Call Number:

Ms. Codex 1866

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.1 linear_foot (1 volume)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

David Greenman notes on Materia Medica lectures delivered by Adam Kuhn at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, 1785, Ms. Codex 1866, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1785 (inclusive)

Creator:

Greenman, David

Form:

Notes, Notebooks, and Lecture notes

Abstract:

This book of notes was kept by David Greenman during a course of Materia Medica lectures delivered by Dr. Adam Kuhn at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1785. The lecture notes themselves are not limited to Materia Medica in the strictest sense, in that they also include some information about physiology, pathology and therapeutics. The notebook is briefly inscribed by Dr. Edward Cutbush (1772-1843) an officer and surgeon in the United States Navy.

Little information about David Greenman is readily available; he attended lectures at the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1785 but did not graduate. Dr. Edward Cutbush, who inscribed this volume, graduated from the University in 1794 and pursued a successful career as an officer and surgeon in the U.S. Navy. An eminent scientist of eighteenth century Philadelphia, Dr. Adam Kuhn (1741-1817) was a professor first of Botany and Materia Medica, and then the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania between 1768 and 1797.

This book of notes was kept by David Greenman during a course of Materia Medica lectures delivered by Dr. Adam Kuhn at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1785. The first pages of the volume include some curious annotations by Dr. Edward Cutbush in 1814. Cutbush claims, "These notes have been taken incorrectly from my friends' lectures- I purchased the volume at a public auction. Washington" and a few pages later, "orthography very incorrect." David Greenman's signature on the title page of the notebook has been scribbled over in ink but is still legible. The lecture notes themselves are not limited to Materia Medica in the strictest sense, in that they also include some information about physiology, pathology and therapeutics. The organization of the material in the book is somewhat disjointed, and begins with a brief history of medicine, overview of physiology, discussion of digestion and the qualities of various foods (salt, sugar, milk, etc.), and the means of treating diseases, especially scurvy, by regulation or alteration of the diet. Subsequent sections focus more specifically on medicines and their classifications, especially into the categories of astringents (including "metallic astringents" like iron, lead and zinc), stimulants (including "bitters" like cinchona bark) and sedatives (among which opium is discussed at greatest length). A fairly detailed description of types of tumors, particularly those characteristic of breast cancer, begins on page 128, and a discussion of hysteria follows from page 139 to 148. The medical properties and applications of alkaline substances, soap, errhines (drugs that produce a runny nose) and mercury are subsequently explained, followed by the therapeutic uses of purgatives and blisters. The penultimate section of the book touches upon the topics of plethora (a systemic excess of blood in the body) and complications relating to menstruation, and the final chapter relates to anthelmintics (anti-parasitic medications). At the very end of this book is an alphabetized index of the contents of the notebook, which lists a combination of the names of drugs and medicinal plants, and the medical conditions discussed.