Amiujust^mm'}      Teachers  of  Chemistry  in  America.  357 
ing  and  most  inspiring  of  the  early  medical  practitioners  of  America. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  the  medical  department  of  the  College  of 
Philadelphia,  and  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  on  this  conti- 
nent to  win  a  prize  for  proficiency  in  chemistry.  This  prize,  a  gold 
medal,  was  awarded  him  in  1774  by  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
College  of  Philadelphia  for  his  superior  knowledge  in  chemistry. 
In  1773,  after  a  competitive  examination,  James  Hutchinson  was 
selected  to  act  as  apothecary  to  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital.  In  this 
capacity  he  served  until  some  time  after  his  graduation  from  the 
College  of  Philadelphia,  when  he  resigned,  intending  to  go  abroad 
to  complete  his  medical  education. 
The  breaking  out  of  the  Revolutionary  War  hastened  his  return. 
He  sailed  from  France,  in  1777,  bearing  important  despatches  from 
Benjamin  Franklin  to  the  Colonial  Congress.  When  near  the 
American  coast  the  vessel  he  was  in  was  chased  by  a  British  man- 
of-war.  Dr.  Hutchinson,  being  desirous  of  saving  the  despatches 
entrusted  to  him,  succeeded  in  landing  in  an  open  boat.  The  ship 
itself  was  subsequently  captured  and  with  it  Dr.  Hutchinson  lost 
not  only  his  personal  effects,  but  also  a  valuable  medical  library  that 
he  had  gathered  together  while  abroad.  In  1779  Dr.  Hutchinson 
was  appointed  by  the  Legislature  to  serve  as  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  ;  he,  how- 
ever, persistently  refused  to  accept  any  of  the  medical  professorships 
until  after  the  reorganization  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  when, 
as  noted  above,  he  accepted  the  chair  of  chemistry  in  the  University 
Medical  School.  After  the  amalgamation  of  the  two  Philadelphia 
schools  as  the  medical  departments  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Dr.  Hutchinson  was  elected  to  continue  as  professor  of  chem- 
istry. Dr.  Hutchinson  died  in  the  autumn  of  1793  of  epidemic 
yellow  fever — a  martyr  to  medical  science  and  his  own  sense  of  duty 
to  the  poor  of  the  city,  in  the  terrible  epidemic  that  ravaged  Phila- 
delphia in  that  year. 
The  chair  of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  vacated 
by  the  death  of  Dr.  Hutchinson,  was  conferred  on  Dr.  John  Carson, 
of  whose  chemical  abilities  very  little  is  known,  and  who  died  before 
he  entered  on  his  duties  as  a  professor. 
Largely  if  not  entirely  through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Rush,  the 
position  was  then  offered  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Priestley,  who  had 
but  recently  arrived  in  America.  After  having  some  correspondence 
