant.phog.st.c regimen in the smallpox Pre™ "sjo the
upon IhaTP' ^'"■' "I^K P"'^'/*''^'' I-^ Conda™ nl's Tre" tt
trCt d^i/'^rkTraur u^'^r'"'^ "' \t o'^"' -<'^^"
exertions that "nocllla^^n under'' ce"rS "Li,";"'' '" ""^
mtroduced into Connecticut. He was one ^^7"' T'
of the Medical Society of that "ate ^"^ ^'"""^"'
ly after introduced to a lar Jscene nf ' r^ ^^t^^^ort-
created Professor of ^I.! f r^. of practice. He was
416 JOHN C. OSBORN.
nary disorder in the island of St. Croix, upon the day of
his 'landing, March 5th, 1819.
With liis professional erudition Dr. Osborn united great
literary acquirements, and his knowledge of books was
varied and extensive. These acquisitions he often dis-
played in his courses of public instruction. His view of
^the materia medica as a science was equalled by few, and
hi? knowledge of the actual medical qualities of the native
productions of our soil was a subject which he delighted
to investigate, and in his practice and by his instructions
he earnestly enjoined an acquaintance with these impor-
tant remedial agents.
Dr. Osborn v/as a man of much more science and emi-
nence in his profession than either his father or grand-
father, and possessed a very fine taste for poetry, belles
lettres and painting. While he was quite a young man
Mr. Barlow submitted to him and his friend, the late
Richard Alsop, Esq. the manuscript of the Vision of
Columbus for their correction and revision, previous to its
publication. His taste in painting was highly cultivated,
and he mio-ht have attained to great eminence as an artist.
5. PEABODY, DR. NATHANIEL, was born at Topsfield
in the county of Essex, Massachusetts, March 1st, 1741.
His father Jacob Peabody, who was an eminent physician
and a man of literature and science, removed in April,
1745, from Topsfield to Leominster in the coimty of Wor-
cester, and resided there till his death in 1758. His
mother was Susanna, daughter of the Rev. John Rogers
who was for fifty years minister of B oxford, Massachu-
setts. She was of the tenth generation in the direct line
of descent from John Rogers, the martyr burned at Smith-
field, and she possessed a strong and cultivated mind.
Nathaniel, the subject of this notice, derived his early
education entirely from his father, never having attended
school a day in his life. He also studied and practised
physic with him from twelve till eighteen years of age,
when his father died.
At about the age of twenty he settled in the town of
Plaistow, New-Hampshire, and soon acquired extensive
practice. Early in life Dr. Peabody was a favorite with
the government of the Province, and held several offices
under it. In 1771, when only thirty years old, he was
commissioned by Governor Wentworth as a justice of
NATHANIEL PEABODY. 417
the peace and of the quorum was then and for many years
afterwards much more responsible and important than at
the present day.
In 1774 Dr. Peahody was appointed lieutenant colonel
in the militia. At this time the controversy between the
colonies and the parent country had approached its crisis ;
the revolution was rapidly dawning, and the battle of
Lexington was fought in the succeeding April. Dr. P.
espoused with ardor the cause of his country, and was the
first man in New-Hampshire who resigned a king's com-
mission on account of political opinions. In December of
this year he with a few others boldly assaulted Fort Wil-
liam and Mary at Newcastle, confined the captain of the
fort and his five men, and carried off one hundred barrels
of powder. This important enterprise was accomplished
at the most fortunate point of time, just before the arrival
of several companies of the king's troops, who took pos-
session of the fort.
During the first three or four years of the revolutionary
war. Dr. P. was constantly employed in various stations
in the legislature, in committees and in conventions ; in
all whicli he appears to have been conspicuous as a leading
character in the affairs which so greatly agitated the pub-
lic mind. His shrewdness, vigilance and activity qualified
him in a peculiar manner for his station ; and it is said he
was eminently successful in detecting and exposing the
treasonable practices of the tories. He was for some time
chairman of the committee of safety, and other commit-
tees, to whom were referred subjects of the greatest im-
portance to the liberty and welfare of the state. The com-
mittee of safety in those days was vested with the highest
trust in the gift of the General Court, and was composed
of men of tried patriotism and integrity. They were con-
sidered as the Supreme Executive, and during the recess
of the convention their orders and recommendations had
the same effect as the acts and resolves of that whole body.
In 1778 he was appointed Adjutant General of the Militia
of the state with the rank of colonel, and in the following
year served in that capacity witli our troops at Rhode-
Island under General Whipple. In the same year, in the
month of January, commissioners from all the New-Eng-
land states, together with Pennsylvania, Delaware, New-
York and New- Jersey, convened at New-Haven by the
recommendation of Congress, for the purpose of regulating
53
418 NATHANIEL PEAEODY.
and ascertaining the price of labor, manufactures, internal
produce and commodities, and for other purposes. In
this convention Colonel P. was one of the delegates from
New-Hampshire. In March, 1779, he was elected a dele-
gate to tlie Continental congress. He took his seat in
that body in June, and immediately became an active and
useful member. In September following he was added to
the medical committee, and soon after was made its chair-
man. The functions of this committee were highly im-
portant and arduous, the whole management of the hospi-
tal and medical department of the army having devolved
upon it. At the commencement of the year 1780, the
country was apparently on the brink of ruin. The public
Treasury was empty ; the paper currency had almost en-
tirely lost its value ; the public faith had failed ; the army
greatly reduced in numbers, destitute of pay, clothing, and
sometimes of food, was on the point of mutiny ; and
peculation and disorder had crept into the public offices.
In this state of affairs congress resolved to appoint a com-
mittee to proceed to Head Quarters, to consult with the
Commander in Chief and the Commissary and Quarter
Master General about the defects of the present system ;
to carry into execution any plan for conducting the Quar-
ter Master's and Commissariat departments ; to consolidate
regiments, abolish unnecessary posts, erect others, dis-
charge unnecessary officers, retrench expenses, and gene-
rally to exercise every power requisite to effect a reforma-
tion of abuses and to correct the general arrangements of
the departments in any way connected with the matters
committed to them. Of this committee General P. was
an active and very useful member, and his conduct was
approved and applauded by many of the most illustrious
patriots of that time.
In 1780, having been afflicted with ill health, he ex-
pressed a desire to be relieved from his laborious services
ill Congress, and in the latter part of that year his place was
supplied by Woodbury Langdon, Esq. and he returned to
New-Hampshire. But we still find him actively engaged
for the public interest, sustaining various offices under the
government of his own state, as representative in the leg-
idature for several successive years. Counsellor, Senator,
Brigadier General of the light horse, chairman of various
committees, &c. &c. In 1793 he was Speaker of the
House of Representatives, and Major General of Militia>
NATHANIEL PEABODY. 419
which offices he resigned in 1798, and soon after announc-
ed in the public papers tliat he should in future decline all
public trusts. This, however, was at a period of party
asperity, when from his rigid republican principles his
popularity was much on the decline. It would, however,
appear unjust not to confess, that in the numerous public
stations which he sustained during our revolutionary strug-
gle. General P. never failed to manifest unimpeachable
patriotism and indefatigable perseverance. On occasions
of the greatest trials, when our public affairs were almost
in a state of desperation, he displayed a firmness of mind,
a soundness of judgment, and efficiency of conduct, calcu-
lated to dissipate the darkest clouds, and encourage new
hopes and more vigorous exertions. By his enterprizing
and active public services he gained the confidence and
entire approbation of the Commander in Chief.
General P. was one of the chief founders of the New
Hampshire Medical Society, which was incorporated by
the legislature of that state in 1790. In the following
year he received from Dartmouth College the honorary
degree of Master of Arts. The state of his property and
finances became greatly deranged and embarrassed, which
he attributed chiefly to great losses by means of suretyship,
and the plunder and sale of his property through the neg-
ligence, misconduct and turpitude of his agents and sup-
posed friends. These misfortunes resulted in his confine-
ment for delit to the limits of the prison at Exeter for
several of the last years of his life.
General Peabody, says his biographer, was not without
foibles and faults. He was always rather vain and opin-
ionative. At middle age he was almost passionately fond
of dress and ostentatious parade, and expended large sums
for such purposes. He was a fine horseman, and in his
golden days usually travelled with the most elegant horses,
of which he was a good judge and great admirer, attend-
ed by his servant ; and the people regarded him as a per-
sonage of high rank and conse(|uence. But as imperfec-
tion is the lot of humanity, let his errors and faults rest in
oblivion ; let him receive the general amnesty which the
living, conscious of their own frailties, do in charity freely
grant to the dead. His natural abilities, though by some
called " airy and lofty," were of a high order, and, had
he not devoted them so early to his country, might have
raised him to a proud eminence in his profession. His
420 NATHANIEL PEABODY.
perceptions were quick, his invention powerful, his reason-
ing tolera])ly prompt, just and perspicuous, and his mem-
ory remarkably tenacious ; hut he was most distinguished
for his caustic wit and resistless ridicule. These pow-
ers made him more formidable as an opponent, than desi-
rable as an ally, and it is said of him by his contempora-
ries in the legislature, that though not always successful in
carrying his own measures, he seldom failed in an attempt
to defeat the projects of others. At the time when he was
Speaker of the House, his influence Avas so great that by
means of three or four of his associates he ruled the state ;
and letters from some of the first men who flourished at
that period, show the high value which was placed on his
friendship. His disposition was rather hasty, yet he could
bend his will to his purposes, and regulate his passions to
his views. His stock of general knowledge was respecta-
ble. Of national politics his views were liberal, accurate
and often original. From his knowledge of human nature
and the selfish policy of nations, he foresaw approaching
danger and raised his warning voice. His leaning was
always decidedly in favor of popular rights. In his po-
litics he was a democratic republican, and he firmly
adhered to that party.
In early life Dr. Peabody was a good physician, and
practised Avith success and general applause. He contin-
ued to administer to the health of others, till he could no
longer help himself. Patients came to him from distant
parts, and he cured or alleviated many difficult chronic
cases which were beyond the skill of his younger contem-
poraries. His manner, as well as his application, was
always pleasing, and his Avit and humor made him popu-
lar. In his habits he was regular and correct ; he ate and
drank but little, and that of the best ; seldom slept more
than four or five hours, often not over two, and those the
latter part of the night. He was considered by his friends
as a cheerful, sociable, witty and friendly man ; generous,
noble spirited and honorable, never deserting his friends
in the hour of need. He Avas also a patron of enterprise
and merit, and several young men Avere indebted to him
for liberal education, and their subsequent prosperity. A
mind like his was calculated for great changes in popular-
ity and fortune. These changes in early life served to
steel his mind against vicissitudes, and made him a more able
general in avoiding or rccoverins from them. They did
JOSEPH PERKINS.
421
not, however, sour his temper, and cloud his intellect.
He endeavored to enjoy life himself, and by his pleasantry
make his friends happy.
His mental powers were but little impaired by age.
The anguish of sickness and disease he bore with fortitude,
and was rarely heard to complain, till attacked with that
complication of most exci'uciating disorders, which, after
two or three weeks, terminated his earthly career on
Saturday, June 27th, 1823. The able writer from whom
this sketch is an abstract, makes no mention of Dr. Peabo-
dy's belief in the sacred truths of revealed religion, but
there appears too much reason to supjjose that he was a
favorer of infidelity. He was in the latter part of his life
subjected to the annoyance of prejudice and enmities, and
by many of the virtuous viewed in the light of a degraded
character. But observes his biographer in conclusion,
" On a candid review of all the transactions and peculiar
circumstances of General Peabody's long life, from his
cradle to his grave, we are impelled to the conclusion,
that he was a useful citizen, an enlightened politician, and
in times of trial and danger, as well as in the halcyon
days of peace and prosperity, a firm and ardent friend to
his country. — JWio- Hampshire Historical Collections.
N PERKINS, DR. JOSEPH, was graduated at Yale Col-
lege in 1727 ; commenced practice in Norwich, his native
town, and became very eminent in both medicine and
surgery, performing all the capital operations in that part
of the colony. He possessed brilliant talents, and was distin-
guished for scientific pursuits, and for undissembled piety,
patriotism and benevolence. He continued to practise
extensively till near the close of life, and died in 1794,
aged 90 years.
The following authenticated case is noticed by his biogra-
pher as being deemed at the time extraordinary in its na-
ture, and peculiar in its circumstances. In 1761 Abiel
Stark, of Lebanon, was afflicted with umbilical hernia,
from which he suffered extremely, and incarceration
had actually taken place before Dr. Perkins could visit
him. Immediate recourse to the operation for strangulat-
ed hernia was deemed indispensable ; on exposing the in-
testine it was found sphacelated, and the case apparently
hopeless. Under this impression Dr. P. resolved on the
expedient of attempting to effect an artificial introsuscep-
tion. This he accomplished by introducing the diseased
422 ELISHA PERKINS.
part of the intestine into the sound, and finished the oper-
ation in the usual way. About the seventh day after the
operation the patient evacuated the diseased part of the
intestine, measuring eight inches, having small pieces of
the mesentery attached to it perfectly sound. Mr. Stark
enjoyed tolerable health for nine years after the operation,
and died of a palsy. Drs. Clarke and Metcalf, respectable
physicians of Lebanon, assisted in examining the body,
and found the intestine at its union had formed a stricture
a little larger than a goose quill.
^PERKINS, DR. ELISHA, son of the preceding, was
born at Norwich, state of Connecticut, in January, 1740,
and was educated for the profession by his father. He
possessed by nature uncommon endowments, both bodily
and mental. In his person he was six feet high and of re-
markable symmetry.
His ability to perform active professional business was
extraordinary ; he frequently rode sixty miles a day, and
generally on horseback, and this without the aid of artifi-
cial stimulants, never making use of ardent spirits. He
had contracted a habit altogether peculiar to himself.
When making his professional visits and inclined to sleep,
he would hand his watch to a person and throwing him-
self on a bed or couch, give orders to be waked in five
minutes precisely ; if suffered to sleep six minutes, he
would know by his feelings that the time had been exceed-
ed, and whenever the time of sleep exceeded by one min-
ute his rule, he invariably would say that he felt the worse
for it. By this practice he was enabled to ])erform his
duties with three or four hours sleep in the night for many
weeks in succession, though subjected to great fatigue.
Having descended from respectable ancestry, who
long possessed a distinguished influence in the medical
profession in that vicinity, he attained a considerable
reputation and popularity. His acquaintance was very
extensive, and his great liberality and social habits allured
to his house gentlemen from different parts of the country,
and his inquiring mind seemed ever to search for some-
thing new in every sphere which could better the condi-
tion of the human family. He had a happy facility in
communicating his views, and turning to some valuable
purpose such information as he could derive from others.
He made great sacrifices in establishing and supporting an
academy in Plainfield, and other useful improvements in
ELISHA PERKINS. 4S3
that town. He was esteemed as a man of strict honor and
integrity of character.
Dr. Perkins entered with peculiar zeal into a new pro-
ject for the cure of diseases, which gained no inconsider-
able celebrity at the time of its promulgation in 1796.
Conceiving an idea that metallic substances might have an
influence on the nerves and muscles of animals, and be
capable of being converted to useful purposes as external
agents in medicine, he was induced to institute numerous
experiments with various kinds of metals, till at length,
after several years pursuit of the object, he discovered a
composition which would serve his purpose, and from
which he formed his Metallic Tractors. These consisted
of two instruments, one having the appearance of steel,
the other of brass. They were about three inches in
length, and pointed at one end ; and the manner in which
they were applied was, by drawing the points over the
affected parts in a downward direction for about twenty
minutes each time. The complaints in which this opera-
tion has been found most useful, according to Dr. Perkins,
are local inflammations in general, pains in the head, face,
teeth, breast, side, stomach, back, rheumatism, &c. Dr.
P. obtained a patent for his discovery, and traveled
through the country to disseminate his new practice, and
his career was attended with great success. Numerous
cures were eflfected by the employment of the Tractors in
his hands and in those of others. His enthusiasm pervaded
all ranks, and received the countenance of many enlight-
ened physicians and philosophers. Pamphlets were pub-
lished to explain the modus operandi of the new remedy,
and the Professors of three universities in America gave
attestations in favor of its efficacy. The operation was
alleged to be similar in its principles to Animal Magnet-
ism, or, according to some, animal electricity or Galvanism.
The fame of the Metallic Tractors soon reached Europe.
They were introduced at Copenhagen in 1798, where
twelve physicians and surgeons, chiefly professors and lec-
turers in the Royal Frederick's Hospital, commenced a
course of experiments, and reported the result to Profess-
ors Herholdt and Rafn. The experiments, fifty in num-
ber, were deemed sufficiently important to demand publi-
cation in an octavo volume. The professors introduced
the term Perkinism in honor of the discoverer, and assert-
424 ELISHA PERKINS.
ed that it was of great importance to the physician. " We
do not find it possible," say the professors, " to apply with
any justice against Perkinism, the arguments and doubts
which have been raised against animal magnetism. Our
experiments have demonstrated to our satisfaction that
there is a great deal of reality at bottom." This book was
translated into German by Professor Tode, Physician to
the King of Denmark, and thence into English by C.
KampfiiTuller. After the death of Dr. P. Mr. Benjamin
D. Perkins, his son, repaired to London, and securing a
patent innnediately published a tract on the discovery.
Soon after this. Dr. Langworthy of Bath, having recently
returned from America, commenced a course of experi-
ments at Bath and Bristol hot wells, with a view of ascer-
taining the merits of the Tractors. The result was pub-
lished in a pamphlet, containing a collection of cases,
highly creditable, as he judged, to the metallic practice,
with ingenious observations on the theory of their oper-
ation.
In 1804 the Perkinean Institution, as it was called, was
established in London, chiefly with the view of benefiting
the poor by the use of the Tractors. The Right Hon.
Lord Rivers was President, and Sir William Barker, Vice
President of this Institution, and funds to a large amount
were obtained by donations and subscription. In a pamph-
let entitled an account of the Perkinean Institution, pub-
lished in London in 1804, it is stated that the communica-
tions of cases are from disinterested and intelligent char-
acters from almost every quarter of Great Britain, and
that amongst others whose names are attached to these
communications, are eight professors in four different uni-
versities, twenty-one regular physicians, nineteen surgeons,
and thirty clergymen, twelve of whom are Doctors of
Divinity. Tlie cases published amounted in March 1802
to about five thousand. Supposing, says the writer, that
not more than one cure in three hundred, which the Trac-
tors have performed, has been published, and the propor-
tion is probably much smaller, it will be seen that the
number to this time has exceeded one million five hundred
thousand ! In answer to the objection that the cure was
effected merely through the influence of the patient's im-
agination, the promoters of the Perkinean Institution as-
serted that mvdtitudes of cures were performed on in-
ELISHA PERKINS, 425
fants, and even on horses,* where of course such influence
could not be presumed to exist.
Such is the history of the Metallic Tractors. It is to
be considered a singular and unaccountable circumstance
that the remedy should have been consigned to oblivion.
Is it within the bounds of probability that the vast amount
of authenticated evidence that has been produced, should
be resolved into a delusion, a mere phantom of the imagi-
nation ? However enthusiastic the promoters of the novel
discovery may have been, it is most clear that autoptical
evidence was in every instance at command, and miglit
have precluded the possibility of deception. If, there-
fore, Perkinism has shared the fate of Animal Magnetism,
there is no sufficient reason for supposing that its discov-
erer should be placed in the same class with Mesmer, as
he undoubtedly was a man of honorable principles and
character.
Dr. P. directed his benevolence to another object of
considerable importance in medicine. He introduced into
practice a remedy consisting of a combination of the veg-
etable with the muriatic acid in the form of common vin-
egar saturated with muriate of soda.f This diluted with
three parts of hot water in the dose of a table spoonful, he
administered with great success as a powerful antiseptic in
the low state of dysentery and ulcerated sore throat.
During the prevalence of yellow fever in New- York, in
1799, he visited that city, to avail himself of opportunities
of testing by experiment the efficacy of the abovemention-
ed highly antiseptic remedy, believing that antiseptics
had been too much neglected in that formidable disease.
After about four weeks unremitted assiduity in attending
the sick, he took the disease himself, of which he died at
the age of 59 years.
His son Benjamin D. Perkins, who visited England with
the Tractors, died in New- York, in the year 1810. He
was graduated at Yale College in 1794. He sustained a
character^f inestimable worth ; was frank, honorable and
discreet ; in morals exemplary, in religion undissembling
and devout.
* In many parts of the country the use of the Tractors upon Iiorses had berome
»3 general as on the human body, and numerous extraordinary cun^s were certified.
f This remedy is the same as is recommended by Dr. Wright of Jamaica, ex-
cept that the acetic is substituted for the citric aoi'd.
54
455 THOMAS PICKMAN.
PICKMAN, THOMAS, M.M.S.S. second son of the
late Benjamin Piekman, Esq. of Salem, Massachusetts,
was born in that town May 10th, 1773. He was gradua-
ted at Harvard College, where he held a high rank, in
1791. His medical education was acquired under the di-
rection of the venerable Dr. Holyoke of Salem, who has
survived many pupils who had themselves attained emi-
nence in their profession.
Dr. Pickman established himself in Salem. As a phy-
sician he was distinguished for an acute and discriminating
mind, sound judgment and decision. No man enjoyed
more entirely the confidence of his patients. Social,
cheerful and amiable, he was tenderly beloved by those
most nearly connected with him. His literary taste and
attainments, his various and accurate information imited
with uncommon colloquial powers, had endeared him to
a circle of friends, who delighted in his society. By them
his death was deeply lamented, and they will ever cherish
his memory with affectionate respect. Dr. Pickman died
January 2d, 1817.
POTTER, JARED, M.D. was born at East Haven,
Connecticut, September 25th, 1742. His classical studies
were commenced under the Rev. Philemon Robbins of
Branford. He entered Yale College in 1756, and was
graduated in 1760. His medical studies were begun under
Dr. Harpin of Milford, and afterwards pursued under the
Rev. Jared El'u t of Killingworth. He commenced prac-
tice at East Haven in 1763, and removed to Wallingford
in 1772, where he died July 30th, 1810.
Too many physicians throw by their books, or pay lit-
tle attention to them, after they are engaged in extensive
practice. This was not the fact with Dr. Potter, who
was an uncommonly diligent and industrious student, not
merely while acquiring the rudiments of his profession,
but to the end of his life. For many years he kept a
medical school, in which several of the most eminent phy-
sicians of Connecticut were educated ; and it is worthy of
remark that the late Dr. Lemuel Hopkins of Hartford,
who was considered as the most able practitioner of his
county, if not in the state, was his first pupil. Dr. Pot-
ter imbibed much of the spirit of Eliot for philosophical
investigation, and took pains to become well acquainted
with the pi'actice and opinions of all the most celebrated
writers, whether ancient or modern, upon nearly every
JARED POTTER. 427
disease. His reading was consequently very extensive, and
he was in the habit of purchasing annually all the new
medical works, that were considered as valuable. Besides,
for the last forty years of liis life he constantly read the
most distinguished reviews, and other periodical literature
of the day. As a physician, he was a superior judge of
symptoms, and was a very successful and energetic practi-
tioner in puerperal fever, pleurisy, dy>:entery, and other
severe and rapid acute diseases. In cases of this kind he
was esteemed, and apparently with justice, to be superior
to any physician of his time in Connecticut. It is said
that he was very sceptical of the powers of medicine in
most chronic complaints, and for that reason Ids practice
in such cases was rather inefficient, and sometimes almost
inert.
The doctor is well known as having had a peculiar
fondness for discussing questions of speculative theology,
and of the politics of the day ; and when conversing upon
these subjects, Jiis strict command of his temper, and an
uncommon urbanity of manner, joined to a large share of
wit and humor, usually gave him a decided advantage
over most of his opponents. Like his preceptor Eliot,
his practice in consultation was \^ery extensive ; and like
him too, for many years, he was probably the most distin-
guished and influential physician in the state. He was one
of the founders, and a vice president, of the Medical So-
ciety of Connecticut.
Besides his professional eminence Dr. Potter was pos-
sessed of many peculiar talents, which contributed much
to his popularity. It is said that he was always able to re-
collect the name and face of any person who had once been
introduced to him, and the circumstances of their meeting,
whatever had been the time that had elapsed. His great
colloquial powers, and the frankness and candor with
which he uniformly treated his medical brethren, made
his presence and advice, as a counselling physician, always
acceptable and interesting to the attending practitioner.
Dr. James Potter, a kinsman, friend and contemporary
of the preceding, was a physician of eminence, and resided
at New Fairfield. He was frequently a member of the
legislature of Connecticut, and from the similarity of his
name, by people residing out of the state, was often con-
founded with Dr. Jared Potter. No accurate sketch of
his life has been obtained. — Medical Intelligencer.
428 OLIVER PRESCOTT.
* PRESCOTT, Hon. OLIVER, M.D., M.M.S.S. and
A. A. S., was born at Groton, Massachusetts, April 27th, 1731.
He was of the fourth generation from John Prescott, Esq.
who came from England about the year 1640. His father,
the late Hon. Benjamin Prescott, of the same Groton, was
a distinguished statesman and a leading member of the
General Court for many years ; and was once chosen
Agent for the Province in England ; but having never had
the smallpox, and there being much danger apprehended
from it at that time, he declined the appointment. He
died the 3d of August, 1738, in the 43d year of his age.
The subject of this article was then a little more than
seven years old. His mother was Abigail, daughter of the
Hon. Thomas Oliver, of Cambridge, one of his majesty's
council, and a near relation of the first provincial govern-
or of that name.
Dr. Prescott was educated at Harvard College, in Cam-
bridge, and received his first degree in 1750. He was dis-
tinguished at college for his literary attainments and cor-
rect deportment. Soon after his graduation he commenc-
ed the study of physic under the tuition of Dr. Roby of
Sudbury, who had been educated in Europe, was a disciple
of the celebrated Boerhaave, and an eminent physician.
After having completed his preparatory studies in medicine,
he settled in Groton, his native town, and supported for
many years a very extensive practice. As the number of
physicians who were regularly or suitably educated, was
at that day small, and those were settled far apart, the lim-
its of his practice were extended to a great distance on
every side ; so that no person in this country, probably,
underwent more laborious and continued exercise in the
profession than Dr. Prescott, to the time when his services
were pressed into civil and political employment.
Dr. Prescott was enabled to employ a greater portion of
time in the extensive circuit of his professional duty, by
having acquired in early life, what to many persons may
appear scarcely credible, a practice of readily sleeping on
horseback, when deprived of his necessary rest in bed.
On a horse of easy carriage, to which he had been accus-
tomed, and found trustworthy ; and when returning home-
ward, where no danger was to be apprehended lest the
steed should take a wrong direction, he would, when
drowsiness came upon him, brace himself in the stirrup,
rest a hand on the pommel of the saddle, and resign hini-
OLIVER PRESCOTT. 439
self without fear, for miles together, to quiet rej)ose.
This was more particularly the case when on a favorite
horse, of easy amble, which he owned for nearly twenty
years, and which he usually selected for those excursions
which must necessarily extend into late hours of the night.
The writer of this sketch has frequently travelled with
him, and witnessed his sleeping in the manner before de-
scribed, his horse continuing the whole time at the usual
travelling pace. The animal, accustomed to his mas-
ter's manner of sitting, would seem to be conscious of be-
ing left to his own guidance, and therefore to step with
more caution.
After Dr. Prescott was called into public life, until a
short time previous to his death, every moment which
could be spared from public affairs, was devoted to the
duties of his profession. It was well and truly observed
in a discourse delivered on the Sabbath succeeding his in-
terment by an eminent divine who had known him inti-
mately for many years, that " his distinguished profession-
al acquirements, his prompt and unremitted attention to
his patients, his peculiarly tender and pleasant manner of
treating them in their distress, his moderate charges and
forbearance towards the poor, and the general success
which attended his practice, operated to render him for
nearly half a centurj! one of the most popular, while he
was, unquestionably, one of the most eminent and useful
physicians in the commonwealth." His high standing in
the profession gave him a place in the Massachusetts Medi-
cal Society at the time of its incorporation in 1781. He
was also an honorary member of several medical societies
out of the commonwealth. He was likewise President of the
Middlesex Medical Society during the whole period of its
existence ; and many years before his death the honorary
degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on him by
Harvard University.
Dr. Prescott took an early and decided part in the
American revolution, by entering Avarmly into those
measures which were considered necessary to vindicate
our national rights, and by assisting cheerfully and largely
in their defence. He exerted his influence in moulding the
government into its present shape, and remained to the
close of his life its invariable defender. He was very influ-
ential in suppressing the dangerous insurrection of 1786.
He received fronn government many appointments and
commissions. In the militia he was commissioned under
430 OLIVER PRESCOTT.
the king a major, then lieutenant colonel, and colonel,
and in 1775, or beginning of 1776, he was elected and
commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of the
Massachusetts Bay, brigadier general of the militia for the
county of Middlesex. To this office appertained at that
time the diiection and superintendence of the numerous
guards which were raised and stationed at the bridges of
rivers and various other places, to prevent the tories and
enemies of the revolution from all intercourse with the
British troops, who were tlien confined to the capital and
its vicinity, or any improper correspondence with each
otiier ; as well as to answer the repeated calls for drafts
on the militia. These duties, his command including the
whole county, joined to his care in aiding to organize the
town committees of correspondence in that part of the
country in which he lived, made his office and station not
only very responsible, but very laborious.
In 1776 he was chosen a member of the Board of War.
In 1777, " during tiie five years interregnum," when
there was neither governor nor lieutenant governor, he
was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Council
of the state, and served in that capacity three years : in
the fourth year he was unanimously reelected to the same
office, but declined serving.
In 1778 he was appointed the third Major General of the
militia throughout the commonwealth.
In 1779, on the death of the celebrated John Winthrop,
LL.D. F.R.S., he was appointed his successor in the office
of Judge of Probate of Wills, &c. for the County of Mid-
dlesex. This office he retained until his death, giving
universal satisfaction by his remarkable urbanity, as well
as by his able and correct manner of discharging the du-
ties of that important station. In this department he
always appeared desirous of despatching the business be-
fore him, and of preventing, as far as was consistent with
correct procedure, an accumulation of costs. His manners
were peculiarly adapted to soothing the feelings of that
large class, who, in a state of bereavement and affliction,
were called to do business in his court.
In 1781 he was appointed the second Major General of
the militia ; but he considered there was not, at that time,
that urgent call upon his patriotism, which in the earlier
state of the war had induced him to accept a military com-
mand, and he poon tendered his resignation.
OLIVER PRE9C0TT.
431
In the month of February of this year, 1781, Dr. Pres-
cott received from government a commission to " cause
to be apprehended and committed to gaol, any person,
whom you shall deem the safety of the Commonwealth
requires to be restrained of his personal liberty, or whose
enlargement Avithin the Commonwealth is dangerous
thereto." The delegation of such authority and power
shows that government held hini in hio;h estimation for
true patriotism and sound discretion. He was in early
life appointed a Justice of the Peace and of the quorum for
his county, and was for many years a justice throughout
the commonwealth ; and he received several commissions
to negociate business of importance for the state.
Dr. Prescott was incorporated a Fellow of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1780. He regarded
schools and the education of the rising generation as highly
interesting and important to the community. Incorporat-
ed as one of the Trustees of Groton Academy, and first
president thereof, he was its patron and benefactor, em-
ploying his extensive influence to promote its reputation and
usefulness. He was employed in all important town busi-
ness ; served as town clerk for thirteen years in succession,
and was one of the selectmen for more than thirty years.
Dr. Prescott married in 1756 Lydia, daughter of the
late David Baldwin, Esq. of Sudbury, by whom he had
ten children ; only four of whom, two sons and two
daughters, survived him. He was a firm believer in the
christian religion, and, together with his contort, on en-
tering the connubial state, made a public profession, con-
tinuing to the end of his life a conspicuous, influential and
useful member of the church in Groton, contributing much
to its peace, regularity and reputation.
Dr. Prescott was in stature full six feet, and rather cor-
pulent. The versatility of his powers was remarkable.
To the transaction of all matters of difficulty and moment,
he showed himself at once competent. Hence the won-
derful diversity of his attainments, and the surprising
rapidity with which he rendered himself master of what-
ever came before him. He possessed and ever practiced
a peculiar suavity and politenesjs of manner, a pleasant
facetiousness of address, joined to that firm, gentlemanly
deportment, which was well calculated to command both
esteem and respect. His colloquial talents, ready wit,
and fondness for anecdote, joined to a great fund of in-
formation and learning, made him a plea-sing companion.
432 OLIVER PRESCOTT.
notwithstanding his hearing was imperfect for many of the
last years of his life. He died at Groton of a pectoral
dropsy, November 17th, 1804, aged 73 years and about 7
months.
It is not known that he wrote any thing for the public,
in the department of his profession. Indeed, his employ-
ments were too numerous, and his time was too much en-
grossed by public concerns and professional duties, to
afford leisure for composing a book or treatise on medicine.
Dr. Prescott had but two brothers, viz. the late Hon.
James Prescott, who died February 15th, 1800, aged about
79 years, and who was for many years a Senator, Coun-
sellor, High Sheriff, and at the time of his death Chief
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of
Middlesex ; and the late Col. William Prescott, who so
greatly distinguished himself in the battle of Bunker's Hill
and elsewhere, and who died October 13th, 1795, aged 70
years. He had also four sisters, one of whom only lived
to be married, viz. Elizabeth, wife of the late Hon. Abijah
Willard of Lancaster, who was, at the commencement of
the revolution, one of his majesty's Mandamus Counsellors
for the Province.
This article contains but little more than a chronologi-
cal sketch very hastily prepared. So various were the
employments and the offices, which had been held by the
accomplished physician and eminent man, who is the sub-
ject of it ; and so numerous were the incidents of his
eventful life, that much more time would have been
necessary to have filled up the sketch properly, than the
writer could command ; and therefore it is presented in
this imperfect state. — 0. Prescott, M. D.
•PRESCOTT, OLIVER, M.D M.M.S.S. was born in
Groton, Massachusetts, April 4th, A. D. 1762. He was
placed at Dummer School in Newbury, Byfield Parish,
and was there prepared for admission to Harvard Col-
lege, by the celebrated Samuel Moody. This was at that
time the only free school in New-England, if not in
North America. He was matriculated at Harvard Uni-
versity in 1779, and was graduated in, course, in 1783.
Very soon, if not immediately afterwards, he began the stu-
dy of physic with his father, the subject of the preceding
article, and finished his professional education under the
celebrated Dr. James Lloyd of Boston. He passed the
Board of Censors of the Massachusetts Medical Society, as
licentiate, in June, 1786.
OLIVER PRESCOTT. 433
In noticing the professional progress of Dr. Prescott it
is indispensable that some reference should be made to the
times and circumstances of his early life, which con-
tinued to exert a very marked influence on the best period
of his succeeding history. It will be seen by dates that he
was but a youth in the earlier periods of the revolution ;
but he was old enough to understand some of its distin-
guishing features, the moral and intellectual power it was
exerting, and especially would he after no long time learn
that whatever the individual might be in profession or tal-
ent, he would not fulfil his whole duty by a private occupa-
tion. The medical profession had given a noble illustration
of this in the instances of its ablest men, who had left its
duties for those of the field, or made the field the scene of
their professional labors. Educated men of all the pro-
fessions continued for many years after the close of the
war to take a part in municipal or state affairs, which is
quite unknown to those of the present day ; and he who
was faithful in these relations, was not thought neg-
lectful of his peculiar labors, however far his new duties
might take him from the place of his more appropriate
ones. These remarks are neither offered as an explana-
tion, nor as an apology for the course pursued by Dr.
Prescott in his early career. They are made, because they
present a view, an imperfect one it is acknowledged, of a
very peculiar and interesting time of our history, and
serve to show how deep was the whole influence of the
age upon the well educated and able men of that period.
In one year after his admission to the profession. Dr. Pres-
cott became himself an instance of what has now been
briefly adverted to.
In January. 1 787, a regiment was detached from the
third division of the militia of the commonwealth, under
the command of Col. Henry Woods, and together with
other regiments from the several counties, was placed un-
der the command of Gen. Lincoln. Dr. Prescott was
commissioned as surgeon to these forces, and with his com-
mission he received a blank warrant and a request that he
would insert the name of such person as he might wish to
select for his mate. The purpose for collecting these
troops was the suppression of Shay's rebellion, and al-
though this was accomplished in a few weeks, the army
was obliged to traverse the western counties during the
inclement season of that severe winter. Dr. Prescott after-
55
434 OLIVER PRESCOTT.
wards was made surgeon of the sixth regiment of the third
division of the militia, and retained his office till he re-
signed in 1800.
The municipal and state offices iilled by Dr. Prescott,
show the public estimation in which he was held, and the
willingness with which he met the professional sacrifices
required by the performance of his public duties. In
1789 he was commissioned as a Justice of the Peace for the
county of Middlesex, and v/as continued in it by septennial
appointments without application and without interrup-
tion during his residence in that county. He was repeat-
edly chosen member of the General Court of the state as
a representative from Groton, and declined repeated soli-
citations to serve in the senate for the county of Middlesex.
In his own town Dr. Prescott sustained for many years
the useful offices of clerk to the corporation, chairman of
the board of selectmen, and of overseers of the poor, &c.
&,c. In this variety of municipal functions which he
faithfully discharged, there is discovered the deep interest
which he took in the prosperity of his native town, for
they were alike uncongenial with his taste and his profes-
sion. Dr. Prescott is remembered for the zeal with which
he labored to procure for his town and county, the bene-
fits of a more liberal instruction than that to which they
had been accustomed. He was one of the original found-
ers of the Academy of Groton, and was a trustee, and the
treasurer of that institution. When he removed to New-
buryport, he resigned these trusts, and was soon after
elected a Trustee of Dummer's Academy. He devoted a
portion of his leisure to agriculture, and was rewarded for
his zeal in this pursuit by the consideration in which he
was held by the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, of
which he was a member, and by the Western Society of
Middlesex Husbandmen, of which he was President.
It is, however, in his attainments, in his reputation, and
in his usefulness as a physician, that Dr. Prescott's best
claims are laid for a memory among his living brethren,
and for this record among the dead. In 1800 he was elect-
ed a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He
was afterwards chosen a counsellor of the society for the
district in which he lived. He pronounced the annual
discourse in 1813 ; in 1814 he received the honorary de-
gree of Doctor in Medicine from Harvard University ; in
1825 he was unanimously elected a member of the Cor-
poration of the Massachusetts General Hospital ; and was
OLIVER PRESCOTT. 436
elected Vice President of the Medical Society in 1827.
This is the public testimony which has been offered by his
professional brethren to his talents, to his zeal, and to his
success. Dr. Prescott had a very extensive practice in his
native town, and in the towns in its vicinity ; but, thinking
that an asthmatic habit and a commencing dropsy of the
chest might be diminished or removed by living near the
sea, and by the greater regularity of life in a large town than
could be adopted or pursued in a country practice, he re-
moved with his family from Groton to Newburyport in Feb-
ruary, 1811. In the latter place his practice soon became ex-
tensive, and continued so until the time of his death. Dur
ing his extensive professional and other engagements. Dr.
Prescott still found time to study and inform himself of
the various discoveries and improvements daily making in
medical science both at home and abroad. He had early
been remarkable for his quick apprehension and retentive
memory. At college he was distinguished among his class
for his acquaintance with the classics and with natural
history. Through life he maintained a fondness for these
studies, and amidst the engrossing duties of his profession
he secured to himself leisure for the cultivation of general
and more elegant literature. Habits of mind were thus
produced and preserved, highly favorable for the best
uses of medical study. He not only studied, but labored
to add to the stock of useful knowledge in medicine by
publishing the results of his own observations. Some
valuable articles were contributed by him to the New-
England Journal of Medicine and Surgery ; but his most
important publication was the discourse before mentioned,
which he delivered before the Medical Society. This dis-
course is entitled, " Dissertation on the Natural History
and Medicinal EiSects of the Secale Cornutum or Ergot."
Dr. Prescott was led to the use of this article, and to the
study of its effects, by a letter addressed to Dr. Akerly by
Dr. J. Stearns of Albany, and published in the second
volume of the New-York Medical Repository. Many of
the statements of Dr. S. are confirmed by Dr. Prescott, and
any difference of opinion between them, or diversity of
result, very candidly stated. Tiiis dissertation was very
favorably received by the profession. It was reprinted in
Philadelphia and London, and was translated into the
French and German languages, and was published in full,
so far as relates to the medicinal properties of Ergot, in the
article Erffot, in the 13th volume of the French '•' Diction-
436 OLIVER PRESCOTT.
naire des Sciences Medicales." The interest Dr. P. took in
the investigation of the properties of this substance, arose,
very probably, from his zeal in the study and practice of
midwifery, in which department of the art he w^as very suc-
cessful. The attention of physicians has been strongly di-
rected to the use of Ergot since the publication of this
discourse ; and to this day scarcely a number of a medical
journal arrives from abroad, w^hich does not contain some
notice of the extended employment of this active medicine.
Dr. Prescott was highly respected and beloved by his
patients. He had, perhaps, the most extensive practice of
any physician in the county in w^hich he lived. He ac-
quired this confidence, the most valuable possession which
a physician can acquire, by ardent zeal in the cause of the
sick, diligent study, and acute observation. His manners
were frank, manly and en^ao^inff, and thouo;h long; afflicted
with deafness, he had none of the irritability so common
to that infirmity. His manners indeed were founded on a
natural benevolence of heart, which led him to connect
his own happiness with the welfare of those who were
about him. In his domestic relations he was distinguished
by equanimity of temper, kindness of manners and great
warmth of affection. He sought in the bosom of his fami-
ly the sources of his own happiness, which he was ever
ready to sacrifice to the permanent advancement of theirs.
In his political sentiments he was undisguised and consist-
ent through life. The zeal with which he cooperated in
the suppression of Shay's rebellion, showed his early at-
tachment to good order and constitutional principles, and
these he never thought proper to desert when desertion of
them became fashionable. He was a firm believer in
Christianity, and at an early age made a public profession
of his faith.
Dr. P. was twice married, first to Ann Whiting, daugh-
ter of Leonard Whiting, Esq. of HoUis, by whom he had
nine children, six of whom survived him ; and afterwards
to Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Oliver, Esq. who is still
living.
He died in Newburyport, September 26th, 1827, after a
short illness, of typhus fever, in the 66th year of his age.
END OP VOLUME I.
AMERICAN
MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY:
OR
MEMOIRS OF EMIJ^EJ^TT PHYSICIANS
WHO HAVE
iFlottvtsJfietr in ^mtvitu.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED
A
SUCCINCT HISTORY'
OP
MEDICAL SCIENCE IN THE UNITED STATES,
FROM THE
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY.
BY JAMES THACHER, M.D.
Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; Honorary Member of the
New-York Historical Society, and of the New-York Horticultural Society, &c. ;
Author of the American New Dispensatory, of the Modern Practice of Physic,
and of the Military Journal.
TWO VOLUMES IN ONE.
VOL. IL
" Thou shalt lie down
With patriarchs of the infant world — with kings.
The powerful of the earth — the wise, the good.
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past.
All in one mighty sepulchre." Bryant.
BOSTON:
RICHARDSON & LORD and COTTONS & BARNARD.
AMERICAN MEDICAL BIOGRAPHY.
RAMSAY, DAVID, M.D., an eminent physician, dis-
tinguished patriot and popular historian, was born in Lan-
caster county, Pennsylvania, on the 2d of April, 1749. He
was the youngest son of James Ramsay, an Irish emigrant,
and a respectable, intelligent and enterprising agricultural-
ist. Mr. Ramsay, as was his custom with all his sons, gave
to his son David the advantages of a liberal education.
He was first sent to a common English school ; afterwards
transferred to a classical academy ; and thence to the Col-
lege of New- Jersey, where he was graduated in 1765. Be-
tween the age of twelve and the period when he was
crowned with the honors of one of the most respectable
seminaries in the United States, he exhibited many evi-
dences of a vigorous and docile intellect, and evinced a
degree of industry rarely to be found in youths of genius.
The peculiar bent of his mind was early manifested. In
reading the Bible at school, or in his father's house while
yet in his almost infantile years, he discovered a singular
attachment to its historical parts ; and was particularly
distinguished in extempore recitations of the military and
political events recorded in the sacred volume. This trait
he cultivated until his death, and his name and his memo-
ry are not a little indebted to it for the celebrity they now
bear. At the age of twelve he had completed the academ-
ical studies preparatory to an introduction to college ; but
by his judicious father and other friends, was deemed too
young to commence a collegiate course. In the mean-
while he was apppointed assistant tutor in a respectable
academy at Carlisle ; and acquitted himself in that station
so as to acquire the esteem, and command the admiration
VOL. 11. 1
b DAVID RAMSAY.
of those who directed the interests of the institution. He
remained at Carlisle one year and thence proceeded to
Princeton, where, notwithstanding his youthfulness, he
was found competent to vie with the sturdiest genius in his
classes.
From Princeton he went into Maryland, and for two
years, in the capacity of private tutor, superintended the
education of the children of a respectable and wealthy gen-
tleman. His leisure was profitably employed in general
reading, and the cultivation of useful knowledge. Some-
what more matured in person, and conversant in the af-
fairs of the world, he thought of the selection of one of
the public professions ; all of which were so respectable,
and so inviting to a young gentleman whose genius had
passed favorably the ordeal of competition, and whose
reputation as a scholar was already extending over his
country, as to render an election of the greatest concern.
He finally resolved on the study of medicine. He
pursued his object with unremitting assiduity, and closed
his preparatory course in the College of Pennsylvania, early
in the year 1772.
While a student of medicine Dr. Ramsay became ac-
quainted with the late Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadel-
phia, then Professor of Chemistry in the Medical College.
Their acquaintance grew into a strict alliance of friend-
ship and affection, which terminated only in the grave.
Dr. Ramsay commenced the active duties of his profess-
ion in Maryland, where he continued to practise for the
space of one year. Thence he emigrated to Charleston,
South Carolina. At this time he carried with him a letter
of recommendation from his friend Dr. Rush, which an-
nounced him in very flattering terms. " Dr. Ramsay,"
said Dr. Rush, " studied physic regularly with Dr. Bond,
attended the hospital and public lectures of medicine, and
afterwards was graduated Bachelor of Physic with great
eclat. It is saying but little of him to tell you, that he is far
superior to any person we ever graduated at our college.
His abilities are not only good, but great. His talents and
knowledge are universal. I never saw so much strength
of memory and imagination united to so fine a judgment.
His manners are polished and agreeable, his conversation
lively, and his behavior to all men always without offence.
Joined to all these he is sound in his principles, strict,
nay more, severe in his morals, and attached, not by edu-
DAV44) RAMSAT.
cation only, but by principle to the dissenting interest.
He will be an acquisition to your society. He writes,
talks, and what is more, lives well. I can promise more
for him, in every thing, than I could for myself." Enthu-
siastic as this drawing may seem, Dr. Ramsay proved by
his future life that it was faithful. A probation of forty
years confirmed the opinions of his friend.
Soon after his settlement in Charleston, Dr. Ramsay
acquired great celebrity as a physician, and rose to very
high eminence among his fellow citizens. His activity
and usefulness were not confined to his profession. He
took a leading part in public affairs, and was well qualifi-
ed by his talents and general knowledge to counsel and
direct in tiie very interesting crisis that shortly fol-
lowed his domiciliation in Carolina. In the revolutionary
struggle he was an enthusiastic whig, and exerted all his
powers to promote the independence of his country. No
reverses, no misfortunes ever caused his patriotism to
waver. He was constant in his attachment to the cause of
republicanism, and boldly deprecated the surrender of the
cause of liberty, even in the most gloomy and inauspicious
seasons. On the 4th of July, 1778, he delivered an oration
to the citizens of Charleston, in which he explicitly assert-
ed that " our present form of government is every way
preferable to the royal one we have lately renounced."
It ably illustrated the advantages of a newly established
republican government, which he contended was best cal-
culated to bring; into action the energies of the human
mind, to entice from obscurity modest and retiring merit,
to obviate the baneful effects of luxury, to preserve inno-
cence and morality among the people, to diffuse know-
ledge, to equalize property, and to promote public virtue
and true religion. His oration had the most salutary effects
upon the dispositions and resolutions of the inhabitants of
Charleston. His pen was constantly employed in defence
of the revolution, and in the reprobation of those sordid
affections, which led too many to prefer a little property
and self accommodation, to the independence of their
country and the ultimate liberty of the people. Among
the many fugitive essays, which he wrote on various occa-
sions during the revolution, one entitled " a Sermon on
Tea," was deservedly very popular. The text was taken
from Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, 2d chapter, 21st
verse : " Touch not, taste not, liaudle not." The sermon
8 DAVID RAMSAY.
was a happy appeal to the patriotism of the people, who
considerecf the use pf tea the source of the greatest evils.
It humorously caricatured the British premier with chains
and halters in one hand, and a cup of tea in the other,
while the Genius of America exclaimed, " touch not, taste
not, handle not ; for in the day thou drinkest thereof, thou
shalt surely die."
Dr. Ramsay in his early years was greatly distinguished
for wit and humor. He carefully watched over these
traits ; and in his riper years prudently refrained from
their indulgence. It was only in moments of relaxation,
they could be detected in his conversation.
For some time he attended the army in the capacity of
surgeon ; and was with the Charleston Ancient Battalion
of Artillery at the siege of Savannah. His political career
commenced with the revolution, and during its continuance
he was ever actively and usefully engaged. He was an
active and leading member of the legislature of South
Carolina from 1776 to the conclusion of the war. He was
a member of the privy council part of the time, and, with
many of the most respectable citizens of Charleston, suffer-
ed banishment by the enemy to St. Augustine. In an ex-
change of prisoners Dr. Ramsay was released, and per-
mitted to return to the United States, after an absence of
eleven months. On his return he resumed his seat in the
legislature of the state, then sitting at Jacksonborough.
It was here he was distinguished by a conciliatory human-
ity, in his opposition to the acts confiscating the estates of
those who adhered to Great Britain. Though convinced
that the conduct of some of those who came under the
operation of those acts, merited the severest punishment,
he tenderly commiserated many who he was persuaded
acted from the dictates of their consciences. The latter
he would have exempted from the penalties of confiscation.
In 1782 Dr. Ramsay was elected a member of the conti-
nental Congress. In that body he was distinguished for
his industry and intelligence. He greatly commended
himself to the confidence and affection of his constituents
by his exertions to procure them relief from the ravages
of the enemy, who then overran their country. At the
close of the war he returned to Charleston, and resumed
the practice of physic. In 1 785 he was elected to repre-
sent the Charleston district in Congress. In consequence
of the absence of the president of that board, the celebrated
DAVID RAMSAY. 9
John Hancock, Dr. Ramsay was chosen the president pro
tempore, and presided for a whole year with ability, in-
dustry and impartiality. During the following year he
again returned to the duties of his profession, which he
pursued with increased reputation. Dr. Ramsay was a
fluent, rapid and ready speaker. His style was simple,
his reasoning logical and persuasive, and his illustrations
pertinent and original.
In his political life Dr. Ramsay was an example of pure
disinterestedness. The good of his country preponderated
all other considerations. He was an unsophisticated re-
publican, and never changed his principles. He never in-
termeddled with mere party politics, was charitable towards
all who differed with him in opinions ; and in his conver-
sation and writing endeavored to allay invidious passions,
and inculcate unanimity among the American people.
As an author Dr. Ramsay became extensively celebrat-
ed. In this regard his reputation is well established, not
only throughout the United States, but in Europe. He
excelled in the department of history. His talents, educa-
tion, habits of observation, industry, memory and impar-
tiality, eminently fitted him for an historian. His History
of the Revolution in South Carolina was pu])lished in 1785.
This work obtained great celebrity in the United States ;
was shortly after its appearance translated and published
in France ; and was read with avidity in every part of
Europe. While he was a member of Congress in 1785,
he prepared his History of the American Revolution. In
the prosecution of this enterprise, he carefully inspected
all the public records, which related to the revolution,
conferred freely and frequently with his venerable friends,
Dr. Franklin and Dr. Witherspoon, and visited General
Washington at Mount Vernon, who gladly communicated
every information in his power, to enable the historian to
furnish to the world a true record of the events that re-
sulted in the establishment of American independence.
He published the History of the American Revolution in
1790. This work passed the ordeal of criticism, and is
esteemed of high rank in Europe, as well as in the United
States. It passed through two large editions, and is now
entirely out of the market. In 1801 Dr. Ramsay publish-
ed the Life of Washington. In this biography the char-
acter of the illustrious founder of the independence of the
United States is well sustained. In 180S he published the
VOL. II. 2
10 DAVID RAMSAr.
History of South Carolina, being an extension of an inter-
esting work entitled " A Sketch of the Soil, Climate,
Weather and Diseases of South Carolina," published in
1796.
In 1811 Dr. Ramsay compiled and caused to be publish-
ed the memoirs of his estimable wife, recently deceased.
Besides the works mentioned, he published at different
periods, " An Oration on the Acquisition of Louisiana ;"
" A Review of the Improvements, Progress and State of
Medicine in the Eighteenth Century ;" "A Medical Reg-
ister for the Year 1802 ;" " A Dissertation on the Means
of Preserving Health in Charleston ;" "A Biographical
Chart, on a new plan, to facilitate the Study of History ;"
and an " Eulogium on Dr. Rush."
Among the manuscripts left by Dr. Ramsay on his de-
cease, were " A History of the United States, from their
first settlement as English Colonies to the end of the year
1808 ;" and a series of historical volumes to be entitled
" Universal History Americanized, or an Historical View of
the World, from the earliest records to the Nineteenth
Century, with a particular reference to the state of Society,
Literature, Religion, and Form of Government of the
United States of America." The first was published early in
the year 1817, with a continuation to the treaty of Ghent
by the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D. and LL.D.
and other literary gentlemen, in three volumes 8vo. The
latter had occupied the leisure of the historian more than
forty years. It yet remains to be published.
Of Dr. Ramsay it has been truly said that no miser was
ever so frugal of his gold, as he was of his time. He
was not merely economical, but parsimonious of it to the
highest degree. He never allowed for the table, recrea-
tion or repose, a single moment that was not demanded
for the preservation of health. In his habits he was
strictly temperate. He usually slept four hours, rose be-
fore the light of day, and meditated with a book in his
hand until he could see to read. His evenings only were
allotted to recreation. He never read by the light of a
candle. With the approach of twilight he laid aside his
book and his pen, and surrounded by his family and his
friends, indulged those paternal and social feelings which
are ever cherished by a good man.
The predominate trait in the character of Dr. Ramsay
was philanthropy. It was the motive of all his actions. In
DAVID RAMSAV. 11
the constant exercise of his disposition he frequently em-
barked in enterprises too mighty to be accomplished by an
individual. In this way his private fortune was wrecked.
His genius and enterprise carried him in his anticipations
far before tlie multitude, who generally tread on the heels
of experience. Thus he was frequently tempted to vest
private revenue in projects and speculations, that had for
their object ultimately the public benefit, and immediately
a demonstration of their practicability to enlist auxiliaries
both of character and means. Running before his contem-
poraries, who were generally more attached to their
money, than to enterprises for the improvement of the
country, he was sometimes considered visionary. And
indeed the result of his life proved that he was better
qualified to direct the afi^iirs of a nation, than man-
age a private fortune. The great concerns to which
he constantly directed his reflections, were the improve-
ment of the moral, social, intellectual and physical state of
his country. To disseminate the doctrines of the Bible,
to promote public schools and colleges, and to carry com-
merce to every man's door by means of artificial roads,
canals, and the channels which nature formed, were ob-
jects that lay near to his heart. In most of them he was
considered enthusiastic. Impelled by his devotion to these
subjects, he labored incessantly to inspire the public mind
with feelings and dispositions favoral)le to his views. For
forty years, the press teemed with the productions of his
pen designed exclusively to elevate the spirit, taste and
virtues of his fellow citizens, and to improve, beautify
and felicitate their common country. It is believed that
the literary labors of Dr. Ramsay have contributed very
much to impress upon the American character those traits
which, without vanity we may assert, have raised the
United States to a level with any nation on the globe.
Such services can never be recompensed. Money could
not compensate them. Fame, the gratitude of the people,
and the happiness of his own posterity in a country made
happy by his labors, can alone requite them. The first
he has secured, the second begins to be lavished on his
memory, and the third, it is hoped, will be realized. His
children are now objects of endearment to many noble
spirited gentlemen and ladies, whose sympathies, we trust
for the honor of the American people, will communicate
through the whole nation. Thev have a double claim ou
12 DAVID RAMSAT.
the liberality of their cotjntry. To them the people are
debtors for the services of their father, and for the ^^er-
vices and sufferings of their grandfather, the patriotic
Henry Laiirens.
In his private character, Dr. Ramsay was a kind and
indulgent husband, an affectionate and anxious parent, an
instructive and entertaining companion. He was a pattern
of modesty, simplicity and meekness in his intercourse
with mankind. He never arrogated any superiority over
his associates, whether surrounded by his family at his
own fireside, or classed with senators and sages ; and he
has often remarked that he was greatly debtor to this hap-
py temperament for much of the most useful information
he gathered in his pilgrimage through life. TJie distance
which most men of eminence observe towards what are
called the middle and lower classes of society, deprives
them of many opportunities of knowledge. Dr. Ramsay
sought information from all sources ; and by the bland-
ness of his manners would encourage even his own servant
to impart the results of his humble experience and obser-
vation.
The most charming trait in the character of Dr. Ram-
say was piety. He was a member of, and in full commun-
ion with the Independent or Congregational Church in
Charleston. It would be expected from the philanthropy
and benevolence of his disposition that he cherished little
prejudice against other sects. This was the fact. The lead-
ing affections of his heart, when touched by the influence
of the gospel, grew into a charity as extensive as the hu-
man family, and he counted every one, who did the will
of his Heavenly Father, a brother in Christ.
The last scene of his life proved the reality of his faith
in Jesus the Savior of sinners, and the solidity of his pre-
tensions to the character of a great man. His expiring
moments heightened the lustre of his life. He was assassi-
nated in the street a few paces from his own dwelling, in
the open day, by a wretched maniac, whose intellectual
malady had not been such as to require his confinement.
He was shot by a pistol loaded with three balls : one pass-
ed through the coat without injury, another entered the
hip and passed out at the groin, and the third entered the
back near the kidneys and lodged in the intestines. The
last wound proved mortal, the second day after it was re-
ceived. He died on the 8th of May, 1815. On his death
ISAAC RAND. IS
bed he evinced not tlie slightest resentment towards the
unhappy man by whose hand he fell. He bore testimony
of Jiis innocence, in the following emphatic terms : "I
know not if these wounds be mortal. I am not afraid to
die ; but should that be my fate, I call on all present to
bear witness that I consider the unfortimate perpetrator of
this deed a lunatic, and free from guilt." He died with-
out one perturbed emotion. He met death with a stiene,
composed and confident reliance in the mercy of God
through the blood of the Redeemer. — Rees'' Cyclopedia.
RAND, ISAAC, M.D. M.M.S.S. an eminent physician
of Boston, was the son of Dr. Isaac Rand of Charlestown,
Massachusetts, and was born on the 27th of Aj)ril, 1743.
After going through the preparatory studies, he entered
Harvard College in 1757, and was graduated in 1761.
While a member of this institution, he applied himself
diligently to the subjects which were then taught, and ac-
quired the reputation of a sound classical scholar, and of
high attainments in the mathematics. During his senior
year an event occurred, which furnished the most honor-
able testimony of his proficiency in the exact sciences.
The transit of Venus over the disk of the sun, which had
been looked forward to with great interest by the astrono-
mers of Europe, and to which their attention had been
strongly directed by the circulars of the celebrated Dr.
Halley, took place in the year 1761. One of tlie stations
selected for this observation was Newfoundland, and Pro-
fessor Winthrop was deputed by the government of the
college on this important service. The professor took
with him two young gentlemen from the senior class, one
of whom was Isaac Rand, and the other Samuel Williams,
who was afterward professor of Natural Philosophy at
Cambridge. The observations at St. John's, and the sub-
sequent labors of Mr. Winthrop were lightened by being
shared with those of his pupils.
After leaving Harvard College Mr. Rand entered on
the study of medicine, at first with his father, and after-
wards with the late Dr. Lloyd of Boston. Carrying with
him into the profession the habits of application and of
economising time, which had now become confirmed, he
entered with zeal into the study of the science, to the prac-
tice of which he intended to devote the remainder of his
life. In the course of three years, having qualified him-
self for the active duties of the profession, he settled as
14 ISAAG RAND.
physician in Boston in 1764. Here his sagacity and ncute-
ness of observation, aided by extensive research, and devo-
tion to business, and the urbanity of hi* manners, soon
caused him to be distinguished ; he rose rapidly in repu-
tation, and in the course of a few years shared largely in
the best practice of the town.
At the commencement of the revolution Dr. Rand was
a royalist. He was one of those persons, of whom there
were not a few, who believed that the efforts of the colo-
nists were premature, and that we were not at that time
sufficiently strong to contend successfully against a nation
so much superior to us in wealth, in population, and in
power as Great Britain. He, however, took no active part
on her side, and was subjected to no personal danger, nor
even inconvenience. But as his friends were principally
among those of the royalists, who were the wealthiest and
most powerful, he felt the consequence of his political
opinions in a temporary diminution of his practice. Dur-
ing the siege, when the greater part of his professional
brethren had joined the American army, he remained in
Boston. His duties at this time were both excessive and
arduous, and he acquired among the inhabitants a high
character for charity as a man, as well as for skill as a
physician. Dr. Rand sympathized in the joy of his coun-
trymen on the result of the war, and rejoiced in the adop-
tion of the federal constitution.
In the year 1781 we find his name among tlie petitioners
to the General Court for the incorporation of the Massa-
chusetts Medical Society. In the welfare of this import-
ant institution he took great interest, he contributed for
publication several valuable papers, and took an active
part in every thing which could promote its usefulness,
and through it, the profession to which he belonged. He
successively filled its minor offices, until in the year 1798
he was raised to the dignity of its President ; the highest
honor which it is in the power of the profession to bestow.
He resigned the office in 1804.
Previous to this period strong efforts had been made by
the physicians of Boston, and more particularly by the
late Dr. James Lloyd, to rescue from the hands of unqual-
ified females, the important branch of obstetrics, and to
raise it to an honorable rank in the profession. So great
was considered the necessity of changing the practice in
this respect, that Dr. L., even while engaged in the most
ISAAC RAND. 15
extensive and lucrative business in the town, made a visit
to Europe partly for the purpose of qualifying himself
for the exigences which the practice of this highly respon-
sible and important branch of obstetrics continually fur-
nishes. His efforts succeeded ; that business gradually fell
into the hands of the physicians, and Dr. Rand and his
contemporaries completed what had been begun by Dr.
Lloyd. In this branch Dr. R. acquired a high and deserv-
ed reputation.
In every thing which related to his profession, he took
great interest. The habits of study which he formed in
his youth, never forsook him even in old age. By his pro-
ficiency in the learned languages, he was enabled to avail
himself of the stores of medical facts accumulated in the
works of the great men of the profession ; and such was
his zeal in the pursuit of the science to which he had de-
voted himself, that he eagerly sought out every new work
of reputation, and made himself master of its facts and
principles. Hence it happened that, even while engaged
in the fatigues and anxieties of extensive practice, he was
enabled to keep up with the progress of medical science,
and to avail himself of what was novel and useful. Hence
also it naturally happened that he was an enemy to all
quackery, and could not be brought to tolerate even those,
who, although they entered the profession in a regular
manner, were found by him to be unqualified to fulfil the
important and responsible duties of the physician.
To the close of his life the only amusement of Dr. Rand
was that of reading. He translated the Greek and Latin Ian-
guages with great facility, and the classics always had a
place on his table. As he advanced in years, he devoted a
large portion of his leisure hours to the subject of theolo-
gy, and he entered with sincerity into the practical duties
of religion. For many years he was a member of the
church. He was through life distinguished for his honesty
and integrity, and he exhibited the influence of religious
principles, in practising the greatest of its virtues, charity.
To the poor he gave not only his time and his experience,
but also his money, and for several years several families
were supported by his bounty.
Dr. Rand was a man of dignified and courtly manners.
In his practice he was decisive, and from liis patients and
their attendants required, and obtained without violence,
that obedience, v/hich is equally necessary to the welfare
16 JOUN REDMAN
of the sick, and the reputation of the physician. Few
physicians in fact possessed in a greater clegree tne power
of acc^uiring and maintaining the confidence of their pa-
tients. The attachments of the friends whom he obtained
in his professional career, were equally strong and ckirable.
Dr. Rand died the 11th of September, 1822, in the 80th
year of his age.
The writings left by Dr. Rand are not numerous. He
contributed to the Transactions of the Massachusetts Medical
Society, and among the papers is one, which is highly hon-
orable to him as a man of observation and research, viz. on
Hydrocephalus Internus. From the symptoms exhibited in
these cases, and from subsequent dissections, he convinced
himself that it was in most cases an acute disease, and re-
quired depletion. He therefore not only recommended, but
practised copious venesection in the first stage. This paper
was written in 1785, and, although the observation had
been made and practised upon in Europe, yet it was
new even there, and was known to have been original in
him. During the prevalence of the yellow fever in Bos-
ton, in 1798, the fears of the inliabitants and of those of the
neighboring towns were highly excited. To allay these
apprehensions Dv. Rand wrote a series of essays upon the
subject, which were published in the newspapers ; and by
pointing out the probable causes and the means of avoiding
them, succeeded in a very considerable degree in removing
the groundless prejudices which existed.
Dr. Rand by appointment delivered a discourse to the
Massachusetts Medical Society, which was subsequently
printed. The subject was the Use of the Warm Bath and
Foxglove in Phthisis Pulmonalis. It is an honorable tes-
timony of the learned research and practical knowledge
of the author. — J. G.
REDMAN, JOHN, M.D., first President of the College
of Physicians in Philadelphia, was born in that city, Feb-
ruary 27th, 1722. After finishing his preparatory educa-
tion in the Rev. Mr. Tennent's academy, he entered upon
the study of physic with Mr. John Kearsely, then one of
the most respectable physicians of Philadelphia.
When he commenced the practice of his profession he
went to Bermuda, where he continued for several years.
Thence he proceeded to Europe for the purpose of per-
fecting his acquaintance with medicine. He spent a year
in Edinburgh, while the medical school in that city was in
JOHN REDMAN. 17
the hands of the first Monroes, Sindair, Alston, Plum-
mer and Riitherford. He likewise passed a year in attend-
ing briiy s Hospital, and some time in attending lectures,
dissections and hospitals in Paris. Copies of the lectures
ot the above professors, and notes of the cases which oc-
curred in the hospitals while he attended them, are now in
the possession of his grandson, Dr. John Redman Coxe,
written with singular correctness and perspicuity. He was
graduated m the University of Ley den on the 15th July,
1748, under the celebrated Albinus Gaubius, and at a time
When that seminary retained a large portion of the repu-
tation It had derived from the illustrious name of Dr.
l^oerhaave. The subject of his inaugural dissertation was
^ Abortion," which he handled with great learnino- and
mgenui y. Few better essays upon that subject are to be
met with in any language. The conclusion of this disser-
tation strongly indicates the piety which distinguished the
early part of his life. - God grant that my Sudies and
labors may be directed to the glory of his name and to
the welfare of my neiglibors," was his prayer.
After receiving the highest medical honors in his pro-
pf T"? ^/^^"'t?'^ *^ his native country and settled in
fJuladelphia. He soon succeeded in business, and in the
course of a few years ranked among tlie oldest physicians
in the city in point of celebrity in medicine. For a while
he practised surgery and midwifery, but finding the labors
ot those branches of medicine incompatible with the del-
icacy of us health, he declined them and confined himself
exc usively to the practice of physic. His principles in
medicine were derived from the writings of Dr. Boer-
haave but his practice was formed by fhe rules of Dr.
Sydenham. He early saw that the modes of practice
which were recommended by that enlightened physician
in the seventeenth century in England, were equally prop-
er m the eighteenth century in America, from the sameness
tL!l iT'"^/'' ''^- ^^.^ "^habitants of botJi countries in
tn?th nf n'" « rT^\ ^^ ^^'"^- ^^ ^^^ distinctly the
truth ot Dr. Sydenham's remarks upon the laws of epi-
demics, and regulated his practice by them. He consider,
eel a greater force of medicine necessary to cure modern
tTr^T'\\-^'',T'^r''. ^''^''^' ^^^^^^^^' '^"^1 hence he was
nnr r. . ^^'^^^^^^ ^^P^etion in all the violent diseases of
our country He bled freely in the yellow fever of 1 762
and threw tlie weight of his venerable name into the scale
VOL. II.
18 JOHN REDMAN.
of the same remedy in the year 1793. In the diseases of
old age he considered small and frequent bleedings as the
first of remedies. He entertained a high opinion of mer-
cury in all chronic diseases, and he gave it in the natural
smallpox with a view of touching the salivary glands
ahout the turn of the pock. He introduced the use of
turpeth mineral as an emetic in the gangrenous sore throat
of 1764, and such was its efficacy, that he did not lose a
patient who took it in the early stage of that epidemic.
Towards the close of his life he read the latest medical
writers, and embraced with avidity some of the modern
opinions and modes of practice. He published about the
year 1759 a defence of inoculation, and advised the use of
mercury to prepare the body for the reception of the small-
pox.
About the fortieth year of his age Dr. Redman was af-
flicted with an abscess in his liver, the contents of which
were discharged by expectoration through his lungs. He
was frequently confined by acute diseases, and suflfered
much from the rheumatism as he advanced in years. His
fellow citizens and his medical brethren were not insensible
of his merit. He was elected one of the physicians of
the Pennsylvania Hospital immediately after its establish-
ment, and afterwards the first President of the College of
Physicians of Philadelphia. He discharged the duties of
these stations faithfully, and reluctantly retired from them
in consequence of the weakness and infirmities of age.
He served as a trustee of the College of Philadelphia and
New-Jersey for many years, and more than once refused
to stand a candidate for a seat in the Legislature of Penn-
sylvania, before the American revolution. He was faithful
and punctual in his attendance upon his patients. In a sick
room he possessed virtues and talents of a peculiar kind.
He suspended pain by his soothing manner, or chased it
away by his conversation, which was occasionally facetious
and full of anecdotes, or serious and interesting, according
to the nature of his patients' diseases, or the state of their
minds.
The respectability of his character as a physician will
derive a lustre from the history of his domestic and reli-
gious character. He married Miss Mary Sobers, a lady
of uncommon talents and accomplishments of mind and
body, soon after he settled in Philadelphia, by whom he
had two sons and two daughters. His sons died in their
JOHN REDMAN. 10
infancy. In the year 1770 his elder daughter married
Daniel Coxe, Esq., one of the King's counsel of New-
York. This gentleman adhered to the royal party during
the American war, in consequence of which he went to Eng-
land, whither he was followed by his wife and children in
the year 1785. The separation of his daughter was to her
father a most poignant affliction. He accompanied her
with tears to the vessel that conveyed her from his sight ;
but his distress was soon alleviated by the suggestions of
religion. These he expressed the next day to a friend,
whom he informed that his mind had been composed by
reflecting upon the following words of our Savior, " He
that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy
of me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me,
is not worthy of me." He was remarkably attached to
all the branches of his family. At the funeral of his broth-
er, Joseph Redman, in 1779, after the friends were assem-
bled, he rose from his seat, and grasping the lifeless hand
of his brother, lie turned round to his children and other
relations in the room, and addressed them in the follow-
ing words ; " I declare in the presence of God and of this
company, that in the whole course of our lives no angry
word nor look has ever passed between this dear brother
and me." He then kneeled down by the side of his cof-
fin, and in the most fervent manner implored the protect-
ion and favor of God to his widow and children.
Dr. Redman was an eminent christian. In the early and
middle stages of life he was not ashamed of the Gospel of
Christ, and liberally contributed to its support ; but the
evening of his life was the meridian of his piety. Being
easy in his circumstances, and feeling the labors of his
profession incompatible with his health, he early declined
business. He was elected an elder of tlie second Presby-
terian Church in the year 1784. The duties of this office
gave him both employment and delio;ht. He gave secretly
and liberally to the poor, and when confined bv sickness
he conveyed his bounty to them by the hands of a friend.
He visited his old patients regularly two or three times a
year, and always left behind him some pious remarks or
anecdotes, that were not soon forgotten. His conversation
was facetious, animated, free from the querulousness of
old age, and always seasoned with the grace of the gos-
pel. In his own house he passed his time chiefly in read-
ing books of devotion, and in other religious exercises.
ZU JOHN REDMAJf.
He thought humbly of himself, and often lamented his
slender attainments in religion. For some years before his
death he heard and read with difficulty, from the decay of
his hearing and eyesight, but under the pressure of these
evils he was so far from complaining that he was constant-
ly finding out reasons why he should be contented and
thankful. Such was the natural cheerfulness of his tem-
per that upon serious subjects he was never grave. He
spoke often of death, and of the scenes which await the
soul after its separation from the body, with the same
composure that some men speak of going to bed, or visit-
ing a new and pleasant country. He was a stranger to
bigotry, and he often worshipped with sects of christians
that differed in principles and forms from the one with
which he was vmited. With all the virtues and piety
which have been ascribed to him, it would be unjust to
conceal that he possessed in the early and middle stages of
life a quick and irritable temper. But the sun never went
down upon his anger, and to his pupils and servants he has
been known to make acknowledgments for even a hasty
expression.
In the month of December, 1806, his younger daughter
died. She had lived with her parents for fifty years, and
secluded herself from society in order to soothe their de-
clining years. Her death left them in a state of the most
distressing solicitude, and at a time when they were least
able to bear it. His elder daughter, who had been sepa-
rated from him nearly four and twenty years, upon hear-
ing of the death of her sister immediately tore herself from
her husband and children, and crossed the Atlantic to
alleviate by her presence the grief of her bereaved parents.
Her arrival exhibited a scene of joy, such as seldom occurs
in domestic history. The good old man said to a friend
upon this occasion, " that he had formerly owed ten
thousand talents to his Maker, but that his debt had now
increased so much by the arrival of his daughter that he
was determined to become bankrupt, and throw himself
entirely upon the mercy of his Divine creditor." The
lamp of life, which was nearly extinguished in him and
his wife, suddenly blazed forth upon this occasion, but it
was only to consume the oil which fed it with the more
rapidity. Mrs. Redman died on the 24th of November,
two months after the sight of her daughter, in the 84th
year of her age. The distress occasioned by this event
CHARLES RIDGELT. 21
was severely felt by her husband. They had passed near-
ly sixty years together in the most uninterrupted harmo-
ny. She was the best friend and wisest counsellor in all
the trials and difficulties of his life. His affections now
centred themselves wholly in his surviving daughter : but
time and nature forbade the long duration of his last i)or-
tion of social happiness.
On Friday the 18th of March he took a walk to his grand-
son's. In the afternoon he discovered an unusual degree of
sprightliness in his conversation. After drinking tea he
rose to light a candle in order to go into an adjoining
room. In attempting to walk, he staggered and was led
to a chair by his daughter. He squeezed her hand and
gave her a look which indicated a belief that the time of
his departure had arrived. His disease immediately as-
sumed all the symptoms of apoplexy, of which lie died
without pain and apparently without the least conscious-
ness of his situation, about five o'clock the next day, aged
86 years and 20 days. It would seem from the easy man-
ner in which he expired, that the messenger of death had
been instructed to blindfold him in order to conceal from
his view the dreary objects which sometimes surround the
passage out of life.
He was buried at his request in the Presbyterian church-
yard exactly in the same spot in which his mother had
been interred fifty years before. This attachment to the
dust of our ancestors, though a deep seated principle in
human nature, is seldom felt except in old age, or in the
hour of death. Its extent is universal, and its final cause
is no doubt a wise one. Dr. Redman was somewhat be-
low the middle stature ; his complexion was dark, his
eyes black and uncommonly animated ; and his manner
both in gesture and speech such as indicated a mind always
busy and teeming with new and original conceptions of
human and Divine things. — Medical Museum^ Vol. V.
RIDGELY, DR. CHARLES, an eminent physician of
Dover, Delaware, was descended from an opulent and re-
spectable family of Devonshire in England, a younger
branch of which came to America toward the latter part
of the seventeenth century, and settled on the western
shore of Maryland. His immediate parents were Nicholas
Ridgely, an inhabitant of Dover, and Mary Vining, widow
of Benjamin Vining, who resided near the town of Salem,
in West Jersey, and whose maiden name was Middleton.
22 CHARLES RIDGELY.
Their eldest son, who is the subject of this memoir, was
born near Salem, January 26th, 1738. His parents being
in affluent circumstances, and occupying a respectable sta-
tion in society, directed particular attention to the educa-
tion of this son, as well as of their other children. One
of his first teachers was Dr. Samuel McCall, a native of
Ireland, residing in Dover, a self-taught scholar, and much
distinguished in his day for his mathematical knowledge.
From the care of Dr. McCall he Avas transferred to that of
David James Dove of Philadelphia ; and afterwards com-
pleted his literary course in the " Academy of Philadel-
phia," which had been recently founded under the aus-
pices of Dr. Franklin, and which in 1755, by an additional
charter, M^as constituted a college. Of this institution it
is believed that young Ridgely was one of the earliest
pupils.
In the year 1754 he entered on the study of medicine in
Philadelphia, under the direction of Dr. Phineas Bond.
His studies were conducted under all those advantages
which the talents and learning of his preceptor, and the
institutions of the city of Philadelphia then afforded ; and
with all that diligence and success which might have been
expected from his ardent and enlightened mind. In 1758
he commenced the practice of his profession in Dover ;
and there he continued to reside during the remainder of
his life, in very extensive medical business, in the enjoy-
ment of a professional reputation of the highest grade, and
rich in the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens.
Dr. Ridgely was not only distinguished as a learned,
skilful and popular physician ; but his powerful and ac-
tive mind, his liberal reading on other subjects besides
those of his profession, his strict integrity and honor, and
his remarkable urbanity of manners, recommended him to
his fellow citizens as a suitable candidate for a variety of
public stations. Accordingly, from a short time after his
settlement in Dover until his death, he scarcely passed a
year in which he did not fill some important office, and
frequently several of them. He was elected a member of
the legislature of Delaware in 1765, and continued to be
annually reelected to the same trust, with very few inter-
vals, until near the close of his life. Several years before
the revolution he was the presiding judge in Kent county,
in tlie Court of Common Pleas, and in the Court of Quar-
ter Sessions, which two courts were then held by the same
CHARLES RIDGELT. 23
judges. He was a member of the convention which form-
ed the constitution of Delaware in 1776 ; and when the
new government was set in operation, he was again called
to the bench in one of the courts just mentioned, and con-
tinued, it is believed, to occupy that honorable station as
long as he lived.
In tlie midst of this career of usefulness and honor, Dr.
Ridgely was removed by death. In the month of August
1785, by great exposure and exertion in the discharge of
his professional duties, he brought on a severe attack of
bilious fever, which confined him to his bed and room for
nearly three months. In the beginning of the following
November, when his weakness was yet so great that he
could only ride a mile or two in a carriage, he unwarily
exposed himself by descending from his carriage and
standing for a short time on ground more damp than he
supposed. In a few hours he was seized with a peripneu-
monia notha, which terminated his important life on the
25th of that month, in the forty-eighth year of his age.
As Dr. Ridgely was respectably descended, so he was no
less respectably allied. He had tAvo wives. By his first
marriage he had five children, all of whom are now de-
ceased, excepting Nicholas Ridgely, Esq. the present chan-
cellor of the state of Delaware. By his second wife, also,
he had five children, of whom two only survive, viz. Hen-
ry Moore Ridgely, Esq. at present a senator from Dela-
ware, in the Congress of the United States ; and Mary, the
wife of Dr. William Winder Morris, an eminent physician
of Dover.
Dr. Ridgely was eminently amiable and exemplary in
all the relations of domestic life. His intercourse with his
professional brethren was always marked with the most
delicate honor and magnanimity. He feared no man as a
rival. He honored merit wherever he found it : and he
was ready to bestow praise and patronage wherever they
were due. His brotlier physicians, as might have been
expected, reciprocated his honorable treatment, and gave
him an unusual share of their esteem and confidence.
Perhaps no physician in Delaware ever had so large a
number of respectable medical practitioners trained up un-
der his direction as Dr. Ridgely.
Profound as his medical learning was, he by no means
confined himself to that department of reading. With an-
cient and modern history ; with tlie principal works of
24 CHARLES RIDGELY.
imagination and taste in his own language ; and with
the leading elementary works on law and government, he
was familiar. It was, indeed, often a matter of wonder to
his friends, how a physician, in such extensive practice as
he was, could find time to read so much out of the imme-
diate line of his profession : how he could manifest so in-
timate an acquaintance with the principles of law on the
hench, of government in the legislative body, and of an-
cient and modern literature in the social circle. The true
secret of the whole was, that few men have been more
rigid economists of time than he was, and few more me-
thodical in their daily pursuits. When not employed in
business, or occupied by company, he was seldom without
a book in his hand. This habit he carried more particu-
larly into the studies of his profession. He by no means
ceased, as is the case with too many physicians, to study
medicine, when he entered on the practice of it. He
never gave up his medical books. He regularly procured
and read every new publication within his reach on this
subject ; and he continued to do this up to the time at
which he was arrested by the disease, in the summer of
1785, from which he never fully recovered.
Dr. Ridgely had a force and versatility of talent, which
rendered him eminent in every business in which he en-
gaged. It is true that by the bedside of his patients, and
in medical consultation, he appeared to peculiar advan-
tage ; but it is no less true, that, as a judge, a legislator,
or a literary companion, he was scarcely less distinguished.
Almost every one who had occasion to transact business
with him remarked, with how much intelligence, facility
and despatch he went through it ; that nothing ever ap-
peared further from his mind than a disposition to raise un-
necessary disputes or obstacles in any concern of whicli he
had the control ; that the most perfect candor and honesty
marked all his proceedings ; and that his politeness and
benevolence were no less conspicuous than the other quali-
ties which have been mentioned.
Dr. Ridgely was a firm believer in revelation, and a
decided friend to religion, as a precious gift of God, and as
essential to human happiness both here and hereafter.
He was a member of the Episcopal church, and much at-
tached to that form of worship ; while at the same time
he was free from that bigotry, which is so apt to reign
in the minds of men who have small information, and
narrow views.
NICHOLAS ROMAYNE. 26
He was very attentive to the moral and religious educa-
tion of his children ; and often remarked that he consid-
ered mere intellectual culture, and the knowledge of
books, without the discipline of the passions and of the
heart, without sedulous endeavors to bring the youthful
mind under the habitual influence of virtue and piety, as
rather fitted to " finish off a villain," than to make a good
member of society. Upon the principle implied in this
maxim, it was his constant aim to train up his own family.
He had a profound respect for the sacred scriptures, read
them much himself, and recommended them to his chil-
dren and all around him, as worthy of their diligent study.
Such was Dr. Ridgely. As a professional man, a pa-
triot, a father of a family, and a member of civil and reli-
gious society, he filled an important and honorable space
while he lived ; and at his premature removal left behind
him memorials of various excellence and usefulness, which
will long, very long be cherished ; and which render him
well worthy of being commemorated among the distin-
guished men of our country. — S. M.
ROMAYNE, NICHOLAS, M.D. was born in the city
of New-York in September, 1756, and obtained his ele-
mentary education at Hackinsack in New-Jersey, under
the instruction of Dr. Peter Wilson, the late Professor of
Languages in Columbia College. About the commence-
ment of the revolutionary war he went abroad, and com-
pleted his medical studies at Edinburgh. He also visited
the continent, and spent two years in Paris. Upon his
return to New-York, he commenced his professional ca-
reer. He was advantageously known as an able private
lecturer on many branches of medical science, and it is
with pleasure I bear witness to his efficient instrumentality
in the foundation of the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons. He was its first president, and gave instruction in
that institution on Anatomy and the Institutes of Medicine.
His address as President, delivered at the first opening of
the college in November, 1807, is an honorable specimen
of his diversified attainments and talent. He died in New-
York in 1817.
" Dr. Romayne," says Dr. M'Leod, " was a man of
strong mind, well cultivated and much improved by read-
ing, by the society of learned men, and by travelling. I
knew him in health and in the midst of disease ; in afflu-
ence and in adversity. He had much self command,
VOL. n. 4
26 NICHOLAS ROMAYNE.
though naturally of powerful passions, and very tender
sensibilities. Bereaved of all his children in their infancy,
he could not endure the recollection of their endearment.
On the last evening of his life he gave testimony to a near
friend of his respect for the scriptures. He departed too
suddenly for me to see him on his death bed."
The following interesting notices concerning the profes-
sional services of Dr. Romayne, are extracted from a com-
munication made by Dr. Mitchell.
He returned from Europe when I was a young student,
before the termination of the revolutionary war ; probably
during the year 1782. His arrival excited considerable
conversation both here and in Philadelphia ; insomuch
that my curiosity was awakened to see him. He was re-
ported to have improved his opportunities with singular
diligence. This was, I supposed, the fact, for he had
visited Paris, Leyden, London and Edinburgh ; at the
latter of which places he went through the course of study
required by the statutes of the university, and published £,
dissertation in Latin, according to the usage, on the form-
ation of purulent matter, " De Generatione Puris." ^It was
said of him, that he composed it himself, without the aid
of a " grinder," or hireling writer or translator. Besides
the knowledge of his own or the English tongue, he had
attained more classical learning than the greater part of
the members of the profession acquire. He could speak
Low Dutch and French fluently. The circle of his ac-
quaintance embraced most of the respectable citizens. He
was endowed with a goodly and healthy frame, and was
exceedingly industrious ; wherefore he manifested a strong
desire to rise and become conspicuous in the world.
He accordingly very soon displayed his knowledge of
the human body by giving private lectures on its anatomy,
which were then very instructive to those who attended.
For, though the course was by no means complete, it was
valuable as far as it extended.
Very soon after the enemy had withdrawn from this
city in 1783, the exiled inhabitants returned, and the con-
stituted authorities made it the seat of the state govern-
ment. One of their early acts was the revision of the
charter that had been granted during the provincial ad-
ministration to Kincr's College. Amono; other alterations
rendered necessary by the change of circumstances, was
NICHOLAS ROMAFPfE. 27
the appointment of a new board of trustees. Of these Dr.
Romayne was one of the persons nominated in the law.
He had, no doubt, imbibed high expectations from this
new situation. But they do not appear to have been real-
ized to any considerable degree. It pleased the trustees
to constitute a Faculty of Physic, by the appointment of
professors. The place of trustee held by Dr. Romayne
was incompatible with that of professor. This restricted
his activity, and he soon became impatient of the restraint.
He had quahfied himself for a teacher, but was now un-
eniployed to lecture upon any branch of his profession.
His situation became irksome on another account His
superior attainments in literature and medicine elevated
him with high notions, and filled him with contemptuous
notions of some who had been less fortunate in education
than himself. He could not carry points as he wished,
and the adoption of some measures to which he was op-
posed, induced displeasure and coolness, and finally led
lum, after some years, to resitvn.
The first Faculty of Professors having performed but
small service. Dr. Romayne exercised his talents as a pri
vate teacher, and so assiduous and laborious was he that
he gave instruction on almost all the branches of profess-
lona knowledge. Anatomy, practice of physic, chemistry
and botany, were taught by this extraordinary man • and
with such success that he drew hearers from distant
places, even from Canada. After his separation from Col-
umbia College, he found it expedient to procure academic
honors, and more especially diplomas from some other
seminary.
Dr. Romayne, from a variety of circumstances, beino-
now, as it were, under the bar of the profession, discoi?-
tinued teaching, and some time after made another visit to
Europe ; during which he posted up the arrears of infor-
mation and modernized himself by the men he saw, and
the institutions he examined.
There was not, however, much for him to do for several
years after his return At length opportunities offered of
making him by rapid steps, a most active and conspicuous
member of the pi^fession. In 1806 an act was passed for
incorporating medical societies for tlie commouAvealth and
Its respective counties. By a sudden and singular change
of sentiment, Dr. Romayne was called from his retirement
28 NICHOLAS IIOMAYNE.
and elected tlie first president of the society for the city
and county of New-York, on the 1st of July in that year.
During the succeeding winter, on the resignation of the
place of state delegate by the gentleman who held it, Dr.
Romayne was chosen the delegate to the State Medical
Society, in Albany. After taking his seat in the central
body, he was promoted to the presidency of that associa-
tion also ; and by such advances did he rise to honor.
The sway he had attained did not terminate here. The
act herein before mentioned, for providing a College of
Physicians and Surgeons, had been torpid or dormant ever
since its passage in 1791. The day was approaching when
the regents of the University were to act under its provis-
ions. Dr. Romayne fovmd a great deal of business in
medical matters and otherwise to occupy him at the seat
of government. Among other things, the solicitation of a
charter for the aforesaid purposes, employed him in the
most satisfactory manner. Though he was assisted by
numerous and powerful supporters, he may be considered
as the leading agent on the occasion ; and the person,
probably, without whose urgent and pressing instances the
work would not have been completed. He was rewarded
for his services by being selected as the first president of
the new institution in 1807. — Ilosack^s Discourse at the open-
ing of Rutger^s Medical College, J^ew-York.
When Dr. Romayne first returned from Europe after
finishing his studies, the British army was still in possession
of the city of New-York ; and being a firm friend to the
cause and liberties of his country, he declined going into
that city, although he might have done so without any
suspicion of his patriotism, as peace was approaching, and
it v/as known that the army would of course soon depart.
He therefore remained about two years at the house of a
friend in Philadelphia, where by the charms of his con-
versation, agreeable manners, and regular conduct, he was
esteemed as an excellent companion. Here he entered into
a respectable share of practice, and had he resolved to
make that city his permanent residence, there was no rea-
son to doubt of his complete and successful establishment ;
for to an uncommonly fine person he added the more weigh-
ty considerations of fine talents and great attention to his
patients. But a matrimonial engagement, which he had
contracted before leaving New-York for Europe, determin-
ed him to take up his residence in that city, which he did
PA NTtL BY
ii^AMJ; ill ijs.wiii.
MMW^AMIN' MTLT^M JM.IDo
BENJAMIN RUSH.
29
immediately after it was abandoned by tbe British. He
would liave been, says one who knew him well, the most
eminent medical man in New-York, had he confined him-
self to his profession ; but unfortunately he engaged in
trade and other speculations, which drew him off from
his profession and involved him in embarrassments Avhich
were highly detrimental to him. On his last visit to Eu-
rope, he was admitted as a licentiate of the Royal College
of Physicians of Edinburgh, a compliment which, it is be-
lieved, had never before been paid to any American.
RUSH, BENJAMIN, M.D. was born December 24th,
1745, old style, on his father's plantation, about fourteen
miles to the northeast of Philadelphia. His ancestors
migrated from England to Pennsylvania soon after its first
settlement in the seventeenth century. In the eighth or
ninth year of his age, he was sent for education to Not-
tingham, Maryland, about sixty miles southwest from
Philadelphia, where an academy had been long conducted
with great reputation by the Rev. Samuel Finley, D.D.
afterwards president of the college in Princeton, New-Jer-
sey. The inhabitants of this retired spot were plain coun-
try farmers, who cultivated so indifferent a soil that they
could not derive a living from it without strict economy
and the daily labor of their own hands. In their com-
paratively depressed situation, as to worldly matters, their
morals Avere a virtual reproach to the inhabitants of many
districts who enjoyed a much greater proportion of the
good things of this life. Almost every dwelling house
was so far a church that the reading of the word of God,
and the offering up of family prayers, generally recurred
every day ; there were few, or rather no examples of, or
temptations to immorality of any kind. Among these peo-
ple, remarkable for their simplicity, industry, morality
and religion, young Rush spent five years of his early
youth in acquiring a knowledge of the Greek and Latin
languages. He there also learned mucli of human nature,
and began to class mankind according to their state ot
society ; a distinction of which he profited very much in
his future speculations in political philosophy. The tran-
sition from the variegated scenes of Philadelphia to this
sequestered seat of learning, industry and religious habits,
could not fail of making a strong impression on his ob-
serving mind. He there acquired a reverence for (religion,
its consistent professors and teachers : a prepossession in
30 BENJAMIN RUSH.
favor of regular orderly conduct, of diligence, industry,
punctual attention to business, and in general of such
steady habits as stamped a value on his character through
life. In laying a solid foundation for correct principles
and conduct he was essentially aided by the faultless ex-
ample, judicious advice, and fatherly care of the learned
and pious Dr. Finley. This accomplished instructer of
youth was not only diligent and successful in communicat-
ing useful knowledge, but extended his views far beyond
the ordinary routine of a common education. He trained
his pupils for both worlds, and in his intercourse with
them, had respect to their future as well as present state of
existence. To young Rush he was devoted by peculiar
ties : for he was fatherless and the son of the sister of his
beloved wife. A reciprocation of affection took place be-
tween the parties, much to the credit and advantage of
both.
Benjamin Rush, after finishing his preparatory course
of classical studies at Nottingham, was, in 1759, entered a
student in the college of Princeton, then under the super-
intendence of President Davies. This eloquent preacher
was pronounced by his pupil, Rush, not only in early
youth, but in his adult age, to have been the greatest pul-
pit orator this country had produced. Under the tuition
of this distinguished preacher and able instructer, he,
whose life we are reviewing, obtained the degree of A.B.
in 1760, and before he had completed his fifteenth year.
The next six years of his life were devoted to the study of
medicine, under the direction of Dr. Redman, who in his
day ranked among the most eminent of the Faculty in
Philadelphia. The writings of Hippocrates were among
the first books Benjamin Rush read in medicine, and
while he was an apprentice he translated his aphorisms
from Greek into English. He also began to keep a note-
book of remarkable occurrences, the plan of which he
afterwards improved, and continued through life. From a
part of this record, written in the seventeenth year of the age
of its author, we derive the only account of the yellow fever
of 1762 in Philadelphia, which has descended to posterity.
In the same year he was one of Dr. Shippen's ten pupils,
who attended the first course of anatomical lectures given
in this country. Two years after, and while he was a
daily attendant in the shop of Dr. Redman, he commenced
his brilliant career as an author. On the expiration of his
BENJAMIN RUSH. SI
apprenticeship, Benjamin Rush went, in 1766, to Edin-
burgh, to prosecute his studies at the university in tliat
city, then in the zenith of its reputation, and there was
graduated M.D. in 1768. His Thesis " De Coctione Cibo-
rum in Ventriculo," was written in classical Latin, and I
have reason to believe, without the help of a grinder of
theses, for it bears the characteristic marks of the peculiar
style of its author. Its elegant latinity was the least part
of its merits.
While Dr. Rush was a student of Edinburgh, he had an
opportunity of distinguishing himself, and at the same
time of rendering an acceptable service to his alma mater,
Nassau Hall. On the death of President Finley, in 1766,
the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, of Paisley in Scotland, was
chosen liis successor. He at first declined the acceptance
of the office, and it remained vacant more than a year.
The trustees of that institution entertaining a high opinion
of their alumnus Rush, appointed him their commissioner
to solicit Dr. Witherspoon to accept the presidency of
Princeton College, and the presbytery, of which he was a
member, to consent to his dismission. These commissions
were ably and successfully executed. The address and
talents of the young commissioner inspired the parties
with a belief that a college which had already produced
such fruit was worthy of their attention. I leave it to
others to appreciate the consequences of this successful
negociation, to the interests of religion and learning in
America, and only refer you to the observations of Dr.
Miller, the learned historian of the eighteenth century, on
this event. Dr. Rush spent in London the next winter
after his graduation in Edinburgh. In the following
spring he went over to France, and in the fall of the same
year returned to Philadelphia, and commenced the prac-
tice of physic. In 1769 he was elected Professor of Chem-
istry in the College of Philadelphia. This addition to
Drs. Shippen, Morgan, Kuhn and Bond, who had begim
to lecture a few years before, made a complete set of in-
structers, and fully organized this first medical school in
America. By a subsequent arrangement in 1791, the col-
lege was merged in a university, and Dr. Rush was ap-
pointed Piofessor of the Institutes and Practice of Medi-
cine, and of Clinical Practice in the University of Penn-
sylvania.
32 BENJAMIN RUSH.
In this and his preceding capacity, as lecturer in chem-
istry, Dr. Rush has been a public teaclier of medicine for
forty-four years, and has in several instances, and particu-
larly in that of him who now addresses you, taught two
successive generations, for the father and son have both been
his pupils. From his first commencing practice Dr. Rush al-
ways had a considreble number of private pupils. Their
whole number cannot now be exactly ascertained, but it is
recollected that they amounted to fifty in the last nine years
of his life. His class pupils, for several of the first years in
which he gave lectures, varied from sixteen to thirty, but
since 1789 have been from year to year rapidly increas-
ing. In 1812 they amounted to four hundred and thirty.
His pupils were generally changed every second or third
year. From these data, it is not an improbable conjecture
that, in the course of his life, Dr. Rush has given public in-
structions to two thousand two hundred and fifty pupils.
Tliese have extended the blessings of his instructions and
improvement in the theory and practice of medicine, over
the United States, and in a few instances to South Ameri-
ca, the West Indies, and the eastern continent. On his re-
turn to Philadelphia, he found the Boerhaavian system of
medicine, which locates diseases in the fluids of theliuman
body, to be generally accredited. Having acquired at
Edinburgh a partiality for the spasmodic system of Cullen,
he publicly taught it as preferable to that of Boerhaave ;
but his active mind daily brooding over the medical sys-
tems of others, correcting them by his own observations
and reasonings, and bringing the whole to the test of ex-
perience, in its progressive course began to receive new
light. He was convinced that medicine was in its infancy ;
that there was great room for improvement. Instead of
being proud of his attainments, he was disposed to ex-
claim " Heu quantum nescimus." Of how much are we
ignorant ? It would require a much longer time than is
allotted to the exercises of this day, to give a complete
view of the improvements Dr. Rush has introduced in our
profession. A slight sketch of the most prominent is all
that your time will permit to be brought into view on this
occasion.
When Dr. Rush began to lecture, diseases were reduced
in the manner of the botanists, to orders, classes, genera,
and species. In Cullen's Genera Morborum, the names of
one thousand three hundred and eighty-seven vliseases are
BENJAMIN RUSH. 33
enumerated, each supposed to have something appropriate,
and requiring in some respects different treatment. This
embarrassing, perplexing mode of acquiring a knowledge
of diseases, has been simplified by our American professor,
who has substituted in its place the state of tlie system.
In his public instructions, the name of the disease is com-
paratively nothing, but the nature of it every thing. His
system rejects the nosological arrangement of diseases, and
places all their numerous forms in morbid excitement, in-
duced by irritants, acting upon previous debility. It re-
jects, likewise, all prescriptions for the names of diseases,
and by directing their apj)lication wholly to the forming
and fluctuating state of diseases, and of the system, derives
from a few active medicines, all the advantages whicli
have been in vain expected from the numerous articles
wliich compose European treatises upon the materia medica.
Tliis simple arrangement was further simplified by consid-
ering every morbid state of the system to be such as either
required depletion or stimulation. The art of healing
diseases, is therefore acquired by the student, who from
the pulse and other auxiliary sources of information,
knows the state of the system of his patient, so far as to
be a competent judge whether depletion or stimulation is
indicated, and when this is ascertained, is farther instruct-
ed so as to be able to select the remedies which are best
suited either to deplete or stimulate, according to tlie
strength, habits, and other peculiar circumstances of his
patient. The younger members of our profession cannot
appreciate the value of this arrangement as well as those
who are seniors. The latter have had to undergo the up-
hill work of coming to the names of diseases by a circuit-
ous rout, the former have been led by one or two plain
paths, which speedily brought them to the same goal, or
what is equivalent thereto, or rather far superior to it. The
old system requires reading and memory ; the new, judg-
ment and observation. It is no exaggeration to say that a
student of an investigating mind, on the present simple
plan of acquiring a knowledge of the healing art, can be
better prepared for entering on his profession in three
years, than he could on the former system in five. Con-
templating diseases through this new light, our professor
found that a great majority of them, in tliis new and plen-
tiful agricultural country, required depletion, and that, of
all modes of depletion, bleeding was the easiest, safest and
VOL. If. 5
Si BBI^JAMIN RUSH.
shortest, and next to it cathartics ; that these two remedies,
judiciously applied, with a suitable regimen, carried to a
proper extent, and discontinued at the proper period,
would often extinguish an otherwise formidable disease
when in the forming state, or lay a foundation for its cure
after it was actually formed. Practice, foimded on these
simple principles, removed mvich present evil, and pre-
vented more. It was about the year 1790, and twenty-
one years after Dr. Rush had been a practitioner and pro-
fessor of medicine, when he began to publish his new
principles in medicine. These were more or less develop-
ed by him in his successive annual course of lectures, for
the subsequent twenty-three years of his life. They were
also discussed in inaugural dissertations by many of the
candidates for medical degrees in the same period. These
young gentlemen were at full liberty to sift their merits or
expose their fallacy. Freedom of inquiry was inculcated
on them, not only as a privilege, but as a duty.
It is believed that no man understood the human pulse
better than Dr. Rush. In his lectures he used to call it the
" nosometer of the system." From long and accurate
acquaintance with all its varieties and the circumstances
by which it was affected, he made himself acquaint-
ed with the state of his patient's system, and by suitable
remedies reduced it to its proper standard, and generally
removed tlie disease. Pursuing the train of reasoning and
observation just stated, and applying it to practice, our
professor adopted modes of treating several diseases,
which had not been usual in this country, and which by
many practitioners have been deemed improvements in the
practice of physic. Dr. Rush carried bleeding and the
depleting system farther than ever had been done before by
any of his contemporary physicians. He in like manner
urged the use of calomel, to which he gave the name of
the Sampson of the materia medica, farther than was com-
mon among the physicians who had preceded him. In-
stead of making a profitable secret of his innovations in
practice, he came forward boldly ; taught them to his nu-
merous pupils ; published them to the world, and defend-
ed them with his pen. The witlings of the day concurred
in the propriety of the name of Sampson, which he had
given to this favorite remedy, calomel ; but for a very
different reason, because, say they, " it has slain its thous-
ands," Unmoved by the sneers of some, the misrepresent-
BENJAMIN RUSH. M
ations of others, and the general partiality for old opin-
ions and aversion to innovations, Dr. Rush steadily pursu-
ed liis course through evil report and good report. The
same hand which subscribed the declaration of the political
independence of these states, accomplished their emanci-
pation from medical systems formed in foreign countries,
and w^holly unsuitable to the state of diseases in America.
These Dr. Rush pronounced to be of a higher grade, and
to require more potent remedies than were usually pre-
scribed for similar diseases in the old world. It cannot be
denied that the depleting mercurial plan of treating diseases
so strongly recommended l)y our professor, has done mis-
chief in the hands of persons who did not understand it,
or were ignorant of the limitation and cautions necessary
in its application, or who were not sufficiently attentive to
the varying symptoms of their patients. But it is never-
theless true, that the system, compared with those which
preceded it, is a good one, and that the objections to it
apply to every efficient, energetic plan of treating diseases.
He is unworthy of the name of a physician, who does not
occasionally risk his reputation by bold but judicious ef-
forts to save the lives of his patients. It is to be regretted
that the great reformer who introduced the innovations,
commonly called the American system of medicine, did
not live a few years longer to discover more of the laws
of the animal economy, more principles in medicine, and
at the same time, to perfect those he had already discover-
ed and promulgated. Than Dr. Rush, no man more read-
ily retracted his opinions, when new light from any quarter
whatever pointed out their defects. Such candor is a char-
acteristic of a great mind. He knew only one being, the
great Eternal, " who changeth not," and also knew that
when a fallible imperfect mortal gave up his opinion, on be-
ing convinced that it was erroneous, he became wiser than
he was before. Much did he lament the injury sustained
by the medical world, from the obstinate adherence of the
celebrated John Hunter, to opinions he had once promul-
gated, and characterised him in his lectures, as one " who
never gave up any thing he had once asserted till he gave
up the ghost." It was not so with Dr. Rush ; his latter
works and lectures frequently announce his reasons for re-
linquishing doctrines he believed and taught in younger
life. A friend to free inquiry, he invited his numerous
pupils to think and judge for themselves, and would free-
36 BENJAMIN RUSH.
ly, and in a friendly manner, explain liis principle?, re-
solve their doubts, listen to their o]>jections, and either
yield to their force, or show their fallacy.
Dr. Rush's principles of medicine were by him success-
fully applied to the cvire of consumptions, dropsies, hydro-
cephalus internus, apoplexy, gout, and other diseases of the
body, and also to madness and other diseases of the mind.
A free use of the lancet, in almost every case, and particu-
larly in some in which it had rarely or never before been
used, was one of his first and most common prescriptions.
His ingenious and able defence of bleeding is founded on
his tjieory of fever, in which he premises, " that fevers
of all kinds are preceded by general debility, natural or
accidental. From this a sudden accumulation of excita-
bility takes place, whereby a predisposition to fever is
created. Depression of the whole system follows, and
where the stimuli, whether morbid or natural, are continu-
ed, reaction is induced, and in this reaction, according to
its greater or less force and extent, consist the different de-
grees of fever. It is of an irregular or a convulsive na-
ture. In common cases it is seated primarily in the blood
vessels, and particularly in the arteries, which pervade
every part of the body. " All diseases are preceded by
debility. Theye is but one exciting cause of fever, and
that is stimulus ; and that consists in a preternatural and
convulsive action of the blood vessels. All the supposed
variety of fevers have but one proximate cause, and that
is morbid excitement. All ordinary fevers being seated
in the blood vessels, it follows, of course, that all those
local affections, we call pleurisy, angina, phrenitis, inter-
nal dropsy of the brain, pulmonary consumption, and in-
flammation of the liver, stomach, bowels and limbs, are
symptoms only of an original and primary disease in the
sanguiferous system." The artificial division of fever
into genera and species is rejected by our professor for
the following reasons : " Much mischief has been done by
nosological arrangements of diseases ; they erect imagin-
ary boundaries between things which are of a homogene-
ous nature ; they degrade the human understanding, by
substituting simple perceptions to its more dignified oper-
ations in judgment and reasoning ; they gratify indolence
in a physician, by fixing liis attention upon the name of a
disease, and thereby leading him to neglect the varying
state of the system ; they moreover lay a foundation for
BENJAMIN RUSH. 37
disputes among physicians ; the whole materia medica is
infected with tiie baneful cons^equences of the nomencla-
ture of diseases ; for every article in it is pointed only
against tliese names, and hence the origin of the nuinerous
contradictions among authors wlio describe the virtues and
doses of the same medicines. By the rejection of the arti-
ficial arrangement of diseases, a revolution must follow in
medicine. Observation and judgment will take the place
of [reading and memory, and prescriptions will be con-
formed to existing circumstances."
At the end of a long dissertation of sixty-six pages, ex-
plaining and defending his principles. Dr. Rush " com-
mits the whole to his pupils, to be corrected and improv-
ed," and concludes with observing,
" We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow,
Our wiser sons, I hope, will think us so."
His " Defence of Bloodletting as a Remedy for Certain
Diseases," grounded on the preceding theory of fever, oc-
cupies eighty-six pages in his fourth volume. He therein
states, that bloodletting in violent fevers, wlien used at a
proper time, and in quantity suited to the force of the
disease, frequently strangles a fever, when used in its form-
ing state, and thereby saves much pain, time and expense
to a patient ; and that it imparts strength to the body, by
removing the depression which is induced by tlie remote
cause of the fever. Dr. Rush after enumeratino; the other
advantages of blood letting in fevers, then proceeds to re-
fute the objections to it, and to state the circumstances
under which it is forbidden. For these we refer to his
works.
Dr. Rush's fondness for the lancet was objected to by
many. But his friends consider it as a great improvement
in the treatment of the serious diseases most generally
prevalent in the United States. On the correctness of this
opinion, his fame as an improver of medicine, in a great
degree, must eventually rest. We have therefore for the
most part used his own words in the defence of this prac-
tice, though for the sake of brevity, we liave omitted tlic
many pleasant anecdotes and striking cases by which he
illustrates his principles ; and for the same reason we
have often omitted or shortened the arguments he adduces
in support of them.
The year 1793 brought the theories and the native
strength of Dr. Rush's genius to the test. Philadelphia
38 BENJAMIN RUSH.
was in that year desolated by the yellow fever, after it
had disappeared for thirty-one years. This baffled the
skill of the oldest and most judicious physicians. They
differed about the nature and treatment of it ; but, in a;en-
eral, free evacuations were supposed to be improper from
the depressed state of the pulse, which was a common
symptom. The prevailing fever was considered by some
as a modification of the influenza, and by others as the
jail fever. Its various grades and symptoms were consid-
ered as so many different diseases, all originating from dif-
ferent causes. There was the same contrariety in the
practice of the physicians tiiat there was in their princi-
ples. This general calamity lasted for about one hundred
days, extending from July till November. The deaths in
the whole of this distressing period were four thousand
and forty-four, or something more than thirty-eight each
day, on an average. Whole families were confined by it.
There was a deficiency of nurses for the sick. There was
likewise a great deficiency of physicians, from the deser-
tion of some and the sickness and death of others. At one
time there were but three physicians who were able to do
business out of their houses, and at this time there were
probably not less than six thousand persons ill with the
fever.
A cheerful countenance was scarcely to be seen for six
weeks. The streets every where discovered marks of the
distress that pervaded the city. In walking, for many
hundred yards, few persons were met, except such as were
in quest of a physician, a nurse, a bleeder, or the men who
buried the dead. The hearse alone kept up the remem-
brance of the noise of carriages or carts in the streets. A
black man leading or driving a horse with a corpse on a
pair of chair wheels, met the eye in most of the streets of
the city at every hour of the day, while the noise of the
same wheels, passing slowly over the pavement, kept alive
anguish and fear in the sick and well, every hour of the
night.
All the physicians, for some time after the commence-
ment of this disease, were unsuccessful in its treatment.
Dr. Rush tried, in the first instance, the gentle jmrges
used in the yellow fever of 1762 ; but finding them unsuc-
cessful, and observing the disease to assume uncommon
symptoms of great prostration of strength, he laid them
aside about the 20th of August, and had recourse to ipecac-
BENJAMIN RUSH. 39
iianha on the first day of the fever, and to the usual
remedies for exciting the action of the sanguiferous system,
and gave bark in all its usual forms, and joined wine,
brandy and aromatics with it. He applied blisters to the
limbs, neck and head. Finding them all ineffectual, he
attempted to rouse the system by wrapping the whole
body in blankets dipped in warm vinegar. He rubbed
the right side with mercurial ointment, with a view of
exciting the action of the vessels in the whole system
through the medium of the liver. None of these remedies
appeared to be of any service. Perplexed and distressed
by his want of success-, he waited upon Dr. Stevens, an
eminent and worthy physician from St. Croix, who hap-
pened then to be in Philadelphia, and asked for such ad-
vice and information upon the subject of the disease as his
extensive practice in the West Indies would naturally sug-
gest. He replied, that " he had long ago laid aside
evacuations of all kinds in the yellow fever ; that they
had been found to be hurtful, and that the disease yielded
more readily to bark, wine, and, above all, to the use of
the cold bath. He advised the bark to be given in large
quantities and in every possible way, and pointed out the
manner in which the cold bath should be used so as to
derive the greatest benefit from it." These remedies were
faithfully applied by Dr. Rush. Bark was prescribed by
him in large quantities and in various ways. Buckets full
of cold water were frequently thrown upon patients. The
bark was offensive to the stomach, or rejected by it in
every case. The cold bath was grateful, and procured
relief in several cases by inducing a moisture on the skin.
But three out of four of the patients died to whom the
cold bath was administered in addition to the tonic reme-
dies before mentioned.
The disease had a malignity and an obstinacy never be-
fore observed, and it spread Avith a rapidity and mortality
far exceeding its ravages in the year 1762, wlien the yel-
low fever had last visited Philadelphia. From thirty to
seventy died every day, though one third of the inhabi-
tants of the city had fled into the country. In this dread-
ful state of things, what reward woulJ be reckoned too
great to the man who should find out and publish a remedy
which would generally cure this wasting pestilence .''
Heaven, in mercy to the afflicted inhabitants, raised up
such a man in Dr. Rush. Well knowing the numerous
40 BENJAMIN RUSH,
and complicated distresses which pestilential diseases had
often produced in other countries, the anguish of his soul
was inexpressible. But he did not despair : he believed
that good was commensurate with evil, and that there did
not exist a disease for which the goodness of Providence
had not provided a remedy. Under this impression he
applied himself with fresh ardor to investigate this novel
disease. He ransacked his library and pored over every
book that treated of the yellow fever. The result of his
researches, for a while, was fruitless. The accounts of the
symptoms and cure of the disease, by the authors he con-
sulted, were contradictory, and none of them appeared
altogether applicable to the prevailing epidemic. He had
among some old papers a manuscript account of the yel-
low fever as it prevailed in Virginia in the year 1741,
which was given to liim by Dr. Franklin, and had been
written by Dr. Mitchell of Virginia. This was read with
attention. In it a remark was made, " that evacuation by
purges was moie necessary in tliis than most otlier fevers,
and that an ill-timed scrupulousness about the weakness of
the body was of bad consequence in these urging circum-
stances." Solid reasons were given in support of this
opinion, and it was added, " I can affirm that I have
given a purge in this case, when the pulse has been so Ioav
that it could hardly be felt, and the debility extreme ; yet
both one and the other have been restored by it." This
single sentence was the groundwork of Dr. Rush's subse-
quent successful practice.
From these words a new train of ideas suddenly broke
in upon his mind. He was led to believe that the weak
and low pulse generally observed in this fever, which had
Ijitherto deterred him from the use of strong evacuating
remedies, was the effect of debility from an oppressed state
of the system. His reasoning powers taught him to dis-
tinguish between this and an exhausted state. His fears
from large evacuations were in a moment dissipated. He
adopted Dr. Mitchell's theory and practice, and resolved
to follow them. It remained now only to fix upon a suit-
able purge to answer the purpose of freely discharging
the contents of the bowels. Calomel, in doses of ten
grains, quickened by ten or fifteen grains of jalap, was
preferred. The effects of this powder, especially when re-
peated according to circumstances, not only answered but
far exceeded his expectations. It perfectly cured four out
BEXJAMIN RUSH. 41
of the first five patients to whom lie gave it, notwithstand-
ing some of them were advanced several days in the
disease.
After such a j)iedge of the safety and success of this
new medicine, he communicated the prescription to such
of the practitioners as he met in the streets. Some of
them he found had heen in the use of calomel for several
days, but as they had given it in small and single doses
only, and had followed it by large doses of bark, wine
and laudanum, they had done little or no good with it.
He imparted the prescription to the College of Physicians
on the third of September, and endeavored to remove the
fears of his fellow citizens, by assuring them that the dis-
ease was no longer incurable. The credit it acquired
brought him an immense accession of business. It con-
tinued to be almost uniformly effectual in nearly all those
cases which he was able to attend, either in person or by
his pupils. But he did not rely upon purges alone to cure
the disease. The theory of it which he had adopted, led
him to vise other remedies to abstract excess of stimulus
from the system. These were blood letting, cool air, cold
drinks, low diet, and application of cold water to the
body. He began by drawing a small quantity of blood at
a time. The appearance of it when drawn, and its effects
upon the system, satisfied him of its safety and efficacy,
and encouraged him to proceed. Never did he experience
such sublime joy as he now felt in contemplating the suc-
cess of his remedies. It repaid him for all the toils and
studies of his life. The conquest of this formidable dis-
ease was not the effect of accident, nor of the application
of a single remedy, but it was the triumph of a principle
in medicine. In this joyful state of mind he entered in
his note book, dated the lOtli of September, " Thank
God ! out of one hundred patients whom I have visited
or prescribed for this day, I have lost none.''
Being unable to comply with the numerous demands
which Avere made upon him for the purging powders, not-
withstanding he had employed three persons to assist his
pi.ipils in putting them up, and finding himself unable to
attend all the persons who sent for him, he furnished the
apothecaries with the receipt for the mercurial purges,
together with printed directions for giving them, and for
the treatment of the disease. Had he consulted his own
interest he would silently have pursued his own plans of
VOL. II. 6
43 BENJAMIN RUSH.
cure with his old patients, who still confided in him and
his new remedies ; but he felt at this season of universal
distress, his professional obligations to all the citizens of
Philadelphia, to be superior to private and personal con-
siderations, and therefore determined, at every hazard, to
do every thing in his power to save their lives. Under
the influence of this disposition he addressed a letter to
the College of Physicians, in which he stated his objections
to Dr. Stevens's remedies, and defended those he had re-
commended. He likewise defended them in the public
papers, against the attacks that were made upon them by
several of the physicians of the city, and occasionally ad-
dressed such advice to the citizens as experience had sug-
gested to be useful, to prevent the disease. In none of the
recommendations of his remedies did he claim the credit
of their discovery. On the contrary, he constantly en-
deavored to enforce their adoption by mentioning prece-
dents in favor of their efficacy from the highest authorities
in medicine. This controversy was encouraged merely to
prevent the greater evil of the depopulation of Philadel-
phia, by the use of remedies wliich had been prescribed
by himself as well as others, not only without effect, but
witli evident injury to the sick. The repeated and numer-
ous instances of their inefiicacy, and the almost uniform
success of the depleting remedies, after awhile procured
submission to the latter from nearly all the persons who
were affected by the fever.
Many whole families, consisting of five, six, and in three
instances, of nine members, were recovered by plentiful
purging and bleeding. These remedies were prescribed,
Avith great advantage, by several of the pliysicians of the
city. But the use of them was not restricted to the phy-
sicians alone ; the clergy, the apothecaries, many private
citizens, several intelligent women, and two black men
prescribed them with great success. Nay more, many
persons prescribed tliem to themselves. It was owing to
the almost universal use of these remedies that the mortal-
ity of the disease diminished in proportion as the number
of persons who were affected by it increased. It is [)roba-
ble that not less than six thousand of the inhabitants of
Philadelphia were saved from death, by purging and
bleeding, during the autumn of 1793.
The credit which this new mode of treating the disease
acquired in all parts of the city, produced an immense in-
BENJAMIN RUSH.
4S
flux of patients to Dr. Rush. His pupils were constantly
employed ; at first in putting up purging powders, but
after awhile only in bleeding and visiting the sick.
Between the 8th and 15th of September Dr. Rush visit-
ed and prescribed for between a hundred and a hundred
and twenty patients a day. In the short intervals of busi-
ness, which he spent at his meals, his house was filled with
patients, chiefly the poor, waiting for advice. For many
weeks he seldom ate without prescribing for numbers as
he sat at table. To assist him, three of his pupils, Mr.
Stall, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Cox, accepted of rooms in his
house, and became members of his family. Their labors
now had no remission. He employed every moment in
the interval of his visits to the sick, in prescribing in his
house for the poor, or in sending answers to messages from
his patients. Unable to comply with the numerous appli-
cations that were made to him, he was obliged to refuse
many every day. His sister counted forty-seven appli-
cants for medical aid turned off'in one forenoon before eleven
o'clock. In ridingr through the streets he was often forced
to resist the entreaties of parents imploring a visit to their
children, or of children to their parents. He v/as sometimes
obliged to tear himself from persons who attejnpted to slop
him, and to urge his way by driving his chair as speedily
as possible beyond the reach of their cries. While he was
thus overwhelmed with business, and his own life endan-
gered without being able to answer the numerous calls
made on him, he received letters from his friends in the
country pressing him in the strongest terms to leave the
city. To one of these letters he replied, " that he had
resolved to stick to his principles, his practice and his
patients to the last extremity."
Dr. Rush's incessant labors of mind and body, by night
and by day, nearly cost him his life ; but by bleeding and
purging, under the direction of Mr. Fisher, then one of his
pupils, but now an eminent physician of Columbia, South
Carolina, his valuable life was preserved for twenty-three
years' further usefulness.
We have been particular in describing tlie yellow fev^er
as it appeared in Philadelphia in 1793. Tliis was the
most eventful year in the life of Dr. Rush. It laid a solid
foundation for his fame, which will last till sin and sick-
ness are no more. Had tlie same events taken place in the
early ages of the Pagan world, he would have been deified ;
44 BENJAMIN RUSH.
if in the dark ages of the Christian era, he would have
been canonized, and worshipped as a saint. His friends in
the nineteenth century prefer no farther claim on their
countrymen, than that his meritorious and beneficial ser-
A'ices be properly appreciated and kept in grateful remem-
brance.
We now proceed to consider Dr. Rush as an author.
His printed works consist of seven volumes, six of which
treat of medical subjects, inclusive of the volume of Intro-
ductory Lectures. One is a collection of essays, literary,
moral and philosophical. Your time will not permit our
review of these invaluable writings, or even to recapitulate
the subjects therein discussed.* I shall therefore pass
* Dr. Rush's works, printed in his lifetime, treat on the following subjects :
" An inquiry into the natural history of medicine among the Indians of North
America, and a comparative view of their diseases and remedies, with those of civ-
ilized nations.
" An account of the climate of Pennsylvania, and its influence upon the human
body.
" An account of the bilious remitting fever, as it appeared in Philadelphia in the
summer and autumn of the year 17S0.
" An account of the scarlatina anginosa, as it appeared in Philadelphia in the
years 1783 and 1784.
" An inquiry into the cause and cure of the cholera infantum.
" Observations on the cynanche trachealis.
" An account of the efficacy of blisters and bleeding in the cure of obstinate in-
termitting fevers.
" An account of the disease occasioned by drinking cold water in warm weather,
and the method of curing it.
" An account of the efficacy of common salt in the cure of hasmoptysis.
" Thoughts on the cause and cure of pulmonary consumption.
" Observations upon worms in the alimentary canal, and upon anthelmintic medi-
cines.
" An account of the external use of arsenic in the cure of cancers.
" Observations on the tetanus.
" The result of observations made upon the diseases which occurred in the mili-
tary hospitals of the United States, during the revolutionary war^
" An account of tlie influence of the military and political events of the Ameri-
can revolution upon the human body.
" An inquiry into the relations of tastes and aliments to each other, and upon
the influence of this relation upon health and pleasure.
" The new method of inoculating for the smallpox.
" An inquiry into the efi^ects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mmd,
with an account of the means of preventing, and the remedies for curing them.
" Observations on the duties of a physician, and the methods of improving medi-
cines ; accommodated to the present state of society and manners in the United
States.
'• An inquiry into the causes and cure of sore legs.
" An account of the state of the body and mind in old age, with observations on
its diseases and their remedies. /l/k
" An inquiry into the influence of physical causes upon the moral faculty.
" Observations upon the cause and cure of pulmonary consumption.
" Observations upon the symptoms and cure of dropsies.
" Inquiry into the cause and cure of the gout.
" Obseirations on the nat'ire and cure of ihe hydrophobia.
BENJAMIN RUSH. 4^
over this part of my subject, only remarking that his
medical works are so original, and so well adapted to our
local situation, that they should be carefully perused by
every medical student ; for they unfold true principles,
" An account of the measles as they appeared in Philadelphia in the spring of
1789.
" An account of the influenza, as it appeared in Philadelphia in the years 1790
and 1791.
" An inquiry into the cause of animal life.
" Outlines of a theory of fever.
" An account of the bilious yellow fever, as it appeared in Philadelphia in 1793,
and of each successive year till 1805.
" An inquiry into the various sources of the usual forms of the summer and
autumnal diseases in the United States, and the means of preventing them.
" Facts, intended to prove the yellow fever not to be contagious.
" Defence of bloodletting, as a remedy in certain diseases.
" An inquiry into the comparative states of medicine in Philadelphia, between
the years 1760 and 1766, and 1805.
" A volume of essays, literary, moral and philosophical, in which the following
subjects are discussed :
" A plan for establishing public schools in Pennsylvania, and for conducting edu-
cation agreeably to a republican form of government. Addressed to the legislature,
and citizens of Pennsylvania, in the year 1786.
" Of the mode of education proper in a republic.
" Observations upon the study of the Latin and Greek languages, as a branch of
liberal education ; with hints of a plan of liberal instruction without them, accom-
modated to the present state of society, Tnanners and government, in the United
States.
" Thoughts upon the amusements and punishments which are proper for schools.
" Thoughts upon female education, accommodated to the present state of society,
manners and government, in the United States of America.
" A defence of the Bible as a school book.
" An address to the ministers of the gospel of every denomination in the United
States, upon subjects interesting to morals.
" An inquiry into the consistency of the punishment of murder by death, with
reason and revelation.
" A plan of a peace-office for the United States.
" Information to Europeans who are disposed to migrate to the United States of
America.
" An account of the progress of population, agriculture, manners and govern-
ment in Pennsylvania.
" An account of the manners of the German inhabitants of Pennsylvania.
" Thoughts on common sense.
•' An account of the vices peculiar to the Indians of North America.
" Observations upon the influence of the habitual use of tobacco, upon health,
morals and property.
" An account of the sugar maple tree of the United States.
" An account of the life and death of Edward Drinker, who died on the 17lh of
November, 1782, in the one hundred and third year of his age.
" Remarkable circumstances in the constitution and life of Ann Woods, an old
woman of ninety-six years of age.
" Biographical anecdotes of Benjamin Lay.
" Biographical anecdotes of Anthony Benezet.
" Paradise of negro slaves — a dream. ,,-
" Eulogium upon Dr. William Cullen.
" Eulogium upon David Rittenhouse.
" A volume of lectures, most of which were introductory to his annual courses of
lectures on the institutes and practice of medicine.
" Medical inquiries and observations on the diseases ol the mind.
46 BENJAMIN RUSH.
which will lead the physician of genius to correct, effi-
cient, and energetic practice. To the American student
theyiare of incalculaljle value ; for they convey that practi-
cal knowledge of our climate, and peculiar diseases, which
will contribute more to his success than any books he can
import from foreign countries. His miscellaneous essays
deserve the serious attention of every member of our nu-
merous legislative bodies. His lecture on medical juris-
prudence should be read, not only by physicians, but by
judges, jurymen and lawyers. This subject has never
before been discussed in this country, and very little can
be gleaned from all who have written on it in Europe.
Dr. Rush's volume of Medical Inquiries and Observa-
tions on the Diseases of the Mind, is the fruit of accurate
observation and long experience, in the Pennsylvania Hos-
pital. It was his last contribution to the literature of his
country. Though for many years digested in his own
mind, it was published only six months before his death.
Dr. Rush was a public writer for forty-nine years, and
from the nineteenth to the sixty-eighth year of his age.
It was a singular opinion of his own, but in unison with
his medical system, " that ideas, whether acquired from
books or by reflection, produced a plethora in the mind,
which can only be relieved by depletion from the pen or
tongue." It is matter of wonder how a physician who
had so many patients to attend ; a professor who had so
many pupils to instruct, could find leisure to write so
much, and at the same time so well. Our wonder will cease
when it is known that he suffered no fragments of time
to be wasted, and that he improved every opportunity of
acquiring knowledge, and used all practicable means for
retaining and digesting what he had acquired. In his
early youth he had the best instructers, and in every period
of his life great opportunities for mental improvement.
He was gifted from Heaven with a lively imagination, a
retentive memory, a discriminating judgment, and he made
the most of all these advantages. From boyhood till his
last sickness, he was a constant and an indefatigable stu-
" An account of the effects of stramonium or thorn apple, published in 1770.
" A letter on the usefulness of wort in ill conditioned ulcers, to his friend Dr.
Huck of London, which was published in the Medical Observations and Inquiries of
London, vol. iv.
" A letter to Dr. Hosack, on the Hydrophobia, published in Hosack and Francis'
Medical Register, 1814."
BENJAMIN RUSH. 47
dent. He read much, but thought more. His mind was
constantly engrossed with at least one literary inquiry, to
which, for the time, he devoted his undivided attention.
To make himself master of that subject, he read, he me-
ditated, he conversed. It was less his custom to read a
book through, than to read as much of all the authors
within his reach, as bore on the subject of his present in-
quiry. His active mind brooded over the materials thus
collected, compared his ideas, and traced their relations
to each other, and from the whole drew his own conclu-
sions. In these, and similar mental exercises, he was ha-
bitually and almost constantly employed, and daily aggre-
gated and multiplied his intellectual stores. In this man-
ner his sound judgment was led to form those new com-
binations which constitute principles in science. He form-
ed acquaintances with his literary fellow citizens and all
well informed strangers who visited Philadelphia, and
drew from them every atom of information he could ob-
tain, by conversing on the subjects with which they were
best acquainted. He extracted so largely from the maga-
zine of knowledge deposited in the expanded mind of Dr.
Franklin, that he mentioned to me many years ago, his
intention to write a book with the title of Frankliniana, in
which he proposed to collect the fragments of wisdom
which he had treasured in his memory, as they fell in con-
versation from the lips of this great original genius. To
Dr. Rash every place was a school, every one with whom
he conversed was a tutor. He was never without a book,
for, when he had no other, the book of nature was before
him, and engaged his attention. In his lectures to his pu-
pils, he advised them to " lay every person they met with,
whether in a packet boat, a stage wagon, or a public road,
under contribution, for facts on physical subjects." What
the professor recommended to them, he practised himself.
His eyes and e?frs weie open to see, hear, and profit by
every occurrence. The facts he received from persons in
all capacities are improved to some valuable purpose. He
illustrates one of his medical theories by a fact communi-
cated by a butcher ; another from an observation made by
a madman, in the Pennsylvania Hospital. In his scientific
work on the diseases of the mind, he refers frequently to
poets, and particularly to Shakspearc, to illustrate the his-
tory of madness, and apologizes for it in the following
words. " They, poets, view the human mind in all its
48 BENJAMIN RUSH.
operations, whether natural or morbid, with a microscop-
ic eye, and hence many things arrest their attention which
escape the notice of physicians." It may be useful to stu-
dents to be informed that Dr. Rush constantly kept by
him a note book, consisting of two parts, in one of which
he entered facts as they occurred ; in the other, ideas and
observations as they arose in his own mind, or were sug-
gested by others in conversation. His mind was under
such complete discipline, that he could read or write witli
perfect composure, in the midst of the noise of his child-
ren, the conversation of his family, and the common inter-
rogatories of his visiting patients. A very moderate pro-
portion of his time was devoted to sleep, and much less to
the pleasures of the table. In the latter case, sittings were
never prolonged but in conversation on useful subjects,
and for purposes totally distinct from the gratifications of
appetite. In the course of nearly seventy years spent in
this manner, he acquired a sum of useful practical know-
ledge that has rarely been attained by one man in any age
or country. It may be useful to survivers, to be informed
that his incessant labors, both of mind and body, neither
shortened his life, nor impaired his health. In a letter I
received from him in 1803, he observes, " I continue,
through divine goodness, to enjoy, in the fifty-ninth year
of my age, uncommon good health." In a letter to his
kinsman Dr. Finley in 1809, he observes : " in my sixty-
fifth year I continue to enjoy uncommon health, and the
same facility in studying and doing business that I possess-
ed five and twenty years ago." And again, in another,
dated March 4th, 1813, about six weeks before his death,
he observes : " through divine goodness, I continue to en-
joy uncommon health for a man in his sixty-ninth year.
Now and then I am reminded of my age by light attacks
of the tussis senilis, but tliey do not impair my strength
nor lessen my facility in doing business."
Medical inquiries were the primary objects of Dr.
Rush's attention ; but he took such a comprehensive view
of his profession, that he 'iftade all branches of knowledge
tributary to it. From the philosophy of mind as connect-
ed with the body, he drew many useful hints respecting
the functions and diseases of the latter. Theology ; meta-
physics ; natural and civil history ; philosophy, natural,
moral and political ; the principles and practices of agri-
culture ; the liberal, mechanical, and chemical arts ; his-
BENJAMIN RUSH.
49
tories of voyages, travels, and the lives of illustrious char-
acters, and the nature of man under all its varieties of age,
country, religion, climate, and form of government, were
so far known to him as to furnish facts, illustrations, and
analogies, casting light on medical subjects. To politics,
in the earlier part of his life he paid great attention ; but
not to the unimportant controversies stirred up by those
who were contending for the loaves and fishes of govern-
ment. Three great political subjects, for the time being,
engrossed his whole soul ; the independence of his coun-
try ; the establishment of good constitutions for the United
States, and for his own particular state ; to enlighten the
public mind and to diffuse correct ideas. On these impor-
tant disquisitions he labored night and day. Many were
the productions of his pen, which, under a variety of
names, issued through the medium of the press to dispel
prejudices, obviate objections, correct erroneous impress-
ions, and, in general, to dispose his fellow citizens to dis-
cern the true, extended, permanent interest of their coun-
try, and to sacrifice to it all minor considerations.
While he was engaged in the bustle of politics his coun-
try, sensible of his merit, conferred sundry ofiices on him.
He was a member of the congress which, in 1776, declared
these states free and independent. In this event he glori-
ed, and from it he expected much good, and that of no
common kind. While others counted on the increase of
commerce, the influx of riches, the high rank among na-
tions, which awaited the new formed states. Dr. Rush's
attention was preferably fixed on the expansion of the hu-
man mind likely to grow out of independence. From
the happy state of things which left every man at liberty
to thinlc what he pleased, and to speak what he thought ;
to pursue his own interest and the impulse of his mind in
any way he thought best, without any control from privi-
leged orders, or the restraints of arbitrary government,
he anticipated a great increase of talents and knowledge.
The progress of eloquence, of science, and of mind in all
its various pursuits, was considered by him as the neces-
sary effect of republican constitutions, and in the prospect
of them he rejoiced. Nor M^as he disappointed, for in a
lecture, delivered in November 1799, he observes : " From
a strict attention to the state of mind in this country, be-
fore the year 1774 and at the present time, I am satisfied
the ratio of intellect is as twenty are to one, and of know-
VOL. 11. 7
50 BENJAMIN RUSH.
ledge as a hundred are to one, in these states, compared
with what they were before the American revolution."
Dr. Rush served his country in the capacity of Physi-
cian General, in the middle department, in the revolution-
ary army. The observations he there made on our hos-
pitals, army diseases, and the effects of the revolution on
the army and people, are before the public. They consti-
tute a valuable part of his works, and afford an ample
testimony of his talent for accurate observation.
For the last fourteen years of his life, he was tlie treas-
urer of the national mint, by appointment of President
Adams. This office was conferred as a homage to talents
and learning, and did equal honor to him who gave and
to him who received it.
In the establishment and support of the many private
associations for the advancement of human happiness
which abound in Pennsylvania, Dr. Rush was uncommonly
active. Of Dickinson College, in Carlisle, he may be said
to be the father. He saw the tide of population spread-
ing westward, and the necessity of its being accompanied
with the means of acquiring an education competent to the
purposes of civil society. His influence was not only in-
strumental in establishing this western college, but particu-
larly so in bringing from Scotland the Rev. Dr. Nisbet, of
Montrose, to preside over it. Very few liave crossed the
Atlantic to settle in these states, whose literary attainments
were equal to this gentleman's. Dr. Rush's zeal in the
cause of literature was not confined to colleges and uni-
versities, he eloquently advocated the establishment of free
schools, and for conducting the education of the youth of
the country agreeably to its republican form of govern-
ment. " Let there be," he said, " free schools established
in every township, or in districts consisting of one hun-
dred families. In these schools let children be taught to
read and write, and the use of figures. By this plan the
Avhole state will be tied together by one system of educa-
tion, and become one great and enlightened family." He
further adds : " The independence of our country has
created a new class of duties to every American. It be-
comes us, therefore, to adapt our modes of teaching to
the peculiar form of our government." He observes,
" that an education in our own, is to be preferred to an
education in a foreign country. That the only foundation
for a useful education, in a republic, is to be laid in reli-
BENJAMIN RUSH. 51
gion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without
virtue there can be no liberty ; and liberty is the object
and life of all republican governments." He declares,
" that he would rather see the oj)inions of Confucius or
Mahomed inculcated upon our youth, than see them grow
up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles. But
the religion he recommends is that of the New Testament."
He o])serves, " all the doctrines and precepts of the Christ-
ian religion are calculated to promote the happiness of
society, and the safety and well being of civil government.
A Christian cannot fail of being a republican. The history
of the creation of man, and of the relation of our species to
each other by birth, which is recorded in the Old Testa-
ment, is tlie best refutation that can be given to the divine
right of kings, and the strongest argument that can be used
in favor of the original and natural equality of all man-
kind. A Christian cannot fail of being a republican, for
every precept of the Gospel inculcates those degrees of
humility, self-denial, and brotherly kindness, which are
directly opposed to the pride of monarchy and the page-
antry of a court. A Christian cannot fail of being useful
to the republic, for his religion teacheth him that no man
' liveth to himself.' And, lastly, a Christian cannot fail of
being wholly inoffensive, for his religion teacheth him, in
all things, to do to others what lie could wish, in like cir-
cumstances, they should do to him."
The Philadelphia Dispensary, the first institution of the
kind in the United States, owes its origin to the illustrious
philanthropist whose death we lament. His pen demon-
strated the advantages of such an institution ; and when
the public mind was favorably impressed towards it, he
preconcerted with Dr. Moyes, the blind philosopher, to
give a public lecture, the proceeds of Avhich were to be
appropriated as the beginning of a fund to support this
novel institution. Curiosity, prompted by benevolence,
drew forth a very large audience. A handsome sum was
collected. This formed a nucleus for private contributions.
These flowed in so ])rofusely, that the institution was
speedily organized, and from the year 1786 to this day, it
has been a great public blessing, extending annually medi-
cal relief to several htmdreds of the sick poor in their own
houses. The good example was speedily followed by
Boston, New-York, Baltimore, Charleston, and some other
cities.
52 BENJAMIN RUSH.
The enlarged ideas that grew out of the American revo-
lution, were in unison with the comprehensive views ot"
Dr. Rash. He reflected witli horror on the sanguinary
punishments annexed to crimes by European, and conse-
quently American legislators, which had no tendency to
reform offenders. To eradicate prejudices, and to substi-
tute in their place correct ideas of tlie legitimate objects
of penal laws, was an arduous labor, but essentially pre-
requisite to any reform. To accomplish a revolution in
the public mind favorable to these views, and to the prin-
ciples of the new republican system of government, a so-
ciety was instituted in Philadelphia, for promoting politi-
cal inquiries. This usually met at the house of Dr. Frank-
lin. I have no precise information wlio was the first
mover of these investigations ; but it is well known that
Dr. Rush was an active member of the society ; and that
in 1787, he read before it his elaborate dissertation enti-
tled, " An Inquiry into the effects of public punishments on
criminals and upon society." In this paper he proposed
that all punishments should be private, and that they
should consist of confinement, different kinds of labor,
low diet, and solitude, accompanied by religious in-
struction. The principles contained in this pamphlet,
were opposed with acrimony and ridicule in the newspa-
pers. They were considered as the schemes of a humane
heart, but wild and visionary imagination, which it was
impossible ever to realize.
In 1788 Dr. Rush published a second pamphlet, entitled,
" An Inquiry into the justice and policj^ of punishing mur-
der by death," in which he denied the right of govern-
ment to punish even the crime of deliberate murder by
death. To this pamphlet a reply was written by the Rev.
Mr. Annan, who chiefly derived his arguments from Script-
ure. Upon those texts Dr. Rush published a number of
remarks, intended to prove that they all referred to the
dispensations of Noah and Moses, and that they were com-
pletely abrogated by the doctrines and precepts of the
Gospel. In the year 1793, Mr. Bradford, the Attorney
General of Pennsylvania, published an " Inc^uiry how far
the punishment of death is necessary in Pennsylva-
nia," calculated to enforce and establish the principles and
arguments previously laid down by Dr. Rush. At the
following session of the legislature, the punidiment of death
was abolished for all crimes except murder of the fir&t
BENJAMIN RUSH. 0<i
degree. In all other cases, solitary confinement and labor
were substituted in lieu of corporal punishment and com-
mon imprisonment. The result has been highly gratify-
ing to tixe friends of humanity. Crimes have dimin-
ished in number. Few reconvictions have taken place,
though many otFenders have been restored to society, and
in several cases before the expiration of their sentence.
Criminals have been restrained from a re})etition of their
offences, while they were vuider a discipline which often
issued in their permanent reformation. At the same time,
the public burdens have been lessened, for the labor of the
confined culprits overpaid all expenses, both of their main-
tenance and of the establishment." This good example,
as in the case of the dispensary, was successfully followed
by several of the states, and bids fair to become general
throughout the United States.
Dr. Rush's philanthropy was manifested in his ^reat
zeal to repress the immoderate uge of ardent spirits and
of tobacco. His " Inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits
upon the human body and mind," has been more read
than any of his works. All the medical philosophy that
was pertinent to the subject, was incorporated with it.
Brilliant descriptions of the personal and family distress
occasioned by that vice, and of its havoc on the minds,
bodies and estates of its unhappy votaries, wxre given,
and the means of prevention and cure pointed out. The
whole was illustrated by a scale, graduated like a ther-
mometer, showing at one view the effects of certain enu-
merated liquors on the body, the mind and the condition
in society of those who are addicted to them. In the last
year of Dr. Rtish's life, he presented to the general assem-
bly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, one
thousand copies of this popvilar pamphlet, to be given
away among the people of their respective congregations.*
About the same time tliat numerous and respectable body
passed a resolution, enjoining on their members to exert
themselves in counteracting this ruinous vice.
In his " Observations upon the influence of the habitual
use of tobacco upon health, morals and property," our
professor employed his eloquent pen in dissuading from
practices which, though to a certain extent harmless, in-
* Many hundred thousand copies of this valuable tract have been distributed in
the United States.
54 BENJAMIN RUSH.
sensibly grow into habits productive of many unforeseen
evils.
Dr. Rush was a great practical physician. In the treat-
ment of diseases he was eminently successful, and in de-
scribing their symptoms and explaining their causes, he
was uncommonly accurate. Nor is this matter of wonder,
for he was minutely acquainted with the histories of dis-
eases of all ages, countries and occupations. The annals
of medicine cannot produce an account of any great epi-
demic disease, that has visited our earth in any age or
country, which is more minute, accurate and completely
satisfactory, than Dr. Rush's description of the yellow
fever of 1793, in Philadelphia. Had he never wrote
another line, this alone woulcl have immortalized his name.
He was a physician of no common cast. His prescriptions
were not confined to doses of medicine, but to the regula-
tion of the diet, air, dress, exercise and mental actions of
his patients, so as to prevent disease, and to make healthy
men and women from invalids. His preeminence as a
physician, over so many of his contemporaries, arose from
the following circumstances :
He carefully studied the climate in which he lived,* and
the symptoms of acute and chronic diseases therein preva-
lent, the different habits and constitutions of his patients,
and varied his prescriptions with their strength, age and
sex. He marked the influence of different seasons upon
the same disease, and varied his practice accordingly. He
observed and recorded the influence of successive epidemic
diseases upon eacli other, and the hurtful as well as salu-
tary effects of his remedies, and thereby acquired a know-
ledge of the character of the reigning disease, in every
successive season. His notes and records of the diseases
which have taken place in Philadelphia for the last forty-
four years, must be ofiAi calculable value to his son and
successor. In atten^rfncHipon patients. Dr. Rush's man-
ner was so gentle aH sympathizing, that pain and distress
v/ere less poignantBn his presence. On all occasions he
exhibited the mann^ of a gentleman, and his conversation
was sprightly, pleasant and instructive.! His letters were
* Dr. Rush's account of the climate of Penns3'lvania, is a masterpiece of its
kind. Every physician should write such a one of the country in which he prac-
tises, at least for his own use.
t The talent for conversation possessed by Dr. Rush was very impressive. Few
men ever expressed themselves with more fluency or in a more agreeable manner.
BENJAMIN RUSH. 55
peculiarly excellent ; for they were dictated by a feeling
heart, and adorned with the effusions of a brilliant imagi-
nation. His correspondence was extensive and his letters
numerous ; but every one of them, as far as can be known
to an individual, contained something original, pleasant
and sprightly. I can truly say that, in the course of thir-
ty-five years' correspondence and friendly intercourse, I
never received a letter from him without being delighted
and improved, nor left his company without learning
something. His observations were often original, and
when otherwise, far from insipid : for he had an uncom-
mon way of expressing common thoughts. He possessed
in a high degree those talents which eng-ao-e the heart. He
took so lively an interest in every thing that concerned
his pupils, that each of them believed himself to be a
favorite, while his kind offices to all proved that he was
the common friend and father of them all.
In lecturing to his class, Dr. Rush mingled the most
abstruse investigation with the most agreeable eloquence ;
the sprightliest sallies of imagination with the most pro-
found disquisitions ; and the whole was enlivened with
anecdotes, both pleasant and instructive. His language
was simple and always intelligible, and his method so judi-
cious, that a consistent view of the suljject was communi-
cated, and the recollection of the whole rendered easy.
His lectures were originally written on leaves alternately
blank. On the blank side he entered, from time to time,
every new fact, idea, anecdote, or illustration, that he be-
came possessed of, from any source whatever. In the
course of about four years, the blank was generally so
far filled up, that he found it expedient to make a new set
of lectures. In this way he not only lightened the various
subjects on which it was his province to instruct his class,
but the light which he cast on them, for forty-four suc-
cessive years, was continually brightening. The instruc-
tions he gave to his pupils by lectures^, though highly val-
uable, were less so than the habits of thinking and ob-
servation he, in some degree, forctd upon them. His
constant aim was to rouse their minds from a passive to an
It was in fact " a stream of mind," and his general knowledge enabled him to take
part in the discussion of most subjects. The late Governor Brooks of Massachu-
setts, frequently mentioned with delight an interview which he enjoyed with him
during the war of the revolution.
^ BENJAMIN RUSH.
active state, so as to enable them to instruct themselves.
Since the first institution of the medical school in Pennsyl-
vania, its capital, Philadelphia, has been the very atmos-
phere of medicine, and that atmosphere has been constant-
ly clearing from the fogs of error, and becoming more
luminous from the successive and increasing diffusion of
the light of truth. A portion of knowledge floated about
that hallowed spot, which was imbibed by every student
without his being conscious of it, and had an influence in
giving to his mind a medical texture. To this happy state
of things all the professors contributed. Drs. Wistar,
Barton, Physick, Dorsey, Coxe and James, the survivers
of that illustrious and meritorious body, will acknowledge
that their colleague, Professor Rush, was not deficient in
his quota.
We have hitherto viewed Dr. Rush as an author, a
physician, a professor, and a philosopher ; let us now
view him as a man. From him we may learn to be good
as well as great. Such was the force of pious example
and religious education in the first fifteen years of his life,
that though he spent the ensuing nine in Philadelphia,
Edinburgh, London and Paris, exposed to the manifold
temptations which are inseparable from great cities, yet he
returned, at the age of twenty-four, to his native country
with the same purity of morals he brought with him from
Nottingham, the country scene of his boyish years. The
sneers of infidels ; the syren allurements of pleasure ; the
fascinations of diversions, had no power to divert him from
the correct principles and sober orderly habits which had
been ingrafted on his mind in early youth. He came
home from his travels with no excessive attachment but to
his books ; no oilier ambition than that of being a great
scholar ; and without any desire of making a stepping-
stone of his talents and education, to procure for him the
means of settling down in inglorious ease, without the far-
ther cultivation and exertion of his talents. In a conver-
sation which he held with the person who now addresses
this audience, thirty-five years ago. Dr. Rush observed,
that as he stepped from the ship that brought him home
from Europe, he resolved that " no circumstance of per-
sonal charms, fortune or connexions should tempt him to
perpetrate matrimony, his own phrase, till he had extend-
ed his studies so far that a family would be no impediment
BENJAMIIt RUSH. UK
to his farther progress.* To this resolution of sacrificing
every gratification to his love for learning, and his desire
of making a distinguished figure in the republic of letters,
he steadily adhered. For this he trimmed the midnight
lamp : for this, though young, gay, elegant in person and
manners, and possessed of the most insinuating address,
he kept aloof from all scenes of dissipation, enervating
pleasures and unprofitable company, however fashion-
able, and devoted himself exclusively to the cultivation
of those powers which God had given him. In a letter
which I received from him at an early period of my life,
he describes his situation in the followinor forcible lan-
guage : " Medicine is my wife ; science is my mistress ;
books are my companions ; my study is my grave : there
I lie buried, the world ' forgetting, by the world forgot.' "
From his early youth he thus resolved to be a great man,
and a great man he became. Diligence conquers the hard-
est things. Intense desire of knowledge rarely fails of
gaining its object. This laudable ambition was a security
against vice and folly. It was also a fence placed round
his virtues : but there was a stronger one ; an exalted
sense of moral obligations, founded on tJie svstem of divine
truth as revealed in the holy scriptures. Of this he gave
a strong proof in the conformity of his life to the precepts
of the gospel. For the scriptures he had the highest rev-
erence, and often referred to tiiern in his conversation and
letters, and also in his lectures, and from them drew sev-
eral ingenious illustrations of his medical opinions. Of
the Philadelphia Bible Society he was vice president, and
very active in the discharge of his duty. In the year 1791
he wrote an able defence of the use of the Bible as a school
book. From these oracles of divine truth, he was taught
that the individuals of the human race were all related to
each other, as having a common Father and Redeemer,
and, therefore, that the whole family of mankind should
be embraced in the arms of an active benevolence. He
was there also taught to reduce this divine principle to
practice, by doing ail in his power for the advancement of
the happiness of his fellow men. To this, as we have
* Dr. Rush did not marry till he was thirty-two years of age. The rule he gen-
erally laid down was, that no female should marry before she was sixteen, nor male
before he was twenty-one ; and the lon^r they both delayed matrimony after these
periods the better ; provided the delay in a female did not exceed twentv-four, or
in a male thirty.
vol.. 11. S
dS BENJAMIN RUSH,
seen, his whole life was devoted. His charities were great.
In addition to ordinary contributions for the relief of dis-
tress, clergymen, widows and helpless women could al-
ways command his gratuitous professional services. It is
not less true than strange, that he added to the list of his
pensioners, the officers of our late revolutionary army.
Here patriotism combined with benevolence ! He consid-
ered that a large debt of gratitude was due from their fel-
low citizens to these meritorious men. They had spent
the most valuable part of their lives in securing the inde-
pendence of their country, for which it had not made
them adequate compensation. From these liberal views,
he rarely charged any of them with the usual fees for his
professional services.
Piety to God was an eminent trait in the character of
Dr. Rush. In all his printed works, and in all his private
transactions, he expressed the most profound respect and
veneration for the great Eternal.* At the close of his ex-
cellent observations on the pulmonary consumption, he
observes, " I cannot conclude this inquiry without adding,
that the author of it derived from his paternal ancestors a
predisposition to the pulmonary consumption ; and that,
between the eighteenth and forty-third year of his age, he
has occasionally been afflicted with many of the symptoms
of that disease, which he has described. By the constant
and faithful use of many of the remedies which he has re-
commended, he now, in the sixty-first year of his age, en-
joys nearly an uninterrupted exemption from pulmonary
complaints. In humble gratitude, therefore, to that Be-
ing, who condescends to be called the ' preserver of
men,' he thus publicly devotes this result of his experi-
ence and inquiries, to the benefit of such of his fellow
creatures as may be afflicted with the same disease, sin-
cerely wishing that they may be as useful to them as they
have been to the author."
* His writings, in numerous places, bear testimony to his Christian virtues ; and
in a manuscript letter, written a short time previous to his fatal illness, he candidly-
declared that he had " acquired and received nothing from the world which he so
highly prized as the religious principles he received from his parents." It is pecu-
liarly gratifying to observe a man so distinguished in a profession in which, by the
illiberal, religious scepticism is supposed to abound, directing his talents to the
maintenance of genuine piety, and the enforcing of Christian virtue. To inculcate
those principles which flow from the source of all truth and purity, and to impart
them as a legacy to his children^ was an object dear to his heart and which he
never failed to promote by constant exhortation and the powerful influence of his
own axample. — Di\ D. Hosack.
BENJAiMIW RUSH.
69
It was not only by words, but in deeds, that he express-
ed his reverence for the Deity. It was his usual practice
to close the day by reading to his collected family a chap-
ter in the Bible, and afterwards by addressing his Maker
in prayer, devoutly acknowledging his goodness for fa-
vors received, and humbly imploring his continued pro-
tection and blessing. His respect for the Deity led him to
respect his ministers, who acted consistently with their
high calling. He considered their office of the greatest
importance to society, both in this world and that which
is to come. He strengthened their hands, and was always
ready and willing to promote and encourage arrangements
for their comfortable support, and for building churches,
and for propagating the gospel. In an address to minis-
ters of every denomination, on subjects interesting to mo-
rals, he remarks : " If there were no hereafter, individuals
and societies would be great gainers by attending public
worship every Sunday. Rest from labor in the house of
God winds up the machine of both soul and body better
than any thing else, and thereby invigorates it for the la-
bors and duties of the ensuing week." Dr. Rush made
his first essay as an author, when an apprentice to Dr.
Redman, by writing an eulogy on the Rev. Gilbert Ten-
nent, who had been the friend and fellow laborer of the
celebrated George Whitfield, and an active, useful, ani-
mated preacher of the gospel, from 1725 till 1764. On
the 27th of May, 1809, he Avrote to his cousin. Dr. Finley,
of this city : " The General Assembly of the Presbyterian
church is now in session in Philadelphia. It is composed
of many excellent men, some of whom are highly distin-
guished by talents and learning as well as piety. I have
had some pleasant visits from a number of them, and have
been amply rewarded for my civilities to them, by their
agreeable and edifying conversation. They remind me of
the happy times, when their places in the church were
filled by your venerable father, and his illustrious contem-
poraries and friends, Messrs. Tennent, Blair, Davies and
Rodgers."
In these and several other ways, particularly by his pen
and his practice. Dr. Rush supported the cause of morality
and religion in our country, and superadded the character
of a Christian to that of a scholar. Such was the tenor of
the life of our illustrious countryman, who is now no
more ! No more the ornament of the first medical school
60
BEIfJAMm RUSH.
in America ! No more the instructer, the delight, and the
admiration of that portion of our youth which is destined
to take care of the healths and lives of their fellow citi-
zens ! No more the medical luminary of our western
world ! But he has not ceased to exist. His soul at this
moment lives in some part of the universe ; and his body,
though now mouldering in dust, Revelation assures us, at
some future time will rise from the grave, and commence
a new and immortal life. Let us therefore be comforted.
Death is not an eternal sleep. Its effects are only tempo-
rary. In due time they will all be done away, as though
they never had been. A reunion of his soul and body will
constitute the same person, and the identical Dr. Rush,
whom we this day lament as dead, will assuredly live
affain, and live forever and ever. In this woi'ld he soug-ht
for knowledge, as the thirsty traveller in a sandy desert
seeks for water ; and in his course of nearly seventy years,
he acquired an uncommon stock of it, and rejoiced in his
success : but who can tell what will be the amount of his
acquisitions and consequent pleasure in the ensuing seven
hundred years, seven tliousand, or if you please, seven
millions of years, blest with the beatific vision of the om-
niscient God .'' But I forbear, the mind sinks beneath the
weight of the sublime and happy destinies of those who
are the reconciled friends of " the God of Knowledge." —
Extracted from an Eulogium delivered before the JMcdical So-
ciety of South Carolina at Charleston.^ June IQth, 1813, hy
David Ramsay, J\'LD.
An erroneous report respecting the last sickness of Dr.
Rush having been propagated. Dr. James Mease with a
view of correcting that report addressed the following let-
ter to the late Dr. Lettsom, which was published in the
London Medical and Physical Journal, Volume 37.
Dear Sir, Philadelphia, December 21, 1815.
I had lately the pleasure to receive your " Notices of
the late Dr. Rush," for which I thank you. I was much
concerned, however, to find that you had given currency
to the incorrect statement propagated after his death,
" that he had mistaken his disease for the pleurisy, and
was bled freely, which was thought to have occasioned his
death." Your correspondent was unfortunately misled by
common report, which is too often incorrect, and in the
present instance this incorrectness is to be particularly
SENJAMIN RUSH. 61
regretted, because it favors the diffusion of error, and im-
plicates the medical judgment of a man, who was more
extensively consulted by his coiuitrymen than any other
physician that ever lived in the United States ; and it gra-
tifies the little and mean spirits among us, who exulted in
the report of his having fallen a victim to his attachment
to the depleting system, and who will be glad to find that
the report has been circulated in Euro])e. Dr. Rush was
not affected with " typiius or spotted fever," but a true
pleurisy; and the blood, so far from being " freely" taken,
amounted only to ten ounces in quantity. More was not
taken away, except locally, although the pain in his side,
after having been relieved by the operation, returned with
severity : and the disease ended as inflammatory affect-
ions of the lungs often do, in sucli habits as that of Dr.
Rush. The case was strictly as follows. Dr. Rush in the
early part of his life had been subject to a cough, which
he kept under by occasional small bleedings, great temper-,
ance in diet, and by a careful accommodation of his dress
to our inconstant climate. He had been attacked by a
cough several months previously to his last illness, and in
consequence of it lie liad abridged his customary propor-
tion of animal food, in the use of which he was at all
times very moderate, and left off entirely the use of wiric.
The effects of those retrenchments alone, are felt by
frames more vigorous than that of Dr. Rush ; l)ut in his
case, and at his time of life, they could not fail greatly to
diminish his muscular power, and increase the excitability
of his system by the causes that })roduced the fatal disease.
Other causes cooperated. During the time alluded to he
was engaged in extensive practice ; had performed his
four montiis tour of duty at tlie Pennsylvania Hospital,
and at the close of the session in March had given two
lectures daily, of an hour each ; he had also assisted in the
examination of a large class of candidates for medical de-
grees in tlie University of Pennsylvania, twice a day ; and
at night he either was engaged in study, or in answering
the numerous letters of applicants for medical advice from
every part of the continent. Thus, by such unremitted
corporal and mental exertion he wasted the powers of life,
and predisposed his system to the operation of the variable
atmosphere that caused the affection of his lungs. He was
attacked by his last illness on the night of the 14th of
April, 1813. I had been absent from the city ; and on my
62 BENJAMIN RUSH.
return called to see him in the evening. I found him alone,
with a lecture before him, and a pen in his hand. Having
before hinted to him that he ought to relax in his studies,
I said " what. Doctor, always at your studies ?" He repli-
ed, " Yes, Doctor, I am revising a lecture, for I feel every
day more and more like a dying man." Alas, how pro-
phetic his words ! Upon my observing that I hoped he
did not feel indisposed, he replied, " No, but at my age I
deem life particularly precarious, and I am moreover anx-
ious to leave my manuscripts as perfect as possible for the
benefit of my son." We conversed for an hour or more
upon various medical subjects, and he read to me an affect-
ionate letter addressed to a relation in a distant state, who
had asked his advice upon an important occasion. A per-
son having called for a letter of advice, I retired to an-
other room, where 1 remained near an hour with his fam-
ily. Upon my returning to him, I found him sitting with
his feet close to the fire, and, after a moment's stay, I wish-
ed him good night. Mrs. Rush came in, as I went out,
and 1 subjoin her own statement of the progress of the
attack, and the remedies used. This statement was drawn
up at my request, that there might be no doubt as to the
accuracy of every particular on the distressing subject.
" At nine o'clock in the evening of Wednesday the 14th
of Apijil, 1813, Dr. Rush, after having been as well as usual
through the day, complained of chilliness and general
indisposition, and said he would go to bed. While his
room was preparing and a fire making, he became so cold,
that he called for some brandy and drank it ; he then
went to his room, bathed his feet in warm water, got into
a warm bed, and took some hot drink : a fever soon came
on, attended with great pain in his limbs, and in his side :
he passed a restless night, but after day-light a perspira-
tion came on, and all the pains were relieved except that
in his side, which became more acute. He sent for a
bleeder, and liad ten ounces of blood taken from his arm,
with evident relief. At ten o'clock Dr. Dorsey called and saw
him, heard what had been done, and approved of the treat-
ment ; observed that his pulse was calm, but rather weak,
and advised him to drink plentifully of wine whey, which
was immediately given to him. He remained the rest of
the day and on Friday with but little apparent disease,
though never quite free from fever, and always complain-
ing when he tried to take a long breath. On the morning
BENJAMIN RUSH. 63
of Saturday he awoke with an acute pain in his side, and
desired that the bleeder might be sent for : to this I ob-
jected on account of tlie weak state of his pulse. I pro-
posed sending for Dr. Dorsey, but Dr. Rush would not
consent to his being disturbed : he reminded me of his
having had a cough all the winter, and said ' this disease
is taking hold of my lungs, and I shall go off in a con-
sumption.' At eight o'clock Dr. Dorsey saw him and,
upon feeling his pulse, objected to his losing any more
blood, and called in Dr. Physick, who agreed in the opin-
ion that bleeding was improper. The pain in his side,
however, continuing, and his breathing becoming more
difficult, Dr. P. consented to his losing three ounces of
blood from his side by cupping : this operation relieved
him so that he fell into a refreshing sleep, and towards the
evening of Saturday his fever went off, and he passed a
comfortable night, and on Sunday morning seemed free
from disease. When Dr. P. saw him, he told me that
Dr. Rush was doing well, that nothing now appeared ne-
cessary, but to give him as much nourishment, as he could
take : he drank porter and water, and conversed with
strength and sprightliness, believing that he was getting
well, until about four o'clock in the afternoon, when his
fever returned, but in a moderate degree. At five o'clock
Dr. P. and Dr. D. visited him, and found him not so well as
in the morning, but did not appear to apprehend what so
soon followed, for at that time nothing was ordered differ-
ent from the morning. At nine o'clock they again visited
him, when they found him so low, as to apprehend a fatal
termination of his disease. Stimulants of the strongest
kind were then administered : you, my friend, know with
how little effect !"
I was constantly with Dr. Rush all the next day, and
witnessed the progress of that debility which deprived me
of my friend, the medical republic of its ornament, and
our country of one of its best men, and the early, steady
and zealous supporter of American independence.
JAMES MEASE.
John Coakley Lettsom, M.D., F.R.S., &c. London.
Dr. Rush, says Dr. James Mease, was an early and pow-
erful enemy to the slavery of the blacks, and so early as
the year 1774 published a pamphlet against it, and he had
the satisfaction to see a law passed in the year 1 780 by the
64 BENJAMIN RUSH.
legislature of Pennsylvania abolishing the privilege of
holding any blacks in slavery after a residence of a certain
number of months ; and he lived to see the slaves in Phila-
delphia diminished from 3144. the number of them when
Dr. R. wrote, to tAvo aged individuals, who were supported
by the families in wliich they Avere born. The effect of
his writings was visible on the public at large, by the great
number of slaves who were set free in the course of a few
years. His friendship for the colored part of the com-
munity, and his endeavor to improve their moral condition
induced him to ])ropose the establishment of the first place
of public worship exclusively for themselves. This was
in the year 1792. He headed the subscription, and through
his interest and persuasion a sufficient fund Avas obtained
to erect the building, noAV called St. Tliomas's Church.
He left the choice of the mode of Avorship Avith them-
seh^es. They choj^e the Episcopal form. This church
has been attended Avith the most evident good effect upon
the colored population. The ministers are colored men,
but are relieved by the ministers of the other Episcopal
churches.
In the year 1808 Dr. R. zealously engaged with Mr.
Robert Ralston in the formation of the first Bible Society
which was formed in Philadelphia, and Avrote a constitu-
tion for its use. Dr. R. had much of the milk of human
kindness in the composition of his mind ; hence he readily
foi-gave injuries, and the ingratitude of those on Avhom he
had conferred faA^ors.
A striking proof of his benevolence Avas exhibited in the
decided part he took in the years 1784 and 1785, in pro-
curing tJie rej)eal of the Test Act of the state of Pennsyl-
vania. This laAV Avas passed in the year 1778, and requir-
ed every citizen to declare the right of the state to be in-
dependent, and that he had not since the declaration of in-
dependence aided the British arms in their claims upon
the United States. It also required him to renounce alle-
giance to the king of England. The penalty for refusing
to take this oath or affirmation Avas disfranchisement ; and
as the continuance of the laAV was deemed impolitic from
the return of peace and from its depriving the country of
the public services of a large portion of our fellow citi-
zens Avho from conscientious motives had declined to take
the oath, he urged its repeal, Avhich soon after took place,
hut not Avithout great o])position. The pamphlet passed
BENJAMIN RUSH. 65
through two large editions, a circumstance vvhicli had not
for a long time happened to any other American pro-
duction.
He had commenced the undertaking of selecting some
of the best practical works on medicine for republication
in America, and in order to render them more useful, he
formed the idea of adding to them such notes as might the
better adapt them to the diseases of his own country'. His
editions of Sydenham and of Cleghorn were published in
1809, and in the same year appeared those of Pringle and
Hillary. The last effort of his pen was a letter on Hy-
drophobia containing additional reasons in support of the
theory he had formerly advanced, as to the seat of the dis-
ease being chiefly in the blood vessels. It was addressed
to Dr. Hosack and written not many days before Iiis fatal
illness. Such was the attachment of Dr. R. to his pro-
fession, that speaking of his approaching dissolution he
remarks, " when that time shall come, I shall relinquish
many attractions to life, and among them a pleasure which
to me has no equal in human pursuits ; I mean that which I
derive from studying, teaching, and practising medicine.*"
In January, 1776, he married Miss Julia Stockton,
daughter of the Hon. Judge Stockton, of New-Jersey, a
lady of an excellent understanding, and wliose amiable
disposition and cultivated mind eminently qualified her
as the companion of Dr. Rush. Tliirteen cliildren were
the fruits of their marriage, nine of whom still survive
One of these sustains the high office of secretary of tlie
treasury of the United States.
The writings of Dr. R. claim our attention, both on ac-
count of their extent and their variety ; from the results of
Ills own individual experience and observation, he added
more facts to the science of medicine, than all who had
preceded him in his native country. His description of
diseases, for minuteness and accuracy of detail, cannot be
exceeded and may safely be regarded as models of their
kind. His volume on Diseases of the Mind, in as far as it
exhibits the infinitely varied forms whicli those diseases
assume, is a store house of instruction. Had his labors
been limited to these subjects alone, his character would
deservedly have been cherished by future acres. The re
spect and consideration which his i)ublications procured
* Dr. Ilosack.
VOL. II. 9
66 BENJAMIN RUSH.
for him among his contemporaries, was such, that the high-
est honors were acciunulated upon him in diffei*ent parts of
Europe, as well as in his own country, and he was admit-
ted a member of many of the most distinguished literary
and philosophical associations.
To the preceding account of Dr. Rush, cliiefly from the
excellent Dr. Ramsay, the following additions made
touching hi*; character and attainmeiits, are extracted from
the opening discourse delivered by Professor Francis, be-
fore the class of students attending the instruction of the
Rutger's Medical Faculty of Geneva College, in the city
of New-York, November 8th, 1827.
" It were no easy task," says Professor Francis, " to
do justice to the great talents, the vast labors, and the ex-
emplary character of Dr. Rush. From the imperfect
sketch which I have thus rapidly given, it is presumed
you may be able to form some idea of his incessant de-
votedness to the improvement of tliat profession of which
he was so bright an ornament. His merits as a practi-
tioner are too well known to require particular enumera-
tion. He was fully aware of the great responsibility at-
tached to the medical character, and uniformly evinced
the deepest solicitude for the recovery of his patient.
His kindness and liberality in imparting aid to those from
whom no remuneration was ever to be expected was un-
bounded, and arose from the generous impulse of his na-
ture, the cordial concern he felt in whatever aiTected the
interests of his fellow creatures. ' Let the poor of every
description.' says he, ' be the objects of your peculiar care.'
* There is an inseparable connexion between a man's duty
and his interest. Whenever you are called, tlierefore, to
visit a poor patient, imagine you Iiear the voice of the
good Samaritan sounding in your ears, " Take care of him
and I M'ill repay thee.' "
" His mind was of a superior order : to a perception na-
turally ready and acute, he united a discriminating judg-
ment, a retentive memory, which was greatly improved
by habits of close attention, a brilliant imagination and a
hio^hly cultivated taste. He possessed a comprehensive
imderstanding : his knowledge was varied and in many
branches profound, and he eminently excelled in the several
departments of his profession. In his assiduity and perse-
verance in the acquisition of knowledge he had no superior
and few eqjuals. Accustomed to constant and regular exercise
EEAJAMKI RUSH. Q7
his intellectual powers acquired additional vigor from em-
ployment. Notwitlistanding the great fatigue he Iiad to
undergo in tiie discharge of the practical duties of a la-
borious profession, and the constant interruptions to Avhich
he was exposed, when engaged in his pursuits as an autiior,
he never for a moment abated of his ardor in the cause of
science. He was the incessant and unwearied student ; he
was familiar with all the standard authors, and his read-
ing kept pace with the discoveries and improvements of
the age. That the same individual should be at the same
time at the head of medical practice in a large and popu-
lous city, that lie should have been the first of medical
teachers in a great University, and the most assiduous pre-
scril^er for its extensive hospitals ; that lie should possess a
leading influence among its numerous literary institutions
and public charities, and be moreover among the most
voluminous and able writers of the time, and all, amidst
the active competition of numerous rivals of high and va-
ried pretensions, is only to be accounted for by his habits
of vigorous and unremitted application. What the biogra-
pher of the illustrious Roman orator has asserted of his
hero, may be said with equal justice of our countryman :
' His industry,' says Middleton, 'was incredible beyond the
example or even conception of our days : this was the
secret by which he performed such wonders, and reconcil-
ed perpetual study with perpetual affairs : he suffered no
j)art of his leisure to be idle, or tlie lea^it interval of it to
be unimproved ; but w!iat otlier people gave to the public
shows, to pleasure, to feasts, nay even to sleep and the
ordinary lefrcfhinents of r.ature, he generally gave to his
books, and the enlargement of his knowledge.' And
what Cicero himself lias declared of tlie excellence of study
seems to have early directed the conduct of Dr. Rush him-
self. ' Study employs us in youth, amuses us in old age,
graces and embellishes prosperity, shelters and supports
adversity, makes us delightetl at home and easy abroad,
softens slumber, shortens fatigue, and enlivens retirement.'
" His habits of })unctuality to every kind of busiiiess in
wd)ich he was employed were the subject of general enco-
mium. Thus, while under the puj)ilage of Dr. Redman,
during the whole six years he could not enumerate more
than two days interruption from business, and we are told
that as a physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital he was
never known to vary ten minutes jn his professional sj)-
68 BKNJAMm RUSH.
pointments from the hour of attendance, for the long
period of thirty years. This punctuality, added to a judi-
cious arrangement of time for his multifarious occupations,
secured to him sufficient leisure for the publication of
those woz'ks which have given such celebrity to his name.
" His writings," continues Dr. Francis, " claim our atten-
tion both on account of their extent and their variety.
It was for the purpose of setting this fact clearly before
you that I was the more particular in my enumeration of
them. These products of his intellect show much reading,
deep investigation and tried experience. He seems to have
combined with peculiar felicity the most useful in physic-
al science with the most elegant in literature. Instead of
being a mere collator of the opinions of others, he was
constantly making discoveries and improvements of his
own, and from the results of his individual experience and
observation, established more principles and added more
facts to the science of medicine than all who had preceded
him in his native country. His description of diseases for
minuteness and accuracy of detail cannot be exceeded, and
may safely be regarded as models of tlieir kind. In the
treatment of gout, dropsy, consumption of the lungs, and
the diseases of old age, he has enlarged our views of the
animal economy and thrown more light upon the pecviliar
character of these afflicting disorders than is to be derived
from the investigations of any other writers. What vast
and widely applicable principles has he given in that small
but pregnant essay, entitled A Defence of Bloodletting .''
His volume on tlie Diseases of the Mind, in as far as it ex-
hibits the infinitely varied forms which those disorders
present, is a storehouse of instruction. The great demand
for this work caused its early reprint. By metaphysicians
it has been recognised as furnishing many valuable facts
and principles on the pathology and functions of the brain ;
and as presenting an able classification of the phenomena
of its disease. During my casual attendance upon the
lectures of the late Professor Brown, of Edinburgh, the
distinguished physiologist of the intellectual powers, and
the successor of Dugald Stewart in the metaphysical chair,
my national feelings were largely gratified, by hearing
from sucli high authority this treatise of Dr. Rush pro-
nounced a work full of instruction and of great original-
ity. Had his laljors been limited to these subjects alone,
Jjis character would deservedly have been cherished by
BENJAMIN RUSH. 69
future ages. His reputation, however, will permanently
clej)end upon his several histories of the epidemics of the
United States, which have rendered these productions fa-
miliar wherever medical science is cultivated, and will
hereafter cause to be inscribed upon the same imperishable
column that bears testimony to the merits of Sydenham
and Boerhaave, the illustrious name of Benjamin Rush.
The respect and consideration which his publications pro-
cured for him among his contemporaries, were sucli that
the highest honors were accumulated upon him in differ-
ent parts of Europe, as well as in his own country, and he
was admitted a member of many of the most distinguish-
ed literary and philosophical associations of both worlds."
After noticing some of the peculiarities in tlie character
and writings of the American Sydenham, as Dr. Rush has
been often called by sound authority. Professor Francis
proceeds :
" Exalted as was the character of Dr. Rush, immense as
were the services he rendered his countrymen, few pro-
fessional men of any age or country have been the subject
of more violent and unrelenting persecution. His great
eminence rendered him the object at which envy, jealousy
and disappointed ambition directed their malign efforts.
So great was the persecution against him at one time, even
after he had arrived at the maturity of his renown, that
he contemplated removing himself and family from Phi-
ladelphia, the scene of his meritorious exertions. The
notorious Cobbett assailed him with all the spirit and all
the force of his vituperative genius. Against this libeller
he was induced by the urgency of friends to institute
a prosecution ; a jury of his countrymen awarded to him
a large sum for damages. This award, with his character-
istic magnanimity, he distributed to the poor. Though
moderate in his pecuniary circumstances, and looked up to
by a large famdy, he never yielded to the sordid impulses
of our nature.
" There are other qualities which entitle Dr. Rush to
our respect and esteem. In private life his disposition and
deportment were in the highest degree exemplary. Ad-
mired and courted for his intellectual endowments, he
riveted the affections of all those who enjoyed the pleasure
of an intimate acquaintance. The affability of liis man-
ners, the amiableness of his temper, and the benevolence of
liis character were ever conspicuous. He was ardent in
70 BEI^JAMIN RUSH.
his friendships, and forgiving in his resentments ; and yet
entertaining a due regard for himself and a nice sense of
honor, he possessed a manly independence of s^pirit, which
disdained every thing mean and servile. He had an ex-
traordinary command of language and always imparted his
thoughts in a peculiarly impressive and eloquent manner.
His eloquence as a public teacher surpassed that of all his
contemporaries. The youth who repaired to his lectures
for wisdom, insensible of the lapse of time, lingered with
rapture on his lessons.
" Tiiose who had the happiness to experience the de-
lights of his conversation will long recollect with pleasure,
his unassuming modesty, and the rich stores of knowledge
he poured forth on the most instructive topics. Even when
his opinions were solicited, they were given not as the dic-
tates or admonitions of a superior, but as the kind advice
of a friend and equal. He never evinced any of that
hauglitiness and affectation of importance which sometimes
attach to men of eminence, and which so materially
lessen the pleasures and comforts of social life.
" He was a believer in Christianity," continues Dr. F.,
" from an examination of its principles and the deepest con-
viction. ■ The purity of its doctrines and the excellence of
its precepts were a frequent topic of his conversation : its
practical influence upon his conduct through life he often
acknoAvledged, and cherished with a fervent hope, the ani-
mating prospects it affords. With the good old Bishop
Burnet he fully coincided, ' that a man living according
to the rules of religion, becomes the wisest, the best, the
happiest creature he is capable of being.'* His writings
iu numerous places bear testimony to his christian virtues ;
he designed to conclude his literary and professional labors
with a distinct work on the medicine of the Bible ; and
in a letter written a short time before his fatal illness he
candidly declares, tliat he had acquired and received no-
thins from the world which he so iii<ihly prized as the
relij'ious principles he received from his parents. It is
peculiarly gratifying to observe a man so distinguished in
a profession in which by the illi1)eral religious scepticism
is supposed to abound, directing his talents to the mainte-
nance of genuine piety and the enforcing of christian vir-
tue. To inculcate those principles which flow from the
* History of My Own Ti.^les.
NATHANIEL S.VI.TON'STALI.. 71
source of all truth and purity, and to impart them as a
legacy to his children, was an object dear to his heart, and
which he never failed to promote by constant exhortation
and the {)Owerful influence of his own example.
" Let our youth then be excited by tlie powerful exam-
ple of Dr. Rush to form an exalted opinion of the dignity
and usefulness of the profession, and let them support tliat
dignity and exemplify that usefulness by the same activ^e
exertions in the cause of science and humanity, that liave
characterized this able and learned physician.
" Such, gentlemen, was the man whose character I have
feebly attempted to delineate. But he has a still further
claim upon your gratitude. His name is enrolled on the
charter of your independence among the heroes of that
revolutionary contest in whirh our ancestors pledged their
lives and fortunes in behalf of their bleeding country.
While a youth he caught the ennobling spirit of patriotism
and through life cherished those feelings which are conse-
crated to its interests and glory."
For further particulars of the life and character of this
eminent philanthropist and physician, consult Chalmers'
Biograpliy, Life in Rees' Cyclopedia, Hosack's Introduc-
tory Discourse, New-England Medical Journal, Life in
American Medical and Philosophical Register.
SALTONSTALL, NATHANIEL, M.M.S.S. This
name was held in high re?pect both in England and the
American colonies for many years prior to the separation.
They who bore it, sustained honorable offices both in
church and state under the crown, and were greatly dis-
tinguished for their loyalty, their patriotism and their
piety ; the noblest qualities of the human charaf ter seem-
ed to be inherent in the family for several generations.
The subject of this memoir was born in Haverhill, Massa-
chusetts, February 10th, 1746, and was graduated at Har-
vard College in 1766, and died in May, 1815. He was a
son of Richard Saltonstall, formerly Judge of the Supreme
Court, and a descendant of Sir Richard Saltonstall, one of'
the original patentees and first settlers of Massachusetts
colony. Among his maternal ancestors Avere Governor
Leverett, and the two Elisha Cooks, father and son, both
respectable as physicians, but most distinguished as politi-
cal leaders.
Dr. Saltonstall was a very skilful and intelligent physi-
cian, remarkable for his humane attention to the poor, and
7S MICAJAII SAWYER.
universally respected in Haverhill, where he resided, and
in the vicinity which was embraced in the circle of his
professional business. He was named in the charter in-
corporating the Massachusetts Medical Society, and was a
friend to its improvement and usefulness. The objects of
his exertions were usefulness in his profession, and the
happiness and improvement of those around him, unalloy^
ed by motives of pecuniary advantage. He was a sincere,
liberal and humble christian. He felt an ardent attach-
ment to those venerable religious and literary institutions
in the establishment of which his ancestors had an import-
ant influence, particularly to Harvard College, in whose
growing prosperity he rejoiced ; and he was ever ready to
promote all objects which in his opinion Avould have a
beneficial influence on society.
At a time when his brothers remained true to those
principles of royalty in wliich they had been educated, he
was firm, but moderate, in his opposition to the measures
of Great Britain. It was to him a severe trial, and he
gave the strongest proof of sincerity and independence ;
his principles separated him forever from those he most
loved. In later party contentions he was unwavering, and
no man in the country felt a more lively interest in its
honor and welfare. Exemplary in all the relations of
private life, of irreproachable morals, social, benevolent,
cheerful and hospitable, he was tenderly beloved by his
family and friends, and was honored by the affectionate
esteem and respect of all who knew him. Of the purity
of Dr. S.'s principles and the honorable independence of
his character, of his elevated integrity, his love of truth,
his generous, noble and afiectionate spirit, more might be
said with propriety. As a mark of respect to his virtues
and character, all the citizens of Haverhill, without pre-
vious concert, closed their stores and suspended business
to attend the funeral obsequies. Dr. S. left three sons
and four daughters, the only family of the name in Mas-
SAWYER, MICAJAH, M.D. M.M.S.S. was born at
Newbury, in the county of Essex and Province of Massa-
chusetts," on the 15th day of July, 1737. His father was a
respectable physician in the same place ; and indeed he
may be said to have been of a medical family, for of his
only two brothers one was a physician, and the other a
druggist and apothecary.
MICAJAH SAWYER. 73
He was graduated at Harvard College in 1756, and,
after pursuing his professional studies under his father,
commenced the practice in that part of Newbury which
was soon afterwards made a distinct town with the name
of Newburyport. He had contemplated with much plea-
sure a visit to Europe to complete his education in the
medical schools most celebrated there, but he was compel-
led by circumstances to relinquish that project. It was
then his constant aim to compensate as much as was in his
power this disappointment, by laborious research, unwea-
ried assiduity and diligent application to the most approv-
ed European medical publications. When he commenced
practice, his qualifications were not surpassed ?jy any
young man of his time. About this period he made a
journey on horseback to Charleston, South Carolina, in
company with his friend, the late Hon. Jonathan Jackson,
afterwards distinguished in several stations, all of which
he honored, and the last of which was that of treasurer of
Harvard College, which he held at his death in 1810. In
this tour he made many respectable acquaintances, and its
incidents furnished him topics for the entertainment of his
friends in after life. Such a journey at that time was con-
sidered as an affair of no small importance. Perhaps a
voyage across the Atlantic, and years of travel in Europe
would not at this time seem a greater enterprise.
Soon, after entering upon the practice of his profession
Dr. Sawyer connected himself in marriage with Miss S.
Farnham, daughter of Daniel Farnham, Esq. a lawyer of
eminence in Newburyport, by whom he had nine children,
four of whom survive, and the respected relict at the age
of fourscore years still enjoys mucli of life.
It was not long after his settlement in Newburyport
when Dr. S. found himself eng-acred in a full career of
professional business, embracing a large district of coun-
try ; and being blessed with an excellent constitvition, and
warmly attached to his profession, he shrunk not from the
unremitted duties required of him for a period of fifty
years. Clinical medicine being his choice, he was more
distinguished as a physician than as a surgeon, though on
certain occasions he performed surgical operations with
firmness, neatness and skill. He wrote but little for pub-
lication ; which is to be regretted, as he possessed strong-
powers of thought and expression, and was a lover of
literature and science. He was not, however, an inactive
VOL. II. 10
74 MICAJAH SAWYER.
member of the many benevolent and literary societies to
which he belonged. He always declined being introduced
to public life, but no man's opinions and judgment were
more decisive and influential in the sphere in which he
moved. He was a zealous advocate of the great principles
that led to the revolutionary struggle.
Dr. S. was strictly a religious man in life and practice,
but wdthout a shade of bigotry. His own standard of re-
ligion and morals was a high one ; severe, however, only
to himself, he was liberal and candid in his construction
of the motives and opinions of others. His health was
almost uninterrupted to the last years of his life, and to
within about three months of his decease. He had the
happiness to carry the fine sensibilities of his affectionate
nature and the vigor of his intellect, to the closing days of
his life, which terminated on the 29th of September, 1815,
in his 78th year.
Dr. S. was much beloved by his friends, and he had no
enemies. Inheriting a considerable patrimony, and deriv-
ing a good income from his extensive practice, he lived in
the exercise of a judicious economy, and in the enjoyment
of a competency of the good things of this life, leaving at
his decease to his family an estate much larger than gen-
erally falls to the lot of physicians in this country. Dr.
S. received the honorary degree of M.D. from the Univer-
sity in Cambridge ; and he was named an original mem-
ber in the charters of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and of the Massachusetts Medical Society.
The obituary notice of tlie day speaks of Dr. S. in the
following language. He was an eminent, learned, most
faithful and tender physician ; a devout and exemplary
christian, a benevolent and upright man, and valuable
member of society. With superior natural powers im-
proved by the advantages of education, and adorned by an
habitual dignity and politeness of manners, he pursued his
arduous profession for more than half a century in full
practice and with such skill, fidelity and affectionate kind-
ness, that his ordinary discharge of professional duty was
a constant benefaction to those who were the objects of
his care. The same exalted sense of integrity and faith-
fulness which dignified his professional conduct, accom-
panied him in all the relations which he sustained in social
and civil life, and rendered him a blessing and ornament
ISAAC 6E1NTER. 75
to the various literary and benevolent institutions with
which he was connected.
The funeral solemnities were performed with every
mark of public regard and sympathy. The masters of
Durnmer Academy, whose interest the deceased had many
years essentially promoted as a trustee and treasurer,
the trustees of the Merrimac Humane Society, over
which he had presided from its establishment, with a con-
course of respectable citizens, united in paying their best
tribute of respect on the solemn occasion.
SENTER, ISAAC, M.D. M.M.S.S. Hon., was descend-
ed from a respectable family in New-Hampshire, and be-
came an inhabitant of Newport, Rhode Island, early in
life, where he read medicine with Dr. Thomas Moflat, a
Scotch physician of eminence. He was surgeon for some
time in the revolutionary war, and accompanied General
Arnold in liis expedition through the wilderness to Quebec
in 1775, a very interesting account of which was prepared
by him for the press and is now in the possession of his
family. After the war he settled in Newport, and married
Miss Arnold of Pawtuxet ; and being successor to Dr.
Hunter in high professional reputation, as well as to
place of residence, he became the most distinguished prac-
titioner both of physic and surgery that the state could in
his day boast of.
Ardently attached to his profession, his energetic mind
was directed exchtsively to its intei'ests, in relieving the
sick and in enriching the medical journals of his day with
the results of his observations. One communication among
others, which will serve to perpetuate his memory, was
the history of a case of erratic urine, which has been often
referred to in other publications both in this country and
in Europe. Dr. Senter published in the Transactions of
the Colleq;e of Physicians of Philadelphia, remarks on
Phthisis Pulmonalis, in which he gives an account of a
remedy which was a favorite with him, though it originat-
ed with English pliysicians ; it consists in the exhibition
of what is termed the dry vomit, composed of the sul-
phate of copper and ipecacuanha. He affirmed that he
had restored more persons laboring under hectic fever by
this remedy, conjoined with Dr. Griffith's myrrh and steel
mixture, than by all other medicines he ever read of or
tried.
76 BENJAMIN SHATTUCK.
He was eminently qualified for his profession, not only
by the acuteness of his discernment, the accuracy of his
opinions, his decision and judgment ; but by a choice of
the most instructive books, an extensive correspondence
and great experience. He gratuitously afforded his prompt,
vigilant and patient attention to the clergymen of his tow^n,
when affliction and disease visited them or their families ;
and such was the general confidence in his skill, and sucli
his generous and humane spirit, that hundreds are indebt-
ed to him for acts of kindness and liberality.
He was elected an honorary member of the Medical
and Chirurgical Societies of Edinburgh and London, and
an honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical Socie-
ty ; and he was for many years President of the Society
of Cincinnati of Rhode Island.
Thougli singular in his opinions on religious subjects,
he was behind no one in the practice of the christian vir-
tues, of philanthropy and beneficence, and especially in
the walks of his profession. His person was tall and well
proportioned, and his manners dignified and popular. He
died in December, 1799, in the 45th year of his age.
SHATTUCK, DR. BENJAMIN, was born at Littleton,
in the county of Middlesex, on the 1 1th day of November,
1742. He was the son of Stephen Shattuck, a man of no
ordinary powers of body and mind ; a warm patriot, who,
after he was turned of sixty years of age, shouldered his
gun, and marched to Concord, on the 19tli of April,
1775, to share in the danger of that eventful day.
His grandfather was the Rev. Benjamin Shattuck, the
first settled minister of the town of Littleton, who was
graduated at Harvard College with the class of 1709, and
was held in high estimation as a good sound divine of the
old New-England school. He married a granddaughter
of the celebrated John Sherman, who, on coming from
England, was for some time an assistant to George Phil-
lips, the first minister at Watertown.
From Massacliusetts he went to Connecticut, and there
acted in the capacity of a magistrate ; but, when Mr. Phil-
lips died, the flock at Watertown earnestly requested him
to return to his first love, and he obeyed the call. Sher-
man was not only a divine of the first " gifts and graces,"
but also a profound metaphysician, and was exceeded by
few in the country as a mathematician. He published an
almanack for several vears in succession, the first work of
BENJAMIN SHATTUCK. 77
the kind in New-England, and often went to Cambridge
to deliver lectures upon philosophical subjects. He was not
only in advance of the times in which he lived in tiie sci-
ences, but his literary acquirements were equal to his other
attainments. He calculated eclipses, fixed the latitude and
longitude of places, drew up codes of laws, all with equal
facility, and at the same time preached to admiration.
His name may be mentioned as a proof that a family
does not much retard the progress of the learned, for he
had six children by one wife, and twenty by another, and
they were among the best educated of the land, and their
descendants have, in a great measure, inherited their taste
and talents. Roger Sherman, a Judge of the highest courts
in Connecticut, and one of the signers of the declaration
of independence, was a great grandson of the minister at
Watertown. The clergy, Avho are always respected in an
enlightened community, were in the early days of our
history the great men in every concern ; and to them we
are much indebted for the institutions of piety and learn-
ing which aliound in our country. They gave their child-
ren a good education, and considered it the best patrimony
they could bestow. This fixed the permanent principles
of a free government, which is for ages to hold its empire
over a mighty people.
Dr. Shattuck was prepared to enter college in his native
place, by Dummer Rogers, son of the clergyman at Lit-
tleton. While at Cambridge, Shattuck was consider-
ed a young man of a good capacity, a hard student,
with an original cast of thought, which sometimes, to
common observers, appeared like eccentricity. It was
then a period remarkable for boldness of thinking, and
freedom in the expression of liberal opinions on great na-
tional questions. The spirit of liberty has often been first
invoked in the groves of learning;. The sacred flame
which was soon to burn through the land and warm every
breast, was frequently seen at that time to flash and bright-
en in the halls of Harvard. Among those whose observa-
tions are remembered by the few surviving students of
that time, Dr. Shattuck holds a distinguished rank. In
questions of philosophy as well as of government, he was
one of the pioneers in liberal discussion. On leaving
college in 1765 he went to reside at Groton, to pursue
the study of surgery and medicine with Dr. Prescott, an
eminent physician, a man of great urbanity, and popular.
78 BENJAMIN 8HATTUCK.
not only in his profession, but as a judge of probate for
the county of Middlesex. From Groton he went to Tem-
pleton, in the county of Worcester, to commence practice.
The practitioner of the present day, with all the lights
of the last half century about him, can hardly understand
how much his predecessors suffered for want of books,
instruments, and all the facilities which are at the com-
mand of the modern physician and surgeon ; but their
sagacity, careful watchings, perseverance and tact, often
more than supplied the place of books and systems. Na-
ture is generally communicative and kind to those devot-
ed to her laws and suggestions, and not unfrequently her
simple inspirations are more efficacious that abstruse theo-
ries however ingenious. Disease has often yielded to the
anxious watcher and cai'eful nurse, when science, proud of
her knowledge, might have prescribed in vain.
The place which Dr. Shattuck chose for the field of his
exertions, was a new settlement, with but few inhabitants.
The population increased but slowly in the new corpora-
tions until after the peace of 1763. Then Indian warfare
was no longer to be dreaded, and the hardy sons of the
colonies made rapid strides in cultivating the soil, to
which the children of the forest had given up all claim,
and had abandoned in their peaceful wanderings. Dr.
Shattuck thought, and his visions were more than realiz-
ed, that by the time his children had grown up, there
would be a comparatively dense population around him.
With these hopes his professional duties began. The life
of a pliysician who has business, and with it entertains a
high sense of his responsibility, is always an arduous one ;
but few can imagine the severity of his labors, who main-
tains a considerable celebrity in a new and thinly settled
country.
For twenty-fom' years Dr. Shattuck continued his labors
in the county of Worcester and the neighboring counties,
until his strength sunk under his efforts. It is seldom
that any constitution is proof against such severe duties,
continued for any length of time. He died of a pulmon-
ary cojnplaint in the year 1794. His mind continued
bright and active until the last moments of his life. He
reasoned and judged upon his own case with the calmness
of one not interested in the event, and named to his medi-
cal friends with prescient accuracy the number of hours
tlie mortal machine would bv the common course of na-
BENJAMIN SHATTUCK. 79
ture continue its functions. Dr. Shattuck died at tliat time
of life when the faculties of men reach their highest point,
when opinions have been tested by experiment, ar.d origin-
al thoughts are arranged and incorporated with settled
axioms.
Those who lived with him and were the best judges of
his talents and acquirements, uniformly agree that no phy-
sician at that time was more acute in discovering tlie seat
and causes of a disease than Dr. Shattuck. To (|uick dis-
cernment was added a patience in investigating all the cir-
cumstances relating to the subject under consideration,
which naturally led to correct vicM^s and happy results.
His knowledge was considerable, but his wisdom was
superior to his knowledge. He knew much of the thoughts
of other men, but was governed by a system formed from
his own. He hailed with delight the works of Cullen
and other distinguished lights in his profession, but receiv-
ed their opinions as intellectual food for digestion, rather
than as absolute guides of his own practice. While he
was systematic in Jiis course of examining, reasoning, judg-
ing and acting, he was not, like many, wedded to systems
and theories ; but subjected them to an enliglitened super-
vision and examination. With his reputation it is not sin-
gular that he was often consulted by his professional
brethren in stubborn cases, and his judgment was consid-
ered as the " ultima ratio medici" for their patients.
There were several physicians about him highly respecta-
ble in their day and generation, who were on most friend-
ly terms with him, and who, years after he was gone, bore
testimony to the soundness of his judgment and the suc-
cess of his practice. Drs. Foxcroft, Atherton and Frink
were among the number ; all men of distinction in their
profession.
His death was deeply lamented by the whole communi-
ty to which he was known ; but this loss was more poig-
nantly felt by his townsmen, the people of Templeton.
He had settled with them by invitation, had lived in their
affection and confidence for nearly a quarter of a century,
and had identified himself with their joys and sorrows.
At his funeral all classes crowded around his bier to pay
the last sad and mournful tribute of respect to their phy-
sician and friend. The pious pastor of the flock poured
out his heart in an honest eulogy, in commemoration of
his virtues, and spoke of the " sense, skill and philan-
80 WILLIAM SHIPPEN.
thropy" of their departed physician and friend. Tliis
was said in the presence of those who knew the deceased,
and knew too that the words flowed in truth and sincerity :
such praises from the mouth of discriminating affection,
have a lasting unction in them, and are sweet in the re-
membrance of ages, when the cold stone and the proud en-
tablature are defaced or forgotten.
Soon after Dr. Shattuck settled in Templeton he marri-
ed Lucy Barron, the daughter of a brave Provincial offi-
cer, who fell in Johnson's Fight, as the memorable battle
of the eighth of September, 1755, was called. She was a
woman precisely fitted for her situation, endowed with
hereditary and constitutional firmness. She was an honor
to her liusband, and a blessing to her children through her
life, which was, happily for the latter, protracted till with-
in a few years past. She was left with six children at the de-
cease of her husband, two of whom soon followed him,
and the youngest is now a distinguished physician in full
practice in the city of Boston.
* SHIPPEN, DR. WILLIAM, Sen. This worthy and
excellent man was descended from an ancient and respect-
able English family, which emigrated to this country on
account of religious persecution, first to Massachusetts,
and then for the same cause to Pennsylvania, soon after its
settlement by William Penn. He was born in Philadelphia
on the 1st of October, 1712. He applied himself early in
life to the study of medicine, for which he had a remark-
able genius, possessing that kind of intuitive knowledge of
diseases which cannot be acquired from books. In his
practice he was uncommonly successful, by which means
he soon rose to very high reputation and extensive busi-
ness, which he retained to an advanced age.
But, in his long journey through life. Dr. Shippen did
not confine his useful labors to the duties of his profession.
The institutions of learning and benevolence were the
objects of liis care and liberal patronage. He was one of
the founders, and during the greatest part of his life a
trustee of the College of New-Jersey, towards the estab-
lishment and support of which he contributed largely by
liberal donations and by bequeathing it a considerable
perpetual annuity. He was a trustee of the College of
Philadelphia, a vice-president of the Philosophical Soci-
ety of that city, and the fi.rst Physician to the Pennsylva-
nia Hospital, which charity owes mudi of its usefulness to
WILLIAM SHIPPEN. 81
his long continued medical services and frequent bene-
factions.
Dr. S. was a friend of liberty and his country. At
an advanced age he Avas chosen a member of the Congress
of the United States, where he proved himself to be an ex-
cellent and well-informed patriot, and in the evening of
life he continued to rejoice in the prosperity of his coun-
try and the stability of her republican institutions.
To the poor of every denomination his professional aid
was at all times freely rendered ; and so well known were
his ability and integrity that he was appointed guardian
of the estates of many widows and orphans, to the poor
of which class he left a considerable legacy.
But what is still more to the honor of Dr. Shippen, he
was the friend of religion. His hospitable doors were al-
Avays open to the ministers of the gospel, and he enjoyed a
large share of the friendship and confidence of the cele-
brated Mr. Whitefield. He was well acquainted with all
the different systems of divinity, but was most strongly
attached to that which was so ably defended by Mr. Ed-
wards, one of the presidents of the College of New-Jer-
sey. He was also one of the founders of the first Presby-
terian church of the city of Philadelphia, and a mem-
ber for near seventy years. As a proof of the influence of
the religion he loved, it is worthy of notice that in the
whole course of his long life he never was once heard to
swear profanely, nor to take his Maker's name in vain.
Dr. Shippen departed this life, November 4th, 1801,
aged 89. In private life he was a tender husband, an af-
fectionate parent and kind master. To his family in all
its extensive branches he was kind and attentive, and to
all he was strictly just. But amidst the bright cluster of
his virtues conspicuously shone his humility, modesty, in-
tegrity and truth. His temperance was so great that, till
within a few weeks of his death, he never drank wine, nor
any other spirituous liquor. He owed his health very
much not only to his temperance, but to constant daily
exercise. He superintended the business of his farm, and
had always the entire management of his large estate, un-
til a few months before he died. In his family he exhibit-
ed that simplicity in living which is alike consonant to
the principles of Christianity and republicanism ; even his
dress conveyed his ideas of simplicity, for he was opposed
to ostentation in every thing. His temper was another
rOL. II. 11
82 WILLIAM SHIPPEi^.
remarkable trait in his character ; it was uniformly sweet,
as well as forbearing, forgiving, cheerful and serene. He
had so much of the vivacity of youth, that, when between
eighty and ninety years of age, he often witnessed their
pleasures when innocent, and even sometimes partook of
them. His benevolence was so universal, that it may very
justly be said of him that he wished well to the whole hu-
man race. He lived beloved, and at the great age of ninety
years he bowed his reverend head to the will of his merci-
ful Creator, amidst his numerous descendants, regretted
and lamented, and was buried in the graveyard of the
church to which he had been so useful, by the side of six
of his grandchildren, followed by a large train of his
mourning relatives and friends. — Jlled. Repository.
^ SHIPJPEN, WILLIAM, M.D., M.M.S.S. Hon. This
very eminent physician was the son of the preceding, who
descended from one of the associates of the illustrious
founder of Pennsylvania. He Was born in the year 1733,
and passed the early part of his life in Philadelphia. At
the usual age he was j)laced in a highly respectable gram-
mar school, which was kept at Nottingham, in Chester
county, by Mr. Finlay, afterwards principal of the College
of New-Jersey. At that period no college or large chart-
ered school existed between New-Haven in Connecticut,
and Williamsburgh in Virginia ; but there were several
valuable private seminaries in Pennsylvania, and among
them Mr. Finlay 's was much distinguished, particularly for
the attainments of his pupils in the learned languages. He
appears to have availed himself of these early advantages ;
for, when removed to tlie College of New-Jersey,
which was soon after established at Newark, he evinced a
very critical knowledge of the Latin language. Among
other exercises public speaking was much practised, and
at this time he began to display that fine elocution which
was so conspicuous during his life. He passed through
the usual studies, and was graduated under President
Burr. His great reputation as a speaker procured for him
the appointment of Valedictory Orator at the Commence-
ment, and he acquitted himself so well that the celebrated
preacher Whitefield, who happened to be present, address-
ed him publicly, and, declaring that he had never heard
better speaking, urged him to devote himself to the pulpit.
This was in 1754. The three following years he spent in
the city of Philadelphia, under the care of his father, as a
WltLIAM BHlPPKjr. |)f
(Student of medicine ; and embarked for Europe soon after,
at the age of twenty-one.
His first residence was in London, and in ihe family of
Mr. John Hunter, who at that time assisted his brother in
anatomical lectures, and appears to have devoted all
his leisure to the study of comparative anatomy. At this
place and at Dr. William Hunter's theatre young Shippen
spent a great part of his time. As Hunter was considered
one of the first demonstrators of anatomy, his pupil, be-
ing sensible of his excellence, most probably imitated his
manner. During his connexion with the Hunters, he
often associated with the well known Mr. William Hew-
«on, and appears also to have enjoyed the particular favor
of the very eminent Sir John Pringle. Having attended,
with Pringle, the examination of several patients who had
died under liis care, he used often to mention the candor
of that great physician in urging these anatomists to de-
clare freely their sentiments of the diseased appearances,
without regard to his previous opinion. At this time also
commenced his acquaintance with Dr. John Fothergill.
The people of Pennsylvania seem always to have been re-
garded with affection by this benevolent individual, but
at the present time he was more interested for them than
usual. The Pennsylvania Hospital had lately been erect-
ed. He took it for granted that students would resort to
it, and supposed that they might experience great difficul-
ty in acquiring a knowledge of anatomy. To remedy this
defecl in their medical education, he employed Rimsdyck,
one of the first artists of Gi-eat Britain, to execute tlie
crayon paintings now in that institution, which exhibit the
whole structure of the body, of the full size, and the gravid
uterus, with many of the varied circumstances of natural
and preternatural parturition. These paintings are re-
ported to have cost two hundred guineas, and with one
hundred and fifty guineas in addition, which he contribut-
ed to the hospital, constitute a most substantial proof of
his regard as well as of his liberality.
Shippen while cultivating anatomy in London was
equally intent upon the su1)ject of midwifery ; he attended
the lectures of Hunter upon this subject with great care,
and seems to have become a convert to most of the pecu-
liar doctrines of his preceptor. In the summer season he
also attended the lectures of a celebrated accoucheur. Dr.
McKenzie. During his residence in Great Britain he stu-
84 WILLIAM SHIPPEN.
died and was graduated at Edinburgh. His thesis was on
a very important subject, De Placentae cum Utero Nexu.
He left Edinburgh with sentiments of the greatest venera-
tion for CuUenand the elder Monro. After finishing his stu-
dies in Great Britain he wished to visit France. But this was
rendered difficult by the war which then existed between
those countries. On this occasion his friend. Sir John
Pringle, introduced him to a lady affected with pulmonary
consumption, who interested George II. to obtain from
the court of France permission to travel for the benefit of
her health in the southern parts of that country. He ac-
companied her in a medical capacity, and in consequence
formed a more intimate acquaintance with the celebrated
Senac, and some other physicians of Paris, than he could
otherwise have done.
He resided a short time in France, and returned to his
native country in the year 1762, fully determined to teach
anatomy by dissection, and to practise midwifery. As
both these schemes were new to a large majority of the
community in which they were to be executed, the under-
taking must have been considered as very delicate. An
acquaintance with the two subjects was not all that was
necessary to insure success : few things require more
knowledge of human nature, and greater powers of accom-
modation to the feelings of the human heart. Nature had
been uncommonly bountiful in the form and endowments
of Dr. Shippen. His person was graceful, his manners
polished, his conversation various, and the tones of his
voice singularly sweet and conciliatory. In his inter-
course with society he was gay without levity, and digni-
fied without haughtiness or austerity. He belonged to a
family which was proverbial for good temper. His fa-
ther, whom he strongly resembled in this respect, during
the long life of ninety years had scarcely ever been seen
out of humor. He was also particularly agreeable to
young people. Known as he was to almost every citizen
of Philadelphia, it is probable that there was no one who
did not wish him well.
Dr. Shippen arrived from Europe in May, 1762, and
the anatomical paintings, formerly alluded to, came soon
after. These very valuable paintings presented by the
benevolent Dr. Fothergill, who expected Shippen would
explain them, being committed to his care, were soon put
up, and may be considered as the precursors of Shippen's
\
WILLIAM SHIPPEN. CJO
dissections, since in the autumn of the same year, as soon
as the season permitted, his first course of anatomy began.
The introductory lecture was delivered in one of the large
apartments of the State House, and many of the gentlemen
of Philadelphia heard it with pleasure. The number of
students who attended his course, amounted only to
twelve ; such was the origin of our medical school. He
gave three courses of lectures unconnected with any insti-
tution, when. May 3d, 1765, Dr. John Morgan laid before
the trustees of the college, a plan for establishing a medi-
cal school under their auspices, accompanied by a letter
from the honorable Thomas Penn recommending the plan
to their patronage. In September Dr. Shippen addressed
a letter to the trustees, stating that the institution of a
medical school had been his favorite object for seven
years, and that he had proposed it three years before in
his first introductory lecture ; upon which he was imme-
diately and unanimously chosen Professor of Anatomy and
Surgery. The anatomical lectures were regularly deliv-
ered from year to year until the fourteenth course, which
was in the winter of 1775, when they were suspended by
the war of the revolution. The annual number of students
by this time had increased to between thirty and forty.
The school, of course, was completely established, and
Shippen's character as a lecturer decided by the number
of his students, for he had now taught nearly three hun-
dred. Many of them afterwards went abroad to perfect
their education, and returned to practise in their native
country. All these travellers, I believe, without a single
exception, and without conferring together, declared that
they had met with no man who Avas superior to Shippen
as a demonstrator of anatomy, and very few indeed that
were equal to him. In explaining the success of Dr. Ship-
pen in teaching anatomy, we may take into view another
faculty which he also exerted with great effect. He went
through the substance of each preceding lecture by inter-
rogation instead of recapitulation, thus fixing the attention
of the students ; and his manner was so happy, that this
grave process proceeded like a piece of amusement. His
irony was of a delicate kind, and so blended with humor,
that he could repress forwardness, and take notice of neg-
ligence, so as to admonish his class without too much ex-
posing the defaulter.
56 WILLIAM SHIPPED.
In this manner was he proceeding with his favorite
scheme, when his career was suspended by his entering
into the medical department of the army in the year 1776.
Though he continued in this station till 1780, his anatom-
ical lectures were interrupted only during the winters of
1776 and 1777. He afterwards came to the city for the
purpose of delivering the accustomed courses, which were
necessarily shorter than before. In January, 1781, he re-
signed the post of Director General of the medical departs
ment of the army, three months after he had been a second
time elected to it, determined to resume all his former
pursuits. He had apartments of his own construction,
every way adequate to the accommodation of his class,
with proper arrangements also for teaching practical
anatomy.
During many years he devoted himself very much to
the practice of midwifery, effecting by these means a great
change in the habits of the city. But there was an inher-
ent difficulty in this undertaking, there being at this time
very fcAv occasions where medical men were employed for
this purpose in the first instance. It was only when some-
thing very important was to be done that they were re^
sorted to ; and very often when too late. This was alto-
gether the effect of prejudice, and not of necessity, for
several of the medical gentlemen were accoucheurs. By
Shippen this prejudice was so far removed that in the
course of ten years he became very fully employed. He
also taught midwifery. Prior to the revolution, he seems
to have had a distinct class of students in this branch ;
after that period he delivered a short course to his general
class ; and, brilliant as he generally was, I believe there
was no lecture in which he shone so much, as in his intro-
ductory one to midwifery, upon the subject of address and
deportment.
After lecturing and practising as accoucheur, surgeon
and physician for ten or twelve years, subsequently to
leaving the American army, his habits suffered an immense
alteration by an occurrence which, as far as respected him-
self, was one of the most important and afflicting that he
had ever experienced. His only son had every advantage
in education that good sense and knowledge of human na-
ture, that respectable connexions, and finally that money,
could procure for him ; and such were his talents and ap-
plication, that his proficiency was equal to his opportuni-
WILLIAM SHIPPEN. &t
ties. He had often been caressed by Washington ; he went
abroad and visited France under the auspices of Jefferson;
whilst in England he enjoyed the countenance of the late
President Adams, and was on intimate terms with Lord
Shelburne. His letters from those countries were so re-
plete with information and ability, that they gave great
pleasure to many persons, to whom his delighted father
used to read them. After four years of absence he return-
ed, and proved to be exactly what parental affection wish-
ed. He was not only a man of talents and information,
but of great virtue and strong filial attachment. Shippen
would have loved him as a friend, had there been no
other connexion between them. The feelings excited by
these qualities, produced a degree of fondness for his son
which has seldom been equalled. He seemed to lose sight
of himself, and forget that he also had a part to act, so
fully was his attention absorbed by this endeared object.
His strongest wish was to pass the remainder of his life as
his son's guest. He therefore gave him the fairest portion
of his estate, and, to obtain leisure and exemption from
care, procured the establishment of an adjunct professor of
anatomy. But, alas ! instead of realizing any of these
fond hopes, he had to endure a disappointment the most
painful which suffering humanity can experience. In 1792
his son began to complain of ill health. The father in
vain devoted to him almost the whole of his time, and
consulted, occasionally, all his medical friends. After a
great variety of efforts for his relief, and much suffering
on his part, he died in 1798. Thus the object upon which
he founded hopes of comfort for the remainder of his life,
and which he had contemplated with increasing tenderness
for thirty years, was for ever removed.
Though this heavy stroke did not entirely prostrate
him, it did him a greater injury by destroying the interest
he felt in every remaining object. It cut the sinews of his
exertions, and left him gradually to wither, the amiable
N'ictim of paternal affection. From this time his business
as a practitioner declined. He seldom lectured on anato-
my, and generally with reluctance ; though, when he did
lecture, he always £jave the greatest pleasure to his class.
The only studies to which he applied himself, after this
period, were of a religious nature. He was educated in
the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church ; but he now
read and thought much on the subject of uni^'e^sal restora^
88 ELIHU H. SMITH.
tion, and finally adopted that belief with great confidence.
Three years ago his spirits appeared again to return. He
was attacked, however, with vertigo, which greatly de-
pressed him, and which was soon followed by symptoms
of hydrothorax.
Last winter he delivered the introductory lecture, though
very infirm and unlike what he had formerly been. Yet
he was much roused by the appearance of the class in the
new theatre, and feelingly described his emotions upon
comparing these with his original set of students forty
years before,* and on reflecting that every medical pro-
fessor in the institution had been taught anatomy by him-
self. It was indeed impossible that he could survey the
result of his labors without sincere satisfaction. Of his
elder students, there were some to be found in almost eve-
ry state, who were amongst the most distinguished of their
profession, and in latter times he had seen the pupils of
his school extend in various directions, from the Hudson
far beyond the Ohio, and from the shores of Lake Erie to
the borders of the Gulf of Mexico. During this course he
lectured, as usvial, on midwifery. But in the succeeding
spring his debility increased, and he removed early in the
summer to Germantown. Here he was attacked by an
anthrax, which so much increased his weakness that he
sunk under it, on the 11 th day of July, 1808.
From this review of the professional career of our de-
ceased friend, it appears that he had the peculiar talent of
successfully promoting an object of immense utility to his
country ; and that his steadiness in pursuit thereof entitles
him to be ranked amongst the benefactors of mankind.
To this it ought to be added, that after an eventful life he
left the world without an enemy, whilst many indeed sin-
cerely regret that the amiable Shippen is no more. — Wis-
tar^s Eulogium on William Shippen^ J\I.D., delivered before the
College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Jlfarc/i, 1809. — See Phila-
delphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, Vol. V.
SMITH, ELIHU HUBBARD, M.D., Avas a native of
Litchfield in Connecticut, and was born in the year 1771.
Having received the rudiments of knowledge at a school
in Litchfield, he entered the college of New-Haven, at the
early age of eleven. At this distinguished seat of learning
he gave many proofs of intellectual energy, far beyond
* The class was now probably near four hundred.
ELIHU I!. SMITH.
89
those we are accustomed to observe in one of so unripe an
age. He completed his education under the particular
care of the Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, who then presided
over an academy of distinguished reputation at Greenfield,
and who, upon the death of the Rev. Dr. Stiles, succeed-
ed to the presidency of Yale College. In 1786 Mr Smith
received the degree of A.B. from the college of New-
Haven.
He now returned to Litchfield, and under the direction
of his father, a practitioner of physic, commenced the
study of medicine. In the year 1791 he resorted to Phila-
delphia for the purpose of attending the several courses of
medical instruction delivered in tliat city. After this pe-
riod, in 1792, he chose as his residence, Wethersfield, in
Connecticut, where he entered upon the practical duties
of his profession. In this place, however, much as he was
respected and esteemed for his social and moral virtues,
he found but little employment as physician, and conse-
quently, in the autumn of 1793, removed to the city of
New-York, where he remained until his death, in 1798.
In New- York he devoted himself v/ith great ardor to
his medical pursuits, and by his perseverance and atten-
tion gradually surmounted those obstacles to professional
success which naturally arose from his youth and the lim-
ited number of his acquaintance. But beside those branch-
es of science more immediately connected with the medical
profession, he cultivated v/ith great industry almost every
department of literature. His genius as a poet unfolded
itself at an early age, and among the poetical productions
of his juvenile pen are not a few which manifest consider-
able vigor of imagination, and ea«y flow of numbers. In
the year 1796 the governors of the New-York Hospital
elected him one of the physicians of that extensive char-
ity, the duties of which station he discharged much to the
benefit of that institution, and to the increase of his own
reputation.
In this year appeared his first production on a subject
strictly medical, viz. " Letters to William Buel, Physi-
cian, Sheffield, Massachusetts, on the Fever which pre-
vailed in New-York in 1795," These letters were written
at the request and for the information of Dr. Buel, and
though not originally intended for the press, were, at the
suggestion of some friends of the author, published in the
" Collection of Papers on the Subject of Bilious Fevers
YOL. II. 12
90 ELIHU H. SMITH.
prevalent in the United States," edited by N. Webster,
Esq. Shortly after this period Dr. Smith, in conjunction
with Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell and the late Dr. Edward
Miller, projected the publication of the New-York Medi-
cal Repository. From the establishment of a periodical
journal of this kind, in the infant state of medical and
physical science in this country, he anticipated numerous
important advantages to the profession of medicine and
the collateral branches of knowledge ; and, as he was one
of the most active promoters of the design, he zealously
devoted the chief part of his attention to its successful ac-
complishment. The chief of his writings in the Medical
Repository are, his History of the Plague of Athens, Vol.
I. page 1 to 33 ; Case of Mania successfully treated by
Mercury, do., p. 174 — 178 ; Observations on the Origin
of the Pestilential Fever which prevailed in the Island of
Grenada in the years 1793 and 1794, do., p. 459—486 ;
On a Singular Disease with which Infants are sometimes
affected, do., p. 501—504; The Natural History of the
Elk, Vol. II. p. 168 — 174 ; On the Pestilential Diseases
which appeared in the Athenian, Carthaginian and Ro-
man armies, in the Neighborhood of Syracuse, do., p.
367—384.
Beside the medical productions in the Repository, he
published Edwin and Angelina, or the Banditti, an Opera
in three Acts, 8vo. 1797 ; and in 1798, a Discourse deliv-
ered before the New-York Manumission Society, 8vo.
The same year he undertook the office of editor of an
American Edition of Darwin's Botanic Garden ; and, to
evince his respect for the author of this celebrated poem,
he prefixed to the volume a poetic address, happily de-
scribing the rise, progress and use of the art of printing as
connected with science, and particularly its effects in
spreading this botanic song from Britain to the remotest
corner of the new hemisphere. This beautiful address is
retained in the second American edition of the Botanic
Garden, published in 1807. Beside these miscellaneous
productions, he is supposed to be the author of " Andre, a
Tragedy in five Acts, performed in New-York, March,
1798."
VThile thus actively employed in the discharge of the
important duties of his profession, and in the cultivation
of the various branches of knowledge which elevate and
adorn the human character, he, in the month of Septem-
ELIHU n. SMITH. 91
ber, 1798, when only in the 27th year of his age, was at-
tacked with the yellow fever then prevailing with great
mortality in the city of New-York, to which disease he
soon fell a victim. In a communication to Dr. David
Hosack, Dr. Mitchell, one of the surviving friends and
colleagues of Dr. Smith, thus describes his last illness :
" During the warm season of that pestilential year, Elihu
H. Smith and myself had been associated in performing
our respective duties as physicians of the Ne"\v-York Hos-
pital. We had frequent conferences on the periodical
work in Avhich he, Edward Miller and myself, with the
cooperation of Messrs. T. and J. Swords, had become en-
gaged. We had both been favored with fine health, and
had been sustained in full enjoyment of our powers, while
the prevailing distemper was destroying lives at an unu-
sual rate around us. We had more than once observed
how remarkably well we felt ; and, wlien strangers and
visiters called upon us, how entirely we were capacitated
to receive them and enjoy their society. Among these
was the accomplished and elegant Scandella.* In the dif-
ficulty which had arisen about procuring a lodging, this
amiable gentleman apprehended some serious inconve-
* The following tribute to the memory of this amiable and excellent man, ex-
tracted from the Medical Repository, mav with propriety be introduced in this
place. " Died, September 16th, 1798, J. B. Scandella, M.D. aged 28. The fate
of this gentleman was in a remarkable degree to be lamented. He was a native of
the Venetian State. His family vvas opulent and high in rank. He had received
the best medical education, but had consecrated his faculties to the general im-
provement of science, and the benefit of mankind. Having resided for some time
at London in ifie capacity of secretary to the Venetian Embassy, he conceived the
design of visiting America. His country's service no longer demanding his atten-
tion, he proposed to gratify a liberal curiosity in surveying the principles and struct-
ure of a rising empire. He first arrived at Quebec, and thence took various jour-
neys through the southern and western districts. His personal merits secured him
the esteem of the persons among us most eminent for their knowledge and talents
His candor and blameless deportment made him be regarded with peculiar tender-
ness by all who knew him. His chief attention was directed to agricultural im-
provements and projects, justly conceiving that mankind would derive most benefit
from the perfection of this art.
" Having spent two years in this country, and accomplished the purposes which
brought him hither, he embarked for Europe in June, 1798. The vessel proving
unfit for the voyage, he returned to Philadelphia, the port from which he had set
out. Shortly after he came to New -York, and engaged a passage in a packet
which was speedily to sail from this harbor. The detention of his baggage, which
was daily expected from Philadelphia, occasioned hnn the loss of this opportunity.
An epidemical disease had meanwhile made its appearance in both cities. Not-
withstanding its greater progress and malignity in the latter city, his concern in the
welfare of a helpless family, whom his departure had deprived of their only useful
friend, induced him to return thither. After enduring the continual loss of rest,
and exposing himself to the influence of an infected atmosphere lor ten days, he set
out on his return to New-York. He had scarcely arrived before syminoms of dis-
ease appeared, which, on the sixth day, terminated in death."
92 ELIHU H. SMITH.
nience. In the ardor of his friendship Smith asked him
to his own house ; his distemper proved to be the reign-
ing epidemic. It was one of the most obstinate, rapid and
indomitable cases. It advanced with such speed that there
was time but for a few visits. On tlie day that I called
last to see Scandella, I found him overpowered by the
disease, and lying a corpse upon the bed. This was af-
fecting enough ; but my solicitude was exceedingly in-
creased by learning that Smith had been sick since the
preceding afternoon. He was confined to his bed in an
adjoining chamber, and was wholly ignorant of the fate of
Scandella. On entering the room I roused him from the
drowsy state in which he lay. I opened the inner shut-
ters of tlie window for the purpose of admitting a little
more light. It was earl)'^ on Sunday morning. I inquired
how he was, and received for answer, a frequent one in
those days, that he was not very unwell, and would be
better by and by. I saw, however, in a glance, enough to
satisfy me that the disorder had already made alarming
progress. The suffusion of his face, and the inflamed and
glassy eye, were unequivocal symptoms of danger. But
when he inquired of me if it was not almost sundown, and
thereby showed that he had lost the reckoning of time, I
perceived that the coherence of his mind was broken. I
soon withdrew, and pronounced my apprehensions for his
safety. His friend, Mr. Johnson, caused him to be imme-
diately removed from Pine street to his house in Green-
wich street, and every possible comfort to be administer-
ed. There Miller joined me in devising the course of treat-
ment for our invaluable friend. There was but a remnant
of time left. Smith expressed to us a desire to have the
mercurial practice tried upon himself. We instantly
agreed to it. Some of the strongest ointment was pro-
cured, and a nurse from the hospital was permitted to
gratify her feelings by applying it with her own hands.
This task the faithful woman performed so well that she
salivated herself. But so implacable and inveterate was
the disease, that the quicksilver produced no sensible ope-
ration whatever upon the patient. Black vomiting with
universal yellowness came on, and he sunk under a mala-
dy which nothing could even mitigate or retard. He was
interred in the ground of the Presbyterian church in Wall
street, very near the spot in which another of my valuable
friends, William Pitt Smith, had been buried. Miller,
ELIHU H. SMITH. 23
Johnson and myself, with a very few others, were all that
could be found, on that day of mortality and dismay, to
follow his hearse."
We shall not in this place discuss the particular merits
or defects of Dr. Smith's writings. The most esteemed
of his miscellaneous productions is his Epistle to Dr. Dar-
win, written in the style of that poetical philosopher and
physician. Of his writings, strictly medical, his Lectures
on the yellow fever which prevailed in New-York, afford
a favorable specimen. He was an advocate for the domes-
tic origin and noncontagious nature of this disease, and,
from a full persuasion of the correctness of his opinions,
was zealous in the support of them. An examination of
the facts and reasonings upon which this opinion was
maintained, we at this time purposely forbear. It was
natural to expect that the limited experience which at that
day the practitioners of the United States possessed rela-
tive to that epidemic, would lead many, and particularly
one of the ardent mind of Dr. Smith, into erroneous opin-
ions concerning its peculiar character, which time and re-
peated observation would correct. His histories of the
Athenian plague, and of the pestilential diseases which ap--
peared in the Athenian, Carthaginian and Roman armies,
we have already mentioned. Though the author's parti-
cular views as to the nature of these diseases are always
before us, we need no other evidence than these histories
to convince us that his diligence, activity and persever-
ance knew no common bounds, and that at his early age
he had explored a great extent of medical learning. His
history of the native American Elk is a specimen of the
accuracy with whicli he described natural objects, of the
promptness with which he seized opportunities, and of the
learning which he diffused around the subject of his
inquiry.
In announcing the deatli of Dr. Smith, the surviving
editors of the Medical Repository thus speak : " As a
physician his loss is irreparable. He had explored at his
early age an extent of medical learning, for which the
longest lives are seldom found sufficient." " The love of
science and the impulse of philanthropy directed his
whole professional career, and left little room for the cal-
culations of emolument. He had formed vast designs of
medical improvement, which embraced the whole family
of mankind ; was animated by the soul of benevolence,
94 ELIHU II. SMITH.
and aspired after every object of a liberal and a dignified
ambition. He was ripe for the highest honors of his pro-
fession ; his merits were every day becoming more con-
spicuous, and nothing but his premature fate deprived him
of that extraordinary degree of public confidence which
awaited a longer continuance of his life."
In the Eulogy on the late Dr. Rush, delivered by Pro-
fessor Mitchell, on the Sth of May, 1813, before the Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons in the University of New-
York, the epistolary intercourse of Dr. Rush with Dr.
Smith and Dr. Miller, is mentioned as one of the happy
incidents of his life. The orator then proceeded to say,
" Of these two persons thus brought to my recollection,
permit me, learned associates, to make the mention which
friendship inspires. With them both I enjoyed that vir-
tuous and intellectual intercourse which renders an ac-
quaintance delightful. The former possessed a mind of
such rare and exquisite finish, a temper so adapted to the
social condition, and a manner so delicate and refined, that
few of his contemporaries could rival him. With a dili-
gence that left him few lost moments to regret, a method
which placed everything he knew exactly where it ought
to be, and an application of his talents to do all the good
in his power, he was an ornament to the time in which he
lived. Difiicult, indeed, would it be to find such another !
The latter, also my companion and fellow laborer in
undertakings which to ourselves at least seemed useful
and advantageous, was endowed with uncommon qualities.
His head was a treasury of information ; his heart a mine
of beneficence. With a rich fund of learning, and a capa-
city to turn that acquirement to the best account, he shone
to great advantage in the most polished circles. His pro-
fessional career, both in his public capacity and in his pri-
vate walks, was the subject of such commendation, that
the calls to service were almost incessant. When such
excellence, with all the mildness and benignity which
adorned it, was summoned away, it is no wonder that the
city felt a disposition to mourn !"
Another writer speaks of the death of this excellent man
in the following language. He died a victim to the de-
structive epidemic, the yellow fever, September 19th,
1798, aged 27 years. There were few who perished dur-
ing that calamitous season whose fate excited more uni-
versal regret, and whose memory will be more fondly and
JAMES SMITH. 95
permanently cherished. In his domestic relations the
knowledge of his excellence is necessarily confined to few ;
but by those few his conduct as a son and a ])rother will
ever be regarded as a model of unblemished rectitude.
Indefatigable in the promotion of the true interest of those
allied to him, a casual observer would be disposed to
imagine his whole attention to be absorbed by this object,
and that he whose affections were so ardent, and whose
mind so active for their good, had no leisure for the of-
fices of friendship and for the pursuit of general happiness.
To these valuable purposes, however, no one attended with
more zeal and assiduity. To those who were blessed with
his friendship, and the number was by no means small, his
attachment was unwavering, and his efforts for their bene-
fit without remission. To the cause of general happiness
he devoted his abilities with no less zeal.
SMITH, JAMES, M.D. He was brother to the distin-
guished historian of New-York. Dr. Smith received his
medical education chiefly in Europe, and was graduated
Doctor of Medicine at Leyden, on which occasion he de-
fended an inaugural dissertation, de Febre Intermittente.
He is admitted by all to have been eminently learned,
though too theoretical and fanciful, both as a practitioner
of the healing art, and in his course of public instruction.
He died at an advanced age in the city of New-York in
1812.
i SPALDING, LYMAN, M.D., was a native of Cornish,
New-Hampshire, and was born June 5th, 1775. After
passing the usual academic term at Charleston, he entered /tn
Harvard University, where he was graduated with honor
in the year 1 797. Immediately on leaving the university he
commenced his medical studies under the auspices of that
distinguished practitioner, Nathan Smith, M.D. where he
imbibed that thirst for knowledge and formed those habits
of industry, which distinguished him so greatly in after
life. So early as 1798, even before he luid completed his
medical education, he displayed a creditable degree of en-
terprise in assisting Professor Smith in the work of insti-
tuting the medical school at Dartmoutli College ; a chem-
ical apparatus was to be created, and Dr. Spalding possess-
ed the ingenuity and enthusiasm fitted for the occasion,
and he commenced the first course of lectures on clicmist-
ry at the opening of that institution.
86 LYMAN SPALDING.
Having received an honorary degree at Dartmouth, he
entered upon the practice of medicine at Portsmouth in
1799. Being naturally endowed with a mind ardent, vigor-
ous and discriminating, he possessed also a patience of
investigation and a steadiness of purpose, which peculiarly
fitted him for the profession he had chosen. To its ad-
vancement he directed all the energies of his soul ; and in
all its duties he was vigilant, indefatigable and faithful to
the last. It was not, however, from motives grovelling
and mercenary that he labored so assiduously ; he had far
nobler views ; he loved his profession as a science, and he
neglected no opportunities of unfolding its mysteries, and,
as far as was in his power, of himself contributing to its
treasures. He was through life a laborious and a system-
atic student ; suffering no moments to escape without use-
ful employment, or adding something to his fund of ac-
quirements. Aware of the importance of an intimate
acquaintance with the human structure to success in the
practice of both medicine and surgery, he made this his
first gi'and object of pursuit. How far he succeeded in
attaining to a thorough knowledge of anatomy, those who
have witnessed his skill in dissection, and his beautiful
preparations, particularly of the Lymphatics, some of
which we believe enrich the cabinets of our first institu-
tions, will bear ample testimony. His success in this
branch of knowledge gave him considerable celebrity as a
surgeon, for which he was qualified by his skill, as well as
by a remarkable boldness and decision of character.
In the theory and practice of medicine he was also a
proficient. In this, as in every thing he undertook, truth
and the advancement of knowledge, were his leading pur-
suits. Despising the popular belief that a little practice
and experience are alone the grand requisites to success,
he labored for principles, and by uncommon industry
availed himself of all that was useful in the theory and
practice of others, and also of a general acquaintance with
the collateral branches of his favorite science. If he some-
times erred, (as who does not ?) in this wide field of specu-
lative enquiry, his errors had at least the merit of system,
to ensure for them a degree of respect. But he was by no
means tenacious of opinions, however deliberately formed ;
if proved to be false, they were openly abandoned, as they
had before been honestly avowed. Dr. S. was distinguish-
ed for his kindness and activitv in his attendance on the
LYMAIT SPALDING. 97
sick, and for his liberal and gentlemanly deportment in his
intercourse with his brethren of the Faculty.
In the year 1812 the College of Physicians and Surgeons
of the western district of the ?tate of New-York was in-
corporated, and Dr. Spalding elected President, and Pro-
fessor of Anatomy and Surgery, and lecturer on the Insti-
tutes of Medicine. His duties as professor required him
to make annual visits to that place, where the flourishing
state of the school, and the yearly increase of its pupils
gave sufficient evidence of his poptdarity and ability as
a teacher. In 1813 the city of New-York presenting a
wider field for the exercise of his talents, and greater fa-
cilities for improvement, he took up his residence there ;
and finding, in the course of two or three years, his aca-
demical labors to be incompatible with the active duties
of his profession, and the interest of his family, he resign-
ed his offices at the institution.
The same assiduity and zeal that characterized his early
days, marked his course in maturer life ; and the contribu-
tions of his pen to the medical and philosophical journals
of the day are replete Avith deep investigation and sound
learning. With him originated the plan for the formation
of the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, and it was from
his pen that the circular letters to the different medical
schools and societies for their cooperation proceeded.
He early submitted the project to the Board of Trustees
of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of
New-York, of which he was a member. That body ap-
proved the measure and appointed a committee on their
part to carry it into full elTect. In short. Dr. Spalding's
eff'orts are traced in the whole progress of the undertak-
ing ; he was elected a member of the convention for the
middle district, and was delegated to the general conven-
tion at AYashington to complete the work, and was one of
the committee for its publication. In fact the public are
greatly indebted to the ardency and professional zeal
which characterized the conduct of Dr. Spalding on this
very important occasion.
Smoe idea of the estimation in which the character of
Dr. S. was held, both at home and abroad, may be form-
ed, when it is stated that he was a member of most of the
learned societies in our own country, and of several in
Europe.
VOL. II. IS
98 MARSHALL SPRING.
Each succeeding year was enlarging his sphere of use-
fulness, and adding to his respectability ; but the Being
who controlleth the destinies of man, in his infinite wis-
dom saw fit to remove from his earthly toils this distin-
guished laborer in the cause of science and humanity ; in
the midst of life, when his hopes were strongest, and his
prospects most flattering, he was summoned hence. His
death was occasioned by an accidental wound on the head,
which produced chronic inflammation of the brain, admit-
lrnm4tin(f of no alleviation. He died in the year 1821, aged 46
^*- ". ^^SPRING, MARSHALL, M.D. M.M.S.S. was born in
Watertown, Massachusetts, of respectable parents. His
maternal uncle, Dr. Josiah Converse, one of the most es-
teemed physicians of that day, patronised and assisted in
givino- him a public education. At that time the number
of the sons of Harvard who were conspicuous for general
literature was very small. He was graduated in 1762, and
promptly decided to devote himself to the study and prac-
tice of physic and surgery. Being prepared for his pro-
fessional duties, he resided a short time at St. Eustatia,
then returned and settled in Watertown, where he speedily
entered into large practice, and enjoyed the confidence of
the people. And such was his success, that comparatively
verv few elder physicians were called in to advise him,
and he once observed to a friend that he was astonished at
the unbounded confidence placed in his judgment. In all
the pleasant parts of the year his house in the morning,
especially on Sundays, was thronged with persons seeking
professional advice ; and such was the confidence in the
soundness of his judgment and skill, that his practice con-
tinued unabated to the close of his life. The ancient
practice of the multitude resorting to an oracle, seemed to
be revived and realized there.
His mind was not filled by the fashionable theories of
the day any further than they accorded with his own
views of practice. A strong natural sagacity, or force of
judgment, was the peculiar and distinguishing feature of
his mind. This led him to deep and critical observations
into the causes and nature of diseases, and their remedies.
He appeared to learn more of the nature of the diseases of
' his patients by the eye than by the ear. He asked few ques-
tions ; hence his knowledge of their cases appeared like
intuition. He often effected cures by directing changes of
MARSHALL SPRING. fi9
habits, of diet and regimen. He used little medicine,
always giving nature fair play. This, together Avith a bold
and often successful application of simples, induced some
among the more elaborate and artificial of the profession to
call him a quack ; but if this means a man professing skill in
the nature and cure of diseases, without possessing the re-
quisite ability and knowledge, the epithet was never more
misapplied : if, on the other hand, a bold and fearless re-
sort to first principles " when the file affords no prece-
dent," or even in disregard of a servile adherence to pre-
cedent ; if assuming the responsibility of acting on one's
own judgment, and regarding the opinions of others as
auxiliaries merely, be quackery, then indeed Dr. Spring
might be said to be a quack. He was no book man, no
friend to the profuse use of medicines, abhorred the tricks
and mummery of the profession, used no learned terms, to
make the vulgar either in or out of the profession stare.
He thought, decided and acted for himself. He was dis-
gusted at the vnimeaning and unscientific use of epithets
by the profession, as descriptive of the various kinds of
diseases. Being in company with some physicians at Phi-
ladelphia, and hearing grave and learned discussions about
scarlet, spotted and yellow fevers, he undertook to de-
scribe a certain disease, prevalent in his part of the coun-
try, and being asked what kind of fever it was considered,
he replied, that the learned among the profession had not
yet fixed upon its denomination, but it was at present best
known by the name of the " bottle green fever."
Dr. Spring was in his person rather short, but compact
and well proportioned ; always a fine looking man ; after
the age of fifty, till the time of his death at the age of
seventy-seven years, he was spoken of as one of the hand-
somest men of his time. His hair in snowy whiteness re-
mained upon his head in sufiicient quantity to set off the
great advantage of an exceedingly fair and florid conqolex-
ion. His utterance was calm, rather slow, but regular.
Naturally resolute and firm, with much sensibility of feel-
ing and quick and strong passions, he liad disciplined him-
self into a full command of his feelings, and held his pas-
sions in entire subjection. He served his friends with
great disinterestedness and zeal, and held the virtue of
gratitude in higher estimation than most men do ; whoever
showed him a grateful disposition had a sure passport to
his confidence and favor. His habits of living, sanctioned
100 MARSHALL SPRING.
by his intimate knowledge of the human frame and consti-
tution, exhibited a fine model for the profession and others
to copy. He used food and drink for the nourishment and
support of the body, not for the gratification of its grosser
appetites and passions. His meals were frugal ; his board,
though hospitable, was never spread with luxuries. His
favorite beverage was black tea. He was temperate even
unto the end. A most indulgent parent to his own child, he
discharged his duties as such to the children of his wife,
who was the widow of the late Dr. Binney of Philadel-
phia and a woman of singular merit, with much feeling
and principle.
Among the circumstances which contributed to the great
reputation of Dr. Spring, was his successful mode of treat-
ment of tetanus by the use of ardent spirit. Observing a
total relaxation of the muscles of a man in a fit of intoxica-
tion, the idea occurred to him that ardent spirits by induc-
ing drunkenness might prove a remedy in tetanus, and his
first trial was attended with complete success ; and during
the rest of his life he continued to repose unbounded con-
fidence in its efficacy. The same confidence prevails
among the people within the circle of his practice, and
whenever symptoms of locked jaw are discovered, imme-
diate recourse is had to this supposed powerful remedy.
In his pecuniary circumstances Dr. Spring was pecul-
iarly fortunate. Receiving the whole of the estate of his
relative and early patron, the late Dr. Converse, he was
ever after a man of large property. Moderate in his
charges, he never managed property in the spirit of gain.
He used to say, that of his personal property he was pretty
sure to lose both principal and interest ; if he vested it in
real estate, he lost the interest only. He accordingly be-
came possessed of a large real estate, and was a most in-
dulgent landlord. He nevertheless left one of the largest
estates of any professional man, who had died in the state.
Had he charged as physicians of his skill and eminence
usually do, especially those who practise in the metropo-
lis, and managed his property with a view to accumula-
tion, he would probably have left one of the largest for-
tunes in New-England.
The political life of Dr. Spring must not be overlooked.
The American revolution found him in full, extensive and
popular practice as a physician ; at a time of life, too,
when the practice was of most consequence to him, both
MARSHALL BPRINO.
101
as it regarded his property and his fame. The scene of
his business lay among a population remarkable for their
unanimity and order in all the measures of resistance to
the mother country. The approaches of that event had
been watched and estimated by him with all that interest,
which the men of those times took in what they consider-
ed as involving every thing dear in this life. And when
the crisis came, and the first scene of the drama opened,
on the ever memoral)le 19th of April, it found Dr.
Spring's mind settled in the full and firm conviction of
the entire inexpediency of resistance ; yet he early appear-
ed on the plains of Lexington, and continued during the
day in the application of his skill and care to the wound-
ed of his fellow citizens. His political opinions he neither
concealed nor disguised, but so essential were his services
in the healing art, and such was the known benevolence
of his temper, that notwithstanding the high exasperation
against the " tories," the people, who then held in their
respective towns all executive, judicial and legislative
power, gave him little molestation.* He was several times
summoned before the town's " committee of safety," to
whose commands he always gave prompt obedience, and
treated them with great apparent respect. " For," as he
ironically said, " tliey now stood in the place of his king,
and it was a fundamental principle that ' the king could
do no wrong.' " Towards the persons composing these
committees, he probably felt little respect on account of
their political sagacity and discernment, and not a little
contempt for their blind zeal; yet he submitted himself with
great cheerfulness to their examinations, giving such replies
to their interrogatories, as either from their wit and good
humor were calculated to disarm prejudice, or from being
equivocal and oracular left the committee wholly in doubt
as to what were his intentions ; so that no measures of se-
verity were ever adopted against him. His popularity as
a man and a physician sustained him in the enjoyment of
his opinions, and in the preservation of the confidence of
his fellow citizens throughout the revolution.
* A gentleman who was well acquainted with the affairs of that day asserts that,
in 1776, such was his notorious toryism, that he would unquestionably have been
sent out of the country, under the law then made for that purpose, if the exigences
of the ladies had not prevented. And from that cause he spake his mind mors
freely than any other man dared to do.
102 MARSHALL SPRING.
In 1789 he was chosen a member of the convention in
Massachusetts which adopted the constitution of the Unit-
ed States. He associated intimately during its session with
the leading politicians of that body, nearly all of whom
were warmly in favor of its adoptions. Dr. Spring was
opposed, alleging that, as a frame of government, it want-
ed strength to ensure its duraLility, for he never was a
full believer in the capacity of the people to be their self
governors. He continued in the minority till the change
of administration in 1801, always, however, mild, tem-
perate and tolerant in his opinions. After this period,
when called on in political conversation to account for his
being a tory in 1775 and a democrat in 1801, he main-
tained his political consistency by alleging that his majesty
reigned " by the grace of God," and the Avhigs had taught
him that " vox populi" was " vox Dei." On being at-
tacked by a gentleman high in office, an influential whig
in 1 775 and a Avarm supporter of the Washington adminis-
tration, he defended himself and retorted the charge of
inconsistency, by reminding him that the voice of the
people was as much the voice of God now as it was
in 1776.
Chief Justice Parsons took much pleasure in his compa-
ny, and Dr. Spring was, perhaps, the only man in the
commonwealth who was willing to measure weapons with
him " in the keen encounter of wits." The Chief Justice
justly prided himself on his acknowledged talent and su-
periority in this department, and therefore seldom failed,
when they met under proper circumstances, to invite the
Doctor into the field, who never declined the combat.
The onsets of the Chief Justice were rapid, keen and ov^er-
whelming. The replies of the Doctor moderate, pungent
and successful. The one redoubled the attack of a well
disciplined militia ; the other the defence of a well served
artillery. These meetings, however, sometimes happened
in the presence of a large company of professional gentle-
men, who remained silent and delighted to " see these
giants play."
Dr. Spring was several years a member of the Execu-
tive Council of Massachusetts. His party had prevailed
in the election by a very small majority, but the next year
the majority was very greatly increased. The Doctor,
who in the latter years of his life was troubled with short-
ness of breath, while ascending on election morning the
SAMUEL STRINGER. 103
steps to the State House, was accosted by a political ad-
versary with " Good morning, Doctor, you find it diffi-
cult getting up here." He dryly replied, " Yes, sir ; but
not so difficult, you perceive, as it was last year."
Dr. Spring made no ostentatious displays of charity,
yet he contributed large amounts yearly to the more ne-
cessitous by not exacting his dues. This was habitual ;
for he seldom resorted to compvdsory means against any
who were indebted to him. There was a tone of benevo-
lence pervading his heart, which always led him to the
mild, forgiving side. A petition was presented to the Ex-
ecutive Council for the pardon of a convict for life in the
state prison, who had already been there seven years. A
member opposed the pardon on the ground of the convict's
being an old and incorrigible offender. Dr. Spring re-
plied that upori principles of the animal economy the par-
don ought to be granted ; that every animal, by the pro-
gress of growth and decay, becomes entirely changed in a
given space of time ; so that no particle of what composed
the animal at a certain time, made a part of the same ani-
mal five or seven years after. Upon this principle he con-
tended that the petitioner had lost his personal identity,
and was not the same person who was convicted and sen-
tenced seven years ago ; and thus in a strain of remark
and argument, made up of wit and irony, put the govern-
or and council in good humor, and obtained the man's
release.
Dr. Spring ended his useful life in January, 1818, in
the 76th year of his age, leaving one son, who inherited
his father's fortune, amounting, it is supposed, to between
two and three hundred thousand dollars. This gentleman
jnarried a lady in Philadelphia ; both died a few years
after, leaving four young children. It is to be lamented
that no part of Dr. Spring's ample fortune was devoted to
the laudable purpose of supporting religious and charita-
ble institutions.
STRINGER, DR. SAMUEL, an eminent physician,
was born in the state of Maryland. He studied medicine
in Philadelphia under the late Dr. Bond, and as early as
1755 was appointed by Governor Shirley an officer in the
medical department of the British army then in this coun-
try. In 1758 he accompanied the army under the com-
mand of General Abercrombie, and was present when Lord
Howe fell in advancing to the siege of Ticonderoga. At
104 JAME3 S. STRINGHAM.
the conclusion of the French war he settled and married
in Albany. When the American revolution commenced
the provincial congress appointed him Director General of
the Hospitals^ in the northern department, and in this ca-
pacity lie accompanied the troops engaged in the invasion
of Canada.
On leaving the army in 1777 he again returned to Al-
bany, and mitil his death was among the first physicians
and surgeons in that place and vicinity. He was always
ready, even in advanced life, to introduce what were
deemed improvements in practice ; and at one period he
made extensive use of oxygen as a medicinal agent. In-
deed he continued partial to it, and believed that he had
often seen good effects from its use. He was frugal in his
habits and of the utmost temperance in his mode of living.
Nor could he at the latter part of his life hold in any esti-
mation the inebriated, whatever their talents might be.
He died at Albany, July 11th, 1817, in t*lie 83d year of
his age.
STRINGHAM, JAMES S. M.D. was born in the city
of New-York, of respectable parents, whose circumstances
in life happily enabled them to furnish to their son the
opportunities of a liberal education. He prosecuted his
classical studies in Columbia College, and was graduated
there in 1793. His habits and disposition inclined him to
the theological profession ; and, for some time after he had
received his collegiate honor in the arts, he pursued a
course of learning for the ministry. His health becoming
delicate from an attack of hemoptysis, he relinquished
with reluctance this intention. He now entered upon a
course of medical education under the care of the late Dr.
S. Bard and Dr. David Hosack, and attended with exem-
plary diligence, for several years, to all the branches of
medicine then taught by the Faculty of Physic in New-
York. He subsequently proceeded to Edinburgh, became
a student in the university of that renowned capital, and
in 1799 received there the degree of M.D.
Within a very short time after his return to his native
city he was elected Professor of Chemistry in Columbia
College, in the place of the learned and distinguished Dr.
Mitchell, who had for many years filled that chair, and to
whom we are indebted for the first introduction of the
French nomenclature of chemistry in this country. Dr.
Stringham, however, not satisfied with these exertions.
JAMES S. STRINGHAM. 105
and anxious for a more extended sphere of usefulness, now
voluntarily prepared a cour^-e on legal medicine. His va«
ried and classical erudition rendered this undertaking one
peculiarly agreeable to hiin ; and to the students who at-
tended his lectures, it proved a source of gratification
equally novel and instructive. The utility of the science
was cheerfully acknowledged l^y all.
Having long labored under an alarming organic disease
of the In^art, and finding his constitution materially im-
paired, Dr. Stringliam resigned his office as professor of
chemistry in Columlna College ; but, upon the union of
the Medical Faculty of that institution with the College of
Physicians and Surgeons in 1803, he was induced to ac-
cept the professorship of medical jurisprudence. Yet this
office became too oppressive from the tenderness of his
health ; hopes which he had cherished, were sliortly to be
blasted ; and he was doomed to irremediable suffering and
premature death. For years he had borne with manly
patience and christian expectation the trials of a distress-
ing complaint. The cheering counsel of his fiiends urged
him to repair to the island of St. Croix, with the vain
hope of a renewal of his health. Thither he went, and
died on the 29th of June, 1817.
Besides his inaugural dissertation, " De Absorbentium
Systemate," Dr. Stringham was the author of several es-
says and papers in the medical journals of the day. He
published in the New-York Medical Repository an ac-
count of the efficacy of Digitalis Purpurea in allaying ex-
cessive action of the sanguiferous system, a description of
a remarkable species of intestinal vermes, an account of
the violent effects of corrosive sublimate, and a case of
hydrocephalus ; in the Philadelphia Medical Museum, a
paper on the effects of mercury in a case of syphilis ; and
in the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, a paper
on the yellow fever of America, in which he maintained,
the specific character and contagious nature of that
disorder.
To the foregoing memoir of Dr. Stringham, derived
from the Inaugural discourse of his friend Professor Fran-
cis of Nev/-York, I add the following extract from a letter
addressed to me by the same gentleman.
" I trust you will incorporate in your contemplated
Medical Biography some account of my late friend and
predecessor in the chair of Juridical Medicine in the Uni-
VOL. II. 14
106 JOHN B. SWETT.
versity of New-York, Dr. James S. Stringham. He de-
serves honorable mention. He was one of the most effi-
cient of that class of men who have successfully and disin-
terestedly exerted themselves for the promotion of science
in this country, at a period when comparatively few could
be found engaged in so good a cause. He was the first
teacher among his countrymen who gave a course of lec-
tures on forensic medicine. His taste for this study he
had originally imbibed from his able preceptor. Dr. Dun-
can, senior, of Edinburgh. From this excellent man he
derived many of the views he imparted in his lectures,
which, however, were enriched with materials drawn
from extensive reading and reflection, from the elaborate
investigations and details of Zacchius down to the recent
productions of Fodere and Mahon. To Dr. Stringham
are we indebted for the popularity which this intricate
department of science now enjoys, and the importance
with which it is cultivated in our medical schools. As a
teacher his manner M^as admirably calculated to enlist
the attention of his auditory and enforce respect ; his style
of composition was felicitous, and his delivery clear and
forcible. Much might be said of his medical erudition in
general. He was for some time one of the physicians of
that extensive charity, the New-York Hospital. Here the
freshness of his reading and his therapeutical talents were
often conspicuous, and the clinical class were made wiser
by the perthience of his remarks. Notwithstanding he
suffered long and greatly from an organic affection of the
heart, and was often brought to the Ijorders of the grave,
he was seldom found without his book. He on several
occasions evinced great independence and decision of char-
acter, particularly in the malignant yellow fever which
prevailed in the city of New-York in 1803. He was a
member of the Royal Medical and Physical Society of
Edinburgh, and fellow of the New-York Literary, and
Philosophical, and Historical Societies. It is deeply to be
regretted that his MS. lectures on forensic medicine are
still withheld from the public. One more honorable in
his intercourse with his fellow men could not be found."
A syllabus of the lectures of Professor Stringham on
medical jurisprudence, is contained in the American Medi-
cal and Philosophical Register.
- SWETT, JOHN BARNARD, M.M.S.S., was born at
Marblehead, in the county of Essex, on the first day of
JOU."( B. 8WKTT.
107
June, 1752. He was the son of Samuel Swett, Esq., a
worthy and respectable merchant, and grandson of Mr.
Joseph Swett, who, about the middle of the last century,
first introduced foreign commerce into the toAvn ; by
means of which it so increased in wealth and numbers,
that in the year 1770 its proportion of the province tax
was next to that of Boston.* His mother was the niece
and adopted daughter of the Rev. John Barnard, congre-
gational minister of Marblehead, and one of the most dis-
tinguished scholars and divines of his age and country,
for whom he was named and by whom he was adopted.
Under the fostering care of this eminent man the subject
of this article was educated, and derived from him a taste
for classical learning, which he ever after retained. In
his childhood and youth he had a buoyancy of spirits,
which interfered with a close and undivided atten-
tion to his studies. His aged patron would often in-
quire of his instructer how his boy got on in his studies,
and was as often answered " tolerably, sir." Provoked
at length with the repetition of this reply, the old gentle-
man testily said, " tolerably, sir ? Why do you not say
intolerably at once ?" This caustic rebuke frorn such a
person had a good effect on the preceptor and his pupil,
stimulating both to increased exertion.
Dr. Swett was matriculated at Harvard College in 1767.
His amiable temper and pleasing manners made him a
general favorite of his contemporaries, while his high
sense of character rendered his progress in learning pro-
portionate to his fine natural talents. About the time of
his receiving his first degree in the arts, he was accidental-
ly present at the opening and examination of the bodies of
some persons who had come to a violent death. This cir-
cumstance determined his choice of the medical profession,
to which his patron yielded with great reluctance, having
a very strong desire that he should go into the ministry.
Indeed so fixed was the old gentleman upon this object,
that, although by his will he devised his estate to this
child of his affections, a considerable portion was given
upon the express condition that he should follow the cler-
ical profession ; a condition, with which habit and power-
ful inclination prohibited a compliance.
* CollectioM of the Maw. Hist. Soc. viii. 67.
108 JOHN B. SWETT.
Soon after he was graduated he repaired to Edinburgh,
where lie passed three years in the j)rosecution of his med-
ical studies under the patronage and instruction of that
eminent pliysician, Dr. William CuUen. Here he formed
an acquaintance with, and enjoyed the society of Dr.
Robertson, Mr. Hume, and other celebrated scholars of
that day and place ; and made great advances in general
literature, as well as in his professional pursuits.
The commercial embarrassments which ])receded our
revolution, interrupted his remittances ; and his adventur-
ous spirit led him to close with a proposal made to him
to go in the capacity of surgeon to a fleet of merchant ves-
sels, which was then fitting in the port of London for the
Falkland Islands under the superintendence of his covm-
tryman INIr. Rotch, and was commanded by Captain James
Scott, for many years master of a ship in the trade between
Boston and London. The object of the expedition was to
make an establishment at the islands, with a view to the
business of whaling and sealing. The undertaking was
attended with great success at first ; but the revolutionary
war soon brought it to a premature close. With the funds
acquired in this enterprise he was enabled to complete his
medical education by attending the hospitals in France
and England ; and he returned to America in 1778.
Immediately on his return he joined the American army
as a surgeon, and was in tlie expedition to Rhode-Island
under Gen. Sullivan. Here he was in the same tent with
John S. Sherburne, Esq., one of the general's aids, when
a cannon ball from the enemy's battery took off the leg of
the latter. He was in the disastrous expedition to Penob-
scot, which issued in the destruction of the whole fleet,
and in the sacrifice of every thing l)eyond what each man
could carry on his back. With his surgical instruments
in his knapsack Dr. Swett was obliged to travel more than
fifty miles through a trackless desert, from the Penobscot
river to the nearest settlements on the Kennebec. His
misfortune was felt the more severely, as he had just before
met with the irreparable loss, by capture, of his profess-
ional manuscripts prepared by him with great care when
in Europe, and his valuable library and surgical apparatus
collected at great expense and trouble.
In the year 1780 he commenced practice as a physician
and surgeon in Nevvburyport, induced by the urgent soli-
citations of several of the first characters in that place, to
JOHN B. SWETT. 109
Mhom liis character was not unknown, and to some of
whom he was allied by birth. Here his progress was
rapid and successful. Almost every surgical case through
a large circuit devolved upon him, and his medical prac-
tice soon became very extensive. Being naturally very
social in his disposition, and an attractive, intelligent and
entertaining companion, of polished manners, and ingenu-
ous frankness and good humor, he was a general favorite,
and, as may naturally ])e supposed, largely participated in
social enjoyments. As a means of tlies-e he was much
attached to the fraternity of freemasons, and particularly
to those of the higher degrees, as affording at that period
a more select society ; and it is believed that ]jy his means
the first encampment of Knights Templars in the United
States was formed.*
In the summer of 1796 the town of Newbury port was
visited witli that most deadly scourge of our seaport towns,
the yellow fever. It was with Dr. Svvett not less a point
of honor than a commanding sense of duty, Avhich led him
on this trying occasion to devote himself, through life or
death, to his sntlering patients, who looked up to him with
their habitual confidence as to their only earthly hope in
this appalling moment of mortal disease. Disdaining to
desert them in their extreme need, he was constantly at
his post in the most infected district of the town, adminis-
tering all the relief in his power, and exhavisting all the
resources of his professional skill, until the inevitable con-
sequence ensued. He became himself infected with the
incurable disease, and fell a martyr to his high sense of
professional obligation. His death threw a gloom over the
town, not to be described in words.
Soon after Dr. Swett fixed himself in Newbnryport, he
married Miss Charlotte Bourne, second daughter of the
Hon. William Bourne of Marblehead, who siu'vived him,
and is now the wife of the Hon. John T. Oilman, many
years governor of the state of New-Hampshire. Four
sons of this marriage are now, 1827, living, and in respect-
able standing.
* In a historical account of Newbnryport lately published, it is sugtjested that
Dr. S. was, during his travels in Germany, initiated into the order of the Illunii-
nati. He was never in Germany, nor was he ever a member of that order, which
originated many years after his return from Europe. In the same work it is erro-
neously stated that he was a native of Newburyport.
110
JAMES Sl'KES.
Dr. Swett was an original member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Massachusetts
Medical Society, and for several years after the incorpo-
ration of the latter was its Corresnondin<j Secretary. —
D. A. T. 1 o J
» SYKES, JAMES, M.D., was born of very respectable
parents in the vicinity of Dover, county of Kent and state
of Delaware, on the 27th of March, 1761. His father,
wliose name lie received, held several important and hon-
orable offices in the state, which evinces the standing he
possessed in society ; and the general satisfaction given by
him in the performance of tlieir duties, is a fair criterion
by which to judge of his merit. He was repeatedly cho-
sen as a member of the Privy Council ; and, when the
change was about to be effected in the administration of
the government of the state, he was appointed one of the
members pf the convention which framed the present con-
stitution. He attended the first meeting, at which the
work was commenced ; but previously to the second,
wlien it was finished and adopted, it pleased Providence to
remove him from this and all other earthly cares and hon-
ors, and therefore his name does not appear as one of the
signers of that instrument, in the formation of which he
had assisted.
Mr. Sykes, being desirous of giving his son a good edu-
cation, and the best to be had at that time, sent him to the
college at Wilmington, then deservedly in high repute.
Here he continued for some time, diligently engaged in
the study of ancient and modern literature ; but this pleas-
ing occupation was suddenly interrupted. This was dur-
ing the dark and troubled period of the revolution, Avhen
many parts of our country were in subjection to, and at
the mercy of a cruel and relentless enemy. The dreaded
approach of such a foe to Wilmington, induced parents to
take tlieir children home, and the school was consequently
broken up.
Doctor Sykes tlien returned to Dover, where he finish-
ed his education under the j)articular care of a gentleman
distinguished for his literary and classical attainments, the
Rev. Dr. Magaw, late pastor of St. Paul's church, Phila-
delphia, who resided at that time in Dover.
Having completed his classical studies he wisely selected
that profession for which he was by nature eminently
qualified, and commenced the study of medicine under the
JAMES 8TKES. Ill
direction of Dr. Clayton, an eminent physician who prac-
tised on Bohemia Manor. Medical science in this country
was at this period only in its infancy ; and consequently
the disciple of Hippocrates, having no written sources of
information except a few foreign text hooks, was compel-
led, like his venerable father, to accjuire knowledge prin-
cipally from the lessons taught in the great book of nature.
Although fully aware of the importance and value of ex-
perience, Dr. Sykes was equally sensible of the advantage
to be derived from able and skilful instructers ; and there-
fore early availed himself of the additional opportunities
for the acquisition of medical learning, afforded by an at-
tendance on the lectures which were then delivered in
Philadelphia, by those illustrious worthies, Shippen, Mor-
gan, Kuhn and Rush. These gentlemen had, but a short
time previous, laid the foundation of that superstructure,
which in the course of a few years, by the combined exer-
tions of such talents, science and learning, became the great
luminary of the western world.
After having regularly and diligently attended two
courses of lectures delivered with such eloquence and
truth as were calculated to make a deep and permanent
impression on the mind of an ardent votary of science, and
to furnish him with a fund of medical knowledge on
which he could rely, as it had been derived from the best
and least fallible sources. Dr. Sykes left Philadelphia for
the purpose of reducing these lessons to practice in the
exercise of his highly honorable and useful profession.
He located himself in Cambridge, on the eastern shore of
Maryland, where his gentlemanly manners and correct de-
portment soon acquired him respect and esteem, and his
talents and skill being properly appreciated he was speed-
ily introduced into a respectable practice.
During liis residence there he became acquainted with
and married Miss Elizabeth Goldsborough, daughter of
Robert Goldsborough, Esq. who still lives to lament that
dispensation of Providence, which deprived her of one of
the best of husbands, and society of one of its brightest
ornaments.
After a residence in Cambridge of nearly four years he
returned to Dover, to which, being the place of his nativ-
ity, he naturally felt strong ties and attachments. Here,
in obtaining practice, he had to contend with a distinguish-
ed, though noble and generous rival, the late celebrated
112
JAMES SYKES.
and lamented Dr. Miller. To an enlightened and liberal
mind the success and advancement of a professional broth-
er are productive of pleasure rather than envy or ill v/ill,
and therefore these two gentlemen enjoyed an intimacy
and fidelity of friendship, unfortunately too seldom expe-
rienced by rivals for eminence and fame, which continued
firm and sincere until it was severed by the death of Dr.
Miller.
Dr. Sykes had not resided long in Dover before he ren-
dered himself conspicuous by the exercise of his surgical
talents. For this branch of medicine he was by nature
particularly qualified. To the decision of mind and steadi-
ness of hand so indispensably necessary to a surgeon, he
added such an intimate knowledge of the anatomy of the
human structure as to prevent his ever feeling at a loss
relative to the nature and position of the parts concerned
in any operation. By the happy union of these qualities
he was naturally inspired with that confidence, which alone
can render the operator firm and collected in cases of
emergency and hours of trial.
By the successful performance of several difficult opera-
tions, assisted by his close attention to his practice, and his
pleasing adch'ess and kindness to those under his care, his
reputation was speedily established, and consequently the
sphere of his labors and usefulness rapidly extended ; and
it may be safely said that no physician in the state, per-
haps ever, possessed a more extensive practice, or enjoyed
in a more unlimited degree the confidence of his patients
anfl the public.
Of Dr. Sykes's talents and success as a surgeon so many
proofs have been given, with which you are all familiar,
as to preclude the necessity of my enlarging much on the
subject. Suffice it, therefore, to say that there were few
operations in surgery which he had not repeatedly per-
formed, and none for the performance of which he had
reason to think he was not fully competent. In the ope-
ration of lithotomy, confessedly one of the most difficult
and important in surgery, he particularly excelled. Of
this we have the strongest evidence in the declaration of
his intimate friend, the late Surgeon General of the armies
of the United States, Dr. Tilton, who averred that in this
operation he liad no superior ; and another gentleman, a
graduate of tlie school of Edinburgh, who once assisted
him in a case of this kind, gave a similar testimony, de-
JAMES SYKES. 113
daring that " by no surgeon, either in Esirope or America,
had he ever seen lithotomy more skili'ully performed."
Although he Avas so well qualified for surgery, and paid
particular attention to it, he was equally well calculated
for and successful in tlie practice of medicine. He pos-
sessed emphatically that talent, by the want of which
knowledge is rendered cold and genius inert ; the faculty
of judgment, by which he was enabled to prescribe proper
remedies in proper places, and constantly to alter and
adapt his remedial measures to the ever varying and fluc-
tuating condition of the system. Being a disciple of the
school of Rush, and a follower and admirer of that great
and distinguished physician, the pride and honor of his
country, he always in his practice paid particular attention
to the pulse, and placed great reliance on the information
to be derived from it ; rejecting with merited contempt
the observation of him who tells us, " it is never to be
depended on and is only a fallacious guide." As a practi-
tioner, he was bold and decided, never temporizing with
diseases, nor waiting to cure them " by expectation ;" a
practice forcibly and with no little projiriety called " a
meditation on cleath." But however fond he may have
been of the heroic remedies, he knew their i)0wers too
well to use them without due discrimination and delibera-
tive caution. And, if bold and decided in cases lequiring
it, he took care not to subject himself to the charge of
violence or temerity.
There was one trait in his character as a practitioner
particularly deserving of notice and imitation, which was,
never in any case, no matter how desperate, to give up a
patient whilst there remained even a possibility of effect-
ing a cure. He would always resolutely contend with the
ravages of disease until the last moment of a patient's ex-
istence, and frequently was rewarded by the renovation of
the almost exhausted system, and the rescue of a fellow
mortal who had been apparently in the arms of death.
In addition to his other good c[ualities Dr. Sykes pos-
sessed a humane and (diaritable disposition. Those whose
poverty precluded all prospect of his receiving any com-
pensation for his services, were not neglected, nor suffered
to pine in misery and sigh for that relief which they were
unable to purchase. He attended tliem faithfully, pre-
scribed and furnished medicines for their diseases, and
VOL. II. 15
114 JAMES SYKES.
often alleviated their wants by benevolent donations and
kind assistance.
During his residence in Dover a circumstance occurred,
which, on account of the attention excited by it at the time
and the active part he took in it, is deserving of notice.
I allude to the use and effects of the adulterated Peruvian
bark. Bilious diseases, during the fall of which I speak,
Avere unusually prevalent, and the Peruvian medicine con-
sequently very freely and generally employed. Many se-
vere and dreadful cases of colic, resembling colica picto-
num, were met with about this time, some of which ter-
minated in paralytic affections, blindness, and death. The
appearance of such a terrible anomaly in medicine excited
great and general consternation, and gave rise to a variety
of theories and conjectures for its explanation. It was
considered by some as yellow fever ; and, from the vio-
lence of its symptoms and rapidity of its course, of an un-
commonly malignant nature. By a close and attentive
observation of its course, symptoms and causes, Dr. Sykes
was happily led to a discovery, which, as he gave it im-
mediate publicity, no doubt saved many lives. He ob-
served that no persons were attacked with the disease who
had not been using bark, and that an attack came on gen-
erally soon after the taking of a dose of that medicine.
He therefore naturally inferred that the bark was produc-
tive of these serious and fatal effects, and, if so, that it
must be adulterated with some deadly drug. By a cau-
tious inspection of several samples of the article, he was
enabled to detect the hidden cause of all the evil, discov-
ering that semivitrified oxide of lead, litharge, had been
mixed with the bark. On tracing the matter to its origin,
it was found that a workman in one of the laboratories in
Philadelphia, who had been employed in pulverizing the
medicine, for which service lie was paid so much per
pound, had, in order to make it weigh heavier, thrown in
occasionally the semivitrified oxide of lead, as above-men-
tioned. In extenuation of this dreadful fraud the laborer
urged his ignorance of the noxious powers of the drug,
which he had added merely to beitefit himself, certainly
deceiving and imposing on his emploj'er, but without any
idea of its proving prejudicial to any other person.
Although so eminent in, and attentive to, his profession
and its duties, Dr. Sykes was also endowed with the re-
fjuisites for a politician and statesman. These qualifica-
JAMES STKKS. 115
tions and the reputation which he had ever possessed for
political integrity, sincere love of country and veneration
for its laws and institutions, being duly estimated by the
people, rendered him very popular, and he was conse-
quently chosen to fill several important and distinguished
stations. He was repeatedly elected a member of the
Senate, in which body he presided for a period of near fif-
teen years ; and during this time, by that office being va-
cated, ho was elevated to the highest station in the gift of
the peoj)le, being made Governor of the State. Whilst he
held this situation he evinced, by his anxiety and care to
fulfil ail the duties attendant on it, his higli opinion of the
honor conferred upon him.
Feeling sensibly that the labor necessarily attendant on
such^political stations and an extensive practice, was too
heavy and severe for one advancing in life ; knowing the
impracticability of concentrating his practice, and t!ius
diminishing his arduous toil, whilst he continued in Do-
ver ; and being desirous of passing his declining years in
more calmness and tranquillity than is possible for any
physician who enjoys an extensive practice in the country,
he determined on removing to a city. Considering New-
York as presenting the best field for the exercise of his
talents, and believing that merit would there receive its
just reward, he in tlie year 1814, having made his ar-
rangements for that purpose, removed there with his
family.
Here he continued for several years, and, though so
eminently qualified to figure in a metropolis, did not, it
must be confessed, meet with that advancement and dis-
tinction to which his talents and attainments entitled him.
The following observations of the great " Colossus of lite-
rature and Prince of biographers," in his life of the cele-
brated poet and physician, Akenside, apply with equal
force and propriety in the present case, and may explain a
circumstance which might be considered singular and un-
accountable : speaking of Dr. Akent^ide's want of success
in obtaining practice in London, the biographer adds, "A
physician in a great city seems to be the mere plaything
of fortune ; his degree of reputation is for the most ]»art
totally casual : they that employ him know not his excel-
lence ; they that reject him know not his deficiencies."
After residing in New-York for a period of near six
years, and feeling his ties and attachments to his native plac«
116 JAMES srKEJ.
and former pursuits increased, rather than diminished, by
this absence, he determined on returning to Dover. This
he effected in the year 1820, to the great satisfaction of his
friends, by wliom he was received with sincere pleasure
and unabated esteem and atiection. Here he was again
speedily introduced into practice ; but, in consequence of
the impaired state of his health, he was under the neces-
sity of resigning its principal duties and labor to his son,
with whom he was associated.
Not long after his return to Dover the Medical Society
lost its president by tlie death of Dr. James Tilton. The
members of this institution, feeling the obligations they
were under to Dr. Sykes, who was principally instru-
mental in the passage of that law by which they were
enabled to prevent empiricism, and thus render their pro-
fession more useful and respectable, elected him to fill the
chair of his lamented predecessor.* This honor, hovv-
ever, he had not the pleasure of enjoying long, as he was
called from all terrestrial duties within the short period of
seven months after his appointment.
The following handsome tribute to the memory of our
president is paid by an anonymous writer, in the Phila-
delphia Pvledical Journal: "As a social character. Dr.
Sykes was almost unrivalled, and will be always remem-
bered with the highest esteem by those who had the hap-
piness to know him. The dignity of his deportment and
the urbanity of his manners qualified him preeminently
for shining in society ; whilst the generosity of his senti-
ments, hospitality and many other estimable virtues, made
him universally beloved. One of his distinguishing traits
evinces so much good feeling that it deserves to be com-
memorated. He was the friend and patron of youth ; and
it always gave him pleasure when he could avail himself
of his influence in promoting their prosperity. The value
of such friendly services will be best appreciated by those
who can revert, with grateful feelings, to the time when
they stood in need of them. But if his many amiable and
benevolent qualities endeared him so much to his friends,
how shall we describe the full strength of his domestic
ties ? The force of these will perhaps be best displayed by
the simple recital of a distressing event. His only daugh-
ter, an amiable and accomplished young lady, who had just
♦ Medical Social v of Delaware.
SAMUEL TENNET. 117
entered the gay and pleasing season of womanhood, was
absent fVoai home when her father died ; and only return-
ed in time to behold his remains, before they received
their la4 solemn rites. At tlie siglit of the cold and life-
]e>^s clay she sunk to the earth, overpowered by a sense of
desolation, and was carried to her bed from which rlie rose
no more ; for a mortal blight had Adlen on her spirits and
\vithered the vital tlower. Refusin": lioth consolation tind
sustenance, she pined away, and in a few days followed
her l)eloved parent to that grave whicli was at once the
source and termination of her sorrow — a melancholy in-
stance of the force of iilial affection and the exquisite sen-
sibility of the human heart."
Dr. Sykes was from early life sidjject to occasional fits
of wandering gout, to which disease there was an jiered-
itarv predisposition. He died on the 18th of October,
1822.
In concluding this imperfect sketch of the life of one
who was an ornament to his profession and to society, I
have the pleasure of being enal)led to add that he was a
full and firm believer in revelation and all the fundamental
doctrines of the christian religion ; and that in his last ill-
ness, not long previous to his dissolution, he exj)ressed, to
his weeping relatives who surrounded his bed, his full
conviction that his peace was made ; adding that he felt
perfectly resigned and ready to die, if such was the will
of Providence. How consoling should be the reflection,
to those lamenting the death of the dearest relative or
friend, that " though his body may lie covered by the sod
of the valley, his soul has taken its flight to celestial re-
gions arid dwells immortal, with its God." — Eulogiimi by
J. Franklin Vanghxm^ J\T.D.
TENNEY, SAMUEL, M.D. M.M.S.S. Hon., was the
son of a respectable farm.cr of Rowley, Byfield parish,
Massachusetts. At about eighteen years of age he com-
menced his studies preparatory for college under the cele-
brated Master Moody of Dummer scliool. He entered
Harvard College in July, 1708 ; and, while an under grad-
uate, gave honoral)le evidence of possessing a sovind and
discriminating mind. After leaving college he taught a
school one year at Andover, and commenced the study of
physic with Dr. Kittredge of that town.
About the l)eoinning of the year 1775 he went to Exe-
ter with the design of establishing himself as a physician ;
118 SAMUEL TEi^r<EY.
but, the war of the revolution soon after breaking out, he
determined on joinisig the army. He reached the Ameri-
can camp on the day of the Jmttle of Bunker's Hill ; and,
though greatly fatigued with riding on horseback, was
employed till a late hour of the night in attentions to the
wounded. He was one year attached to the Massachusetts
Line as mate to Dr. Eustis, late Governor of the common-
wealth ; but afterward entered the Rhode-Island Line, in
which he served as surgeon during the war. He of course
moved with the army, was present at the surrender of
Burgoyne and Cornwaliis, and was prompt to every duty
becoming his station. He volunteered his assistance in
repelling the attack on the fort at Red Bank in the Dela-
ware ; and in circumstances of imminent danger fought in
the ranks. The assailants were driven back, and Count
Donop, their commander, was mortally wounded and car-
ried into the fort. When the Doctor approached to dress
his wounds, the Count looked at him attentively in the
face, and said " You look like an honest man, to you
therefore I commit the care of my pocketbook."
At the close of the war Dr. Tenney returned to Exeter,
where he married and settled ; but lie did not resume the
practice of medicine. In 1788 he was chosen a member of
the convention for forming the constitution of the state of
New-Hampshire. In 1793 he was appointed Judge of
Probate for the County of Rockingham ; and continued in
this office until, in 1800, he was elected a member of
congress. To this station he was afterwards twice reelect-
ed. In 1816 he closed his valuable life.
Dr. Tenney was of a literary and philosophical turn,
and was a member of several scientific societies ; he re-
ceived from the University at Cambridge the honorary de-
gree of Doctor in Medicine, and was elected an honorary
member of the Massachusetts Medical Society. During
the war he was stationed for several months at Saratoga,
and paid considerable attention to the celebrated mineral
waters of that place. In 1793 he communicated an ac-
count of them to the American Academy of Arts and Sci-
ences, of which he was a member. This account was pub-
lished in a volume of the society's Memoirs, and did much
toward bringing the waters of Saratoga into general notice.
In the same volume was also published the Doctor's " The-
ory of Prismatic Colors," which reduces the number of
original colors to five. This theory, or one similar, is
SAMUEL TENNET. 119
beginning to be favorably noticed, or is already adopted,
in France. For the Massachusetts Historical Society he
furnished an historical and topograpliical account of Exe-
ter, and a notice of the dark day of May 19th, 1780 ; and
for the Massachusetts Agricultural Society he wrote a
much approved treatise on Orcharding. Of both there
societies he was a member. At various times he puldished
valuable political essays in the newspapers, and particu-
larly in 1788, in favor of the Federal Constitution, the
adoption of which he strongly advocated. Among his un-
published writings is a very ingenious theory of tlie tides.
Dr. Tenney was an early and steadfast friend to his
country ; and his name deserves an honorable place among
the worthies wlio assisted in achieving its independence,
and in establishing forms of state and national government
adapted to promote its highest welfare. In all the public
stations he held, he was distinguished for openness and
integrity ; was never ashamed of his principles, nor afraid
to avow them ; and always so cool and dispassionate as to
conciliate the respect even of his adversaries. At one pe-
riod of the war the regiment to which he belonged was unu-
sually given to intoxication, and several deaths were caused
by it. At the funeral of one of the victims, and with the
approbation of the colonel, he delivered before the regi-
ment a plain and serious discourse, which for a time had a
very sensible effect.
In private life the doctor's character was eminently
good. His personal dignity was great, while his manners
were exceedingly plain. There was something very strik-
ing and noble in his countenance. His eyes were full and
intelligent ; and his other features large and open : no
man in Congress at the time had a better head. He made
no professions of regard where he felt no regard : but at
the same time was uncommonly free from resentments.
He was an affectionate husband, a sensible and entertain-
ing companion, a kind and peaceable neighbor, a sober
and exemplary member of society. He took a deep and
active interest in the education of the young ; and, though
he had no children of his own, he laid more than one un-
der obligations of gratitude for his paternal care.
Dr. Tenney was remarkably free from ostentation and
pride, and could easily accommodate himself to the views,
and wants, and interests of the humblest persons. He was
the friend of the poor, and the orphan's disinterested and
1.20 SAMUEL TENNEY".
fditiifal guardian. He loved, as well as patronised, the
religious institutions of the Fathers ; was most punctual
in attendance at public worship on the Sabbath ; and ior
several of the last years of liis life was a member and au
officer of the Second Congregational Church in Exeter.
He honored the religion he professed, felt its sustaining
influence in his last hours, and met death with a serenity
and composure becoming a christian. One of his ancient
and worthy neighbors observed to the writer at the time,
" We have lost a fellow citizen who was without guile."
Seldom has it fallen to the lot of any to sketch the life
and character of a man, to whom the observation could
be more justly applied.
It will be recollected by many that a singular phenome-
non occurred in our New-England horizon. May 19th,
1780, emphatically called the dark day. This was by
some among the ignorant and' superstitious ascribed to a
supernatural cause. From the pen of Dr. Tenney the
Massachusetts Historical Society received a veiy ingenious
and philosophical examination of the subject, which does
much honor to the author. Dr. Tenney was decidedly of
opinion that the phenomenon would admit of a rational
and philosophical explanation, as follows. Previously to
the commencement of the darkness, the sky was overcast
with the common kind of clouds, from which there was
in some places a light sprinkling of rain. Between these
and the earth there intervened another stratum, apparently
of very great thickness. As this stratum advanced the
darkness commenced, and increased with its progress till
it came to its height ; which did not take place till the
hemisphere was a second time overspread. The uncom-
mon thickness of this second stratum was probably occa-
sioned by two strong currents of wind from the southward
and westward, condensing the vapors and drawing them
in a northeasterly direction. The lower stratum had an
uncommon brassy hue, while the earth and trees were
adorned with so enchanting a verdure as could not escape
notice, even amidst the unusual gloom that suriounded the
spectator. This gradual increase of the darkness from
southwest to northeast, which was nearly the course of
the cloiuls, affords a pretty good argument in favor of the
supposition that they were condensed by two strong cur-
rents of wind blowing in different directions. To these
two strata of clouds we may without hesitation iiripute the
THOMAS THACHER. 121
extraordinary darkness of the day. Di-. T. proceeds with
a philosophical eye to examine more minutely into the
manner in which these clouds effected the extraordinary
darkness ; but this must be omitted here. " The darkness
of the following evening," says Dr. T., " was probably as
gross as ever has been observed since the almighty fiat
gave birth to light. It wanted only palpability to render
it as extraordinary as that which overspread the land of
Egypt in the days of Moses. And as darkness is not sub-
stantial, but a mere privation, the palpability ascribed to
that by the sacred historian must have arisen from some
peculiar affection of the atmosphere, perhaps an exceeding
thick vapor, that accompanied it. I could not help con-
ceiving at the time that, if every luminous body in the
universe had been shrouded in impenetrable shades, or
struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been
more complete. A sheet of white paper, held within a few
inches of the eyes, was equally invisible with the blackest
velvet. Considering the small quantity of light that was
transmitted by the clouds by day, it is not surprising that
by night a sufficient quantity of rays should not be able to
penetrate the same strata, brought back by the shifting of
the winds, to afford the most obscure prospect even of the
best reflecting bodies."
In the year 1811 Dr. Tenney addressed to Dr. Mitchell
of New-York, for publication in the Medical Repository,
•' An Explanation of certain curious Phenomena in the
Heating of Water." The celebrated Count Rumford in
an " Inquiry into the Nature of Heat, and the Manner of
its Communication" relates two experiments of which the
authors of the British Review observe that " though they
have sought for an adequate explanation of them, they are
not a little eml)arrassing." However embarrassing to the
British reviewers, the enlightened and sagacious mind of
Dr. Tenney furnished a solution of the phenomena both
philosophical and satisfactory, which may be seen in the
Medical Repository for November, December and Jan-
uary, 1811 and 1812.
f HACHER, DR. THOMAS, first minister of the Old
South Church in Boston, was born in England, May 1st,
1620. His father was the Rev. Peter Thacher, minister
at Sarum, who intended to come over to these new re-
gions, but was prevented by the state of his family.
Thomas had a good school education, and it was his fa-
voi,. n. 16
Ids THOMAS THACH£R.
ther's desire to send him to the University of Oxford or
Cambridge ; but he declined, and came over to New Eng-
land in 1G35.
In a letter published by his uncle, Anthony Thacher,
we learn how remarkably he was preserved from ship-
Avreck. His friends sailed from Ipswich in the month of
August for Marblehead, where Mr. John Avery, a worthy
divine, was to settle. A terrible storm threw the vessel
upon the rocks, most of the people perished, and Mr.
Thacher was cast ashore on a desolate island. It bears his
name to this day, as also a place is called Avery's Fall,
where this good man perished. Thomas Thacher prefer-
red to go by land, and escaped these dangers. He receiv-
ed his education from Mr. Chauncy, who was afterwards
President of Harvard College. He studied not only what
is common for youth to acquire, but also the oriental lan-
guages. He afterwards composed a Hebrew lexicon, and
we learn from Dr. Stiles that he was a scholar in Arabic,
the best the country afforded. Dr. Mather tells us that
he Avas a great logician, that he understood mechanics in
theory and practice, and that he would make all kinds of
clock work to admiration. He was eminent in two pro-
fessions. He was pastor of a church, and was ordained at
Weymouth, June 2d, 1644. After some years, having
married a second wife, who belonged to Boston, he left his
parish at Weymouth, where he practised physic as well as
preached, and was an eminent physician in Boston. He
was considered as a great divine, and when a third church
was founded in the town he Avas chosen their minister.
Over this church he was installed February 16th, 1669,
and in this station he continued till he died. The last
sermon he preached, was for Dr. I. Mather, 1st Peter iv,
18. He afterwards visited a sick person, and was himself
seized with a fever, and expired October 15th, 1678, aged
68 years.
As a preacher he was very popular, being remarkably
fervent and copious in prayer. He was zealous against the
Quakers, for he believed that their doctrines subverted the
gospel, and led men into the pit of darkness under the pre-
tence of giving them light.
He left two sons, who were by his first wife, the daugh-
ter of the Rev. Ralph Partridge of Duxbury. The eldest^
Peter, was a famous minister in the neighborhood of Bos-
ion. R-ilph was settled at Martha's Vineyard. He print-
JORIt THOMAS^ 12^
ed very few of his productions, except his Hebrew lexicon
and his catechism, each of which was on a sheet of paper,
and his Guide in the Smallpox and Measles published in
1677, which was the first publication on a medical subject
in America.
THOMAS, DR. JOHN, was born in the ancient town
of Plymouth, Massachusetts, April 1st, 1758. His father,
a respectable physician, having sustained the office of Sur-
geon in the French war in the expedition against Louis-
burgh, was at the dawn of the American revolution ap-
pointed Regimental Surgeon ; and his son, then seventeen
years of age, accompanied his father as Surgeon's Mate.
They joined the army at Cambridge in the spring of 1775.
The infirmities of age and the claims of a large family in-
duced the father to resign in 1776, when the son was pro-
moted to the rank of regimental surgeon, in which station
he served his country with reputation until the army was
disbanded at the close of the war. It is honorable to this
family that another son served as captain of a company of
artillery during the whole war, and two others served a
part of the time in the army. Soon after peace took place
Dr. Thomas settled in the town of Poughkeepsie, in the
state of New-York, where he continued in reputable
and successful practice in his profession until his deatli
in 1818.
Endowed with considerable powers of mind, and devot-
ing himself to his official duties. Dr. Thomas overcame
the difficulties of his youtli and inexperience, and main-
tained high professional respectability ; in all his conduct
he was honorable, just and benevolent. But for Avit and
humor he was unrivalled. Such were the fecundity and
disposition of his mind, that on all occasions he was fur-
nished witli an inexhaustible fund of anecdote and song,
which made him a welcome guest in every place. There
was considerable originality in the display of his talents ;
which, with the courteousness of his manners and his con-
viviality, won the esteem of gentlemen of high rank, and
on one occasion, at the tabic of Wasliington, he excited an
unusual degree of merriment and pleasantry.
THORNTON, DR. MATTHEW, was a native of Ire-
land, Avhere he was born about the year 1714. He emi-
grated to this country with his father, and settled in the
state of Connecticut, where he received an academical
and medical education. He e?tablished himself in tli«
*
124 MATTHEW THORNTON.
profession of medicine in Londonderry, in New-Hamp-
shire, where he became conspicuous for professional
skill, and the sphere of his usefulness was continually
extending;.
He was invested with the office of Justice of the Peace,
and commissioned as Colonel of the militia under the
royal government. But, when the political crisis arrived
when that government in America was dissolved. Colonel
Thornton abjured the British interest, and with a patriotic
spirit adhered to the glorious cause of liberty. When in
1775 a provincial convention was formed for temporary
purposes, he was elected their president. In this capacity
we find him " in Provincial Congress, June 2d, 1775, ad-
dressing the inhabitants of the colony of New-Hampshire
on the affairs of America, and in the affecting style of a
true patriot painting the ' horrors and distresses of a civil
war, which till of late we only had in contemplation, but
now feel ourselves obliged to realize. Painful beyond ex-
pression have been those scenes of blood and devastation
which the barbarous cruelty of British troops has placed
before our eyes. Duty to God, to ourselves, to posterity,
enforced by the cries of slaughtered innocents, have urged
us to take up arms in our OAvn defence.' He proceeded to
advise and recommend such measures as the exigency of
the times appeared to require, and closed by enjoining
' the practice of that pure and undefiled religion which
embalmed the memory of our pious ancestors, as that
alone upon which we can build a solid hope and confi-
dence in the Divine protection and favor, and without
whose blessing all the measures of safety we have or can
propose, will end in our shame and disappointment.' "
The next year, on the 13th of September, Col. Thornton
was chosen a delegate to tlie Continental Congress, and
took his seat on the 4th of November following. Thouffh
not present when the declaration of independence passed
that illustrious body, he acceded to it on his becoming a
member, and his signature stands among the fifty-six wor-
thies, who have immortalized their names by that memo-
rable act. About the year 1776 he was appointed Chief
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and not long after
he was raised to the office of Judge of the Superior Court
of New-Hampshire, in which office he remained till 1782.
In the year 1780 he purchased a farm pleasantly situated
on the banks of the 5lcrrimac, near Exeter, and entered on
MATTHEW THORNTON. 125
the business of agriculture in connexion with his other
diversified occupations. Although advanced in life, when-
ever his professional services were required he cheerfully
granted them, and they were at all times higlily appre-
ciated. He took an interest in the municipal affairs of the
town, and he was elected a member of the general court
one or two years, and a Senator in the state legis^lature,
and served as a member of the Council in 1785 under
President Langdon.
We are informed upon good authority that Dr. Thorn-
ton was a man of strong powers of mind, that he was ca-
pable of abstruse speculation, and that on any subject to
Avhich he directed his attention, he would elicit light and
information. In private life he was one of the most com-
panionable of men. The young and the old were alike
sharers in the agreeable versatility of his powers, and in the
inexhaustible stock of information which a long and indus-
trious life had accumulated. His memory was well stored
with a large fund of entertaining and instructive anecdotes,
which he could apply upon any incident or subject of
conversation. Judge Thornton wrote political essays for
the newspapers after he was eighty years of age, and about
this period of life prepared for the press a metaphysical
work entitled Paradise Lost, or the Origin of tlie Evil
called Sin examined, &c. This work was never publish-
ed ; but those who have had access to the manuscript, pro-
nounce it a very singular production.
He died while on a visit at Newburyport, Massachu-
setts, on the 24th of June, 1803, in the 89th year of his
age. In the funeral sermon by Rev. Dr. Burnap we are
furnished with the following sketch. " He was venerable
for his age and skill in his profession, and for tlie several
very important and honorable offices he had sustained ;
noted for the knowledge he had acquired, and his quick
penetration into matters of abstruse speculation ; exempla-
ry for his regard for the public institutions of religion and
for his constancy in attending the public worship, where
he trod the courts of the house of God with steps tottering
with age and infirmity. Such is a brief outline of one
who Avas honored in his day and generation ; whose vir-
tues were a model for imitation, and while memory does
her office will be had in grateful recollection.'' — JN'fit-
Hampshire Historical Collections'
136 JAMES TILLARr.
TILLARY, JAMES, M.D. was a native of Scotland,
and his contemporaries and associates at school testify that
he was even then regarded as a yonth of promise, and at
that early period of his life was characterised by that in-
tegrity and virtue which marked the remainder of his
days. Having laid the usual foundation of classical learn-
ing, in which his attainments were very respectable, and
having received some preliminary medical knowledge in
the north of Scotland, he enjoyed the benefit of a course
of instruction at the great medical school of Edinburgh.
Although he did not remain at the university the time
prescribed to obtain its honors, he assiduously attended the
various lectures, which qualified him for the station he
soon afterwards obtained, that of a surgeon in the army of
Great Britain. In that capacity, at an early period of the
revolutionary war, he first came to this country, M'hich he
made the permanent place of his residence.
Shortly after his arrival in the city of New-York he
assumed the character of a practitioner of medicine and
surgery. To the former branch, hoAvever, he principally
confined his attention, and for more tlian forty years exer-
cised its responsible and important duties, and displayed
abundant evidence of his professional merit and skill.
The various qualifications which adorned his professional
character, were duly appreciated by the Medical Society
of the County of New-York, of which he was a conspicu-
ous member, and where he also for many years occupied
the most elevated station in their power to bestow, being
their president. But says his biographer. Dr. Hosack,
" I must nevertheless be permitted to bear my testimony
to his merit as a practitioner of the healing art. He seem-
ed by nature to be peculiarly capacitated for the exercise
of the medical profession ; and the education which he
had received was sufficient to elicit the native energies of
his mind for that purpose. He was a substantial classical
scholar ; his reading of medical authors was limited, but
judicious ; among these, Sydenham and Huxham were his
favorites. He was a patient and close observer at the bed-
side of the sick ; he reflected ; and his decisions evinced
the solidity of his understanding. Few men surpassed
him in strength of judgment ; and this qualification of
the head gave him that elevated station among many of
his fellow practitioners, which he so long and deservedly
enjoyed. He was sceptical of novelty in medical prescrip-
JAMES TILLAR7.
12T
tions, and slow in adopting new methods of cure. He
carefully observed the progress of disease, he discovered
its nature, and was bold and energetic in his principles of
treatment. He was confident of his own practical know-
ledge, and inspired a corresponding confidence in those for
whom he prescribed. Few men performed their duty to
their patients with more fidelity. He spared no pains in
collecting all the symptoms from which the disease might
be ascertained, and the corresponding remedies directed
for its removal.
" During those memorable visitations of God's providence
in 1795 and 1798, when pestilence spread its devastation
in our cities, though fully conscious of impending danger,
he abode in the city of New-York, and no consideration
whatever could induce him to swerve from his duty ; a
faithful sentinel, he remained at his post. Amidst the dis-
tressing and fatal ravages of yellow fever Dr. Tillary
spared no exertions that could contribute to the comfort
of his suffering fellow citizens. He visited and attended
with unceasing assiduity all who called for his professional
services, without reserve ; and it may be added that to the
poor and forsaken, from whom no recompense could be
expected, his labors were for the most part devoted ; the
more wealthy, who were able to remunerate him, having
chiefly abandoned the city, then the scene of desolation.
His perseverance and his fortitude during those anxious
and melancholy seasons were not forgotten by his fellow
citizens ; for the important services he thus performed to
the community, he was afterwards rewarded by the hon-
orable office of resident physician, the duties of which,
though full of hazard and responsibility, were performed
with that fidelity which correct principles of conduct must
ever secure. In relation to medical decorum he was a
pattern of excellence to his professional brethren ; with
reference to the rights and feelings of the junior members
in particular, his conduct was peculiarly delicate and hon-
orable.
" As a citizen of this republic it is observed that, while
he remembered with becoming feelings the land of his fore-
fathers, he possessed an ardent attachment to his adopted
country. He admired the genius and nature of our social,
political and religious institutions. He was not an indif-
ferent spectator of passing events, and in that species of
125 JAMES TILLARY.
knowledge which is acquired by intercourse with the
world, he was excelled by few."
Dr. Tillary was the President of the St. Andrew's So-
ciety in the city of New-York, and discharged its duties
with distinguished ability and universal satisfaction. As
the physician of that charitable institution, an office which
he filled for many years, he manifested disinterested gene-
rosity in his medical attention to the indigent poor who
were the objects of its charity.
" It may be asked, had the deceased no failings ? He had
his failings, but they were of that minor character, that
are inseparable from our nature : he was human, and he
erred. Let those who delight to dwell upon the shade of
human character, search out the frailties of our deceased
brother ; for ourselves, we can shed the tear for his weak-
ness, and abundantly rejoice at his numerous excellences.
It is with great satisfaction that the writer speaks of his
christian virtues ; they are a proper topic, for they made
up a large portion of his character and ought not to be
omitted. On this momentous subject he has not left tlie
world to doubt of his religious creed. He has long, both
in public and private, evinced his faith and his hope, and
has declared his firm belief in the great truths of the chris-
tian religion ; a belief arising not merely from those im-
pressions which an early pious education leaves upon the
mind, but from a careful examination of the evidences
upon which it has been embraced by most of the distin-
guished men who have adorned the world. His course of
reading on religious subjects was extensive ; the volume
of nature, too, he consulted with additional strength to
those opinions which he had derived from revelation, and
he adds another happy example to the many already on
record, of the possession of sound christian principles by
a member of a profession in which religious scepticism is
too generally and most erroneously supposed to abound.
To the christian philanthropist, moreover, it is consoling
to reflect that at a time when, to use the language of an
eloquent American divine, ' scepticism is breathing forth
its pestilential vapor and^ polluting by unhallowed touch
things divine and sacred, so many of the great and the wise,
as if touched with an impulse from heaven, appear as the
advocates of Christianity,' and present, with one accord,
their learning, their talents, and their virtues, as an offer-
ing on the altar of religion. Religious consolation, while
(V"
'lAMiSg T;lil7T'r[i)l^- M.
I).
JAMES TILTON.
129
it supported him in life, shed a ray of glory around the
dying bed of our deceased brother, and in his latter mo-
ments, to the exclusion of every other concern, claimed all
his thoughts. In the records of those eminent men who
have supported the medical character of our country. Dr.
Tillary will maintain a highly respectable rank ; and,
while talents, inflexible integrity and distinguished virtue
are held in remembrance, his memory will be cherished
by his fellow men, especially by that society of his native
and adopted country, with whom he was so long and so
intimately connected." — Funeral Address, by David Ho-
sack, M.D.
TILTON, JAMES, M.D., was born of respectable pa-
rents in the County of Kent, State of Delaware, on the
first day of June, in the year 1745. His father died when
he was but three years of age, and left him. with but a
very slender provision, to the care of his mother. To the
precepts and example of his surviving parent he always
attributed his religious impressions, and his success and
rapid advancement in life. In this respect our deceased
friend was by no means singular. In every age and in
every christian country, the powerful influence which an
early pious education exerts through life, is strongly and
incontestably evinced. To a mother's province this duty
peculiarly belongs ; and I may aflirm with confidence that
there are few amongst us, who can look back upon the
days of their childhood without acknowledging their obli-
gations to a mother, for having implanted in their minds
some great moral principle.
His classical studies were pursued at Nottingham, Ches-
ter County, Pennsylvania, under the direction of the Rev.
Dr. Samuel Finley, who was afterwards President of
Princeton College. Dr. Tilton appears to have pursued
the study of the languages with great success. He was
particularly fond of the Latin poets ; and to his early at-
tachments may be attributed, in some measure, his fond-
ness, at a much more recent period, for a rural life. Who
amongst his friends can forget the satisfaction he derived
from repeating the fascinating descriptions of its scenes
and pleasures as portrayed by the Mantuan bard .''
After leaving Nottingham he commenced the study of
medicine under Dr. Ridgely of Dover in this state, and
finished his education in the Medical School at Philadel-
phia, which was established in the year 1765, principally
VOL. II. 17
130 JAMES TILTOX.
by tlie combined exertions of Drs. William Shippen and
John Morgan, two of the most eminent physicians of that
day.
From the best information which I can obtain, Dr. Til-
ton was graduated with the first class in this school upon
which the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred.
Dr. Wistar, the late celebrated Professor of Anatomy in
the University of Pennsylvania, in his Eulogium on Dr.
Shippen, makes the following remarks : " Dr. Adam
Kuhn and Dr. Benjamin Rush, who had been appointed
professors, lectured several years very successfully on Ma-
teria Medica and Chemistry ; several graduations of Bach-
elors of Medicine had taken place. James Tilton of Del-
aware,* J. EUmer of N. J., the late J. Potts, and the late
N. Way, had taken the degree of M.D." The high stand-
ing which he acquired whilst pursuing his studies in Phil-
adelphia, is strongly evinced by the intimacies which he
formed there, and which in after life ripened into friend-
ship. The late Dr. Rush always spoke of him with re-
spect and esteem, and the fact is incontestable that he was
offered a professorship in this University, which is now
unrivalled in our country, if not equal to any in the old
world. This high and deserved honor he declined, fear-
ing that it might interfere with his duties to his country,
whose cause he had then ardently espoused, and whose
liberties he had determined to assist in effecting, or perish
in the struggle.
After completing his studies at Philadelphia he returned
to his native state, and commenced the practice of medi-
cine in the town of Dover. He was enabled to do this
under more auspicious circumstances, in consequence of
the pecuniary help and countenance which were afforded
him by Thomas Collins, his friend and relative, who was
afterwards Governor of Delaware, and distinguished for
his talents, urbanity of manners, and great respectability
of character. Of this strong proof of confidence Dr. Til-
ton frequently spoke in his usual forcible terms, such as
were peculiarly adapted to express his gratitude, which
was one of the virtues that combined to distinguish his
character from, and exalt it above that of other men. He
* The Thesis which he defended on being graduated as Bachelor of Medicine,
was on Respiration. In 1771 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. His
dissertation was in Latin, and, aa required by the laws of the college, was piiblish-
k «d : the subjset was Dropsy.
JAMES TILTON. 131
soon obtained a high standing and deserved eminence in
his profession, and pursued the practice of it with success
and reputation. In this, as in every other pursuit, his
soul, as towering as his stature, never stooped to unfair
means to further his views. He was a generous rival ; dis-
daining low artifice, he invariably treated his medical
brethren with respect and generosity ; honor and a con-
scious rectitude of intention, by which he invariably re-
gulated his conduct, forbade him to descend to those
means which always mark the base and illiberal. He con-
tinued in practice until the year 177G, the year in which
America was declared free and independent, a year sacred
to freedom. He now combined the characters of patriot
and physician. Being strongly impressed with the enthu-
siasm of the times, he relinquished a lucrative profession,
his friends and his home. He entered as a surgeon the
Delaware regiment, with $ 25 a month, and connected his
own with the doubtful fortunes of his country. He con-
tinued witli the regiment during the campaign ; was with
it at the battles of Long Island and White Plains ; and had
the mortification to accompany the American army in the
celebrated retreat, when driven by a superior and relent-
less enemy from the North river to the Delaware. He
was then ordered to Wilmington with such of the soldiers
as had escaped with their lives from the inclemency of the
season, their hardships and exposures, and the swords of
the foe, but who were unable to do duty. He was quar-
tered in this town during the winter, and was fidly em-
ployed in rendering those kindnesses to his wretched
wounded countrymen, for which he was so eminently
qualified by his disposition and profession.
Before the next campaign opened, without any solicita-
tion on his part, he was called to the hospital department
in the army. The greatest disorder existed here, and the
mortality of the soldiers was almost unprecedented. The
system which had been adopted, rather invited and pro-
duced diseases, than cured them. The purveyorship of
the hospital and the medical department, properly so call-
ed, were invested in the same persons. In speaking of the
monstrous absurdity of this arrangement. Dr. Tilton says,
" I mention it, without a design to reflect on any man,
that in the fatal year 1777, when the Director General had
the entire direction of the practice in our hospitals, as well
as the whole disposal of the stores, he was interested in the
132 JAMES TILTON.
increase of sickness and the consequent increase of expense,
as far at least as he would be profited by a greater quanti-
ty of money passing through his hands." And again, " It
would be shocking to humanity to relate the liistory of
our General Hospital in the years "77 and '78 ; when
it swallowed up at least one half of our army, owing to a
fatal tendency in the system to throw all the sick of the
army into the general hospital ; whence crowds, infection
and consequent mortality, too affecting to mention."
In the year 1777 the Britisli advanced to Philadelphia ;
and he directed the hospitals at Princeton, New-Jersey,
where he narrowly escaped with his life from an attack of
hospital fever. His sufferings from this disease must have
been of a most distressing kind ; and his recovery was al-
most a miracle. At one period of his disease eleven sur-
geons and mates, belonging to the hospital, gave him over,
and only disputed how many days he should live. Pro-
vidence ordered otherwise. To his friend the late Dr.
Rush, and the attention of a benevolent lady in the neigh-
borhood he chiefly attributed his recovery, which was
slow and painful. The cuticle scaled off from his skin,
his hair gradually combed from his head, and, to use his
own forcible language, he was reduced to '' skin and
bone." It wag nine months before he was again fit for
active duty. As soon as he was able to travel he returned
to Delaware, and visited on his way the different hospitals
at Bethlehem, Reading, Manheim, Lancaster and New-
port, which he found generallyfin a state of great disorder.
His experience enabled him to remedy many of the defects,
and to arrest in some measure the mortality which existed.
In the campaigns of '78 and '79 he directed the hospitals
in Trenton and New Windsor. All his contemporaries
bore ample testimony to the able and indefatigable man-
ner in which he performed the duties of hospital surgeon.
In the hard winter of '70 and '80 he made the experiment
of " the hospital huts" ; the hint he took from Marshal
Saxe. His improvements exceeded his most sanguine cal-
culations ; they consisted in having an earthern floor, in-
stead of wood, with a hole in the centre of the roof for the
purpose of allowing the smoke to escape from the fire,
which was made in the middle of the hut.
So deep was his conviction of the absurdity and inhu-
manity of the existing hospital arrangements, that in the
year '81 he determined to resign his situation in the army,
JAMES TILTON. 133
unless they were radically changed. He visited Philadel-
phia for the purpose, and delivered to the Medical Com-
mittee of Congress his observations in writing, pointing
out the leading principles to be observed in forming a plan
for conducting military hospitals. Although they were
acknowledged to be correct, Congress was so much en-
gaged with other business, that this was not immediately
attended to.
About this period a financier was appointed to examine
into and report a plan for the general reform of the army,
and was also instructed to direct his attention to the medi-
cal department. To this gentleman Dr. Tilton applied in
person, and submitted to him his views and observations,
by whom they were approved, and he had the satisfaction
to obtain his assurance that he would immediately report
u})on the subject. The observations submitted in writing
by Dr. Tilton, were placed in the hands of Drs. John
Jones, Hutchinson and Clarkson, and they perfectly coin-
cided in opinion with him. He was called into their con-
sultations, and his principles Avere so far established as to
constitute the great outlines of hospital arrangement and
practice from that time to the present day. The comjdete
success of his exertions tended greatly to increase the high
and deserved standing which he had acquired with the
army and the public.
About this time he was elected a Professor in the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, to which I have already referred ;
which office he declined from motives of the purest and
most high minded patriotism. He accompanied the Ame-
rican army to Virginia, where he had the satisfaction of
being present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at
Yorktown, which was soon followed by a full acknow-
ledgment of the liberty and independence of his country.
When the army was disbanded he returned to his native
state, and recommenced the practice of medicine in Dover,
in 1782. He had exhausted his pecuniary resources dur-
ing the war, and, like many others, Avas paid for his faith-
ful services in the depreciated certificates of the United
States, which were of little more use than to remind him
of the honorable part he had taken in the struggle which
had terminated so propitiously. His patriotism still sup-
ported him, and he applied himself with increased assi-
duity to his profession. He was a member of the Old
Congress in '82, and was elected repeatedly as a member
134 JAMES TILTON.
of the State Legislature, which assured him that his fellow
citizens delighted to honor the man who had devoted his
time and talents to their service.
He had just retstablished himself in practice, and was
about acquiring that independence and easy competence
which was his only ambition, as related to matters of a
pecuniary kind, when the unhealthy climate of Kent began
to make such inroads upon his constitution, that he was
obliged to " fly for his life" to the hills of New Castle
county. He established himself in this place, where he
soon obtained his full share of practice, and secured to an
unusual degree the confidence of the people. The profits
of his profession, together with the emoluments of the
office of Commissioner of Loans, made him easy in his
circumstances, and enabled him to enjoy the society of his
friends, which was always peculiarly agreeable to him.
Soon after this period a change took place in the general
government, to whose measures Dr. Tilton was at that
time conscientiously opposed ; and, acting fully up to
those high principles which always regulated his conduct,
he resigned his office, and devoted himself with more ar-
dor to the practice of medicine and to the pleasures of hor-
ticulture, of which he was p u'ticularly fond.
His medical fame was established on so broad and sub-
stantial a basis, as to defy the ravages of time or the ma-
chinations of the envious and malicious. As he advanced
in his jirofession, he was peculiarly fond of assisting merit
and genius wlienever an opportunity offered. To young
practitioners he was vmcommonly kind and indulgent ;
instead of opposing, he assisted their exertions ; when he
could with propriety, he took them by the hand, and re-
commended them to the support and patronage of the
public ; if their promise did not entitle them to this signal
display of generosity, he most studiously refrained from
saying any thing which might, in the most remote manner,
militate against their advancement. He doubtless met
with some who returned his kindness with ingratitude ;
but there were others, who ever remembered this friend
of their youth with feelings of respect and esteem. I
would here mention a strong instance of the display of the
noble qualities Avhich adoin our nature, as occurred in the
case of the late celebrated Dr. Edward Miller of New-
York. By the assistance and patronage of Dr. Tilton he
was enabled to overcome the difficulties which surround-
JAMES TILTON. 135
ed him in early life. He was not only advised as a friend,
but he was invited to commence the practice of medicine
in the same town with himself. He there began that pro-
fessional career which terminated with so much honor to
himself, to his native state, and was so highly gratifying to
his benefactor, of wliose numerous acts of liberality and
friendship he always spoke in the strongest terms of regard
and veneration.
As a piiysician, Dr. Tilton was bold and decided ; he
never temporized with disease. His remedies were few in
number, but generally of an active kind. He considered
the functions of the skin of the very first importance, and
his remedies were generally directed to restore them to a
healthy state, when deranged. There were few physi-
cians who possessed more candor or exercised it to a great-
er extent towards their patients than Dr. Tilton. Wlien
interrogated, he would freely express his opinion as to the
nature and probable issue of a disease, whether favorable
or otherwise, however unpalatable it might be. He never
visited or dosed the sick unnecessarily, thereby picking
their pockets, as he justly termed it, and from this cause
he was more frequently dismissed from families than from
any other. He had no secrets in medicine, he was supe-
rior to any and every species of quackery. He certainly
stood at the head of his profession in this state ; his natu-
rally strong and discriminating mind peculiarly fitted him
for consultations, and for many years before his death
scarcely a case of any consequence occurred within the
circle of his practice, in which more than one physician
was necessary, but his advice was requested.
After practising medicine with uncommon success and
reputation for several years in Wilmington, he pur-
chased and improved a small farm in its vicinity, to which
he removed, and indulged his taste for horticulture. In
this situation, noted for his hospitality to all who visited
his friendly roof either for the benefit of his advice and
experience or the pleasures of social intercourse, he was
found at the commencement of the late war, in 1812.
Although for several years preceding tliis period he had
retired in a great measure from the busy pursuits of the
world and the active duties of his profession, he had the
high honor conferred upon him, of being appointed Phy-
sician and Surgeon General of the army of the United
States. He was fullv sensible of the distinguished confi-
136 JAMES TILTON.
dence thus reposed in him by his government ; yet it was
not without deep reflection and no little hesitation, that he
eventually determined to accept the appointment, which
he did, after receiving assurances that his office should be
chiefly ministerial, and his residence principally at Wash-
ington.
In July, 1813, he commenced a journey to the northern
frontier, and examined all the Hospitals in his route ; he
arrived at Sackett's Harbor in August of the same year.
He found here, as he often said, the filthiest encampment
that he had ever seen, and the mortality was as great as he
had ever known it during the war of the revolution. He
immediately requested a Medical Board, with a field ofiicer
to preside ; this was granted, and the salutary change,
made in the main army according to the principles laid
down in his printed work upon Military Hospitals, soon
extended itself along the whole lines from Lake Erie to
Lake Champlain. The wholesome provisions which he
introduced, soon arrested the mortality and destroyed the
infection of the " Lake Fever," as it was called, which had
become so alarming as to threaten the destruction of the
whole army, and put an entire stop to enlistments.
In the spring of 1814 he again contemplated a visit to
the Northern frontier, passing the range of hospitals on
the sea coast, to go by Plattsburgh to the Lakes. In this
he was disappointed in consequence of an obstinate tumor
which made its appearance in his neck ; and in July a
more formidable disease aflfected his knee, which rendered
locomotion extremely difficult, and from which he suffer-
ed the most acute and agonizing pain. This disease rapidly
increased, and in 1815, to preserve his life, it became ne-
cessary to amputate the limb above the knee joint ; the
operation was performed on the 7th of December in that
year. To an intimate friend who was present, whilst the
surgeon was taking off the limb, he spoke of it as the
greatest trial to which he had ever been exposed. But his
religion and fortitude did not desert him on this trying
occasion ; when he had once made up his mind to submit
to it, he remained as firm as the pyramid in the tempest,
and, whilst his friends sympathized around him, he calmly
gave directions to the surgeon and medical assistants.
This fact alone, when we consider his age which was then
upwards of seventy, and his previous sufferings, incontest-
ably proves his mind to have been one of no common
JAMES TILTOIt. 137
texture. An intimate friend of his who was present on
this painful occasion, after speaking of the extraordinary
firmness with which he bore the operation, says " for sev-
eral days and nights after the amputation, I had the grati-
fication of watching Avith and comforting him in his lonely,
dreary, bachelor's abode, where the balm of female ten-
derness and sympathy never mitigated a pang, nor com-
pensated for a woe, but where masculine aids, rough as
they are, were alone employed to sooth and cheer the
scene."
Although Dr. Tilton never married, he was always a
strong advocate for tiiis happy condition of man. He was
an ardent admirer of the fairest and best part of creation,
and, wliatever might have l)een his disappointments in
early life, he never allowed them to warp his judgment
or vitiate his taste. The hig;h reg;ard and esteem which
this class of his patients always entertained for him, wlulst
in the practice of his profession, spealv volumes in his
favor. And I would fain believe that there arc some wlio
have not forgotten the good " old bachelor," and recol-
lect with mournful pleasure the satisfaction they enjoyed
whilst partaking of his virgilian suppers.
Dr. Tilton was fond of young company, and took a
deej) interest in the success in life of the rising generation.
He was as mindful of posterity as if he had been sur-
roimded by a family of his own. From most old persons
he differed materially as it regarded his opinion of tiie times
and generation in which he lived. Instead of inveighing
against the manners and customs of the age, he rose supe-
rior to such illiberality, and bore ample testimony to the
improvements which are making in the arts and sciences,
the advancements of religion, and tiie rapid march of lib-
eral pi-inciples in politics. Indeed he was so well pleased
with his own times that he often declared, wlien <iuite ad-
vanced in life, that, could lie have had his choice of the
different periods of the world, he would have selected the
present in wliich to live.
Our deceased friend was a real christian. He was inti-
mately acquainted with tlie scriptures ; and, although he
had frequently perused tiiem, and regulated his conduct
according to their principles as far as his imperfect nature
would permit, yet during the latter period of his life they
became his principal study, and from them he derived
those consolations which enabled him to bear disease with-
VOL. II. IS
138 JAMES TILTON.
out a murmur and to meet death without being conscious
of his sting. The vicarious righteousness of Christ, his
favorite doctrine, he was fond of introducing in conversa-
tion upon proper occasions, as well for the ])enef!t of his
fellow beings, as for the glory of the author of this system
of faith. His religion was of that ennobling sort which
testifies to its own worth. His feelings ran naturally in
the channel of devotion ; and he reposed upon the scheme
of salvation as the resting place ordained by the Deity for
the soul of man.
Dr. Tilton departed this life on the 14th of May, 1822,
having lived seventy-seven years, wanting seventeen days ;
on the very day of the last annual meeting of this Society,
whose President he had been for many years, and at the
reorganization of which no man could have been better
pleased. He considered its resuscitation, with its enlarged
powers, as constituting a new era in the medical history of
his native state. He was one of the earliest members of
our Society, and soon became one of its highest orna-
ments.
His friend Mr. J. Bellach, in whose arms he died, in
giving me an account of his death, writes thus : " I arriv-
ed at Dr. Tilton's at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and at 4,
the good old gentleman bade adieu to this world. His
mental faculties were not perceptibly impaired by his last
illness, nor did he appear to suffer much, if any pain. I
felt a peculiar, though certainly a melancholy satisfaction,
in witnessing the peaceful exit, and in closing the eyes of
this long tried and faithful friend of my father, and of my
father's house ; the man of v/hom I have the earliest recol-
lection ; whom i was taught from my cradle to love and
to honor, as I have done at all times and upon all occa-
sions, most cordially.
" In whatever view we may consider the character of Dr.
Tilton, we shall find many traits to distinguish him from
other men. He was in many respects an original ; wholly
unlike most other men in person, countenance, manners,
speech, gesture and habits. His height was about six feet
and a half, and his structure slender. His face is admira-
bly portrayed in a painting taken by Otis, and now in the
possession of his nephew. Dr. James Tilton. Whether he
walked or sat still ; whether in conversation or mute ;
whether he ate, drank or smoked ; whether in a grave
mood, or indulging in his loud laugh, all was in a style
JAMES TILTOIf.
189
peculiar to himself and most remarkable." For honesty
and frankness he v/as proverbial ; in these important points
he had few ecpials, certainly no superiors. His whole life
afforded a luminous example of the effects of deep rooted
principles and moral rectitude upon the conduct of men ;
and we have the fullest assurance to believe that he has
reached those realms of peace andpiappiness, from which
he can never be separated ; and has become the " just
man, made jierfect." — Eulogy to the memory of Br. Tilton
delivered before the Medical Society of DeJcncare, by A.
McLane, M.D.
The following /rom Dr. James Mease may be added to
the foregoing.
Dr. Tilton suffered severely by the hospital fever,
which, for some months after the cessation of the morbid
action in his corporal system, affected his mental faculties,
and produced a mild derangement, but from which he en-
tirely recovered. He built a neat stone mansion on a high
hill in the rear of Wilmington, and amused himself by
attending to the cultivation of his farm and a large garden.
In 1776 he was elected a member of the American Philo-
sophical Society. Dr. Tilton was a sincerely pious man,
and lived and died a bachelor. But he revered the mar-
riage life, and once told me that he thought tlie most pleas-
ing sight in the world was a man quietly sitting by his fire
side with his wife and children. He was of a tall thin
habit, dark hair, dark complexion and of a very cheerful
disposition ; enjoyed a merry story and hearty laugh.
Dr. Tilton's publications were 1. Economical Observa-
tions on Military Hospitals ; a very judicious perform-
ance, highly approved by Dr. Rush :* 2. A paper on the
Curculio Insect which for several years past has proved so
destructive to the Fruit in the United States : 3. a paper
on Peach Trees and the Diseases and Insects to which
they are subject : 4. On the Propriety of a Farmer living
on the Produce of his own Land. This last is a very in-
teresting paper, and should be read by every farmer. He
contended strenuously for the affirmative of the proposi-
tion, and that farmers should reject the use of all foreign
articles, particularly tea and coffee. His own practice was
* 1. A pamphlet. 2. See Dr. Mease's edition of Willich's Domestic Encyclo-
pedia. 3. Memoirs of Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, VqI. I
4, Do. Vol. III.
140 *AME8 TILTON.
in strict conformity to the views lie promulgated, for he
assures us " he does not own either tea cups or saucers,
and yet is at no loss to entertain his friends agreeably."
As a bachelor Br. T. could easily indulge in his rejection
of all foreign commodities ; but it would be somewhat
difficult to copy his practice where a lady is to be consult-
ed ; neither would it be desirable to do so, even if she
agreed to the disuse of articles which have become of the
first necessity, and could be no more dispensed witJi than
beef or mutton. 5. Answer;? to Queries on tlie State of
Husbandry in the Delaware state.* The queries had been
proposed by the Abbe Tepier, of the Academy of Sciences
of Paris, and were published by them ; they were intended
to obtain information on the mode of farming, and general
state of agriculture by the Consul General of France,
Mons. de Marbois. The number of queries was forty-
four ; Dr. Tilton was the only person who complied with
the request of the society to answer them.
The following is an extract of a letter from Dr. T. to a
friend, dated Williamsburgli, 16th December, 1781.
After the departure of General Washington the French
quartered themselves upon the people of this and some
other towns, a la mode militaire, and gave no small
offence ; but they are now dancing them into a good hu-
mor again by a ball every week. I had myself a petite
guerre with a French officer, by which I was turned out
of my quarters, and consequently came off but second best.
Being summoned before Count Rochambeau to answer for
my rebellious conduct, I received a long lecture on the
subject of {)oliteness to friends and allies, with intimations
of his power to punish obstinacy. Although I was put
into quarters equally good with those I was compelled to
leave, I must confess I did not perfectly understand the
French politeness in the mode of exchange. The old
count, I believe, has either forgot or forgiven me, as a day
or two ago he gave me an invitation to dine with him.
It must be mortifying to our poor fellows to observe the
comfortable and happy life of French soldiers. They ap-
pear on parade every day like fine gentlemen, as neat as
their officers, and hardly to be distinguished from them.
They are paid once a week, and by their happy counte-
nance appear to want nothing. A sentinel is not allowed
• Columbian Magazine. Vol. V.
SAMUEL TREVETT. 141
to stand upon duty without a warm watch coat in addition
to his other clothing. The ofllcers treat the sokliers with
attention, humanity and respect, and a})pear to employ all
trie means necessary to inspire them with sentiments of
honor. Except some horse jockeying and plundering, at
the reduction of York, I have heard of no stealing amono-
them. Theft is said to be a crime held in universal abiior-
rence by them. I have not seen or lieard of any instance
yet of a French soldier being whipped. Their desertions,
I believe, have been rare, and their sickness but little.
sTREVETT, SAMUEL R., M. D. M.M.S.S., Surgeon
in the navy of the United States. He was born at Mar-
blehead, in the county of Essex, Stale of Massachusetts, in
tlie year 1783. He was the son of Captain S. R. Trevett,
who commanded a company of artillery, and was distin-
guished for his coolness ancl gallantry on the memorable
17th of June, 1775, at the battle of Bunker's Hill; and
who is still living in the service of his country, an active-
intelligent and honorable gentleman.
Dr. Trevett received the rudiments of his education at
Exeter, under the care of that excellent instructer, Benja-
min Abbott, Esq., to whom New-England owes much for
his assiduity and talent in forming tlie minds and fixino- the
morals of her youth. This pupil of his entered Harvard
University in the year 1800, and v/as graduated in 1804.
Among his classmates Trevett was noticed for his mod-
esty, intelligence and affectionate disposition. Most of
his college acquaintance were his fast friends, and not
one of them his enemy. The best judges of the head and
heart of a young man are found among his contempora-
ries and competitors, for they form their opinions of char-
acter before the distinctions of the world have influenced
or corrupted their judgments.
On leaving college Trevett pursued his professional
studies with Dr. Holyoke of Salem, and completed his
medical education with the late Dr. John Warren ; with
both of these great men he Avas a favorite pupil, which
alone was sufficient to introduce him to notice and atten-
tion. He commenced his professional course in Boston ;
but, being naturally of a chivalrous cast of character, he
sought and readily obtained an appointment in the medi-
cal department of the navy. He preferred this situation,
which promised variety and incident, to the most flatter-
ing prospects of city practice. At this time his imagina-
143 SAMUEL TREVETT.
tion was prolific in calling up the brightest visions of the
future glories of the American Navy, and, although retir-
ing and cautious on other topics, he was enthusiastic and
eloquent on this. With these sentiments, he with all his
soul united his fortunes and his fame to the navy. All
who have been under his professional care, from the
proudest officer to the humblest sailor, have borne testi-
mony to his fidelity, zeal and ability in the discharge of
his duty at home, on shipboard and abroad ; every
wliere, and in all situations in which he could do ffood,
1 • • . XT • O '
his exertions were not wanting. He was in the Constitu-
tion during her cruise just before the last war, and then
had an opportunity to show his skill, humanity and assi-
duity in attending the sick, while a distressing and malig-
nant disease was racing among her officers and crew. He
was on board the PVigate United States when she captured
the Macedonian ; and also in the President when she was
captured by a British Fleet, and after this event he fol-
lowed the sick and wounded until they were healed or re-
turned to our shores. Wherever he acted he conquered
the hearts of those around him, above or below him.
Hull has certified his distinguished merits ; Lawrence and
Perry loved him ; and Decatur requested his professional
attention when he was about to finish with a sad catastro-
phe the last scene in the eventful drama of a gallant life.
Trevett arrived when it was too late to remonstrate or
advise.
As a politician he never suffered his opinion to inter-
fere with his duty ; as a moralist he never yielded to sit-
uation or accident ; and even pecuniary temptations, which
often assail men with much violence, were powerless when
opposed to his invincible integrity. He shrunk from no
danger, however appalling, when he could do good to his
fellow men. One instance of this exalted cast of mind,
among many which might be named, should never be for-
gotten. He Avas a passenger in the steam boat Phenix,
which was burned on lake Champlain, on the night of the
5th of September, 1819. He was among the first alarmed
by the cry of fire ; coming on deck he saw the general
danger, and calmly took the lead in preparing the small-
er boat for the safety of the passengers, and assisted the
ladies to get into it, which was no easy task, for they
were wild and frantic with fear, and rushed together in
confusion to leave the scene of horror. He decided when
SAMUEL TREVETT. 143
she was full and could take no more of them with
their husbands and friends. He then cut tlie rope which
held her to the side of the burning vessel, and cast her off
without making any effort for his own personal safety,
and until all the passengers had left the deck he never
took heed for himself. At this moment he saw a woman
who Jiad returned from the small boat to get some valuables
she had left in the cabin, but she had gathered them too
late, for when she came on deck the boat had gone. She
gazed on the scene with an inexpressible look of despair,
and in silence precipitated herself back into the cabin to
perish. Dr. Trevett, at this crisis alone on the deck, cast
his eye on the water and saw another small boat partly
full of men. The crew and a few others had taken this
boat, and kept still that it might not be overloaded ; she
had met with some difficulty in getting clear of the ves-
sel. He threw himself among them. He then examined
the boat ; and, finding she had the capacity of carrying
several more people than she had taken, he used every ar^
gument and persuasion to induce his companions to stop
and look for some of the unfortunate persons who were in
the water, and that there were many in this situation he
had no doubt, but selfishness and fear were opposed to his
benevolent entreaties, and they Avould not stay an instant ;
but when they had reached the land he found men to go
back with him in the same boat, and they had the good
fortune to rescue several from destruction, who had been
struggling for a long time in the water. In the first ac-
count which reached us of this sad disaster, it was stated
that Dr. Trevett had perished in the flood or the flames,
but Providence had not so destined him to die. Such ex-
ertions of disinterested benevolence, and such bravery,
have no parallel in the hero's life. When foe meets foe,
glory attends the mastery ; the patriot who dies for his
country, pours out his blood before a nation's eyes ; and
the martyr soothes his agonies at the stake by visions of
immortality ; but this magnanimity, this disinterested con-
duct in such an emergency, this thoughtlessness of self in
the welfare of others, should be honored beyond the
praise due to skill or bravery. The passengers who first
landed, snpposed he must have perished ; several of them,
after arriving at their distant homes, persevered in their
inquiries till they learned his escape, his name and resi-
dence, and addressed to him their heartfelt thanks.
144 SAMUEL TRKVETT.
Dr. T. served in the Frigate Constitution, under Cap-
tains Bainbridge and Hull, till her return from France in
the Avinter of 1812 ; this ship was then paid otFand taken
into dock. Averse to an indolent life on furlough ashore,
he determined to resign his commission and renew his
professional practice ; but Secretary Smith assured him
that war would soon be proclaimed, and solicited him
to take back his commission ; this he readily did and
joined tlie Frigate United States, Captain Decatur. In
this ship he sailed with the squadron of Commodore Rog-
ers on the long cruise in pursuit of the Jamaica fleet ; and,
as our ships, by the improvidence of Government, had
not been properly equipped for sea before the declaration
of Avar, the United States on her arrival in Boston har-
bor had 140 of her crew sick Avith the scurvy, and many
of them slung in their hammocks Avith that distress-
ing disorder. When Captain Decatur took command of
the President, Dr. T. was transferred to that frigate, and
was taken prisoner and carried to Bermuda at the cap-
ture of tlie President by the British squadron. At the close
of the war for his faithful services he Avas appointed Sur-
geon of the Navy Yard at CharlestoAvn, and in addition to
tlie scanty pay of Surgeon he then was entitled to receive
such emoluments and perquisites as rendered his situation
easy. But here his greatest misfortune awaited him.
It is greatly to be deplored that a man of so pure and
amiable a spirit as Dr. T., should by any unfortunate inci-
dent incur the displeasure of his superiors. In this in-
stance, hoAvever, instead of impeachment of his character,
ihe result has evinced the purest integrity and moral A'ir-
tue. Being summoned to give evidence against an officer
of rank charged with defrauding the public, his evidence
gave offence to some in authority, though he Avas uncon-
scious of any improper bias, but aimed to be impartial
and honoral)le, that he might subserve the cans^e of just-
ice and the public interest. In consequence of this Dr.
T. was deprived of the station to Avhich he Avas, by usage,
justly entitled by his services and merits, and Avas ordered
on a crui:-e in a vessel of an inferior class. It is alleged
by one of the Avriters of the obituary notices that by the
base arts of intrigue and malice the secretary of tlie naA^y
Avas deceived respecting his character, and Avas prevailed
on to deprive Dr. T. of his station. He was noAv ordered
to take his station as Surgeon on board the sloop of Avar
SAMUEL TREVETT. t45
Peacock, Captain Cassin, bound on a cruise to the West
Indies in the warm season of summer. The order was
promptly obeyed, though Dr. T. was well aware of his
personal hazard under existing circumstances. In a letter
to a friend written on board the Peacock, then dropping
down the Potomac, dated July 18th, 1822, he observes,
"Every care will be taken, I dare say, by the captain and
officers to preserve the health of the crew ; but at this
particular season, to remain any while in or near the Ha-
vana with a healthy ship's company, is entirely out of the
question. My situation will expose me in an eminent de-
gree to the sickness of this climate. I have never called
on any person in authority since my arrival here. At the
present time I prefer the chance of a West India cruise to
the arduous, and perhaps odious, task of attempting to re-
move the prejudices which Jhave been so studiously excited
against me in the minds of those in power. I am no cour-
tier. If influential men are against me, I have the pleas-
ure to know that all others, officers and citizens, army
and navy, are in my favor."
Dr. T. was seized with yellow fever, and fell a sacri-
fice at Norfolk on board the Peacock, November 4th,
1822. In the latter part of his life there was a soft and,
as it were, a religious melancholy diffused through all his
actions. He seemed to take delight in contemplating the
character of the aged, and in holding communion with
those on the confines of another world. His character
combined those qualities that command respect, and win
entire confidence and the warmest attachment. Unsus-
pected integrity, the highest sense of honor, delicacy of
manners, dignity of deportment, and elegance of person,
were united with powerful intellect, and with extensive
and various attainments in polite literature and profes-
sional science. A few years before his death, he married
a lady of New-York, but she died soon after the birth of a
son. The child is living, but too young to fully under-
stand his loss ; at a future day he will enjoy the rich in-
heritance of an unsullied name and unspotted reputation
from his father. For some time before Dr. T. sailed on
his last cruise, he had employed his leisure hours in col-
lecting materials for the biography of American physi-
cians ; from his diligence, taste, and habits of research, a
valuable and interesting work might have been expected,
if his life had been prolonged.
VOL, n. 19
146 ttLIHCr TUDOR.
TUDOR, ELIHU, M.D. was the second son of Rev.
Samuel Tudor, minister of the third Society of Windsor
in Connecticut. He was descended from Owen Tudor,
who came from Wales to this country with the Puritans,
and was one of the first planters in the town of Windsor.
The family is descended from an ancient family of Wales,
one branch of which for a considerable time sat on the
English Throne.
Dr. Tudor was born in February, 1733, and was gradu-
ated at Yale College in 1750. For about four years before
his death he was the first among the living on the cata-
logue of that seminary, and it is remarkable that two oth-
er physicians, with Dr. Tudor, were of the four oldest
graduates for some years ; Dr. Porter of Salsbury, and
Dr. Monson of New-Haven ; the Rev. Dr. Whitney was
the fourth.
After leaving college Dr. Tudor was employed in the
business of instruction in New-Haven, Newport, and other
places. Having a predilection for the study of medicine
he commenced and pursued it under the direction of Dr.
Gale of Willingworth, who stood high as a general schol-
ar, a politician and physician. At an early period of the
war of 1755 he joined the army, was attached to the
medical department and continued to serve until the close
of the war. He was in the expedition that reduced Cana-
da under General Wolf in 1759, and in the Army that be-
sieged and took the supposed impregnable fortress of Ha-
vana in 1762. At the peace in 1763 he was in England,
and continued his connexion with the army. In this con-
nexion he was employed in the public hospitals, and glad-
ly improved the opportunities there presented to perfect
his skill in his profession. About the year 1767 he was
discharged from the army at his own request, and retired
on half pay, which was regularly continued to him dur-
ing life. He returned to his native country after ten
years absence, settled in East Windsor in Connecticut
on his paternal inheritance, and continued there till his
death. He soon embraced an extensive course of prac-
tice as a physician and surgeon, and was at that time almost
the only well educated surgeon in the state. His surgi-
cal practice was eminently successful, and he continued to
follow it with general approbation even when the infirmi-
ties of 80 years seemed to require repose.
SIMON TUFTS. 147
Dr. Tudor was married soon after his return from Eu-
rope to Miss Brewster, descendant of Elder Brewster of
Plymouth, who came over in the fust ship in 1620, by
whom he had a number of children. In his moral charac-
ter Dr. Tudor was always without reproach ; his manners
were highly polished and gentlemanly, resulting partly
from his early intercourse with polished society, but more
from the native warmth of a benevolent heart. In fami-
lies which enjoyed his stated practice he was greatly be-
loved, and he enjoyed tlie strong attachment of his pro-
fessional brethren. Dr. Tudor took an active part in the
establishment of the Medical Society of the state, and was
always a zealous advocate for the honor and improvement
of the profession. In 1790 he received the degres o ' M.
D. from Dartmouth college. He was truly a religions
man, and although he became an Episcopalian in England
and was ever after much attached to that mode of wor-
ship, he was a regular communicant in the congregational
church in his society for many years. He was a true
friend to his country and cherished with becoming
ardor the growing institutions and forms of government
of his native land, while at the same time he was a friend
and admirer of the British government, under which he
had so long lived.
His family were distinguished for longevity, two sisters
survive him, one aged 93, the younger 76. In his latter
years he was distinguished for an extraordinary benevo-
lence and good will to all mankind ; he was never insen-
sible to the smallest favor received, and was always anx-
ious to do good to others. His decline was very gradual,
and he sunk by old age without disease on the 6th of
March, 1826, aged 93. He contemplated his dissolution
with calmness, often mentioning that he had outlived all
his early contemporaries. — Samuel B. Woodicard M. D.
TUFTS, DR. SIMON, was born in Medford, Massachu-
setts, in January, 1700, and was graduated at Harvard Col-
lege in 1724. He early applied himself to the study of phy-
sic, and soon became eminent in that profession, bemg the
first regularly bred physician in Medford. His circle of
practice embraced ten or twelve neighboring towns, and it
is recollected that his character and conduct were held in
high estimation by the people, no man being more indus-
trious or faithful in his profession, or more universally
beloved. He was often called to visit the sick at Harvard
148 SIMON TUFTS.
College, and, though not affluent himself, his regard for
that institution induced him to decline receiving fees from
the students who found it difficult to support themselves.
It is indicative of the economy, industry and good hab-
its of that age, that, while his eldest son Simon was at
college and boarded with Mr. Foxcraft, the county Regis-
ter of Deeds, he was required to write in the office as a
partial compensation. Among his medical pupils was
General John Thomas, who at the commencement of the
American war commanded at Dorchester Heights, and
afterwards died with the smallpox while commander of
our army in Canada. Dr. Tufts was appointed to various
civil offices both in the town and county, as Justice of the
Peace, Special Justice and Justice of the Quorum. He
died of a convulsive asthma, January, 1746, having just
completed his 47th year.
Such was the respect for his cliaracter that the public
mourned his loss, and funeral sermons were preached on
the occasion, at Medford, Boston, Charlestown and Cam-
bridge. The house in which he lived and which he de-
rived from his father, is yet standing and has never been
out of the familv, and is perhaps 150 years old.
TUFTS, SIMON, M.M.S.S., son of the preceding,
born at Medford, January 16th, 1726, and graduated
at Harvard College in 1744, was considered an excellent
Latin and Greek scholar. He devoted his attention to the
study of medicine under the care of his father ; but at his
death two years only had been occupied in that pursuit,
and he, being but twenty years of age, hesitated what
course to pursue ; but by the encouragement of friends he
resolved to attempt to supply the vacancy which his father's
death had occasioned. His mild and excellent character,
and the great affection and respect the people had for his
father, acquired for him the general confidence ; and he
happily succeeded to the circle of practice, most of which
he retained for forty years.
In the year 1765 a medical society was contemplated,
and Dr. Tufts received a letter of invitation to assist in
forming the institution ; but the reason why the project
was not then accomplished is not known. In 1782 a fall
from his horse caused a bleeding from his lungs, and laid
a foundation for the disease which terminated his valuable
life after a long confinement in July, 1786.
COTTON TUFTS. 149
Dr. Tufts is remembered as a man of uncommon skill
and sound judgment ; his habits of research were unceas-
ing, and his conversation remarkably attractive and en-
gaging. One of the most noticed features of his deport-
ment was perfect Chesterlieldian manners, in which respect
few men were equal to him. He was revered by a large
community, and his death was considered as a public loss.
Such was his well known probity and honor that, on the
settlement of his accounts after his death, the executor
found the fullest confidence was placed in his correctness,
and his own books were all that were required for a satis-
factory adjustment. The Rev. Mr. Turrell appointed him
executor to his will, and Colonel Isaac Royall, on leaving
the country at the revolution as a refugee, appointed him
his agent, in which trust he was confirmed by the Legisla-
ture. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts
Medical Society in 1782. He was commissioned as Justice
of the Peace in 1770, and was twice a member of the Legis-
lature. As a practitioner he was considered as having
adopted a mode of treatment in putrid sore throat and
slow fever, which was uncommonly successful.
In the year 1766 Dr. Tufts received into his family
John Brooks, our late excellent Governor, who was then
about 14 years old ; young Brooks was placed under his
tuition by written indentures, as an apprentice for seven
years. No master was ever more faithful to his trust ; and
the pupil by his own excellent conduct through a long life
abundantly repaid his master's care. It is a little remark-
able that the father and son, who were noted for their
mild domestic virtues, should educate two men who be-
came generals in our revolutionary war. Both father and
son were excellent examples of life and manners.
On the family tombstone in Medford is this inscription :
" Both eminent in their profession.
Just also towards men, and devout towards God !"
TUFTS, COTTON, M.D. M.M.S.S. A.A.S., younger
brother of the preceding, was born at Medford, in May,
1731. Early in life he evinced a propensity to literature,
and distinguished himself by regular habits, diligent ap-
plication, and respectable attainments in knowledge. In
the 14th year of his age he was admitted a student of Har-
vard College, and was graduated in 1749. During his
residence in that seminary he sustained a fair, an estima-
ble and respected character both moral and literary.
150 COTTON TUFTS.
Having imbibed a taste for the same profession as his fa-
ther and brother, he went through a regular course of
medical education, and fixed his residence in Weymouth,
in which town and neighborhood his reputation and use-
fulness were advantageously established and will be long
remembered.
He married Lucy Quincy, daughter of Colonel John
Quincy of Braintree, and sister of Madam Sm-ith who
was mother of the consort of John Adams late President
of the United States ; and this connexion was a source of
mutual friendly intercourse during life. President Adams
ever entertained an exalted opinion of the merit and char-
acter of Dr. Tufts.
On his first arrival at Weymouth the putrid sore throat
was very prevalent and extremely mortal. Dr. Tufts in-
troduced a mode of treatment altogether different from
that of the established physicians of that vicinity, which
ivas attended with peculiar success, and this confirmed his
popularity and widely extended his fame. To his prac-
tice he united courtesy, condescension, sympathy and
kindness. While his exactions for his professional ser-
vices from those who had the ability to make prompt and
easy payment, were always moderate, he had a heart to
favor and gratuitously to relieve the necessitous. His pro-
fessional labors in the early part and in the meridian of
his life, were extended to places considerably remote ;
nor in advanced age did lie withhold his advice and aid,
in difficult cases, from those who were beyond the sphere
of his usual practice.
Eminent and highly estimable not only as a physician,
but a man, he could not fail to rise high in the public esti-
mation, particularly in the view of those who were the
best judo-es of the worth and excellence of character. Ac-
cordingly we find his name enrolled among the original
members of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He was
soon elected Vice President, and from the year 1787 to
1795 he sustained the oflice of President of that learned
body ; at which period increasing age, and the pressure
of his other various duties, induced him to resign. The
able manner in which he acquitted himself of the duties of
the office, met the approbation and procured the thanks
of the society. As a man of general erudition, he attained
to no inconsiderable eminence. His researches Avere va-
rious and extensive, judicious and accurate. We find the
COTTON TUFTS. \§l
name of Dr. Tufts at the head of the list of those illus-
trious men who in the year 1780, in the midst of war and
tumult, were incorporated as the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences ; here he sustained a character both
honorable and influential. In tlie higher branch of the
state legislature he was for many years distinguishingly
active, patriotic, firm and of great influence. And, when
appointed a member of the convention for adopting the
Constitution of the United States, he expressed his attach-
ment and devotedness to the best interests of his country,
by giving his suffrage for that invaluable instrument.
In the year 1765 Dr. T. wrote the spirited and patriotic
instructions to the representatives of the town of Wey-
mouth against the memorable stamp act. In the time of
the war of our revolution he was chosen a member of the
convention who undertook to regulate the prices of mer-
chandize and country produce, and he was the only man
who voted against that measure, which eventually proved
to be altogether futile and ridiculous. His conduct
through life was marked with the most rigid adherence to
the principles of integrity, and the most ardent attachment
tD the liberties of his country. He was for several years
Preddent of the Trustees of the Derby Academy, and his
unremitting and able services highly contributed to pro-
mote the objects of that literary institution. As the pre-
siding member of the board, he acquitted himself to the
highest satisfaction of the associate members, who on his
resignation of his office, a short time before his death,
gratefully tendered him their sincere and unqualified ac-
knowledgment of his able and faithful services. As a
member and as the president of the Society for the Re-
formation of Morals, his exertions to check and suppress
the shameful and destructive practice of intemperance, and
its kindred vices, were judicious, spirited and, it is hoped,
in some degree effective. To reclaim the unhappy and
wretched wanderers, was the ardent desire of his heart ;
a desire which efficiently prompted him to laudable and
meritorious actions. Dr. Tufts closed his valuable life
December 8th, 1815, in the 84th year of his age
We must not omit to notice the remaining prominent
traits of his character, and particularly his christian vir-
tues. He was always a rational and firm believer in the
christian religion ; he early in life, from a sense of duty,
made a public profession of it ; and uniformly exemplified
152 PHILIP TURNER.
its divine precepts and institutions. Few men have pass-
ed through life with a more steady and conscientious ad-
herence to the various duties of the christian life. During
the space of more than forty years, he filled the office of
deacon in the church, and discharged its duties with con-
stancy, fidelity and good acceptance. Few men, says his
biographer, sustained this office with more reputation and
dignity, or discharged its duties with greater punctuality
and unaffected, but not severe and repulsive, gravity. In
regard to politics he was a federalist of that stamp, from
whose sentiments considerate and judicious men of each
party could not widely differ ; his patriotic zeal, temper-
ed with moderation, was well worthy of imitation. In
social life he highly distinguished himself by urbanity of
manners, and a courteous address. In conversation he
was pleasant, interesting and instructive. In every domes-
tic circle he was as well the pleasant and desirable com-
panion and the beloved and instructive friend, as the fond
husband, the kind father, the venerable patriarch. Al-
though in doing good and communicating, he gave no
encouragement or countenance to the idle, to vagrants, to
tipplers and the worthless, he was far from neglecting the
proper objects of charity. For these he felt a generous
sympathy, and imparted to them its genuine effects, as
they needed. — Funeral Sermon by Rev. Mr. J^orton.
\ TURNER, DR. PHILIP, a very celebrated operative
surgeon, was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1740. At
the age of twelve, being left an orphan destitute of pro-
perty, he was taken into the family and under the patron-
age of Dr. Elisha Tracy of that tOAvn, who deservedly
stood high in the public opinion as a classical scholar, a
practical physician, and a man distinguished for his moral
and social virtues. Here young Turner was treated with
parental kindness, and at a suitable age commenced his
medical studies under the eye of his patron. In the year
1759 he was appointed assistant surgeon to a provincial
reo^iment, under General Amherst, at Ticonderoga. His
handsome person and pleasing address soon attracted the
attention of the English surgeons, by whom he was treated
with much courtesy, and invited to witness many of their
capital operations. It was from the information and prac-
tice he obtained in this school, that he laid the foundation
of his future eminence as an operator. He continued with
the armv till after the peace of 1763, when he returned to
PHILIP TURNER. 16S
the house of his benefactor, whose eldest daughter he soon
after married, and settled in Norwich as a practitioner of
surgery.
His practice and reputation were such that, at the break-
ing out of the revolutionary war, he was unrivalled as a
surgeon in the eastern section of the country. During the
first campaign he was the first surgeon of the Connecticut
troops before Boston. He went with the army to New-
York in 1776, and, in consequence of the battles of Long-
Island and White Plains, a favorable opportunity was
afforded him of displaying his professional talents as an
operator, which gained him the highest character with the
army. In 1 777 Dr. Turner was nominated and appointed
by Congress Director General, to superintend the General
Hospital ; but, on a motion for reconsideration, the ap-
pointment was given to Dr. Shippen of Philadelphia, and
Dr. Turner was appointed Surgeon General of the eastern
department, which station he filled with great ability till
near the close of the war. He then returned to his family,
and resumed his private practice. In this he continued
with undiminished reputation till 1800, when finding him-
self advancing in years, and feeling the fatigues of exten-
sive country practice, he removed to New-York, consider-
ing a city better adapted to his period of life. His busi-
ness here was soon respectable, and he was shortly after
appointed a surgeon to the staff of the United States army,
and was permanently stationed on York Island with the
medical and surgical care of the troops in that quarter.
This station he held at his death, which occurred in the
spring of 1815, in the 75th year of his age. He was inter-
red with military honors.
Dr. Turner, though not an academical scholar, received
a good early education, and was naturally of a ready
mind, with much sprightliness and suavity of manners.
To these were united a handsome person and pleasing ad-
dress, with a kind of intuitive capacity, peculiarly qualify-
ing him for the profession of surgery. On this subject
his judgment was uncommonly accurate, and with a firm
mind, and a steady dexterity of hand, his operations were
ably performed, and attended with an almost unparalleled
success. Dr. Shippen did him the honor to say that nei-
ther in Europe nor in America had he ever seen an opera-
tor that excelled him. In about twenty operations of litho-
tomy, it is said that all but two cases were perfectly sue-
VOL. H. 20
164 JOHN VAUGHAN.
cessful. Dr.- Turner is an instance of one rising to the
highest professional eminence, who never studied or trav-
elled out of his own country. — Medical Intelligencer,
VAUGHAN, JOHN, M.D. was born in Uchland Town-
ship, Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 25th day of
June, 1775. His father, John Vaughan, was a highly re-
spectable minister in the Baptist society. Dr. V. was
educated at Old Chester ; at which place he obtained an
acquaintance with the classics, which, however, was ren-
dered more perfect by his diligent and close attention to
them in after life. He studied medicine with Dr. William
Currie of Philadelphia, and attended the medical lectures
in the University of Pennsylvania in 1793 and '94.
In March, 1795, he located himself in Christiana Bridge,
a small village in the state of Delaware, where he contin-
ued until April, 1799, when he removed to Wilmington.
In March, 1797, he married Eliza, daughter of Joel Lewis,
Esq., Marshal of the District of Delaware. Dr. V.'s.
scientific attainments and success speedily introduced him
into extensive practice in Wilmington, and acquired him a
reputation wdiich few men of his early age have ever had
the good fortune to enjoy. Among liis intimate friends and
familiar correspondents, as early as 1801, we find the illus-
trious Jefferson, Aaron Burr, John Dickerson, James A.
Bayard, C. A. Rodney, &c. ; and, in his own profession,
characters of equal eminence and celebrity, as Drs. Rush,
Miller, Mitchell, Logan, the late Dr. Tilton, Caldwell,
Davidge, &c.
Dr. Vaughan w^as a Corresponding Member of the
Philadelphia Academy of Medicine, Honorary Member of
the Medical Society of Philadelphia, Member of the Ame-
rican Medical Society, Fellow of the Medical and Member
of the Philosophical Societies of Delaware. Before the
latter society he delivered by appointment, in the town
hall of Wilmington in the winter of 1799 and 1800, a full
and complete course of lectures on Chemistry and Natural
Philosophy. This was the first and only course which he
ever was able to deliver ; his professional duties and en-
gagements shortly afterwards requiring his constant and
imremitted attention, and thereby rendering it utterly im-
practicable for him to devote the requisite time to those
subjects.
From early life he was of a pious disposition, and ap-
peared always fully aware of the necessity of, and the con-
JOHN VAUGHAN. 155
solations to be derived from religion, in passing through
this transitory stage of existence. These feelings grew
with his growth and strengthened with his strength, and in
1806, from a deep sense and full conviction of its being his
duty, he commenced preaching the gospel in the Baptist
church in this Borough ; which he continued occasionally,
when his professional engagements would permit, until the
time of his death. Believing that what is " freely receiv-
ed, should be freely given," he never did, and never in-
tended to receive any compensation for dispensing to his
auditors the doctrines of the " meek and lowly Jesus."
The talents of Dr. Vauglian were of such a nature as to
qualify him in an eminent degree for the successful prac-
tice of medicine. The faculties of perception and judg-
ment, so essentially requisite in the diagnosis and cure of
morbid actions, he evidently possessed in a remarkable
degree ; so much so, indeed, as to be generally able to
ascertain the nature and seat of the disease, and indicate
the remedy, with as much promptness and facility as if he
had seized upon the knowledge, as it were by intuition.
His mind was active, his memory tenacious, and, being a
most diligent student, at the age of thirty-one he had ac-
quired such a mass of medical knowledge and experience
as is rarely gained by a person of his years. His manners,
talents and success entitled him to the character of a great
physician. As a physician and chemist, he was justly emi-
nent ; for, though snatched off in the summer of life, he
had travelled far in the walks of science.
In his manners and appearance he was usually sedate and
thoughtful. But in his intercourse with the afflicted he
was always affable and peculiarly kind and feeling. No
man possessed more of the " milk of human kindness"
than he ; for he was always ready and willing to adminis-
ter not only medical aid, but, what is often of equal, if not
superior importance, mental and spiritual comfort and
consolation. By this peculiar talent for " administering
to a mind diseased," and healing the wounds of a broken
and desponding spirit, he was endeared to his patients by
such strong and lasting ties as to be most deeply and sin-
cerely regretted, and never to be forgotten by them as
long as memory retains her throne : as has been truly said
of him, the tears of the poor and friendless bedew his
memory ; for his bosom was the seat of humanity and
166 ALBIGERKU WALDO.
feeling : kindness beamed in his countenance ; and active
benevolence warmed his heart.
He was truly and emphatically a hard student and an
industrious man ; and has left such a large number of
note books, unfinished essays, &c., that we may fairly
infer that, if he had lived a few years longer, he would
have contributed largely to the fund of medical litera-
ture and information.
During the winter of 1806, '7 his health and strength ap-
peared to be becoming gradually impaired ; his constitu-
tion, naturally a delicate one, was evidently yielding to
the fatigue and- exposure necessarily incident to a very ex-
tensive and laborious practice. In obstetrics particularly,
confessedly a very laborious brancli of the profession, he
was almost constantly more or less employed, being so
successful and popular as to be compelled to attend to a
great deal more of it than even a robust constitution could
readily have endured. In March, 1807, having taken
cold, he was attacked with a violent and distressing
cough, slight soreness of the throat, with some indications
of congestion in the pulmonary organs, and a high fever,
which, after continuing for a very few days, put on the
typhoid form, Jind in the course of one short week depriv-
ed science of a bright ornament, and society of a highly
esteemed and extensively useful member. " From all I can
learn of his case," says his biographer, " I am strongly in-
clined to the opinion that his disease was the Pneumonia
typhoides, which had about that time given a few pre-
monitory signs of the wide spread desolation it was after-
wards to commit."
Dr. V. died March 25th, 1807. His publications were
an Edition of Dr. Smith's Letters ; a Chemical Syllabus ;
and numerous communications, on a variety of subjects,
to the Philadelphia Medical Museum, and the New-York
Medical Repository. Dr. Vaughan published Observa-
tions on Animal Electricity in Explanation of the Metal-
lic Operation of Dr. Perkins. This was a pamphlet of 32
pages, dedicated to James Tilton, M. D., President of the
Medical Society of Delaware, 1797; the object of which
was to explain the operation of the metallic Tractors, for
which he was a zealous advocate.
WALDO: DK,- ALBIGEREU, was born about the year
1750 in the town of Pomfret, State of Connecticut. His
education was such as was common in the district schools
ALBISEREU WALDO. 157
of the state at that time, with the addition of some knowl-
edge of the Latin language, which he obtained from the in-
struction of Rev. Aaron Putnam, a respectable minister of
the gospel in the same town. At an early age he w^as ap-
prenticed to a Surgeon, Dr. John Spalding of Canterb^^-
ry, under whose tuition he exhibited proofs of genius, and
made good use of the scanty means of instruction to which
he had access.
He was rapidly rising in professional reputation when,
at the beginning of the revolutionary war, he was called
out as a Surgeon to a Regiment of militia, and served in
the campaign of 1776 in New-Jersey ; lie was afterwards
appointed to the same station in the Continental Army, in
which he continued two years or more. In the battle of
Monmouth, and in winter quarters at Valley Forge, where
the American army underwent a general inocnlation for
smallpox, the services of Dr. W. gained him great repu-
tation and contributed much to his professional knowl-
edge- After leaving the army he practised as a surgeon
in Windham county with great reputation. At one peri-
od of his life he went to Maryland with the view of estab-
lishing himself in the practice of surgery, but did not con-
tinue there more than one year. Surgery was his favor-
ite branch, though his knowledge was not confined to
this, but embraced all branches of the healing art.
Dr. Waldo discovered an ardent thirst for knowledge,
and read with much interest all the medical publications to
which he could have access ; he was fond of music, paint-
ing and drawing, and has left in manuscript some hand-
some specimens of his poetical talent. He composed and
delivered several orations on public occasions, and pro-
nounced an elegant eulogy at the grave of the late Major
General Putnam.
The influence of Dr. Waldo was very great in forming
a medical society in the county where he resided, whicli
was the first that was formed in the state, and from this
beginning, and one other society in New-Haven, arose the
present Medical Society of the state of Connecticut.
The benevolence and humanity of Dr. Waldo were un-
bounded. He felt for others more than for himself. He
cared little for money, and has been known to give his
last dollar in charity. It will not be surprising that a
man of this character, who practised the medical profes-
sion in the impoverished state of the country, should leave
158 JOSIA.H MEIGS WARD.
nothing for his family. He died in the year 1794, greatly
lamented. A monument was erected to his memory in
tJie church yard of his native place, by Moriah Lodge of
which he had been an officer.
WARD, DR. JOSIAH MEIGS, was a native of the
town of Guilford in the state of Connecticut. His father
moved into the state of New-York while he was yet
young, and there he received his primary education. He
pursued the study of medicine under the instruction of
Dr. Percival of Berlin in that state, a gentleman of science
and extensive practice, and father of Dr. Percival the
poet.
Dr. Ward commenced the practice of medicine in the
state of New-York ; but upon the death of Dr. Percival,
which happened soon after, he removed to Berlin and
took the practice of his former instructor. In the early
part of his medical career he was distinguished as a young
man of sound judgment, diligent application to business,
and considerable reading. To his cases he devoted an un-
common share of attention, and investigated their nature
and discriminating symptoms with an ability that would
have done honor to great experience and riper years.
Upon the death of Dr. Hand of Worthington, whose
friend and companion he was, he exchanged his residence
to that flourishing and pleasant village. With a constitu-
tion naturally firm and vigorous, an ambition highly laud-
able to excel in his profession, and a deep and settled
conviction of the responsibility of his station, he was in-
defatigable in his exertions, regardless of fatigue, irregu-
larity and bodily eff'ort ; he made exertions and endured
privations which would have broken down the constitu-
tion of most men. Such a course with the ability which
he possessed, united to an unblemished life and great mod-
esty and propriety of deportment, could not fail to extend
his popularity and usefulness. The testimony which all
who knew him bore to his merit, gave a spring to the nat-
ural elasticity of his mind and body.
Few men in the country were more enviably situated
than Dr. Ward, when the fatal Epidemic of 1823 first ap-
peared in Beilin. This was the disease improperly called
spotted fever, more justly denominated by Dr. Miner Ty-
phus Syncopalis. Contrary to the common law of epi-
demics, it wa:? mild at the first, and, although it greatly
increased the business of Dr. Ward, he was able bv unex-
JOSIAH MEIGS WARD. 159
ampled diligence to attend to all his calls ; and such were
the modesty and j3rndence of his conduct that no unusual
excitement was apparent in the town till the disease had
existed a number of weeks. At lengtli, however, the char-
acter of the disease became more deadly, and the sudden
illness and death of two or three respectable citizens ex-
cited the greatest alarm and wide spread consternation ;
and the disease made a rapid and extensive progress. Dr.
Ward's activity was redoubled, day and night he was on
the alert. He attended to all his calls, and that faithfully.
For three months his labors were incessant and almost un-
exampled. During this period he allowed himself but
four or five hours for sleep, and scarcely a night passed
without this short repose being interrupted. All this fa-
tigue, and anxiety, and responsibility were borne with a
manly spirit and commendable patience. But the sever-
est trial was in reserve for him. The severity of the
disease and its rapid march to death, in several in-
stances, rendered the use of energetic practice indispensable.
The sudden fatality with which the malady was sometimes
attended, and which no practice in the power of art could
prevent, afforded an opportunity for the envious to assail
his character, and they basely attempted to destroy the
confidence and fair reputation he possessed. In the midst
of all this trial he pursued the even tenor of his way, calm,
selfpossessed, with full confidence in the correctness of
his course ; he persevered with an undeviating hand, he
discriminated with his usual sagacity, and prescribed with
his usual judgment. It was on this trying occasion that
the strong powers of his mind were displayed ; he was as
unshaken as the rocks that surrounded him. The shafts
of his enemies fell harmlessly before him, and he neither
retorted nor censured. In the autumn the epidemic abat-
ed ; the success of his practice proved the correctness of
his judgment and principles ; upwards of five hundred
cases of the epidemic had been treated by Dr. Ward and
his friends, of which forty-four proved fatal.
As his business began to decline, he found his health
had received its first shock. The uncommon efforts of
his mind and body, and the irregularity of his life, affect-
ed his nervous system, impaired the tone of his stomach,
and he was an invalid ever after. At the approach of the
succeeding sea?on the formidable disease reappeared ; fa-
tigue and anxiety aggravated his complaints, and made a
160 JOSIAH MEIGS WARD.
second inroad upon his constitution ; and in the winter
following his health was much impaired, though he con-
tinued his professional duties with unabated ardor. In
the summer of 1825 his wife was severely seized with the
epidemic. To her Dr. W. devoted himself ; his attentions
were unremitted, his anxiety was great, he watched for a
long time and trembled for her safety ; at length, how-
ever, she recovered. But his children sickened, and two
of them died. The disease still prevailed in the town,
and he was pressed with urgent calls. He visited a pa-
tient in the night, unfit as he was, worn down by fatigue,
anxiety and suffering. Feeling indisposed the next day,
he walked abroad in the open air, took a seat on the steps
of the church, and fell asleep ; he awoke with a chill upon
him, and went home sick, took some light medicine, and
continued to ride and visit his patients. His medical
friends advised him to cease from his labors, and to con-
fine himself, but his resolution overcame his judgment,
and he persisted in his efi"orts till nature was exhausted ;
a delirium ensued, and he sunk suddenly into the arms of
death in the prime of his life, in the midst of his useful-
ness, at the age of 43 years. Thus was a valuable life sac-
rificed to the labors and toils of professional duties.
In stature Dr. Ward was of the middle size, and well
proportioned ; the features of his face were expressive, his
nose aquiline, his eyes hazel, intelligent and penetrating.
His ample forehead would have aflforded a fine sample for
the Phrenologist.
He was a member of the Connecticut Medical Society,
and frequently a fellow of the same in the general conven-
tion of the state. In his domestic relations he was a kind
and affectionate husband, an excellent parent, and firm and
ardent friend, and his heart was full of benevolence. In
his professional avocations his excellent qualities were pe-
culiarly conspicuous. When disease and death were con-
stantly before him the temper of his mind was never ruf-
fled, although his feelings were alive to the welfare of
others. His faculty of discrimination was of a superior
cast, and he always took a comprehensive view of his
patient's case, and reflected well before he decided. In
consultation he was modest and unassuming, regarding the
opinions of others with deference and respect. Should it
be inquired upon what grounds Dr. W. should be subject-
ed to the annoyance of enemies, the spirit of envy will
JOSEPH WARREN. ICl
probably explain the cause. When the formidable epi-
demic above mentioned was making its ravages in tiie
sphere of his practice, of which he engrossed a large share,
some of his opposers ridiculed the idea of its existence,
and declared it to be altogether factitious. In this dilem-
ma Dr. W. requested a medical council of three of his
professional brethren, to examine into the nature of the
disease by inspecting the cases then under his care. This
council, consisting of respectable men, was assembled at
the expense of some public spirited citizens, and the result
was a full confirmation of the opinion of Dr. W., and ap-
probation of his mode of treatment in the disease. By
this expedient the excitement of the inhabitants was ap-
peased and their confidence in his character established.
WARREN, JOSEPH, was born inRoxbury, near Bos-
ton, in the year 1741. His father was a respectable farmer
in that place, who had held several municipal offices to the
acceptance of his fellow citizens. Joseph, with several
of his brothers, was instructed in the elementary branches
of knowledge at the public grammar school of the town,
which was distinguished for its successive instructers of
superior attainments. In 1755 he entered college, where
he sustained the character of a youth of talents, fine man-
ners, and of a generous, independent deportment, united to
great personal courage and perseverance. An anecdote
will illustrate his fearlessness and determination at that
age, when character can hardly be said to be formed.
Several students of Warren's class shut themselves in a
room to arrange some college affairs in a way which they
knew was contrary to his wishes, and barred the door so
effectually that he could not, without great violence, force
it; but he did not give over the attempt of getting amongst
them, for, perceiving that the window of the room in
which they were assembled was open and near a spout
which extended from the roof of the building to the ground,
he went to the top of the house, slid down to the eaves,
seized the spout, and, when he had descended as far as the
window, threw himself into the chamber amongst them.
At that instant the spout, which was decayed and weak,
gave way and fell to the ground. He looked at it with-
out emotion, said that it had served his purpose, and be-
gan to take his part in the business. A spectator of this
feat and narrow escape related this fact to me in the col-
lege yard, nearly half a century afterwards, and the im-
VOL. u. 21
162 JOSEPH WARREN.
pression it made on his mind was so strong, that he seemed
to feel the same emotion as though it happened but an
hour before.
On leaving college in 1759, Warren turned his attention
to the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Lloyd,
an eminent physician of that day, whose valuable life has
been protracted almost to the present time. Warren was
distinguished very soon after he commenced practice ; for,
when in 1764 the smallpox spread in Boston, he was
amongst the most successful in his method of treating that
disease, which was then considered the most dreadful
scourge of the human race, and the violence of which had
baffled the efforts of the learned Faculty of Medicine from
the time of its first appearance. From this moment he
stood high amongst his brethren, and was the favorite of
the people, and what he gained in their good will, he nev-
er lost. His personal appearance, his address, his courte-
sy and his humanity, won the way to the hearts of all, and
his knowledge and superiority of talents secured the con-
quest. A bright and lasting fame in his profession, with
the attendant consequences, wealth and influence, were
within his reach, and near at hand ; but the calls of a dis-
tracted country were paramount to every consideration of
his own interests, and he entered the vortex of politics,
never to return to the peaceful course of professional la-
bor.
The change in pviblic opinion had been gradually pre-
paring the minds of most men for a revolution. This Avas
not openly avowed ; amelioration of treatment for the
present, and assurance of kindness in future, were all that
the colonies asked from Great Britain — but these they did
not receive. The mother country mistook the spirit of
her children, and used threats when kindness would have
been the best policy. When Britain declared her right to
direct, govern and tax us in any form and at all times, the
colonies reasoned, remonstrated and entreated for a while;
and, when these means did not answer, they defied and
resisted. The political writers of the province had been
active and busy, and they were generally screened by fic-
titious names, or sent their productions anonymously into
the world ; but the time had arrived when speakers of
nerve and boldness were wanted to raise their voices
against oppression in every shape. Warren possessed first
rate qualities for an orator, and had early declared, in the
JOSEPH WARRKX. 163
strongest terms, his political sentiments, which were sorae-
wliat in advance of public opinion, for he held as tyranny-
all taxation Avhich could be imposed by the British parlia-
ment upon the colonies. In times of danger tlie people
are sagacious, and cling to those who best can serve them,
and every eye was on him in every emergency, for he had
not only the firmness and decision they wished for in a
leader, but was prudent and wary in all his plans. His first
object was to enlighten the people, and then he felt sure
of engaging their feelings in the general cause. He knew
when once they began, it would be impossible to tread
back — independence only would satisfy the country.
With an intention of directing public sentiment, without
appearing to be too active, he met frequently with a con-
siderable number of substantial mechanics, and others in
the middling classes of society, who were busy in politics.
This crisis required such a man as tliey found him to be,
one who could discern the signs of the times, and mould
the ductile materials to his will, and at the same time seem
only to follow in the path of others. His letter to Barn-
ard, which attracted the notice of government, had been
written several years before, in 1768; but in some form or
other he was constantly enlightening the people by his
pen ; but it is now difficult, and of no great importance,
to trace him in the papers of that period. Tlie public
was not then always right in designating the authors of po-
litical essays. In the different situations in which he was
called to act, he assumed as many characters as fable has
ever given to the tutelar god of his profession, and, like
him, in every one of them he retained the wisdom to
guide, and the power to charm. At one time he might be
found restraining the impetuosity, and bridling the fury
of those hotheaded politicians, who felt more than they
reasoned, and dared to do more than became men. Such
was his versatility, that he turned from these lectures of
caution and prudence, to asserting and defending the most
bold and undisguised principles of liberty, and defying in
their very teeth the agents of the crown.
Twice he was elected to deliver the oration on the fifth
of March, in commemoration of the "massacre," and his
orations are amongst the most distinguished produced by
that splendid list of speakers who addressed their fellow
citizens on this subject, so interesting to them all. In
these productions generally the immediate causes of this
164 JOSEPH WARREX.
event were overlooked, and the remote ones alone were
discussed. Here they Avere on safe ground, for tyranny
in its incipient stages has no excuse from opposition ; but
in its march it generally finds some plausible arguments
for its proceedings, drawn from the very resistance it nat-
urally produces. These occasions gave the orators a fine
field for remark, and a fair opportunity for effect. The
great orators of antiquity in their speeches attempted only
to rouse the people to retain what they possessed. Invec-
tive, entreaty, and pride had their effect in assisting these
mighty masters to influence the people. They were
ashamed to lose what their fathers left them, won by their
blood and so long preserved by their wisdom, their vir-
tues and their courage. Our statesmen had a harder task
to perform, for they were compelled to call on the people
to gain what they had never enjoyed — an independent rank
and standing amongst the nations of the world.
His next oration was delivered March 6th, 1775. It
was at his own solicitation that he was appointed to this du-
ty a second time. The fact is illustrative of his character,
and worthy of remembrance. Some British officers of the
army then in Boston had publicly declared that it should
be at the price of the life of any man to speak of the event
of the fifth of March, 1770, on that anniversary. War-
ren's soul took fire at such a threat so openly made, and
he wished for the honor of braving it. This was readily
granted, for at such a time a man would probably find but
few rivals. Many who would spurn the thought of per-
sonal fear, might be apprehensive that they would be so
far disconcerted as to forget their discourse. It is easier
to fight bravely, than to think clearly or correctly in dan-
ger. Passion sometimes nerves the arm to fight, but dis-
turbs the regular current of thought. The day came, and
the weather was remarkably fine. The Old South Meet-
ing House was crowded at an early hour. The British
officers occupied the aisles, the flight of steps to the pul-
pit, and several of them were within it. It was not pre-
cisely known whether this was accident or design. The
orator, with the assistance of his friends, made his en-
trance at the pulpit window by a ladder. The officers
seeing his coolness and intrepidity, made way for him to
advance and address the audience. An awful stillness pre-
ceded his exordium. Each man felt the palpitations of
his own heart, and saw the pale but determined face of
JOSEPH WARRKPT. 165
his neighbor. The speaker began his oration in a firm
tone of voice, and proceeded with great energy and pa-
thos. Warren and his friends were prepared to chastise
contumely, prevent disgrace, and avenge an attempt at as-
sassination.
The scene was sublime ; a jiatriot in whom the flush of
youth, and the grace and dignity of manhood were com-
bined, stood armed in the sanctuary of God, to animate
and encourage the sons of liberty, and to hurl defiance at
their oppressors. The orator commenced with the early
history of the country, described the tenure by which we
held our liberties and joroperty, the affection we had con-
stantly shown the parent country, and boldly told them
how, and by whom these blessings of life had been viola-
ted. There was in this appeal to Britain, in this descrip-
tion of suffering, agony and horror, a calm and high-soul-
ed defiance, which must have chilled the blood of every
sensible foe. Such another hour has seldom happened in
the history of man, and is not surpassed in the records
of nations. The thunders of Demosthenes rolled at a
distance from Philip and his host, and Tully poured the
fiercest torrent of his invective when Catiline was at a dis-
tance and his dagger no longer to be feared ; but Warren's
speech was made to proud oppressors resting on their
arms, whose errand it was to overawe, and whose business
it was to fight.
If the deed of Brutus deserved to be commemorated by
history, poetry, painting and sculpture, should not this
instance of patriotism and bravery be held in lasting re-
membrance ? If he "That struck the foremost man of all
this world," was hailed as the first of freemen, what hon-
ors are not due to him, who undismayed bearded the
British lion, to show the world what his countrymen dar-
ed to do in the cause of liberty ? If the statue of Brutus
M^as placed amongst those of the gods, who were the pre-
servers of Roman freedom, should not that of Warren fill
a lofty niche in the temple reared to perpetuate the re-
membrance of our birth as a nation ?
If independence was not at first openly avowed by our
leading men at that time, the hope of attaining it was
fondly cherished, and the exertions of the patriots pointed
to this end. The wise knew that the storm, which the
political Prosperos were raising, would pass away in
blood. With these impressions on his mind, Warren for
166
JOSEPH WARREN.
several years was preparing himself by study and obser-
vation to take a conspicuous rank in the military arrange-
ments which he knew must ensue.
On the 18th of April, 1775, by his agents in Boston, he
discovered the design of the British commander to seize
or destroy our few stores at Concord. He instantly des-
patched several confidential messengers to Lexington.
The late venerable patriot, Paul Revere, was one of them.
This gentleman has given a very interesting account of the
difficulties he encountered in the discharge of this duty.
The alarm was given, and the militia, burning with re-
sentment, were at day break, on the 19th, on the road to
repel insult and aggression. The drama was opened about
sunrise, within a few yards of the house of God, in Lex-
ington. Warren hastened to the field of action, in the
full ardor of his soul, and shared the dangers of the day.
While pressing on the enemy, a musket ball took off a
lock of his hair close to his ear. The lock was rolled
and pinned after the fashion of that day, and considerable
force must have been necessary to have cut it away. The
people were delighted with his cool, collected bravery, and
already considered him as a leader, whose gallantry they
were to admire, and in whose talents they were to confide.
On the 14th of June, 1775, the Provincial Congress of
Massachusetts made him a Major General of their forces ;
but, previous to the date ©f his commission, he had been
unceasing in his exertions to maintain order and enforce
discipline amongst the troops, which had hastily assem-
bled at Cambridge after the battle of Lexington, He min-
gled in the ranks, and by every method and argument
strove to inspire them with confidence, and succeeded in a
most wonderful manner in imparting to them a portion of
the flame which glowed in his own breast. At such a crisis
genius receives its birth right, the homage of inferior
minds, who for self-preservation are willing to be direct-
ed. Previous to receiving the appointment of major gen-
eral, he had been requested to take the office of physician
general to the army, but he chose to be where wounds
were to be made, rather than where they were to be heal-
ed. Yet he lent his aid and advice to the medical depart-
ment of the army, and was of great service to them in their
organization and arrangements.
He was at this time President of the Provincial Con-
gress, having been elected the preceding year a member
JOSEPH WARRE??. 167
from the town of Boston. In this body he discovered his
extraordinary powers of mind, and his peculiar fitness for
responsible offices at such a juncture. Cautious in pro-
posing measures, he was assiduous in pursuing what he
thought, after mature deliberation, to be riglit, and never
counted the probable cost of a measure, when he had de-
cided that it was necessary to be taken. When this con-
gress, which was sitting at Watertown, adjourned for the
day, he mounted his horse and hastened to the camp. Ev-
ery day " he bought golden opinions of all sorts of men ;"
and when the troops were called to act on Breed's Hill,
he had so often been amongst them, that his person was
known to most of the soldiers.
Several respectable historians have fallen in to some er-
rors in describing the battle in which he fell, by giving the
command of the troops on that day to Warren, when he
was only a volunteer in the fight. He did not arrive on
the battle ground until the enemy had commenced their
movements for the attack. As soon as he made his ap-
pearance on the field, the veteran commander of the day,
Colonel Prescott, desired to act under his directions ; but
Warren declined taking any other part than that of a vol-
unteer, and added that he came to learn the art of war
from an experienced soldier, whose orders he should be
happy to obey. In the battle he was armed with a mus-
ket, and stood in the ranks, now and then changing his
place to encourage his fellow soldiers by words and exam-
ple. He undoubtedly, from the state of hostilities, ex-
pected soon to act in his high military capacity, and it
was indispensable, according to his views, that he should
share the dangers of the field as a common soldier with
his fellow citizens, that his reputation for bravery might
be put beyond the possibility of suspicion. The wisdom
of such a course would never have been doubted, if he
had returned in safety from the fight. In such a struggle
for independence, the ordinary rules of prudence and cau-
tion could not govern those who were building up their
names for future usefulness by present exertion. Some
maxims drawn from the republican writers of antiqui-
ty, were worn as their mottos. Some precepts de-
scriptive of the charms of liberty, were ever on their
tongues, and some classical model of Greek or Roman
patriotism was constantly in their minds. Instances of
great men mixing in the ranks of common soldiers, were
168 JOSEPH WARREN.
to be found in ancient times, when men fought for their
altars and their homes. Tlie cases were parallel, and the
examples were imposing. When the battle was decided,
and our people fled, Warren was one of the last who left
the breast-work, and was slain within a few yards of it as
he was slowly retiring. He probably felt mortified at the
event of the day ; but, had he known how dearly the vic-
tory was purchased, and how little honor was gained by
those who won it, his heart might have been at rest. Like
the band of Leonidas, the vanquished have received by
the judgment of nations, from which there is no appeal,
the imperishable laurels of victors. His death brought a
sickness to the heart of the community, and the people
mourned his fall, not with the convulsive agony of a
betrothed virgin over the bleeding corse of her lover, but
with the pride of the Spartan mother, who in the intensity
of her grief smiled to see that the wounds whence life had
flown, were on the breast of her son, and was satisfied that
he had died in defence of his country. The worth of ths
victim, and the horror of the sacrifice, gave a higher val-
ue to our liberties, and produced a more fixed determina-
tion to preserve them.
This eminence has become sacred jrround. It contains
in its bosom the ashes of the brave who died fighting to
defend their altars and their homes. Strangers from all
countries visit this spot, for it is associated in their mem-
ories with Marathon and Plataeae, and all the mighty
struggles of determined freemen. Our citizens love to
wander over this field — the aged to awake recollections,
and the youthful to excite heroic emotions. The battle
ground is now all plainly to be seen — the spirit of modern
improvement, which would stop the streams of Helicon to
turn a mill, and cause to be felled the trees of Paradise to
make a rafter, has yet spared this hallowed height.
If " the days of chivalry be gone forever," and the high
and enthusiastic feelings of generosity and magnanimity
be not so widely diff"used as in more heroic ages, yet it
cannot be denied but that there have been, and still are, in-
dividuals whose bosoms are warmed with a spirit as glowing
and etherial, as ever swelled the heart of" mailed knight,"
who in the ecstasies of love, religion and martial glory,
joined the war-cry on the plains of Palestine, or proved
his steel on the infidel foe. The history of every revolu-
tion is interspersed with brilliant episodes of individual
JOSEPH WARREIt. 169
prowess. The pages of our own history, when fully Written
6ut, will sparkle profusely with these gems of romantic
Valor.
The calmness and indifference of the veteran " in clouds
of dust and seas of blood," can only be acquired by long
acquaintance with the trade of death ; but the heights of
Charlestown will bear eternal testimony how suddenly in
the cause of freedom the peaceful citizen can become the
invincible warrior ; stung by oppression, he springs for-
wrard from his tranquil pursuits, undaunted by opposition
and undismayed by danger, to fight even to death for the
defence of his rights. Parents, wives, children, and coun-
try, all the liallowed properties of existence, are to him
the talisman that takes fear from his heart, and nerves his
arm to victory. In the requiem over those who have
fallen in the cause of their country, which "Time with
his own eternal lips shall sing," the praises of Warren
shall be distinctly heard.
The blood of those patriots who have fallen in the de-
fence of republics has often " cried from the ground"
against the ingratitude of the country for which it was
shed. No monument was reared to their fame ; no record
of their virtues written ; no fostering hand extended to
their offspring ; but they and their deeds were neglected
and forgotten. Towards Warren there was no ingrati-
tude— our country is free from this stain. Congress were
the guardians of his honor, and remembered that his chil-
dren were unprotected orphans. Within a year after his
death, congress passed the following resolution.
" That a monument be erected to the memory of Gen-
eral Warren, in the town of Boston, with the following
inscription: —
IN HONOR OF
JOSEPH WARREN,
MAJOR GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.
HE DEVOTED HIS LIFE TO THE LIBERTIES OF HIS COUNTRY,
AND IN BRAVELY DEFENDING THEM, FELL AN EARLY VICTIM IN THE
Battle of nnnUtv Wlh
JUNE 17, 1775.
Th« Congress of the United States, as an acknowledgment of hi» services Arti
distinguished merit, have erected this monument to his memo»y."
VOL. II. 23
170 KICHOLAS BAKER WATER*.
It was resolved, likewise, " that the eldest son of Gen-
eral Warren should be educated from that time at the ex-
pense of the United States." On the first of July, 1780,
congress recognising these former resolutions, further re-
solved, "that it should be recommended to the Executive
of Massachusetts Bay, to make provision for the mainte-
nance and eckication of his three younger children, and
that congress would defray the expense to the amount of
the half pay of a major general, to commence at the time of
his death, and continue till the youngest of the children
should be of age." The part of the resolutions relating to
the education of the children, Avas carried into effect ac-
cordingly. The monument is not yet erected, but it is not
too late. The shade of Warren will not repine at this
neglect, while the ashes of Washington repose without
grave stone or epitaph.
The preceding memoir is taken from the Monthly Mag-
azine published in Boston, June, 1823, and is the produc-
tion of Samuel L. Knapp, Esq.
WATERS, NICHOLAS BAKER, M.D. He was born
in Maryland in the year 1764. His father was a respecta-
ble planter, and possessed a fine farm which furnished iiira
with every comfort and luxury which he desired. This
he unfortunately sold during the American war, for paper
money which depreciated almost to nothing before he
could invest it in other property. He afterwards remov-
ed to Philadelphia, where he died.
The place of Dr. Waters's early education cannot now
be ascertained ; but it did credit to his preceptor, whoever
lie may have been. He was an excellent classical and
English scholar. He studied medicine first under his un-
cle Dr. William Baker, a distinguished practitioner in Ma-
ryland, and finished it in Philadelphia, where he enjoyed
the benefit of the instruction derived from a residence of
several years in the Pennsylvania hospital and attending
the meilical lectures in the College of Philadelphia. In the
year 1783 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Ths subject of liis inaugural dissertation was the Scarlatina
Cynanchica ; and according to the rules of the college it
was written in the Latin language. He settled in Phila-
dalphi.i, and in the year 1791 performed a very acceptable
task to the Facvdty by abridging the expensive voluminous
and verbose system of Surgery by Benjamin Bell of Edin-
burgh, to which the late Dr. John Jones added a number
HU&a wittiAMsoir. 171
of useful practical notes. It was published in one large
0( tavo volume.
The frame of Dr. Waters's body was slight, and has con-
stitution delicate ; and shortly after his graduation syinp-
toms of a pulmonary disease made their appearance. Wiih
the view of obtaining relief he went to the We:t Indies,
and received temporary benefit. In the year 1790 hs was
united in marriage to Miss Hester Rittenhouse. the daugh-
ter of the eminent and amiable astronomer, David Ritten-
house of Philadelphia, with whom he enjoyed great happi-
ness during the remainder of his short life. The pulmonary
affection, however, with which he had long been threat-
ened, made slow, but steady progress, and in the year
1796 he finished his earthly career to the great regret of
the Medical Faculty, and all his acquaintance.
He was a man of great modesty and delicacy of senti-
ment, and of polished manners ; a hard student and of ex-
cellent talents in his profession. Had it pleased Providence
to spare his life, there can be no doubt that he would have
risen to eminence as a physician. He was appointed phy-
sician to the Philadelphia Dispensary, and was elected
a member of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. —
Dr. Mease.
WILLIAMSON, HUGH, M.D. LL.D., was a native of
the state of Pennsylvania ; he was born on the 5th day of
December, 1735, in West Nottingham township, near Oc-
tarara river, which divides Chester from Lancaster coun-
ty. His parents were natives of Irel md, but their earlier
ancestors, it is believed, came originally from Scotland.
His father, John Williamson, was an industrious trades-
man, who had pursued his business, that of a clothier, in
the city of Dublin. He came to America, and settled in
Chester county, al)ont the year 1730.
The mother of Dr. Williamson, Mary Davison, was a
native of Derry ; with her father, George Davison, she
came to this country when a child about tliree years of
age ; on their way to America they were captured and
plundered on the coast by Theach, the noted pirate Black-
beard ; upon beintj released they ariived in Philadelphia.
She died about fifteen years since, having attainecl her
90th year. The parents of Dr. Williamson were married
in the year 1731, shortly after his father's arrival in this
country ; and ten children, viz. six sons and four daugh-
172 HUGH VVILHAMSON.
ters, were the fruits of that connexion. Hugh was their
eldest son.
His parents were both distinguished for their undeviat-
ing integrity — their habits of industry and frugality — their
great moral worth, and attention to the duties of religion.
Of this parentage, Dr. Williamson was justly proud.
His father, observing that Hugh was of a slender, deli-
cate constitution, and that he was not likely to attain to
that vigor that would enable him to support himself by
manual labor, resolved to give him a liberal education.
After having received the common preparatory instruction
of a country school, near his father's house, he was sent at
an early age to learn the languages at an academy estab-
lished at New-London Cross Roads, under the direction
of that very eminent scholar, the Rev. Francis Alison.
In the prosecution of his studies, while at school, he
distinguished himself by his diligence, his love of order,
and his correct, moral and religious deportment ; for even
at that early age he had imbibed from his parents and in-
structers, a due sense of that " intimate connexion which
subsists between letters and morality, between sensibility
and taste, between an improved mind and a virtuous
heart."* Accordingly, under the impulse of these first
impressions, through life he
" all his study bent
To worship God aright, and know his works."
Thus prepared under the care of his eminent teachers,
he retired from the seminary of Dr. Alison, and at his
father's house applied himself to the study of Euclid's El-
ements, of which in a short time he became master. I
may here observe that he discovered very early in life, a
strong attachment to mathematical reasoning, and to that
order and precision which the science of mathematics im-
presses upon the mind ; but his absolute want of a poeti-
cal talent was not less perceptible.
The father now proposed to send his son to Europe to
finish his education that had been so successfully begun ;
but, as a charter had been obtained for the academy in
Philadelphia about the time he was to have sailed, it was
concluded that he should immdiately proceed to that city.
Accordingly, he entered in the first class in the College of
Philadelphia, where he remained four years ; and at the
* Johnson.
HUGH U'lLLlAMSON.
173
first commencement held in that college, on the Hth day
of May, 1 757, he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
A little anterior to this period, his father and family had
removed to Shippensburgh, Cumberland County. His
father died in the same year that his son received his first
degree.
Hugh was appointed his sole executor, and, upon the
event of his father's death, took up his residence with his
mother at Shippensburgh, where he remained about two
years, during which period he in a great degree devoted
himself to the settlement of his father's estate, personally
collecting the debts that were due to it, and which were
very much scattered. By the fatigue of body, in connex-
ion with the distress of mind he experienced upon the
death of his father, his constitution received a shock which
induced an alarming hypochondriasis, that was only reliev-
ed by travelling, and a release from the anxiety and care
which his attention to business had imposed.
As has already been intimated, Mr. Williamson's mind
was early impressed with a sense of religion. It is a re-
mark of an excellent writer, who duly appreciates this un-
ion of the intellectual faculties with purity of moral char-
acter and conduct in life, " That knowledge only is of
value which exalts the virtue, multiplies the comforts,
soothes the sorrow, and improves the general felicity of
human intercourse."* With Mr. Williamson this sentiment
was not a mere speculative opinion ; it entered into the
daily practice and pursuits of his life, and that love of
truth and virtue which philosophy had taught him as a
dignified sentiment, Christianity consecrated as a religious
duty. With this frame of mind, itAvas his original inten-
tion, and he considered it his duty, to prepare himself for
the ministry, at the same time believing that occupation
to be the most honorable and useful in which he could be
engaged, and for which his piety and education had pecu-
liarly qualified him. " It was remarkable," says a com-
munication which I have received from his family, " that
before he entered upon the study of divinity, while yet
quite a young.man, he visited and prayed with the sick in
the neighborhood, and it was pleasing to the pious of
those days to remark the fervency and devotion with
which this young layman approached the throne of grace."
• Wakefield.
174 HUSH WILLIAMSOrr.
During the period of his residence with his mother,
then a widow, he devoted all his time not occupied by the
business of his father's estate, to the study of divinity, fre-
quently visiting Dr. Samuel Finley, an eminent divine.
In 1759 Mr. Williamson went to Connecticut, where
he still pursued his theological studies, and was licensed
to preach the gospel. After his return from Connecti-
cut, he was also admitted a member of the presbytery of
Philadelphia. He preached but a short time, not exceed-
ing two years, and then his preaching must have been
only occasional ; he never was ordained, or took charge
of a congregation, for his health did not permit him
to perform the stated duties of a pastor. The infirm
state of his health in early life made it very questionable
whether, his lungs would bear the exertions of public
speaking ; these apprehensions were now verified, for he
became much troubled witli pains and strictures of his
chest, which led him to abandon the profession tliat was the
first object of his choice, and to which he was from a sense
of duty attached. The memorable controversy, too, which
took place about that period in the Presbyterian church
between the adherents of Mr. Whitefield, and those who
considered themselves as the old and more orthodox party,
also proved to him a source of great disgust, and, I am in-
formed, had great influence in withdrawing him from his
theological pursuits ; he accordingly left the pulpit, and
entered upon the study of medicine. To this science, it
appears, he also had already manifested some predilection ;
his nephew remarks upon this subject "my mother can
give but little information respecting tlie doctor's study of
medicine ; she, however, believes tliat this science must
have been a favorite study w^ith him long before he had
determined to attend to it regularly, as she found him,
when studying divinity, giving directions respecting inoc-
ulation for the smallpox."
In the year 1760 he received the degree of Master of
Arts in the College of Philadelphia, and was immediately
after appointed the professor of mathematics in that insti-
tution. He accepted the professorship, regarding it a
most honorable appointment, but without any intention of
neglecting his medical studies. It had been observed of
* Dr. Williamson in 1759 preached a discourse in the First Congregational
Church of Plymouth, Massachusetts, previoui to the arrival and settlement of the
Kev. Dr. Chandler Robbing. —T.
HUGH WILLIAMSOJ*. 175
him very early in life, that he had a strong natural fond-
nes^s for mathematical investigation, and it was remarked
that, while he was a student in college, all his public ex-
ercises and disputations partook so much of the mathe-
matical form of reasoning, that he was considered by his fel-
low students as an adroit and obstinate antagonist.
On the 8th of October, 1763, as I am informed by my
venerable friend, Bishop White, Mr. Williamson gave no-
tice of his intended resignation of his profe:«sorship ; and
in 1764 he left his native country for Europe, for the pur-
pose of prosecuting his medical studies at the University
of Edinburgh.
He remained in that city, enjoying the advantages of
instruction aiforded by the lectures of the elder Monro,
WJiytte, Cullen, Home, Alston, and Dr. John Gregory,
the author of the Legacy. During his stay in Edinburgh,
Mr. Williamson was occasionally confined to his chamber
or bed by intermitting fevers and pains in the breast, 'so
much so that he had nearly resolved to make a visit to
Lisbon, or some other warm climate ; but, recovering
from these complaints at the close of the lectures, he left
Edinburgh, made a tour through the northern parts of
Scotland, after which he proceeded to London, where he
remained twelve months, diligently pursuing his studies,
and, as at Edinburgh, by his zeal attracting the notice and
kind attentions of his instructers. From London he
crossed over to Holland, and proceeded to Utrecht, where
he completed his medical education. Having passed the
usual examination, in which he displayed his classical and
medical attainments, and having submitted to the profes-
sors of that University a Latin tliesis, he obtained the de-
gree of Doctor of Medicine. He afterwards amused him-
self with a tour on the continent, from which he returned
to his native country in a state of health considerably
improved.
After his return Dr. Williamson practised medicine in
Philadelphia for some years with great success, as it re-
spected the health of his patients, but Avith painful effects
as it regarded his own. By the occasional loss of sleep,
to which he was necessarily exposed, his constitution soon
became considerably impaired ; and so acute Avas his sen-
sibility to the sufferings of the sick, that he seldom had a
patient, in imminent danger, without experiencing a febrile
excitement of the system. He therefore resolved to aban-
17G HUGH WILLIAMSON.
don medicine, and to attempt the relief of his constitution
by mercantile pursuits. Fortunately for the interests of sci-
ence and, I may add, for our country, this resolution was
not carried into effect until some years after this period.
In the mean while Dr. Williamson remained in the city of
Philadelphia.
Shortly after this time the attention of the philosophers
both of Europe and America, was directed to an event
which was about to take place, of great importance to as-
tronomical science and to navigation : I refer to the transit
of Venus over the sun's disk, which occurred on the third
day of June, 1769. This phenomenon, which presented
to the American mathematicians and astronomers an ample
occasion for the display of their abilities in these depart-
ments of science, as might be expected, attracted great
attention in the colonies. At a meeting of the American
Philosophical Society, held on the 7th day of January,
1769, Dr. Hugh Williamson was appointed a member of a
committee, consisting of Mr. David Rittenhouse, the Rev.
Dr. Ewing, Dr. Smith, provost of the college, Mr. Charles
Thompson, and others.
The contacts of the limbs of Venus and the sun, as ob-
served and drawn up by Dr. Williamson, together with
the determination of the sun's parallax and distance, as
derived from those observations, are communicated to the
world in the first volume of the Transactions of the Philo-
sophical Society of Philadelphia.
The observations published on that memorable occasion,
by the Rev. Dr. Ewing, Mr. David Rittenhouse, the Rev.
Dr. Smith, by Professor Winthrop of Massachusetts, as
well as those by Dr. Williamson, and other American
astronomers, were considered by the philosophers of Eu-
rope as highly creditable to their authors, and of great
importance to the cause of science. By the astronomer
royal, the Rev. Mr. Nevil Maskelyne, they were referred
to with peculiar notice and approbation.
Soon after this event, the Philosophical Society of
Philadelphia, sensible of the correctness and ability with
which the labors referred to had been conducted, appoint-
ed the same committee, of which Dr. Williamson had
been an active member, to observe the transit of Mercury,
which was to take place on the 9th day of November of
the same year. The observations of Dr. Williamson, with
the elements of his calculation of that transit, are also con-
HUGH WILLIAMSON. Hi
tained in the same important volume of the American
Transactions.
In the month of Septemher, of the same momentous
year, a considerable degree of public alarm was excited by
the appearance of a remarkable comet. Its tail was of
vast extent, subtending an arch of ten or fifteen degrees.
Dr. Williamson, who had reflected much upon subjects of
this nature, could not allow himself to believe that com-
ets, more than other heavenly bodies, were destructive
masses of fire. Having considered the subject with great
attention, he presented to the American Philosophical So-
ciety a theory which seems to have been perfectly new,
and which he ever claimed as his own. The paper he at
that time published, has been lately rewritten, and in an
improved form has been again communicated to the pub-
lic in the first volume of tlie Transactions of the Literary
and Philosophical Society of New-York.
In the following year, 1770, Dr. Williamson prepared
and published, through the same channel of communica-
tion, some observations upon the change of climate that
had been remarked to take place more particularly in the
middle colonies of North America. The doctor had as-
certained that, within the last forty or fifty years, the
winters had not been so intensely cold, nor the summers
so disagreeably warm, as they had been in the earlier set-
tlement of the country ; and tliat during the same period
a very observable change had also taken place in the char-
acter of the prevailing diseases ; tiiat tlie fevers which had
for many years maintained a fatal reign through many
parts of this country, were then evidently on the decline ;
and that inflammatory fevers, wdth the several diseases of
cold seasons, had been observed to remit their violence as
the winters had become more temperate. To account for
these facts was the object of that communication. The
view taken of this subject gave an interest to that paper
which caused it to be extensively read and circulated. In
Europe it received the most respectful notice, and greatly
extended the name and fame of its author. The publica-
tion of this interesting paper, with those which had pre-
ceded it, not only procured for Dr. Williamson the notice
of the various literary institutions of his native country,
but they obtained for him abroad the most flattering dis-
tinctions. The Holland Society of Sciences, the Society
of Arts and Sciences of Utrecht, conferred upon him, in
VOL. II. 23
178 HUGH WILLIAMSON.
the most honorable manner, a membership in those distin-
guished institutions ; and about the same period he received
from a foreign university the degree of Doctor of Laws.
New scenes now opened upon his view. From some
letters addressed by Dr. Williamson to his friend, the late
Rev. Dr. Ewing, it appears that in 1 772 the doctor made
a voyage to the West India islands, for the purpose of col-
lecting subscriptions for the academy of Newark, in the
state of Delaware, of which institution he and Dr. Ewing
were trustees. Exceedingly anxious for the prosperity of
the academy, while he was yet in the islands, he planned
a tour through Great Britain for the benefit of that institu-
tion ; his project was communicated to the trustees, and
received their approbation ; accordingly, in the autumn
of 1773, Dr. Williamson, in conjunction with Dr. Ewing,
afterwards Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, was
appointed to make a tour through England, Scotland and
Ireland, to solicit further benefactions for the same acade-
my of Newark.
Thus honorably associated, they were received with
great attention by the literati and other men of influence
in Great Britain ; a circumstance in itself highly favorable
to the object of their mission. Their success, however,
w^as but indifferent.
The constant hope of accommodation with the colonies,
and the example of the King, from whom they received a
liberal donation, notwithstanding his great displeasure to-
wards his American subjects, encouraged them to pei'se-
vere in the business of their mission until the autumn of
1775. Hostilities having then commenced. Dr. Ewing
returned to America, leaving Dr. Williamson in London,
who determined to remain and to make some further
efforts for the establishment of his favorite academy. But
I must return to some circumstances of importance which
here claim our notice.
The vessel in which Dr. Williamson had engaged pass-
age for Europe, lay in the harbor of Boston, to which
place he had proceeded, and was waiting for her sailing at
the very time at which that remarkable circumstance took
place, the destruction of the tea of the East India Compa-
ny. Upon Dr. Williamson's arrival in England, he was
the first to report to the British Government that occur-
rence ; and, after a private interview with Lord Dart-
mouth, was examined on the subject before his Majesty's
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 179
Privy Council : that examination took place on the lOtli
of February, 1774. On that occasion Dr. Williamson
ventured to declare that, if the coercive measures of Par- \
liament wei-e persisted in, nothing less than a civil war /
would be the result. Time soon verified his prediction ;
but the want of correct information on the part of the
British ministry as to the state of public feeling in this
country, seems almost incredible. Lord North himself )
has been heard to declare that Dr. Williamson was the first 7
person who, in his hearing, had even intimated the proba- \
bility of such an event.* ^
* While Dr. Williamson was at Boston, he became acquainted with Messrs.
Adams, Warren, Otis, and other selectmen. On the 22d of December, 1773, a
few days after the tea was destroyed, he sailed from Boston for London in a sliip
that belonged to Mr. Hancock. Governor Hutchinson had sent his despatches by
a brig that sailed some days before the ship. She belonged to a man of other poli-
tics. In that bng sailed three gentlemen passengers. The ship arrived six days
before the brig. In the mean time. Dr. W^illiamson, in conversation with Lord
Dartmouth, had detailed the events at Boston. The three gentlemen who arrived
in the brig, were immediately examined, and their evidence, signed and sworn to
before the Privy Council, was afterwards communicated to Parliament. Dr. Wil-
liamson being sent for, was at first examined before two or three public officers,
about the 1st of February, 1774, preparatory to his being examined before the
Privy Council. From the several questions that had been put to him, and the
direct answers, he concluded that no satisfactory knowledge could hare been ac-
quired of the late incidents in Boston : therefore, when he returned to his lodging,
he wrote a regular detail of the several material incidents he had observed in Bos-
ton, which included an answer to the several questions that had been put to him,
and a statement of sundry facts. When he attended the next day at the Horse-
Guards, where the Privy Council sat, an officer read to him what had been written
as his answer to the questions that had been propounded. He objected to the
whole as incorrect, and handed him the narrative he had wiilten. After that officer
had informed the council of the Doctor's objections to the answers as written, the
Doctor was called in, and the Lord President informed him that they would receive
his narrative, but wished to ask him a few more questions. The clerk wrote his
answer to one of the questions so very incorrectly, as to convey an idea very dif-
ferent from what was intended ; of this the Doctor complained, and the clerk was
properly reprimanded. When the examination was finished, an officer, the Attor-
ney General, handed the Doctor a book, and a pen, that he might swear and sign
his name. He laid down the pen, requesting their lordships to believe that he was
not in the habit of saying things that he was not willing to swear ; but, although he
had studied medicine and not law, he knew so much of the law as that a witness
should not be examined concerning any fact that might endanger a man's life, un-
less the party was present by whom he might be interrogated. This, he said, was
counted to be the law in England ; he could not tell whether it would pass for law
in America : " But if Ihe measures toere about to be pursued by Parliament
against America, lohich out of doors were said to be intended, ihe time urns not
far distant, when his native country would be deluged iviih blood." " This
hand," said he, " shall be guiltless of that blood" The Lord Chancellor assured
him, that the examination and oath now taken could not be used against any man
who might be prosecuted, and tried for life ; and the president declared upon his
honor that it had been the custom, time out of mind, to examine witnesses upon
oath before the Privy Council, consequently this could not be considered as setting
a novel precedent. Dr. Williamson then subscribed the narrative. The examina-
tions of the other three gentlemen were communicated to Parliament, but Dr.
W. understood that his examination had not been communicated, nor could ho think
180 HUGH WILLIAMSON.
We now come to an event memorable by the commo-
tion it excited at the time, and by the magnitude of the
consec[nences which have since arisen from it ; I refer to
the discovery of the celebrated Letters of Hutcliinson and
Oliver : and here I beg leave to call your notice to a few
of the earlier circumstances of the late revolutionary war,
in order to communicate a fact hitherto unrevealed.
Althouo;h the disturbances which originated in the fam-
ous stamp act, had nearly subsided with the repeal of that
noxious measure, and returning sentiments of friendship
were every day becoming more manifest, yet new obsta-
cles to a permanent reconciliation appeared in the attempts
of the British administration to render certain officers of
the provincial governments dependent on the crown alone.
This measure of the court gave particular offence to the
colony of Massachusetts, from the peculiarly obnoxious
character of their governor, who, impelled by avarice and
by the love of dominion, had, in furtherance of his
schemes of self-aggrandizement, uniformly manifested the
most determined support to the views and measures of the
mother country. However discreditable to his reputation
it may be, certain it is that Governor Hutchinson was se-
cretly laboring to subvert the chartered rights of the colo-
ny, whose interests he had sworn to protect. His agency
in procuring the passage of the stamp act was more than
suspected, and apparently upon reasonable grounds.
' The illustrious Franklin, who had recently rendered
himself conspicuous by his examination before a commit-
of any reason why it should have been suppressed, unless that he had observed in
the course of his narrative, that the selectmen in Boston caused a guard to be plac-
ed over the tea ships, for the double purpose, as they alleged, of preventing the tea
from being smuggled on shore, and of preventing evil-minded persons from destroy-
ing the ships or tea ; for they had determined that both should return to London.
As that fact seemed to invalidate the charge of the premeditated intention of the
selectmen to destroy the tea, which charge, however, was of great use to the
administration in their desire to cripple the town of Boston, it may have caused the
suppression of his evidence. [The author of this memoir is in possession of the
original draft of Dr. Williamson's narrative communicated to the Privy Council.]
It is a remarkable circumstance, that neither Governor Hutchinson, of Massa-
chusetts, nor any other man in the service of the governor, should have had the
candor to intimate to the Prime Minister that resistance might be the effect of
severe measures.
In October, 1776, Lord North, having sent for Mr. Ralph Izard, then in Lon-
don, and Dr. Williamson, to ask their opinion concerning the operation of a parti-
cular law, told the Doctor that he, in presence of the Privy Council, was the first
person that ever had intimated, in his hearing, the probability of a civil war in
America.
The particular facts contained in this note, were communicated to the writer by
Dr. Williamion, a ihort time before his decease.
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 181
tee of the British Privy Council, and who at tliis period
resided in, London as agent for the colonies of Pennsylva-
nia and Massachusetts, obtained possession, through the
agency of a third person, of certain letters written by
Governor Hutchinson ; Secretary Oliver, afterwards
Lieutenant Governor ; Charles Paxton, Esquire, and other
servants of the crown ; and sent by them from Boston to
Thomas Whately, Esquire, Member of Parliament, and a
private Secretary of Lord Grenville.
In these letters the character of the people of Massachu-
setts was painted in the most odious colors, and their griev-
ances and proceedings misrepresented by falsehoods tlie
most glaring and unfounded. It would seem to have been
equally the object of Governor Hutchinson and his coad-
jutors, to furnish excuses for the ministry, already suffi-
ciently disposed to adopt every measure of severity to-
wards the colonists through the pi'ejudiced representations
of Bernard and his commissioners ; and to jioison the minds
of the opposition, who had on most occasions proved
themselves their warm advocates.
Dr. Franklin lost no time in transmitting these letters
to his constituents at Boston. " The indignation and ani-
mosity which were excited, on their perusal, knew no
bounds. The House of Representatives agreed on a peti-
tion and remonstrance to his Majesty, in which they
charged their Governor and Lieutenant Governor with be-
ing betrayers of their trust, and of the people they govern-
ed ; and of giving private, partial and false information.
They also declared them enemies to the colonies, and
prayed for justice against them, and for their speedy re-
moval from their places."*
Their petition and the remonstrance of the people of
Massachusetts were communicated to his Majesty's Privy
Council by Dr. Franklin in person, and, after hearing by
that board, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were
acquitted. It was on this occasion tliat Mr. Wedderburn,
afterwards Lord Loughborough, who was emploved as
coimsel on the part of the Governor, pronounced liis fa-
mous philippic against Dr. Franklin ; Avhich has always
been considered among the most finished specimens of ora-
tory in the English language In this speech he charged
that venerable character with having procured the letters
* Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Franklin^ 4to. p. 183. Lond. ed. I81S.
182 HUGH WILLIAMSO:^.
Ijy unfair means. " The letters could not have come to
Dr. Franklin," says Mr. Wedderburn, " by fair means ;
the writers did not give them to him, nor yet did the de-
ceased correspondent, Mr. Whately, who, from our inti-
macy, would have told me of it : nothing then will acquit
Dr. Franklin of the charge of obtaining them by fraudu-
lent or corrupt means, for the most malignant of purposes:
unless he stole them from the person who stole them.
This argument is irrefragable.
" I hope, my lords, you will mark and brand the man,
for the honor of this country, of Europe, and of mankind.
Private correspondence has hitherto been held sacred at
times of the greatest party rage ; not only in politics, but
religion." " He has forfeited all the respect of societies
and of men. Into what companies will he hereafter go
with an unembarrassed face, or the honest intrepidity of
virtue ? Men will watch him with a jealous eye ; they
will hide their papers from him, and lock up their escru-
toires. He will henceforth esteem it a libel to be called a
man of letters^ homo triujvi literarum."*
A controversy having taken place in the public prints
between Mr. William Whately, the brother of tlie secretary
to whom the letters had been addressed and who was now
dead, and Mr., afterwards Sir John Temple, arising out of
the manner in which the letters of Governor Hutchinson
had been procured and transmitted to Boston, and which
dispute was followed by a duel between those two gentle-
men, Dr. Franklin, in order to prevent any further mis-
chief, published a letter in the newspapers, in which he
assumed the entire responsibility of sending the papers to
America. Alluding to this letter of Dr. Franklin, Mr.
Wedderburn continued :
" But he not only took away the letters from one broth-
er, but kept himself concealed till he had nearly occasion-
ed the murder of tlie other. It is impossible to read his
account, expressive of the coolest and most deliberate mal-
ice, without horror. Amid these tragical events, of one
person nearly murdered, of another answerable for the
issue ; of a worthy governor hurt in his dearest interest ;
the fate of America is in suspense. Here is a man, who
with the utmost insensibility of remorse stands up and
* Memoirs of Franklin, 4to. Vol. I. Appendix. See also the letters of Governor
Hutchinson, and Lieutenant Governor Oliver, &c. and remarks thereon, by Israel
JSIaudit, with the assembly's address, &c. 2d edition. London, 1774.
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 183
avows himself the author of all : I can compare it only to
Zanga, in Dr. Young's Revenge : —
' Know then 'twas I —
I forged the letter — I disposed the picture —
I hated — I despised — and I destroy.'
" I ask, my lords, whether the revengeful temper, attri-
buted by poetic fiction only to the bloody African, is not
surpassed by the coolness and apathy of the wily Ameri-
can ?"
The speeches of Mr. Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashbur-
ton, and Mr. Lee, who appeared as counsel in behalf of
the assembly of Massachusetts, were never reported at
length ; but they chiefly insisted upon the noxious parts of
the letters of Hutchinson and Oliver.
By the preceding extracts from the speech of Mr. Wed-
derburn, it will be seen that the chief subject of his vehe-
ment invective Was the disclosure, by Dr. Franklin, of
what was termed by the Parliamentary orator a private
correspondence.* But the truth is, these letters could not
be considered in any wise as private ; but were as public
as letters could be. To use the emphatic language of Dr.
Franklin himself, " They were not of the nature of pri-
vate letters between friencls ; they were written by public
officers to persons in public stations, on public affairs, and
intended to procure public measures : they were therefore
handed to other pid^lic persons, who might be influenced by
them to produce those measures. Their tendency was to in-
cense the mother country against her colonies, and by the
steps recommended to widen the breach, whicli they effect-
ed. The chief caution expressed with regard to privacy
was, to keep their contents from the colony agents, who^
the writers apprehended, might return them, or copies of
them, to America. That apprehension was, it seems, well
founded ; for the first agent who laid his hands on them,
thought it his duty to transmit them to his constituents."
Thus Dr. Franklin performed a service which his situ-
ation as a public agent required of him. But, notwith-
standing the secrecy with which it had been conducted,
the letters were soon after published by the Assembly of
Massachusetts ; not, however, until after the appearance of
* Dr. Priestley, who was present when Lord Loughborough pronounced his vio-
lent invective against Dr. Franklin, before the Privy Council, has published an in-
teresting letter respecting Dr. Franklin's behavior on that occasion.
134 HUGH WILLIAMSON.
other copies in Boston, produced by a member who, it
was reported, had just received them from England.
But it is time tliat I should declare to you that this third
person, from whom Dr. Franklin received these famous
letters, (and permit me to add, that this is the first time
the fact has been publicly disclosed,) was Dr. Hugh Wil-
liamson.
I have before stated his mission in behalf of the acade-
my. Dr. Williamson had now arrived in London. Feel-
ing a lively interest in the momentous questions then agi-
tated, and suspecting that a clandestine correspondence
hostile to the interest of the colonies, was carried on be-
tween Hutchinson and certain leading members of the
British Cabinet, he determined to ascertain the truth by a
bold experiment.
He had learned that Governor Hutchinson's letters were
deposited in an office different from that in which they
ought regularly to have been placed ; and, having under-
stood that there was little exactness in the transaction of
the business of that office, (it is believed it was the office
of a particular department of the treasury,) he immediate-
ly repaired to it, and addressed himself to the chief clerk,
not finding the principal within. Assuming the demeanor
of official importance, he peremptorily stated that he had
come for the last letters that had been received from Gov-
ernor Hutchinson and Mr. Oliver, noticing the office in
which they ought regularly to have been placed. Without
any question being asked, the letters were delivered. The
clerk, doubtless, supposed him to be an authorized person
from some otlier public office. Dr. Williamson imme-
diately carried them to Dr. Franklin, and the next day
left London for Holland.
I received this important fact from a gentleman of high
respectability, now living ; with whom, as the companion
and friend of his early days, Dr. Williamson had entrusted
the secret.*
By this daring measure, were detected and put beyond
question, the misrepresentations and design of Hutchinson
and his associates ; and, perhaps, no event in the previ-
ous history of the provinces excited more bitter indigna-
tion, or was more calculated to call for opposition to the
* See Additional Documents.
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 185
measures of Great Britain, to which these misrepresenta-
tions had given rise. (See Notes at the end of this vohime.)
The lively interest and the conspicuous part wliich Dr.
Williamson took in public affairs, did not prevent him,
while in England, from bestowing a portion of his atten-
tion upon scientilic pursuits. Electricity, whose laws had
been recently determined by the discoveries of Dr. Frank-
lin, and by his genius introduced among the sciences, was
then a study which largely engrossed the minds of j)hilos-
ophers. In conjunction with Dr. Ingcnliouz, Mr. Walsh,
Mr. John Hunter, and Dr. Franklin, he frequently institut-
ed electrical experiments. The only paper which bears tes-
timony to his investigations on this subject, is that entitled,
"Experiments and Observations on the Gymnotus Elec-
tricus, or Electrical Eel," which was first published in the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Lon-
don, for the year 1775. Like the experiments of Mr.
Walsh, those of Dr. Williamson led to a belief that the
shock given by the gymnotus electricus, was truly an elec-
trical phenomenon.
Dr. Williamson had scarcely made his tour through ,
Holland and the Low Countries, when the nev.^s of the ■
declaration of American Independence reached him. He
now concluded to return to his native land. He proceed- '
ed to France, and after a short time spent in that king-
dom, during a great part of which he was confined by
sickness, he sailed from Nantz in December, for Philadel-
phia, at which place he did not arrive before the 15th of
March. The ship in which he sailed was captured off the
Capes of Delaware, but he, with another passenger, escap-
ed in an open boat with some very important public des-
patches, of which Dr. Williamson was the bearer.
The American army, at tlie period of Dr. Williamson's
return from Europe, was in some measure organized, and
every office in the Medical Staff, or in the line, that he
could with any propriety accept, was filled up. True it was,
that he had strong claims to public employment, and the
proofs were in his possession ; but those claims he could not
at that time urge without endanffering individuals who
were on the other side of the Atlantic, nor could he do it
without a breach of confidence, a species of crime that he
cordially abhorred. He resolved, therefore, to remain in
private life, waiting for opi)ortunities which he trusted
would present themselves in the course of a dangerous
VOL. n. ' 2i
186 HUGH WILLIAMSON.
struggle. In the mean time he undertook a journey to
Charleston, in South Carolina, with a younger brother, on
a mercantile speculation. His In-other sailed from Charles-
ton for a neutral port in the West Indies. The Doctor, in
company with another gentleman, purchased a sloop in
Charleston, and, having loaded her with a suitable cargo
intended for Baltimore, ordered her for Edenton, in North
Carolina ; but before his arrival at Edenton General Howe,
with the British army, on his way to Philadelpliia, had
entered Chesapeak Bay. That circumstance determined '
the Docter to continue in Edenton, from which he after-
wards traded to neutral islands in the West Indies ; but
while he thus cmitinued his mercantile connexion with his
brother, then also engaged in the West India trade, he de-
termined to resume the practice of medicine.
Daring the period of his residence there, he was invited
to Newbern, for the purpose of communicating the small-
pox to such as had not experienced the benefits of inocu-
lation. These circumstances in part contributed to spread
the name of Dr. Williamson, and to lay the foundation of
that fame and confidence which he afterwards obtained in
the State of North Carolina.
The Doctor had taken an early opportunity of inform-
ing the governor of that province, that if any circumstance
should occur in the course of the war, in which he could
be of use to the state, he might immediately command his
services. It is known that tlie British troops took posses-
sion of Charleston in the winter of 1779 — 1780, and that
the assembly of North Carolina ordered a large draft to be
made from their militia, of from four to six thousand men,
who should join the regular troops then ordered for the
relief of South Carolina. The command of the North
Carolina militia was given to their late Governor Caswell,
with the rank of Major General. The General, putting
Dr. Williamson in mind of a former }nomise, handed him
a commission, by which he found himself at the head of
the medical department, as physician and surgeon.
An occasion now presented itself, in which the Doctor
had an opportunity of displaying his firmness of charac-
ter, his humanity, his professional skill, and his incor-
ruptible adherence to the cause in wliich he had embark-
ed. On the morning after the battle near Camden, on the
18th of August, 1780, which the Doctor witnessed, he fell
in with General Caswell, and requested of him to give him a
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 187
fag, observing that, although a great part of the militia had
behaved ill, yet many of tliem, as he must have observed,
fought with distinguished bravery, and that a considera-
ble number, in consequence, were wounded and made
prisoners. They claimed our attention. The General
advised him to send in some of the regimental surgeons,
observing that his duty did not require that service from
him. The Doctor replied that the regimental surgeons,
such of them as he had seen, refused to go ; being, as he
suspected, afraid of the consequences. But, said he, if I
have lived until a flag will not protect me, I have outlived
my country ; and, in that case, have lived one day too
long. To this observation, no reply was made ; he ob-
tained a pass, and the necessary instructions. He remain-
ed two months with the enemy in Camden, during which
time he rendered very essential services to the prisoners
committed to his care.
Early in the spring of 1782 Dr. Williamson took his
seat as a representative of Edenton, in tlie House of Com-
mons of North Carolina. In that assembly he fortunately
met with several members whose brothers, sons, or other
connexions, he had served in the army, or Avhile tliey were
prisoners. Those services were not forgotten. It was to
be expected that a gentleman who had seen inucli of tlie
world, and whose education had been so extensive, could
hardly fail, with the aid of moderate oratorical abilities, to
become an influential member in a deliberative body.
Such in fact he proved. Among other bills which he in-
troduced with success, we find one for erecting a court of
chancery, which had often been attempted, in vain, in
that state. It may be presumed that old members, who
had been accustomed to conduct the l)usiness of that house,
were not gratified with being left in the minority by a
gentleman who was, at that time, comparatively a stranger
in their state. Yet, when the election came on for mem-
bers of congress, those very gentlemen added their influ-
ence to that of the friends he had acquired in the army,
and he immediately was sent to the general congress with- \
out opposition. He continr.ed at the head of the delega- '
tion for three years, the longest time that any member was
then permitted to serve.
During the three years in which he was not eligible (o
hold a seat in that body, he served the state occasionally
in its legislature, or in some other capacity.
18S HUGH WILLIAMSON.
In the year 1786 he was one of the few members wlio
were sent to Annapolis, to revise and amend the constitu-
tion of the United States. In tliat year Dr. Williamson
published a series of Essays, deprecating paper currency,
and recommending an excise to be imposed. In the year
1787 he was one of the delegates from North Carolina, in
the general convention at Philadelphia, who formed and
signed the present constitution of the United States.
As the State of North Carolina had at that time in cir-
culation two large emissions of paper money, which were a
legal tender, and which had depreciated to less than half of
its nominal value, we are not surprised that a majority of
its citizens should have looked on the federal constitution
with an evil eye ; for debtors, as we presume, in most
countries form the majority. It followed that the Doc-
tor, who advocated the new constitution with great zeal
as well as ability, lost a portion of his popularity in the
state he had represented ; he was, nevertheless, again
chosen in December, 1787, by the general assembly, to
take his seat in congress the succeeding spring, when he
would be again eligible, having been three years absent
from that body. The assembly at the same time passed a
law for a general state convention, to be held at Hillsbor-
ough in July, 1788, for the purpose of determining upon
the constitution that had been proposed. The conven-
tion, after much debate, adjourned on the 2d of August,
having refused to adopt the proposed constitution by a
majority of more than two to one, viz. one hundred and
eighty-four to eighty-four.
The next general assembly, in December, 1788, passed
a law calling another convention, to meet in the following
year. It may be recollected that, eleven of the states hav-
ing adopted the new constitution, it was immediately af-
ter carried into operation, and the first congress met in
New-York, in the year 1789. It happened a short time
after that congress met, of which Dr. Williamson was a
member, several small vessels laden with naval stores ar-
rived from North Carolina at the port of New-York.
The Collector of the customs refused them entrance, un-
less they should pay the alien duty, which was six to one
of the domestic. Dr. Williamson, who continued in New-
York after the dissolution of the old congress, as a com-
missioner to settle the accounts of North Carolina with
the United States, drew up and presented to congress a
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 189
spirited protest against the decision of the Collector ; at
the same time urffing the fact, that North Carolina had
not by any act forfeited her claim to be considered as one
of the United States. This protest, in twenty-four hours,
produced a law, by which the Carolina vessels were al-
lowed to enter upon paying the domestic tonnage. By that
interposition and attention to the interests of North Caro-
lina, the Doctor more than regained his former popular-
ity. When the first convention sat, he was attending in
congress ; but he was chosen, and attended as a member
of the second convention in 1789, by Avhich the constitu-
tion was adopted by a majority of two to one. The Doc-
tor's congressional career was now to terminate. He had
been chosen a representative from North Carolina in the
first and second congress ; but, desirous of retiring from
political life, he, at a new election, declined being a can-
didate.
Before I pass on to other circumstances connected with
the career of Dr. Williamson, I beg to be indulged in one
or two remarks on the character and influence of his polit-
ical life. We have seen, that as a representative of the
people in the legislature of North Carolina, and in the su-
preme council of the nation, he was occupied many years.
No man, I believe, ever enjoyed in a larger degree the
confidence of his constituents for integrity of conduct ; and
the influence of his character will be readily appreciated,
when we advert to the many important services he eflect-
ed during the most eventful period of our political his-
tory.
He was anxious to prove himself worthy of the high
trust reposed in him, nor did he ever permit any private
or selfish views to interfere with considerations of public
interest. As chairman of numerous committees, as the
mover of important resolutions, as the framer of new
propositions and new laws, he devoted the best energies of
an active mind, and was evei* prominent in tlie ])usiness of
the house. In debate his elocution was striking, but some-
what peculiar. The graces of oratory did not belong to
Dr. Williamson ; yet the known purity of his intentions,
his inflexible devotedness to the interests of his country,
and the unblemished tenor of his private life, awakened an
attention which was well supported by the pertinency of
his observations, the soundness of Ids reasoning, and the
information he possessed upon every subject to whitli he
190 HUGH WILLIAMSON.
directed his attention. While in congress, his duties as a
legislator were his exclusive study ; and this advantage
seldom failed of a success which was denied to the length-
ened debate and declamation of his opponents.
In January, 1789, Doctor Williamson was married to
Miss Maria Apthorpe, daughter of the late Honorable
Charles Ward Apthorpe, formerly a member of his Majes'
ty's Council for the province of New-York ; by that lady
he had two sons ; she died when the youngest was but a
few days old.
After the loss he had sustained by the death of Mrs. Wil-
liamson, he resolved to retire from public employment ;
to settle his private affairs ; to prepare for publication his
work on Climate, and his more elaborate performance, his
History of North Carolina : but the object of attention
whicli lay still nearer his heart, and which especially in-
duced him to withdraw from the very honorable station
he had held, was the education of his children ; to them
he devoted, with great solicitude, a large portion of his
time and attention. His eldest son, who died in 1811,
in the 22d year of his age, gave evidence of the parental
care that had been exercised in the superintendence of his
education, and of the success with which it had been con-
ducted.
In 1811 his " Observations on the climate in different
parts of America, compared with the climate in corres-
ponding parts of the other Continent," were ])ublished, in
one volume, 8vo. In the following year, 1812, appeared
his History of North Carolina, in two volumes, 8vo. The
author commences his undertaking with a short account
of the discoveries made in America by adventurers from
the different parts of Europe. He next relates the attempts
of Sir Walter Raleigh to settle a colony in North Caroli-
na, and from that time the history of that colony is con-
tinued down to the beginning of the American revolution :
the work closes with a view of the soil, produce, and
general state of health in different parts of that country.
In the proofs and explanations annexed to each volume,
are inserted many valuable documents, selected with care,
illustrative of matters contained in the body of the text.
Tliere are other writings by the same author, of a minor
nature, wliicli merit notice.- He was at no time an indif-
ferent spectator of passing events ; and, even after he had
actually withdrawn from public life, was repeatedly en-
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 191
gaged, exclusively of his works on climate and on North
Carolina, in various publications relating to natural his-
tory, medicine, and other branches of a pliilosophical
character. In 1797 Dr. Williamson wrote a short but im-
portant paper on the fevers of North Carolina, as they had
prevailed in 1792, in Martin county, near the river Roan-
ake, and as they had appeared in 1794, upon the river
Neus, pointing out the treatment tliat had been found most
successful, and the fatal effects of bloodletting in fevers of
that type : these remarks were afterwards extended, and
composed a chapter in his History of North Carolina,
highly interesting both to the pupil and practitioner of
medicine. In the American Museum, by Mathew Carey,
lie published several fugitive pieces on languages and poli-
tics. In his communication on the Fascination of Ser-
pents, published in the Medical Repository, he offers some
new and ingenious opinions on that still inexplicable phe-
nomenon in natural history.
Upon the appearance of the yellow fever in New- York,
in 1805, Dr. Williamson was appointed by the corporation
of the city, one of a Medical Committee to investigate ther
particular character and origin of the cases that occurred
at the commencement of the pestilence of that season.
From all that the Doctor had previously seen, as well as
the facts that now fell under his view, he was led to the
belief, with the other members of that committee, that the
yellow fever is a disease sui generis, and consequently of a
nature altogether different from the bilious remittent fever
of this country.
He enriched the American Medical and Philosophical
Register Avith several valuable papers. The first, entitled
" Remarks upon the incorrect manner in which Iron Rods
are sometimes set up for defending Houses from Light-
ning," &c. conveys some important practical instruction
upon that subject.* His other papers were, " Conjectures
respecting the Native Climate of Pestilence ;" " Observa-
tions on Navigable Canals ;" Observations on the means of
preserving the Commerce of New-York," and " Addition-
al Observations on Navigable Canals ;" all printed in the
same periodical journal, under the signatures of Observer^
or Mercator. Dr. Williamson was among the first of our
citizens who entertained correct views as to the j)ractica-
* Vol. 1.
J92 HUGH WILLIAMSON.
bility of forming a canal to connect the waters of Lake
Erie with the Hudson River.
In the year 1810 Dr. Williamson was appointed by the
New-York Historical Society to deliver the anniversary
discourse, illustrative of the objects of that institution ; he
readily complied with their request, and upon that occa-
sion selected for his subject, " the benefits of Civil His-
tory."
In 1814, associated with the present governor* of this
state, and some other gentlemen friendly to the interests
of science, and desirous to promote the literary reputation
of the state of New-York, Dr. Williamson took an active
part in the formation and establishment of the Literary
and Philosophical Society of this city ; and contributed to
its advancement by the publication of a valuable paper in
the first volume of its transactions. As a Trustee of the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of
the State of New-York, he not only performed its duties
with vigilance and impartiality, but contributed to its in-
terests by a liberal pecuniary appropriation. Some other
institutions of this city were also aided by similar acts of
his beneficence, especially the Orphan Asylum, and the
Society for the Relief of Poor Widows with small child-
ren. To these his donations were sucli as his moderate
fortune enabled him to bestow, consistently with his obli-
gations to his family connexions ; to whom, with the ex-
ception of a few inconsiderable legacies, he left the residue
of his estate. Tlie Humane Society, the City Dispensary,
and the New-York Hospital, received a large portion of
his time and attention during the remaining years of his
life. In the last mentioned establishment, the punctuality
and ability with which he performed the numerous duties
assigned him, were subjects of great surprise to his asso-
ciate junior members.
His quickness of perception, his memory, his judgment
and his external senses, all manifested an uncommon activi-
ty to the very last days of his life. This exemption from
the ordinary defects and privations attendant upon old
age, is doubtless ascribable to his temperate and regular
habits of living ; the order and method with which he per-
formed all his various duties ; and especially to that rigid
abstinence from all vinous and spirituous drinks, to which
* His Excellency De Witt Clinton.
HUGH \TILL1AMS0N. 193
system of living he had so peculiarly adhered from his
earliest days.
The life of this excellent man was now drawing to its
close. Hitherto, by means of the uniform temperance and
regularity of his habits, he had, with very few exceptions,
been protected from any return of those pvdmonary com-
plaints with which he had been affected in his youth. His
intellectual faculties remained to the last period of his life
unbroken, and in their full vigor.
It is somewhere said, that to an active and well disci-
plined mind, a chair in a library is the throne of human
felicity. No man enjoyed the luxury of literary pursuits
more than Dr. Williamson. These, with the society of
his particular friends, added to the consolations afforded
by religion, and the recollection of a life passed in the per-
formance of duty, and devoted to the benefit of his fellow
men, gilded the evening of his days, and rendered them no
less cheerful and serene than had been the morning and
meridian of his long and useful career.
For some time, however, after the death of his favorite
son, his strength and spirits were observed to decline. In
two or three years his ankles began to swell, attended with
other symptoms denoting the approach of general dropsy.
Although he had recourse to the Ballston chalybeate, by
the middle of April, 1816, the swelling of the limbs and
symptoms of a dropsical affection of the chest had so far
increased, that for several weeks he could not lie in a
horizontal posture, but was compelled to sleep sitting in
his chair ; by the use, however, of powerful diuretics,
succeeded by tonic medicines and daily exercise, his com-
plaints in a few months were chiefly removed, and he was
restored to his usvial pursuits and his wonted cheerfulness,
which were continued to the day of his decease.
This event took place on the 22d day of May, 1819, in
the 85th year of his age, and in the sudden manner he
himself had anticipated. While taking his accustomed
ride a short distance from the city, accompanied by his
favorite niece, the heat of the day being unusually great,
he suddenly sunk into a deliquium. Medical assistance
was immediately called, but too late ; his spirit had fled
to Him who gave it.
It remains for me to detain you, while I offer a few ob-
servations illustrative of such parts of Dr. Williamson's
VOL. II. 25
194 HUGH WILLIAMSOX.
character as are not embraced in the details that have
already occupied our attention.
To those who have not enjoyed a personal acquaintance
with him, I may remark that he was no less distinguished
for the manliness of his form, than for the energy and
firmness of his mind. Dr. Williamson in his person was
tall, considerably above the general standard, of a large
frame, well proportioned, but of a thin habit of body. He
was remarkable for his erect, dignified carriage, which he
retained even in the decline of life.
In his conversation Dr. Williamson was pleasant, face-
tious and animated ; occasionally indulging in wit and
satire ; always remarkable for the strength- of his expres-
sions, and an emphatic manner of utterance, accompanied
with a peculiarity of gesticulation, originally in part as-
cribable to the impulse of an active mind, but which early
in life had become an e.4ablished habit.
As was to be expected from the education of Dr.
Williamson, and from his long and extensive inter-
course with the world, his manners, though in some
respects eccentric, were generally those of a polite, well
bred gentleman. Occasionally, however, w^hen he met
with persons who either displayed great ignorance, want
of moral character, or a disregard to religious truth, he
expressed his feelings and opinions in such manner as dis-
tinctly to show them they possessed no claim to his re-
spect. To such, both his language and manner might be
considered as abrupt, if not possessing a degree of what
miffht be denominated Johnsonian rudeness.
His style, both in conversation and in writing, was sim-
ple, concise, perspicuous and remarkable for its strength ;
always displaying correctness of thought and logical pre-
cision. In the order, too, and disposal of his discovirse,
whether oral or written, such was the close connexion of
its parts, and the dependence of one proposition upon that
which preceded it, that it became easy to discern the influ-
ence of his early predilection for mathematical investi-
gation.
Under the impressions and precepts he had very early
received, no circumstances could ever induce him to de-
part from that line of conduct which his understanding
had informed him was correct. His constancy of charac-
ter, the obstinacy I may say of his integrity, whether in
the minor concerns of private life or in the performance
HUGH WILLIAMSON. 195
of his public duties, becanie proverbial with all who knew
him. Nothing could ever induce him
" To swerve from truth, or change his constant mind."
The following anecdotes are illustrative of his charac-
teristic integrity. A few years since a gentleman of this
city, desirous of borrowing a sum of money, made an
application to Dr. Williamson for that purpose : the Doc-
tor promised to supply him ; but, upon the day when the
transaction was to he completed, the gentleman not know-
ing that the Doctor's verbal promise and his written bond
were of the same validity, and apprehending that some-
thing might occur to prevent the Doctor from complying
with his engagement, offered him a larger interest than
that recognised by law. The Doctor, offended by this
insult to his integrity, at once declined further communi-
cation with the party concerned, and refused the loan he
otherwise had been prepared to make.
Upon another more important occasion, he manifested
somewhat similar feelings in rejecting a poweiful appeal
to his pride and, I may add, to his reputation.
Joseph Ceracchi, an Italian statuary of great celebrity
in his profession, finding the turbulent state of Europe
unfavorable to the exercise of his art, had come to this
country. This gentleman exercised his talents in erecting
honorary memorials of some of our most distinguished pub-
lic men. The busts of AVashington, President Adams,
Governor Jay, General Hamilton, Governor George Clin-
ton, and Colonel John Trumbull, are eminent examples of
his art.
He at that time also applied to Dr. Williamson, then a
member of congress, for permission to perpetuate in mar-
ble, tlie bust of the American Cato, as Mr. Ceracchi was
plear^ed to denominate him. I beg leave to read the
originals :
" Mr. Ceracchi requests the favor of Mr. Williamson to
sit for his bust, not on account of gettins: Mr. Williamson's
influence in favor of the National Monument ; this is a
subject too worthy to be recommended ; but merely on
account of his distinguished character, that will produce
honor to the artist, and may give to posterity the expres-
sive features of tlie American Cato."
To this note Dr. Williamson replied in his appropriate
caustic style : " Mr. Hugh Williamson is much obliged to
196 HUGH TTILLIAMSON.
Mr. Ceracchi for the polite offer of taking his bust. Mr.
Williamson could not possibly suppo:je that Mr. Ceracchi
had offered such a compliment by way of a bribe ; for tlie
man in his public station who could accept of a bribe, or
betray his trust, ought never to have his likeness made,
except from a block of icood.
" Mr. Williamson, in the mean time, cannot avail him-
self of Mr. Ceracchi's services, as he believes that posterity
will not be solicitous to know what were the features of
his face. He hopes, nevertheless, for the sake of his child-
ren, that posterity will do him the justice to believe that
his conduct was upright, and that he was uniformly influ-
enced by a regard to the happiness of his fellow-citizens,
and those who shall come after them."
" Philadelphia, Uth April, 1792."
To those who knew his unbending resolution when
once formed, it need not be added that Dr. Williamson,
offended by this flattery, persisted in his determination not
to sit to Mr. Ceracchi.
The steadiness of his private attachments ought not to
be passed over in silence. Dr. AVilliamson was slow in
forming his friendship ; but when formed, as the writer
of this memorial of his worth can testify, it was immove-
able, and not to be changed by time or distance.
Whatever may be the merits of Dr. Williamson as a
scholar, a physician, a statesman, or philosopher ; how-
ever he may be distinguished for his integrity, his benevo-
lence, and those virtues which enter into the moral char-
acter of man ; he presents to the world claims of a still
higher order. The lovers of truth and virtue will admire
much more than his literary endowments, that regard for
religious duty, of which, under all circumstances and in
all situations, he exhibited so eminent an example.
There are some philosophers, and of great attainments
too in their particular departments of knowledge, whose
views are so riveted to, I had almost said identified with,
the objects of their research, that they cannot extend their
vision beyond the little spot of earth which they inhabit .
Dr. Williamson was not an associate of this class ; with
all his inquiries into the physical constitution of this globe,
like Newton and Rittenhouse he could elevate his views to
the Great Agent that gave existence to our world, and sus-
tains it in its connexions with the other parts of the uni-
verse
MATTHEW WILSON. 197
To those who delight to dwell on themes like tliese, it
will be gratifying to receive the expression of his own
sentiments and feelings on this momentous subject. In a
letter I possess, written during his last illness, while it dis-
plays the full possession of his mental faculties, and mani-
fests the consciousness of his approaching dissolution, and
his patient resignation to that event, he observes, " I have
not any apprehension of a long confinement by sickness ;
men of my habits usually drop off quickly ; therefore I
count it my duty to be constantly in a state of preparation,
whether I may be called off in the morning, at noon, or at
midnight."
Upon another occasion, a short time before his decease,
he thus concludes a letter to his nephew, which, I believe,
proved one of his last communications.
" I have, as I believe, given you notice of every thing
to which it is proper that you should attend ; and having
now, as I think, nearly finished my course through the
wilderness of life, grant, 0 Lord ! that when my feet shall
touch the cold stream of the waters of Jordan, my eyes
may be steadily fixed on the heavenly Canaan, so that I
may say to death, ' where is thy sting ?' "
Such was the man whose character and services we have
this day endeavored to commemorate. — Abridged from a
Biographical Memoir delivered on the \st of JVovember, 1819,
at the request of the JS^ew-York Historical Society ^ by David
Hosack, M.D. LL.D. ^c.
WILSON, MATTHEW, D.D.,wasa native of Ches-
ter county, state of Pennsylvania. His education was di-
rected by Dr. Francis Alison, one of the first, both in
time and estimation, who introduced and patronised learn-
ing in the American world. With this great man Dr. Wil-
son's progress, both in the languages and the sciences, mark-
ed an extensive genius and a studious mind. It justified
the most flattering expectations of his friends, and caused
him tq be respected and distinguished, even when he had
persons to rival him in claims to literary advancement
and honors, who have been long estimated as the most cele-
brated philosophers of America.
His own inclination, in concurrence with the advice of
his friends, gave his studies a particular direction to the
profession of divinity ; and in this he was as eminently
successful, as in his classical and philosophical studies.
The Synod of New-York and Philadelphia, of which he
198 MATTHEW WILSON.
was a member for more than thirty-five years, and to
which he was always an ornament and an honor, will bear
a full and affectionate attestation to the virtues, the abili-
ties and the usefulness of their deceased brother. Accu-
rate in his inquiries, profound in his learning, and yet po-
litely diffident of impressing his own sentiments on others,
the liberality of his mind, and the utility of his assistance,
were peculiarly manifested in that assembly, in difficult
investigations of ecclesiastical history and polemic divin-
ity. We need no further testimony of his usefulness and
uncommon estimation in important Synodical transactions,
than his being a principal member of the committee ap-
pointed to prepare the " new constitution of the Presbyte-
rian church in the United States." As a Christian, his
piety was fervent, uniform, enlightened, and full of good
works. As a preacher he was learned, orthodox, solemn
and instructive.
But his mind was too large in the objects it comprehend-
ed, and his benevolence too extensive in the modes of ex-
ercise it solicited, to be contented with the services he
could render society in the objects embraced by only one
])rofession. He studied medicine with the Rev. Dr. Mc
Dowell, who like his pupil was eminent at once as a di-
vine, a physician and linguist. On settling as a clergyman
he entered immediately on the practice of medicine, and
derived the temporal support of his family almost entirely
from the emoluments of that practice. Such were his ac-
tivity and decision of character, however, that his medi-
cal practice did not prevent his discharging the duties of
pastor in a manner highly acceptable and edifying to the
people of his charge. For nearly four and twenty years
the joint functions of minister of the Gospel and physician,
Avere sustained and discharged by him with an ability and
popularity which evinced that he was a man of extraordi-
nary talents, attainments and energy. His ardent indus-
try and the comprehensiveness of his mind reduce^ every
obstacle, and embraced every object of knowledge. He
wrote an able compend of medicine, which he called a
" Therapeutic Alphabet." Commencing with the classifi-
cation of Sauvages, it contained the diseases in alphabeti-
cal order, with definitions, symptoms, and method of
cure. It was prepared for the press, used by himself, and
transcribed by his students, but never published.
MATTHEW WILSOX. 199
For a number of years previous to his death, in addi-
tion to all his other employments, he engaged in the di-
rection and care of an academy. Here his communica-
tive and amiable disposition was of infinite advantage. It
attracted the love, secured the obedience, and allured the
attentive application of his pupils. In connexion with im-
common learning we too often observe a conscious self-im-
portance and a rigorous austerity, which discourage and
depress the timid mind of the diffident pupil. Nothing
but the entire reverse of this could adequately represent
Dr. W's. character. He was invariably mild and affa-
ble, courteous and amiable.
In those three important employments Dr. W. labored
with a constancy and an ardor, unequalled even by those
who have ambition to excite them. His indeed was an
ambition of the noblest kind. Its enlarged embrace in-
cluded the whole family of mankind, its means were tlie
unwearied efforts of active benevolence, its objects tlie
happiness of his fellow creatures. Every day awakened
him to the discharge of some additional interesting duties.
He lived and labored for the public, not for himself. In
his friendships he was sincere, cordial and constant. In his
domestic connexions he was yet more amiable. As a hus-
band, he was endeared by all the tender sensibilities and
kind attentions, which can improve and complete matri-
monial happiness. As a father, he was remarked by oth-
ers, and loved by his children, for the constant and en-
gaging discharge of all tliose paternal offices, which are
generally seen to attract love and command respect ; and
as a master, he was exemplarily humane and indulgent,
considering and treating those in his service as equals by
nature, and only inferiors by fortune. He departed this
life, March 31st, 1790, in Lewis, Delaware, aged 61 years.
Dr. Wilson was an ardent republican and of course a
friend to the liberties of his country. He entered warmly
into the measures adopted by the citizens of Philadelphia
previous to the Revolution, to show their disapprobation
of the arbitrary conduct of the British government to-
wards the colonies. He wrote and spoke against the
stamp act, and encouraged his parishioners to manufacture
for themselv-es when the nonimportation agreement went
into operation. When the vessels brought out tlie tea to
Delaware river, upon which three pence per pound
200 MATTHEW WILSON.
"Was to be paid for the benefit of the East India company,*
he resolved to drink no more of that agreeable infusion ;
and obliged his wife and family to follow his example.
In order, if possible, to reconcile the ladies of the coun-
try to the loss of the foreign article, he published a paper
on the injurious enervating effects of China tea upon the
human frame, and gave the names of seventeen vegetables
which he proposed to substitute for it. This paper ap-
peared first in the newspapers of Philadelphia, and after-
wards in Atkin's American Magazine, No. 2, for February,
1 775, of which work Thomas Paine was the editor. Dr.
W. was severely mortified when he was obliged to suspend
his resolve not to admit foreign tea into his house, in con-
sequence of the visit of his wife's sister from Philadelphia,
who hearing of the prohibition, and not relishing the idea
of depriving herself of her usual evening's repast, brought
down to the city some of the prohibited article, and in-
sisted upon being permitted to use it. She asserted her
claim to the character of a patriot, as she in fact was, but
said she saw no reason for not drinking some of the old
stock of tea which had paid no duty, and " tea she would
drink." The good Doctor tried to persuade her to use
some of the numerous substitutes which he named, but
all to no purpose.
Dr. Wilson published several useful papers on medical
and other subjects. Among these are the History of a Ma-
lignant Fever, which prevailed in Sussex county, Dela-
ware, in the year 1774 :f Observations on the Severity of
the Cold during the Winter of 1779,'80 :| Essay on the
Diseases arising from the Air, attempting to show that
most diseases are caused by miasmata in the air ,wdth an en-
umeration of some of them, 1786. || Dr. W. was a profound
theologian, and an excellent Hebrew and classical schol-
ar, and many of the pupils educated by him were distin-
guished for their attainments. The mere circumstance of
its being known that a young man had been educated by
him, served as a recommendation when he offered himself
as a teacher. Several young men pursued their theological
studies under his direction ; and whether they could or
* It was not permitted to come up to Philadelphia. From the newspapers of the
day it appears that the whole quantity of tea sent to America was 2,200 chests,
t Atkin's American Magazine, April, 1775.
i Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 3.
II Carey's American Museum, vol. 4.
SAMUEZ. WILSOW.
i6\
could not pay for their board was never a consideration
with him. An application was never rejected, provided
the pupil could be stowed away in the hou?e.
He was " in wit a man, simplicity a child." He knew
nothing of the tricks of traffic, and therefore often suffer-
ed when making a bargain or contract Avith a knowing
one for a job. He believed every man to be as honest as
himself, nor did the shameful impositions to which he was
sometimes subjected teach him caution. The following
instance of his refined, sublimated honesty actually occur-
red and occasioned much amusement among his friends.
At the close of the American war a vessel was cast away
near Lewes, and the parts of the cargo saved, as required
by law, were sold by auction for the benefit of the concern-
ed. The good Doctor attended and purchased a cask of
aniseed. Upon opening it he found a large bottle marked
" Oil of Rhodium." Alarmed at the discovery he ran to
the auctioneer, and announced the fact, requesting him to
send for the bottle and to sell it next day. The man of
business told the Doctor that he would neither send for
the bottle nor take it if sent to him, for, if instead of Oil
of Rhodium he had found brick bats or stones, he shoydd
pay the price at which the cask was knocked oflfto him.
The Doctor was greatly concerned at this explanation of
the tricks of commerce, and was obliged to content him-
self with it. The cask and Oil of Rhodium were sent to
Philadelphia, and sold for ten times the first cost. — Dr.
Miller. — Dr. Mease.
WILSON, SAMUEL, M.D., was born at Charleston,
South Carolina, January 26th, 1763. His parents were
among the most respectable inhabitants of the city ; and
his father, the elder Robert Wilson, Avas a man of emi-
nence in his profession, and justly acquired the benefits of
successful practice. He was highly distinguished for his
many virtues, and lived to a very advanced age, respected
and beloved. As is common with youth trained in the
paths of rectitude and guided by the best moral precepts,
Dr. Samuel Wilson in his puerile days gave the best pro-
mise of realizing all that characterized him at mature age.
He was early placed at the ordinary schools of the day,
where he acquired the rudiments of learning ; and it was
in his native place that he subsequently received a classical
education. He ranked as a respectable scholar. What
talents he possessed were but partially unfolding, and he
VOL. II. 26
202 »AMUEL WILSOTC.
is only spoken of as a youth of amiable and prepossessing
manners.
Having arrived at that era of the political struggle of
this country, when the oppression of the mother country
had struck even from tlie hardest and coldest bosoms the
fire of patriotism, young Wilson was among the first to
feel the animating influence which love for his own soil
had enkindled. He, in common with his fellow citizens,
entered the ranks as a soldier, determined to support the
dearest rights of an American. He marched under the
banners of Marion, when scarcely he had numbered seven-
teen years, and manifested his determination to sacrifice
his life in achieving the independence of his country.
His campaign was of short duration. The conflicts of
war ended, and he returned to his books, to his friends,
and to the enjoyment of political freedom. Under the di-
rection of his father he now commenced his medical stu-
dies. The advantages of paternal instruction were not of
an ordinary nature. The foundation was laid for perma-
nent elevation in his profession, and for maintaining a re-
spectable stand in the medical community. In 1784 he de-
parted from home to complete his studies at the University
of Edinburgh, where he was assiduous in his inquiries
after medical knowledge. While prosecuting his favorite
object, he gained the countenance, regard and counsel of
such conspicuously eminent men as Cullen, Black, Dun-
can, Monro, Home, Hamilton and others ; men who have
left splendid memorials of genius and profound learning,
which will long adorn the annals of medical literature.
At Glasgow, after the usual term allotted for instruction,
young Wilson obtained the honor of graduation in
that college, and received the title of Doctor of Medi-
cine. His love of science, his calm yet inquiring mind
had produced already a discriminating judgment, and es-
tablished his claims to preferment in his profession. His
correct deportment and attractive manners won the esteem
and love of his associates, and the approbation of those
distinguished professors under whose auspices he was
placed.
Immediately on Dr. Wilson's return to Charleston, he
commenced his professional career, gaining confidence as
he advanced. It was by his assiduity and attention to
business, that he established himself firmly in the estima-
tion of that enlightened physician, that accomplished
SAMUEL WILSON.
205
scholar, that close observer of nature's operations, Dr.
Alexander Baron, senior, late of Charleston. A copart-
nership was formed between Drs. Baron and Wilson in
1791, which continued nineteen years, during which there
was a reciprocity of sentiments and affection, not to be
surpassed even among those allied by the strongest ties of
consanguinity. On the death of Dr. Baron the lamented
subject of the present notice delivered an Eulogy to his
memory. On the dissolution of this connexion Dr. Wil-
son united with him his brother Dr. Robert Wilson, until
his two sons, the present Drs. Isaac and Samuel W., pre-
sented their credentials as graduates. The latter associa-
tion continued to the hour of his death. His declining
health compelled him reluctantly to retire from business
for some time before his decease.
He never seemed more happy and more himself, than
when in the exercise of relief to his suffering fellow crea-
tures. Here he was truly in his element. His medical
attainments commanded confidence, and his affectionate
manners inspired hope, even on the bed of death. Assail-
ed at length by those bodily ills inseparable from this life,
he saw the unerring approach of his own dissolution, and
was prepared to meet the summons with composure. He
died in April, 1827, as he lived, an exemplary religionist ;
pious, yet not bigoted ; ardent, yet no enthusiast.
To his last hour he maintained the doctrines of Christ-
ianity. He received them from his forefathers, he nursed
them in his bosom, and he was a firm and steady support-
er of his faith, an ornament and pillar of his church. His
charity was in his mind and in his heart, condemning no
one whose sectarian principles may have differed from his
own. His soul soared above the grovelling influence of
religious prejudice, and denounced all efforts made to
control religious freedom. All men who acknowledged
the power of a Supreme Being, and obeyed the divine com-
mandments, were alike partakers of his love and friend-
ship. He spurned the individual wlio could engender
intolerant doctrines, believing tliat matters of conscience
were between man and his Maker.
In his walks in private life Dr. Wilson was conspicuous
among his associates for refined conversation and agree-
able manners. He was proverbial for suavity and a pleas-
ing expression, which won attention even on the most
trivial occasions. As a practising physician his mind was
204 SAMUKL WILSON.
replete with useful information, skill and learning, and his
eminent success is attributed to a sound understanding, an
inquiring, calm and laborious investigation, and correct
observation as to the seat and progress of diseases. He
believed that improper and vmcalled for medicines inva-
riably hazarded the lives of his patients, and that it requir-
ed as much judgment to know when not to give, as when
to give medicine. His knowledge of the female constitu-
tion, and his accuracy in the treatment of the diseases of
infants, were perhaps unrivalled. In distributing his
medical services he knew no distinction between the rich
and the poor, and he generously relieved by his purse no
less than by medical aid, and religious consolation, the
afflictions of humanity.
Dr. Wilson was the instructer of a very considerable
number of young physicians, many of whom became emi-
nently distinguished. One of this number was peculiarly
indebted to him for benevolent assistance. From the re-
verse of fortune the young candidate was destitute of the
means to complete his education at the University of Penn-
sylvania. Dr. W. generously proffered his aid, and
promptly furnished the adequate funds by which he ob-
tainecl a medical degree, and on his return he was received
by his patron as a father would have received a deserving
child. His intercourse with his professional brethren was
always disinterested, and his wonted liberality kept him
on the best terms of friendship. He had no petty or sor-
did feelings of envy or jealousy ; he rejoiced at the suc-
cess of others, and promoted rather than retarded the
growing prosperity of his competitors. His own good
conduct was the best support to his reputation, and, as he
bore the rude assaults of others with contempt, the weap-
ons raised against him fell harmless at his feet. His con-
sultations were regulated by the utmost courtesy, and the
deference which he paid to the opinions of others, inspired
them with the most profound respect.
Dr. Wilson was a member of the most respectable socie-
ties in the city of Charleston. In some he held the first
offices. The Medical Society, the South Carolina Society,
and the St. Andrew's Society, have long enrolled his
name ; of the latter he died one of the oldest members.
As one of the fraternity of Free Masons he held a con-
spicuous rank, and filled high stations in the Grand Lodge
of the state. The place of his interment is within the pre-
^■^i
€i^SFAm "WiLS^!l\\\il^ M.J]]):
'■U.TIetiMIS (,il';j,.o-
' CASPAR WISTAR. 205
cincts of the wall which he was instrumental in erecting,
and in the consecrated edifice in which he was for thirty
years an elder and communicant. — Eulogium by J. De La
Motta, M.D. abridged.
,WISTAR, CASPAR, M.D. had the good fortmie to
descend from ancestors in whom he beheld examples wor-
thy of imitation. His paternal grandfather, Caspar Wis-
tar, emigrated from the dominions of the Elector Palatine
of Germany, and arrived at Philadelphia in the year 1717.
He was a man of strong intellect, and applied his life to
useful purposes. By his exertions was established in New
Jersey, about thirty miles from Philadelphia, a manufac-
tory of glass, supposed to have been the first in North
America. His maternal grandfather, Bartholomew Wyatt,
emigrated from England with his wife, not long after Wil-
liam Penn commenced the settlement of Pennsylvania.
He lived not far from Salem in New-Jersey, and was act-
ive and distinguished in the affairs of his day, both civil
and religious. His father was remarked for firmness of
character, and paid particular attention to the morals and
religion of his children.
Wistar himself was born in Philadelphia, the 13th of
September, 1761. As his parents and ancestors, on both
sides, were of the religious Society of Friends, he was
brought up in their principles, ancl received his classical
education at a school established by them in this city. I
have been able to discover nothing very uncommon in his
juvenile character. In quickness of apprehension he was
surpassed by several of his companions ; but what he un-
dertook he never failed to accomplish by perseverance.
That he was a good scholar, may be inferred from the
knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages which he
was afterwards known to possess. Until the age of six-
teen his foculties were expanding ; but the peculiar cast of
his genius had not been developed. About that period
occurred an event which called forth the ruling passion,
and decided his fate. This event was the battle of Ger-
mantown, in the year 1777. His religious principles kept
him out of battle, but his humanity led him to seek the
wounded soldier, and he was active in assisting those who
were administering relief. His benevolent iieart was
affected by their sufferings ; and so deeply was he struck
with the happy effects of the medical art. that he deter-
206 CASPAR WISTAR.
mined to devote his life to a profession formed to alleviate
the miseries of mankind.
Firm in his purpose, Wistar applied himself to the study
of medicine under Dr. John Redman, a very respectable
physician of this city, formerly President of the College
of Physicians, with whom he remained upwards of three
years. During the last year he attended also the practice
of Dr. John Jones, an eminent surgeon, who had left New-
York in consequence of its occupation by the British army.
It was the fortune of Wistar to gain the esteem of all his
preceptors ; an infallible mark of his own good conduct.
The friendship of two such men as Redman and Jones,
was a valuable acquisition ; and from that of Jones, in
particular, very important consequences resulted. Having
gone through the usual course of study, and attended the
medical lectures, Wistar offered himself in the year 1782
as a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in
the University of Pennsylvania. Previous to the obtain-
ing of this honor, he underwent an examination in the
presence of the trustees of the university. It is said that
he acquitted himself on that occasion in an extraordinary
manner ; answering the questions proposed to him, with
such uncommon promptness and precision, as excited the
surprise, and commanded the admiration of all who heard
him. There was a singularity in this examination of
which I have been informed by a gentleman who was
present. The Faculty of Medicine were not all of one
theory,* and each professor examined with an eye to his
own system ; of this Wistar was aware, and had the ad-
dress to answer each to his complete satisfaction, in his
own way. Of course the degree was conferred on him.
Instead of entering immediately into the practice of
medicine, he determined to avail himself of the advantages
to be found in the schools of London and Edinburgh, at
that time tlie first in the world. In this he displayed his
usual judgment. It has been remarked that, with few
exceptions, those who have been great in the learned pro-
fessions, have abstained from practice at an early age.
The cause is obvious. The elements of science lie too
deep to be attained without long and patient thought.
The mind requires retirement and tranquillity, to exert its
powers of reflection to their full extent. But these are
* They were divided into Boerhaavian and CuUenian.
CASPAR WISTAR. 207
incompatible with the bustle, the anxiety, the agitation of
active life. There was another reason too, formerly of
great weight, though not so now, for finishing a medical
education in Europe. Our own schools were in their in-
fancy, and he who had been initiated in others of so much
greater celebrity, carried with him a splendor reflected
from the masters under whom he had studied. This had
appeared in Morgan, Shippen, Kuhn, and Rush, too plainly
to be overlooked by the searching eyes of Wistar. Ac-
cordingly he went to England, in October, 1783.
The air of London was unfavorable to his health, which
compelled him to make frequent excursions into the
country. But no time was lost by these excursions. His
investigating mind was busily employed in acquiring
knowledge of various kinds ; and his familiar letters, dur-
ing his abode in England, to his friends in America, gave
promise of that devoted attachment to science, for which
his character was afterwards distinguished.
Having remained a year in England, he repaired to
Edinburgh, where he passed his time, not like many young
men in frivolous or vicious amusements, but in study, in
attending lectures, in cultivating the friendship of distin-
guished persons. To act a part like this, requires no
small share of good sense and resolution. But to under-
stand the merit of Wistar, it should be known that in con-
sequence of his father's death, he was easy in his fortune,
and uncontrolled master of his actions. Great is the dan-
ger to wliich youth is exposed in populous cities. To each
is offered the choice of Hercviles. The paths of pleasure
and of virtue lie open before them. False steps are not
easily retraced ; for the diverging paths grow wider and
wider asunder, until they terminate in the opposite ex-
tremes of infamy and honor.
Always intent on improving his opportunities, he made
a journey on foot, in October, 1785, in company with
Charles Throgmorton, Esq. and Mr. Ellcock, of Dublin,
through part of the Highlands of Scotland, and visited
Glasgow, Inverary and Inverness. His character was now
rising rapidly at Edinburgh. That he enjoyed the esteem
of the great Cullen, appears by a letter dated January,
1786. For two successive years he was elected one of the
Presidents of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh. He
was elected also President of tlie society " for the further
investigation of natural history." These honors, conferred
208 CASPAR WISTAR.
by a great, a learned, and a proud nation, on a ymitli, a
stranger, one whose country had but just risen into exist-
ence, are the surest testimonies of uncommon merit. We
contemplate them not only with pleasure, but with pride.
Their lustre is reflected from the man to the country
which gave him birth.
About the year 1785 he was received intathe house of
Doctor Charles Stewart, a most respectable physician of
Edinburgh, with whom he lived during the remainder of
the time that he spent in that city. Of this favor he was
highly sensible. He always remembered it with grati-
tude, and spoke of it with pleasure.
In June, 1785, he took his degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine in the University of Edinburgh ; his Inaugural Dis-
sertation, " de Animo Demisso," is dedicated to Dr. Frank-
lin and Dr. C alien ; the one at the head of philosophy
in his own country, the other flourishing in Scotland in
medical fame. Towards the end of the year 1786 he took
leave of Edinburgh, leaving behind him a name long re-
membered. This is testified by his countrymen who vis-
ited that city many years after. His fame flew before
him to his native city, where he arrived in January 1787,
after an absence of more than three years.
He was soon appointed Physician to the Philadelphia
Dispensary, a useful and charitable institution then re-
cently established. In the same year he was elected a
memlDer of the College of Physicians, and of the American
Philosophical Society. In 1788 to his other good fortune
was added domestic happiness, by his marriage with his
first wife, Isabella Marshall, daughter of Christopher Mar-
shall of this city. In 1789 he was elected Professor of
Chemistry in the College of Philadelphia. This appoint-
ment he did not accept without great hesitation. Phila-
delphia had then the misfortune to be divided between
two rival schools ; the Faculty of Medicine of the College
and that of the University of Pennsylvania. He saw and
lamented the consequences of this division. It was his
wish to unite, in one great institution, the talents of the
city. But, finding that the period of union had not yet
arrived, he accepted the professorship offered him by the
College, in order to preserve an influence, to be exerted at
the proper season, and in this purpose he was not disap-
pointed ; for he had the satisfaction of contributing largely
to the much desired union, which was afterwards efiected.
CASPAR WISTAR. 209
In the memorable summer of 1793, when the Physi-
cians were the forlorn hope which stood between the pest-
ilence and the people, he had nearly lost his life : he did
not escape the awful visitation, but was fortunate enough
to recover from it. In the autumn of the same year he
was chosen Physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital.
The rival Faculties of Medicine being united in the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, Wistar was elected, in January
1792, adjunct Professor of anatomy, midwifery, and sur-
gery, with the late Dr. Wm. Shippen, one of the fa-
thers of the medical school. Surgery and midwifery-
were afterwards erected into several professorships ; Ship-
pen and Wistar retained anatomy, and on the death of
Shippen, in 1808, Wistar was placed, as sole Professor, in
the anatomical chair.
It was here that the scene of his greatest excellence was
exhibited. In many departments of science he was con-
spicuous, but here preeminent. Here he exerted all his
genius and strained every faculty of his mind. His heart
and soul were in the object. No pains, no money were
spared to render the lecturfe complete ; and lie succeeded ;
for, in the opinion of able judges, he might well bear a
comparison with the most celebrated Professors in exist-
ence. In language he was sufficiently fluent, and, when a
little excited, even eloquent, and by happy allusions to
agreeable objects he contrived to scatter flowers over a
field, not naturally of an inviting aspect. But his great
aim was to render his demonstrations perfectly intelligi-
ble, and this he always accomplished by dwelling upon
his subject, mitil he perceived that it was clearly under-
stood by his pupils. In the communication of his ideas
he had a facility never attained but by great masters. Too
much praise cannot l)e given him for the liberality with
which he provided the necessary apparatus. His expenses
in procuring every kind of drawing or model which could
represent the various parts of the human body, were great-
er than can be conceived by those who have not been in-
formed. The increase of his class keeping pace with the
fame of the Professor, it was found impossible to demon-
strate to several hundred students at once, the structure
of all the minute organs. He had recourse, therefore, to
models, which gave an exact representation of the small
parts of the human structure on a magnified scale. This
was not an original idea of Wi?tar ; but he extended this
VOL. n. 27
210 CASPAR WI3TAR.
mode of instruction so far beyond any thing which had
been before practised, and its effects, under his lessons,
were so luminous and happy, that we can scarce withhold
from him the merit of invention.
He pul)lished a few years ago, a System of Anatomy
adapted to the use of students, the character of which I
shall give in words better than my own, obligingly com-
municated by a Professor of our Medical Faculty.* " It
is a model for an elementary work. The style is simple,
plain, intelligible — the descriptions brief and accurate
— the arrangement lucid, and the whole work altogeth-
er worthy of his talents. However numerous the writ-
ings of anatomists, I have no hesitation in declaring this
by far the most easily understood, and by far the best
fitted for the purposes intended."
Anatomy has been so much studied both by the ancients
and moderns, and so many excellent works have been
published on the subject, that any discovery, at this time
of day, was scarcely to be expected. Yet it is supposed to
be without doubt, that Wistar was the first who observed
and described the posterior portion of the ethmoid bone in
its most perfect state, viz. with the triangular bones at-
tached to it. Of this he has given an accurate description
in the volume of our Transactions now in the press. On
the subject of that discovery he received, a few days be-
fore his death, a letter from Professor Soemmering, of the
kingdom of Bavaria, one of the most celebrated anato-
mists in Europe, of which the following is an extract :
" The neat specimen of tlie sphenoid and ethmoid bones,
is an invaluable addition to my anatomical collection,
having never seen them myself in such a perfect state.
I shall now be very attentive to examine these processes
of the ethmoid bone in children of two years of age, be-
ing fully persuaded Mr. Bertin had never met with them
of such a considerable size, nor of such peculiar struc-
ture."
In December, 1798, Wistar married the amiable lady
who now laments his loss, Elizabeth Mifflin, niece of the
late Governor Mifflin. Of his first marriage there is no
issue. In his last he was blessed with many children, only
three of whom remain.
* Dr. Dorsev. Professor of Materia Medica.
CASPAR WISTAR. 211
In the year 1809, knowing the prejudices that obstruct-
ed the progress of vaccination, he suggested the plan of a
society for circulating the benefit of that noble discovery
which has immortalized Jenner. And in this he had the
pleasure of finding himself seconded by a number of public
spirited gentlemen, who associated themselves for that use-
ful purpose. So great has been their success, that by their
means upwards of eleven thousand persons had been vac-
cinated in this city and liberties, and the district of South-
wark, previous to their annual report in January last : nor
is that all ; for, encouraged by tlieir examples, the cor-
poration have generously provided by law for the gratuit-
ous vaccination of the poor in the city.
In May, 1810, he resigned his office of pliysician to the
Hospital. In what estimation he was held by the mana-
gers, will best appear by their own resolution, entered on
their minutes. " The conclusion of Dr. Wistar, to with-
draw at the present time, was unexpected and very much
regretted by the managers, who would have gladly em-
braced the opportunity of giving to a long-tried, expe-
rienced and faithful practitioner, a further proof of their
confidence in his skill and abilities, by reelecting him
to the office he has filled more than sixteen years suc-
cessively with great reputation, if he had not prevented
them by declining to serve any longer. Under these
impressions, the managers reluctantly part with Dr.
Wistar, l)eing thankful for his past exertions to serve the
institution, and for his kind otfers to advise and assist,
if there shall be any particular reason to require it, on
any future occasion."
In July, 1794, he was appointed one of the censors of
the College of Physicians, a very learned incorporated so-
ciety, which office he retained to the time of his death.
Dr. Wistar's mind was eminently formed for a profes-
sion, in which precipitancy is danger, and mistake is
death. No man ever performed his duty to his patients
with more scrupulous integrity. He spared no pains in
collecting all the symptoms from which the disease might
be ascertained. His visits were long, his questions numer-
ous and minute. He paused before he decided, but was
seldom wrong ; and, his mind once satisfied, he was not
easily moved from his purpose. In consultation with his
brethren he was courteous and attentive ; never overbear-
ing, but always stating with modest firmness the result of
212 GAB PAR niSTAR.
his own reflections. His patients he never failed to at-
tach to him. How indeed could it be otherwise, when
to the sedulous attentions of a Physician were added the
sym})athy and anxiety of a friend ? Though much given
to hospitality, he never neglected the duties of his pro-
fession. Being eminent both in medicine and surgery, his
practice soon became so extensive, that he was in the habit
of walking ten miles daily. He would often rise from
the convivial table to visit his patients, and request his
friends to remain with his family until his return. Yet
the pleasure of pleasing others seemed an antidote to fa-
tigue, and enabled him, generally, to be the most animated
of the company.
Having taken a view of his public and private services
as a physician, let us now consider him as a man of gener-
al science and literature. His classical learning, gained at
school, was much enlarged by subsequent reading. He
became an excellent scholar. The Latin he understood so
well, as occasionally to hold conversations in it. He ac-
quired enough of the French language to converse with-
out difficulty, and Avas well acquainted with the German.
In the character of an accomplished physician is combin-
ed a variety of sciences. Anatomy was Wistar's fort, but
he was well versed in Chemistry, Botany, Mineralogy, and
History, in all its branches. As appertinent to his profes-
sion, he had reflected deeply on the human mind. Its
connexion with the body, tlie manner of its being acted
on by matter, and the cure of its maladies, he considered
as desiderata in medicine. That these objects had engag-
ed much of liis thought, is evident. For, when a student
at Edinburgh, I find that he proposed questions concern-
ing them to Dr. Cullen ; his Thesis, " de Animo Demisso,"
shows the same train of thinking, and in the last valedic-
tory address to his pupils, he exhorts them to investigate
the subject, and to make themselves familiar with the
writings of Locke, Hartley, Priestley, and Reid.
As an author, he has not left much behind him. He
sometimes wrote anonymous essays, which were published
in the papers of the day ; and others, which had his sig-
nature, appeared in the Transactions of the College of
Physicians, and in the printed volumes of the Transac-
tions of the American Philosophical Society. Among the
latter is a paper in which are detailed some very curious
experiments on the evaporation of ice. This subject has
CASPAR IVISTAR.
. 213
been since ably developed by others, but it is believed that
Wistar was among the first who attracted to that cb;ect
the attention of the public. His most considerable w rk
is his system of Anatomy. He had completed the Bio-
graphy of his friend and colleague, Dr. Shippen, and ha I
it in contemplation to write a Memoir on the life of the
late Professor Barton. He was industriously inquiring in-
to the natural history of our western country, and had
commenced a collection of subjects for the inve^^tigation of
Comparative Anatomy, to which he was incited by his
friend Correa da Serra, Avhose name is identified with
science both in Europe and America. He had been accus-
tomed to correspond with men of distinguished talents,
both at home and abroad. Amon^ these are found the
names of Humboldt and Soemmering, in Germany ; Camper,
in Holland ; Michaux, in France ; Sylvester, in Geneva ;
Dr. Pole and Dr. Thomas C. Hope, in Great Britain ; and
in the United States, of the late President Jefferson, Correa
da Serra, Warren, and most others conspicuous in litera-
ture. In 1815 he was elected an honorary member of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York, and the
same honor was conferred on him by other literary insti-
tutions.
In the year 1795 he was elected Vice-President of the
American Philosopliical Society, and in 1815, on the resig-
nation of Mr. Jefferson, he succeeded to the chair of his
illustrious friend. I need not call to your recollection
with what propriety, what decorum, what suavity of man-
ners, he discharged the duties of this honorable station.
Such Avas his courtesy, that he seemed anxious even to di-
vest himself of that superiority, which the order of busi-
ness rendered necessary. He was assiduous in attending
committees. He was one of the first and most strenuous
supporters of the Historical and Literary Committee, in-
stituted by the society about two years ago. With what
ardor did he excite them to industry in collecting, ere too
late, the fleeting materials of American history .'' The
meetings of this committee he regularly attended. It was
their custom, after the business of the evening was con-
cluded, to enter into an unrestrained conversation on lit-
erary subjects. There, whhout intending it, our lament-
ed friend would insensibly take the lead ; and so interest-
ing were his anecdotes, and so just his remarks, that draw-
ing close to the dying embers, we often forgot the lapse
214 CASPAR WISTAR.
of time, until warned by the unwelcome clock that we
had entered on another day. To the business of the soci-
ety in general he was always attentive, and his zeal for its
interest could not be surpassed. Considering his conduct
in every point of view, I may truly say that he gave uni-
versal satisfaction.
The understanding of Wistar was rather strong than
brilliant. Truth was its object. His mind was patient of
labor, curious in research, clear, although not rapid in
perception, and sure in judgment. What is gained with
toil is not easily lost. His information was remarkably
accurate, and his tenacious memory held fast what it had
once embraced. In youtli he had given some time to poe-
try, and in maturer age he had not lost his taste for it.
His favorite poets were Pope and Milton. Among those
of more modern date, he preferred Cowper and Burns.
But the inclination of his genius was decidedly for graver
studies. Of time, and nothing else, he was avaricious.
As he rode in a carriage he often read, and when confined
by sickness he was fond of being read to by his family.
It remains to consider our deceased associate as a private
citizen and a man. Public office he neither held nor
sought, although enjoying the affection of him whose fa-
vor was fortune. This disinterested fiiendship does honor
to both. To the liberty of his country he was firmly and
warmly attached. The harmony in which he lived with
friends of both parties, and the respect and affection which
friends of both parties entertained for him, afford a memo-
rable example, well worthy the serious reflection of those
who suppose that political intolerance is essential to politi-
cal integrity.
I turn with pleasure from the field of politics to objects
of a more delightful nature ; the piety, the goodness, the
philanthropy of our lamented friend.
It is difficult for a physician to be punctual in attend-
ance on public worship. But if Wistar was not punctual,
it was not because he was insensible of the duty, but be-
cause he was called by other duties to the assistance of his
fellow mortals in another place. He therefore desired
that his family should be regular in attendance at meeting,
and he himself went when the situation of his patients
permitted. In his devotion, as in every thing else, he was
void of ostentation. But that his mind dwelt much on
that ini})ortant object, I can have no manner of doubt.
CASPAR WISTAR. 215
When a youth, at Edinburgh, his friend, Dr. Charles
Stewart, made him a present of a neat edition of the Bible,
in two small volumes. These he carefully preserved to
the day of his death ; and it was his custom, when he
travelled, always to take one of them with him. This
circumstance was well known to his children, the eldest
of whom frequently accompanied him in his excursions,
and could not fail to impress on their tender minds a
veneration for the book which their father so highly
prized.
To Wistar, philosophy was the handmaid of religion —
she elevated his soul and warmed his affections.
After loving God with all our heart, the next great com-
mandment is to love our neighbor as ourself. Were I
asked to point out the most prominent feature in Wistar's
character, I should answer, without hesitation, benevo-
lence. It was a feeling which seems never to have for-
saken him, beginning, as it ought, with his own family,
and extending to the whole human race. Nor was it that
useless sympathy which contents itself with its own sensa-
tions. His charity was active, his hand ever seconding
the feelinjjs of his heart.
On the death of Dr Rush, Wistar succeeded him as
President of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery,
The object of this society was congenial to his mind.
Considering the situation of the southern states, the sub-
ject is delicate. But, certainly, the introduction of slavery
into our country is an event deeply to be lamented, and
every wise man must wish for its gradual abolition.
For the Indians of America he seems to have felt a par-
ticular kindness. He admired their eloquence, lamented
their desolating wars, and earnestly sought for the means
of meliorating their condition. Having once inoculated
an Indian woman for the smallpox, her husband had fears
for the event. Indeed there was some cause for fear, as
the woman refused to submit to the proper regimen. The
anxiety of the Doctor was extreme. She recovered ; but
until the danger was over, he declared, that on no occasion
had he been more oppressed with the lesponsibility of his
profession.
The gratitude of Wistar was remarkable. Services
done, or even intended, he always remembered ; but inju-
ries he was ready to forget. In a letter written at Edin-
burgh he declared, that he had determined to for<>ive
S16 CASPAR WISTAR.
every tiling to a friend or near relation, and expressed his
belief, that it would contribute greatly to happiness to ex-
tend forgiveness to every one. TJiis sentiment gained
strength with time, and at length ripened into a governing
principle.
His health, during the few last years, was interrupted by
several alarming attacks. He was subject to great irregu-
larities of pulse, and there were strong symptoms of disor-
der in the chest. A collection of water was apprehended.
But the fact was, that a small ossification had taken place
between two of the semi-lunar valves of the aorta. About
the 14th of January last, he was seized with a malignant
fever attended with symptoms of typhus. Art proved
unavailing, and he sunk under the disease, after an illness
of eight days, on the 22d of January, 1818. — From a Eulo-
gy delivered before the American Philosophical Society at Phila-
delphia, by the Hon. William Tilghman.
Tiie preceding facts, which are collected from a source,
tlie authenticity of which cannot for a moment be ques-
tioned, display in a strong and simple manner the estima-
tion in which Dr. Wistar was held by those who possessed
the best means of knowing his whole character. There
was a remarkable simplicity and openness in this distin-
guished individual. There was a directness in his actions,
which left no one to hesitate as to the nature of his mo-
tives. There was too much of good, public and private,
in what he did, to permit any man to seek for improper
motives for his conduct. His country, his profession, the
poor and the rich, his public station, the promotion of
science, his religion, every relation which he felt to things
around him, found a deep place in his heart ; and he
seemed to live to cherish and strengthen principles, the
constant operation of which was to make him happy, use-
ful and good.
The great and leading trait in Dr. Wistar's character
was benevolence. He continued to practise a laborious
profession, and among all classes, when its emoluments
had lost their attraction. Wlien bodily infirmity imperi-
ously called on him to narrow the sphere of his labors, he
lamented that his opportunities of active usefulness were
diminished. He had ample resources in his own mind,
but there was a joy in doing good which no retired or ab-
stract occupation could supply. This benevolence was not
only discoverable in his devotedness to his patients ; it was
CASPAR WISTAR. SIT
the same spirit, that made Iiis house the welcome resort
of the stranger and the friend ; and it was to give this
spirit wider exercise, that he never ceased from study.
Works of mere taste, however, and esjiecially works of
fiction, he rarely read. Life seemed to him too short to
be wasted ; and knowledge which could not be applied to
some useful purpose, seemed hardly worth acquiring.
Dr. Wistar was remarkable for the high veneration with
which he regarded his profession. In the discharge of its
practical duties, his ruling principle shone preeminently
bright. Men lost to him tlien the artificial distinctions of
society. Sufferers constituted but one class, one species.
Individual misery was a claim which he never failed to
recognise. It was not, however, in a conscientious dis-
charge of its duties merely, that his jn'ofound respect for
his profession was discoverable. He possessed an abstract
sentiment of veneration for his favorite science. He loved
it for its own sake. It M^as to him a dignified and noble
science, with high purposes for its objects. A moral and
intellectual character was thus diffused through its practical
details ; and what with many men is mere routine, had
with him an intimate union with mind. This led to a
strong and habitual application of his powers to every
collateral study, which might tend to enligiiten the obscure
parts of his profession, strengthen his regard for it, and
render both it and himself more extensively useful.
We turn from these more general views, to consider
some relations in which Dr. Wistar excelled. There are
three for which he especially deserves to be mentioned ; as
a companion, as a hospital surgeon, and as a public teach-
er. When we speak of Dr. Wistar as a companion, we
speak of his colloquial powers and dispositions as they
were manifested to his visiters. These can be perfectly
understood only by those who have been acquainted with
him. They owed much of their power to simple express-
ion of countenance. When he spoke, his face became at
once animated and open. His features received impress-
ions readily from his mind ; and when he listened, one
might perceive in his varying countenance the effect of the
remark that was made, and gather the tone of his reply.
There was, in short, something colloquial in the simple
expressions of his countenance. His address was not ele-
gant, and we are not disposed to call it awkward. It was
the manner of a man whose mind was habitually absorbed,
VOL. u. 28
J818 CASPAR WISTAR.
and the occasional relaxations of which had not allowed
him time for acquiring elegance. In him the purjooses of
conversation were answered. Something interesting might
always be learned. He became early acquainted with use-
ful discoveries in the sciences and the arts, and took a
pleasure in communicating them. Yet he never engrossed
conversation. He looked to his visiters for information
and pleasure, and understood admirably well the art of
eliciting from every mind, with which he came in contact,
what might interest himself or others.
As a surgeon of the Hospital of Pennsylvania, Dr. Wis-
tar aimed to accomplish two highly important objects,
to cure disease, and convey instruction. What has been
already considered as the leading trait in his character,
was in this relation peculiarly conspicuous. It was a field
in which a benevolent spirit might exert its widest and
purest influences. Here were strangers, who might die,
and be at once forgotten ; or recover, and hardly know
the being whose deep interest and successful exertions had
been among the means of their recovery. These unknown
men, however, became at once intimately allied to Dr.
Wistar. Their claims were laid in their distresses. The
union became closer in proportion to the increase of suf-
fering ; and no one, who has seen him at the bedside of
one of these patients in whom signs of recovery at last be-
gan to appear, but could read in his animated, happy
countenance, from how heavy a weight of anxiety and op-
pression his heart was recovering. This would not have
been particularly noticed, for v/e know that sympathy
under these circumstances is not uncommon. In Dr. Wis-
tar, however, the degree in which it existed was un-
usual. It is, we think, but rarely found that habit
does not enable men to resist the expression of feeling,
whether of sorrow or joy. It certainly did not in him,
and thus a medical student and hospital patient were the
witnesses of feeling, as well as of skill, and felt a relation
to him, on that account, which few men in similar situa-
tions are anxious to have established.
Dr. Wistar never lost an opportunity of imparting use-
ful instruction to the hospital pupils. This was done by
minute examinations of the patients, while the class was
present, and by interesting remarks on individual cases.
He insensibly led the student to habits of deliberate inqui-
ry and reflection, by the happy illustration he offered of
CASPAR WISTAR. 219
the practice in himself. In his manner towards the patients
of this admirable charity, he gave a most valuable lesson
of conduct to the young. If a student saw any thing but
misery in corporal distress, or acknowledged any other
sentiment than a desire to relieve it, especially if he viewed
it as ludicrous, or treated it as such. Dr. Wistar never
failed to notice and correct, at the moment, so gross a mis-
conception.
It remains to speak of Dr. Wistar as a public teacher.
In this relation he appeared in all the fulness of his intel-
lectual powers. He brought to the anatomical theatre his
deep and various learning, his habitual feelings, and even
something of his colloquial vivacity. Although he was
strikingly fluent, and truly learned, still there was some-
thing in his eloquence peculiarly his own. Not that he
was lofty in his manner and imposing by his voice, for lie
Was neither. His was the eloquence of sentiment, rather
than of manner ; and his persuasiveness owed almost as
much to his disposition, as to the great importance of the
truths which he unfolded. The dignity which attached
to him, had a common origin with his eloquence. It was
not perceived at once. It was necessary to know some-
thing of his character and heart, as vvell as of the richness
of his mind, in order to understand the elevation to which
he had attained. In his public instructions Dr. Wistar
surrendered himself entirely to his hearers, and freely,
thoup^h unconsciously, displayed to them his intellectual
peculiarities and his whole character. He commenced his
lecture with a recapitulation of the preceding one. This
was done by questions to the class. The effect of this on
the student's mind, was to connect intimately the instruct-
ion already given, with that which he was about to re-
ceive. The lecturer then turned with unembarrassed read-
iness to the subject before him. An imrivalled fluen-^y
and simplicity attended him through every step of the de-
monstration, however complicated ; and he knew, of all
men we have ever heard, the best how to be interesting,
and at the same time rigorously minute. A broad and
clear light shone steadily around him. He seemed to have
identified anatomy with his common thoughts ; and the
language in which he expressed himself on this subject,
seemed like the appropriate expressions of his familiar
conversation. Towards the close of the lecture, when the
business of demonstration was done, he deserted for a while
220 JAMES VVOODHOUSE.
the office of teaching forms, structures and arrangements,
and entered the more intellectual department of his sci-
ence, which teaches the uses or finictions of organs. He
entered tliis path as if it had not been a new one. The di-
gression was so easy, so natural, that his hearers unreluc-
lantly followed him. They felt that they were to be de-
lighted and instructed by all that he would discover to
them. In this part of his lecture his mind had its full
play. Its great business was to collect and arrange what
others had taught, and to interweave among his luminous
generalizations the results of his own inquiries. In doing
tliis, he gave a brilliancy to the experimental truths of
physiology which made them apparent to every one. His
felicities of expression made tliem attractive and even
beautiful. It Avas a brilliancy, however, that did not daz-
zle, for it was a quality which owed its existence as much
to the consciousness of the hearer, as to the clear concep-
tions and peculiar language of the professor.
We have thus attempted a delineation of the character
of Dr. Wistar. There is something salutary in the con-
templation of such a man, and such a mind. It is true,
there is a height in so much excellence, to which we may
never attain. But it is not too elevated to be seen. It is
not a sudden steep, ev^ery step of which m>ist be gained by
labor, and which few only have surmounted. We rise by
an ascent so gentle, and so much to love is on every side,
that our strength is increased rather than exhausted. We
are invited by such a mind to be its companion and friend ;
and are taught by it, that we may be both, if we have
found our highest pleasure in honorable and important la-
bors for the public, and in a beneficence which has its lim-
its only in our power of doing good. — W. C. — J\\ A. Rev.
— jRees' Cyclopedia. — 'Hosacli's Eulogium. — Essays., Vol. I.
WOODHOUSE, JAMES, M.D. was born in Philadel-
phia November 17th, 1770. His father was a bookseller
and stationer, and an industrious, worthy citizen. His
mother was an excellent woman, who discharged her du-
ties in society with zeal and fidelity. Dr. Woodhouse's
education was commenced at a private school in Philadel-
phia, and continued at the grammar school of the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania. In due course of time he entered
the university, and in 1787 received the honor of Bachel-
or of Arts. He soon after entered as a pupil with Dr.
Rush, and in 1793 was graduated Doctor of Medicine.
JAMES WOODHOUSE. 221
The inaugural dissertation which he supported and de-
fended was on the Dyosperos Virginiana, or Persimmon ;
of this valuable native tree he gave the botanical and nat-
ural history ; and also detailed a variety of experiments
Avhich he made upon the expressed juice of the unripe
fruit, the extreme astringency of which cannot be conceiv-
ed of but by those who have bitten the plum. He treats
of the various purposes to which it may be applied in the
arts, and in diseases ; and of the modes of obtaining a
spirit and beers, and of making bread from the fruit, after
it is converted into a sweet nutritious and grateful sub-
stance by exposure to the frost when fully ripe.
In 1791 he determined to apply for the situation of Sur-
geon in the Army, then assembling under the command of
the late General St. Clair, and destined to chastise the In-
dians on our frontiers, who had committed repeated mur-
ders upon the citizens of the United states ; and, upon the
resignation of his fellow student. Dr. James Mease, who
had been appointed Surgeon, but who changed his mind,
he received the commission. The horrors of that cam-
paign have been often given to the public. Luckily Dr.
Woodhouse escaped the dangers of the dreadful defeat
which the United States troops suffered on the 4th of Nov-
ember, 1791, having been ordered to accompany the first
regiment which was sent after sixty militia deserters, four
days before the battle, and to meet a convoy of provisions
which was daily expected. He returned to Philadel])hia
after an absence of four months, and reneAved his studies.
He early evinced a predilection for chemical studies, and
to these he confined almost the wliole of his attention af-
ter his graduation. He never attempted to practise med-
icine. A vacancy in the chemical chair having occurred
by the death of Dr. Hutchinson in 1793, Dr. Woodhouse
offered himself as a candidate. Dr. Priestley was chosen,
but declined. Dr. Carson was then appointed, but died
without giving a lecture ; and in the year 1 795 Dr. Wood-
house was elected to the office. He went to work with
zeal, and delivered a course of lectures the following win-
ter with great applause ; and, as almost the whole of his
time was devoted to the study of his favorite science, he
added to the number, variety and brilliancy of his experi-
ments.
His publications on chemical subjects were numerous,
and may be foimd in those useful journals, the Medical
JAMES WOODUOUSE.
Repository of New-York, Coxe's Medical Museum of Phil-
adelphia, and the American Philosophical Society's Trans-
actions, vol. 4th. The first evinces by several compara-
tive experiments, the superiority of the anthracite coal
from the river Lehigh in Northampton county, Pennsyl-
vania, over the bituminous coal of Virginia, for intensity
and regularity of hegit. In the spring of 1802 he made a
visit to England and France for the purpose of improving
himself in the branch he taught, and while in London
published in Nicholson's Philosophical Journal, vol. 2d,
" Experiments and Observations on the Vegetation of
Plants," Avhich show the common opinion of the amelior-
ation of the atmosphere by vegetation in solar light, to be
ill founded. This paper was the result of a series of labor-
ious and ingenious experiments on the leaves of numerous
plants and trees. He returned in time to commence his
lectures the following season with his brethren of the Med-
ical Faculty. In the year 1796 he was elected a member
of the American Philosophical Society.
Besides his papers in the medical Journals above men-
tioned, he published the following : Observations on the
Combination of Acids, Bitters, and Astringents, a pam-
phlet, 1793 : The young Chemist's Pocket Companion,
connected with a portable laboratory, for enabling any
one to perform a variety of experiments, 12mo. 1797 :
Parkinson's Chemical Pocketbook, Avith an appendix con-
taining the principal objections to the antiphlogistic theo-
ry of chemistry, and a plate of his economical laboratory,
12mo. 1802 : Chaptal's Elements of Chemistry, 4th edi-
tion, with many notes and additions, 2 vols. 1807.
Dr. Woodhou^e died of palsy, which terminated in ap-
oplexy, June 4th, 1809. He left a choice collection of
books on medicine and other subjects to the Pennsylvania
Hospital, and a collection of minerals to the American
Philosophical Society.
JVOTES.
{See Page 185, Vol.11.)
No. I.
Extract from a Letter of the Right Reverend Bishop White^
Pennsylvania^ to Dr. Hosack, New-York.
Dear Sir, Philadelphia, October 14th, 1819.
On the receipt of your letter of the 12th, I called on my neigh-
bor, Mr. Read, whose inforniaiion on the subject of your inquiry
is as follows :
Dr. Williamson had learned that the letters of Governor Hutch-
inson were deposited in an office, different from that in which they
ought regularly to have been. There had been some business
which had convinced him (Dr. W.) that, in the transactions of the
former office, there was no great exactness. He repaired to it,
and, not finding the principal within, he addressed himself to the
chief clerk ; assuming the demeanor of official importance, he de-
manded the late letters of Governor Hutchinson ; noticing the of-
fice in which they ought properly to be placed. Mr. Read thinks
it was that of the Secretary of State, but is not sure. The letters
were delivered. Mr. Williamson carried them to a gentleman
who would deliver them to Dr. Franklin, and the next day set ofT
for Holland. Mr. Read remarked that his statement should be
taken in connexion with the narrative to be found in the Life of
Dr. Franklin.
I have no doubt of the correctness of the communication of Mr,
Read. Independently of the character he has sustained through
life, and to a great age, Dr. W. and he were born within twelve
miles of each other, and were companions from their boyhood.
Very respectfully, your very humble servant,
William White.
To Dr. D. Hosack.
P. S. The Mr. Read mentioned in this letter, is brother to the
late George Read, Esq. of New-Castle, Member of the First Con-
gress, and since Senator for Delaware, under the Federal Gov-
ernment. W. W.
224
NOTES.
No 11.
Extract from a Letter of James Read, Esq. to Dr. Hosack.
Sir, Philadelphia, October 26th, 1819.
The enclosed contains all the additional information I have
been able to collect, relative to the subject of your letter dated on
the 20th instant.
As to the Hutchinson letters which I mentioned to Bishop White,
I well remember Dr. Williamson telling me, some time after his
return from Europe, that he was the person who had procured
them; having gotten information as to the office in which they
were, (I think he said it was a particular part of the Treasury,) he
went there, and without hesitation said to a clerk, the only person
then in the office, that he came for the last letters that had been
received from Hutchinson and Oliver, from Boston ; that the
clerk, without asking a question, gave him the letters, which he
put into his pocket and walked out. He was convinced the clerk
supposed him to be an authorized person from some other public
office ; that he placed the letters in a proper situation to be con-
veyed to Dr. Franklin, then in London, and he departed imme-
diately for Holland. This is, if not exactly, at least the substance
of what the Doctor told me in a conversation we had on the then
situation of our public affairs. The effects resulting from that
transaction are generally known.
It will afford me much gratification, if any thing contained here-
in should be deemed useful to you in portraying the character of
the estimable and truly respectable Dr. Williamson.
I am, with respect. Sir,
Your obedient servant,
James Kead.
Dr. D. Hosaek.
No. III.
Extract from a Letter from the Honorable John Adams, LL.D.
late President of the United States, to Dr. Hosack.
Sir, Quincy, January 2Sth, 1820.
Your Biographical Memoir of Dr. Williamson, which I have
read with great interest and satisfaction, has excited so many remi-
niscences, as the French call them, that I know not where to be-
gin, or where to end.
My first acquaintance with Dr. Williamson was in Boston, in
1773, when he made a strong impression upon me, and gave me a
high opinion of the intelligence, as well as energy of his character.
He gave us great comfort, at that time, by the representation he
NOTES. * 225
gave us of the ardor of the people in the American cause, in the
middle and southern states, especially in New- York and Philadel-
phia. I was afterwards more particularly, acquainted with him,
when he was a member of the House of Representatives, in Con-
gress ; when he communicated many things to me, particularly that
he was descended from Sir William Wallace, the great Scottish
hero, patriot and martyr. He informed me also that he was em-
ployed in writing the History of North Carolina, a work that I
have long wished to see, but have never been so fortunate as to
obtain.
I was one of the first persons to whom Mr. Cushing communi-
cated the great bundle of letters of Hutchinson and Oliver, which
had been transmitted to him, as Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives, by Dr. Franklin, their agent in London. I was permit-
ted to carry them with me upon a circuit of our Judicial Court,
and to communicate them to the chosen few. They excited no
surprise, excepting at the miracle of their acquisition. How that
could have been performed nobody could conjecture ; none doubt-
ed their authenticity, for the hand-writing was full proof: and, be-
sides, all the leading men in opposition to the ministry, had long
been fully convinced that the writers were guilty of such malignant
representation, and that those representations had suggested to the
ministry their nefarious projects. I doubt not the veracity of Dr.
Williamson's account of the agency in procuring those letters, but
1 believe he has omitted one circumstance, to wit, that he was em-
ployed upon that occasion by Mr. Temple, afterwards Sir John
Temple, who told me, in Holland, that he had communicated those
letters to Dr. Franklin. Though I swear to you, said he, that I
did not procure them in the manner represented. This I believe,
and I believe further, that he did not deliver them with his own
hand, into Dr. Franklin's, but employed a member of Parliament,
very possibly Mr. Hartley, for that purpose ; for Dr. Franklin de-
clared publicly that he received them from a member of Parlia-
ment. I am
Your obliged friend, and most
Humble servant,
' John Adams..
To D. Hosack, M.D. LL.D.
To the foregoing statement it may be proper to add that Captam
John Williamson, a surviving brother of the deceased,, in a conver-
sation which I held with him shortly after the death of Dr. Wil-
liamson, fully confirmed the above account of his brothers agency
in procuring the letters of Hutchinson. He moreover declared
that his information had been derived immediately from his bro-
ther. D. H.
VOL. li. 29
226 "^ NOTES.
LETTERS OF LINNiEtJS.
{See Page 349, Vol. 1.)
No. I.
Mr. Adam S. Kuhn, Upsalf 2d February, 1762.
Sir,
About three weeks ago your son, of great promise, and en-
dowed with most engaging manners, arrived here ; who after so
long a voyage has reached this academy in safety and good health.
He will receive from me the most disinterested advice ; I will cher-
ish him with paternal affection, and will at no time omit any thing
that can contribute to his assistance or advancement, as long as he
may choose to avail himself of my counsels.
At this academy he can learn the History and Diagnosis of Dis-
eases, Materia Medica and Natural History, better and more thor-
oughly than perhaps in any other place. And if I should live for
three years more, he will be a Doctor of Medicine, not only in
name, but also in knowledge.
If he is to expend yearly in this place the same sum which Mr.
Wrangel is to bring back from his country, he ought to obtain from
him a written order, under his own hand, for taking up money ;
in this manner both will be benefited.
If you should meet Mr. Bartram, who wrote to me and sent me
some plants, I beg you to make my respects to him, and tell him
that amongst the plants, there was only one that was really new ;
which, with a high single stalk, with numerous setaceous leaves on
the stalk, resembled in appearance the daffodil, and should be
classed with the genus Helonias.
Remember me affectionately to Mr. Wrangel, to whom I am
under great obligations for his letter and his undissembled friend-
ship. And now you may live at ease as it respects your son ; and
remain assured that, as long as he is disposed to take my advice,
he will be as safe with me as with his own father. Farewell, and
paa^. you live long and prosperously.
No. II.
Mr. Adam S. Kuhn, Upsal, Z4th February, 1765,
Sir,
You recommended your soa to my care, concerning whom I
am now able to speak with more certainty. He lives in a house
next door to me, so that I can daily enjoy his conversation, and
inspect his morals and studies. His mind is always aspiring, and
NOTES.
227
his very amiable disposition gives general satisfaction ; so that he
is beloved and esteemed by us all. He is unwearied in his stu-
dies in every branch of medicine, nor does he suffer a single hour
to pass by unimproved. He long since began to taste the sweets
of science. He daily and faithfully studies Materia Medica with
me. He has learnt the symptomatic history of diseases in an ac-
curate and solid manner. In Natural History and Botany he has
made remarkable progress, such indeed as he will never repent ;
so that, God willing, he will hereafter see his country with differ-
ent eyes than when he left it. He has studied Anatomy and Phy-
siology with other professors. Next summer, during the vacation,
he can go to the country, to a farm of mine very near the city,
where he may make daily progress in the studies he has commenc-
ed. I have been surprised that he has never been afflicted with
homesickness ; the only thing that has caused him uneasiness, was
not receiving any letters from the best of fathers.
You have ventured to send your beloved son to a foreign country ;
should it be his fate to return to you, I will engage that you will
never repent what you have done. In a word, he lives in the most
temperate and correct manner. He observes good order in the
management of his affairs ; nor have any of the allurements of
youth, which are apt to ensnare young men, made any impression
on him. Therefore I congratulate both you and myself on this
your son ; and I declare most sacredly that I have never known
any one more correct in deportment or superior in application.
For the truth of this I pledge my honor.
No. IH.
Mr. KuHN, Upsal, October Sth, 1764.
My dear friend,
I this d.iy received your letter, and rejoice exceedingly that
the AH Gracious God has conducted you in safety to England ;
and I hope that He also will grant you a safe return to your
friends. My whule family was extremely glad to learn that you
were well, and desire to be affectionately remembered to you.
Wallerius, the Professor of Theology, Professor Dahlman, r.nd
the wife of Mr. Amnel, have died this summer.
I have heard a great deal of the excellent Mrs. Monson, whom
I esteem and honor more than any other woman in the world ; I
pray and beseech you to make my most devoted respects to her.
I lately received from Siberia a live Cimicifuga, a species of
actea, which gave me infinite pleasure, I have many new genera
from the East Indius, not yet described ; I could, and willingly
would, consecrate one of them to the perpetual memory of the en-
gaging Mrs. Monsou ; but for that purpose I would wish to pro-
228 NOTES.
cure the most beautiful plant in her garden. If she has any of a
new genus, and you will send it to nie, dried, you will quickly find
that I have fulfilled my intention.
A new edition of the genera has appeared, in which your genus
is described ; the Museum of the Queen's Society has also been
published. I could wish to send you these two small works, if I
knew to whom to entrust them.
I have not the smallest doubt that Dr. Solander has admirably
described his scarce plants, as he was one of the most solid bota-
nists amongst my pupils : I beg you to give my best respects to him.
I lament, beyond measure, the untimely end of Mr. Forscallens,
and it was not in my power to refrain from tears. In his death
the best interests of science have sustained a greater loss than I
can bear to think of.
Continue to inform me of your movements; let me know what
countries "you visit, and what you meet with worthy of observa-
tion ; and remain my steadfast friend, as I shall ever remain yours.
Farewell, continue to remember me.
No. IV,
Mr. Adam Kuhn, Upsal, February 20th, 1767.
My dear friend,
I have learnt from your letter, that you are about to pro-
duce the first proof of your acquirements, in an essay on the
Power and Efficacy of the Cold Bath on the Human Body ; I
therefore cannot refrain from heartily congratulating you on this
little work, since I shall ever regard what occurs favorable and
fortunately for you, in the same light as if it had happened to my-
self; for, from the period in which, having set sail from the shores
of your favored Pennsylvania, you reached our city of Upsal, I
have ever cherished you as a beloved son, for your correct and en-
gaging deportment, in which none of the foreigners excelled you ;
for your unwearied ardor and application in cultivating the sci-
ences, in which you were surpassed by no one ; for your undis-
guised friendship, in which none could have equalled you. No-
tliing will bo more ardently desired by me than that, being speedi-
ly restored to N'our friends, you may long prosperously flourish and
collect the wonderful treasures of your country ; where I may
hope to see, with your eyes, a most beautiful region, abounding
with as many rare mammalia, birds, amphibia, fishes, insects, &c.,
as perhaps any other countr}' in the world. For I seem to my-
self to behold you wandering in your native woods, amongst lirio-
dendrons, Soc, interspersed witii liquidambars, amongst which the
ground is strewed and covered with helianthuses, &c., while the
huiuaiing birds, sliaking their golden wings, sip the nectar of the
cbelono, and the different kinds of mocking birds join in a thou«
NOTES. 229
sand melodious notes, amongst hosts of winged songsters, from the
tops of ihe trees. But a year would scarcely suffice to enume-
rate, much less to describe the enjoyments of your paradise. Fi-
nally, I beg that, when on your return your eyes are feasting on
the delights of your flowers, you may still remember me.
No. V.
Mr. Adam Kuhn, Upsal^ 26th February, IJ&T.
My dear friend,
I this day received your letter dated 12th of January, and
observed with the greatest pleasure that you have been appointed
Professor of Botany and Materia Medica in the College of Phila-
delphia ; on which I most cordially congratulate you.* I men-
tioned this circumstance to my wife and children, and they all par-
ticipate the great joy which your good fortune has occasioned me.
I shall attend to your request respecting the societies as soon as
you write to me from your own country.
Within these few days I have brought to a conclusion the first
volume of the Systema Naturae, which contains about ninety
sheets ; a second volume is now in the press, in which Mr. Hope
will see his ^' Hopea," sent to me by Mr. Garden.
My Clavis Medicinse, which was published upwards of a year
ago, might possibly be of service to you in the Materia Medica ; I
wish I knew how it could reach you ; it consists of two sheets
only, containing thirty-two pages.
I am well acquainted with Mr. Walker from his writings,
and have frequently quoted him when treating on the zoophytes.
He is a most ingenious man, and I beg you to make my respects
to him.
I have indeed seen the eyes of the cuttle-fish, and you will find
that I have not denied their existence ; but still I am not convinced
that they are really eyes ; perhaps some organ of sense, to us
unknown.
I wrote, if I mistake not, that we last year celebrated the nup-
tials of Miss Gran Caissa. She now resides at Haggby ; not in
your house, but in the adjoining one. She married Andrew Er-
sen, the son of a farmer, at that place. At her wedding we drank
to your health.
My whole family desires to be most affectionately remembered
to you.
If you should meet the celebrated Hope, beg from him some
American seeds for me ; many of those formerly sent, through his
kindness, germinated and sprouted.
* There must b« some mistake here ; Dr, Kuhn was appointed Professor of Ma-
teria Medica and Botany in January, 1768.
230 NOTES.
.. ^^
Mr. Bceckman, who succeeded to your place and chamber, and
remained with me a year and a half, has already been appointed
Professor of Natural History at Gottingen.
Mr. Kouig, a former pupil of mine, returned last year from Ice-
land, with many new things in natural science.
When you next write, address your letter to the Royal Society
of Sciences, Upsal ; for I open all the letters myself, therefore
there is no occasion for a cover.
No. VI.
Mr. Adam Kuhn, Upsal, 20th Noveinber, 1772.
My dear friend,
As a good opportunity offers of sending a letter to you by
a young clergyman* of ours who is going to your favored Pennsyl-
vania, I cannot let it pass without writing, to pay my respects to
you, and to recommend him to you as a truly learned man.
I am very much obliged to you for the Transactions of your
Society ,t and for having admitted me into the number of your
members. This is evidently owing to your warm attachment to
me, which I shall ever highly value.
Your brother now resides at Upsal. He has been with me but
three times. He resembles you extremely, both in his appear-
ance and engaging manners. |
J send with this vny second Mantissa, which perhaps you have
not yet seen.
I wish you would give to the world a dissertation on the " As-
teres" of your country, which are very numerous ; and that you
would mark accurately their specific characters, as this genus is
extremely difficult to us Europeans.
On the arrival of this clergyman of ours, another may possibly
come to us from you ; in that case I pray and entreat you to send
me some dried plants and some seeds ; amongst which I most ar-
dently wish for the seeds of the Kuhnia, which perished in our
garden.
I have at present two pupils at the Cape of Good Hope, Messrs.
Tunberg and Sparmann, who are assiduously engaged in collect-
ing plants. Next year Tunberg will go to Japan, with the Dutch
Legation.
My whole family unites in wishes for your welfare.
J am yours, whilst I live. Farewell.
Eclectic Repository, Vol. VIII.
* Dr. Nicholas Collin, the present pastor of the Swedish Church at Philadelphia.
t The American Philosophical Society.
% Daniel Kuhn, appointed pastor of the Swedish Church at Christiana, near
Wilmington, Delaware j who died at London, without returning to his native
country.
APPENDIX.
i
The following Memoirs were not received in season to
be inserted in their proper place in the body of the
Avork.
\
SAM? IDAWlPcDiaTIHI M.Ii).
t fnifilpi on's Lii lio j;^raph.v.
APPEiVDIX.
DANFORTH, SAMUEL, M.D., was born in Cam-
bridge, near Boston, in the year 1740. He was the son of
Samuel Danforth, Probate Judge of the comity of Middle-
sex, and was descended from a line of venerable ancestors,
distinguished from the settlement of this country. For he
of his forefathers who first came to New England, is said
to have been " a gentleman of such estate and repute in
the world, that it cost him a considerable sum to escape
the knighthood which Charles I. imposed on all, of so
much per annum." This distinguished person came to
Boston with his son Samuel in 1634. The latter, being re-
mariiable for his piety and learning at an early period,
was educated to the ministry and settletl in Roxbury,
where he died in 1674. He stands second on the list of
" Socii," the fellows, or governors of Harvard College.
From the year 1643 to 1758, there appear before Dr. Dan-
forth on the college catalogue, seven of his ancestors and
relations ; three of whom were clergymen, and some of the
others held distinguished political stations. The name of
the family of his mother was Symmes. He had one bro-
ther and one sister, both of whom died before him.
His early years were passed in Cambridge. He was edu-
cated at the college, where he evinced that independence
and decision of character, for which he was remarkable in
after life. He was graduated in 1758, and studied medi-
cine with Dr. Rand, the elder, either in Boston or Charles-
town. At that period he became acquainted with a Ger-
man physician, who exerted some influence on his opin-
ions, and of whose skill he often spoke with admiration.
This was probably the elder Dr. Kast.
He commenced practice in Newport, Rhode-Island, a
place at that time distinguished for its prosperity and its-
VOL. ir. 30
234 APPENDIX,
literary character. Here he treated some difficult cases with
a success that established his reputation, and formed him
friendships which lasted during life. After a year or two,
however, he resolved to return to Boston ; and, having
married the daughter of Mr. Watts of Chelsea, established
himself at the north part of the town.
The revolutionary troubles disturbed his professional
pursuits, and he, like many of those descended froin ancient
families, became an active politician on the loyal side. In
consequence of liis taking this part, he was compelled by
the war to break up his family. His wife and three child-
ren took refuge at her father's ; his brother went to Eng-
land, where he remained till his death : while he himself
continued in Boston, then in possession of the British army.
After the evacuation of the town, he, with some other
medical gentlemen, was treated with harshness. But the
inhabitants, considering that they could not conveniently
dispense with the services of their accustomed physicians,
thought it wise to forget the difference of political opin-
ions ; the physicians were set at liberty ; and a few years
were sufficient to obliterate the recollection of the fact.
His family being reunited in Boston, he pursued the
practice of his profession with success. His promptness,
decision, but above all his reflecting habit of mind, gave
him character and consequence. He increased his reputa-
tion by an ardent attention to the study of chemistry,
which was then so little known in this country as to be
considered an occult and somewhat mysterious science.
In this favorite pursuit he was aided by a French gentle-
man, whom the war had brought to this country, and whoy
like himself being devotedly attaclied to chemistry and med-
icine, became his intimate friend. In company with this
gentleman he pursued the study far enough to get a glimpse
of some of the important facts which soon after broke out
with such lustre in the discoveries of Lavoisier and his
coadjutors. At a subsequent period, through his son,
whom he had sent to Europe for improvement in the medi-
cal profession, he obtained tlie most complete chemical
apparatus which had been seen in Boston. But, the calls
of an imperious and engrossing profession preventing his
pursuing this science with that exclusive ardor which
belonged to him, he abandoned It wholly, and never
resumed it.
SAMUEL DANFORTH. 235
After the death of his wife he was again twice married ;
first to Margaret Billings, by whom he liad one daughter,
and afterwards to Martha Gray.
Having been an original member of tlie Massachusetts
Medical Society, he was chosen President of that body in
1795, and continued to be so till 1798, He had long be-
fore this attained the highest reputation. In all difficult
cases of a medical nature, his opinion was relied on as the
utmost effort of human skill. To a knowledge of surgery
he made no claim, and avoided its practice ; considering
the medical art to afford sufficient scope for his capacious
mind. The extent of his practice was limited only by his
ability and disposition to attend to it, and he continued in
full and constant occupation till he was nearly eighty years
old, exhibiting none of the signs of a diminution of mental
power, except a slight imperfection of memory, the effects
of which his intellectual vigor enabled liim to surmount.
After having seen his colleagues in business successively
fall around him, and the disappearance of a great part even
of the generation which came into practice after him, he
was compelled by infirmity, about four years before his
death, to resign his business and confine himself to his
family. His latter days were not, however, without en-
joyment ; for his physical functions continued in many
^respects active ; and his happiness in doniestic society
seemed to increase with the loss of that external pleasure
he had so keenly experienced in his profession. Some-
times this retirement was agreeably interrupted by the visit
of an old friend, and sometimes a former patient came to
catch the last rays of that wisdom and experience which
was gradually sinking into night.
Dr. Danforth was one of the most remarkable men this
country has seen. He was tall in stature, thin, yet well
formed and perfectly erect. His eye was penetrating, nose
aquiline, chin very prominent, and his whole countenance
exhibited a sagacity, which a stranger could not fail to
notice. Educated in the old school, his manners were
polished, but not formal, and his carriage attractive yet
commanding. He was such a figure as the imagination
would paint of a sagacious, powerful physician. When
engaged in the consideration of a difficult case in practice,
he seemed to shrink within liimself, and his appearance,
to an unacquainted observer, indicated doubt ; but, when
the results of his reflections were expressed, his counte-
236 APPENDIX.
nance and person were most animated ; and lie speedily
cleared away the difficulties before him. Other practi-
tioners, having exhausted the resources of the healing art,
have often been surprised to see the fertility of his mind in
the production of new plans of treatment.
His theory of disease he had formed for himself. It was
simple, and his practice corresponded with it. He used
few remedies, and those only whose effects were obvious
and j)Owerful. Calomel, opium, ipecacuanha and Peru-
vian bark were his favorite medicines ; and his external
remedies were friction, vesication and the warm bath.
Though considered one of the most successful practition-
ers, he rarely caused a patient to be bled. Probably for
the last twenty years of his practice he did not propose
the use of this remedy in a single instance : and he main-
tained that the abstraction of the vital fluid diminished
the power of overcoming disease. Whatever difference of
opinion there may be as to his theory or to some points
of his practice, it may with justice be said that the medical
art is indebted to him for essential improvements ; espe-
cially for dissipating the popular notion, whicli saw
nothing but bilious complaints in all diseases of the digest-
ive organs ; and substituting, in place of this error, a cor-
rect view of the nature and the treatment of the derange-
ments of the part he considered most important in the
animal economy, the stomach. The simplicity of his
views, the boldness of his treatment, and his aversion to
nostrums and specifics, had a jDowerful influence on the
practitioners with wliom he consulted.
The confidence of his patients was unlimited, and their
attachment without bounds. These sentiments were in-
spired not only by iiis superior talents, but by his manners,
which to those he liked Avere most captivating and affec-
tionate. Some persons accused him of severity. This
disposition, however, presented itself only when he was ex-
cited to it by opposition to his opinions or disobedience to
his orders. His conviction of the truth of his doctrines
was so strong, and his confidence in his own practice so
entire, that he was unable to bear opposition to the one,
or disobedience to the otiter. When he found his advice
slighted or his injunctions disobeyed, he was indeed un-
sparing of the offender ; for he truly said that such acts
were as great an injury to the patient, as an injustice to the
physician.
SAMUEL DANFORTII. 23T
Having ' lied much and thought profoundly in the
earlier part of his life, and having formed his opinions on
grounds satisfactory to himself, in his later years he
read but little. When he found a hook that pleased him,
it became a study. Every opinion was made the subject
of reflection and conversation. His aversion to writing
was very decided and uniform through his life. Had he
committed to paper the observations he had made, and the
reflections revolved in his powerful mind, his fame would
have been as widely extended abroad as it was deeply
rooted in his native place. The writer of this article has
been informed that his friends frequently solicited him to
allow some parts of his opinions and practice to be taken
in writing. He at last assented ; and, after progress had
been made in the work, he took occasion to read what had
been written : having done this, approaching the Are, he
exclaimed, " Absurd ! of what use is all this, without the
mind to apply it ;" and deposited the paper in the flames.
Decision and the love of truth seem to have been the
distinguishing traits of his character, not only as a medical
practitioner, but in domestic life. He was simple in his
taste, and averse to parade and pretension. In his friend-
ships he was singularly firm and confiding ; and, after a
severe domestic calamity had weakened his mind, his
affections seemed, if possible, to gain new strength and
deeper tenderness. In the latter part of his life, his views
on the subject of religion were such as to aff'ord great
consolation to those who felt the deepest interest in his
welfare.
His final illness was short. On the 13th of November he
had a slight paralytic aff'ection while in his parlor ; but
was able fo sit up, and recognised and conversed pleasant-
ly with a medical gentleman whom he had not seen for
some vears. On the evening of that day he entered his
chamber to leave it no more. Three days after the para-
lytic affection, finding himself faint he for the first time
told his daughter, his only surviving child, that this ill-
ness would be a fatal one. A few hours after he sunk into
a state of insensibility, and expired in a tranquil and almost
imperceptible manner.
He died at the age of 88, on the 16th day of November,
1827. On the Sunday following the funeral solemnities
of the Episcopal church were performed in his house by
the Rev. Dr. Gardiner ; and his family tomb in the west-
238 APPENDIX.
ern angle of the cemetery in Common street, received the
inanimate remains of him who had so often been the in-
strument of repelling the arrows of death from his fellow
men. — Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.
.EUSTIS, WILLIAM, M.D. M.MS.S. et LL.D., was
the second son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Eustis, both of
whom were respectable characters and who resided in
Boston. He was born on the 10th of June, 1753. His
mother superintended his early years, and the excellence
of her disposition and pious instructions left upon his mind
impressions of her worth, that never were effaced nor im-
paiied tlirough life. His early education was obtained at
the grammar school in Boston under the celebrated Mr.
John Lovell, and he became a favorite both of him and
his usher. At the age of 14 he entered Harvard Univer-
sity, where he was distinguished as a good classical schol-
ar. He took his Bachelor's degree with reputation at the
annual commencement in 1772, on which occasion an hon-
orable part was assigned him.
After his graduation at college, he commenced the study
of medicine in Boston under Dr. Joseph Warren, the revo-
lutionary patriot and martyr. His j)ersonal appearance,
his polished manners and gentlemanly address, added to
his many amiable feelings, and an intellect well cultivated,
rendered him a favorite of his youthful friends and fellow
students, and secured to him the strong and growing at-
tachment of his instructer. At the commencement of the
glorious struggle between the mother country and her col-
onies Mr. Eustis was a student with General Warren. On
the 19th of April, 1775, the day of the battle of Lexington,
an express arrived in Boston communicating the intelli-
gence ; on which occasion the General mounted his horse,
called Mr. Eustis and directed him to take care of the pa-
tient?; in his absence, and departed for the scene of action.
About one o'clock on the same day Dr. Eustis rode to
Lexington and Concord, where he had an opportunity of
dressing the wounds received bv some of our militia from
the fire of the British. When the American troops were
collecting, and an army was forming, General Warren pro-
posed to Dr. Eustis to receive the appointment of Surgeon
to one of the Regiments, observing that lie had seen more
practice than most of the gentlemen from the country.
He was accordingly appointed Surgeon of the Regiment
of Artillery then at Cambridge. From tJience he remov-
WILLIAM EUSTIS. 239
ed with the army to New-York, and soon after received
the appointment of Hospital Surgeon. He was subse-
quently offered a commission in the line of the army as
Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery, by General Knox, but he
preferred the medical department, wliere he might im-
prove his mind in the knowledge of his profession.
In 1777, and during most of the war. Dr. Evistis occu-
pied as a hospital a spacious house and out buildings be-
longing to Colonel Robinson, a royalist who had joined
the British, situated on the Hudson river opposite to West
Point. In this hospital the writer of this sketch officiated
for some time as surgeon's mate ; the sick and wounded
from different quarters were sent here as to a place of safe-
ty and convenience. It was a part of this house that was
made the head quarters of the traitor Arnold ; here and in
the vicinity, the infamous act of treason was planned, and
was about to be consummated had it not been provident-
ially arrested in its progress. When Arnold suddenly ab"
sconded, his wife instantly retired to her chamber, and was
seized with violent hysterical paroxysms. Dr. Eustis, on
entering her chamber, found her frantic in the arms of one
of Arnold's aids de camp and a female domestic, with dis-
hevelled hair, wild countenance and deranged mind.
General Washington arrived during this scene ; at a lucid
interval she inquired if he was in the house, expressing a
desire to see him ; Dr. Eustis, supposing she wished ta
disburthen her mind by revealing to him the secret of Ar-
nold's absence, gave the information ; but, on the Gener-
al's entering her chamber, her nerves appeared to be une-
qual to the struggle. She was instantly seized with
another paroxysm, and his Excellency, on hearing her say
it was not General Washington, retired from the unpleas-
ant scene.
In all the duties pertaining to his office Dr. Eustis was
found faithful, humane and indefatigable. His urbanity
and social qualities led him to an acquaintance and friend-
ly intercourse with those who sustained rank and respect-
ability of character. When the number of the medical
staff was considerably reduced by a new arrangement by
order of congress, he was among those who were selected
to remain in service ; and in March, 1783, he was present
at the meeting of the officers at Newburgh, called by
Washington in consequence of the excitement occasioned
by the inflammatory anonymous letters.
240 APPENDIX,
At the termination of the revolutionary war Dr. Eustis
commenced his professional avocations in the town of
Boston. When, in 1787, troops were raised by our gov-
ernment for the purpose of defending our frontier territo-
ries from the invasion of the Indians, he received the ap-
pointment of Surgeon to the regiment raised in this state,
calculating, it is believed, on the office of Surgeon Gene-
ral ; but as tlie object of the expedition was abandoned,
and the regiment disbanded by government, he resumed
his professional pursuits in Boston. In 1786 and 1787,
when our Commonwealth was menaced with a formida-
ble rebellion which produced great public embarrassment
and alarm. Dr. Eustis manifested a patriotic spirit, volun-
teering his services in the expedition for the capture of
Shattuck, one of the insurgent leaders, and rendering his
assistance in the character of surgeon with the army com-
manded by General Lincoln, which quelled the rebellion.
In the year 1788 the subject of this article was chosen a
member of the General Court for Boston, where he was
on many committees, and took a conspicuous part in the
debates during six or seven years in succession, pursuing
still his professional calls and duties in town. He served
also for two years at the Board of Council in this Com-
monwealth, during the administration of Governor Sulli-
van. In 1800 he was elected member of Congress for
Suffolk district ; this afforded him opportunity of forming
an intimacy with the ruling powers. He was soon desig-
nated as a zealous advocate for President Madison and his
administration, applauding his political sentiments and
measures. It was under this administration tliat, in 1809,
he was appointed to the highly responsible office of Secre-
tary of War, which he sustained until the surrender of
General Hull's army, when he was induced to retire from
the war department. But a new employment was in re-
serve for him. In 1815 he was appointed Ambassador to
Holland, and on his return his legation met the approba-
tion of the government. In 1821 Dr. Eustis was elected
member of Congress for Norfolk district, which he contin-
ued to represent with ability for four successive sessions.
We next find him a candidate for the office of Governor
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and, after the re-
signation of Governor Brooks, he succeeded to the chair
of state. Such had been the magnanimity of his prede-
cessor in office, such the dignitv, wisdom and moderation
/,.;.■.■ /./'/«'
/WHO (VJ JVl^-. IS'^iO
Nathaniel frEemax. 241
with wiiicli the affairs of state had been conducted, that
the asperity of party excitement was in a degree appeased,
and its extinction almost sealed by the noble spirit of pat-
riotism and public virtue. Governor Eustis, therefore,
entered on the duties of chief magistrate under circum-
stances peculiarly auspicious to a happy administration.
He was for several years Vicepresident of this state's
Society of Cincinnati, and a member, and for some time
counsellor, of the Massachusetts Medical Society. The
honor of LL.D. was conferred on him by Harvard Uni-
versity, and he received literary honors from other col-
leges. •
He died after a short illness in Boston, during his at-
tendance on the General Court in their session in Februa-
ry, 1825, in the 72d year of his age.
Dr. Eustis possessed a heart replete with humane and
social feelings, and his hospitable and graceful manners
rendered his house a happy resort to his friends and to
strangers. Of his views on the important subject of relig-
ion we have no means of information, save the following
paragraph found in the sermon preached on the occasion
of his funeral by the Rev. Thomas Gray of Roxbury,
from which a part of this sketch has been taken. " His
mind was serious, and in repeated conversations with him
upon the subject of religion generally within the last six
years, he always treated it with the utmost solemnity."
" I am a minute man," said he to me once, " I am a mi-
nute man, and feel this subject to be deeply important ;"
alluding to a supposed affection of the heart. Dr. Eustis
married the daughter of Woodbury Langdon, Esq. of
New-Hampshire, who survives him without i?sue.
FREEMAN, NATHANIEL, M.M.S. et S.H.S. was a de-
scendant of one of the earliest settlers of the country. His
ancestor Edmund Freeman, from whom he was the fifth in
lineal descent, came from England ; it is believed, first to
Saugus. He was admitted, with ten associates, freeman,
at a General Court at Plymouth, January 2d, 1G37, and
on the 3d of April following leave was granted to " these
ten men of Saugus, on certain conditions, to choose a
place sufficient for three score families to sit down upon."
They chose and settled the town of Sandwich, and in 1651 ,
the conditions having been performed, a deed of the town
was executed by Governor Bradford to Edmund Freeman,
who at the same time conveyed to his associates, the oth»r
VOL. fi. 31
24S APPENDIX.
original proprietors. He brought with him to Sandwich
two sons, John and Edmund, and a daughter Alice. He
was one of the assistants of Governor Bradford from 1640
to 1646 inclusively. It is probable he died about the year
1668, as he is named that year on the records as Edmund
Freeman Senior, and the next year there is a division of
lands purchased of Edmund and John his sons. On the
death of his wife he placed a very large stone on her grave,
which he whimsically called, as in shape and appearance
it resembled, a pillion ; and brought another, which he
called a saddle, and placed by its side, telling his sons,
when he died, to bring him by hifer side, and place the sad-
dle upon his grave ; " and there," he added, " let us re-
main to the resurrection day." There sprang up between
the graves, at the head and foot, two oaks, which grew in
exact resemblance. The land passed into other hands,
and one of the trees was long since cut down, but the oth-
er is still to be seen, with the saddle and pillion, about
one mile west of the meeting house of the first Parish in
Sandwich. Both his sons married the daughters of Gov-
ernor Prince. Edmund married Rebecca in 1646, and
remained in Sandwich ; and from him all of the name in
that town are descended. John removed to Eastham.
Edmund Freeman, son of the last named Edmund and
great grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born
in 1655, and died May 18th, 1720. He had nine child-
ren, most of whom attained a good old age. His eld-
est son Edmund, the grandfather of Nathaniel, was born
August 30th, 1683. He removed from Sandwich to Mans-
field in Connecticut, where he died June 1st, 1766. Ed-
mund, his son, was born in Sandwich, September 30th,
1711, was graduated at Harvard University in 1753, and
married Martha Otis, daughter of Nathaniel Otis, whose
wife was Abigail Russell, daughter of the Rev. Jonathan
Russell, a pious and distinguished minister of his time in
Barnstable. He taught a school in that part of Yarmouth
then called Nobskusset, which now constitutes the North
Parish in Dennis, where his son Nathaniel was born, being
his third child, March 2Sth, 1741, 0. S. Soon after this
he removed to Mansfield, where he brought up a family
of seven sons and two daughters, and died on his paternal
estate February 15th, 1800. He was through life a prac-
tical farmer, and a pious man. Many of his sons have
been distinguished in public life.
NATHANIEL FREF.MAN. 243
Nathaniel received a very limited education from a pri-
vate instructer, and studied medicine under Dr. Cobb in
Thompson, Connecticut, and afterwards resided a short
time in Tolland. He married an orphan in Killingley,
and removed to Sandwich, " the place of his fathers' sep-
ulchres," when his oldest child was ten montlis old, which
must be about the year 1765. There he recommenced the
practice of his profession, and there he passed the remain-
der of his eventful life. He settled in Sandwich with
the advice, and under the patronage of his maternal
great uncle, the late distinguished Colonel James Otis,
from whom he lived about eight miles distant. Under
his auspices and direction, also, he went through a regular
course of legal reading before the revolution.
On the disruption from the mother country he zealous-
ly espoused the patriotic cause, and in 1773 was on a
committee of the town to consider the spirited resolutions
of the town of Boston, and their report, drawn up by him,
breathed a corresponding spirit. In this year he was also
chosen a member, and thenceforward acted as chairman
of the Committees of Correspondence and Safety, and
throughout most of that stormy period was moderator of
the town meetings. In September, 1774, a body of peo-
ple assembled from the adjacent county of Plymouth and
perhaps other counties, it is believed from a preconcerted
plan of those " who rode in the whirlwind and directed
the storm," and proceeded with reinforcements from the
towns in the county, to stop the Court of Common Pleas
which was about to be holden in Barnstable. It was de-
sirable that this should be done without tumult or disor-
der. Dr. Freeman was selected as their president, and
they quietly took possession of the court house. The
multitude is said to have amounted to twelve hundred.
The minutes of their proceedings from day to day show
that it was no common rabble who had assembled, but
high minded men about to resume abused delegated
power. A communication passed between the presiding
Justice, Colonel Otis, and the president of the assemblage,
when the former with his associates and the Sheriff retir-
ed ; and the courts sat no more in that county under the
authority of George III. An action, like this in the on-
set, was a manifestation of moral courage seldom equalled,
and may be said not to have been surpassed by any thing
which transpired during the war.
244 APPENDIX.
Dr. Freeman was a member of the House of Representa-
tives which convened on the 19th July, 1775, and " took
up government" on the recommendation of the Continent-
al and Provincial Congresses. He Avas on several very im-
portant committees ; one of wiiich was to provide suita-
ble accommodations for General Washington, then at the
head of the army at Cambridge. He was elected by this
body in August Lieutenant Colonel, and in the succeeding
February Colonel of the militia. He was also appointed
in August Justice of the Peace and Quorum and Register
of Probate, and in October a Judge of the Court of Com-
mon Pleas, whose progress he had arrested a year before.
These commissions, civil and military, were signed by
James Otis and the other members of the Council, acting
as Governor, and were under the great seal of the Prov-
ince, and in the name of the' Government and People of
the Massachusetts Bay in New England. He was also su-
perintendent for the county of Barnstable during the war ;
and several hundred recruits for the continental army
were forwarded by him to Justin Ely, Esq., the commis-
sioner at Springfield. In 1778, 79 and '80 he was again a
member of the House of Representatives ; and in 1779 went
with Major Samuel Osgood to West-Point, to persuade the
ofiicers and men of the Massacliusetts line, whose term was
expiring, to continue in the service. He publicly address-
ed the officers, and prophetically assured them that, upon
the successful termination of the war, a grateful country
would appreciate their services, and call them to posts of
honor in the civil administration of the government. He
also marched at the head of his regiment, on the expedi-
tion to Rhode-Island.
On the adoption of the state constitution in 1780, he
was recommissioned Judge of the Common Pleas, Regis-
ter of Probate and .Tustice of the Peace and Quorum. He
was also in the first " dedimus potestatem" to qualify
civil officers, and Avas commissioned to take up and re-
strain persons dangerous to the state. In August, 1781, he
was appointed Brigadier General in the militia, and after-
wards offered his services to Governor Bowdoin to sup-
press the insurrection in 1786. He was honorably dis-
charged from this office, October 31st, 1793. Governor
Hancock consented to his discharge ; but, before it was
perfected, died, and it was granted by Samuel Adams, Lieu-
tenant Governor. Har.cock ?peaks of him as " an officer
NATHANIEL FREEMAN. 245
whose patriotic services shone so conspicuously during a
lonjy and arduous revohition, which tried the souls of men
in whatever station they were called to act by the voice of
their country." Adams says " The spirit of lil)erty, un-
der wliose benevolent guide your conduct has been so emi-
nently distinguished during our late conflict with despot-
ism, is equally recognised in you by the present as by our
lately de|)arted Commander in Chief, and he expresses his
confraternity with you in friendship and in the united love
of our common country, whose government is establish-
ed on the solid foundation of equal liberty and the rights
of man."
The office of Judge of the Common Pleas he held until
tliat court was superseded by the Circuit Court in 1811, a
period of thirty-six years ; within which time he was ap-
pointed by Governor Sullivan Chief Justice, and also Chief
Justice of the Court of Sessions. He held the office of Reg-
ister of Probate until 1822, upwards of forty-seven years ;
when lie voluntarily resigned it into the hands of his friend
and compatriot, the late Governor Brooks. He was early
elected, on the nomination of Governor Brooks, a member
of the Massachusetts Medical Society ; in 1792 a member
of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and in 1797 a mem-
ber of the Humane Society. He was also elected a member
of the Abolition Society at Providence, and of the Ameri-
can Antiquarian Society instituted at Worcester in 1812.
It appears by a memorandum and catalogue in his own
hand writing, Ihat he commenced the practice of medicine
anew in 1789, with a determination to devote himself to
it, and read all the appi'oved works in the science then
extant. He was distinguished in his very extensive prac-
tice both as a physician and surgeon ; and successfully
performed many capital operations with no other guide
than the knowledge he derived from liis extensive read-
ing. At the age of 63 he retired from the practice,
though he was occasionally called to visit the sick, and
took charge of patients to the last year of his life.
He was an advocate for the adoption of the Federal Con-
stitution, and an unsuccessfnl candidate for a seat in the
Massachusetts Conv^ention wiiich adopted it. The town sent
delegates to oppose it. He supported, the administrations
of Washington and Adams, and was in favor of the reelec-
tion of the latter ; but he did not join in the opposition to
Jefferson after he was elected. In March, 1802, he deliv-
246 APPENDIX.
ered a charge to the grand jury which was published by
their request, and is a repository of sound principles.
Dr. Freeman accumulated a very large library in medical
and legal science, and theology. He gave much of his
time to abstract speculations in theology and controversial
divinity. He was one of the best extempore speakers of
his day. Throughout the active and trying scenes of the
revolution he used his influence for the preservation of
order, and was ever on the side of humanity. His influ-
ence also was always strongly exerted in favor of religion
and its institutions. Early in life he professedly espoused
its cause, and connected himself with a Calvinistic
Church ; but in his meridian became warmly interested in
the views and sentiments of Dr. Priestly, and published
for the use of the first Parish in Sandwich an edition of
Dr. Enfield's forms of prayer with some others svdijoined,
a copy of which he sent to Dr. Enfield, who replied
in a letter expressive of his gratification and respect. Af-
terwards he returned to the Calvinistic faith, in which be-
lief he lived many years, and in which he died ; and he
has left a large manuscript volume giving his views of its
jDeculiar doctrines.
By two marriages he had twenty children, eighteen of
-whom lived to adult age. He lived sixty years in the
house in which he died ; and in most of that time culti-
vated his garden with his own hands. He Avas a man of
uncommon industry, application and perseverance. In
his personal presence he was commanding ; his height was
nearly six feet ; his eyes piercing, and his countenance
strongly marked and interesting. He outlived most of
his contemporaries, and was the oldest person, with one ex-
ception, within the limits of the town. He lived gener-
ously and independently. His hospitality was of the old
school. He left little property, but died unembarrassed
with debt, at the advanced age of eighty-six years and six
months, on the 20th day of September, 1827, retaining a
good degree of mental vigor and physical activity to with-
in a few days of his death.
" Of no distemper, of no blast he died;
But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long :
Ev'n wonclcr'd at, because it falls no sooner.
Fate seem'd to wind him up for four score years ;
Yet freshly ran he on six winters more,
Till like a clock worn out with eating time.
The wheels of weary lifs at last s^ood still."
JAMES GILBERT. 247
GILBERT, DR. JAMES, was born in New-Haven, Con-
necticut, Oct. 25th, 1779. He was educated at Yale Col-
lege, wliere he was graduated in 1800. His merits as a
student while at college were attested by the honors con-
ferred upon him by the Faculty, and by his being elected
a member of the society of Phi Beta Kappa. During the
last year of his college life he commenced the study of the
medical profession, confining his attention chiefly to Che-
mistry and Botany. The former was more especially his
favorite science, and was pursued by him with so much
zeal, that most of his leisure hours this year were devoted
to chemical experiments. Had the result of his investiga-
tions at this time been published, they would have given
him a name among the improvers of modern chemistry.
The winter of 1801-2 he spent in Philadelphia, attend-
ing the lectures of Rush, Wistar, Physick and Woodhouse.
By too intense application during the course of lectui'es,
his health became so much impaired as to render it neces-
sary for him to relinquish his plan of pursuing his studies
at Philadelphia. Soon after this, by request of Dr. Conk-
lin, he established himself in practice at Southold, Long
Island, where he continued more than two years. At the
end of this period, 1805, his zeal for improvement induced
him to leave an extensive practice, to attend a course of
lectures in New-York. Here, after the conclusion of the
lectures, he was urgently solicited to settle, but declined
on the grounds of his preferring a country life, with less
prospect of honor and emolument. He returned to New-
Haven, his native city, which thenceforward became the
theatre of his professional life. In this and the adjacent
towns he soon found an ample field for the exercise of his
talents in the practice of medicine, surgery and obstetrics,
which he cultivated with an ardor and industry rarely ex-
celled.
At the end of eight years from his establishing himself
in New-Haven, having accumulated a decent property, he
was enabled to gratify a long cherished desire of visiting
some of the celebrated colleges and hospitals of Europe.
Accordingly, in the spring of 1814 he sailed for France,
spent some time at the hospitals of Paris, and proceeded
to London, where he spent the winter following in attend-
ing hospitals and lectures and in reading. Having now
nothing to divert his attention from his favorite pursuit,
the acquisition of science, he applied himself to it with
248 APPENDIX.
unwearied diligence. But, having been for years accus-
tomed to the arduous labors of an extensive practice, he
soon found that an entire change from the active life of
the physician to that of the assiduous student, in conjunc-
tion with his abstemious mode of living, was by no means
favorable to his health. Unwilling, however, to relinquish
the object before him, he persevered until spring, when a
severe pulmonic disease appeared to be rapidly undermin-
ing his naturally rugged constitution. By the advice of Sir
Astley Cooper he now left London, and sailed for Ameri-
ca, and, what was hardly expected even by himself, found
his disease entirely removed by the voyage.
He reached home in the spring of 1815, and felt himself
abundantly paid for all the suffering and expense of his
transatlantic tour. After iiis return his practice constant-
ly increased, especially his surgical practice, for which he
always had a predilection. His health appeared perfectly
restored, and for nearly three years after his return he was
able to endure the fatigues and irregularities inseparable
from the faithful discharge of his professional duties.
But his work was now drawing to a close. Early in
October, 1817, he was confined several weeks with Ca-
tarrhal Fevxr, by which lie was reduced very low. After
recovering from this in some measure, he remained sta-
tionary for several weeks, when symptoms of phthisis
again made their appearance. After declining some time
and finding no relief from medication, as a last resort he
resolved to attempt a voyage to a milder climate. Ac-
cordingly, he sailed from New-Haven in December, and
arrived at Charleston, S. C. on the 8th of January, 1818.
After a residence of about four weeks at the latter place,
the season being unusually cold and rainy, and his health
still failing, he concluded to sail for Havana. On the
morning previous to his departure an abscess burst in his
lungs, which circumstance almost dissuaded him from his
purpose : but, the vessel being ready and the wind fair,
he was induced to proceed. So flattering and deceptive is
consumption, that even the skilful physician, who had
seen and treated hundreds of cases of it in his day, sinks
under its ravages, still cherishing hopes of recovery to the
last. Dr. Gilbert died Feb. Uth, 1818, five days out from
Charleston, aged 39.
The death of Dr. G. was justly considered as a public
loss. Of him it may be rmphatically said, he was cut off
EBENE2ER HUNT. 249
in the midst of his usefuhiess. Possessing a vigorous and
penetrating mind, he had acquired a fund of professional
knowledge rarely equalled by one of his years. As a prac-
titioner of medicine, he was indefatigable in investigating
the causes and treatment of diseases ; as a scientific sur-
geon, he had few superiors in the United States ; as an
operator he was neat, possessing a discerning eye and a
steady hand. He was strongly attached to his profession,
and probably no practitioner ever engaged more fully the
confidence and the affections of his patients. During his
professional life he was the private preceptor of a consider-
able number of pupils, who will long cherish his memory
with filial gratitude.
Aside from his profession, he was an accomplished
scholar, possessing a mind formed for philosophical re-
search, and which allowed but few subjects to escape its
investigation. His mind exhibited bold traits of an origi-
nality of genius, which does not hesitate at times to depart
from the beaten track, or to throw off the trammels of
long established usage, thougli at the risk of incurring cen-
sure, and of being thought eccentric. He was twice mar-
ried, and had three children by his former wife.
The religious views of Dr. G. were those of a sincere
believer in the truths of the Gospel, considering religion
as a thing of the heart, and as consisting not merely in ex-
ternal forms and professions. He aimed to govern his
conduct by the precepts of the Bible, and was extremely
fond of reading and hearing it read during his confinement.
Resting his hopes on the merits of the Redeemer, he re-
garded the termination of his earthly career with calmness
and composure.
HUNT, EBENEZER, M.D. A.A.S. et M.M.S.S. was a
native of Northampton, Massachusetts, being a lineal de-
scendant of one of the oldest and most respectable families
that established themselves on Connecticut River. Of the
earliest period of his life little has been preserved. He
was born in 1 744, and in 1 760 became a member of the
college at Cambridge. He made himself remarkable at
this age by a modesty of deportment, great vivacity, and
at the same time that consciousness of talent which leads
to determined exertions. Havina; finished his course at
college witli great credit to himself in 1764, he went to
Springfield to pursue the study of medicine Avith Dr. Pyn-
voL. n. si
250 APPENDIX.
cheon, who enjoyeJ at that time a very high and well
merited reputation.
la 1768 Dr. Hunt began his professional career in North-
ampton. From this time he belonged entirely to the pub-
lic. In the present county of Hampshire there is hardly
an aged person to be found, who does not well remember
the services which he rendered. For at that time there
were few physicians in the section of the country where
Dr. Hunt resided. His practice soon embraced a circle of
eighteen or twenty miles round Northampton. His man-
ners were singularly agreeable. He knew how to adapt
himself to every class of society ; and, while his feelings
were so elevated and gentlemanly that he was fit to asso-
ciate on equal terms with men of the greatest considera-
tion, he could condescend to the lowest. In administering
remedies lie was cautious, but decided. His general prin-
ciple was to abstain from using medicines if possible, and,
especially in the case of children, to fortify the constitu-
tion. But if a case of difficulty presented. Dr. Hunt,
though he proceeded with a circumspection which would
lead a superficial observer to call him timid, was very bold
and decided in his treatment, when his mind was once
clear on the case.
He had a rare sagacity in discerning the nature of a dis-
ease, and its degree of severity. In all cases, whether of
distress and anxiety, or of depression, he was well skilled
in the most valuable art of inspiring a cheerful confidence.
Hypochondria vanished before his good humor ; and, in
doubtful cases, desponding friends were animated to new
efforts, and a hope was encouraged, when life was almost
expiring from the despair of relief. In this way he not
only was beneficent in healing diseases, but assuaged the
sorrows of a sick room by a manner that administered
comfort. When a family suffered bereavement, he was al-
ways present to solace grief, to relieve want, and to alle-
viate the pains of regret. And this his science and his
knowledge of man enabled him to do, for he would
calmly seek out the latent sources of affliction, and stop
them, even without allowing his object to be perceived.
For he was no proser ; and never troubled a mourner with
lectures on resignation. Thus it was, that his virtues as a
man assisted him in his profession ; and his genuine excel-
lence, and pure and kind feelings, made him a more useful
and successful physician.
EBENEZER HUNT. 251
In this way he came at last to enjoy unlimited confi-
dence and general love. What Dr. Hunt said, no one
called in question. What Dr. Hunt did, no man would
consider wrong. But it must not be supposed that his ca-
reer, so full of happiness from the good which he dis-
pensed, resembled the practice of an affluent physician in
a city. The district in which he practised was a wide
one ; and in those days the roads were so bad as to admit
of no rapid travelling except on horseback. Yet he was
fearless and indefatigable. A horse always stood ready for
him ; and summer or winter, day or night, near or far, on
the mountains or across the river, it was the same to him,
if a case of sickness required his presence. From these
habits of active and selfdenying industry he derived a
strong frame, perfect health, unclouded cheerfulness, and
a constitution which enabled him to continue his labor-
ious practice till his 70th year, and ordinary practice still
longer.
In his own person he also at one period suffered most
severely ; and one fact we must mention, in proof of his
physical fortitude, and his unfailing serenity. A cancer
was forming in his head, where he himself could not ob-
serve it. He considered it dangerous, and even appre-
hended that his end was near. In 1789 he went to Boston,
thinking it might be for the last time. The Counsellors
of the Massachusetts Medical Society were then in session.
At the request of his brother-in-law General Cobb, Dr.
Hunt went to them that they might examine the cancer.
They decided that it might be eradicated. It was agreed
that on the next day the operation should be performed.
Accordingly in a full meeting Dr. Warren was selected as
the operator. " We must bind his hands," said Dr. War-
ren. " No cable in Boston could hold them fast," rejoined
Dr. Hunt; and with an effort, that astonished the physi-
cians themselves, he quietly laid his head on a pillow, and
bade them begin. The ear was first nearly cut off, though
afterwards successfully replaced ; then for thirteen min-
utes the operation continued, and every stroke of the
knife, so near the auditory nerve, was like the report of a
pistol. Dr. Hunt did not flinch in the least, though the
sweat poured down his cheeks profusely. At length all
was done ; and as he raised his stately form, his first words
were, " Now, sir, give me a certificate." Dr. Warren did
not understand him, and asked for what reason. *' Why,"
253 APPENDIX.
continued Dr. Hunt, "that I was not cropped for making
money." Dr. Warren laughed, and pleasantly rejoined,
" I will give you none, for I hear that no physician in the
west has made more money than you." The meeting was
then adjourned, all agreeing that they had never seen a
man of more firmness or of better humor.
We sliould like to dwell further on his professional char-
acter, which united so many rare and valuable qualities ;
but we must pass to his merits as a man and a citizen. He
was of nice feelings of honor and of warm affections ; be-
nign and open hearted. His home was the abode of a
liberal and unsparing hospitality. His morals were un-
blemished. He was a firm believer in Christianity, and a
professor. His religious views were orthodox ; his reli-
gious feelings tolerant and liberal. In intercourse with
men he was frank and fearless. He oppressed no one, and
he opened his mouth boldly against all intolerance and in-
justice. No honest man could be his enemy, and no man
ever had cause to be hostile towards him. Whatever he
engaged in, he undertook with all liis heart.
He possessed an intimate acquaintance with human na-
ture, and had a singular talent in discerning the characters
of men, and understanding the principles of conduct and
passions by which they were governed. This again in-
creased his success as a physician, for he knew admirably
Avell how to adapt his medicines to every constitution and
habit. And in his general intercourse, if he wished to ad-
vance an important object, which required cooperation, ho
knew as well as any man what motives were to be touch-
ed. This talent, so often the foundation of great political
power, he never perverted to an unworthy purpose. He
united with it the most unsuspected sincerity and the strict-
est love of justice. He was habitually benevolent. To
the poor and the fatherless he gave freely and silently. In
all matters of public munificence he was usually the first
invited to contribute, and always did so liberally and
cheerfully. He kept no man waiting. He was prompt
and punctual. We have spoken of his cheerful manners ;
his cheerfulness was not artificial, though he was gay, and
at times even playful. His character was marked by the
deep lines of christian resignation. He was severely tried
in the relations nearest and dearest to him ; but he never
murmured against Providence ; and his present content-
anent was aissured by his religious hopes.
EBENEZER HUNT. 25S>
Such an example made him necessarily a most useful
citizen. But this was not all. He encouraged merit. In
his own profession he was superior to jealousy. Having
himself a large dispensary, he would furnish young physi-
cians with all the medicines they needed, requiring no se-
curity, and favoring them, as far as lay in his power, in
their efforts to establish themselves in respectable practice.
One species of judicious liberality he particularly exercised.
If yovmg men needed small fimds to establish themselves
in ijusiness. Dr. Hunt was always ready to encoiu-age them
by lending. But he would at the same time fix precisely
the day of payment, and give a few words of advice on
the importance of punctuality. When the appointed day
came, he always expected the discharge of the debt ; by
which means he made those who borrowed more industri-
ous and frugal, and prevented the distress that would have
resulted from an accumulation of interest. The founda-
tion of many a young man's prosperity was laid in this
way, and as much good was done by teaching the lesson
of punctuality, as by assisting with the loan of money.
The business habits of Dr. Hunt were very correct.
Once a year he would have a settlement with every credit-
or ; but in collecting his dues he never made any man suf-
fer. He practised medicine for more than fifty years, and
never sued any person in the whole time for any debt in-
curred for medical attendance. Nor was he himself ever
sued, nor did any cause in which he was concerned ever
go to a jury.
His townsmen from time to time conferred on him those
honors, which, though in themselves not very important,
are yet valuable marks of confidence and respect on the
part of immediate neighbors. He was often moderator in
the townmeetings, after Major Hawley had retired from
public concerns ; and his influence in the town was great
and of the right kind. He spoke in public fluently and to
the purpose, but always concisely. His presence was so
important as a physician, that for many years the town
was unwilling to spare him even for a season. Yet after-
wards he was in the Legislature of the state, was a member
of the Senate five years in succession, and during that time
was chosen Elector of President. He was long a member
and counsellor of the Massacliu setts Medical Society, and
in 1798 was chosen its Vice President. At an early period
he determined to hold no public trust after lie should be
254 APPENDIX.
sixty years of age ; and he sacredly kept his resolution.
Retaining his general health and cheerfulness to the last,
he (lied on the 26th of December, 1820, aged 76.
AVARREN, JOHN, M.D. A.A.S. et M.M.S.S. a distin-
guished physician in Boston, was born in Roxbury, a town
adjoining Boston, on the 27th of July, 1753, and descend-
ed from ancestors who settled in Boston in the year 1720.
After a preliminary school education in the town of his
nativity he entered Harvard College, at the age of four-
teen. Maintained there by his own efforts, he labored
assiduously to avail himself of the advantages of the semi-
nary. At this early period he displayed a taste for the
study of anatomy, and took the lead in the formation of
an association of students for the purpose of cultivating it.
Haviug received the Bachelor's Degree in 1771, he entered
as a medical pupil with his brother Dr. Joseph Warren,
afterwards General Warren, and continued his studies, as
was the custom of th^ time, for two years.
Boston being at that time abundantly supplied with able
physicians, he settled in Salem, where, having gained the
confidence of the excellent Dr. Holyoke, he was favored
by him in the acquisition of business, and soon obtained a
most extensive practice. The troubles of the time inter-
rupted this course. On the 19th of April, 1775, the coun-
try being roused by the attack on the militia at Lexington,
the Salein regiment was marched to the scene of action ;
he accompanied it in the capacity of surgeon, and returned
afier the conclusion of the fig-ht. Two of his brothers
were present in this action. On the 17th of June, 1775, he
was a«;ain called from Salem bv the cannon of Bunker
Hill and the flames of Charlestown. Knowing the intre-
pidity of his brother and the anxiety he felt that his coun-
trymen should meet the first onset of a British force with
spirit, he was perfectly aware that he Avould expose his
life on every occasion. Travelling on foot, with arms in
his hands, and lighted on his way by the continued confla-
gration of Charlestown, he inquired anxiously as he went
Avhether his brother and instructer had been engaged in
tlie action. Falling in with a f^entry posted on some line,
in his anxiety he attempted to pass him, and received a
bayonet woimd, of which he carried the scar through life.
But this did not deter him from proceeding. His uneasi-
ness was increased to an intense degree on ascertaining that
his brother had been actually engaged ; but whether he
«•<•/,
pen'^
'.il'^
le"--*'
JJODIHIW \WA]R1RM^ M.B,
JOHN WARREN.
255
had escaped with life or not no one could say ; and such
was the confusion of the period and the interruption of
communication, that three days elapsed before he could
be sure of the truth of the melancholy report that his
brother had shed his life blood for the honor and defence
of his country. Filled with distress and indignation, and
excited by that ardent zeal which marked his character
through life, he immediately offered his services as a pri-
vate soldier in the ranks of the defenders of his country.
His services were, however, to be employed in a more use-
ful way. He received the charge of administering to those
who had been wounded in the action of the 17th of June ;
and a few days after, under the direction of General Wash-
ington, who had jiist joined the army, he was appointed
to the post of Hospital Surgeon ;* an office doubly im-
portant at that time, when the ranks were filled with vol-
unteers from the most spirited and respectable families in
the country. In this situation he continued during the
siege of Boston.
This siege, important and honorable as it was to Ameri-
ca, since the regular army of Great Britain was shut up by
an undisciplined militia for nearly a year, was not fertile
in military events. From the 19th of April, 1775, to the
17th of March, 1776, the invading army made no attempt
on the country, excepting on the 17th of June, 1775 ; when
they were so steadily opposed and suffered so great a loss,
as to disable and discourage them from further efforts.
The year was passed in erecting fortifications and in can-
nonading. In March, 1776, there was a prospect of a
bloody and desperate operation. The Americans had taken
possession of Dorchester Heights ; the British commander
found it necessary to dislodge them, or quit Boston. He
resolved on the former ; and a strong force was sent to the
Castle for the purpose of storming the neighboring Heights
* His colleagues in this office were Samuel Adams, William Aspinwall, Isaac
Foster and Lemuel Hayward.
It is stated in the historical sketch of Dr. Bartlett that " the inhabitants of this
commonwealth who continued as surgeons in the hospitals and army during the war,
were Isaac Foster, William Eustis, Samuel Adams, John Warren, David Town-
send, John Hart, Joseph Fiske and Josiah Kartlett."
Of the eight last mentioned four were at the same time fellow pupils under Jo-
seph Warren : Drs. Eustis, Adams, Townsend and John Warren.
The venerable Drs. Townsend of Boston, Fiske of Lexington, and Hart of Read-
ing, survive at the time this is written, rejoicing in the prosperity of their country,
and delighting in the recollection of the dark and doubtful time of their service ia
th« army.
§56 Appendix.
of Dorchester. At the same time, as is stated in a journal
kept by the subject of this memoir, a sortie was to have
been made over the Neck on the American force in Rox-
bury. General Washington, having discovered the inten-
tion of his antagonist, determined not to be found acting
merely on the defensive ; and ordered a select body of four
thousand men to be ready to pass Charles River in boats
and land in Boston, as soon as the contemplated attacks had
been begun by the Britisli. In this party was placed Dr.
Warren ; and we have heard liir^ speak with animation of
the hopes which filled the breasts of those who were des-
tined for this attack. The Americans had been long in
sight of their enemies without an opportunity of coming
in contact with them. They were now tolerably well dis-
ciplined ; not discouraged by any defeat ; and overflowing
witli patriotic ^eal. Had the British General pursued his
plan, a triple action would have ensued, and a contest the
most bloody which occurred during the war. The town
of Boston would probably have been taken by the Ameri-
can force while the British were desperately storming the
steep hills of Dorchester. The plan of the British General
was disconcerted by a violent storm ; lie afterwards aban-
doned it, and adopted the alternative of quitting the town.
On the evacuation of Boston Dr. Warren was one of the
detachment ordered to take possession, and had an oppor-
tunity of examining the place as it appeared after a year's
occupation by the British army. Of its aspect and its for-
tifications he gives an interesting account in the journal
alluded to.
After a short stay in Boston the American army moving
to New-York, he accompanied it, and was in the disastrous
action on Long Island. His professional talents were now
called into full operation. He continued in constant ser-
vice during the deplorable year of 1776, and saw the
American army dwindle away to a few half naked, starv-
ing, discouraged soldiers, without losing any of his ardor
for the cause of freedom, or his confidence in the ultimate
success and independence of the country. The gloom of
that time was suddenly, as by a flash of lightning, bright-
ened by the brilliant and courageous attacks of Trenton
and Princeton. At that time he narrowly escaped falling
into the hands of the enemy. Between the actions of Tren-
ton and Princeton, on the night before the last of these,
Washington having crossed tlic Dehnvarc was encountered
JOHN WARREX. 257
l)y Lord Cornwallis with a superior force. A rivulet sepa-
rated the two armies. His lordship delayed for the night
the attack, which he expected would enable him to de-
stroy the American army, in the full confidence that they
could not escape him. During a long midwinter night
Washington withdrew his aiMuy from the front, and march-
ing to Princeton, in the rear of his enemy, attacked them
and gained a second victory. His movement was so unex-
pected and sudden, that the surgeons of the army, be-
ing lodged a little apart, received no notice of the event,
till on rising the next morning they found that their army
had disappeared, and th.it of the enemy remained in front
of them. Mounting their horses, they galloped off with-
out any distinct notion of the course they should pursue :
but after a while, happily got information which enabled
tliem to reach Princeton in time to attend to the wounded
in the action which took place there. After two years'
service in the army, during the most dangerous and dis-
couraging part of the revolution, he was in the year 1777
removed to another department, and appointed superin-
tending surgeon of the military hospitals in Boston. This
post he occupied during the remainder of the war.
This honorable and important station presented him to
the public as a proper candidate for the practice of surgery
in Boston and its vicinity. He improved the advantage
he thus possessed by a steady cultivation of anatomy, and,
rising rapidly in public estimation, soon attained the
rank of the most eminent surgical practitioner in Boston,
and, it may be said, in New-England ; a rank he main-
tained nearly forty years. Soon after his establishment in
Boston he married the daughter of Governor Collins, of
Rhode-Island.
His anatomical pursuits becoming known to his friends
in the medical profession, he was solicited by them to ex-
tetid the benefit of his dissections, and to give a private
course of demonstrations or lectures. Neither he nor his
contemporaries had ever experienced the advantage of
public instruction. In this respect tlie distinguished phy-
sicians who then held tlie practice of Boston, had the ad-
vantage of them. The former had been in Europe and
enjoyed the instructions of the most al)le lecturers on
medical science ; but Dr. Warren and those who studied
the medical profession at the sanse time with him, were
prevented from quitting houiP by the dnnp^ers which then
vfti,. n. o3
258 . APPENDIX.
threatened their country. All the deficiencies were sup-
plied by his talent and resolution. In the year 1780 he
gave a course of dissections to his colleagues with great
success. To them the opportunity was so novel and so
desirable, that they attended his lectures with zeal ; and
none of thein forgot the impressions they received. These
lectures were given in the Military Hospital, which was
situated in a pasture in the rear of the present Massachu-
setts General Hospital, at the corner of Milton and Spring
streets. They were conducted with the greatest secrecy,
on account of the popular prejudice against dissections.
In the following year the lectures, given at the same place,
were quite public, and many literary and scientific gentle-
men of the town, and the students of Harvard College,
were permitted to attend. In this season and at this place,
Dr. Warren performed the amputation at the shoulder
joint, with complete success. The third course of lectures
was given in the year 1782 in the " Molineux house," situ-
ated on Beacon street, between Sumner and Bowdoin
streets. The attendance of the senior class of Cambridge
College upon these lectures led to the design of forming a
medical school in connexion with the university. A pro-
fessorship of anatomy was established for him, and he was
requested by President Willard to furnish a sketch of a
medical institution. In the year 1 783 this seminary was
organized, and the professors inducted into office with
great ceremony.* Its formation at this period was the
more remarkable, from the country being scarcely disen-
gaged from an oppressive war, which had reduced its
wealth and its industry to a deplorable state.
Always retaining his sensibility to the interest of his
country, he was deeply affected by the troubles which
broke out in the state of Massachusetts soon after the peace.
An expedition being set on foot among the gentlemen of
Boston to attack a body of the insurgents at Groton in the
county of Middlesex, he joined the party as a volunteer
private. When the new federal constitution was proposed
he examined its principles carefully, and afterwards took
an active part in gaining it supporters. The citizens of
his native state were about equally divided in opinion in
regard to this important subject ; and it was necessary that
* The professors were nripinally three in niiniber; Dr. Warren was Professor of
Anatomy and Sur^'ery, Dr. Benjamin Waterhousc of the Tii^ory ami Piacticc of
Physic, and Dr. Aaron Dexter ofChemi.strv and .Materia .Mcdica.
JOHN WARREN. 259
all its friends should use their influence in its favor. He
had a brother in the convention, who was decidedly op-
posed to the new constitution at first ; but by persevering
and earnest argument he satisfied him and some other
members of the convention, of the vast advantages to be
derived from the federative system, and obtained their
votes in its favor. He was equally successful with his
father in law, the Governor of the state of Rhode-Island,
who came to Boston for the purpose of satisfying himself
on the subject, but with sentiments decidedly hostile to
the proposed constitution. He returned home with oppo-
site opinions, and exerted a most useful influence in his
own state. At this time, as well as during the revolution
and afterwards, his deep interest in the public good urged
him to support the cause of truth by publications in the
newspapers of the day.
In concert with some other medical gentlemen he estab-
lished a smallpox hospital at Point Shirley, near Boston,
in 1784 ; and when the smallpox spread in 1792, he inocu-
lated more than fifteen hundred persons.
The yellow fever, after invading a number of tlie Amer-
ican cities, extended itself in Boston for the first time in
1798, though there were some suspicious cases two years
before. Although the disease was formidable by its nov-
elty, and still more so from the opinion, then universal, of
its contagious quality, after sending his family into the
country, he did not hesitate to attend all calls to this dis-
ease ; and, considering it most desirable that the morbid
ap|>earances should be ascertained by dissection, in com-
pany with Dr. Rand the second he examined the bodies of
those who had died of it, with great accuracy, and pub-
lished the results immediately. At a subsequent period he
became fully satisfied from repeated opportunities of ob-
serving the epidemic, tliat it was not contagious. At the
time when the doctrine of contagion was generally re-
ceived, he showed his perfect devotion to the cause of his
patients by inhaling their breath, in order to ascertain
whether the mercurial action had begun.
As biography is not intended to gratify the feelings of
friends, nor the curiosity of the public, but to afford in-
structive lessons, it is proper to mention an occurrence
which took place about this period and had a great influ-
ence on his future life. By constant labor he had succeeded
in obtaining a moderate estate, when, in the year 1796, a
260 APPENDIX.
medical gentleman, formerly a private student of his, beg-
ged him to become responsible for the payment for certain
lands he had purchased in the District of Maine. The
lands were of great extent, and the purchaser offered to
deposite deeds of the whole property in his hands, to-
gether with those of other extensive estates, as security
for the use of his name. He was induced to comply.
The original purchaser failed to pay ; he was himself,
therefore, compelled to take the lands and pay the debts.
The management of this property afterwards occupied a
large share of his time, gave him infinite vexation, and
terminated in absorbing a considerable part of his estate.
His early life had given him a love for the country and
a strong taste for agriculture. The moment he acquired
sufficient property he purchased a small farm, a mile from
Boston, wiihin view of his paternal house in Roxbury,
and began to employ himself in the cultivation of fruit
trees. His wishes on this subject enlarging with his means,
he some time after obtained an estate at Jamaica Plains,
large enough to give free scope for his plans of improve-
ment. The laying out and planting of the land, and the
glowing and grafting of fruit trees, became his principal
relaxation ami delight. Almost every day in the warm
season, after having gone through the routine of profession-
al business, he drove a distance of four miles to this favor-
ite spot, and passed the afternoon in planting and other
labors, with liis own hands ; and then sitting a short
time to consider the effect of tlie changes he was mak-
ing, enjoy the anticipation of tlieir benefit to society,
and for a moment to contemplate the delightful scenery
around, he resvmied his vehicle and in a few minutes was
enveloped in the hurry of professional business.
Having been a petitioner for tJie incorporation of the
Massachusetts Medical Society in the year 1781, and an
active member and most of tlie time an officer of that soci-
ety till 1804, he was then elected president and continued
to be so till his death. This situation gave him great op-
portunity to advance the condition of medical science, and
bring forward those improvements for which this society
has been eminently distinguished. TJie society and the
medical school had been hitherto opposed to each other,
and some severe collisions had taken j)lace, much to the
disadvantage of the profession. Exercising a predominant
influence on both of the^e institution?, he employed this
JOII>- WAUREN. 2G\
influence to make them harmonize and cooperate in a sys-
tem for the better instruction and grackial elevation of tlie
profession. The fruits of this exertion arc enjoyed by
those now in the practice of medicine. About the same
time he was chosen President of the Massachusetts Humane
Society and of the Agricultural Society, ofiices which he
held a few years and resigned to others.
The period allotted him for the enjoyment of ])ublic
estimation was short. The severity of liis labors had made
deep inroads on a constitution naturally weak, and shaken
by repeated diseases before he reached the middle age.
When a young man he thought himself a su]>ject for pul-
monary disease. During his revolutionary campaigns he
had a violent fever, and another in tiie year 1783, after he
was established in Boston. The latter was so severe that
the medical gentlemen who attended him did not expect
hiin to survive it ; excepting one of them, Dr. Joseph Gar-
diner, an eminent practitioner of the time, who for want of
written memorials is now known to few of our inhabitants :
he said of him, " that young man is so determined to leco-
ver, that he will succeed in spite of his disease." During
the earlier period of his lectures at Cambridge, he was
more than once on the point of succumbing to tJie excessive
efforts he made to carry them on. In the fulness of pro-
fessional business he daily passed over Charlcstown ferry
to Cambridge, there not being a bridge at that time ; and
sometimes, when impeded by ice, was compelled to take
the route through Roxbury and Brookline to Cambridge,
and to return on the same morning, after himself perform-
ing the dissections and giving a lecture sometimes three
hours long. Twice he offered to resign his professorship,
but was prevailed on to retain it.
In the yellow fever of 1798, though indisposed great
part of the time, he attended an incredible number of pa-
tients through the continuance of the epidemic. Besides
some permanent complaints, he was frequently afflicted
with tlie sick head-ache, accompanied in its incij)ient stage
with great depression of spirits. This continued to affect
him till wilhin three years of his death, when it entirely left
him ; but soon after its disappearance he Avas suddenly
seized with a more alarming affection. While demonstrat-
ing a brain which had been immersed in alcohol and mnri-
atic acid, and which he held and hamlled for a lonfjr time in
a very cold state, he had a paralytic affection of tlie arm ;
2G2 APPENDIX.
and was for some time unable to use it. From this he reco-
vered in a great measure, but not wholly. He was also
constantly harassed by a pain in the chest and side, which
often attacked him suddenly in the night, so severely that,
after taking considerable doses of opium without relief, he
rose in bed, bled himself and became easier. This affection
proceeded from an organic disease of the heart, of long
standing. It was subsequently found to arise from ossifi-
cation of the aorta exactly at that part which receives the
impetus of the blood as it gushes from the left ventricle ;
and it is presumable that this was brought on by that state
of hurry and anxiety in which he constantly lived, and
which would necessarily excite the action of the heart in
an inordinate degree. Yet he had the opinion that it was
the perj)etual movement of body and mind that preserved
his life longer than could have been expected.
The personal appearance of Dr. Warren was most pre-
possessing. He was of about middling stature and well
formed : his deportment was agreeable and his manners,
formed in a military school and polished by intercourse
Avith the officers of the French army, were those of an ac-
complislied gentleman. An elevated forehead, black eyes,
acjuiline nose, and hair turned up from the forehead, gave
an air of reflection and dignity which becazne a person of
his profession and character.
Temperance was as agreeable to his wishes as it was
necessary to his health. He rose and breakfasted early ;
afterwards did business at home, either professional or
promiscuous, for about two hours, rarely leaving home
till nine in the morning in summer, and ten in the win-
ter. He dined at two ; ate heartily, but drank no wine
and usually nothing but water, for wine and the strong-
er stimulant drinks were poisonous to him thi'ough life.
Tlie afternoon and part of the evening were passed like
the morning, in visiting patients ; and the termination
of the evening in writing, or in consultation of such works
as were necessary to the labors of the time, or in perform-
ing the duties of the many societies with which he had be-
come connected by his active and beneficent disposition.
His visits to patients, through the greater part of his
life, were made on horseback ; a mode of conveyance
which he adopted as the most expeditious. In visits to the
country he took a chair or chaise ; but never a carriage of
four wheels, unless indisposed or on a journey : the con-
JOHN "IVARREN. 2G3
finement of this kind of vehicle was irksome. He wislicd
always to move with the greatest possible rapidity, be-
cause the time passed in transportation was in a great
measure lost. This habit subjected him to accidents innu-
merable and sometimes extraordinary ; yet not attended in
any instance with serious consequences.
The minuteness of some of the details here introduced
may appear trivial. It is, however, in such details that
men differ from each other, and one generation from the
succeeding. For these reasons it may not be superfluous
to speak of the method of practising at that time. Dr.
Warren made his visits very short. He wasted no time in
conversation, but immediately applied his mind to the
case, and succeeded in possessing himself of it in a few
minutes in such a manner as perfectly to satisfy the patient
and his friends ; so tliat, though they often complained
that his visits were short and wished they could have
more of his company, they were generally and strongly
attached to him. This is not, however, to be attributed
solely to their confidence in his skill, but to the warm and
affectionate manner which was with him constitutional.
During the greater part of his professional career it was
not the custom to write prescriptions. The physician
carried in his pocket a number of the most important arti-
ticles, and distributed them on the spot. Such as were
not at hand were sent for afterwards to his house, and
prepared and issued by pupils. About the year 1806 the
Association of Boston Physicians reformed their fee table,
and agreed to abandon the distribution of medicines, the
business of the dentist, and some minor professional duties.
In surgery his preeminence was unrivalled, during the
greater part of his career. The soundness of his judgment
saved him from erroneous conclusions, in a practice more
within the cognizance of the public than that of medicine.
It is known of a great foreign surgeon of the present age,
that, after a life of activity, usefulness and skill, he commit-
ted a capital error in advising an operation of lithotomy ;
on the performance of which no calculus was discovered.
In consequence of his mistake he became insane, and after a
life employed in the public service came to a most misera-
ble death. From such a misfortune Providence in His good-
ness preserved the subject of this sketch. Although com-
pelled to trust to his own resources, and for the most part
destitute of anv aid from consultation in this division of
201 APPENDIX.
Ills dutie?, his success was uuiforin, as far as the nature of
the diseases he treated would allow. Hence he was re-
sorted to from all parts of New-England, for surgical ad-
vice and oi;eration.
His manner of operating was perfectly cool, composed
and decided. Though sympathizing in the sufferings he
was called on to inflict, he did not allow that sympathy to
influence him, to huny one step of his operation, or to
omit any detail wiiich could contribute to it? success. Be-
fore its conclusion he always satisfied himself and those
about him that every thing had been done which ought to
be done, aiul that no relic of disease had been suffered
to escape his vigilance. At a very early period, and
long before it was practised on the continent of Europe,
he introduced the healing of wounds by the first in-
tention ; thus shortening prodigiously the cure and the
sufferings connected with it. Among other difiiculties he
had to surmount, was the want of an individual to whom
he could resort for making, improving and repairing sur-
gical instruments. No such person existed in Boston, dur-
ing the principal part of his time ; and he was compelled
to find a su1)stitute in some itinerant razorgrinder, or in
the labors of his pupils or of his own hands.
The preparation of a course of lectures on anatomy,
without books, without an instructer and without a model,
is another instance of the energy of his character. As was
before stated, he began to dissect at an early period ; pur-
sued his labors in the army ; advanced them in his hos-
j)ital ; and thus, without any guide but his knife, and
without any teacher but the body before him, made up
his first course of lectures. Afterwards, the confluence of
French surgeons to tliis country opened to him anew field
of improvement. He determined to acquire the French
language in order to study anatomy. TJie Latin and
Greek languages he had well learned at Cambridge, to-
gether Vv^ith something of the Hebrew ; but of French
he was wholly ignorant. By dint of study he became
acquainted with it, and thus got access to the libraries
of his friends in tiie French army. The interest which
the Frencii took in promoting improvement among the
Americans, ought never to be forgotten. Without any
assumption of tlie air of superior knoAvledge, they con-
trived to introduce many important improvements in
the science of our yoimg and ignorant country. The
JOHN WARREN. 265
books they brought with them were disposed of most lib-
erally. Among those acquired by Dr. Warren on his
favorite subject, was the Anatomy of Sabatier ; at that
time and long after, the best system in print. He studied
this book till he was thoroughly possessed of all it con-
tained. His lectures now assumed a more regular and ele-
gant form. He introduced various modes of demonstra-
tion, which were original and strongly impressive ; and
contrived to make his short course so instructive, that few
persons could avoid getting a knowledge of all the
important organs : for he was not satisfied to quit a
subject till he had shown it in all possible lights. He
never wrote out a course of lectures ; though he seems
to have made a beginning, but afterwards abandoned
this plan, from its being found unnecessary. For the
most part he used no notes in lecturing, and often lec-
tured without preparation ; a practice which sometimes in-
volved repetition, though not in a tiresome degree. As a
speaker, his eloquence was preeminent, and its features
were in conformity witli his general character. There
was nothing about it artificial or contrived for display.
He was wrapt up in his subject and labored effectually to
convey the vivid impressions on his own mind to those of
his hearers. " His voice was most harmoniously sonorous,
his utterance distinct and full, his language perspicuous
and well chosen. But its more peculiar charms were de-
rived from the animation of delivery, from the interest he
displayed in the subject of his discourse, and from his so-
licitude that every auditor should be satisfied both of his
demonstrations and explanations."
Situated as he was, it seems surprising that he could
find time for cultivating any branch of literature. In the
year 1783 he was called to deliver the first oration on the
4th of July, the anniversary of the declaration of inde-
pendence ; an anniversary which has been annually cele-
brated in Boston in the same manner, from that day to
this. In the oration he gave abundant proof of extensive
historical reading, and a degree of thought on political
aflfairs, which did great credit to his sagacity, as well as
knowledge. At different periods he delivered other pub-
lic orations and addresses : one before the Humane Society
of Massachusetts, an Eulogium on the Hon. Thomas Rus-
sell, President of that society, a Public Address to the Ma.
sonic Lodges, of which he was Grand Master, and a Dis-
TOL. II. 34
266
APPENDIX,
sertation before the Massachusetts Medical Society, on
the use of Mercury in Febrile Diseases. He produced
some valuable articles for the Communications of the Mas-
sachusetts Medical Society, the New-England Journal of
Medicine and Surgery, and the Memoirs of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In the character of Dr. Warren the most distinguishing
feature was disinterestedness, or the predominance of the
benevolent principles over the selfish. Many of the most
active members of society are occupied exclusively with
their own interests. All their views and exertions begin
and terminate in self. Such men often attain to the
highest distinctions. But the world has little reason to
rejoice in their elevation. They bestow on it no bene-
fits, but such as are essential to promote their own pro-
gress. There is another class, whose feelings are more
alive to the sufferings of their fellow beings ; upon whose
generous dispositions the afflictions of others make a deep-
er impression than their own cares. They are readily ex-
cited to exertions, the object of which is to improve man-
kind. They may be called enthusiastic, perhaps, but their
enthusiasm, being controlled by a sound judgment and
accurate observation, produces effects the most beneficial.
It is by such men that those changes in the affairs of men
have been brought about, which are felt as beneficial to
humanity, and the influence of which remains when tliose
who produced them are forgotten. They enter not hastily
on their plans. But, having satisfied themselves that an
object is good, and worthy of their exertions, they are not
deterred by an apparent impossibility of effecting it. They
venture deliberately to encounter those difiiculties they
know they must contend with. The same susceptibility
indeed that incites them to action, usually renders the op-
position they meet with more harassing. They feel with
acuteness shocks tiiat would make little impression on men
of colder blood, or more selfish dispositions. But they
persevere in their purposes, for they know that no pain
can be greater than the fear of being wanting to what their
sense of duty requires. We have a brilliant example of
this class of minds in those who effected the abolition of
the slave trade ; and many of the actors in our revolution
were of a similar character.
Among such minds is to be placed that of Dr. Warren.
The most powerful motives of his actions through life ap^
JOHN WARREN. 267
peared to arise from the benevolence of his disposition,
and the warmth of his feelings. Selfish considerations
had no power to bend him from the course which the fer-
vor of his spirit prompted. An instance has been given
in the earnestness with which, on learning the agitating
events of June 17th, 1775, he deserted his fair prospects of
professional eminence in Salem, and offered to serve the
cause of his country by enlisting as a private soldier in the
army. The same fervor was exhibited in all his pursuits.
He entered upon them zealously, and devoted his whole
soul to their accomplishment. He allowed himself no
rest day or night, till he was satisfied that nothing in his
power to perform, remained undone. It was probably
from the strong interest his pursuits excited, that he ac-
quired in so eminent a degree the power of concentrating
his faculties. To this power, joined to his extensive know-
ledge and observation, may be attributed the rapidity of
his mental processes, the facility with which he arrived at
his conclusions. Hence it was that he was able to perform
so much in a given time as to astonish other men of even
industrious habits.
The same susceptibility was conspicuous in his inter-
course with his patients, and was the means of his acquir-
ing their affection. He entered readily and warmly into
their feelings. He affected no interest in their troubles
that was not sincere. If they were in pain he knew what
their sufferings were, and it would have been abhorrent to
his nature to have treated them with indifference. In all
the anxieties of those who were connected to the sufferers
by the relations of domestic life, he warmly sympathized,
for no one had felt them more deeply than he.
This sensibility was not unattended by its too usual ac-
companiment. He was liable, particularly in the latter
part of his life, to a great depression of spirits. He al-
lowed those sources of affliction, from which none are ex-
empt, to make too deep an impression. Yet his disposition
was naturally cheerful ; he was always fond of social in-
tercourse, and always ready to join in social amusements.
And it was seldom that the presence of a friend could not
for a time dispel the clouds that hung over his spirits.
Still he suffered enough to make him at times almost out of
love with life, and he more than once declared that he had
no wish that his life should be long. But it was always
in the full confidence of a better to succeed. The warmth
268 APPENDIX.
of his affections was shown in his notions of a future state,
for he could not imagine a state of happiness in which he
should be separated from those he loved here.
He was a christian from conviction, as well as feeling.
He had examined for himself the evidences of our religion,
and was satisfied of their conclusiveniess. And the fruits
of his belief were shown in a life spent in doing good, and
in diffusinff religious sentiments where he had influence.
Although he visited many patients ©n Sunday morning, he
devoted tiie rest of the day to religious duties : to attend-
ance on public worship ; to reading on religious subjects ;
and instructing his family in the great principles of christ-
ian doctrine. The foundation of this practice was laid
by the instructions of an excellent and pious mother,
whom he most zealously cherished while she lived, and
deeply mourned on her death.
His eminence in society never elevated him in his own
mind above the lowest about him : for he considered all
as members of one family ; was at all times as ready to at-
tend to the calls of the poor as of the rich, and his atten-
tions to them were equally kind and soothing. To all, his
heart felt sympathy, and he administered those consola-
tions that contribute almost as much to the ease of the pa-
tient, as does the skill of the physician. His liberality
was not confined to professional services : he cheerfully
gave pecuniary aid to those whom he found in want ; and
all enterprises of a public or charitable nature found in
him a ready contributor both of money and time.
His profession as an anatomist gave him opportunities of
enlarging and strengthening his views of the existence and
character of a Supreme Being ; and he always took plea-
sure in pointing out in his lectures those fine contrivances
which show that the human frame was formed on a delib-
erate plan by an intelligent, Omnipotent Being, and that
that Being desired the happiness of his creatures.
His virtues were heightened by an unaffected modesty,
which the place he held in the estimation of his fellow-
citizens never diminished. With the qualities we have
described, he could not fail to possess that true politeness
which has its foundation in a benevolent heart.
The interest he early felt in the welfare of his country,
continued through life ; and in times of political difficulty
and excitement, when important measures were to be pro-
posed, and it was desirable that they should be brought
40HN WARREN. 2G9
forward with the countenance of those who had the
strongest hold on the esteem and affections of their fellow
citizens, he was often requested to preside in the public
assemblies of the people, and he never shrunk from the.
responsibility.
In the winter of 1814-15 he was called upon to attend,
in conjunction with the family physician, on Governor
Brooks, then dangerously ill, at his residence in Medford.
Notwithstanding the pressure of his business and the state
of his health, which was then quite feeble, urged on by
friendship for Governor Brooks and his sense of the value
of his life to the community, he contrived to visit him
once and sometimes twice every day, while his severe ill-
ness lasted. Governor Brooks's situation was such as to
make it necessary to adopt some decisive remedy, and an
application of tobacco was made, of which, as the success
was uncertain, and it was the last resort, the operation was
awaited by Dr. W. with intense anxiety. His delight was
proportionable in finding it take a favorable turn. Gov-
ernor Brooks recovered. About this time, on returning
home one day towards evening, he found a letter from
Foxborough, about twenty-five miles from Boston, stating
that his brother, who resided there, had dislocated his
shoulder three days before, and that the neighboring prac-
titioners had not been able to reduce it. He immediately
ordered a carriage to carry him there. On his family urg-
ing him, on account of his own ill health, to wait till
morning and take some rest, he replied, " it would belike
resting on a bed of coals," and set out without delay. As
soon as he arrived there he commenced his operations. He
made several unsuccessful attempts with the pullies. After
trying an hour or two he desisted, and said he would try
again in the morning. On retiring he expressed to his
student who was with him, his great anxiety about his bro-
ther. He neither undressed nor slept that night, but spent
it principally in walking about the room in great agitation.
Before morning he caused the family to be roused to make
another attempt. In this, after an hour or more, he suc-
ceeded. For a short time afterwards he was in great spir-
its ; but, soon after getting into his sleigh to return home,
seemed to sink from exhaustion. He however proceeded
to Boston, and without resting resumed his visits to his
patients. These exertions brought on an illness which
hung about him, till in conjunction with his organic dis-
210 APPENDIX.
ease it produced an inflammation of the lungs, of which
he died April 4th, 1815, at his house in School street,
where he had resided about thirty years.
His death was universally and deeply lamented. The
University of Cambridge and the Medical Society united
in appointing his colleague, Dr. Jackson, to prepare a
eulogy at the interment of his remains, and it was deliver-
ed in the Stone Chapel, the same place where, precisely
thirty-nine years before that day, the eulogy had been
delivered over those of his brother. A funeral sermon
was preached at the church where the deceased had attend-
ed public worship, by the eloquent Dr. McKean ; and the
Hon. Josiah Bartlett delivered a funeral oration at the re-
quest of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts.
Although he died at an age not advanced, he may be
said to have lived long for society ; for the lives of few
men have contained so much useful labor.
His remains are deposited in a tomb erected for the pur*
pose by his family, in the cemetery of St. Paul's Church,
in Boston. In the same sepulchre rest the relics of his
friend and brother, who was killed on Bunker Hill.
On this tomb is placed the following inscription, framed
by a gentleman* who was acquainted with his private as
well as professional character.
H.J.
JOHAI^riVES WARREJV,
Bostoniensis,
Temporibus suis illustris.
Nee posteritati obliviscendus.
Bello civili semper rei publicae deditus,
Juventutem patriaa sacravit.
Medicus inter primos,
Chirurgus facile princeps,
Novangliae
Primam medicinje scholam,
Ipsius laboribus fundatam,
Per XXX. annos
Doctrina sustulit,
Eloquentia illuminavit.
I
• Georg9 Ticknor, Esq.
JOHN WARREX.
Quid verum, quid honestum,
Quid scientiae, quid bono publico profuturum
Exemplo docuit,
Vit^ studio promovit.
Erga deum pietate,
Erga homines benevolentia sincere imbutus,
Summam severitatem
Summae humanitati junxit.
Universitatis Harvardianae Professor,
Societatis Philanthropicae Prgeses,
Societatis Medicae Massachusettensis Prseses,
Nullus illi defuit honos.
Vita peracta non deest omnium luctus.
Natus die xxvii. Julii, A. D. MDCCLIII.
Obiit die iv. Aprilis, A. D. MDCCCXV.
271
END OF VOLUME II.
I
Errata. — On page 44, Vol. I. line 18 from bottom, for Amy, and, read Amyand.
Page 242, Vol. II. line 12 from top, for bring, read bury.
To the list of surviving surgeons in the revolutionary array, in the note, page
255, Vol. II. the name of James Thacher should be added.
In the article Benjamin Rush some repetitions have occurred. They were
occasioned by the circumstance that we had availed ourselves of an anony-
mous memoir of Dr. Rush, published in the American Medical and Philosophical
Register, and also of the Discourse by Dr. Hosack. Our memoir was also enlarged
by an extract from the Introductory Lecture lately delivered in Rutgers Medical
College by Professor Francis. Wo were not aware at the time that the anonymous
Life was from the pen of that Professor, which fact sufficiently accounts for the frea
use that Dr. F, has made of his first production.
INDEX
HISTORY OF MEDICINE.
History ofmedicineamon^ the primitive inhabitants - - • • ^
Medical school at Alexandria " - ' it
iEsculapius, Hippocrates, Galen and Paracelsus - - - " " J^
Circulation ofthe blood discovered by Dr. William Harvey - - i-
History of Medicine in Massachusetts. ,. , , . . ■ •, -ia
The practice of medicine united with the parochial duties of ministers 14
Civil and rehgious institutions of our forefathers ^
Sickness and mortality among the first settlers - - - * ' ^^
First physicians in Massachusetts " * ^g
LuesvenereafirstappearsinBoston - - - " ' " ' oq
Smallpox inoculation first introduced by Dr. Z. Boylston - - ^^
Smallpox appears, and hospitals opened " ' . ' ' " ' 04
Physicians who practised in Boston m the eighteenth century - - ^
Military hospitals established - - - ' ,. ', ^ " ' " 97
Physicians in Boston institute a club to regulate medical fees - - ^
Yellow fever in Boston ^J
Mercurial practice in New-England " ' ' ^ ^ ^ ' 28
Influenza noticed 1-28
Vaccination introduced gQ
Spotted fever first appears - I I 31
Typhoid peripneumony noticed - - -^
Medical Institution at Harvard University - - - - - "
Liberal donations by E. H. Derby, Esq. and by W. N. Boylston, Esq. - i^
Candidates for M. D., and their qualifications ^
Berkshire Medical Institution - ; , ' ' t" ,„ " " ' 35
Massachusetts General Hospital, and Asylum for the Insane ■ g
Munificence of John McLean, Esq. ! ! 37
Botanic garden at Cambridge gg
Massachusetts Medical Society .42
Dr. Dalhonde's deposition - " . ' ^ i , 43
Introduction ofsmallpox inoculation in England - , . . . - iu
State of Maine. ^
Medical School of Maine ' ' " 45
Medical Society of Maine
State of New-Hampshire. ^g
Medical School of Dartmouth Collega
State of Vermont. _ ^g
Vermont Academy of Medicine .47
Medical School of Vermont ^ '
VOL. II. 35
274 . INDEX.
State of Rhode-Island.
First physicians -------...-47
Dr. Hunter lectures on anatomy --47
Medical School of Brown University -..-.--47
Yellow fever in Providence 48
State of Connecticut.
First physicians and medical authors 48
Asylum for ilie JJ^af and Dumb, and Retreat for the Insane - - 51
Medical InstituUun of Yale College, and Medical Society - - . 51
State of New-York.
First physicians and medical authors ----..- 52
First dissection in America 52
Doctors' mob 52
Medical institution 53
College of Physicians and Surgeons -- 54
Medical professors 55
College of Physicians and Surgeons in the Western District - - 56
Medical School of Auburn 56
Eminent physicians noticed -- 56
Yellow fever in New- York 57
Hospitals, infirmaries, dispensaries and cowpox establishment - - 58
Medical publications and editors --.....58
Important surgical operations performed in New- York - - - 59
New- York Hospital, and Blooniingdale Asylum for the Insane - - 60
State of New- Jersey.
Rutgers College, officers and professors 62
Colonel Rutger's gold medal 63
Location and description of Rutgers College 63
State of Delaware.
First physicians 64
State of Pennsylvania.
First phj'sicians -.- 65
First medical institution in America ... - 67
College of Physicians in Philadelphia 68
Yellow fever in Philadelphia 69
Works of great merit produced in Philadelphia 70
State of ftlaryland.
First physicians 71
College of Medicine at Baltimore 72
State of Virginia.
First physicians 72
Medical School of the Valley of Virginia 75
State of South Carolina.
First physicians 75
Medical College of South Carolina 76
Yellow fever in South CaroUna 76
Smallpox in South Carolina 77
,. Medical College of Ohio 77
Transylvania University - - 77
Medical School of Jefferson College 77
Medical School of Columbia College 78
Medical Institutions of the United States, with the number of students 78
Observations on the establishment of our medical schools - - - 78
Medical authorities adopted in our schools 80
National pharmacopoeia established 81
Periodical publications on the subject of medicine in the United States 82
Closing remarks 83
SUBSCRIBERS' I?CAMES.
John Adams, Esq.
Washington, D. C.
Z. B. Adams, M.D.
Boston.
U. Anderson, M.D.
Troy.
Dr. Luther Allen
Stirling, Mass.
E. Arnoult, M.D.
New- York.
Thomas F. Ash, M.D.
Philadelphia.
Amos Bancroft, M.D.
Groton, Mass.
Hon. Gideon Barstow
Salem, Mass.
William P. F. Barton, M.D.
Philadelphia.
A. Bournonville, M.D.
do.
George Bates, M.D.
Charlestowrif Mass.
John W. Bay, M.D.
Albany.
T. Romeyn Beck, M.D.
do.
Joseph Bayley, M.D.
New- York.
Hersey Baylies
do.
John B. Beck, M.D.
do.
James D. Bliss, M.D.
do.
Stephen Brown, M.D.
do.
Timothy P. Beers, M.D.
New-Haven.
Jacob Bigelow, M.D.
Boston.
John B. Brown, M.D.
do.
John B. Blake, M.D.
Washington, D. C
Charles Bulfinch, Esq.
do.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bowen
Potowomut, R. 1.
"William Bowen, M.D.
Providence.
Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq.
Jamaica Plains.
Le Baron Bradford
Plymouth, Mass.
James S. Bulloch, Esq.
Savannah, Geo.
His Excellency, DeWitt Clinton
Albany.
Thomas Cocke, M.D.
New- York.
G. P. Cannon
do.
John S. Conger
do.
Felix Ghampy
do.
James Cameron
do.
John G. Coffin, M.D.
Boston.
Walter Channing, M.D.
do.
Hon. Daniel Coney
Augusta, Me.
276
subscribers' names.
Charles W. Cutler, Esq.
Timothy Cone
Parker Cleaveland, Prof.
College
Charles Cotton, M.D.
N. Chapman, M.D.
Nathaniel W. Cole
Rev. John Codman, D.D.
Ezekiel D. Cushing, M.D.
Thpmas.Coit, Esq.
Chamberlain and Purinton
Hon. John Davis
George B. Doane, M.D.
R. C. Derby, Esq.
John Gorhara, M.D.
Samuel Davis, Esq,
Thomas D^vis
Allen Danforth
J. M. Dow, M.D.
John B. Dodd & Co.
NicoU H. Dering
J. Van Duren
Theophilus Dunn, M.D,
John Dunwody, Esq.
Thomas Davies, Esq.
Thomas Eddy
John P. Eaton
John Eights, M.D.
John Eberle, M.D.
Dr. M. Eldridge
Charles Eldridge, M.D.
John W. Francis, M.D.
Henry M. Francis, M.D.
Peter Forrester
John Forrester, Esq.
J. F. Flagg, M.D.
Dr. Joseplr Fiske
R. G. Frary
Russell Freeman, Esq.
John Gorhaiti, M.D.
Thacher Goddard, Esq.
Jacob T. Gilpin
Joseph T. Gilbert
Jacob T. Gilford
John F. Gray, M.D.
Dr. Peter McGurney
W. Gibson, M.D.
Bowd.
Portsmouth.
Lansinhurgh,
Brunswick.
Newport, R. I.
Philadelphia.
Burlington, N. J.
Dorchester.
Hanover, Mass.
New-London.
Bath.
Boston,
do.
do.
do. ^
Plymouth,
do.
do.
New-Haven.
New- York.
do.
do.
Newport, R. I.
Savannah, Geo.
Wai/jiesborough, Geo.
New- York.
do.
Albany.
Philadelphia.
Groton, Mass.
East Greenwich.
New- York.
do.
do.
Salem.
Boston, _
JLexington.
Hudson.
New-Bedford.
Boston.
Brookline.
New- York.
do.
do.
do.
do.
Philadelphia.
subscribers'
NAMES.
Hersey Goodwin
Cambridge.
Horatio Gridley, M.D.
Berlin, Con.
Joshua Green, M.D.
Groton.
Charles W. Green, Esq.
Jamaica Plains.
Janaes Gardiner, M.D.
Lynn.
John F. Gardiner, M.D.
Ipswich.
Dr. William Gordon
Hingham.
Benjamin F. Green, M.D,
Waynesboroiighj Geo
Edward A. Holyoke, M.D.
Salem.
Oliver Hubbard, M.D.
do. .
David Hosack, M.D.
New- York.
S. T. Hearsey
do.
Amos G. Hall
do.
J. Hanson
do.
John W. Hinkley .
do.
E. H. S. Holden
do.
Jos. D. Harris, M.D.
do.
Richard K. Hoffman
do.
.Dr. Nathan Hayward
Plymouth.
Barnabas Hedge, Esq^
do.
George Hayward, M.D.
Boston.
George Hale
do.
Zadok Howe, M.D.
Billerica.
Amos Holbrook, M.D.
Milton.
Henry Hunt, M.D.
Washington, D. C.
Southworth Harlow, M.D.
Waynesboroughf Geo
Dr. Holman
Harvard, Mass.
W. E. Horner, M.D.
Philadelphia.
Roland P. Heylin
do.
George W. Hosmer
Cambridge.
William Hatch, M.D.
Bath.
Eli Ives, M.D.
New-Haven.
William Ingalls, M.D.
Boston.
Matthew Mcllvaine
New-York.
John Jeffries, M.D.
Boston.
James Jackson,- M.D.
do.
Hon. William C. Jarvis
Charlestown.
John James
Albany.
N. S. Jarvis
New-York.
John Jackson, M.D.
Washington, D. C.
Thomas C. James, M.D.
Philadelphia.
Anson Jones, M.D.
do.
Gideon Jacques
Wilmington, Del.
John Johnson
do.
J. M. S. McKnight
New- York.
J. R. Knapp
do.
David King, M.D.
Newport, R. I.
277
278
SUBSCRIBERS' NAME3.
Robert Kinsell
Boston.
• James A. Kendall
Cambridge.
Dr. Piers.on T. Kendall
Stirling, Mass.
Hon. James Lloyd
Boston.
Abraham T. Lowe
do.
Dr. Josiah Lanison
Ipstvich.
William P. Lunt
Cambridge.
Frederick B, Leonard
Troy.
J. F. Daniel Lobslein, M.D.
Neio- York.
Medical School of Maine
Brunswick.
Valentine Mott, M.D.
New-York.
Hamilton Morton
do.
Amos G. Mull
do.
Thomas Miner, M.D.
Middletown, Con.
Nathaniel Miller, M.D.
Franklin, Mass.
James Mease, M.D.
Philadelphia.
Charles D. Meigs, M.D.
do.
John Mountz, M.D.
Washi7igton, D. C.
Frederick May, M.D.
do.
Hollis Munroe, M.D.
Belfast, Me.
E. Munson, M.D.
New-Haven.
John Mackie, M.D.
Providence.
Joseph Mauson, M.D.
do.
R. D. Mussey, M.D.
Dartmouth College.
Benjamin Merrill, Esq.
Salem.
Dr. Thomas Manning
Ipswich.
Alden March, M.D.
Albany.
G. Mower
Greenwich} N. Y.
J. Moore
Cambridge.
Dr. P. L. Nichols
Kingston, Mass.
Edward Nobly
New-York.
Charles Newton
do.
Daniel OUiver, M.D.
Salem.
Benjamin L. Olliver, I^LD.
do.
Horatio W. Orcutt, M.D.
Catskill, N. Y.
Orrswel & Brace.
do.
Hon. Isaac Parker
Boston.
Isaac Porter, 1\LD.
do.
W. & J. Pendleton
do.
Hon. Benjamin Pickman
Salem.
Hon. Samuel Putnam
do.
William Pickman, Esq.
do.
Joseph Peabodv, Esq.
do.
Wright Post, M.D.
New- York.
Cyrus Perkins, M.D.
do.
Walter C. Palmer
do.
James M. Pendleton
do.
subscribers' names.
279
James C. Paul
Netv- York.
A. L. Plough
do.
Daniel L. M. Peixotte, M.D.
do.
Eleazer Palraley
. do.
Elijah Porter
TVaterford.
Oliver Prescott, M.D.
Ncivhuryport.
John Phillips, M.D.
Philadelphia.
Usher Parsons, M.D.
Providence.
William Prince, Esq.
Long-Island.
N. S. Perkins
Neiv-London.
J. M. Purinton
Bath.
David Quackenboss
New- York.
James M. Quin
do..
George Rogers
New- York.
David Rogers
do.
Edward Ribley
do.
J. R. Rhinelander
do.
Kingsbury Redington
do.
Hudson Rinsley
do.
Edward Reynolds, M.D.
Boston.
John Randall, M.D.
do.
Rev. George Ripley
do.
J. C. Rousseau, M.D.
Philadelphia.
Nathaniel Russell, Esq.
Plymouth.
Nathaniel Russell, jun.
do.
George Russell
Lincobi.
A. W. Rockwell
Gihhonsville.
Edmund Ravenal
Charleston, S. C.
George C. Shattuck, M.D.
Boston.
Samuel Swett, Esq.
do.
Frederick A. Sumner, jun. M.D.
do.
C. P. Sumner, Esq.
do.
Benjamin C. Severidge, M.D.
New- York.
Joseph M. Smith, M.D.
do.
Talaiadge Sutherland
do.
John Stearns, M.D.
do.
Archibald B. Simpson
do.
John Slocum
do.
Z. Seaman
do.
John Stevens, M.D.
Charlestown.
Foster Swift, Surgeon U. S, A.
Neio-London.
Nathan Smith, M.D.
New-Haven.
Thomas Sewall, M.D.
Washington, D. C
Samuel Savage, M.D.
Barnstable.
Hon. Leverelt Salstonstall
Salem.
George Sumner, M.D.
Hartford.
Nathan R. Smith, M.D.
Philadelphia.
280
subscribers' names.
Elisha Sheldon, M.D.
Dr. Moses D. Spofford
John Sever, Esq.
Charles Sever
David B. Slack, M.D.
Salem Athenaeum
Barent P. Staats
Peter P. Staats
J. B. Stuart, M.D.
George Talcott
William Tully, M.D.
Samuel F. Treat, M.D.
J. G. Tyler
James Tilton, M.D.
Dr. W. Turner
Eli Todd, M.D.
William Thomas, M.D.
John Thomas, Esq.
William Thomas, Esq.
Daniel Thurber, M.D.
J. F. Vaughan, M.D.
Ira Vail
William Urquhart, Esq.
John C. Warren, M.D.
John Ware, M.D.
John D. Wells, M.D.
Hon. Daniel A. White
A. Wright
Clarke Wright
A. D. Wilson
John AValter, Jun.
John Watts, jr.
Piatt Williams
Joel A. Wing
N. M. Worthington, M.D.
Rnfus Wyman, M.D.
Danforth P. Wight, M.D.
Dr. George Willard
Samuel B. Woodward, M.D.
Dr. Charles Wilder
James Whitehead, M.D.
Amos P. Whitehead
Isaac R. Walker
James R. Walker
J. Wilson
Alfred Wotkyns
Some names in the subscription lists are almost illegible, and many hare not anr
titles annexed ; which must apologize for errors and omissions.
Troy.
Rowley, Mass.
Kingston, Mass.
Plymouth.
Providence.
Salem.
Albany.
do.
do.
United States Arsenal.
Albany.
do.
do.
Wilmington, Del.
Newport, R. I.
Hartford.
Pouglilceepsie.
Plymouth.
do.
Mendon, Mass.
Wilmington, Del.
Troy.
Waynesborough, Geo.
Bosto7i.
do.
do.
Salem.
New- York,
do.
do.
do.
do.
Albany.
do.
Washington.
Charlcstoum.
Barnstable.
Uxbridge.
Wethersficld, Con.
Templeton.
Waynesborough, Geo.
do.
do.
do.
Ncw.3Hllford.
Troy.
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