SEWALL 1037 SEYBERT then went to Europe where women were ad- mitted to hospitals only by favor. Such was her ability and personality that she not only gained favors, but proved herself eminently worthy of them in her work with Dr. A. Chereau, whose lectures she attended in Paris. Upon her return in 1863 she became resi- dent physician of the New England Hospital for Women and Children, Boston. Her romantic and enthusiastic friendship for Dr. Zackrewska, while yet her pupil, led the young Boston girl to devote her life, her fortune and the influence she could command from a wide circle of friends to the building up of the hospital. In 1869 she resigned the posi- tion of resident physician to become attending physician, serving until 1886, and considered an expert obstetrician. The Maternity Build- ing at the New England Hospital is named after her, "Sewall Maternity." Through her influence the Massachusetts Infant Asylum was founded, the first effort made in Massachusetts to save the lives of infants who would otherwise have gone to the almshouses or the "baby-farms." The latter years of her life were those of enforced semi-invalidism, because of organic heart disease, but she took up the study of mineralogy as a diversion. She died of valvular disease of the heart, February 13, 1890, having well achieved the purpose of her life, that of creating confidence in women as physicians and surgeons. Alfred. B. Withington. Personal communication. The Nat. Cyclop, of Amer. Biog., vol. x. L'Union Medicale, Paris, A. Chereau, vol. xix. Woman's Journal, Boston, vol. xxi. Medical Women, Jex Blake. 1872. SewaU, Thomas (1787-1845) Thomas Sewall was born April 16, 1787, at Augusta, Maine, the son of Thomas and Priscilla Cony Sewall. After receiving his M. D. at Harvard, in 1812, Dr. Sewall studied under Rush and others at the University of Pennsylvania. He was given to original re- search and published possibly the first mono- graph on the postmortem appearance of the gastric mucosa in alcoholics, shortly follow- ing the work of Beaumont (q. v.) on diges- tion. He married Mary Choate, sister of Rufus Choate, November 28, 1813. There was but one child, Thomas, bom April 28, 1818. He practised at Ipswich and Essex, Mass., until 1820. Dr. Sewall was the first or one of the first opponents of phrenology and wrote a monograph, "The Errors of Phrenology Ex- posed." He also published papers in the cur- rent medical journals. He was professor of anatomy and physiology at Columbian Univer- sity, District of Columbia, from 1821 until his- death, April 10, 1845. He was the author of "Lectures Delivered at the Opening of the Medical Department of Columbia College," Washington, 1825, 1826; "Eulogy on Dr. Goodman," Washington, 1830, 1832, 1840; "Examination of Phrenology," etc.,. Washington, 1837, 1839; "The Enquirer; Pathology of Drunkenness," 1841 ; this was later translated into German and established his reputation both at home and abroad as an original investigator. Daniel Smith Lamb. Minutes of Med. Soc, Dist. Columb., Apr., 1845. .^ppleton's Cyclop. Amer. Biog., N. Y., 1889. The Med. Exam., Phila., 1845. Seybert, Adam (1773-1825) Adam Seybert, physician, chemist, miner- alogist and statesman, was born in Philadel- phia, May 16, 1773. He began the study of medicine with Caspar Wistar (q. v.), then entered the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1791, graduating M. D. in 1793; he continued his medical studies in Europe. His thesis for the medical degree was : "The Attempt to Disprove the Doctrine of the Putrefaction of the Blood of Living .Animals," included by Caldwell in the first volume of his "Medical Theses." Seybert's interest in public affairs led him into politics and he represented Philadelphia in the United States Congress for eight years, 1809-1815 and 1817-1819. He collected ma- terial during this time and published "Statis- tical Annals of the United States." In 1809 he was a candidate for the chair of chemistry in the Universit)^ of Pennsylvania, made vacant by the death of James Woodhouse ; he was strongly endorsed by his old preceptor, Caspar Wistar, but the other candidate, John Redman Coxe (q. v.), backed by Benjamin Rush, was appointed. In 1798 he married Maria Sarah, daughter of Henry Pepper, who came from Germany in 1869 and settled in Philadelphia and was the grandfather of William Pepper (1810- 1864) (q. v.). They had two children, Cathe- rine, who died in infancy, and Henry (1801- 1883), whose education he largely superintend- ed, and who was his companion in travel in this country and abroad. Seybert was a mem- ber of the American Philosophical Society, its secretary 1798-1809, the Chemical Society of Philadelphia, and the Royal Scientific Societj^ of Gottengen. He died in Paris, France, May 2, 1825, and
