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.

Substrate and Format

The book’s substrate is paper, which has visible chain lines, indicating that it was made using a wireframe. However, after the main thesis, there are many blank pages in the back, which are smooth and lack visible chain lines – held up in the light, it looks to be wove paper, indicating that the book was most likely rebound at one point. The pages have all yellowed from age. There is also an extra leaf of different wove paper before the title page, one of which has a simplified title page before the very detailed one. These leaves are the same material as the flyleaf and endpaper. Little blue threads can be seen amongst the darker paper, and the material is thicker and smoother than the printed paper.

The format of the thesis is a codex. The bibliographic format is quarto, as each letter for the folio has 4 leaves. Signatures include [A]⁴ B-E⁴ F² (F2 verso blank). There are an additional 16 blank leaves after the thesis (after F2). The codex is small and thin, just larger than palm size. The text takes up most of each page.

Binding

The codex is bound. There is a high possibility the thesis was bound after it was submitted, as there is a variety of papers in the codex. Most likely, it was kept together as an unbound pamphlet and then bound by Penn after donation when it entered the general catalog and was in the stacks. It has a blank brown hardcover. The binding seems to be mid-century and far newer than the actual thesis. On the spine, it says “SCURVY, CLAIBORNE.” There is also a little pocket on the inside of the back cover for lending purposes, indicating that it was in the general library before being moved to the rare book collection.

Textual Analysis

Paratexts

There are 2 dedications and an introduction, all of which are written by the author. There is a dedication to Benjamin Rush and Robert Walker, who were most likely Claiborne’s instructors in medical school. Before the printed title page is a handwritten title page with a shortened title, author, date, and location.