Rush Medical College - Pulse Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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Eaniel JBrainarb JBiOg1'apbiCHl SRQICD N the 15th of May, ISI2, there was born a boy in Oneida County, New York, who was destined to become a great factor in the medical education of the NVest. His parents were well educated and devoted all their energies to the betterment of their son. His name was Daniel Hrainard. From childhood he was devoted to his studies, and received a good common school and academic education, which laid the foundation for that exact and careful investigation which characterized his after life. Having chosen the medical profession as his life's work, he began his medical studies at Wfhitesboro, New York, where he read for two years under a preceptor. He then attended a medical college in New York city one year, and the next year was gradu- ated from jefferson Medical College, in. 1334. The two years following his graduation he was engaged in teaching and did not practice his profession to any extent. He delivered a series of lectures on Anatomy and Physiology before the members of the Oneida Institute. He also devoted some time to the study of Latin and French, becoming a proficient scholar in each, which was a great help to him when he went abroad to study. 15

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Zbaniel JBrainarb, HD. ED jfounber anb Jfirst lDtC5iD6l1I of 1Rusb flbebical College. I4

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In the Spring of 1836 he commenced practice in Whitesboro, New York. Soon tiring of the East, he came to Chicago in the Fall of the same year. His medical career in Chicago was begun by hanging his shingle on the door of the law office of his friend, the I-lon. D. Caton. The first year of his practice was confined to the poorest classes, but he never refused a call, although there was no likelihood of a monetary remuneration. He waited patiently for an opportunity to place himself among a better class of patients, and at last it came, when he successfully performed a hip-joint amputation: proving the necessity for it by first amputating the limb below the trochanters, and finding the products of degeneration in the medullary canal, his counselors having taken the ground that the hip-joint amputation was not necessary. This operation gave him a reputation, as it was among the first ever performed in this country. ln 1839 he visited Paris, and for two years availed himself ot the great advantages offered there for medical research and clinical observation. On his return he delivered a course of lectures on anatomy in the University of St. Louis, and in 1842 he was elected to the chair of Anatomy in that university. Shortly after this he perfected his plans for the founding of Rush Medical College, and on December 3d, 1843, before twenty- two students, he delivered his introductory lecture, and from this humble beginning has grown the largest and most proficient medical college in this country. ln 1852 he again visited Paris, and at this time he obtained the rarely-granted permission to prosecute his researches on the subject of poisoned wounds by the aid of experiments on the reptiles 16