Background
He was born on January 30, 1769 in a rural section of what is now Rockbridge County, Virignia, to Rev. John Brown, Presbyterian minister, and Margaret Preston.
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Medical theory and practice of the 1700s developed rapidly, as is evidenced by the extensive collection, which includes descriptions of diseases, their conditions, and treatments. Books on science and technology, agriculture, military technology, natural philosophy, even cookbooks, are all contained here. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library W020510 Boston : Printed at Boston by Manning & Loring, 1797. 54,2p. ; 8°
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He was born on January 30, 1769 in a rural section of what is now Rockbridge County, Virignia, to Rev. John Brown, Presbyterian minister, and Margaret Preston.
His education began in the grammar school which his father conducted in addition to his pastoral duties. Later, he attended a seminary conducted by Rev. James Waddell in Louisa County, Virginia, followed by two years at Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1789 with the degree of bachelor of arts.
He began the study of medicine with his brother-in-law, Dr. Humphrey, at Staunton, Virginia, later becoming a private pupil of Dr. Rush in Philadelphia.
After two years at the University of Edinburgh and a short time at the University of Aberdeen he obtained his degree of doctor of medicine from the latter institution. Returning to America, he began the practise of medicine at Bladensburg, Maryland, but in 1797 he left to join his brother James, who was practising law in Lexington, Kentucky. He gave up his practise here to follow his brother again, this time to New Orleans, in 1806.
Brown had long had in mind the idea of starting a medical school in his section of the country, and in 1819 he entered into an agreement with Dr. Daniel Drake for the establishment of such a school at Cincinnati.
While Drake was obtaining the charter for the Ohio school, however, the trustees of Transylvania University at Lexington offered Brown the chair of theory and practise of medicine in the medical school recently organized there. He accepted this position and held it until 1825 when he resigned and retired to his former home in Alabama. His remaining years were spent largely in travel in America and Europe.
He suffered a stroke of apoplexy in 1826 and died from a succeeding stroke at the home of his brother-in-law near Huntsville.
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
In his religious affiliation Samuel Brown was a Presbyterian.
His lectures were rambling discourses full of interesting even though unrelated facts. He was averse to continued effort and incapable of pursuing any inquiry to its conclusion. His medical writings were sketchy case reports and his few contributions to scientific journals were mere notices of striking or curious phenomena, such as his paper on "Nitre Caves of Kentucky" in the first volume of Bruce's Journal.
His personality made him a popular practitioner wherever he located. He was, however, a dilettante in medicine as in his other interests. Though he introduced vaccination for smallpox at Lexington as early as 1802, its interest for him lay in its novelty.
Brown was a member of the Kappa Lambda Society of Hippocrates, a society of medical men pledged to professional ideals. On April 18, 1800, Samuel was awarded membership in the American Philosophical Society possibly as a result of his distinguished acquaintanceship, which included such men as his teacher Dr. Rush and Thomas Jefferson.
Brown was a man of attractive personality and of unusual scholarship for his time. His portrait shows a round, full, smoothly shaven face, suggesting boundless benevolence. However, in later years Samuel suffered a stroke in 1826 which affected his speech, memory, and balance.
Quotes from others about the person
Bayless E. Hardin describes Samuel’s pattern:
"As before in Virginia and Kentucky, his success in New Orleans was almost immediate. His reputation had preceded him and in a short time he had acquired a lucrative position. "
In 1809 Samuel Brown married Catherine Percy of Natchez, Missippi, and went to live upon a plantation near that city, relinquishing the practise of his profession.
The death of his wife a few years later caused him to give up his Natchez home and to establish himself upon a plantation adjacent to that of his brother-in-law, Colonel Thomas Percy, near Huntsville, Alabama.
Here he lived until 1819, devoting himself to the education of his two surviving children.