Call no.
10a/9
Acc. 51377
(Hirsch
54)
03/22/1910
Barton, Benjamin Smith, 1766-1815.
Notes taken from the lectures of Doctor Barton on the practice of
physick, as delivered
in the University, [between 1813 and 1815].
1 v.
Biography
Benjamin Smith Barton, son of Rev. Thomas and Esther (Rittenhouse) Barton, was
born February 10, 1766, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Orphaned as a teenager,
Barton went to live with an elder brother and became a medical student at the
College of Philadelphia under the tutelage of Dr. William Shippen, Jr. In 1786
Barton went to Europe to further his studies at the University of Edinburgh and
in London. Barton returned to Philadelphia without a medical degree in 1789 and
set up private practice. In 1796 he received an honorary M.D. from the
Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany.
As a physician and a noted botanist and educator, Barton held prominent
positions in the Philadelphia medical and scientific community. From 1789-1815,
he served as professor of natural history and botany at the College of
Philadelphia, which was united with the University of Pennsylvania in 1791.
After the resignation of Dr. Griffith, Barton also became professor of materia
medica and in 1813 succeeded Benjamin Rush as professor of the theory and
practice of medicine.
Barton wrote extensively on the topics of natural history, botany, paleontology,
etymology and medicine. He penned the first basic American textbook on botany, Elements
of Botany, in 1803. In 1805 he founded and edited the Philadelphia
Medical and Physical Journal.
As a professional advocate, Barton was extremely active in the American
Philosophical Society, the Philadelphia Linnean Society, and the Philadelphia
Medical Society, serving as its president (1815). He also was a member of the
Linnean Society of London, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Danish
Royal Society of Sciences, the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, the
Massachusetts Historical Society, the Royal Academy of Science of Sweden, and
the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland. Barton was elected a Fellow of the College
of Physicians in 1790.
In 1797 Barton married Mary Pennington, daughter of Edward Pennington of
Philadelphia. They had 2 children, including a son, Thomas P.
Pulmonary hemorrhages and gout afflicted him throughout his life. In 1815 Barton
took a sea voyage to Europe to bolster his health, but returned to Philadelphia
in December suffering from hydrothorax. On December 19, 1815, Barton died.
Scope and Contents
One volume of notes on lectures on the practice of medicine, delivered by
Benjamin S. Barton at the University of Pennsylvania, in either the 1813-14 or
1814-15 session.
Provenance
With signature of James P. Freeman on title page. Freeman received his A.B. from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1816 and his M.D. in 1819, the year of his
death. It is doubtful that he would have attended Barton’s lectures. He may
have copied someone else’s notes or simply been the owner.
[between 1813 and 1815]
1 v.
10/31/2000
lg