i  2 
John  Morgan. 
f  A.m.  Jour.  Pharrn. 
I     January,  1904/ 
into  the  different  methods  which  have  been  used  in  discovering  the  qualities  of 
medicines,  the  virtues  of  the  more  efficacious  will  be  particularly  insisted  upon; 
the  manner  of  preparing  and  combining  them  will  be  shown  by  some  instructive 
lessons  upon  pharmaceutic  chemistry  and  pharmacy.  To  prepare  them  more 
effectually  for  understanding  the  art  of  prescribing  with  elegance  and  propri- 
ety, if  time  allows,  it  is  proposed  to  include  in  this  course  some  critical  lectures 
upon  the  chief  preparations  contained  in  the  Dispensatories  of  the  Royal  Col- 
lege at  London  and  Edinburgh.  The  whole  will  be  illustrated  b}^  many  useful 
and  practical  observations  on  diseases,  diet  and  medicines. 
This  rather  comprehensive  announcement  was  followed  in  1766 
by  another,  which  read  in  part : 
A  course  of  lectures  on  the  "  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic  "  will  be  deliv- 
ered for  the  benefit  of  Medical  Students,  with  a  preparatory  course  on  Bot- 
any, Chemistry  and  the  Materia  Medica,  being  the  substance  of  a  set  of  lectures 
delivered  to  his  pupils  last  winter. 
That  Morgan  had  been  the  acknowledged  teacher  of  chemistry  in 
the  medical  school  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia  would  also  appear 
from  the  following  letter,  written  by  Dr.  Rush,  as  an  application  for 
the  chair  of  chemistry. 
Gentlemen: — As  the  professorship  of  chemistry  which  Dr.  Morgan  has 
sometime  supplied  is  vacant,  I  beg  to  offer  myself  as  a  candidate  for  it. 
Should  you  think  proper  to  honor  me  with  the  chair,  you  may  depend  upon 
my  doing  anything  that  lies  within  my  power  to  discharge  the  duties  of  a  pro- 
fessor, and  to  promote  the  reputation  and  interests  of  your  college. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  the  greatest  respect, 
Your  most  obedient  humble  servant, 
Benj.  Rush. 
Philadelphia,  July  31,  1769. 
Dr.  Morgan  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  first  medical  society 
in  the  Province.  This  was  the  "  Philadelphia  Medical  Society," 
organized  February  4,  176=5.  Several  years  later  this  society  was 
united  with  the  "  American  Society  for  Promoting  Useful  Knowl- 
edge," and  this,  in  1769,  was  united  with  the  Philosophical  Society 
to  form  the  well-known  "  American  Philosophical  Society  held  at 
Philadelphia  for  promoting  useful  knowledge." 
The  Philadelphia  Medical  Society  included  the  names  of  a  num- 
ber of  the  leading  medical  men  of  Philadelphia,  among  them  John 
Morgan,  J.  Kearsley,  Jr.,  Gerardus  Clarkson,  Thomas  Cadwalader, 
James  A.  Bayard,  Robert  Harris,  George  Glentworth,  John  Redman 
and  Benjamin  Rush. 
These  members  continued  a  semblance,  at  least,  of  their  organiza- 
