Waterhouse, Benjamin, 1754-1846

Letter regarding Waterhouse's teaching at Harvard Medical School and his membership in the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846) was the Hersey Professor ofthe Theory and Practice of Physic at Harvard Medical School from 1783 to 1812. He was given an honorary degree by Harvard in 1786. He earned an MD from Leyden in 1780. He also was a professor of Natural History at Brown University from 1784 to 1791.

American physician-Prof. in Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846), physician of Cambridge and Boston, was an early user of Dr. Jenner's vaccinating methods.

Physician, pioneer in vaccination, medical superintendent of all military posts in New England, 1813-1820.

Waterhouse (Leyden, M.D. 1780) Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Physic at Harvard, introduced vaccination against smallpox into the U.S. He was the first professor of medicine at Harvard, the first to give a course of lectures on natural history at Rhode Island College (Brown) in Providence, founder of the botanical garden at Cambridge, Mass., and curator of the collection of minerals at Harvard.

U. S. physician; pioneer of vaccination in U. S.

Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846), a physician and Harvard Medical School professor, was born in Newport, Rhode Island on March 4, 1754. He studied medicine in Europe and returned to the United States in 1782 to serve as the first Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Physic at the Harvard Medical School and as a Fellow at Rhode Island College (now Brown University). Beginning in 1788, Waterhouse also gave annual lecture courses at Harvard on natural history, mineralogy, and botany, and managed Harvard's mineral cabinet. In 1800, Waterhouse became the first physician to test a smallpox vaccine in the United States. Waterhouse was removed from the Hersey Professorship in 1812, and he died on October 2, 1846.

Eliphalet Pearson (1752-1826; Harvard AB 1773) was Harvard's second Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages from 1786 until 1806. In addition to his duties as a professor, Pearson contributed to Harvard committees and occasionally represented the school before the Massachusetts General Court. In 1800 he was elected a fellow of the Harvard Corporation, and was active in College affairs. After the death of Harvard President Joseph Willard on September 24, 1804, Pearson became interim President. Pearson resigned from the Corporation and as professor on March 8, 1806.

Benjamin Waterhouse (1754-1846) was the Hersey Professor ofthe Theory and Practice of Physic at Harvard Medical School from 1783 to 1812. He was given an honorary degree by Harvard in 1786. He earned an MD from Leyden in 1780. He also was a professor of Natural History at Brown University from 1784 to 1791.

Abraham Bishop (1763-1844), was a Jeffersonian politician. He was the collector of the port of New Haven from 1803 to 1829.