History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 173

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 > Part 173

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

We find that at the annual election of the Fifth month (May), 1755, the same physicians were chosen, soon after which was laid the corner-stone of the first building.

It is remarkable that year after year the same physicians were appointed. The only changes made to 1759 were those occasioned by the paralytic stroke that befell Dr. Zachary, before mentioned, and by the

Susannah Dillwyn ...

Sarah Edgel !.

3 0

Sarah Fishbourne.

2 0

Abigail Griffite.

0 0

Frances Griffits.

Elizabeth Griffits, Jr.

1 7

Elizabeth Holton ...

Hannah Kearney

Miriam Kelley

Sarah Lloyd

1 10 0

Sarah Logan ..

Hannah Lloyd

Sarah Mifflin

Debby Morris.

2 14

Debby Norris ..

Content Nicholson.

Hannah Ogden

Mary Plumsted.

1 14

Mary Powell.

Elizabeth Paschall

Beulah Paschall

Mary Standley

Ann Strettel.

Rebecca Steel

Sundry women, by Isaac Jones.

3 10

In this list we notico names distinguished in their day. Mary Alleu heads it with a good figure. Abigail Griffits und Surah Logan compete for the next beet. We have no doubt there was many a poor widow among the "sundry women" whose mites the undistinguished, yot not wholly unambitious, Isane Jones brought forth and luid at the bottom of the rest.

resignation of Dr. Samuel Preston Moore, to whose place Dr. Cadwalader Evans was appointed.1

The most distinguished name in the early history of the medical profession in Philadelphia is that of Shippen. In the chapter on the bench and bar we spoke of the frequency with which younger members of the families of the counselors and other distin- guished persons went abroad in order to have better opportunities for professional training than could be gotten at home. This was the case yet more often with those who were studying for the practice of med- icine and surgery. William Shippen, commonly known as Dr. William Shippen the elder, was for a long time one of the leading physicians of Philadel- phia. It is not known where he received his degree, but it is most probable that, according to the usages of the time, he served his apprenticeship under one of the physicians who had come in with William Penn. Although eminently successful, yet he was quick to see and prompt to acknowledge the meagre- ness of the opportunities afforded in Philadelphia or anywhere else in this country for a young man to qualify himself for all the exigencies of a physician's life. A remark of his has been transmitted that shows him to have been a man entirely sincere, and looking forward for a state of things better than was possible to the existing conditions of his home. On an occasion when he was congratulated upon his emi- nent success, and the few cases of patients who had died upon his hands, he answered, "Nature does a great deal, and the grave covers up our mistakes." These words show him to have been not only a good, but a true and wise man.

1 In alluding to the proposal of Drs. Zachary and the Bonde to uttend gratuitously for three years the patients,-a proposal made in order to secure the passage of the measure before the Assembly,-Dr. Joseph Carson, in his " History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania," says,-

" This became the settled understanding with the board of physicians and surgeons; por have we learned that the compact has ever beco an- nulled or abrogated during the period of one hundred and seventeen years (from 1751 to the present date, 1869), an instance of diainterested philanthropy which has generally been followed ie the charitable insti- tutions depending on medical attendance not only of this city, but throughout the length and breadth of the land." The author adds : " In thie institution was the first clinical instruction given by Dr. Thomas Bond in connection with the collegiate course, and, it may be statod, so close has been the association between the hoapltal and the medical school that of the twenty-nine professors who have occupied collegiate chairs, eighteen have been attending physiciana or surgeons of the hospital, and five of the seven medical mes first elected to theso positions in the houpital were trustees of the college. The foundation of the medical library datee as for back as 1763. The first medical book possessed by it appears to have been a gift from thal warm friend and generous benefactor of the institution, Dr. John Fothergill. It was the ' Materia Medica' of Dr. William Lewis, London, 1761." Ile quotes the following from Dr. Emil Fischer's preface to the catalogue of the hospital medical library : "When the managera resolved to demand a fee for the privilege of attending the wards of the hospital, ai'd consulted with the physiciana in regard to the destination of the suma raised, these gentlemen, Thomas Bond, Phineas Bond, Cadwalader Evana, and Thomas Cadwalader, although having claims upon such grati Itles, ne- cording to the custom of the British hospitals, full of scientific zeal, proposed to apply the money to the foundation of a medical library for the advantage of tho pupile of the Institution."

Martha Roberte

MEDICAL PROFESSION.

1586

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

Dr. William Shippen was born in this city Oct. 1, 1712, and died here Nov. 4, 1801. He was one of the founders and trustees of the College of New Jersey, a vice-president of the Philosophical Society of Phila- delphia, the first physician to the Pennsylvania Hos- pital, a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1778-80, and one of the founders of the First Presby- terian Church, of which he was a member for seventy years.

He had been an early and interested attendant upon the lectures of Dr. Cadwalader, where, it is probable, he was made to feel specially the inadequacy of the means there provided for medical instruction, and determined that his son should not lack of opportu- nity to find better elsewhere.

This son, known as Dr. William Shippen the younger, born in this city in 1735, after graduating at Princeton College in 1754, studied with his father for four years, and then went abroad, where he spent four other years. He had developed so extraordinary a talent for oratory that some of his friends advised him to enter upon the ministry, but he chose the pro- fession of his father, and the father was determined that his son should have abundant access to all the facilities that had been denied to himself. While in London he studied with the Hunters, John and Wil- liam, in the family of the former of whom he resided. He had also the benefit of the society and instructions of Hewson. Under these guides he studied anatomy and surgery, and also attended the lectures on obstet- rics of Dr. Mckenzie. From London he repaired to Edinburgh, where he graduated in 1761. He after- ward spent about a year in Paris, where he devoted himself unremittingly to professional studies. Re- turning to Philadelphia, in May, 1762, he commenced in the autumn the first course of anatomical lectures ever given in this country. In September, 1765, he was chosen professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the Philadelphia Medical School, of which he was one of the founders. He entered the medical department of the Continental army in 1776, and from April 11, 1777, | to January, 1781, was its director-general. He sub- sequently practiced as accoucheur-surgeon and physi- cian until 1798. He died at Germantown, July 11, 1808.

While abroad Dr. Shippen became intimately ac- quainted with another young man, who, together with him, was destined to put the medical profession in America on a footing far higher than it had held heretofore. This was Dr. John Morgan, whom we mention in connection with Dr. Shippen because of their being not only contemporary but conjoined in the foundation of what has long been regarded the best-appointed medical institution in the United States. He, too, was a native of Philadelphia, and connected with the best society, having intermarried with Mary, daughter of Thomas Hopkinson, the coun- cilor. He had studied medicine under Dr. John Red- man. He served as lieutenant in the French and

English war. In 1760 he went abroad to pursue his studies, and was graduated at Edinburgh in 1763. He also, after graduation, repaired to Paris. His reputation as a young man of genius had preceded him from the uncommon proficiency he had made in his studies at Edinburgh, and particularly from some arguments he had advanced regarding the formation of pus in the human system, and his success in the art of injecting organs with wax. He was soon elected a member of the Royal Society of London, licentiate of the College of Physicians of London, member of the College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and of the So- ciety of Belles-Lettres of Rome.

These young men while in London made the ac- quaintance of the noted Dr. Fothergill, who has been alluded to in another chapter of this work. This gentleman had mentioned to Dr. Shippen bis inten- tion of contributing in some way to the Pennsylvania Hospital. Some time after his return to Philadelphia a box of anatomical drawings arrived from Dr. Foth- ergill.

In a letter to James Pemberton, one of the mana- gers, he says among other things,-

"I need not tell thee that the knowledge of Anatomy is of exceeding great use to practitioners in physic and surgery, and that the means of procuring subjects with you are not easy ; some pretty accurate aoatom- ical drawings, alwut half as big as the life, have fallen into my hands, which f propose to send to your hospital to be under the care of the physicians, and to be by them explained to the students and pupils who may attend the hospital. Io the want of real subjects these will have their use, and I have recommended it to Dr. Shippen to give a course of anatomical lectures to such as may attend. He is very well qualified for the subject, and will soon be followed by an able assistant, Dr. Mor- gao, both of whom, I apprehend, will not only be useful to the Province io their employments, but if suitably countenanced by the Legislature, will be able to erect a school of physic among you, that may draw studenta from various parts of America and the West Indies, aod at least furnish them with a better idea of the rudiments of their profes- sion than they have at present the means of acquiring on your side of the water."

Dr. Shippen had already begun a series of lectures on anatomy. His announcement appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette on Nov. 25, 1762, and ran thus,-

"Dr. Shippen's Anatomical Lectures will begin to-morrow evening, at six o'clock, at his father's house on Fourth Street. Tickets for the course to be had of the doctor, at five pistoles each, and any gentlemen who incline to see the subject prepared for the lectures and learn the art of dissecting, injections, etc., are to pay five pistoles more."1

1 Watsoo, in his " Aouals of Philadelphia," thus speaks of these first lectures of Dr. Shipped :

" Who now knows the locality of this first lecture-room ? Or does any body care to transfer their respect for the man to the place where he began his career? It was on the premises late Yoke's Hotel, on North Fourth Street. a little above lligh Street, then sufficiently out of towo, with a long back yard leading to the alley opening out npon High Street along the side of Warner's hook-store; by this they favored the ingress aud egress of students in the shades of night. It was nt first a terrific and appaling school to the good citizens. It was expected to fill the town with disguised ghosts, mobbing was talked of, and not a little dreaded. It was, therefore, pretended that they contented themselves with the few criminal subjects they could procure, which was further countenanced by a published permission to him, by authority, to take the bodies of suicides. As the dead tell no tales, the excitement of the day subsided, and the affair was dropped in general parlance, saveamong the boys, with whom it llogered long,-

1587

MEDICAL PROFESSION.

The introductory lecture was delivered in the State- House. The class numbered twelve. This was the beginning of the medical college of Philadelphia. The physicians of the hospital unanimously agreed to the request of Dr. Shippen to use the drawings sent by Dr. Fothergill. These had excited quite an interest in the city, outside as well as in the profes- sion. In answer to the demand for that purpose, Dr. Shippen attended at the hospital once a fortnight for their demonstration. Tickets were one dollar each, and the sum raised was turned over to the hospital. He had been engaged in his lectures and practice about two years when Dr. Morgan returned, and then they began that co-operation which had such benefi- cent results. Of a more ardent temperament than Dr. Shippen, Dr. Morgan, while yet a student, had conceived the plan of a medical college wherein edu- cation in the various branches of physic, surgery, and pharmacy might be so conveniently and effectively studied that practitioners would be led in time to

"' And awful stories chain the wondering ear, Or fancy led, at midnight's fearful hours, With startling step we saw the dreaded corse.'

"The tales had not subsided when I was a boy, when, for want of facts, we surmised them. The lonely, desolate honse is yet standing by the stone bridge near the Cohocksink, on North Third Street, which all the boys of Philadelphia deemed the receptacle of dead bodies, where their flesh was boiled and their hones rosated down for the use of the faculty. The proofe were apparent enongh,-it was always shut up, showed no out-door laborers, had a constant stream of running water to wash off remains, had ' No Admittance' forever grimly for- bidding at the door, and from the great chimney, about once a fortnight, issned great volumes of black smoke, filling the atmosphere all the country round with & most noisome odor, offensive, and nearly as yawa- ing as giavee themselves. Does nobody remember this? Have none mince smiled in their manhood to find it was a place for boiling oil and making hartshorn, took thus far out of town to save the delicate sensa- tions of the citizens by the considerate owner, Christopher Marshall. . . . But more discoveries were afterward made at Dr. Shippen's ana- tomical theatre in this yard. Time, which demolishes all things, brought at last all his buildings under the fitful change of fashion to ' pull down and build greater,' when, in digging up the yard for cellar foundatione, they were surprised to find a graveyard aud its materials not in any record of the city."

In all new communities where a medical college has been newly es- tablished, professors of anatomy have moet to apprehend from prejudice against the dissection of bodies of the dead. This has been the case from Vesalins to Dr. Shippen. The latter was one time nesr being sub- jected to the loss of his house and his anatomical materials by a report that he had been robbing some respectable or at least honest graves for hie subjects. The outcry was chiefly among the sailors. It required the utmost presence of mind and the interference of soveral of the citizens to suppress what was afterward known as the "Sailors' mob." He thought it prudent afterward to publish in the Pennsylvania Gazelle the following card : " It has given Dr. Shippen much pain to hear that, notwithstand- ing all the caution aud care he has taken to preserve the utmost decency in opening and dissecting dead bodies, which he has persevered in chiefly from the motive of being useful to viaukind, somo evil-minded persons, either wantonly or maliciously, have reported to his disad- vantage that he has taken up come persons who are buried in the church burying-ground, which has distressed the minde of his worthy fellow-citizens. The doctor, with much pleasure, improves this oppor- tunity to declare that the report is absolutely false, and to assure them that the bodies he dissected were either of persons who hisd willfully murdered themselves, or were publicly executed, except now and then one from Potter's-field, whose death was owing to some particular diecase, and that he never had one body from the church or any private burial-placs."

separate them from that union in which heretofore they had existed necessarily in a community 80 young. Heretofore every medical man was a phy- sician, a surgeon, and a pharmacist. Dr. Morgan enlisted in his scheme many distinguished persons in London, as Mr. Hamilton and Richard Peters, then sojourning there, Drs. Fothergill, Cullen, Watson, and Hunter. His most influential friend, however, was Thomas Penn, who wrote a letter in his behalf to the board of trustees of the College of Philadelphia.1

Upon his return, when Dr. Morgan entered upon the practice of his profession, he set the example of making the separation he had regarded so important, and confined his practice to visitations of the sick and prescribing for them. At the outset he published a discourse, in the preface to which he put forth his views upon this and other special duties of the phy- sician. Of course, views entirely different, at least from the practice that was universally in vogue, not only in Philadelphia, but in every other city in the colonies, would not be immediately followed.

The College of Pennsylvania had then been in ope- ration about fifteen years. Among the board of trus- tees at its foundation was Dr. Zachary, and the medi- cal profession had ever held a conspicuous position in that body. When the proposition of Dr. Morgan was submitted, there were among them both the Bonds, Cadwalader, Redman, and the elder Shippen. From some cause physicians ceased for a brief season to be nominated, but this soon passed away, and they have ever since had a fair share in the government. The reputation of the young man, backed by indorsement

1 The following is & copy of this letter :

"GENTLEMEN : Dr. Morgan has laid before me a proposal for intro- ducing new professorships into the academy for the instruction of all such as shall incline to go into the study and practice of phyalc and surgery, as well as the several occupatione attending upon these usofnl and necessary arts. He thinks hie scheme, if patrumzed by the trustees, will at present give reputation and strength to the institution; and though it may for some time occasion a small expense, yet, after a little while it will gradually support itself, and even make considerable ad- ditione to the academy'e funds.

" Dr. Morgan has employed bis time in an assiduous search after knowledge in all branches necessary for the practice of his profession, and has gained such an esteem and love from persons of the first rank In it that, as they very much approve his eystem, they will from time to time, as he addresses us, give him their countenance and assistance in the execution of It.

" We are made acquainted with what is propused to be tanght, and how the lectures may be adopted by you, and since the like systems have brought much advantage to every place where they have been re- ceived, and such learned and eminent men speak favorably of the doctor's plan, I could not but in the mwst kind manner recommend Dr. Morgan to you, and desire that he may be well received, and what he has to offer be taken with all becoming respect and expedition into your most serious consideration, and, if it aball bo thought necessary to gu into it, and thereupon to open professorships, that he may be taken into your service.

" When you have heard him and duly considered what he has to lay before you, you will be best able to judge In what mantier you can serve the public, the institution, and the particular dealgn now recom- mended to you.

"I am, gentlemen, your very affectionate friend

" LONDON, Feb. 15, 1765."

" THOMAS PENN.

1588

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

from so many and exalted sources, prevailed with the board, and on May 3, 1765, he was elected professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic. This has the honor of being the first medical professorship estab- lished in this country.

Few addresses made in this country have acquired such notoriety as that pronounced by this, the first medical professor, at the ensuing commencement of the college at the close of the same month. In antic- ipation of results, he had prepared the address while sojourning in Paris. Dr. Carson thus speaks of it: "In this address will be found an exposition of the nature and scope of medical science; a sketch of the departments of which it is composed, with the rea- sons for their special cultivation; an advocacy of classical, literary, and general scientific attainments on the part of the student of medicine, and, what is pertinent to the purpose, the demonstration that to be effectively taught, a coalition is required of able men who would undertake to give complete and regular courses of lectures on the different branches of medicine." In connection with his statements, the author insists especially upon the advantages pre- sented by the city of Philadelphia, to which even the students resorted, attracted as well by the reputation of its practitioners, as by the facilities for clinical in- struction afforded them in the hospital. The orator made the bold prediction, since happily verified, that the example thus set would be followed by the rise of other useful institutions "calculated to spread the light of knowledge throughout the whole American continent wherever inhabited."

The appointment of Dr. Shippen, like that of Dr. Morgan, was made after his own personal application. The letter shows that he and Morgan had had the project in view during the period of their studies abroad :

"TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE COLLEGE, ETC .:

" The institution of medical schools in this country has been a favor- ite object of my attention for seven years past, and it is three years since I proposed the expediency and practicability of teaching medicine in all ite branches in this city in a. public oration read at the State-House, in- troductory to my first course of anatomy.

" I should long since have sought the patronage of the trustees of the college, but waited to be joined by Dr. Morgan, to whom I first com- municated my plan in England, and who promised to unite with me in every scheme we might think necessary for the execution of so impor- tant a point. I am pleased, however, to hear that you, gentlemen, on being applied to by Dr. Morgan, have appointed that gentleman profes- sor of medicine. A professorship of anatomy and surgery will he ac- cepted by, gentlemen,

"Your most obedient and very humble servant, " WILLIAM SHIPPEN, JE.

" PHILADELPHIA, 12th September, 1765."

The applicant doubtless foresaw the acceptance of his proposal. About a week afterward, with his col- league, he announced the lectures for the ensuing session of the college upon anatomy and materia medica.

It is pleasant to contemplate the attitudes of the older practitioners of Philadelphia toward these younger and more cultured brethren. The elections

were reported to have been unanimous, notwithstand- ing that among the board of trustees were all of the old leading physicians. It looks well that, after a course of lectures by these two young men, the vet- eran Dr. Thomas Bond came in from the Pennsylva- nia Hospital and began his course of clinical lec- tures.

John Sargent, a member of Parliament, offered, in 1766, a prize medal for the best essay on the recipro- cal advantages of a perpetual union between Great Britain and her colonies. From nine competitors for this medal the trustees selected that of Dr. Morgan.1

The impulse imparted by these young men soon led to important consequences. The college, fortu- nately, at that time happened to be under the lead of William Smith, D.D. His cultivated, liberal mind was quick to respond to the ambitious intentions of Shippen and Morgan, and, on counseling with them and Dr. Bond, he formed the plan of organizing a medical department on a justly broad foundation. There were established the terms on which a student might obtain the Bachelor's degree, for which, be- sides having served an apprenticeship to some rep- utable practitioner in physic, and obtaining a general knowledge of pharmacy, he should give evidences of satisfactory knowledge of the Latin language and such branches of " mathematics, natural and experi- mental philosophy, as shall be judged necessary to a medical education," and attended at least one course in "anatomy, materia medica, chemistry, the theory and practice of physic, and the course of clinical lec- tures, and shall attend the practice of the Pennsy]- vania Hospital for one year." 2

The qualifications for a Doctor's degree in physic were very exacting :

"It is required for this degree that at least three years have inter- vened from the time of taking the Bachelor's degree, and that the can- didate be full twenty-four years of age, and that he shall write and de- fend a thesis publicly in the college, unless he should be beyond seas, or so remote on the continent of America, as not to be able to attend without manifest inconvenience, in which case, on sending & written thesis, such as shall be approved of by the college, the candidate may receive the Doctor's degree, but his thesis shall be printed and published at his own expense."3

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 173

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992