Benjamin Smith Barton was born on February 10, 1766 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Rev. Thomas Barton, a native of Monaghan County, Ireland who came to America in 1750, & Esther Rittenhouse, sister of American astronomer, David Rittenhouse. Barton spent his childhood on Conestoga Creek near Carlisle, where his father, an Anglican priest, ministered to the Indians.
Barton began the study of medicine under Dr. William Shippen, Jr. in 1784, soon after his 18th birthday. In 1786, he left for Scotland to continue his studies at Edinburgh University. Able, ambitious, industrious, & not without charm, Barton was quickly accepted by all groups of students in the university town. He became a member of the Royal Medical Society, received its Harveian Prize for his dissertation on hyosciamus niger (or black henbane), & was chosen one of the Society's 4 annual presidents for 1787-88. In 1787, while still a medical student, he published a monograph entitled Observations on some Parts of Natural History, which discussed the Indian mounds of North America.
Despite his success at Edinburgh, however, Barton suddenly left the university in the winter of 1788, prior to receiving his M.D. A likely explanation for his departure is found in 2 1791 letters addressed to Benjamin Rush, which state that, while its president, Barton borrowed a considerable sum of money from the Royal Medical Society but failed to pay it back. Though the Society did not advertise Barton's mishandling of its funds, word of his behavior must have spread to student circles in Edinburgh, prompting his immediate departure.
While it has been claimed that Barton studied for his M.D. at the University of Göttingen, he admitted on his return to Philadelphia in the fall of 1789, that he was not granted a degree of doctor of medicine at that time. His hopes of receiving the degree from Penn's Medical Department were cut short by his election as Professor of Natural History & Botany in the Medical Department.
While it has been claimed that Barton studied for his M.D. at the University of Göttingen, he admitted on his return to Philadelphia in the fall of 1789, that he was not granted a degree of doctor of medicine at that time. His hopes of receiving the degree from Penn's Medical Department were cut short by his election as Professor of Natural History & Botany in the Medical Department.
Soon thereafter, he successfully entered into medical practice. Barton was finally awarded an honorary degree of doctor of medicine by Christian-Albrechts University at Kiel in 1796. Also in that year, he became Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1798, he succeeded Dr. Rush as Professor of the Theory & Practice of Medicine & became a physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital.
Barton was Vice-President of the American Philosophical Society from 1802 to 1816. He was one of the Society's most active members, winning its Magellanic Premium in 1804. He was also the founder & first President of the Philadelphia Linnean Society, & a member of the Linnean Society of London, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Massachusetts Historical Society, & the Royal Academy of Science of Sweden. In 1809, Barton was elected President of the Philadelphia Medical Society, a position he held until his death.
Barton wrote a score of books & monographs on natural history, botany, paleontology, etymology, & medicine. He conducted the Medical Physical Journal for several years & was the author of Elements of Botany, published in 1804, & of Collections towards a Materia Medica of the United States. His other publications include various papers in the Philosophical Transactions & the first American text on botany.
Barton died on December 19, 1815. He left behind his 2 children: Sarah Barton, who died unmarried in 1817, & Thomas Pennant Barton, Secretary of Legation to France from 1833 to 1835, who married Coralie, daughter of Hon. Edward Livingston, Secretary of State.
Barton was also an advisor to the Lewis & Clark Expedition & a pioneer in exploring the botanical treasures of the Western Continent. He was the 1st to erect a greenhouse in Philadelphia, which was attached to his residence on Chestnut Street, below Eighth.
Benjamin Smith Barton at 37 years of age was the youngest of the 5 members of the American Philosophical Society to whom President Thomas Jefferson referred Lewis. Barton expressed an interest, were his health sufficient, in accompanying Lewis at least part of the way. Initial promise but ultimate failure to fulfill exemplified Barton's role in the history of the expedition & in other projects he contemplated.
His credentials were impressive. He was vice-president of the APS & an active contributor to its Transactions. His Elements of Botany, the first such text in the country, was just off the press. The second edition of his book, New Views of the Origin of the Tribes & Nations of America (1798), published a few years earlier, had deduced—from word-similarities—an Asian origin of native American peoples. For 14 years he had been teaching botany, natural history & especially materia medica at the medical school. The last course, dealing with the substances of practice, was required of all medical students. Those who studied natural history with Barton were likely to become enthusiastic for the subject.
President Thomas Jefferson's Trust in Barton
Barton had the trust of President Thomas Jefferson, to whom he had dedicated his book on languages, & for whom he had named a plant. Barton's standing with his contemporaries in Philadelphia & Edinburgh was less secure. Alexander Wilson & especially Charles Willson Peale accused him of concealing sources of his work. Peale was mistaken in supposing that specimens of Swedish birds intended for the Peale Museum had been appropriated by Barton–the shipment simply had been delayed. Still, perhaps because of Barton's failure to forward another item–a waxwork–explicitly intended for the museum,
Barton was Vice-President of the American Philosophical Society from 1802 to 1816. He was one of the Society's most active members, winning its Magellanic Premium in 1804. He was also the founder & first President of the Philadelphia Linnean Society, & a member of the Linnean Society of London, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Massachusetts Historical Society, & the Royal Academy of Science of Sweden. In 1809, Barton was elected President of the Philadelphia Medical Society, a position he held until his death.
Barton wrote a score of books & monographs on natural history, botany, paleontology, etymology, & medicine. He conducted the Medical Physical Journal for several years & was the author of Elements of Botany, published in 1804, & of Collections towards a Materia Medica of the United States. His other publications include various papers in the Philosophical Transactions & the first American text on botany.
Barton died on December 19, 1815. He left behind his 2 children: Sarah Barton, who died unmarried in 1817, & Thomas Pennant Barton, Secretary of Legation to France from 1833 to 1835, who married Coralie, daughter of Hon. Edward Livingston, Secretary of State.
Barton was also an advisor to the Lewis & Clark Expedition & a pioneer in exploring the botanical treasures of the Western Continent. He was the 1st to erect a greenhouse in Philadelphia, which was attached to his residence on Chestnut Street, below Eighth.
Benjamin Smith Barton (1766-1815) & the Lewis & Clark Expedition
Benjamin Smith Barton at 37 years of age was the youngest of the 5 members of the American Philosophical Society to whom President Thomas Jefferson referred Lewis. Barton expressed an interest, were his health sufficient, in accompanying Lewis at least part of the way. Initial promise but ultimate failure to fulfill exemplified Barton's role in the history of the expedition & in other projects he contemplated.
His credentials were impressive. He was vice-president of the APS & an active contributor to its Transactions. His Elements of Botany, the first such text in the country, was just off the press. The second edition of his book, New Views of the Origin of the Tribes & Nations of America (1798), published a few years earlier, had deduced—from word-similarities—an Asian origin of native American peoples. For 14 years he had been teaching botany, natural history & especially materia medica at the medical school. The last course, dealing with the substances of practice, was required of all medical students. Those who studied natural history with Barton were likely to become enthusiastic for the subject.
President Thomas Jefferson's Trust in Barton
Barton had the trust of President Thomas Jefferson, to whom he had dedicated his book on languages, & for whom he had named a plant. Barton's standing with his contemporaries in Philadelphia & Edinburgh was less secure. Alexander Wilson & especially Charles Willson Peale accused him of concealing sources of his work. Peale was mistaken in supposing that specimens of Swedish birds intended for the Peale Museum had been appropriated by Barton–the shipment simply had been delayed. Still, perhaps because of Barton's failure to forward another item–a waxwork–explicitly intended for the museum,
It does appear that on at least 2 occasions Barton published as his own the observations & discoveries of others. One was the plant commonly known as twinleaf, which André Michaux (1746-1802) had found in Virginia & brought back to John Bartram for his garden. Barton saw it there, made drawings of it &, perhaps on the presumption that having recognized it as a new genus he could claim the privilege of naming it, did so: Jeffersonia diphylla
Having nearly completed his studies for the medical degree at Edinburgh, & honored by election as one of the 4 annual presidents of the Royal Medical Society, he abruptly left—without his degree but with funds of the Society that were repeatedly sought but never returned. The question of whether & where he obtained a degree remained a mystery until records obtained by the APS in 1970 yielded a diploma dated 31 August 1796 from Christian-Albrechts University at Kiel. That date was 7 years after Barton's confession to Benjamin Rush that he had no medical degree, but only 3 months after Barton's letter to a German colleague asking help in procuring it. In the letter Barton claimed a degree "from an university which, I confess, I do not much respect," a condescension that does not accord with the non-selectivity of the request.
President Thomas Jefferson's Disappointment with Barton
President Thomas Jefferson may well have expected that Lewis's initial contacts with Barton would have opened up the resources in natural history then available in Philadelphia–for instance in the persons of William Bartram, Charles Willson Peale & Bernard McMahon. But that seems not to have occurred.
Having nearly completed his studies for the medical degree at Edinburgh, & honored by election as one of the 4 annual presidents of the Royal Medical Society, he abruptly left—without his degree but with funds of the Society that were repeatedly sought but never returned. The question of whether & where he obtained a degree remained a mystery until records obtained by the APS in 1970 yielded a diploma dated 31 August 1796 from Christian-Albrechts University at Kiel. That date was 7 years after Barton's confession to Benjamin Rush that he had no medical degree, but only 3 months after Barton's letter to a German colleague asking help in procuring it. In the letter Barton claimed a degree "from an university which, I confess, I do not much respect," a condescension that does not accord with the non-selectivity of the request.
President Thomas Jefferson's Disappointment with Barton
President Thomas Jefferson may well have expected that Lewis's initial contacts with Barton would have opened up the resources in natural history then available in Philadelphia–for instance in the persons of William Bartram, Charles Willson Peale & Bernard McMahon. But that seems not to have occurred.
As open as colleagues' resources were to Barton–William Bartram was a generous fount of information–his were closed to them. Barton's old friend Muhlenberg complained of his reluctance to share, mystified that, while he has twice shown Barton his herbarium, Barton had never shown his. On the other hand, Barton did thank Bartram effusively in the introduction to Elements of Botany, but his reference to Bartram's "original genius, & unaspiring science" neglects Bartram's formal credentials: elected to APS at the age of 28, & the author of a book on natural history (1792) that made him "one of the most widely read American authors in Europe in the late 18th & early 19th centuries."
Finally, most important for the history of the scientific accomplishments of the Expedition, its first plant specimens were consigned to Barton's care. As Moulton notes, from this point began "the disassembling of the collection." The scattered plant specimens were largely recovered, but the natural history volume promised by Barton was never forthcoming. Though Barton was not solely at fault, he contributed to the delay in publishing that allowed others to "carr(y) off the honors that belong by right to Lewis & Clark."
Last half of this essay funded by Academy of Natural Sciences & the U.S. National Park Service
Finally, most important for the history of the scientific accomplishments of the Expedition, its first plant specimens were consigned to Barton's care. As Moulton notes, from this point began "the disassembling of the collection." The scattered plant specimens were largely recovered, but the natural history volume promised by Barton was never forthcoming. Though Barton was not solely at fault, he contributed to the delay in publishing that allowed others to "carr(y) off the honors that belong by right to Lewis & Clark."
Last half of this essay funded by Academy of Natural Sciences & the U.S. National Park Service
