CHARACTERS. 



473 



Rush was elected a Professor in 

 the Medical School, which had 

 then been recently established 

 by the laudable exertions of Dr. 

 Shippen, Dr. Kuhn, Dr. Morgan, 

 and Dr. Bond. For this station 

 his talents and education peculiar- 

 ly qualified him. As in the case 

 of Boerhaave, such too had been 

 the attention bestowed by Dr. 

 Rush upon every brancli of medi- 

 cine, that he was equally prepajed 

 to fill any department in wliich 

 his services might be required. 



TheProfessorships of Anatomy, 

 the Theory and Practice of Phy- 

 sic, Clinical Medicine, and the 

 Materia Medica, being already 

 occupied, he was placed in the 

 chair of Chemistry, which he fill- 

 ed in such manner as immediately 

 to attract the attention of all who 

 heard him, not only to the branch 

 he taught, but to the learning, 

 the abilities, and eloquence of the 

 teacher. 



In the year 1789 Dr. Rush was 

 elected the successor of Dr. Mor- 

 gan, to tlie chair of the Theory 

 and Practice of Physic. In 1791, 

 upon an union being effected be- 

 tween the College of Philadelphia 

 and the Uni\ ersity of Pennsylva- 

 nia, he was appointed to the Pro- 

 fessorship of the Institutes of Me- 

 dicine and Clinical Practice ; and 

 in 1805, upon the resignation of 

 the learned and venerable Dr. 

 Kuhn, he was chosen to the uni- 

 ted Piofessorships of the Theory 

 and Practice of Physic and of 

 Clinical Medicine, which he held 

 the remainder of his life. To the 

 success with which these several 

 branches of medicine were taught 

 by Dr. Rush, the popularity of 

 his lectures, the yearly increase of 

 the number of his pupils, the un- 



exampled growth of the Medical 

 School of Philadelphia, and the 

 consequent diffusion of medical 

 learning, bear ample testimony ; 

 for, with all due respect to the 

 distinguished talents with w^hich 

 the other Professorships of that 

 University have hitherto been, 

 and still continue to be filled, it 

 will be admitted that to the learn- 

 ing, the abilities, and the elo- 

 quence of Dr. Rush, it owes much 

 of that celebrity and elevation to 

 ^^hich it has attained, ^^'hat 

 Boerhaave was to the Medical 

 School of Levden, or Dr. Cullen 

 to that of Edinburgh, Dr. Rush 

 w as to the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



But Dr. Rush did not confine 

 his attention and pursuits either 

 to the practice of medicine, or to 

 the duties of liis Professorship : 

 his ardent mind did not pei'uiit 

 him to be an inactive spectiitor of 

 those important public events 

 which occurred in the early period 

 of his life. 



The American revolution j tne 

 independence of his country ; the 

 establishment of a new constitu- 

 tion of government fo!' the Uni- 

 ted States, and the amelioration of 

 the constitution of his own parti- 

 cular state, all successively inte- 

 rested his feelings, and induced 

 him to take an active concern in 

 tlie scenes that were passing. 

 He held a seat in the celebrated 

 Congress of 1776, as a represen- 

 tative of the state of Pennsylva- 

 nia, and subscribed the evcr-me- 

 luorable instrument of American 

 indejjendencc. In 1/77 he was 

 appointed Physician General of 

 the Military Hospital for the 

 JMiddle Department ; and in the 

 year 1787 he received the addi- 

 tional 



