Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/109

BECK calmly and smilingly, as one reliant upon his glorious faith and supremely confident of a better life hereafter.

He died at Rhinebeck, New York, April 9, 1851.



Beck, Lewis Caleb (1798–1853)

Lewis Caleb Beck, naturalist, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., October 4, 1798, the son of Caleb and Catherine Romeyn Beck. After attending the Schenectady grammar school, he graduated A. M. from Union College in 1815 and took up the study of medicine. He was licensed to practise medicine by the State Regents at Schenectady in 1818. His interest in botany was soon evident, and he discovered a new species of flowering plant near Schenectady, described by Torrey as Bidens Beckii.

In 1820 he moved to St. Louis where he resided until 1822. He made an extensive collection of the plants in the vicinity of St. Louis and later published a list of his collections there (Amer. Jour. Sci. & Arts, 1826, vol. x: 257–264; 1827, vol. xi: 167–182; 1828, vol. xiv: 112–121. Among the several new species he found was the Dwarf Bluet (Houstonia minima. Beck).

In 1822 Dr. Beck moved to New York state, settling in Albany, and residing there during most of the remainder of his life. He held positions as professor of botany, chemistry or natural history, up to the time of his death, in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y.; Vermont Academy of Medicine; Rutgers College at New Brunswick, N. J., and the Albany Medical College. Near New Brunswick he discovered Lathyrus glaucifolius (now known as L. ochroleucus). His first publication was an "Illinois and Missouri GazeteerGazetteer [sic]," that appeared in 1823.

He was well known in botanical circles and was the author of a "Manual of Botany of the United States North of Virginia" (1848), of which two editions were issued. He also published a number of botanical papers and a "Manual of Chemistry" (1831), which passed through four editions. A full list of his writings may be found in a memoir by Alden March in S. D. Gross' "American Medical Biography."

Soon after returning to Albany he married Hannah Maria, daughter of Israel Smith of that city and they had seven children. During the year 1836 he was a member of the geological survey of New York State, embodying the results of his explorations in a book on the mineralogy of New York, published in 1842.

In Albany he seems to have been well acquainted with (q.v.), who accompanied the Fanning "Voyage of Discovery" to the South Sea Islands in 1829, because the herbarium of Dr. Beck, acquired by the state and now in the state herbarium, contains a number of plants collected by Dr. Eights on Staten Island, South Shetland and other South Sea places. He was also a friend and correspondent of Asa Gray and his herbarium contains numerous specimens contributed by Dr. Gray.

He died at Albany, April 20, 1853.



Beck, Theodric Romeyn (1791–1855)

Theodric Romeyn Beck, alienist and medico-legal expert, was born at Schenectady, New York, April 11, 1791. His mother, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Derick Romeyn, principal of the Academy of Schenectady, was a lady of rare attainments and great force of character.

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 Physicians and Surgeons, receiving there his medical degree in 1811 and thence returning to Albany to practise. He was, however (by reason of too great sympathy with the sick), not so highly successful in practice as he was in authorship, hence at the end of six years he gave up practice entirely.

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 Western District, at Fairfield, New York, and in 1817 became principal of the Albany Academy, afterwards, in 1826, lecturer on medical jurisprudence, occasionally holding both the chair of practice and that of materia medica in the same institution.

The year 1829 saw him president of the New York State Medical Society—an honor held for three successive years, and in 1840 he held the professorship of materia medica in the Albany Medical College; in 1842 became one of the managers of the New York State Lunatic Asylum, at Utica; and in 1854, its president. The American Journal of Insanity was edited by him for several years and he