Annals of the Medical Society of the County of Albany, 1806-1851 : with biographical sketches of deceased members / Sylvester D. Willard.

  • Willard, Sylvester David, 1825-1865.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annals of the Medical Society of the County of Albany, 1806-1851 : with biographical sketches of deceased members / Sylvester D. Willard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Pennsylvania and became an enthusiastic admirer of that distinguished patriot and physician, Dr. Benjamin Rush, whose views he embraced and whose teachings became the guide of his practice in after years. Having graduated at Philadelphia he returned to Albany in the spring of 1807, and at once united with the Medical Society which had only recently been organized. He commenced his professional career under auspicious cir- cumstances. There were but a few practitioners of emi- nence in the city and they were all advanced beyond the meridian of life, while he was surrounded by a large circle of influential friends who gave him their encouragement. He was prompt in his business and attentive to his patients, and he rapidly won reputation, and a large and lucrative practice. Dr. Wendell was at an early period elected by this So- ciety a delegate to the State Medical Society, where he was in a few years elected permanent member, and for a long time filled the oflice of Censor in that Society for this district. In 1813 he read a dissertation before the Society on the stimulant effects of cold. In 1823 he was elected by the legislature, Regent of the University of the State of New York, and was faithful and attentive to the great va- riety of business that came before that board, making him- self familiar with all its details, devoting much care and attention to the state library and the cabinet of natural history. He at length became, with a single exception, senior member of the board and was elected chancellor of the Regents of the University in 1842. This honorable po- sition he continued to occupy until the close of his life. It was a position which brought him into relations with most of the leading men of the state, and he well sustained the dignity of the oflice. Dr. Wendell felt the important and responsible relation of the medical profession to the public, and he always