The Medical College of Philadelphia was the first institution established in North America to give medical instruction. It was organized in May, 1765, by Drs. Shippen and Morgan. The University of Pennsylvania developed its medical department from this humble beginning.
Anatomists, Physiologists, Botanists, etc.
Alexander Monro (1697-1767) was a very eminent surgeon and anatomist of Edinburgh, whose Medical School owes more to him probably than to any other individual. He wrote on the Anatomy of the Bones, and an Essay on Comparative Anatomy.
Frank Nicholls, M.D. (1699-1778), was a famous anatomist and physiologist at Oxford. “He was the inventor of corroded anatomical preparations, and one of the first to study and teach the minute anatomy of tissues, in other words, general, as distinguished from regional and descriptive anatomy.”[1015] He was one of the first to describe correctly the mode of the production of aneurism, and he distinctly recognised the existence and function of the vaso-motor nerves.[1016]
Browne Langrish, M.D., was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1734. He was the author of several medical treatises, one of which was entitled Physical Experiments upon Brutes to discover a Method of dissolving Stone in the Bladder by Injections; to which is added a course of Experiments with the Lauro-Cerasus; on Fumes of Sulphur, etc. 8vo. Lond., 1746. His researches on the action of cherry laurel water are said to have suggested the use of prussic acid in medicine.[1017]
John Fothergill, M.D. (1712-1780), was a distinguished botanist, who collected a great number of rare plants from all parts of the world.
William Cruikshank (1745-1800) was an anatomist who discovered urea.
Stephen Hales (1677-1761), an experimental physiologist and pathologist, produced dropsy by injecting water into the veins of animals, and investigated by experiments on animals the relative movements of the blood.
Antonio Valsalva (1666-1723), a great Italian anatomist, held the professor’s chair at Bologna and wrote a valuable treatise upon the ear and its anatomy.
Giovanni Santorini (1681-1737) was a Venetian anatomist whose investigations in the anatomy of the larynx, nose, face, etc., have immortalised his name in connection with several structures of those parts.