CHARACTERS. 



47 J 



cellent scholar and an eminent 

 teacher, and whose talents and 

 learning afterwards elevated him 

 to the Presidency of the College 

 of Princeton. At this school young 

 Rush remained five years, for the 

 purpose of acquiring a knowledge 

 of the Greek and Latin languages, 

 and other branches necessary to 

 qualify him, as preparatory for a 

 collegiate course of study. But 

 under the tuition and guidance of 

 Dr. ilnley, he was not only in- 

 structed in classical literature ; he 

 also acquired what was of no less 

 impoitance, and which character- 

 ized him through life — a habit of 

 study and observation, a rever- 

 ence for the Christian religion, 

 and the habitual performance of 

 the duties it inculcates ; for his 

 accomidished and pious instiuc- 

 tor not only regarded the tempo- 

 ral, but the spiritual, welfare of 

 those committed to his care. 



At the age of 14, after com- 

 pleting his course of classical 

 studies, he was removed to the 

 College of Princeton, then under 

 the superintendance of President 

 Davies, one of the most eloquent 

 preachers and learned divines our 

 country has produced. 



At College, our pupil not only 

 performed his duties with his 

 usual attention and success, but 

 he becauie distinguished for his 

 talents, his uncommon progress 

 in his studies, and especially for 

 his eloquence iji public speaking. 

 For this latter acquirement he was 

 doubtless indebted to the example 

 set before him by President Da- 

 vies, whose t;dents as a pulpit 

 orator were universally acknow- 

 ledged, and wove frequently the 

 theme of his pupil's admiration. 



])r. liash received the degree 



of Bachelor of Arts in the autumn 

 of 1760, at the early age of \&. 

 The next succeeding six years of 

 his life were devoted to the study 

 of medicine, under the direction 

 of Dr. John Redman, at that time 

 an eminent practitioner in the 

 city of Philadelpliia. Upon com- 

 mencing the study of medicine, 

 the writings of Hippocrates were 

 amongst the very fiist works which 

 attracted his attention ; and as an 

 evidence of the early impression 

 they made upon his mind, and of 

 the attachment he had formed to 

 them, let it be remembered that 

 Dr. Rush, when a student of me- 

 dicine, translated the aphorisms 

 of Hippocrates from the Greek 

 into his vernacular tongue, in the 

 17th year of his age. From this 

 early exercise he probably derived 

 that talent of investigation, that 

 spirit of inquiry, and those exten- 

 si\e views of the nature and 

 causes of disease, which give value 

 to his writings, and ha^e added 

 important benefits to the science 

 of medicine. The same mode of 

 acquiring knowledge which was 

 1 ecommended by Mr. Locke, with 

 the very manner of his consmon - 

 place book, was also eai ly adopt- 

 ed by Dr. Rush, and was daily 

 continued to the last of his life. 

 To his records, made in 17G2, we 

 are at this day indebted for many 

 important facts illustiative of the 

 yellow fever, which prevailed in, 

 and desolated the city of Phila- 

 delphia, in that memorable year. 

 Even in reading, it was the prac- 

 tice of Dr Rush, and for which 

 he wiis first indebted to his friend 

 Dr. Franklin, t<3 mark with a pen 

 or pencil any impoi'tsint fact, or 

 any peculiar expression, remark- 

 able either for its strength or its 



elegance. 



