Practical observations on strangulated hernia: and some of the diseases of the urinary organs, Page 261; Page 1836
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Joseph Parrish was an American physician and teacher.
Background
Joseph Parrish was born on September 2, 1779 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United Sates. He was the youngest child of Isaac Parrish and his wife, Sarah Mitchell, and a brother of Anne Parrish. The first American ancestor of the Parrish family, Edward, came out from England as surveyor-general of the province of Maryland under Lord Baltimore. He and his immediate descendants became the owners of large tracts of land in Maryland and were regarded as wealthy until John Parrish, Joseph's grandfather, lost practically all he owned as the result of guaranteeing a note for a friend. As a consequence Isaac Parrish, Joseph's father, was apprenticed to a hatter and remained in that business throughout his life. He acquired means and gave his eleven children excellent educations.
Education
Joseph Parrish went to the Friends' School, gained a knowledge of Latin and French, and in his later years studied Hebrew and Greek. After leaving school he served an apprenticeship with his father but in 1802 commenced studying medicine as a pupil of Caspar Wistar. He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1805, submitting a thesis which was published under the title, On the Influence of the Passions upon the Body in the Production and Cure of Disease (1805).
Career
In 1805 yellow fever appeared in epidemic form in Philadelphia, and Joseph Parrish was appointed resident physician to the emergency hospital which was established by the Board of Health. In 1808 he gave a course of popular lectures on chemistry. He became one of the staff of the Philadelphia Dispensary, and later served that institution as a manager. From 1807 to 1811 he was physician to the Philadelphia Almshouse. In 1811 he was transferred to the surgical staff on which he served until 1821. From 1816 to 1829 he was a member of the staff of the Pennsylvania Hospital. He was president of the board of managers of the Wills Eye Hospital, 1833 - 1840, and served as vice-president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. When the professorship of anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania was rendered vacant by the death of John Syng Dorsey in 1818, the trustees are said to have chosen Parrish as his successor, but he declined the honor as he deemed it would interfere with his performance of his religious duties.
During the cholera epidemic of 1832 he had charge of a cholera hospital, and in recognition of his services was presented by the city authorities with a suitably inscribed silver pitcher. An interesting episode in his career was his attendance upon John Randolph of Roanoke, when the latter died in Philadelphia in 1833. Parrish was with the dying man almost continuously for four days before his death, during which time Randolph made a will in which he manumitted his slaves. In order that the will might be validated it was necessary for Parrish to make a deposition concerning his patient's mental and physical condition.
Parrish made a number of contributions to medical periodicals, chiefly to the North American Medical and Surgical Journal and the Electic Repertory and Analytical Review, of which he was for some time an editor. He edited an American edition of William Lawrence's work on hernia (A Treatise on Ruptures, 1811), and in 1836 published Practical Observations on Strangulated Hernia, and Some of the Diseases of the Urinary Organs. He died on March 18, 1840.
Achievements
Joseph Parrish was one of the foremost Philadelphia physicians, who at that time took an active interest in natural history as well as in scientific medicine. He taught a popular course of lectures on chemistry. Parrish was also known for his contributions as an editor of the North American Medical and Surgical Journal.
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Views
Parrish was a strong advocate of abolition. Parrish took a deep interest in the abolition of capital punishment.
Membership
Joseph Parrish was a strictly observant member of the Society of Friends. He was also a member of the Medical Society and of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Parrish served for a time as president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and it is needless to say was only too glad to further Randolph's last wishes.
Connections
On October 20, 1808, Joseph Parrish married Susanna Cox, daughter of John and Ann Cox, of Burlington, New Jersey. They had eleven children. Two of them, Isaac and Joseph, became physicians, while Edward was a noted teacher of pharmacy.
