Charles Lee

March 3, 1801 (age 70)

Salisbury, Connecticut, United States

After a short sojourn in Salisbury Lee removed to New York City in 1827 to enter general practice. With Dr. James Stewart and others he founded the Northern Dispensary and for four years served as attending physician. In 1832 he was appointed physician to the Greenwich Cholera Hospital and in the same year physician to the New York Orphan Asylum where he taught hygiene to the personnel. In 1835 he issued small popular treatises on physiology and geology. He helped establish the New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences, in 1843, and edited it from 1846 to 1853. He also began the publication of American editions of well-known English medical works. The first of these, A. T. Thomson's Conspectus of the Pharmacopoeias of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges of Physicians, with which he incorporated the United States' Pharmacopoeia, appeared in 1843; and in the same year he issued his edition of Jonathan Pereira's Treatise on Food and Diet. This was followed in 1844 by J. A. Paris's Pharmacologia (rewritten in 1846), and in 1845 by an edition of W. A. Guy's Principles of Forensic Medicine. His major effort under this head, however, was his edition of James Copland's Dictionary of Practical Medicine in nine volumes (1834 - 59). To all of these works he added much valuable original matter. While busily engaged in New York he is said to have declined the chair of materia medica in the University of the City of New York, but in 1844 he accepted the chair of pathology and materia medica in the Geneva Medical College and in 1847 had much to do with the admission of the first woman medical student, Elizabeth Blackwell, to this institution. In 1846 he also joined the faculty of the Medical School of Maine as lecturer, later becoming professor of materia medica; in 1847 he was also a member of the faculty of the Starling Medical College, Ohio; and from 1848 to 1860, professor of pathology and materia medica at the University of Buffalo. He lectured at the Vermont Medical College and declined an offer to go to Louisville, Kentucky. In 1850 he decided to leave the metropolis for a residence in Peekskill and to divide his time among the smaller provincial schools. During his sojourn in these medical centers he was much in demand as a consultant and to avoid friction with local men required professional ethics of the highest type. At the outbreak of the Civil War he visited Europe for the Federal government in order to study hospital construction and administration, both military and civil and brought back plans, models, and specifications. During this trip he wrote some forty letters to the American Medical Times of New York (June 14, 1862-September 5, 1863; December 5, 1863). On his return he served in the sanitary department of the army. He wrote several papers on medico-legal subjects and insanity, contributed articles on geology and mineralogy to the American Journal of Science and Arts, and was a militant temperance advocate, publishing in 1871 Remarks on Wines and Alcohol. Although one of the committee of scientific men which exposed the imposture of the Fox sisters, he became eventually an enthusiastic spiritualist. He accumulated a private library of between 3, 000 and 4, 000 books and his herbarium contained 1, 500 specimens.

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Remarks on the Character and Writings of Hahnemann (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Remarks on the Character and Writings of Hah...)

Excerpt from Remarks on the Character and Writings of Hahnemann The founder of Homeopathy was born in Saxony, in the year 1755, and received the degree of M D., at Erlangen; after which be re sided for some time at Gommern, where he occupied himself in trans. Lating works from the English, French, and Italian languages into German. It is not claimed that he had any medical practice, although he held himself in readiness for the discharge of professional duties; but after his nostrums failed, he abandoned all idea of practice, be cause, he said, it afforded no great principle by which he could, in all cases, guide his course. It would not be uncharitable to believe, that he might have been actuated by other motives for he could not have been ignorant, that the physician has to deal with psychological facts, involving the idea of life, which, constantly varying, cannot be subjected to a system of the same rigid experimentalism as physical phenomena, and cannot, therefore, furnish the same definite laws. In 1790, Hahnemann claims to have discovered the similia similibus principle, while translating Collins' Materia Medica, by experiment ing on himself, with cinchona bark, which, he says. Produced all the symptoms of intermittent fever; although similar trials since male with the same medicine have uniformly failed in causing the same results. In 1796, he published his first dissertation on homeopathy in. Hufeland's Journal. In 1805, he brought out a triatise on the vir tues of medicines, and in 1810, the Organon appeared. In 1811, be commenced to teach his system in Leipsic, and is said to have per formed the experiments on himself and pupils, which formed the basis of the Materia Medica Pura, which appeared during the same year. Let it be borne in mind, that Hahnemann claimed to have discovered in homeopathy an infallible method of cure, applicable to all cases, and never failing to eradicate disease Now tum we to his work on Chronic Diseases, (translated by Dr. Hempel, New York, 1845, Vol. I. P. And one of his latest productions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The New York Journal of Medicine, and the Collateral Sciences, 1846, Vol. 7 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The New York Journal of Medicine, and the Co...)

A Catalogue of the Medicinal Plants: Indigenous and Exotic, Growin in the State of New-York with a Brief Account of their Composition and Medical Properties

(A Catalogue of the Medicinal Plants Indigenous and Exotic...)

The New York Journal of Medicine, Volumes 12-13

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The New York Journal of Medicine, and the Collateral Sciences, 1845, Vol. 5 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The New York Journal of Medicine, and the Co...)

The New-York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences, 1849, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The New-York Journal of Medicine and the Col...)

Diseases of Women: Medical and Surgical Gynecology (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Diseases of Women: Medical and Surgical Gyne...)

Human Physiology: For the Use of Elementary Schools

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The New York Journal of Medicine, Volumes 14-15

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A Dictionary of Practical Medicine

(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

Charles Alfred Lee

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physician scientist

Background

Charles Alfred Lee was born at Salisbury, Connecticut, the son of Samuel Lee, a farmer, and Elizabeth (Brown) Lee. He was a descendant of John Lee of Essex, England, who emigrated to America in 1634.

Education

Intended for the ministry, he received a thorough education, preparing for college under his uncle, Elisha Lee of Sheffield, Massachussets, and at Lenox Academy. He entered Williams College in 1817 and received his degree in arts therefrom in 1822. His interest in the ministry having given way to an ambition for a medical career, he began to study under his brother-in-law, Dr. Luther Ticknor of Salisbury, and received his degree in medicine from Berkshire Medical Institution in 1826, having served incidentally as a pupil teacher in botany and anatomy.

Career

After a short sojourn in Salisbury Lee removed to New York City in 1827 to enter general practice. With Dr. James Stewart and others he founded the Northern Dispensary and for four years served as attending physician. In 1832 he was appointed physician to the Greenwich Cholera Hospital and in the same year physician to the New York Orphan Asylum where he taught hygiene to the personnel.

In 1835 he issued small popular treatises on physiology and geology. He helped establish the New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences, in 1843, and edited it from 1846 to 1853. He also began the publication of American editions of well-known English medical works. The first of these, A. T. Thomson's Conspectus of the Pharmacopoeias of the London, Edinburgh and Dublin Colleges of Physicians, with which he incorporated the United States' Pharmacopoeia, appeared in 1843; and in the same year he issued his edition of Jonathan Pereira's Treatise on Food and Diet. This was followed in 1844 by J. A. Paris's Pharmacologia (rewritten in 1846), and in 1845 by an edition of W. A. Guy's Principles of Forensic Medicine. His major effort under this head, however, was his edition of James Copland's Dictionary of Practical Medicine in nine volumes (1834 - 59). To all of these works he added much valuable original matter.

While busily engaged in New York he is said to have declined the chair of materia medica in the University of the City of New York, but in 1844 he accepted the chair of pathology and materia medica in the Geneva Medical College and in 1847 had much to do with the admission of the first woman medical student, Elizabeth Blackwell, to this institution.

In 1846 he also joined the faculty of the Medical School of Maine as lecturer, later becoming professor of materia medica; in 1847 he was also a member of the faculty of the Starling Medical College, Ohio; and from 1848 to 1860, professor of pathology and materia medica at the University of Buffalo. He lectured at the Vermont Medical College and declined an offer to go to Louisville, Kentucky.

In 1850 he decided to leave the metropolis for a residence in Peekskill and to divide his time among the smaller provincial schools. During his sojourn in these medical centers he was much in demand as a consultant and to avoid friction with local men required professional ethics of the highest type.

At the outbreak of the Civil War he visited Europe for the Federal government in order to study hospital construction and administration, both military and civil and brought back plans, models, and specifications. During this trip he wrote some forty letters to the American Medical Times of New York (June 14, 1862-September 5, 1863; December 5, 1863). On his return he served in the sanitary department of the army.

He wrote several papers on medico-legal subjects and insanity, contributed articles on geology and mineralogy to the American Journal of Science and Arts, and was a militant temperance advocate, publishing in 1871 Remarks on Wines and Alcohol. Although one of the committee of scientific men which exposed the imposture of the Fox sisters, he became eventually an enthusiastic spiritualist. He accumulated a private library of between 3, 000 and 4, 000 books and his herbarium contained 1, 500 specimens.

Achievements

Lee was a frequent contributor to periodical medical literature, writing on a great variety of subjects and reporting many unusual cases. He was instrumental in establishing the New York Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences. His best-known work was his "Catalogue of Medicinal Plants in the State of New York" (1848).