JAMIN SMITH BARTON

A n A merican N a tu ralis t

B y E'GA R FA H S S M I T H

Provost f univers ity of Pe n n sylvan i a

‘ A dd ress dcl ivered before _ T he mum ; o f the Gra dua te S chool

' Febrhi ry 1 0 , 1 9 1 6

B e n j a min S mith B a rto n

A S S 'M E that our st a t e (Penn sylvania)

r n is dear to ev e y i habitant of it . It is not alone its m a t eri a l wealth whi ch com

. _ mands our admiration We cannot fail to glory in its contributions to the great intel hi lectual life of our country . It is the latter w ch led me to cast about for outstanding individuals , sons of the state , with whose lives and work we

l . shoul d be fami iar As a student of science, it was but natural that I should search for and emphasi'e men of our soil who towered aloft among their colleagues in this particular domain . Not to occupy too much time in introducing one so prominent among his fell ows as to deserve o ur attention, let me say that he was born in — Lancaster County the most fertile coun ty among all the counties of all the states of our great

Union . Writers everywhere have proclaimed it the Garden Spot of the United States . And, tramping over its surface or ga'ing upon its beautiful broad acres from automobile or car

o window, we have feasted ur eyes in satisfaction upon its winning attractiveness and beauty .

It is a coun ty which makes one envious . It has produced scholars , warriors , statesmen and men I H so much in its favor, for am of the 0 1 — — 'ork a wearer of the White Rose bu personal jealousy fades into absolute n oi ness when the evident superiority of the l of Lancaster looms forth so brilliantly in fc diverse ways , and as we are contending

. 1 greatness of the Mother State , county ‘ en ces must and do sink into complete obli — But to the man the hero of this ske ' Benjamin Smith Barton . Why shoul memory be revived ' The answer is sin he was a pioneer in science and a son 0 m splendid commonwealth . He was a pio — natural history a pioneer in medi cal te a — I a nd practice a pioneer in botany . But 1 dilating upon these pioneer activities , 6 refer to his ancestry a nd to those things early life about which everyone likes to concerning men of note . Such knowledge stimul ates renewed effort in better liViI better thought and better action . The re

, i then , tell us that our subject was born ' ” ' — n d village of Lancaster tha—t opulent a para tiv ely ancient borough o n the tent o the of February, in the year of ur Lord one

- seven hundred and sixty si x. He was

2 several children of Thomas Barton and Esther

Rittenhouse , sister of the celebrated astronomer ,

David Rittenhouse . In passing , be it observed that when the latter was struggling heroically with his mathematical studies , Thomas Barton was a young parson , dropping in upon the Ritten i house fam ly not infrequently , and through Miss

Esther learned of her remarkable brother , David , to whom he gave unstintedly of his knowledge and experiences in mathematical subjects . This is just a digression .

In time the Rev . Thomas Barton and Miss Esther were married and lived happily ever after on the banks of the Conestoga, where their own delightful home was shared with an interest ing group of little people . The father was rector of the Episcopal parish in Lancaster . Ever since I ’ ve been acquainted with the name

Benjamin Smith Barton, I have been very curious ' ” in regard to the intermediate portion Smith . What is its significance' I have asked time and

' time again , but no one seemed able to enlighten me . Recently, my inquisitiveness has been gratified . This is not a matter of moment , I

i s concede, but it interesting . It seems that the

Rev . Thomas Barton was an intimate friend and ardent admirer of the Rev . Dr . William

3 Smith, the first Provost of the University of n s0 ' he r Pennsylva ia, and int oduced Smith between the names Benjamin and Barton . ' Further, the learned Provost bapti ed the little

Benj ami n .

Facts gleaned from the life of the Rev . Thomas

he Barton , tutor in t University of Pennsylvani a 1 753—1 754 from , indicate that he was an ardent studen t of nature—that he was intensely fond of botany and of mineralogy, and that upon even the youngest members of hi s family his stu dies made a deep impression , so that the little folks acquired a real taste for natural hi story, includ ing plants and minerals . Benjamin especially s howed a predilection for these particular sub

e ct s . j How sad that at the age of eight years ,

s h r he should lose hi mother, who , like e husband, was intensely interested in the infusion of knowl -n edge into the minds of her little ones . At four teen years of age his father also was taken from; him and Benjamin became an orphan i while friends cared for the ch ldren , but Benjamin and one of hi s brothers went to

Pennsylvania, where they attended an aca conducted by Dr . J ohn Andrews , who became Provost of the Uni versity vania . Benjamin proved an exceedingly dilige and in terestin g student . He was very apt in hi s Whi all studies . le devoted to natural science

wi . objects , he had great familiarity th the classics w He loved them intensely . This is clearly sho n hi s i i hi s in a letter addressed to Brother W ll am , i sen or . It is recorded in several places that Benjamin qui te early in lif e exhi bited an exceed i ngly fine abili ty in drawing . Some writers have said that his first lessons were received n from the famous Major A dre, who was a prisoner at Lancaster . These instructions may have been i ' n cont nued in ork , because it is well k own that

n Major Andre was the guest of Dr . A drews for l i r qu te a whi e, it being the desi e of the good Doctor to have the stern old Whigs of that V ni k ici ty learn to now the Major, hoping thereby to make hi s puni shment lighter or perhaps even gaining his freedom . Barton ’ s friends and intimates knew that he O i delighted in drawing . nce , when work ng in

un the western part of Pennsylvania with his cle, h David Ritten ouse , he said in a letter to his cousin , Tell H s‘he may depend upon the promi se I made her to draw her a landscape and probably some other pictur e . I have already taken drawings of several cur ious and beautiful fl l owers , together wi th one of the fal s of the ' river oub . This last I wi ll sen d her as soon as safe opportuni ty offers . ' hi s Besides extreme naturalness , faithfuln ess

li r and truth in the de neation of natu al objects, more particularly of plants , by the pencil, he acqui red great adroitness in the beautiful art of hi ” etc ng on copper . f ' A ter two years at the old academy in ork, i he went to l ve with his brother in Phil adelphi a .

This was Brother William , and during hi s stay in the City of Brotherly Love carried on his collegiate work in the University of Penn syl ’ but did not receive his Bachelor s degree ; prob

' ably , because he had become in terested in medi cine un der the supervision of the renowned Dr .

hi . William S ppen Then, too , his Uncle desired hi s company on the expedition had in view fixin g the western boun daries

n e state . O may imagine the delight hi Benjamin had on t s trip , for it brou intimately in contact with the great p r wa s of the state . Fu ther, he thrown in ' ” the savage natives of this coun try . He

n hi s his attention to their man ers , their their medicines , so that what he afterwar in regard to them has commanded great resp among the learned . ras soon There is a delightful little side - light whi ch

ust find place here . Those interested in David

se will welcome it . It shows how that gifted soul entered intimately into the

ves of those about hi m . Hear what Benjamin m ' ith Barton said of his uncle, To me he was

eculia rly dear . The most happy and profitable

my life were spent in hi s society . I his footsteps in the wilderness of our where he was the first to carry the and to mark the motions and positions

anets . In the bosom of his family I to his lessons as an humble disciple of or Plato ; but to me he was more than and preceptor ' he was a father and

u orter . He laid the fo ndation for what

l ul prosperity in ife I enjoy, and if it sho d ' be my fortune, either by labor or by eal , dv a n ce the progress of science or to reflect

n honor upon my cou try , I should be the t ungrateful of men if I di d not acknowledge wish it to be kn own that it was David

ouse who enabled me to be useful . 1 786 time in the summer of , Barton

hi i . Europe . Edinburgh was s dest nation studied medi cine in Phi ladelphi a wit h

es of Edinburgh, it was quite natural

7 that he shoul d wish to continue . under them masters . And so he devoted two years to study a ri in that city, and as I write these words I ' remi nded that in letters to hi s Brother Willi am' he frequently spoke in the highest terms 0 ;

Dr.J oseph Black . The mere mention of thi ef — — name J oseph Black o r any reference to him l in a text, brings a most immedi ately to me recollection that he was really one of the father of the science of chemistry . J oseph Black wa a pillar of the science . It was he who told u of the difference between the fixed their carbonates . It was he who attention to latent heat . But I mus too far . There is the temptation to do it, he Benjamin Smith Barton, later a professor in t i t University of Pennsylvan a, was an actual studen of the immortal Black, whose memory we 91 the guil d of chemists cherish and try to the wonderful thin gs which he actually ac h plis e d . Apparently it was not medicine alone

Barton studied in Edi nburgh , for natural his occupied much of his time . was , he obtained from the Royal M — of Edin burgh of which he was admit member before he had been a year in the ci

8 an honorary premi um for his dissertation on H the y o scia mu s niger (black henbane) . It was ” the Harveian pri'e . During his stay in Edin h burgh e visited the great metropolis , London , h l and , busy as usual , w i e there put in print a ' fascicul us entitled O bservations on some parts of Natural History . We come next to a chapter in his life which fin d di n writers seem to a little sturbi g, for in a 2 1 89 letter of February , 7 , addressed to his l l Brother Wi liam , Barton te ls of his determination to complete his medi cal studi es at the University of Goettin gen in Germany . The disturbing factor is why he shoul d change, having been so well satisfied with his work in Edinburgh , having reached a point where he was prepared to take exami nations and having made a deep

able impression upon his professors . ew of Benjamin Barton ascribes it to a on the part of Benjamin that several professors in Edin bur gh were far from

him n r , and so , fretti g under the failu e of

recognition, he concluded to go to

n ettingen, and it is from that u iversity he

eiv ed his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1 789 . has always been thought that he was the st American to receive the doctorate from a u m v rsr a nd n mb German e ty . As the writer a u e of his friends are graduates of that ven ‘ and celebrated institution , they have taken pains to ascertain just when Barton was there .

This search was made most careful ly by Dr .

D . B . Shumway , who examined the rolls of the University of Goe t tin gen from its b egi n mn g down to the present . He failed to disco name of Benjamin Smith Barton as been at any time enrolled as a student university . Against this stand the repr tions made by a nephew of Barton ’ s was there , and also the letters to his

William , which declare that he was there a that he received his doctorate . It may be,

e in e n iii ' the case of Go tt g , as has been the case many other universities , that the records w not always kept with the utmost care , perhaps the fact that this stray foreigner entered the university for the purpose of ins tion was not regarded as hence no note was made of it .

Goe t in n t ge , like every other German seemed to take particular pride in ca l tion to its foreigners , and especial y who had received the doctorate or students in various departments of the universi

1 0 But let us observe his activity in the City of

Philadelphia . The years of his preparation have passed and in 1 789 the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania instituted a Professorship of

N a thr a l . History and Botany They chose Dr .

fil l . Barton to this chair He was then but twenty four years of age , and was the first teacher of natural science in this Western Hemisphere . This is one of the facts which I trust will cling fi to our m emo ry tha t he was the first teacher of natural science in this Western Hemisphere . No mean honor for a son of the soil of Pen n syl hi vania . T s position he held for a period of

- - six and twenty years . A writer thus comments ' ' on the work of that period During this period ,

- . fiv Dr Barton delivered twenty e courses of lectures on botany, in which he inculcated a high sense of the re a l benefit of the pursuit from a medical point of view with an enthusiasm that v e unequivocal evidence of his attachment the interests of the science and the honor

the University . Such was the success of ese efforts that during the period when the of the University rendered it obligatory the candidates for its honors to print their

gural theses , not one Commencement was eId without a number of dissertations being published detailing experiments on the medicinal ff i properties and e ects of ndi genous vegetables , most of them undertaken at the instance and un prosecuted der the auspices of Dr . Barton . The authors of these theses were annually scattered through different sections of the United

States . Many of them cherished the love of botanical p ursuits which they had imbibed here they became botanists—and thus have the exertions of Dr . Barton been seen and felt beyond ” ni the precincts of the U versity . Surely it was the spirit whi ch prompted these studies that led Barton, some years later, to ' ” o give to the w rld his Elements of Botany, a copy of the first edition of which lies before me . O n the title page of thi s volume is written the

wh n name of Phi lip Syng Physick . I wonder ethe you can imagine my feelin gs when I first looked . at thi s title page and there saw the two names Barton and Physick' Barton later d to be the Father of American Materia Medi c hi l i and Physick, s pupi , called n after years Father of American Surgery ' In the preface of thi s old Botany there certain sentences whi ch may well be quo ' For in stance, Barton at one place says Still look forward with an arden t sa tisfac

1 2 d rmal to the tim e when natural history shall be taught as an indi spensable branch of science in our ‘ me and Uni versity ; when it shall cease to yield its

laurels to languages which are withered or dead , ’ uallv di and to stu es that are useless or ignoble . I Med What woul d Barton say could he see our present

e of i l 1 splendid Botan c Garden of five acres , cou d he lhere inspect the herbaria stored away in Biological

the ul 8 Hall , co d he roam through the work rooms and

e d b n halls of the Laboratory of 'oology, coul d he behold the provisions made for the teachi ng of

these pd chemistry and physics , and many other of the ' to sciences ' And he continues ' The work is now

”

B an , presented to the public . I cannot but be some me what solicitous about it ; I cannot dismiss it

he nt with frigid tranqui llity , but I wi ll not tremble

r e for its fate . The classical reader will not , i I th nk , be displeased with my frequent refer en ce s to passages in the works of the Roman w riters , particularly their poets . I have intro du ce d these passages because they often serve to ill ustrate my subject and because they cannot ai li ni f l to en ven it . Although I am of opi on that in many of the American seminaries of g the study of the languages of ancient Greece and Rome has occupied too large a share

chOIl of the time and attention of youth , to the exclu . sion of more important studies , I am far from c omcidin g in sentiment with certain American' f writers , who have labored to e fect the complete ' ni ba shment of these languages from our schools .

An entire neglect of the Latin language , i n l l ' particu ar , will emphatical y mark the era of ” the decline of genuine taste among a people . He then tells how the gr eater number of the)' plates illustrating the work were engraved from i

' the original drawings of Mr . William Bartram i

Kin in of gsess g, in the vicinity of ' adding ' While I thus publi cly

in n l ou thanks to this ge s naturalist,

liberality in enriching my work, I sin to have an opportunity of declaring how much I)

of my happiness , in the study of natural history , has been owing to my acquaintance with him ' how often have I avail ed myself of his in the investigation of the natural produ of our native country ; how . sincerely I loved him for the happiest un ion of n n in tegrity , with origi al genius and u as science , for which he is eminently distinguished ‘ ’ Sero in coelum redeat . This early Botany appeared in two volumes

Indeed, it was republished abroad and translate into foreign lan guages .

’ A single spike of Cat s - Tail (T ypha ) produced ul seeds and upwards . A single caps e of the Tobacco was foun d to contain and ' P a a ver somm erum one of the White Poppy ( p f ) , ll seeds . Each capsul e of the Vani a con o tains from t seeds ' Mr . Ray

r s informs us , from actual expe irhen t made by i himself , that Tobacco seeds are equal n weight to one grain ; and that the weight of the whole quantity of seed in a single stalk of Tobacco is such that the number of seeds , according to

- the above mentioned proportion, must be The same learned naturalist estimates the annual produce of a single stalk of Spleen- wort (A sple n m i u ) to be upwards of one million of seed . Dr . Woodward has calculated that a single Thistle , l fir seed wi l produce at the st crop , seeds ;

and , consequently, five hundred and seventy l ' six mi lions of seeds , at the second crop might Virgil say that the Thistle become ’ - el fids . ful in the corn Barton was not only an independent ' worker

in botany , but, as shown in a previous para

graph, inspired his students to pur su c j e t , and even went further ; for he himself in all persons who had an incl i e toward the subject . Thus two names cher sh d

1 6 by all botanists , namely , Frederick Pursh and l Thomas Nutta l, were among those of his friends , toward whose success as botanists in the study of American plants he contributed very gener ou sly . Pursh, indeed , credited him with having supplied the funds which made possible a botanical excursion which carried him through t he mo un tains of Virginia and Carolin a and along the

' N u t a ll coast lands . Barton fostered the eal of t , gave him free access to his home and to his 0 books , and fin anced an expedition in 1 81 through the north and northwestern parts of the United ' States and the provinces of Canada . Among a very considerable number of plants which Nuttall observed and collected in the course hi of t s jour ney , there were two species of the genus which he observed had the aspect of

B a rton i a . cactus . He named this genus The

a erba fir st specimen he termed B a r ton i su p , the

B a r n other to i a polyp eta la . He spoke of Bartonia superba as a plant three feet high , whose splendid fl ower expanded only in the evening, suddenly openin g after remain in g closed during the day , ” and diffusing a most agreeable odor . Having met with such remarkable success i n the teaching of natural history and botany ,

about the year 1 796, when just thirty years of age , Barton was chosen to the chair of Materia

Medica . His labors in this subject were most important . It was in this particular field that he began and won for himself the high profes si o n a l i n reputation obtained by him medicine .

Further, there can scarcely be a doubt but that now his profound knowledge of botany caused him to develop the subject of Materia Medica on broader lines . This is evidenced by the publication of his ' Collections for an Essay toward a Materia Medica of the United States , in the first volume of which appear these words ' I hope the following pages will be received as an earnest of my desire to extend our kn owled e of the medicinal properties of the indigenous vegetables of the United States I s pursue my inquiries concerning the nature a n d' properties of the natural productions of my' native country ; I shall pursue them bec there is at least a possibility that they ultimately tend to something useful; ready have I had the satisfaction to p the useful tendency of my labors . not one of the least pleasurable circum of my life that I have been in some degree mental in directing the medical students United States to a few of these objects whic have since solicited their attention . To enter into detail on this subject would doubtless tire you , so it may be dismissed with these words these Collections of Barton are the beginning of an American Materia Medica , hence he was justly called the Father of American lVI a t eri a

Medica, an honor which no one has hesitated to give him , and when the student has patiently labored through the many tomes which have been written upon the medicinal properties of plants , he will not fail to speak with profound respect of and admi re his count ryman Barton for laying the foundations of this particular division of medical science .

In 1 797 Barton married a Miss Pennington .

To them were born a son and a daughter . Barton ’ s remarkable contributions and his universal recognition as a teacher of power contributed largely to his appointment to a vacancy created by the death of Benjamin

o Rush . It was the appointment t the chair of the Practice of Physic . This Barton regarded as a distinct promotion , and , therefore , intended to hold that of natural history and botany but a year or two longer , as he was desirous of direct ing his whole mind to the fulfil ment of the duties of his new professorship . He delivered but two

1 9 courses of lectures in the Practical Chair, when his increasing ill health forced him to have recourse to a last resort to renovate his constit u tion . I mean a sea voyage . He accordingly embarked for France in the month of April, 1 81 5 , and returned by the way of England in

November, feeling not benefited by his too hasty travel and return . He expired on the 1 9th 1 81 5 day of December, .

Let us pause a moment . J ust one hundred years ago occurred the sad event recorded in the last paragraph, and as I sit with many of the works of the great Barton about me o n fl table, chair and oor, I feel that my story, as outlined for you , is sadly incomplete .

Turning to one of the volumes close at hand , ' Phila d I noticed that it bore the title, The

Medical and Physical J ournal, and turning its pages , I observed that it appear regul arly every six months , that to bring original contributions to its

n hi s o on branches of medici e , natural t physical geography , together with re miscell aneous facts of various kinds , them from the hand of our friend B

Smith Barton , the indefatigable editor . others appear these words '

20 The Editor of this J ournal has made very considerable progress in his anatomi cal and physiological inquiries concerning the Common O possum of North America, to which he has given the name of Didelphis Wo apink ; Wo apin k being one of its Indi an appell ations . He designs

i hi s to publ sh inquiries in two distinct memoirs , hi l be l w ch wi l embe lished , and rendered more fine re re useful , by a number of engravings , p senting the progressive evolution of the parts

of the embryo , etc . An abstract of the second

m a rsu i a l memoir, which is restricted to the p dorsa l and gestation of this singular animal , B has been tran smi tted to Mr . oume , of Paris ,

by whom , it is probable , it will be published . ' In the course of his inqui ries , many important circum stances respecting the natural history of the opossumfihave been brought to light . Among others , the nal intention of natu re in the forma

tion of the marsupium, or pouch, seems to be ” satisfactorily ascertained . ' And again , Barton records Elephantine

bones , of two di stinct species , continue to be

foun d in various parts of North America . A large grinder of the species improperly called

Mammoth, or Mammouth , has lately been found , i n a field , at the di stance of a few miles from Chambersburg , in Pennsylvania, and is in the ’ Editor s possession . A tooth of the same species has been discovered near the mouth of Buffaloe ' i n Creek , in the State of New ork, nearly 43 O f latitude . the other species , which appears to be nearly allied to (if, indeed, it be not the o f same with) the mammoth Asia, specimens K have been discovered in entucky, in South i Carolina, etc . Th s species (or rather its defense , or tusk) has given its name , among some of the

Indian tribes , to a considerable branch of the river Susquehanna . The Indians imagine that this defense is the horn of some large animal ; ” some of them say the horn of a Snake . The mastodon was an object to which Barton

h n gave much thoug t . O e of his most attractive letters upon this subject was addressed in 1 81 0 ’ to Thomas J eflerson . If it were not so long f I would include it ; su fice , however, to mention . that it indicates the keen , penetrating faculty of our naturalist . All epicures will be interested in the ' lines ' The Canvass - Back has been killed Columbia (on Susquehanna) and has been 3 by Mr . R . of Delaware , by a clergyman from

Eastern shore of Maryland , and others , rea all pronounce it to be , unquestionably, the

Vallisn eria, which I have called Vi lli sn e a meri ca n a , and concerning whi ch I have a memoir to the American Philos

Perhaps , it is the Vallisneria american a

Michaux . hi ’ Matt as, Benjamin s elder brother, was keenly alive to the natural history of his ' He ha d acquired a mass of original relating to quadrupeds , birds and also made a large collection of the

Pennsylvania, which later fell into the h of Benjamin . He painted after nature, n his drawings , especially those of the birds a t

fishes of Pennsylvania, are acknowledged to some of the most beautiful in natural hi sto Another exceedingly in teresting c on t r1b u t 1 o by him is an article on ' The Fascinating hi of the Rattle Snake . T s paper ma a profound impression upon n aturalists was translated by the eminent German 5

'immerman . I have said that there are about separate volumes or books be Benjamin Smith together with a goodl y list of papers and presented to the American Phil osophi cal of whi ch he was for many years an hon esiden t and active member . In the ope dia B ritt a ni c a it is in correctly stated president of this society ; which o i has g ne nto the general print . ’ e and Thomas J e flerso n were the ’ of . the society during Benjamin s

the Uni versity of Pennsylvani a con degree of Master of Arts upon thi s

ed member of its faculty , who had im pression for learning

whole world . st overw helmed by the variety knowledge of Benjamin Smi th is impossible to adequately represent

s in a sketch such as this . He is

been a man of extraordi nary industry,

ion, remarkable , tenacious and m i good judgment , vivid i ag na

and instructive as a teacher, kin arch . He was , however, lac g

ff . method , and in wr iting he was rather di use a physician he was credited with being qui ck t t diagnosis , al hough extremely cau ious as a He was a patriot with an u n d l love of hi s coun try . He was ta l in gure and well formed , with a remarkably fine