John Eberle

February 10, 1787 (age 50)

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States

John returned to his home and began to practise medicine. During this period he was drawn into political writing and became the editor of a newspaper. Toward the end of the War of 1812 he was appointed surgeon of the Lancaster militia and served at the battle of Baltimore (1814). Removing to Philadelphia, he helped to found, and for some two years devoted practically his whole time to editing, the American Medical Recorder, a quarterly journal first issued in 1818. The Recorder was well received in America and Europe and its editor received considerable recognition, for example, election to the German Academy of the Natural Sciences. In 1818 also, he published Botanical Terminology, a pocket “companion” for students of botany. Through the meetings of the Philadelphia Medical Society he was brought in contact with an enthusiastic group of students and teachers, and together with Dr. George M’Clellan gave regular lectures at the Appollodorian Gallery. In 1824, with Dr. Joseph Klapp and Dr. Jacob Green, he proposed to the trustees of Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, to establish a medical department of that college in Philadelphia. This proposal was accepted, and the Jefferson Medical College opened (1825) with Eberle as professor of materia medica, and afterward of the theory and practise of medicine (1825 - 31). He soon issued a small volume called “Eberle’s Notes, ” a kind of vade mecum for the student. The work was sufficiently popular to justify a second edition (1832) and from this grew his Notes of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, a text characterized by original thought and not, as were many of that day, a mere compilation of foreign opinions. From 1824 to 1826 he was editor of the American Medical Review. Within a few years much litigation and controversy arose at the Jefferson Medical College, and, finances running low, Eberle became discouraged and in 1830 accepted the offer of Daniel Drake to organize the faculty for the medical department of Miami University, designed as a competitor of the Medical College of Ohio. Eberle arrived in Cincinnati in 1831 and learned that the old school and its would-be rival had consolidated so that he and his colleagues found themselves members of the conjoint faculty. In 1832 they founded the Western Medical Gazette. Shortly thereafter Eberle published his Treatise on the Diseases and Physical Education of Children (1833). On the outbreak of cholera in Cincinnati, Eberle and T. D. Mitchell were appointed special health officers. Their report was published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 26, 1832. In 1837 Eberle accepted the chair of the theory and practise of medicine at the reorganized medical department of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he became one of the editors of the Transylvania Journal of Medicine. His health was now beginning to decline so that he was able to do but little teaching. He resigned before completing a full school term, and died in Lexington after less than a year’s residence.

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Works

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A Treatise of the Materia Medica and Therapeutics: Two Volumes in One (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from A Treatise of the Materia Medica and Therape...)

A Treatise on the diseases and physical education of children

(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

Botanical Terminology, or a Pocket Companion for Students of Botany: Being a Concise Explanation of the Terms Employed in the Classification and Description of the Vegetable Kingdom (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Botanical Terminology, or a Pocket Companion...)

A Treatise on the Practice of Medicine

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A treatise on the practice of medicine Volume 1

(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

The American Medical Recorder Volume 6

(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

John Eberle

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physician teacher writer

Background

John Eberle was born on December 10, 1787 at Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His father, a blacksmith, and his mother were both simple farmer folk of German birth or descent. John was twelve years of age before he could speak English.

Education

He had no early educational advantages, but, being a constant reader, he acquired sufficient knowledge to enable him to begin the study of medicine with Abraham Carpenter of Lancaster, and enter the University of Pennsylvania in 1806, where three years later he graduated, his thesis being on Animal Life.

Career

John returned to his home and began to practise medicine.

During this period he was drawn into political writing and became the editor of a newspaper. Toward the end of the War of 1812 he was appointed surgeon of the Lancaster militia and served at the battle of Baltimore (1814).

Removing to Philadelphia, he helped to found, and for some two years devoted practically his whole time to editing, the American Medical Recorder, a quarterly journal first issued in 1818. The Recorder was well received in America and Europe and its editor received considerable recognition, for example, election to the German Academy of the Natural Sciences.

In 1818 also, he published Botanical Terminology, a pocket “companion” for students of botany.

Through the meetings of the Philadelphia Medical Society he was brought in contact with an enthusiastic group of students and teachers, and together with Dr. George M’Clellan gave regular lectures at the Appollodorian Gallery. In 1824, with Dr. Joseph Klapp and Dr. Jacob Green, he proposed to the trustees of Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, to establish a medical department of that college in Philadelphia.

This proposal was accepted, and the Jefferson Medical College opened (1825) with Eberle as professor of materia medica, and afterward of the theory and practise of medicine (1825 - 31).

He soon issued a small volume called “Eberle’s Notes, ” a kind of vade mecum for the student. The work was sufficiently popular to justify a second edition (1832) and from this grew his Notes of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, a text characterized by original thought and not, as were many of that day, a mere compilation of foreign opinions.

From 1824 to 1826 he was editor of the American Medical Review. Within a few years much litigation and controversy arose at the Jefferson Medical College, and, finances running low, Eberle became discouraged and in 1830 accepted the offer of Daniel Drake to organize the faculty for the medical department of Miami University, designed as a competitor of the Medical College of Ohio.

Eberle arrived in Cincinnati in 1831 and learned that the old school and its would-be rival had consolidated so that he and his colleagues found themselves members of the conjoint faculty. In 1832 they founded the Western Medical Gazette. Shortly thereafter Eberle published his Treatise on the Diseases and Physical Education of Children (1833). On the outbreak of cholera in Cincinnati, Eberle and T. D. Mitchell were appointed special health officers. Their report was published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, June 26, 1832.

In 1837 Eberle accepted the chair of the theory and practise of medicine at the reorganized medical department of Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he became one of the editors of the Transylvania Journal of Medicine.

His health was now beginning to decline so that he was able to do but little teaching. He resigned before completing a full school term, and died in Lexington after less than a year’s residence.

Achievements

Eberle was a brilliant teacher and writer and successful in the debates with other medical men so characteristic of the period. He was a champion of the theory of physiological drug action as opposed to “solidism” as taught by Harrison and others. At the three medical schools at which he was professor he was always popular with the students, who liked his simplicity of manner while admiring his learning. His success as a writer encouraged him to publish his Treatise of the Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1823) which became a standard text-book and went through five editions. He was the author of numerous short articles. His Treatise on the Practice of Medicine, in two volumes, first appearing in 1830, was published with subsequent revisions, the last being in 1849 with additions by George M’Clellan. His Treatise on the Diseases. .. of Children was revised and republished in 1850 by his former colleague, Thomas D. Mitchell. These republications of his works long after his death are sufficient proofs of their popularity.