Charles Wilkins Short was an American physician, teacher, and botanist. He was the owner of one of the most complete herbariums (over 15, 000 species) in the United States.
Background
Charles was born on October 6, 1794 at "Greenfield, " Woodford County, Kentucky, United States, the country place of his parents, Peyton Short and his first wife, Maria (or Mary), daughter of John Cleves Symmes. He was a nephew of William Short.
Education
Charles attended Joshua Fry's celebrated school in Mercer County, and later, Transylvania University, Lexington, where he was graduated with honor in 1810. He began the study of medicine with his uncle, Dr. Frederick Ridgely, and in 1813 went to Philadelphia to become the private and beloved pupil of Dr. Caspar Wistar. The University of Pennsylvania bestowed upon him the degree of doctor of medicine in the spring of 1815, his thesis being on the medicinal virtues of Juniperus Sabina.
Career
After a short stay in Lexington and some years in Hopkinsville, combining the practice of his profession with botanical researches, Short accepted, in September 1825, a call to the chair of materia medica and medical botany at Transylvania University, which he filled with distinction, serving as dean of the faculty from 1827 to 1837.
With Dr. John Esten Cooke, he started the publication, in 1828, of the Transylvania Journal of Medicine and the Associate Sciences, one of the first periodicals of its kind in the West. Notable among the latter was "A Catalogue of the Native Phaenogamous Plants and Ferns of Kentucky, " which he prepared in cooperation with Robert Peter and H. A. Griswold. As an illustration of the zeal of himself and his associates, he states that within five years they had prepared and distributed 25, 000 specimens among correspondents in Europe and America, who gave valuable and acceptable material in exchange.
In 1838 Short left Transylvania University to fill a similar position in the young Medical Institute of Louisville. After ten years more of teaching and while still in the prime of life, his own fortune having been augmented by an inheritance from his distinguished uncle, William Short of Philadelphia, he decided to retire, bought Col. George Hancock's beautiful estate "Hayfield" near Louisville, and indulged himself in promoting botanical research and in the enjoyment of his family, his gardens, his library, his herbarium and his correspondence.
Charles Wilkins Short died of pneumonia and typhoid fever in Louisville, Kentucky on March 7, 1863.
Achievements
Religion
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and urged upon his students that "strict, unswerving, religious regard for truth which should be the prime object in every investigation. "
Personality
Dignity and modesty were perhaps his most noticeable qualities. A love of accuracy led him always to write out his lectures and read them to his pupils. Learned Latin phrases were frequent in his addresses.
Connections
In November, 1815 he married his stepsister, Mary Henry Churchill, only daughter of Armistead and Jane (Henry) Churchill, the latter having become Peyton Short's second wife. One son and five daughters survived him.