Letter on febrile contagion: addressed to David Hosack / [John W. Francis].

  • John W. Francis
Date:
1816
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter on febrile contagion: addressed to David Hosack / [John W. Francis]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    seldom differ from those of another, the lives of eminent professors in the medical faculty become worthy of notice ; they are the guardians of the public health, and they deserve to ac among public charac- ters; and he, who possesses a deep and enthusiastic veneration for the art, and while,in the daily exercise of its salutary precepts fosters, the cause of learning and the general welfare of his species, merits, at our hands, some recorded. testimonial of his actions. Among the many living examples in the United States of those in that profession, who by their acquisitions adorn the science of physic ; who, by the faithful and conscientious performance of its arduous du- ties, have conferred benefits of acknowledged importance upon hu- manity ; and by the publication of the results of experience have added to the medical literature of their country, the respectable individual, whose name is at the head of this biographical sketch, occupies a con- Spicuous place. Joun W. Francis, M. D. was born in the city of New-York on the 17th of November, 1789. His father, Melchior Francis, who came to this country shortly after the peace of 1783, was a German from Nu- remberg, well known in New-York as an enterprizing, upright grocer, of an enthusiastic temperament, and of a liberal and charitable spirit, whose career of usefulness was suddenly arrested by death from yellow fever in 1795, in the 35th year of his age. His mother was a native of Pennsylvania; her family, of the name of Somer, were originally from Bern, in Switzerland from whom there are numerous descendants in this country, now residing in the above-named State. Her children were mere infants when her husband died; but she was left in cir- cumstances sufficiently easy to give them a good education. Jonn, the eldest, after receiving the common early instruction, was sent to a- school of no little reputation under the charge of the Reverend George Strebeck, with whom he commenced the study of mathematics and the Latin language, and afterward continued his classical pursuits under the direction of the Reverend John Conroy, a profound scholar, and a distinguished graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. By the aid of this excellent teacher he was enabled to enter an advanced class in Columbia College, where, in 1809, he received the degree of Bachelor, and in 1812 that of Master of Arts. While an under-graduate, the subject of this memoir, having resolved to adopt the medical profession, devoted a portion of his time to its studies ; he was enabled to accomplish this by a strong natural capa- city, aha by an ardor and perseverance which have marked his whole course of life; he had not only mental energy, but a vigorous con-
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