Inoculation in Pennsylvania / by J.M. Toner.

  • Toner, Joseph M. (Joseph Meredith), 1825-1896.
Date:
[1865]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inoculation in Pennsylvania / by J.M. Toner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Smallpox in Pennsylvania, as in the other colonies, had been a fre- quent and dreaded visitant, and at times had made sad havoc among gentlemen, among whom was the renowned Dr. Benjamin Rush. [See Wister's Eulogy on Shippen.~\ Dr. Shippen was a laborious student, and was soon recognized by his brother practitioners as a man of ability in his profession. He took an interest in all public affairs, and early became an influential member of society. He was pos- sessed of a graceful person, was easy and winning in his manners, and withal was a fluent and graphic lecturer. The interest manifested by the public in his undertaking, and the very re- spectable number of young men desiring to study the profession of medicine, induced him to continue his lectures each fall and winter. Early in this enter- prise he extended his lectures so as to embrace the practice of midwifery. Indeed, he may justly be considered the father of midwifery in this country; for prior to this time the practice was almost wholly in the hands of females. Although Dr. Shippen demonstrated his lectures from recent dissections upon the human subject, he also used the elegant models and crayon drawings ; re- sented, in 1762, to the Pennsylvania Hospital by Dr. John Fothergill, of London. These drawings and models were kept in a room at the hospital expressly devoted to their preservation. This collection has since been given by the managers to the University of Pennsylvania, and is kept in the museum of the college. During the summer of 1763 Dr. Shippen volunteered to attend the hospital every other Saturday, at five o'clock P. M., and explain the figures to all who chose to attend, upon their paying one dollar to the hospital. These were the first medical lectures ever delivered at the hospital. Dr. Fothergill, in a letter to James Pemberton, mentions these figures and drawings about the time of their arrival in Philadelphia, in which he expresses himself as expecting Dr. Shippen to explain them, and mentions the doctor's intention to give lectures to students in medicine, and says of him: That he is well qualified ; that he will soon be followed by an able assistant, Dr. John Morgan; and that, if countenanced by the legislature, they will be very useful, and will erect a school of medicine. In the month of April, 1765, Dr. John Morgan returned from Europe, having spent five years abroad in the prosecution of his professional studies, and was already rewarded by honorary degrees and fellowships from various colleges and learned societies. Dr. Morgan, perhaps with a view to a more speedy or- ganization, and desiring to honor his alma-mater, was prepossessed in favor of engrafting a medical department upon the Philadelphia College, whose charter dated from the year 1749, and had provided himself with letters from influential persons in Europe, urging upon the trustees a favorable considerate ot the nroiect His letter of application to the trustees of the college was accompanied by one'from the Hon. Thomas Penn, the son of William Penn, at that time pro- prietary of the province, with others from influential ^J***™™* citizens at home and abroad, and was received on the 3d ot May, 1 ,b5. Fhe proposition was entertained by the Board and immediately accepted, and Dr. Morgan was appointed to the chair of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, the position which he solicited. 2