He passed examinations in medicine in 1794, his name is inserted in 

 the list of graduates in 1795, but did not take out his diploma till 

 1796; a delay which arose from pecuniary losses. His thesis is 

 theoretical ; and developes some of the opinions ofDr, Rush. 



His career, as an author, opened with his translation of Rlumen- 

 bach's Physiology, in 1794; and continued for sixty years! 



In the autumn of 1794, finding his health materially injured by his 

 application. Dr. Caldwell became a surgeon in the army raised to sup- 

 press the Whiskey Insurrection. This, as is well known, was hap- 

 pily, and in consonance with the anxious wishes of President Wash- 

 ington, terminated without bloodshed. The march through the forest 

 completely restored our young fellow member to his health; and, in 

 1796, he commenced practice in Philadelphia. 



In 1797, the yellow fever of that year first broke out in the vicinity 

 of Dr. Caldwell's residence. Many physicians, it is notorious, fled 

 from their posts before the formidable pestilence; but Dr. Caldwell 

 remained, and was soon deeply immersed in business. 



A vehement controversy arose on the questions whether the disease 

 were contagious, and whether it were of foreign or domestic origin. 

 The effects of these two controversies, after a lapse of near sixty 

 years, have by no means ceased to be felt among our citizens. Nu- 

 merous pens were occupied with assaults, often violent, upon that 

 eminent teacher, Dr. Rush ; and these were by no means restrained 

 from his practice as a therapeutist. Dr. Caldwell, early in 1797, 

 adopted and earnestly defended a belief in the domestic origin of the 

 fever; and much of his very animated discussions is to be found in 

 the newspapers. The therapeutics of Dr. Rush met with his warm 

 and earnest support; as he alleges that he found them the most suc- 

 cessful in practice. It is well known that Dr. Rush, though an early 

 believer in the domestic origin of the disease, was at first persuaded 

 that it was contagious. In this he was opposed by Dr. Physick ; who, 

 however, took part in no public controversies, but confined the ex- 

 pression of his opinions to friends and intimates, and sometimes re- 

 plied to inquirers in monosyllables, attending closely, at the same 

 time, to his labours as a practitioner. Dr. Rush, as is familiar to tra- 

 dition and to reading, subsequently changed his mind in relation to 

 the existence of such a contagion; but Dr. Caldwell preceded him by 

 a considerable interval ; and, at one time, the last named physician 

 was singly associated, among all his intimates, with Dr. Physick. 



At length. Dr. Caldwell was himself stricken down with the pesti- 

 lence; and was recovered, afler an illness of three weeks, by the skill 



