CHARLES WILKINS SHORT 



1 794- 1 863 

 Shortia galacifolia — GRAY 



Among the pupils who loved Wistar, and one 

 ever a welcome guest at his home, was Charles 

 Wilkins Short, a Kentucky lad born in 1794, the 

 son of Mary Symmes and Peyton Short, who 

 owned a farm of several thousand acres. Gross 

 says that Short, as a boy, was " noted for his 

 exemplary conduct and love of nature " ; also that 

 he was " of medium height, with blue eyes and 

 an ample forehead, and a smile radiant with 

 goodness and beneficence." 



Dr. Frederick Ridgeley, of Kentucky, gave 

 him his first medical training; then followed 

 two years with Dr. Wistar in the University of 

 Pennsylvania. A thesis on The Medical Virtues 

 of Juniperus Sabina marked his graduation 

 there in 1815, and Wistar, who had become 

 warmly attached to his pupil, gave him a cher- 

 ished case of eye instruments when he left for 

 home. That same year he devoted some of his 

 time to wooing and wedding Mary, only child 

 of Armistead and Jane Churchill. The young 

 couple travelled home to Kentucky in a spring- 



129 



