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At the termination of the session 1830-31, Dr. Physick resigned his active connection with the school, and was ap- pointed Emeritus Professor of Surgery and Anatomy. The Chair of Anatomy was conferred on Dr. Horner.
Philip Syng Physick was born in Philadelphia in 1768, the year of the first Medical Commencement. After the requisite preparation in classical studies by Robert Proud, teacher of Friends' Academy, and the historian of Pennsylvania, he was admitted to the Department of Arts of the University of Penn- sylvania, where he graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1785. The same year he commenced his medical studies under the direc- tion of Dr. Kuhn, and attended the lectures delivered in the · University.
In 1788 he embarked for Europe, and for two years resided in London, as a pupil of John Hunter and part of the time as House Surgeon of St. George's Hospital. In proof of the esti- mation in which Dr. Physick was held while occupying this position, reference may be made to the laudatory testimonials of his medical qualifications and correct deportment from the governing authorities of that hospital. At the expiration of his services in the hospital, he received a license from the
1 Soon afterwards Dr. Barton resigned his Professorship of Botany in the University to take that of Materia Medica in the Jefferson Medical College.
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Royal College of Surgeons of London. It is stated that, at the conclusion of his studies in England, Mr. Hunter invited him to settle in London and to take a share in his profes- sional business. In his Treatise upon the Blood, Mr. Hunter awards to Dr. Physick the credit of many of the experiments therein described.
The winter of 1791-92 was passed by him in Edinburgh, in attendance upon the lectures of the University, from which, at the conclusion of the course, he received the degree of M. D. His thesis, written in Latin, was entitled "De Apoplexia," and dedicated to John Hunter.
There are two interesting facts in connection with his gradua- tion as Doctor of Medicine, which may be noticed ; the one, that it occurred at the time of the coalition between the two Facul- ties in Philadelphia, and the permanent establishment of the University of Pennsylvania, of which he was destined to become so conspicuous an ornament ; the other, that he was placed upon an ad eundem standing with the University of Edinburgh, and permitted to graduate with attendance upon one course. We are told " that the Professors of the University of Edinburgh were very careful upon whom they conferred its honors, and have never deviated from the resolution they had taken that none should be promoted to the honorable degree of Doctor of Medi- cine without having studied medicine at least three years at this or some other University ; at the same time producing certificates of having attended regularly the public lectures prescribed by the statute and submitted to be examined in the most solemn manner by the Faculty."1 We are not aware of an instance of a similar nature having previously occurred at Edinburgh in the case of an American student.
Upon his return home, Dr. Physick was soon called upon to exercise his knowledge and his skill in aid of his terror-stricken and afflicted fellow-citizens, during the fearful epidemics of yellow fever that prevailed from 1793 to 1798. In the latter year he filled the post of Resident Physician in the City Hospital (Bush Hill), where his post-mortem examinations still further confirmed him in the opinion he had previously entertained
' Bower, History of the University of Edinburgh.
GEORGE W. NORRIS, M.D. Surgeon to the Hospital 1836-1863
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with respect to the gastric origin and character of the disease. In 1794 he became one of the surgeons of the Pennsylvania Hospital, where he not only attracted notice by his great ex- pertness and skill, but by his lectures. His regular private course was commenced in 1800, and gave the promise of that reputation and authority he possessed in after years, which have truly warranted the appellation applied to him, "Father of American Surgery."
Having been elected Professor of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania in 1805, Dr. Physick was from that time in the possession of the widest field for the exercise of his talents, " and was listened to by the large classes in the University, through the members of which he could disseminate the prin- ciples of surgery imbibed from his celebrated preceptor, John Hunter-strengthened and enforced by his own meditation and personal experience obtained in hospital and private practice."1
The lectures were carefully written out, and delivered with the manuscript before him or in his hand; for it was an axiom with him that, on so important an occasion as the instruction of youth in an art so necessary to the well-being and happiness of mankind, every care should be taken to render the inculca- tion of principles and practice clear to the comprehension of students. To be ready with these lectures, his habit was to rise early in the morning and carefully study them before he breakfasted, so that in the delivery nothing would be trusted to the mere effort of memory or the impulses of the moment. To be enabled to do this he retired early, his feeble health entailing upon him the necessity of more than the usual
1 Life of Dr. Physick, by John Bell, M.D. Lives of Eminent Physicians and Surgeons. Edited by S. D. Gross, M.D.
The Life of Dr. Physick was written by his son-in-law, and entitled " A Memoir of the Life and Character of Philip Syng Physick, by Jacob Randolph, M. D., Lecturer on Surgery. Read before the Philadelphia Medical Society, 1839.
Another Memoir, entitled "Necrological Notice," &c., was written by William E. Horner, M.D., Professor of Anatomy, University of Pennsyl- vania. Read before the Philosophical Society, May 4th, 1838.
Dr. Caldwell, of Louisville, Ky., also published a notice of the Life of Dr. Physick in the Louisville Journal.
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amount of rest to sustain him under the labors performed for many years of his busy life.
Dr. Bell remarks that "Dr. Physick's impressiveness as a lecturer arose from his entire mastery of his subject, which he was careful never to magnify beyond its due proportions, and hence he always kept it within his grasp. The same thoughts and inculcations might have been uttered in a more masculine, certainly in a more ornamental style, compatibly with good taste, but it is not certain that the essence itself would have been productive of a stronger sensation, or been longer remem- bered by its being blended with these pleasant adjuvants."
Much comment has been indulged in with respect to the expediency of the step taken by Dr. Physick in acceding to the transfer of himself from the Chair of Surgery to that of Anatomy in 1819. The feeling at the time, and subsequently, was that a descent had been made from a position in which he was facile princeps to one where his eminent knowledge and skill were lost, and which might have been filled with equal, if not even greater efficiency by another individual. In any position, Dr. Physick was capable of commanding respect; his dignified bearing and imposing presence, his emphatic manner and pains- taking execution of his duties, deeply impressed his pupils, and commanded the profoundest deference. We know from personal experience that the portions of the course of anatomy delivered by him were listened to with earnest attention; and the writer well recollects the last lecture delivered by this eminent man, at the conclusion of the course of 1830. It was upon the blood ; a subject upon which he had experimented with Hunter. With the manuscript before him he descanted minutely upon all the points connected with the subject, and, with the interest almost of an enthusiast, performed the experiments. In this lecture he digressed to comment, in terms and with gestures eloquent from their force alone, upon the practice of vivisections, which to his sensitive feelings had always been repugnant, and earn- estly to discourage their performance. It was the honest out- break of his soul in public, accompanied by a flash of emotion which vividly affected the minds of all who heard him.
The health of Dr. Physick did not permit him to assume the entire labor and fatigue of instruction, and during the period
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of his connection with Anatomy, embracing twelve sessions, a large share of the work devolved upon his adjunct, Professor Horner.
Although having withdrawn himself from his public occupa- tion as a teacher, and in a great measure as a practitioner, Dr. Physick took part in important cases whenever his health / permitted, until a short time before his death. In the autumn of 1831, he performed the operation of lithotomy successfully upon Chief Justice Marshall, then in the seventy-fifth year of his age; an operation remarkable in view of the professional position of both the individuals concerned in it, as well as of the advanced age of the patient. The oldest and the first of the legal profession in the United States had sought relief from the most painful of maladies at the hands of the oldest and first of American surgeons, whose effort to relieve him was blessed by Providence.1 This was not, however, the last ope- ration of Dr. Physick, as he performed one on the eye four months before his decease. He died on the 15th of November, 1837, at the age of sixty-nine years.
Dr. Physick himself published little. Some papers, hardly more than half a dozen, referring to cases, or the description of instruments and surgical appliances, are to be met with in contemporaneous journals. For the account of the improve- ments in Surgery made by him, the world is indebted to others. To the Treatise on Surgery by Dr. Dorsey, and to the Memoirs, more particularly those of Drs. Randolph and Bell, must reference be made for an enumeration of the contribu- tions to the especial department of this eminent Professor.2
1 For the interesting details of this operation, see Life of Dr. Physick by Dr. Randolph.
2 In the North American Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. ii. p. 269, is an account of Dr. Physick's operation for artificial anus, by Benjamin H. Coates, M. D. In the same volume, p. 192, is a vindication of Dr. Physick's claim to originality in its performance.
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CHAPTER XIII.
Resignation of Dr. James-Sketch of his life-Dr. Dewees elected Pro- fessor of Obstetrics-Retirement of Dr. Coxe from the Chair of Materia Medica-Sketch of his life-Restitution of the Chair of Institutes-Elec- tion of Dr. Jackson to it-Election of Dr. Wood to the Professorship of Materia Medica and Pharmacy-Resignation of Dr. Dewees and election of Dr. Hodge-Sketch of the life of Dr. Dewees-Faculty as organized in 1835.
IN 1834 Dr. James resigned the Chair of Obstetrics.
Thomas Chalkley James was of a family attached to the Society of Friends. He was born in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1766, and was educated under the superintendence of Robert Proud. His medical studies were conducted under the direction of Dr. Kuhn, and in 1787 he took the degree of Bachelor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The following year he accepted the position of Surgeon of an East Indiaman,1 and made a voyage to China, with the view of acquiring funds for a contemplated visit to Europe, to finish there his medical education. In this adventure he was suc- cessful, as the trade with the East was at that time very lucra- tive, and the situation of surgeon on board a trading vessel afforded greater opportunities of material profit than have subsequently been presented.
In the year 1790, that of his return from China, he embarked for England, where he found his compatriot, Dr. Physick, pur- suing his studies at St. George's Hospital. By this gentleman's advice he entered, in May, 1791, as house pupil of the Story Street Lying-in Hospital, under the care of Drs. Osborne and John Clarke, two leading obstetrical teachers and practitioners of London. While in the capital of England, he received courteous attentions from Dr. Letsom, who belonged to the same religious society as the family of Dr. James. He attended the lectures
1 The father of Prof. Stille was supercargo of the Indiaman.
GEORGE B. WOOD, M.D. Physician to the Hospital 1835-1859
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during the session of 1792-3 at the University of Edinburgh, to which, however, he did not apply for a diploma.1 In the summer of 1793 he returned to Philadelphia, and witnessed, as an active participant, the scourge which that season devastated the city. Dr. James was not prevented by his religious scruples from taking part in the patriotic movements of the day, or from serving the cause of his country in upholding its government and laws. When the young men of Philadelphia were called upon by General Washington, in 1794, to lend their aid in the suppres- sion of the rebellion which first threatened the stability of the newly-formed Republic, Dr. James proffered his services, and joined the army, which marched from Philadelphia to suppress the disturbance in the western counties of Pennsylvania, which is known as the "Whiskey Insurrection." He joined the ex- pedition in the capacity of Surgeon of "McPherson's Blues," a corps d'élite of young gentlemen, who had promptly tendered their services at the request of their President.2
The expedition was a bloodless one, from the force employed, which overawed the insurgents; but it tried the spirits and endurance of these delicately educated youths, and sometimes subjected them to depression. To dispel this, in a measure, fell to the lot of Dr. James, who, upon a drum-head, wrote an inspiring song, which was set to music, and sounded through the camp with renovating accents.
Upon settling himself, again, a candidate for practice, Dr. James chose the branch of Obstetrics as the vocation of his life ; and, from that time to the termination of his career, gave
1 Dr. James did not receive the degree of M. D. until his election to the Professorship of Midwifery in the University, when, at the Commencement of 1811, the Honorary Degree was conferred upon him.
¿ For an account of the body of troops mentioned reference may be made to Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia," vol. i. p. 331, 2d ed .; and for the his- tory of the political troubles of the time, to Marshall's "Life of Washington," vol. v., and the papers of the day. With reference to the readiness with which the military of the city responded to the call of their chief, and the gratification this evidence of their patriotism afforded him, the following statement was given me by a member of my family long since deceased. As a boy he made his way to near the stand of Washington, on his own door-step in Market Street, below Sixth, from which the troops were re- viewed, and heard him distinctly say, with emotion, as the Blues marched by him, "God bless you !- God bless you, young gentlemen !"
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to it his undivided attention and the exercise of his cultivated intellect. Preparatory to the position he assumed in the Uni- versity, as has been detailed, he commenced, in 1802, a regular course of lectures upon Obstetrics, in conjunction with Dr. Church.1 With respect to these lectures, we are told that, "to render his teaching useful, Dr. James, assisted by Dr. Church, not only employed the usual modes of illustration, but zealously endeavored to instruct practically, as well as theoretically. For this purpose his influence and exertions prevailed in having a Lying-in Ward, the first in the city, established at the Almshouse, over which he presided as attending Accou- cheur."2 This was not, however, the first movement made to open a ward in that institution; he had been anticipated in that respect by Drs. Bond and Evans as early as 1770. To Drs. James and Church is due the credit of reviving the enterprise, and of having founded the present Obstetrical de- partment of the Almshouse.3 The association with Dr. Church did not long continue, terminating by the death of that gen- tleman, soon after which a new alliance was entered into be- tween Dr. James and Dr. Chapman, which, as an ultimate result, led to the introduction of both of them to the halls of the University.
In 1807 the Obstetrical department of the Pennsylvania Hospital went into operation, intended for the accommodation
1 These gentlemen, in 1803, requested permission to give a course of lec- tures on Midwifery, in one of the rooms of the University, which was granted. In 1804 a similar request was made by Drs. Dewees and Chap- man. It was, however, deemed inexpedient to introduce private lectures, and this request was declined, with that of Drs. James and Church, to repeat their course.
2 A Memoir of Thomas C. James, M. D., read before the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, by Hugh L. Hodge, M. D., Professor of Ob- stetrics in the University of Pennsylvania, 1843.
3 A similar origin of Hospitals for Lying-in Women may be referred to in England. Dr. Richard Manningham, in the year 1737, established a ward, or small hospital, in the Parochial Infirmary of St. James, West- minster, for the reception of parturient women only, which was the first thing of the kind effected in the British dominions. In this ward, which was supported by public subscription, he gave lectures, and the students had opportunities of being qualified for practice. He published a " Com- pendium Artis Obstetricæ," and other works. (See Denman's Historical Introduction to his "Treatise on Midwifery.")
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of poor respectable married women. Singular as it may ap- pear, it was founded by the gallant and patriotic young gentle- men of Philadelphia, who formed the "First Troop of City Cavalry." Their pay for services due them by the Government at the end of the Revolutionary war was generously donated for this especial purpose. The interest of the sum thus appro- priated amounted annually to between five and six hundred dollars.1 At the time of opening these wards, Dr. James was elected Accoucheur of the Hospital, and continued in office until 1832.
Dr. James did little as a writer; he read papers occasionally upon obstetrical cases, or kindred subjects, before the College of Physicians, of which he was elected the fourth President in 1835. As one of the editors of the "Eclectic Repertory," he contributed to its success by his industry in selecting materials for publication, as well as by his pen as a journalist;2 but no elaborate work upon his especial branch was attempted by him, and he contented himself most modestly with editing " Burns' Principles of Midwifery," and "Merriman's Synopsis," which were published as text-books for the students attending his lectures. He died in 1835.3
In 1835 the Chair of Materia Medica and Pharmacy be- came vacant by resolution of the Board of Trustees. From the year 1819 this professorship had been held by Dr. Coxe.
Dr. John Redman Coxe was born in New Jersey, in 1773, and was educated in Philadelphia under the charge of his grand- father, Dr. Redman, until his tenth year, when he went to England and remained until his seventeenth year. In Edin- burgh he completed his classical education, and attended a course of medical lectures at the University of that city. In 1790 he returned to America, and after studying medicine
1 The first intention of the Trustees of this fund was to establish a Foundling Institution. From this they were diverted by the arguments of the Managers of the Hospital, and determined, in the application of the money, to found an Obstetrical Ward. (See Records of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, and Minutes of Pennsylvania Hospital. )
2 The " Eclectic Repertory," conducted by an Association of Physicians, was begun in 1811, and terminated in 1820.
3 In the "Lives of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons," is one of Dr. James, by Caspar Morris, M. D.
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regularly with Dr. Rush, graduated at the University of Penn- sylvania in 1794. The subject of his Thesis was Inflammation. He witnessed the epidemic yellow fever of 1793, while a student of medicine. After graduation, Dr. Coxe again visited Europe, and remained a pupil of the London Hospital for one year; he subsequently studied in Edinburgh and Paris, and returned to Philadelphia in 1796.
In 1797 Dr. Coxe served as one of the resident physicians of Bush Hill Hospital, under the charge of Drs. Physick and Cathrall, when, as Dr. Bell informs us, there were only twenty- three or twenty-four physicians who remained at their posts in this epidemic, and eight of their number died.1
Dr. Coxe was appointed, by the Board of Health, Physician of the Port in 1798, the period of another great visitation of yellow fever. He was likewise, for several years, Physician of the Philadelphia Dispensary, and of the Pennsylvania Hospi- tal. He was, at the commencement of the present century, an , earnest, enthusiastic advocate of vaccination. After vaccinating his oldest child, then an infant, at the time the full efficacy of the practice was still in suspense in the public mind, he fully tested it by exposing him to the influence of smallpox. The result of this, then bold experiment, contributed in no small degree to establish reliance on the protective power of vaccina- tion.2
It has been stated above that Dr. Coxe succeeded Dr. Wood- house in the Chair of Chemistry in 1809, and that he was trans- ferred to that of Materia Medica and Pharmacy in 1819. He was possessed of considerable classical attainments, and was well versed in the ancient literature of Medicine. The doctrines and opinions of the earlier fathers of Physic had so superior a value in his estimation as to lead to too exclusive an exposi- tion of them in his lectures. This was more particularly the case when occupying the Chair of Materia Medica and Phar- macy; but the merit is due him of opposing the extended assumption of the doctrines of solidism that prevailed, and of giving proper significance to the facts of the humoral physio- logy and pathology, which were gaining ground from the com-
1 Life of Dr. Physick, by Dr. Bell, in Gross's "Lives," &c.
2 Dr. Edward Jenner Coxe, the eldest son of Dr. Coxe, underwent this experiment in 1801.
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mencement of the present century, and are now fully admitted. He insisted upon the correctness of the doctrine of the absorp- tion of medicinal substances, and upon the explanation, by it, of their modus operandi.
Dr. Coxe at one time was the editor of the "Medical Museum." This periodical was commenced in 1804; the same year as the publication of Dr. Barton, and was continued regularly until 1811. It may be said to be the first uniformly issued periodi- cal in the city of Philadelphia, but not in the United States, as, in this respect, the city of New York takes precedence.1
He published, as editor, the "American Dispensatory," a work largely derived from Duncan's "Edinburgh Dispen- satory." In 1808 he published a Medical Dictionary. Late in life he issued an " Exposition of the Works of Hippocrates," and an " Essay on the Orgin of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood." In 1829 he introduced, and succeeded in culti- vating, the true Jalap plant, thus enabling Mr. Nuttall to deter- mine its real character and position. Dr. Coxe died at the advanced age of ninety years, March 22, 1864.
The vacation of the Chair of Materia Medica and Phar- macy having taken place in 1835, an opportunity was "offered to the Trustees to extend the organization and augment the efficiency of the Faculty, without interfering with the rights of the existing Professors, or increasing the expense of the pupils. That the subjects of Practice and Institutes of Medicine, which had for many years been combined, were together too copious for the time and powers of one Professor, was obvious to all who were acquainted with their great importance, and with the
1 The " Medical Repository" of New York was projected by Dr. Elihu Smith, assisted by Drs. Samuel L. Mitchell and Edward Miller, and issued in 1797. With reference to this periodical, the biographer of Dr. Miller, his brother, the Rev. Dr. Miller, remarks: "From this work, as a parent stock, have sprung a number of works of a similar kind in Europe and America. It is not recollected by the writer of these sheets that any periodical publication devoted to medicine and medical philosophy, that could be said to be of the same nature with the 'Medical Repository,' had ever before appeared." "The 'Medical and Physical Journal of London' was commenced soon after the appearance of the ' Medical Repository,' with the avowal of the Editor that he took the hint from New York." The extent to which medical journalism has been carried in subsequent years is known to every reader.
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