Page:A cyclopedia of American medical biography vol. 1.djvu/24

 xiv INTRODUCTION

Physick was followed by W. E. Horner, who held the chair from 1831 to 1853, and attained some scientific as well as scholastic reputation. Horner wrote text-books, "A Treatise on Pathological Anatomy" (1829), and "Lessons in Practical Anatomy for the Use of Dissections" (1823); dis- covered or re-discovered the "tensor tarsi" muscle, and among other papers contributed one on the "Odoriferous Glands of the Negro." Horner was followed by J. Leidy, who held the chair of anatomy from 1853 tol891. Leidy, one of the most distinguished of American scientific investigators, a man whose interests ranged over wide fields, con- tributed chiefly to the subjects of helminthology and vertebrate paleontology. He wrote a text-book on human anatomy.

In 1825 the Jefferson Medical College was established and long rivalled the Medical School of the University in popularity. In 1832 G. S. Pattison, formerly professor of anatomy and surgery in the Uni- versity of London, was made professor of anatomy.

Other well known professors at the Jefferson Medical College were J. Pancoast, W. H. Pancoast, and W. S. Forbes.

W. S. Forbes, demonstrator of anatomy from 1S79-86, and professor of anatomy from 1886—1905, while a much admired teacher, was distin- guished chiefly for the admirable state law concerning anatomical material, which he drew up and was instrumental in getting passed in Pennsylvania in 1868, and revised in 1883. Previous to the latter half of the nineteenth century, anatomical material in this country, as in England, was scarce. Grave robbery was a necessary adjunct to courses in practical anatomy, and led to repeated outrages of public feeling and sometimes to crime.

In 1830 Massachusetts passed a law giving the bodies of paupers dying in state charge, and in 1833, one giving those of county paupers, unclaimed by friends, to the recognized medical institutions of the state. Other states passed similar laws, but of these the most effective were those of Pennsylvania, mentioned above. The laws of Pennsylvania on this subject served as a model for the better of the state laws since passed in other states. (H. A. Kelly, "Johns Hopkins Bulletin," 1908; W. W. Keen, Philadelphia School of Anatomy, 1875; E. M. Hartwell, "The Study of Human Anatomy," "Studies from Biological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University," Baltimore, 1881; "Hindrances to Anatomical Study in the United States," "Annals of Anatomy and Surgery," Brooklyn, 1881.)

To accommodate private pupils, a number of Philadelphia physicians, during the first half of the nineteenth century, established private dis- secting rooms. Among the earlier of these were those of Joseph Parrish and Richard Harlan (established in 1818), T. Hewson (1822), and G. McClellan (1829). In 1820 Dr. J. V. 0. Lawrence organized a dissecting