faction, in his own way.” The inference from this is that he had especially comprehended the teaching of the several professors, and had mastered their modes of thought and expression. At the time referred to, the doctrines of Boerhaave and of Cullen had each their advocates in the Faculty.
In 1783 Dr. Wistar went to Europe, and in June, 1786, was graduated Doctor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh; his inaugural essay, “De Animo Demisso,” being dedicated to Franklin and Dr. Cullen. While pursuing his studies in Edinburgh, he was elected President of the Royal Medical Society, a tribute justly to be appreciated, if it be recollected that the honor was conferred on an American student when the feelings incident to the Revolutionary struggle had hardly had time to be obliterated. Of the origin of this Society we have the account by Dr. Fothergill. “Several students at that time (1734), the foremost in application and knowledge, fired by the example of their masters, who had nothing more at heart than the improvement of those who committed themselves to their tuition, formed a Society, for their mutual instruction and advancement in their studies. Every student of a certain standing, who distinguished himself by his diligence, capacity, and conduct was initiated in this little assembly. Here the opinions of the ancients, of their contemporaries—nay, the doctrines of their masters—were frequently discussed, and two of the members were always charged with the task of providing instruction and entertainment for the next meeting of the Society.”[1] When Dr. Wistar was an active member he had, as associates, men who afterwards became prominent. In speaking of the elevation of Dr. Wistar to the dignity of President, Dr. Chapman informs us that “it was in this Society that he acquired great reputation as a public speaker, so much so that even in my time, nearly twenty years afterwards, the debates conducted by Wistar, Sir James McIntosh, Beddoes, and Emmet, of New York, were frequently spoken of by older members as very uncommon specimens of eloquence and ability.”[2]
