399 



most of their professional contemporaries, were remarkable for devo- 

 tion to general literature and belles-lettres. 



At a very early age Chapman commenced the study of the profes- 

 sion which he so long illustrated and adorned. In the year 1797, 

 when but little more than seventeen years of age, he came up to 

 Philadelphia, for attendance on the medical lectures at the Univer- 

 sity of Pennsylvania. For two years previously he had been engaged 

 in a course of preliminary reading, under the guidance of two neigh- 

 boring physicians, both in their day men of no little note. A year 

 he spent in the ofl&ce of Dr. John Weems, of Georgetown, afterwards 

 and now of the District of Columbia. Weems, a close friend and 

 near relation of the Chapman family, was a practitioner of much 

 local eminence. From his office. Chapman passed under the care of 

 Dr. Dick, of Alexandria, then and still favorably known in the 

 annals of American medicine. 



At seventeen, a stranger, without fortuiie, connections, or influ- 

 ence. Chapman launched his bark in the crowded metropolis of the 

 United States. At thirty-three, he had reached the front rank of 

 his profession. Seated in a leading chair of the renowned American 

 school of medicine, with the most desirable practice of a great city 

 at his command, an eminent social favorite, distinguished as a wit 

 and conversationalist, he enjoyed a position which left him nothing 

 to desire. A rare combination of qualities had achieved this bril- 

 liant success. Energy, industry, professional aptitude, literary at- 

 tainments had not alone accomplished it ; there were moral, no less 

 than intellectual, attributes which pushed him forward in the career 

 of fortune. 



A winning demeanor, remarkable conversational powers, an address 

 which was the unmistakable pledge of a sympathizing heart, — these 

 were the traits which at once made Chapman troops of powerful 

 friends, and carried him over the heads of able competitors for the 

 great prizes which he so early secured. 



Upon his arrival in Philadelphia, Chapman became the private 

 pupil of Rush, then in the zenith of his popularity and influence. 

 With Rush he soon made himself a favorite, and there is little doubt 

 that he was early destined by his preceptor for introduction into the 

 University, if not for the succession to the Chair of Practice. 



The Medical Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, in the 

 days of Chapman's pupilage, presented an array of names, which, 

 with scarcely an exception, have become historical. Shippen, Wistar, 



