Page:A History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.djvu/155

 of the present century, and are now fully admitted. He insisted upon the correctness of the doctrine of the absorption of medicinal substances, and upon the explanation, by it, of their modus operandi.

Dr. Coxe at one time was the editor of the “Medical Museum.” This periodical was commenced in 1804; the same year as the publication of Dr. Barton, and was continued regularly until 1811. It may be said to be the first uniformly issued periodical in the city of Philadelphia, but not in the United States, as, in this respect, the city of New York takes precedence.

He published, as editor, the “American Dispensatory,” a work largely derived from Duncan’s “Edinburgh Dispensatory.” In 1808 he published a Medical Dictionary. Late in life he issued an “Exposition of the Works of Hippocrates,” and an “Essay on the Origin of the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood.” In 1829 he introduced, and succeeded in cultivating, the true Jalap plant, thus enabling Mr. Nuttall to determine its real character and position. Dr. Coxe died at the advanced age of ninety years, March 22, 1864.

The vacation of the Chair of Materia Medica and Pharmacy having taken place in 1835, an opportunity was “offered to the Trustees to extend the organization and augment the efficiency of the Faculty, without interfering with the rights of the existing Professors, or increasing the expense of the pupils. That the subjects of Practice and Institutes of Medicine, which had for many years been combined, were together too copious for the time and powers of one Professor, was obvious to all who were acquainted with their great importance, and with the