Wilmer Worthington notes on the lectures of Nathaniel Chapman

Item

Identifier: 10a 33

Scope and Contents

Two volumes of notes on lectures delivered by Nathaniel Chapman at the University of Pennsylvania. Lecture topics include physiology, pathology, and the practice of medicine, including diseases of the circulatory, digestive, and respiratory systems, plus lectures on dropsy, gout and diseases of the genital organs. Each volume contains an index.

Dates

circa 1823-1825

Creator

Worthington, Wilmer (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Wilmer Worthington, physician and politician, was born in West Goshen Township, West Chester Co., Pa., on 22 January 1804, to Amos and Jane (Taylor) Worthington. He married Elizabeth Hemphill on 28 September 1826; they had eight children. After a prolonged illness, Worthington died on 11 September 1873.

As a child Worthington was educated at the West Chester Academy and began to study medicine under William Darlington of West Chester. He received his M.D. from the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1825. His thesis topic was intermittent fever. After graduation, he set up private practice in Philadelphia, but six months later moved his practice to West Chester, where it thrived until his retirement in 1865.

Worthington was a pioneer in forming professional organizations. In 1828 he helped found the first medical society in the state, the Chester County Medical Society. This effort later spawned the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania (1848) and the American Medical Association (1847). Worthington was chosen to be President of the State Society in 1850. He also served as editor of the Chester and Delaware County Medical Societies’ joint journal, the Medical Reporter (1863-1866).

Dr. Worthington was also active in state politics. In 1833 he was elected to the State House of Representatives for one term. The outbreak of the Civil War prompted his return to politics. He was elected to the State Senate, where he served for 6 years (1863-1869) and was chosen Speaker in 1869. His used his office to advance education and health care for the poor and disadvantaged. He served as Chairman of the Education Committee and he was instrumental in creating a State Board of Public Charities, of which he served as Secretary. In this capacity he traveled an astounding 11,000 miles to examine and report on every charitable institution in the state.

On 1 April 1868, Worthington was elected an Associate Fellow of the College of Physicians.

Nathaniel Chapman was an 1801 graduate of the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania, furthering his medical studies in Edinburgh before settling in Philadelphia in 1804. Chapman is best known as a medical teacher, editor, and professional advocate. He became editor of the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences in 1820. From 1810 on he taught at the University of Pennsylvania, serving as professor of materia medica and professor of the theory and practice of medicine and clinical medicine. In 1817 Chapman founded the Medical Institute of Philadelphia, considered the first medical post-graduate school in the United States. The principle publications of Chapman’s career are based on his lectures, such as his A Compendium of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine (1846). Among his other accomplishments, Chapman was elected the first president of the American Medical Association in 1847. Chapman was also a Fellow of the College of Physicians, elected in 1807.