An Inaugural Essay on Scurvy

An inaugural essay on scurvy. : Submitted to the examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. provost, the trustees, and medical faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, on the 22d day of May, 1798, of the degree of Doctor of Medicine. / By John Claiborne, of Virginia, member of the Philadelphia medical and chemical societies.

Background

John Claiborne

John Claiborne was born in Brunswick County, Virginia, in 1777 (1). He became a doctor in 1798 after studying medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently practiced medicine. He came from a politically active family, succeeding his father, Thomas Claiborne, as a representative of Virginia’s 17th district in the Ninth and Tenth Congresses from 1805 to 1808 (1).

Medical Education in Early America

The medical school of the University of Pennsylvania was the first medical school established in the US (2). Its accreditation process was a departure from the typical process at the time when students traditionally completed extended apprenticeships to become trained physicians (3). John Morgan, the founder of the school, based the curriculum and structure on Edinburgh Medical School, where he had studied medicine (4). The Edinburgh model required students to take three years of classes followed by a public defense of a thesis (5). A near-identical curriculum can be seen in the 1767 rules of the school, which stated that qualifications for an MD included three years of medical education following a Bachelor’s Degree and a public defense of a written thesis (6).

Material Analysis

Metadata and Provenance

The thesis was printed in 1798 in Philadelphia by Stephen C. Ustick. John Claiborne was the first owner, followed by William Scott. After that, it was in the possession of William Pepper from 1874 to 1947 before it was finally donated to the University of Pennsylvania.