Robert Newton

February 12, 1818 (age 62)

Gallipolis, Ohio, United States

Newton's choice of cancer for a specialty brought him the questionable title of "cancer doctor" and some disrepute with his fellow practitioners. This name and fame followed him to Cincinnati, whither he moved in 1845, and soon led him to become an eclectic practitioner. In 1849 he went in Memphis, Tennessee, to accept the chair of surgery in the Memphis Institute. Following the death of Dr. T. V. Morrow, founder of the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, he was invited in 1851 to the chair of surgery in that institution, thus made vacant. In 1853 he transferred to the chair of medical practice and pathology, continuing an active member of the faculty until 1862. During this period he also conducted Newton's Clinical Institute, a hospital and school, assisted by Dr. Zoheth Freeman. These were years of storm and strife in the Eclectic Medical Institute, and Newton was in the midst of every controversy. At various times he was editor or co-editor of the Western Medical News of Cincinnati (1851 - 59); the American Eclectic Medical Review, New York (1866 - 72); the American Eclectic Register, New York (1868); the Medical Eclectic, after 1878 the New York Medical Eclectic (1873 - 81); and the New York Quarterly Journal (1875). As a surgeon his chief interest was the pathology and treatment of cancer. With the outbreak of the Civil War he interested himself in the recruitment of men for the Union Army. Later he was a severe and constant critic of the treatment of patients in the military hospitals and of the sanitation of army camps. He instituted a movement for the recognition of eclectic practitioners in the army, in which he was successful. He was appointed surgeon to a brigade of Cincinnati home guards.

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On Treatment Of Ulcers On The Leg Without Confinement: With An Inquiry Into The Best Mode Of Effecting The Permanent Cure Of Varicose Veins...

(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

American Eclectic Medical Review, Vol. 4: From July, 1868, to June, 1869 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from American Eclectic Medical Review, Vol. 4: Fr...)

An Eclectic Treatise On The Practice Of Medicine: Embracing The Pathology Of Inflammation And Fever, With Its Classification And Treatment (1861)

(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

The American Eclectic Medical Review, Vol. 3: From July, 1867, to June, 1868 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The American Eclectic Medical Review, Vol. 3...)

The Eclectic Practice of Medicine

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Robert Safford Newton

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Background

Robert Safford Newton was born on December 12, 1818 in Gallipolis, Ohio, United States. His father, John Newton, and his mother, a daughter of Robert Safford, were early Ohio pioneers of Massachusetts Puritan stock.

Education

After the log schoolhouse of his home district, Newton attended academies at Lewisburg, Virginia, and Gallipolis. While engaged in farming and school-teaching he studied medicine with a pharmacist-physician in Gallipolis, and later attended the Medical College of Ohio at Cincinnati and the Louisville Medical College, where he was graduated in 1841.

Career

Newton's choice of cancer for a specialty brought him the questionable title of "cancer doctor" and some disrepute with his fellow practitioners. This name and fame followed him to Cincinnati, whither he moved in 1845, and soon led him to become an eclectic practitioner.

In 1849 he went in Memphis, Tennessee, to accept the chair of surgery in the Memphis Institute. Following the death of Dr. T. V. Morrow, founder of the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, he was invited in 1851 to the chair of surgery in that institution, thus made vacant.

In 1853 he transferred to the chair of medical practice and pathology, continuing an active member of the faculty until 1862. During this period he also conducted Newton's Clinical Institute, a hospital and school, assisted by Dr. Zoheth Freeman. These were years of storm and strife in the Eclectic Medical Institute, and Newton was in the midst of every controversy.

At various times he was editor or co-editor of the Western Medical News of Cincinnati (1851 - 59); the American Eclectic Medical Review, New York (1866 - 72); the American Eclectic Register, New York (1868); the Medical Eclectic, after 1878 the New York Medical Eclectic (1873 - 81); and the New York Quarterly Journal (1875). As a surgeon his chief interest was the pathology and treatment of cancer.

With the outbreak of the Civil War he interested himself in the recruitment of men for the Union Army. Later he was a severe and constant critic of the treatment of patients in the military hospitals and of the sanitation of army camps. He instituted a movement for the recognition of eclectic practitioners in the army, in which he was successful. He was appointed surgeon to a brigade of Cincinnati home guards.

Achievements

Newton is credited with having originated the circular incision for removal of the breast. He organized the Eclectic Medical Society of the State of New York, of which he was president for the three following years. He participated in the founding of the Eclectic Medical College of the City of New York. He held the chair of surgery in this institution and continued one of the most conspicuous figures in American Eclectic medicine for the rest of his life.