American Medical Biographies/Beck, Lewis Caleb
Beck, Lewis Caleb (1798–1853)
Lewis Caleb Beck, naturalist, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., October 4, 1798, the son of Caleb and Catherine Romeyn Beck. After attending the Schenectady grammar school, he graduated A. M. from Union College in 1815 and took up the study of medicine. He was licensed to practise medicine by the State Regents at Schenectady in 1818. His interest in botany was soon evident, and he discovered a new species of flowering plant near Schenectady, described by Torrey as Bidens Beckii.
In 1820 he moved to St. Louis where he resided until 1822. He made an extensive collection of the plants in the vicinity of St. Louis and later published a list of his collections there (Amer. Jour. Sci. & Arts, 1826, vol. x: 257–264; 1827, vol. xi: 167–182; 1828, vol. xiv: 112–121. Among the several new species he found was the Dwarf Bluet (Houstonia minima. Beck).
In 1822 Dr. Beck moved to New York state, settling in Albany, and residing there during most of the remainder of his life. He held positions as professor of botany, chemistry or natural history, up to the time of his death, in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N. Y.; Vermont Academy of Medicine; Rutgers College at New Brunswick, N. J., and the Albany Medical College. Near New Brunswick he discovered Lathyrus glaucifolius (now known as L. ochroleucus). His first publication was an "Illinois and Missouri Gazeteer," that appeared in 1823.
He was well known in botanical circles and was the author of a "Manual of Botany of the United States North of Virginia" (1848), of which two editions were issued. He also published a number of botanical papers and a "Manual of Chemistry" (1831), which passed through four editions. A full list of his writings may be found in a memoir by Alden March in S. D. Gross' "American Medical Biography."
Soon after returning to Albany he married Hannah Maria, daughter of Israel Smith of that city and they had seven children. During the year 1836 he was a member of the geological survey of New York State, embodying the results of his explorations in a book on the mineralogy of New York, published in 1842.
In Albany he seems to have been well acquainted with Capt. James Eights (q.v.), who accompanied the Fanning "Voyage of Discovery" to the South Sea Islands in 1829, because the herbarium of Dr. Beck, acquired by the state and now in the state herbarium, contains a number of plants collected by Dr. Eights on Staten Island, South Shetland and other South Sea places. He was also a friend and correspondent of Asa Gray and his herbarium contains numerous specimens contributed by Dr. Gray.
He died at Albany, April 20, 1853.