left America to pursue his studies in Europe. Such however was the excellent character of Dr. Wistar at that early period, that the Trustees of the medical school in Philadelphia in the spring of 1784, soon after his departure, voluntarily conferred on him the degree of bachelor in medicine. In 1786 he graduated at Edinburgh with great reputation, and published his Thesis De animo demisso. During his absence from this country, he travelled over a great part of England on foot; examining the mining, and manufacturing districts of that country, and whatever else was likely to engage the attention of a man of science. In February 1787 he returned to Philadelphia having been absent between three and four years. When the college of Philadelphia was revived, he was appointed professor of chymistry and physiology, in which departments of instruction, he gave lectures during the winter sessions of 1789 and 1790. He was also appointed soon after his return consulting physician to the Philadelphia Dispensary, and was one of its early attending physicians. He was also appointed physician to the hospital. Afterwards he became adjunct professor to Dr. William Shippen in the departments of anatomy and surgery; whose reputation was very high as a dissector, and demonstrator, as well as lecturer in anatomy generally. It was as assistant to Dr. Shippen that he acquired the practical skill as a dissector and deinonstrator, which laid the foundations of his after-reputation. At this time, he practised also as a physician and surgeon; his surgical studies having been directed by Dr. John Jones, a practitioner of great eminence at that day, and whose friendship brought Dr. Wistar early into public notice as a surgeon. Dr. Jones (says Dr. Hosack in his late eulogium on his friend Dr. Wistar) having occasion to perform an important operation, invited Dr. Wistar to accompany him. When the patient was prepared Dr. Jones, addressing Dr. Wistar, as having better sight than himself, at the same time presenting him his knife, requested it as a favour that he would perform the operation. Dr. Wistar immediately complied: and such was the skill and success with which it was performed, that it at once introduced him to the confidence of his fellow citizens. The delicate manner in which this compliment was paid to the talents of Dr. Wisar, was not lost upon his feeling and grateful heart: he ever afterwards acknowledged the patronage of his benefactor by every act of kindness in his power, and by the unceasing expressions of filial affection." Indeed if there was one trait more eminent in the character of Dr. Wistar than another, it was the kindness of his feelings, shewn in every part of his conduct, in his voice, and in his manner: and his gratitude for benefits conferred, was only equalled by his anxiety to confer benefits on those, whose talents and deportment appeared to merit his attentions, and to give the promise of future utility to their fellow citizens. On the decease of Dr. Shippen Dr. Wistar was appointed to fill the chair of his departed friend: indeed he had long performed the duties of this department even while Dr. Shippen was living, and thus contributed in no small degree to keep up the merited reputation of the university to which he belonged. To the great and popular talents of himself, of Dr. Rush, and of Dr. Barton, is mainly owing, the high standing of the medical school of Philadelphia; and though their equals may be found in learning, knowledge, and industry, their utility as the founders of the School of Medicine, will always place them at the head of the medical benefactors of this country. They marked out the Augustan age of medical science in America; a period which we firmly believe and anxiously hope is not yet likely to pass away; but which may hereafter soften down into the age of mediocrity, unless great care be taken to keep up the reputation of the institution, by the choice of professors who have public reputation of their own to add to that which the university through these great men, has already acquired. In 1815 Dr Wistar was elected honorary member of the literary and philosophical society of New York: in 1816 he was unanimously elected president of the American philosophical society, Mr. Jefferson having declined a re-election to that honourable chair, owing to his advanced age, and the distance of his residence. Dr. Wistar was too actively engaged to appear often in the character of an author: but his remarks on the fever of 1793, his memoirs on the Ethmoid bone, and on the remains of an animal of the Bos species, were well calculated to enhance his reputation: at the time of his decease, he was fast rising into reputation as a comparative anatomist, and had instituted correspondencies with Cuvier, Sommering and other eminent naturalists in Europe. His system of anatomy, published in two vols., and comprising the heads of his course, is a most useful compend, embracing not merely the anatomy, but the anatomical physiology of the parts noticed, according to the best views at present known of that branch of the subject. Although Dr. Wistar did not publish many works, he was among the most active contributors to knowledge of all kinds that we have seen in this country, by his scientifical meetings at his own house, which was the place of resort of all strangers who had information to communicate, as well as of his friends who were engaged in any scientific pursuit. His house was, a centre from whence the beams of science radiated in all directions, and were transmitted through our country. Dr. Wistar had for some time apprehended symptoms of hydrothorax, which however went off; still he was occasionally troubled with irregularities of the pulse, which indicated obstructions in the source of circulation. In fact it was found after his decease, that he had suffered under an ossification of the valve of the aorta. But the immediate cause of his decease appears to have been a low fever, caught as we have reason to believe by visiting a poor family in Southwark in the city, where the apartment was close, a stove exceedingly hot, and want of due cleanliness in the room. He complained of great oppression in coming out of the apartment, but his charity led him to go again the next day. On his return his complaints increased. The next day he went to bed after breakfast, but arose to deliver his lecture at the university. On his return home, he was too feeble to go up stairs. He was supported to his bed, out of which he rose no more. He died on Thursday evening the 22nd. of January 1818 about half past eight o'clock, after an illness of six or seven days. We cannot close this account better than by the brief obituary inserted the next day in one of the public papers of this city, drawn up by one of his friends, who well knew his worth, and greatly lamented the death, of this kind hearted, and most useful man. "Died on Thursday evening, at half past eight o'clock, aged 56, at his house in South Fourth street, Philadelphia, Dr. Caspar Wistar, many years a physician of the first eminence in the city of Philadelphia, and professor of anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania. "The loss of this gentleman will be severely felt in this city, by all classes of the community. His great knowledge and attention as a physician, the kindness of his tones, the mildness of his manners, his careful attendance upon the poor, who could not reward, equally assiduous as upon the rich who could, will long endear him to all who knew Dr. Wistar in this most useful character. "As a professor of anatomy, he has not been equalled in this country, and he has been excelled in no other. Perfect master not only of the minutiae of his profession, but of the most effectual modes of teaching it, his lectures were always crowded.-Those students who were not compelled to attend for the sake of a degree, were induced to attend for the sake of information. The skill and care with which his subjects were prepared and brought forward-the simple, neat, intelligible style of his lectures-the kind and friendly character of his voice and manner-his anxiety to make his students fully comprehend what they had to learn-and his great success in these endeavours, have long been admired, and will be long remembered. "As a scientific man, it will be difficult to replace him in scientific society here. His constant aim was to promote knowledge of all kinds, in all ways. His house was the hospitable resort of scientific strangers from every quarter of the world-his weekly conversation parties through the winter, were the means of concentrating and diffusing every kind of useful intelligence in the philosophical world, nor will his friends who usually met there, ever forget the elegant hospitality of his parties, or the charms of his own conversation that enlivened them. "Dr. Wistar had for some years been afflicted by obstructions in the chest, and irregularities of the pulse. About a week ago, he was seized with a low fever, not distinctly characterized as a Typhus, but which with his constitutional complaints, deprived his friends of a man whose society will hardly be replaced, and the community of one of its brightest ornaments.' T. C. Dr. Wistar was twice married, first in 1788 to Isabella Marshall, by whom he left no offspring: the second time about nineteen years ago, to his present widow, Eliza Mifflin, a niece of governor Mifflin, by whom he has left two children. ART. XIII.-Notoria; or Miscellaneous Articles of Philosophy, Literature and Politics. MECHANICS. The Elbe cleared by an Englishman. -A letter from Magdebourg saysThe Prussian government made a contract with Mr. Humphreys, the proprietor of the steam-boats, to clear the Elbe of trunks of trees and piles, which embarrassed the navigation. M. Humphreys invented a simple machine, which required only three ordinary workmen, a boatman, and a mechanist to direct them. A time was chosen for trying it, when the waters were low. It was wished to extirpate a line of piles, which were at the bottom of the water, and against which every effort had failed (driven, perhaps, upon some military occasion.) These piles, armed with iron were 15 feet below the surface of the water, in a rocky soil. In an hour and a half twenty-five of them were drawn out; they were brought up with pieces of rock adhering to them. On a second trial, trees covered with sand and mud were taken out with equal facility. The first was an oak of 48 feet long and 4 in diameter. The pincers having seized it, the operation did not last half an hour. The enterprise attracted a great number of spectators, and its success was complete. A great service has thus been rendered to the navigation of the Elbe. Lit. Pan. On Steam-Boats. By M. Biot. (Journal des Savans.) M. Biot, in analyzing the work of Mr. Robertson Buchanan on Steam-Boats, gives a view of the steps by which that important invention has been brought to its present state of maturity. The general use of it, after being introduced from America into Britain, is about to be transferred from Britain into France. It seems doubtful if steam-boats will be found of equally extensive application there. Fuel is dearer in France than in England, while the maintenance of horses is cheaper; so that tracking, where prac ticable, will probably be still found more advantageous. But there are large rivers, such as the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Loire, where, from the irregularity of the banks, and their distance from the current, tracking would be impossible; the same would be the case in crossing the Garonne, near its mouth. In the conveyance of men, also, speed is so important, that to insure it VOL. XI. would, in most cases, be worth some additional expense. M. Biot takes occasion to point out an abuse which is now attempted by some individuals in France. Two companies, it seems, are demanding an exclusive privilege for the employment of steam-boats; one for having imported this machine, so long known, published, engraved, with all its details, in a hundred works; the other, for having thought of this application thirty years ago, though he had abandoned it without deriving any advantage from it. "At this rate," says M. Biot, "there is no foreign invention of which a man may not appropriate to himself the exclusive enjoyment to the detriment of his countrymen. To act thus is purely and simply to undo for his country the benefits which printing procures to civilization." Ed. Mag. On Lighting with Gas. By M. Biot. (Journal des Savans.)-M. Biot says, that, in 1799, the engineer Lebon first conceived the idea of this application of gas. He carried it into practice at Paris, and publicly exhibited the whole interior of his nouse and garden illuminated with carburetted hydrogen gas, conducted by tubes from the great reservoir to the lamps. He established a similar apparatus in the Theatre de Louvois, where M. Biot recollects having seen the flame, which was perfectly white, very calm, and of such brilliancy, that the eye could scarcely support it. Lebon, however, did not derive any profit from his invention, so that his example was not followed, and the thing was soon forgotten. It is only in England that it has been established advantageously, and on a great scale; and from England it is now proposed to introduce it into France. A commission has been named by the Prefect of the Seine, to inquire into the propriety of its adoption. M. Biot conceives, that it cannot be eligible for private use, on account of the great expense of the apparatus, even on the smallest scale; but wherever a number of lights are required, the saving will be great; and when the arrangements are properly made, there can be no doubt of the beauty and intensity of the light, of its equability, and the absence of all smell. In an establishment of four hundred 21 So great is the superiority of gaslight to that of the common lamp, that the whole of the New Mint, with the surrounding military-way and adjoining edifices, have been lighted with gas. The apparatus is constructed on a new plan, and is erected within the walls of the mint. The gas is prepared, not by distilling coal in retorts, as hitherto, but by means of a cylinder kept red hot, and revolving round its axis. The cylinder is upwards of ten feet in diameter, and produces, in twenty-four hours, a sufficient quantity of gas to light sixteen hundred lamps. The purification of the crude coal-gas is effected by chlorine instead of quick-lime, and all the inlet and outlet mains and pipes are made to open and shut by mercurial valves. The quantity of gas daily made and consumed by the burners and lamps is registered, in the absence of the observer, on a dial-plate of a machine, the moving power of which is gas. The effect of the numerous lights scattered upon so extensive a scale over the beautiful machinery of the coining processes, is very striking. M. Mag. Some important experiments have lately been made in Staffordshire, with a new mechanic power, for the conversion of the motion of two parallel lines into a rotative, called the Convertor.The apparatus was applied to a crane, lieu of a winch, the men working in wing posture instead of turning round the handles, as the common way. The advantages derived from this ingenious change of the application of man's force became wonderfully obvious and interesting; the hands of the workers passing to and fro in straight lines through the same extent of space, in the same time, to perform one revolution of the winch axis, as with the old motion; so that mechanically speaking, no time was lost or power gained, as far as regarded the nature of the machine. But, as to the application of man's force, the following results fully establish the very great importance of the invention: The men working the crane, sat upon benches opposite to each other, and applied more force, with much less labour, than with the winch, and thereby heaving a greater weight with more facility; with this further advantage, the weight was always, through every part of its ascent, secured from falling by a retrograde motion, as a part of the apparatus was always pauled, orlocked, while the other part was in motion; and when thrown out of gear, by the simple elevation of a lever, the weight was lowered with the greatest security and despatch. This apparatus is getting up for the cranes at the Dock-yards; it appears most importantly applicable to all machines that are worked by a crank, revolving handle, winch, handspike, or capstan bar, and will produce a very extended and interesting revolution in mechanics. It is one of the most important discoveries ever made by an Englishman; forming a new organ or power of more extensive use than the lever, the wheel, the wedge, the pulley, the inclined plane, the screw, &c. &c. In purchases, by uniting all these mechanic organs or powers, it may produce many new and important results in mechanics, manufactures, agriculture, and commerce. It will also render manual labour applicable to many new purposes, and thereby give very increased and lucrative employ to the working classes; by making all those works that are now in use depending upon a rotatory motion, more easy, safe, and secure; by which the lives, limbs, and health of the labourers will be greatly preserved from risks they have hitherto been liable too. This change of motion has been for ages anxiously sought for; more particularly since the discovery of the Steam power. Gent. Mag. |