DAVID RAMSAY PHYSICIAN, PATRIOT AND HISTORIAN By CARNES WEEKS, M.D.

NEW YORK

MONG the distinguished institution.” He had a remarkably men in the early history tenacious memory, an unusual knowl- of there is edge of history and the classics, one certainly about whom and was remembered for his keen we should know more. David Ramsaysense of humor. Ais remembered today ks an historian, He proceeded to the study of medi- but there is more to his interesting cine in 1767 under Dr. Bond of life than this. He was a successful , receiving his degree of physician, an accomplished author Bachelor of Physic in 1772 from the and an ardent patriot, who served College of Pennsylvania, whose medi- his country most ably during the cal department was then but seven stirring times of our Revolutionary years old. The only reference to him War. The state in which he lived for at medical school was that he deliv- forty-one years should be proud of ered an oration on “The Comparative his name and we may well attempt to State of the Ancient and Modern shake the dust that has clouded his Practice of Medicine” which was memory these many years and dis- “replete with humorous observations, cover for ourselves what a splendid pungent satire on quackery, and anja interesting old fellow he was. several touches of purest attic wit.” z Born on April 2, 1749 in Lancaster We know that he formed a firm County, Pennsylvania, of good Irish friendship with a famous man, then stock, his father a successful farmer, professor of chemistry, which lasted Dr. Ramsay was fortunate in obtain- till forty-one years later when he ing a good, liberal education. He delivered his “Eulogium upon attended the usual schools of that Benjamin Rush” who died in 1813. period and apparently was rather When Dr. Ramsay moved to Charles- precocious for when but twelve years ton, South Carolina, in 1774, he was old he was so far advanced that he recommended to the profession of acted as tutor at a public school. It that state by Dr. Rush as the best was remembered as an amusing sight student that had yet graduated from to see this child sitting on the knees the University of Pennsylvania. of older boys and helping them in During the remaining years of his difficult passages of translation. At life, which he was destined to spend fourteen he entered Princeton in the in Charleston, he followed the pre- Sophomore class, receiving his b .a . cepts and practices of his more famous in 1765. Of his life at college we know friend. very little. His wife, Martha Ramsay, He believed in subduing disease writing a good many years later to at once by a single, vigorous remedy, her son David Ramsay, Jr. at Prince- probably by means of mercury and ton says: “Do not forget that your copious bleeding, two great weapons father distinguished himself at that of Dr. Rush’s. We know that Dr. Ram- say “was considered able in the treat- ment of the first systematic anatomical ment of Yellow Fever and had several school in England. The improvement cures to his credit in cases of wounds in the art of anatomical injection is received from poisonous animals”; what animals are not mentioned, however. His medical activities during the Revolution were not as important as his legislative ones, but he appar- ently served with the continental army as surgeon for a short period and was present at the siege of Savannah in 1779, which disastrous action he describes as an eyewitness in his “History of the Revolution in South Carolina.” At some time during this period he was elected vice-president of the Medical Society of South Carolina. Undoubtedly Dr. Ramsay’s greatest claim to medical fame is in his medical writings; the most interesting being a paper with the title, “A Review of the Improvements, Progress and State of Medicine in the eighteenth century. Read on the first day of the nineteenth century, before the Medi- cal Society of South Carolina.” It was dedicated to Rush, the American Sydenham. In this work he brings discussed and he says that “now it is into play his unusual historical ability in the power of gentlemen to study in portraying the development of anatomy without disobliging their medicine in this century and sums up senses.” He attributes the rise of the in masterly style its present state art of surgery to the general increase at that time, January 1800. It shows in the knowledge of this subject. that the author was exceedingly well He quotes the famous case of Felix, read for those times on medical the French surgeon who, but one subjects. What is most astonishing hundred and fourteen years before, is his peculiar ability to comprehend obtained everlasting fame by curing the real contributions to science, most Louis XIV of a fistula in ano, “a of them but recently discovered, living cure,” he says, “that could be ob- as he did so close to those times. This tained by scores of young men in short paper is heartily recommended this infant country of the United and a brief review at present will States.” Some of the high spots are: not be without interest. Morgagni in Pathology with his fam- Anatomy is the first subject dealt ous “De Causis ct Scdibus Mor- with, in connection with the Hunters, borum,” 1761; the importance of William and John, and their establish- animal experimentation; digitalis and the article by Withering in 1785; contagion.” He notes the diminution the more general use of fresh air in the plague and allied diseases in the ancl sunshine in the cure of disease. 18th century in all countries recog-

Jcnncr’s article in 1798, concerning nizing the probable association with the prevention of smallpox by the dirt and filth. inoculation of cowpox, is highly The early publications in this coun- praised and he mentions the fact try are mentioned; a treatise by that this procedure had been insti- Dr. Cadwalader on the “Iliac Pas- tuted in the United States but a few sion,” concerning the poisoning by months before. James Lind, with lead due to rum distilled through his paper on the cure of scurvy with coils of lead pipe; a treatise on the introduction of fruit juices, is pleurisy by Dr. Tenncnt of Virginia; called the father of nautical medicine. a book on surgery entitled “Plain Dr. Ramsay was intensely interested Remarks on Wounds and Fractures” in Public Health and he alludes with by Dr. John Jones for the benefit of pride to the growth of intelligence the surgeons of the continental army. among the people concerning “the It is interesting to note that this means of obviating infection and book at the outbreak of the Rcvolu- tion was the only medical volume had always been a strong advocate by an American author. The first of such a publication. In fact he did medical lectures in America were publish in 1803 a small pamphlet

given in 1762 on anatomy by W illiam entitled “The Charleston Medical Shippen, who at the time of Dr. Register for the Year 1802.” It was an Ramsay’s article was professor of attempt to urge others to do the same, anatomy and surgery in the Univer- “for,” he says, “if one physician sity of Pennsylvania. He mentions in each of the towns and cities of the establishment of medical schools the United States, were to favor the in Philadelphia, 1765; New York, public with an annual account df the 1768; Hanover, 1769; and Cambridge, state of diseases and the circum- 1782. The establishment of the Medical stances connected with them, there Repository, the first medical periodical would, in time, be an accumulation of in this country, delights him as he materials, from which we might obtain innumerable advantages.” In his paper he published is a “Sketch of the he describes with the greatest detail Soil, Climate, Weather, and Diseases four epidemics that occurred in that of South Carolina.” In this he laments the fact that there has been abundant evidence of the intemperate use of spiritous liquors; “four sots,” he says, “expired suddenly, in one hot day last summer, in one square of this city. The bilious remitting and inter- mitting fevers have increased but the pleurisies and smallpox are now trifling. The dry bellv-ache has in a great measure disappeared; perhaps this may be in part owing to the increasing disuse of punch.” He stresses the dangers of stagnant water in relation to fever and the importance of draining swamp lands. Dr. Ramsay, aside from his practice and medical writings, devoted con- siderable time and interest to public activities. From 1776 till the end of the war in 1783 he was a member of the legislature of South Carolina year: smallpox, yellow fever, measles, and for two of these years one of the and influenza. He mentions the inter- privy council. He was from the first esting fact that influenza usually a strong advocate of American inde- attacked those that had had measles. pendence and he wrote exceedingly Discussing yellow fever he states well- a number of pamphlets on this that “no instance can be recollected subject. One of these, written during in which there was any ground to the Revolution, the only one which suppose that this disease was cither I have unfortunately been unable imported or has been contagious. to obtain, was a “Sermon on Tea,” No physician, nurse, nor other person the text taken from Paul’s Epistle to exposed to contagion, from their inter- the Colossians, 2nd chapter, 21st course with persons laboring under verse: “Touch not, taste not, handle yellow fever, caught the disease.” not.” This was, apparently, a humor- He mentions the introduction of cow- ous caricature of the whole situation pox inoculation into Charleston in of tea and taxation. It must be this year and the mildness of its remembered that during this period course, emphasizing the need for com- a great portion of the population, pulsory vaccination. He says the especially in the southern states, were natural cowpox is unknown to Ameri- still on the fence as to which side can cattle and therefore that the they should join. On the 4th of July, danger of losing the succession of 1778 he delivered an oration, the the disease in man is great. first ever delivered in the United Another interesting pamphlet that States on the Anniversary of American Independence. In this he tried to of rather recent knowledge concerning convince the people that the new his historical writing he may have government was much to be preferred to be called rather the step-father. to the royal one. Nevertheless he was an able writer In the preface of one of his books and an ardent lover of history and on history published at a later period, his chief lame today is as an historian. he describes on a Sunday morning in In 1785 he published a “History of August 1780, a group of soldiers enter- the Revolution in South Carolina;’’ ing his house and dragging him to a in 1790 a “History of the American prison ship in which he was taken as a Revolution.” The material for both prisoner of war to the British garrison of these works was collected while at St. Augustine. Charleston had he attended Congress, enabling him, surrendered to Sir Henry Clinton as he states, to examine all of the in May of 1780 and he had apparently original state documents and letters been accused by Lord Cornwallis of pertaining to the war. Dr. Franklin promoting a spirit of revolt among the and Dr. \\ itherspoon were close inhabitants and had been banished friends of his and gave him consider- from Charleston. Eleven months later, able help in his project. He also is however, in an exchange of prisoners reported as having visited Washington he was returned to his home. at Mt. Vernon in order to collect In February, 1782 Dr. Ramsay facts for his work. In spite of all this was elected a member of the con- it has been discovered by Orin Grant tinental congress from the Charleston Libby that Dr. Ramsay plagiarized district and served with distinction till extensively from two sources: first the end of the war in 1783. He was from Gordon’s “History of the Rise, again elected in 1785 and acted as Progress and Establishment of the president of this congress for one year Independence of the United States during the illness of . of America,” printed in London in On July 4, 1794 he delivered another 1788; and second from the British oration on the anniversary of Ameri- Annual Register. Mr. Libby had some- can independence, at that time being time earlier proved that Gordon had the president of the Senate of South plagiarized from the Annual Register Carolina. It is a most interesting and now it appears that Ramsay document and one that can be read apparently drew from both sources. today with mingled feelings. He says He quotes paragraphs, both short that “the new country has hit on a and long, from all three of these happy medium between despotism accounts and there can be no doubt and anarchy: every citizen is free, the that considerable stealing has been press is free. Pardon me illustrious done. I think that the interesting Washington that I have inwardly outcome of all this is, sad as it may rejoiced on seeing thy much respected be for the fame of Dr. Ramsay, name abused in our newspaper.” that a great deal of the history of He praises religious freedom and our revolution has been founded on stresses the need for union but with the writings of these two men; Ram- the respect for the rights of states. say, the first American to write a David Ramsay has been called the history of the war; Gordon the first father of American history. In light Englishman; and apparently the source of both was really a British of the United States, and noticing magazine which, to say the least, the Progress of Improvement in the must have been slightly prejudiced. Same,” 1811. This last is worthy of As Mr. Libby says, these gentlemen further comment. Apparently his idea were living in an age of successfully was to introduce a graphic method of plagiarized histories and what we studying history and certainly this really need is an authoritative account combination of map and chart gives of our revolution. more information concerning the What effect this plagiarism has on early days of this country than any Dr. Ramsay’s other histories I am not other document of the same size. enough of a student of history to On examination of this interesting judge. My only defense in his favor paper we find that the portion to is a contemporary quotation that the left has been given up to a map “Dr. Ramsay’s story of the revo- of the eastern part of the United lution in the scenes of which he was a States. On this Dr. Ramsay traced participant has received the highest what he called “A Road of Health,” praise for its fullness and accuracy. which runs near the foot of the General Greene vouched for its truth- mountains from Tennessee through fulness and Lafayette said: ‘he has Georgia, South and North Carolina, put everything into it; he abbre- Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York viates like a Flavus.’” and on up through the New England In January, 1800 he delivered an states to Canada. Under this road oration on the death of “Lieutenant- he has written “to be travelled General George Washington ” who northwardly after April and south- had died the month previously, and wardly after September” and was to the following year, 1801, published be traversed by “invalids, particularly his life of the same man. The latter such as labor under consumptive was used for many years in American complaints.” To the right of this schools and was translated into several map is an ingenious chart divided foreign languages as were most of his into an upper historical section and a histories. lower biographical one. One can de- Some of Dr. Ramsay’s other writ- rive from this the following informa- ings were: “An Oration on the Ces- tion: the date of the first settlements sion of Louisiana,” 1804; “History of of each colony by the beginning of the South Carolina,” 1808; “History of square corresponding with the scale of the United States;” “Universal His- dates above ;the unions and separations tory Americanised,” 1819; “A brief of colonies; the change in goverment is History of the Independent or Con- determined by the change in color of gregational Church in Charleston,” the square; the duration and extent of 1815; “Memoirs of the Life of Martha the war in each state; the rise and Laurens Ramsay,” 1815; “A Chrono- fall of tonnage, revenue, and exports, logical Tabic of the Principal Events since the establishment of the new which have taken place in the English constitution in 1789. The biographical Colonies, Now United States, from portion is devoted to the names of 1607 till 1810, Explanatory of and men who have been famous in our Supplementary to Dr. Ramsay’s Map, early history; the name of each man Historical and Biographical Chart is placed in such a manner that the state from which he came and his ently hard and she writes “that it is date are easily determined. The book impossible to collect money and with which should accompany this map great difficulty Dr. Ramsay has pro- gives an excellent chronological table cured a $50 bill which will pass in of events from the foundation of the the northern states.” Her husband first colony to the year 1808. appeared to have the same failings in Of Dr. Ramsay’s first wife we have finance as a great many doctors and no record, but in 1787 he was married what money he did not give away he to Martha, daughter of lost in foolish speculation; one item the patriot and president of the that has been recorded was $30,000. first . She gave Mrs. Ramsay died in 1811 to be fol- him eleven children, eight of whom lowed in a few years by her husband. survived. Mrs. Ramsay was an unusu- Dr. Ramsay’s death was dramatic; ally fine and able woman; what he was shot in the back by one of his little we know of her is gathered from former patients who had been de- her “Memoirs” which her husband clared insane by Dr. Ramsay himself. published in 1815. She transcribed The murderer, a tailor by trade, had for him all his voluminous works on been jailed for assaulting his own history and trained her daughters lawyer whom he had employed to to do the same. Her letters in 1811 to settle some imaginary grievances. Dr. her son David at Princeton are amus- Ramsay had been appointed by the ing; she writes “make yourself a court to pass on the man’s sanity. party in no broils, and mind your As soon as he was at large he proceeded own business”; and “you will pre- to shoot Dr. Ramsay with a large vent your adding yourself to the list horse-pistol charged with three bullets; of Carolinian triflers whose conduct two of these took effect and the has brought a college such as Prince- following day, May 15, 1815, he died. ton into disrepute.” In another letter, As he was being carried home he referring to a student at Yale: “I declared that if he should die, he hear one may live well at New Haven considered the unfortunate man a for $400 a year.” Times were appar- lunatic and therefore free from guilt.