BIT more than a century ago -to be exact, in the year 1814

A

the learned Pierre Bridel

published the accounts of Felix

Platter of income received from 1558 to 1612, that is to say, for the space of fiftyfour years. As this document was published in the lay press (Les Etrennes Helvétiennes, 1814), it occurred to me that it might not be devoid of interest to bring it before the medical profession.

These accounts were found among the papers of the Bâle professor, and are remarkable not merely for their detail, but because they enlighten us on the domestic economy of the epoch when they were computed. They show the income derived from the practice of a celebrated professor of medicine, the sums obtained from his botanical garden, likewise from his silk-worm industry (the first endeavor in this line. made in the Canton of Bale), and even the price of canary birds.

I here transcribe in extenso the accounts. Let me just say that the Bâle pound of the epoch was worth 12 Bâle batzen. Now, a batzen possessed, at the time, the monetary value of twelve cents, therefore the Bâle pound was worth $1.44. This having been explained, let us examine Platter's total income for fifty-four years, and up to within two years prior to his demise.

An estate of £120,020 was a formidable one for the epoch, as the purchasing value of money in those days was probably at least five times greater than at present.

Felix Platter was born at Bâle in 1536, studied medicine in his native town, and

1 Communication made to the Medical Society of Geneva, May 7, 1919.

2 Privat-docent of the History of Medicine at the University of Geneva; Vice-President of the Section of the History of Medicine of the Royal Society of Medicine of London,

etc.

took the bonnet of doctor in that city at the age of twenty years, according to Dezimeris, twenty-one according to Bridel. I accept the latter age as more probable. After a stay at the then famous University of Montpellier, Platter traveled in France

The item "boarders" refers to sums received from students or young physicians who resided with the professor, as was customary in those days.

'In United States money Platter's estate represented the no mean sum of $172,828.00, an amount that few American physicians can boast of at the end of their careers.

and Germany and returned to Bâle in 1560.

He became professor of medicine at the Bâle University and a salaried physician to the city of Bâle (archiates), positions that he fulfilled with honor and éclat for

half a century.

His reputation became world-wide, and drew a large number of students to the University of Bâle, Platter alone having created one hundred and sixty doctors. He was consulted by people of many countries, and he declined many brilliant offers at the German courts, preferring to remain in his native city. However, by correspondence, which was both extensive and

very lucrative, he became by his letters of consultation, physician to several princes of the houses of Saxony, Brandenburg, Lorraine, and Wurtemburg, also of Catherine, sister of Henry IV of France.

He was most useful to Bâle during the fearful epidemics of the plague which ravished the city in 1564 and 1610. He founded a museum of natural history, as well as the botanical garden of the university.

Honored by foreigners and highly respected by his fellow citizens, beloved by the poor, he succumbed in a dropsical state on July 28, 1614, at the age of seventy-eight years, Platter was six times rector of the University of Bâle.

Robert Levett, or Levet (1701?–1782) was "an obscure practiser in physic amongst the lower people." Boswell says, "such was Johnson's predilection for him, and fanciful estimation of his moderate abilities, that I have heard him say he should not be satisfied, though attended by all the College of Physicians, unless he had Mr. Levett with him." Levett is said to have picked up

his small knowledge of surgery while serving as a waiter in a café in Paris, much frequented by some French surgeons, who became interested in their English servitor and gave him the opportunity of learning something of their art. He was a hard drinking man and seems to have made a most disagreeable impression on all who met him save the lexicographer.

W

'HEN it was suggested as appropriate that the United States Navy should be represented in the list of authors contributing articles to the Anniversary Volume in honor of Sir William Osler's seventieth birthday, and I was requested to furnish the article, I immediately cast about for a suitable subject. There came to mind a small volume, discovered some years ago in an obscure corner of the library of the Naval Medical School, remarkably advanced in its thought for the times, entitled "A Treatise containing a Plan for the Internal Organization and Government of Marine Hospitals in the United States together with Observations on Military and Flying Hospitals and a Scheme for Amending and Systematizing the Medical Department of the Navy" by William P. C. Barton, M.D., Surgeon in the Navy of the United States. This was the second edition, published in Philadelphia in 1817.

It occurred to me, therefore, that a biographical study of the author of this volume might prove of historical interest in revealing the state of naval medicine at that early period in our service. There have appeared several excellent biographical sketches of naval medical officers distinguished for bravery in action and heroic self-sacrifice in the line of duty, but so far as my knowledge goes, no one has essayed

1 Note. An unavoidable delay in receiving this paper prevented its inclusion in "Contributions to Medical and Biological Research Dedicated to Sir William Osler, Bart., M.D., F.R.S." It is published in the ANNALS OF MEDICAL HISTORY by arrangement with the author.

2 Captain, Medical Corps, United States Navy.

to portray a character like that of Dr. Barton, less heroic perhaps, but one whose influence in the direction of medical reform and sanitary improvement in the early Navy was unquestioned. His book first appeared in 1814 and the mere fact of its having achieved a second edition three years later, is an indication of the estimation in which it was held. It contained a fund of information collected from various sources, both at home and abroad, and revealed an originality of thought and an independence of expression which stamped its author as far in advance of the times. A similar work by Dr. Edward Cutbush of the Navy had appeared in 1808, but this dealt with subjects in army administration as well as naval, and lacked the breadth and originality of view characteristic of Barton's book.

In the following biographical sketch I have endeavored to present the outstanding facts of Dr. Barton's career in the Navy, and particularly to reveal his work as a pioneer in the field of American naval medicine.

William Paul Crillon Barton was born in Philadelphia, November 17, 1786. He was the son of William Barton, Esq., member of the bar, and grandson of the Rev. Thomas

3 The following are noteworthy examples:

(1.) Gatewood, J. D., "The Private Journal of James Markham Ambler, M.D., Passed Assistant Surgeon, United States Navy, and Medical Officer of the Arctic Exploring Steamer 'Jeannette."" U. States Nav. M. Bull., Apr. 1917.

(2.) Gatewood, J. D., "William Longshaw, Jr., Assistant Surgeon, United States Navy, 1839-1865." A Biographical Sketch. U. States Nav. M. Bull., Oct. 1913.

(3.) Elder, William, "Biography of Elisha Kent Kane." Philadelphia: Childs and Peterson, 1858.

prevented and he died there on May 25, 1780. His widow returned to Philadelphia, making her home with her nephew, Dr. Samuel Bard, at one time physician to Washington.

William Barton, the eldest of Thomas Barton's eight children, and the father of William P. C. Barton, was a lawyer by profession, a gentleman of substantial literary attainments, the author of the "Memoirs of Dr. David Rittenhouse," and the designer of the United States seal. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of John Rhea, a Phila

Another distinguished son was Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, professor of botany at the University of Pennsylvania, and also, in later years, the successor to Dr. Benjamin Rush as professor of the theory and practice of medicine in the University.

Thomas Pennant Barton, a son of Benjamin Smith Barton, was also a man of cultivated literary tastes and achievements. It is noteworthy that he gathered together one of the best collections of Shakespeareana in America. These, together with some ten thousand miscellaneous books of his library,