Caspar Wistar (physician)
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This article is about the physician. For the glassmaker, see Caspar Wistar (glassmaker).
Caspar Wistar
Caspar Wistar[pronunciation?] (September 13, 1761 – January 22, 1818) was
an American physician and anatomist. He is sometimes referred to as Caspar Wistar
the Younger, to distinguish him from his grandfather of the same name.
Contents
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Biography[edit]
1Biography
o 1.1Education
o 1.2Career
2Family
3Death
4See also
5Sources
6References
7External links
He was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Richard Wistar (1727–1781) and
Sarah Wyatt (1733–1771).[1] He was the grandson of Caspar Wistar (1696–1752),
a German immigrant, Quaker and glassmaker.[2]
Education[edit]
He was educated at the Friends' school in his native city, where he received a
thorough classical training. His interest in medicine began while he was aiding in the
care of the wounded after the battle of Germantown, and he made his first studies under
the direction of Dr. John Redman. He studied medicine, first at the University of
Pennsylvania (receiving his Bachelor of Medicine degree in 1782), and then at
the University of Edinburgh (receiving his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1786). While in
Scotland he was, for two successive years, president of the Royal Medical Society of
Edinburgh, and also president of a society for the further investigation of natural history.
Career[edit]
Upon his return to the U.S. in January 1787, he entered on the practice of his profession
in Philadelphia, where he was at once appointed one of the physicians to the
Philadelphia Dispensary. He was professor of chemistry and the institutes of medicine
in the College of Philadelphia from 1789 till 1792, when the faculty of that institution
united with the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, of which he was
adjunct professor of anatomy, midwifery, and surgery until 1808. In that year, on the
death of his associate, Dr. William Shippen Jr., he was given the chair of anatomy,
which he retained until his death. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of
Arts and Sciences in 1803.[3]
Bones of the prehistoric giant ground sloth, described in a 1799 paper for the Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society by Wistar
For his teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, he developed a set of anatomical
models—human remains preserved by injecting them with wax—to assist with the
teaching of anatomy. He published A System of Anatomy in two volumes from 1811 to
1814. His fame attracted students to his lectures, and he was largely the means of
establishing the reputation of the school. Meanwhile, he was chosen physician to the
Pennsylvania Hospital, where he remained until 1810. His reputation as an anatomist
was increased by his description of the posterior portion of the ethmoid bone with the
triangular bones attached, which received universal recognition as an original treatment
of the subject.
He was an early promoter of vaccination. During the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, he
suffered an attack of the disease contracted while caring for his patients.
It was his habit to throw open his house once every week in the winter, and at these
gatherings students, citizens, scientists, and travelers met and discussed subjects of
interest. These assemblies, celebrated in the annals of Philadelphia under the title of
Wistar parties, were continued long after his death by other residents of that city.[4]
The American College of Physicians elected him a fellow in 1787, and he was
appointed one of its censors in 1794, which place he retained until his death. In 1787 he
was elected to membership of the American Philosophical Society, served as curator
until he was chosen its vice-president in 1795, and on the resignation of Thomas
Jefferson, in 1815, served as president until his death.[5] He also served as president of
the Society for the Abolition of Slavery, succeeding Benjamin Rush.
The botanist Thomas Nuttall named the genus Wisteria in his honour (some call
it Wistaria but the misspelling is conserved under the International Code of Botanical
Nomenclature). The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology at the University of
Pennsylvania, founded in 1892 by his great-nephew, Isaac Jones Wistar, is also named
for Caspar Wistar.
Wistar was a friend of Thomas Jefferson, with whom he worked to identify bones of
the megalonyx[6] and through whom he tutored Meriwether Lewis, including
recommendations for scientific inquiry on the Lewis and Clark expedition.[6][7][8]
Family[edit]
In 1788 he married Isabella Marshall, who died in 1790. He married Elizabeth Mifflin in
1798.
His brother Richard (20 July 1756 – 6 June 1821) was a Philadelphia merchant who
built a large four-story store in 1790 where he conducted an iron and hardware
business. With the profits, he purchased lands and houses in the vicinity of
Philadelphia. During the Revolutionary War, Richard advocated the defense of his
property by arms, which resulted in his being disowned by the Society of Friends.
Richard was an inspector of prisons, and was one of the early friends and supporters of
the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Hospital.
Caspar was a cousin of Revolutionary diarist Sally Wister and nephew of Samuel
Morris.
Death[edit]
Wistar died on January 22, 1818, of a "severe attack of typhus fever". [9]
See also[edit]
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Organ Cave
List of eponyms
Sources[edit]
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The Wistar-Wister Family[dead link]
Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1889). "Wistar,
Richard" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American
Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
References[edit]
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
^ Penn Biographies: Caspar Wistar (1761-1818) "Archived
copy". Archived from the original on 2016-05-21.
Retrieved 2007-06-06.
^ Faust reports that the family name was originally Vüster,
and the American spellings have been Wister and Wistar.
This information he gathered from a personal communication
from Owen Wister. See Albert Bernhardt Faust, The German
Element in the United States, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.,
1909, v. II, chap. VII, p. 357.
^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter W" (PDF).
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved August
7, 2014.
^ Carson, Hampton Lawrence (1918). The centenary of the
Wistar party. The Library of Congress. Philadelphia, Printed
for the Wistar association.
^ "Caspar Wistar". American Philosophical Society Member
History. American Philosophical Society. Archived from the
original on 2021-07-20. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
^ Jump up to:a b "Caspar Wistar (1761-1818)". lewis-clark.org.
Retrieved 7 Sep 2014.
^ Duncan, Dayton; Burns, Ken (1997). Lewis & Clark: The
Journey of the Corps of Discovery. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
Inc. pp. 9–10. ISBN 9780679454502.
^ Ambrose, Stephen (1996). Undaunted Courage: Meriwether
Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American
West. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 81, 87–
91. ISBN 9780684826974.
^ "Obituary Notice". Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society. New Series, 1: xix.
External links[edit]
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Biography and portrait at the University of
Pennsylvania Archived 2016-05-21 at the Wayback
Machine
Portrait attributed to Bass Otis at the Schwarz
Gallery in Philadelphia
Caspar Wistar paper at the American Philosophical
Society
History of Wistar Institute
Texts on Wikisource:
o
o
o
"Wistar, Caspar". The American
Cyclopædia. 1879.
"Wistar, Caspar". New International
Encyclopedia. 1905.
"Wistar, Caspar". Collier's New
Encyclopedia. 1921.
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