MINUTES  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 
275 
Committee  on  Sinking  Fund. 
Samuel  F.  Troth,  Ambrose  Smith,  Edward  Parrieh. 
Delegates  to  the  American  Pharmaceutical  Association. 
Edward  Parrish,  Evan.  T.  Ellis,  Wm.  Procter,  Jr.,  Alfred  B.  Taylor, 
Charles  Bullock. 
OBITUARIES. 
Dr.  John  Redman  Coxe  was  born  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  on  the 
16th  of  September,  1773.  His  education  was  commenced  under  the 
charge  of  his  grandfather,  Dr.  John  Redman,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
physicians  of  his  day,  and  the  first  President  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
of  Philadelphia.  Early  in  life  Dr.  Coxe  was  sent  to  Europe  to  complete 
his  education,  and  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  medical  instruction  at  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  though  he  completed  his  studies  in  Philadelphia 
under  the  distinguished  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  and  graduated  in  1794  in  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  afterwards  revisited  London,  Edinburgh 
and  Paris,  with  a  view  to  perfecting  himself  in  the  requirements  of  his 
profession,  and  on  his  return  located  in  Philadelphia  for  practice.  During 
the  first  trying  visitation  of  yellow  fever  in  1793,  he  was  actively  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  though  not  yet  a  graduate  of  medicine, 
and  on  its  second  appearance  in  the  city  in  1798  was  made  physician  to 
the  port.  He  was  for  several  years  physician  to  the  Pennsylvania  Hospital, 
and  also  of  the  Philadelphia  Dispensary.  In  1809  he  was  elected  Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  from  which  chair 
he  was  transferred  to  that  of  Materia  Medica  in  1818,  to  be  succeeded  in 
1835  by  Dr.  Wood.  Dr.  Coxe  was  a  pioneer  in  Pharmacology,  having  is- 
sued an  American  Dispensatory  in  1807,  which  passed  through  a  number 
of  editions,  and  was  largely  in  use  for  many  years.  Among  his  contribu- 
tions to  this  branch  of  medicine,  Lactucarium  maybe  mentioned  as  having 
been  first  brought  into  view  as  a  narcotic  medicine  by  him.  His  "  Hive 
Syrup"  is  everywhere  known  as  a  domestic  remedy,  and  has  been  officinal 
in  the  U.  S.  Pharmacopoeia  since  the  issue  of  the  first  edition  in  1820. 
In  the  introduction  of  vaccination  into  the  United  States  he  bore  an  ac- 
tive part,  issued  a  work  on  the  subject  in  1800,  and  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  to  practice  it  in  Philadelphia.  His  literary  works  were  numer- 
ous ;  the  last,  regarded  as  a  monument  of  learning  and  industry,  was  an 
Epitome  of  the  works  of  Hippocrates  and  Galen.  This  translation  was 
published  in  1846,  when  he  was  about  72  years  of  age. 
Dr.  Coxe  was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  this  College  in  1824.  For 
a  long  period  he  has  led  a  life  of  retirement,  having  survived  most  of  the 
contemporaries  of  his  early  life,  lived  to  see  vast  progress  in  the  city  of 
his  adoption  and  in  his  native  land,  and  great  changes  in  the  theory  and 
practice  of  medicine.  He  enjoyed  remarkable  exemption  from  disease 
throughout  his  long  life.,  and  died  of  old  age  on  the  23d  of  March,  1864. 
