The Advent of Modern Medicine in Philadelphia, 1800-1850 *

The historian can quote sources to suit his own purpose. It would be easy to portray the American medicine of 1800 as essentially forward-looking and progressive, if just the right evidence were selected to support this interpretation. This was indeed the view of contemporary physicians themselves, who faced the nineteenth century confident that American science had more than caught up with that across the Atlantic. In no locality was this optimism more apparent than in Philadelphia, then the capital, the largest city, and the chief medical training center of the land. None of the ordinary reproaches against the culture of this country, wrote Dr. Nathaniel Chapman of the University of Pennsylvania, can be applied to our science. In erudition, European physicians may surpass us, but "in penetration, and promptness of remedial resources . . . we are perhaps unrivaled . . . It may be safely said," he added, "that in no country is medicine . . . better understood or more successfully practiced than in the United States."' If such statements are discounted as due to patriotic feeling, one may still point with pride to other evidence of scientific progress in the Philadelphia of 1800. The city was notable for its institutional equipment, with the oldest hospital and medical school, a distinguished College of Physicians, and unsurpassed libraries and clinical facilities. Novel developments in chemistry were being pursued with enthusiasm; likewise, the relatively new experimentation in physiology and the latest developments in surgery. These subjects and institutions were in the hands of a brilliant galaxy of professional leaders, from elder statesmen like Rush and Barton to such promising youngsters as Physick and Chapman. Was it not amazing that Rush could anticipate so much that is now considered