Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/176

 BECK ]

Theodric Romeyn Beck entered Union College in 1803, graduated in 1807 at the age of sixteen, and at Albany began the study of medicine under Drs. Low and McClelland. Shortly afterwards he entered the New York College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, receiving there his medical degree in 1811 and thence re- turning to Albany to practise. He was, however (by reason of too great sym- pathy with the sick), not so highly suc- cessful in practice as he was in author- ship, hence at the end of six, years he gave up practice entirely and forever.

He married, in 1814, Harriet Caldwell.

In 1815 he was appointed professor of the institutes of medicine and lecturer on medical jurisprudence in the College of Physicians and Surgeons for the West- ern District, at Fairfield, New York, and in 1817 became principal of the Albany Academy, afterwards, in 1826, lecturer in medical jurisprudence, occasionally hold- ing both the chair of practice and that of materia medica in the same institution.

1829 saw him president of the New York State Medical Society — an honor held for three successive years, and in 1S40 he held the professorship of materia medica in the Albany Medical College, and in 1S42 became one of the managers of the New York State Lunatic Asylum, at Utica; in 1854, its president. The "American Journal of Insanity" was edited by him for several years and he was also a copious contributor to medical journals, chiefly on insanity.

His most justly celebrated book was his "Elements of Medical Jurisprudence," a monumental work which appeared in 1823. At once it attracted the attention of the medico-jurisprudential world and has not ceased to be an authority both at home and in Europe. An English edition appeared in 1S25 — two years after the first American edition, and by the time of the author's decease, four English, one German, and five American editions had been issued. Since the author's death, another American, and even a Swedish, edition, have been brought forth. At the present moment,

BECK

copies of Beck's "Medical Jurisprudence," when they appear on the bookseller's shelves, which they do but seldom, are snapped up eagerly Traill, the great Scotch legal physician, called this very remarkable treatise "the best work on the general subject which has appeared in the English language." The famous Guy "acknowledges his obligations in a special manner to Beck's learned and elaborate "Elements of Medical Juris- prudence;" and at the present day, Prof. Rudolph A. Witthaus declares this scientific classic "facile princeps among English works on legal medicine

... as admirable for scholarly ele- gance of diction as for profound scientific research."

Dr. Beck was a man of massive build, dark skinned, dark haired, and dark eyed. He possessed an extremely gentle and sympathetic manner.

He was a voluminous reader, not only of scientific publications, but also of history, poetry, fiction, and, in fact, of every sort and variety of literature that was sound, sensible, and interesting. He delighted, when at work, to surround himself with great piles of books, whether he happened to need those particular volumes at the time or not, merely from the joy of having his darlings stacked about him.

He was an earnest and active Christian, nor did his ardent faith forsake him when, after a long and painful illness, he died on the nineteenth of November, 1855, at the age of sixty-four.

Portraits of Theodric Romeyn Beck are to be found with all the following biogra- phic sketches, excepting the first three. T. H. S.

Gross' "American Medical Biography," Phila., 1861. Stone's " Biography of Emi- nent American Physicians and Surgeons," Indianapolis, 1894. Ann. Med. Soc. County Albany, 1864, (Mrs. C. E. Van Cortlandt). Amer, Jour. Insanity, Utica, N. Y., vol. xii, 1855-6 Amer. Med. Gazette, N. Y., vol. vii, 1S56. Med. and Surg. Rep.. Burling- ton, N. J., vol. ix. 1S56. N. Y. Jour, of Med., n. s.. xvi. 1S56 (E. H. Van Dusen). Tr. Med. Soc. N. Y., 1S56 (F. H. Hamilton). Med. Leg. Jour., 1SS3-4, i.