George Douglass notes on the lectures of Nathaniel Chapman

Item

Identifier: 10a 459

Scope and Contents

One volume of notes on Chapman’s lectures on the practice of medicine. Internal references to Dr. Jackson, Professor of Practice, in Boston, and Dr. Physick’s recent experiments, imply a date prior to 1835. Lectures include diseases of the digestive and respiratory systems, dropsy, scrofula, and marasmus. Cullen’s classification of diseases is listed on the verso of the title page.

Dates

between 1814 and 1824

Creator

Douglass, George (Person)

Biographical / Historical

A George Douglass of Philadelphia is listed as a matriculant in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania for the years 1814 and 1822-1824. He is not listed as a graduate in the alumni catalogue. According to his signature in the manuscript, he lived for a time in Berks County, Pa. No other information on Douglass could be found.

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.