Call Number:

Ms. Codex 1873

Repository:

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

Extent:

1 volume

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Hiester H. Muhlenberg and Wellington Smith Mason notes on lectures delivered by Drs. Nathaniel Chapman, Judson Daland, and J.K. Mitchell at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, 1832, 1894-1895, Ms. Codex 1873, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1832, 1894-1895 (inclusive)

Creator:

Mason, Wellington Smith and Muhlenberg, H. H. (Hiester Henry)

Form:

Notes, Notebooks, and Lecture notes

Abstract:

This notebook contains lecture material transcribed by two different students at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. One portion of the volume contains notes taken by Hiester H. Muhlenberg in 1832; the later material was written by Wellington Smith Mason during two separate courses of lectures between 1894 and 1895. The notes taken by Muhlenberg record a series of lectures delivered by Dr. Nathaniel Chapman on hemorrhages, fevers, cardiac disease and nervous disorders. The notes taken by Mason, decades later, document Dr. Judson Daland's lectures on physical diagnosis and Dr. J.K. Mitchell's lectures on symptomatology.

Hiester H. Muhlenberg (1812-1886) graduated from the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1832, and practiced medicine in Reading, Pennsylvania, before switching his career to finance in 1837. Nathaniel Chapman (1780-1853) was a prominent physician and educator in Philadelphia, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1801 and began his teaching career at the same institution in 1810. He taught Materia Medica and the theory and practice of medicine. Throughout his career, he remained an influential member of the medical community in Philadelphia until his death in 1853. In addition to his teaching, he founded the Medical Institute of Philadelphia in 1817; founded the Philadelphia Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences (today the American Journal of Medical Sciences) in 1820; and served as president of the Philadelphia Medical Society, as president of the American Philosophical Society, as fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (elected in 1807), and as the first president of the American Medical Association (elected in 1848).

Wellington Smith Mason (1865- 1900) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1898. He appears to have practiced medicine in Williamstown, Pennsylvania, but his career was cut short by his death on September 30, 1900, at age 35, from complications from a surgery for appendicitis. Dr. Judson Daland (1860-circa 1937) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1882. Following his graduation, he practiced medicine in Philadelphia. He was a demonstrator and an instructor of clinical medicine at the University of Pennsylvania from 1882 until at least 1897. He was also a professor of diseases of the chest at the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates in Medicine from 1896 to 1897 and a professor of clinical medicine at the same institution from 1897. J.K. (John Kearsley) Mitchell (1859-1917), the son of S. Weir Mitchell, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1883. He began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania in 1886, serving as assistant demonstrator in clinical medicine until 1894, and as lecturer on general symptomatology from 1894 to 1899.

This book of notes contains lecture material transcribed by two different students at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. One portion of the volume contains notes taken by Hiester H. Muhlenberg in 1832; the later material was written by Wellington Smith Mason during two separate courses of lectures between 1894 and 1895. An inscription provided by William Pepper explains that "this old notebook was found in the basement of Medical Hall, Jan. 1903. It had probably been given to Mr. Wm. H. Salvador [clerk of the Medical Department] in 97 or 98." The notes taken by Muhlenberg record a series of lectures delivered by Dr. Nathaniel Chapman. This material reviews diseases that fall into four classes--diseases of the heart, diseases of the nervous system, exanthemata or "eruptive fevers," and hemorrhages--providing a description, diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and list of causes for each condition. There is a brief, final section on asthma, and there are a few loose sheets of letter paper enclosed in the book, which describe some other diseases, like dropsy. The section on exanthemata includes some information on inoculation and vaccination.

The notes taken by Mason from 1894 to 1895 correspond to two courses. The first, Dr. Judson Daland's lectures on Physical Diagnosis, primarily discusses cardiopulmonary diseases, reviewed through a number of case studies. Lectures seven through fourteen describe the signs and symptoms of various conditions, particularly tuberculosis. The remainder of the lectures, which feature some ink illustrations, address the anatomy of the blood and heart "with reference to diagnosis." The notes on blood mainly address the preparation and examination of microscope slides.

The second set of notes on Symptomatology lectures, given by Dr. J. K. Mitchell, focuses on how to collect and analyze information about a patient's experience of disease. In particular, these lectures address the physiological (sometimes physiognomic) indications of illness and the interpretation of these signs, the sorts of people most susceptible to pulmonary disease, different types of pain and their relationships to particular diseases, and the most effective methods of collecting relevant medical information from patients. By and large, Mason's lectures lean heavily on illustrative case studies and patient examinations (both clinical and post-mortem), which are typically presented in a fairly detailed, standardized format.