Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1271

NAME WISTAR 1249 WISTAR tar an ambition to pursue his medical study in Europe, where he went after attaining the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in 1872. Tilghm.an relates the following story of Wis- tar's examination in medicine : "There was a singularity in this examina- tion of which I have been informed bjj a gentleman who was present. The faculty of medicine were not all of one theory, and each professor examined with an eye to his own system ; of this Wistar was aware, and had the address to answer each to his complete satisfaction, in his own way. Of course the degree was conferred on him." Wistar spent a year in England and then went to Edinburgh, and in 1786 graduated doctor of medicine there, publishing and de- fending a thesis called "De Animo Demisso." Wistar was initiated into the practice of medicine and surgery under the patronage of Dr. Jones, then the most distinguished sur- geon in Philadelphia. Dr. Hosack relates the ■following story : "Dr. Jones, having occasion to perform a very important operation, in- vited Dr. Wistar to accompany him. When the patient was prepared, Dr. Jones, addressing Dr. Wistar as having better sight than him- self, at the same time presenting him his knife, requested it as a favor that he would perform ithe operation. Dr. Wistar immediately com- plied; and such was the skill and success with which it was performed, that it at once intro- duced him to the confidence of his fellow- citizens. He was appointed physician to the Phila- delphia Dispensary, established in 1787, and in 1789 to the professorship of chemistry and physiology in the College of Philadelphia. From 1793-1810, he was physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital. Pie became in the meantime a fellow of the College of Physi- cians, and a member of the "American Philo- sophical Society," and its president in 1815. In 1788 he married Isabella, daughter of Christopher Marshall, of Philadelphia. She died in 1790, and in 1798 he married Elizabeth Mifflin. By his second marriage he had sev- eral children, three of whom were living at the time of his death. Wistar was largely instrumental in effecting the union of the medical school attached to the University of Pennsylvania and its rival, the College of Philadelphia. Upon the con- solidation of the two rival schools, in 1792, he was associated with William Shippen (q.v.), as adjunct professor of anatomy, midwifery and surgery in the University of Pennsylvania. Subsequently surgery and midwiferj' were sep- arated from anatomy. After the death of Shippen in 1808, Wistar was made professor of anatomy. As a teacher he at once exhibited distinguished qualifications : fluency of utter- ance, unaffected ease and simplicity of man- ner, perspicuity of expression, animation, earnestness, and impressiveness. He published a "System of Anatomy," which was primarily designed as a textbook for his classes. It is an excellent work, and shows a good knowledge, for that time, both of anat- omy and physiology'. He published several memoirs in the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society," and made a contribu- tion to the anatomy of the ethmoid bone, thUs described by Tilghman : "Anatomy has been so much studied both by the ancients and moderns, and so many excellent works have been published on the subject, that any discovery, at this time of day, was scarcely to be expected. Yet, it is supposed to be without doubt, that Wistar was the first who observed and described the pos- terior portion of the ethmoid bone in its most perfect state, viz. : with the triangular bones attached to it. Of this he has given an accu- rate description in the volume of ot:r trans- actions now in the press. On the subject of that discovery he received, a few days before his death, a letter from Prof. Soemmering, of the kingdom of Bavaria, one of the most celebrated anatomists in Europe, of which the following is an extract: 'The neat specimen of the sphenoid and ethmoid bones are an invaluable addition to my anatomical collec- tion, having never seen them myself, in such a perfect state. I shall now be very attentive to examine these processes of the ethmoid bone in children of two years of age, being fully persuaded Mr. Bertin has never met with them of such a considerable size, nor of such peculiar structure.' " "Wistar played an active part in the cul- tured society of Philadelphia. His house was the weekly resort of the literati of the city of Philadelphia, and at his hospitable board the learned stranger from every part of the world, and of every tongue and nation re- ceived a cordial welcome. His urbanity, his pleasing and instructive conversation, his pe- culiar talent in discerning and displaying the^ characteristic merits or acquirements of those with whom he conversed will be remembered with pleasure by all who have ever enjoyed his society and conversation." (Hosack) In 1816, he was elected president of the American Philosophical Society, and in 1813 he succeeded Benjamin Rush as president of the Society for the Abolition of Slaverj'.