Benjamin Smith Barton
(February 10, 1766 –
December 19, 1815)
was an American
botanist and physician.
Barton
studied at the York
Academy
in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
from 1780 to 1782, then attended the College of Philadelphia, studying
medicine under Thomas Shippen from
1784, and accompanying David
Rittenhouse on an expedition to survey the western boundary of
Pennsylvania in 1785, which aroused his interest in Native
Americans. In 1786 he transferred to the
University of Edinburgh, where he
stayed for two years before leaving as a result of disagreements
with two professors.
He then moved to the University of
Göttingen
, from which he obtained an M.D. in 1789.
Upon
graduation, Barton returned to the College of Philadelphia as an
instructor, which would soon (in 1791) merge with the University of
Pennsylvania
. In 1790 he was appointed professor of
botany and
natural
history, and in 1795 chair of
materia
medica. In 1813 he became chair of the theory and practice of
medicine following the death of
Benjamin
Rush, but continued to retain his position in natural history
and botany.
Concurrently with his academic position, he
served as a physician at Pennsylvania Hospital
from 1798 through his death in 1815.
In 1803 Barton published
Elements of botany, or Outlines of the
natural history of vegetables, the first American handbook of
botany. From 1798-1804, he published a work on plants for medical
use.
Barton was also interested in
anatomy and
zoology, and published
Memoir Concerning
the Fascinating Faculty Which Has been Ascribed to the
Rattle-Snake in 1796. In 1803 he published a comparative study
of linguistics,
Etymology of Certain English Words and on Their
Affinity to Words in the Languages of Different European, Asiatic
and American (Indian) Nations and a text on the origin of the
first American people,
New Views of the Origin of the Tribes
and Nations of America (1797). He was the editor of
Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal (1805-1808), one of the
oldest scientific publications of the United States.
Barton made one significant contribution to the field of
archaeology as well.
Although his
Observations on Some Parts of Natural History in 1787
incorrectly attributed the prehistoric mounds
of Ohio
to the Danish people,
his 1797 book (mentioned above) correctly identifies the Mound builders as Native
Americans. While he was not the first to make this claim, he
may have been the first to suggest a significant age to the mounds,
speculating that they may have been older than
James Ussher's famous Biblical chronology.
Barton also correctly guessed that Native Americans had an Asian
origin.
He was
vice president of the American Philosophical Society
from 1802 to his death, and president of the
Philadelphia Medical
Society from 1808 to his death. In 1812, he was elected
a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences.
He died of tuberculosis in New York City
.
Notes
In
botany, his
author
abbreviation is
Barton.
His older brother,
William
Barton, was also a member of the American Philosophical
Society. His maternal uncle,
David
Rittenhouse, served as the Society's second president after the
death of founder
Benjamin Franklin
in 1790.
References
- Joseph Ewan and Nesta Dunn Ewan (2007). Benjamin Smith
Barton, Naturalist and Physician in Jeffersonian America. St.
Louis: Missouri Botanical Garden Press. ISBN 978-1930723351
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