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Caspar Wistar (Physician) : Biography
Caspar Wistar (Physician) : Biography
Caspar Wistar (Physician) : Biography
Caspar Wistar
Contents
1Biography
o 1.1Education
o 1.2Career
2Family
3Death
4See also
5Sources
6References
7External links
Biography[edit]
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
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]
Organ Cave
List of eponyms
Sources[edit]
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. ^ Penn Biographies: Caspar Wistar (1761-1818) "Archived
copy". Archived from the original on 2016-05-21.
Retrieved 2007-06-06.
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter W" (PDF).
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved August
7, 2014.
4. ^ Carson, Hampton Lawrence (1918). The centenary of the
Wistar party. The Library of Congress. Philadelphia, Printed
for the Wistar association.
5. ^ "Caspar Wistar". American Philosophical Society Member
History. American Philosophical Society. Archived from the
original on 2021-07-20. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
6. ^ Jump up to:a b "Caspar Wistar (1761-1818)". lewis-clark.org.
Retrieved 7 Sep 2014.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ 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.
9. ^ "Obituary Notice". Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society. New Series, 1: xix.
External links[edit]
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 "Wistar, Caspar". The American
Cyclopædia. 1879.
o "Wistar, Caspar". New International
Encyclopedia. 1905.
o "Wistar, Caspar". Collier's New
Encyclopedia. 1921.
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Categories:
1761 births
1818 deaths
Physicians from Philadelphia
American people of German descent
People of colonial Pennsylvania
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania alumni
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
18th-century American physicians
19th-century American physicians
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University of Pennsylvania faculty
American abolitionists
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Wister family
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