1819.] Dr. Archibald Bruce. 3 



for Europe in 1798, and in 1800 he obtained the degree of Doctor 

 in Medicine from the University of Edinburgh, after defending 

 a Thesis, De Variola Vaccina. 



Having now finished his medical studies, he was prepared to 

 visit the continent of Europe with peculiar advantage ; for his 

 continued attachment to mineralogy, a liberal distribution of 

 American specimens, then comparatively new in Europe, and his 

 social habits and dispositions, which were very conciliating, 

 secured him the best introductions from Edinburgh, and laid the 

 foundation of permanent friendships. 



During a tour of two years, he visited France, Switzerland, 

 and Italy ; and collected a mineralogical cabinet of great value 

 and extent. After his return to England, he married in London, 

 and came out to New York in the autumn of 1803, to enter on 

 the active duties of a practitioner of medicine. 



Previous to the year 1805,- the practice of physic in the state 

 of New York was regulated by no public authority, and of course 

 was not in the happiest condition to promote the respectability 

 and usefulness of the profession. To remove as far as possible 

 the existing inconveniences, Dr. Bruce became an active agent, 

 and in conjunction with Dr. Romayne and other medical gentle- 

 men of New York, succeeded in establishing the state and county 

 medical societies, under the sanction of the state legislature. 

 This act " may be considered among the first efforts made in 

 this country to reduce medicine to a regular science, by invest- 

 ing the privileges of medical men in the body of the members of 

 the profession." 



In the organization of the College of Physicians and Surgeons 

 of the state of New York, Dr. Bruce and Dr. Romayne were 

 eminently active ; and by their united exertion and perseverance 

 (opposed by much professional talent) they obtained a charter 

 from the regents. In this new institution, as professor of the 

 materia medica, and of his favourite pursuit mineralogy, he exhi- 

 bited the fruits of arduous study, with a dignity of character, 

 and urbanity of manner, which commanded the respect of the 

 profession, and the regard of the students. 



The ruling passion in Dr. Brace's mind was a love of natural 

 science, and especially of mineralogy. Towards the study of 

 this science, he produced in his own country a strong impulse, 

 and he gave it no small degree of eclat. His cabinet, composed 

 of very select and well characterized specimens ; purchased by 

 himself, or collected in his own pedestrian and other tours in 

 Europe, or, in many instances, presented to him by distin- 

 guished mineralogists abroad ; and both in its extent, and in 

 relation to the then state of this country, veiy valuable, soon 

 became an object of much attention. That of the late B. D. Per- 

 kins, which, at about the same time, had been formed by 

 Mr. Perkins in Europe, and imported by him into this country, 

 was also placed in New York ; and both cabinets (for both were 



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