American Medical Biographies/Griffitts, Samuel Powel
Griffitts, Samuel Powel (1759–1826)
Samuel Powel Griffitts, founder of the Philadelphia Dispensary, was born in Philadelphia, July 21, 1759, the son of William and Abigail Powel Griffitts. His father died when he was an infant and he was brought up by his mother in an atmosphere of religion which made an indelible impression upon his youthful mind. Every morning he read from the New Testament in Greek or Latin and he later joined the Society of Friends, becoming one of their most valued and influential members. After graduating from his mother's tuition he went to the College of Philadelphia, where he became an excellent classical scholar, acquiring unusual facility in speaking Latin and a high degree of proficiency in French. After college he began the study of medicine, under Dr. Adam Kuhn (q. v.) (a well-known pupil of Linnaeus), then professor to a class of materia medica and botany in Philadelphia, and worked with him until 1781, when he received an M. D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Then he traveled abroad for three years, in order to complete his medical education. He took a course at Montpellier, made a tour of Southern France, studied for several months in London and spent some time in Edinburgh, where he studied with the celebrated Dr. Cullen. In 1784 he returned to Philadelphia and practised medicine until his death.
Dr. Griffitts was interested in all public matter pertaining to his profession as well as in his private practice. He was the first person to actively engage in the establishment of a dispensary and it was largely owing to his efforts that the Pennsylvania Dispensary was founded in 1786, he serving as manager and attending physician and for forty years a daily visitor. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, the Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, an active member of the Humane Society, a member of the American Philosophical Society and in 1787 became one of the original members of the College of Physicians, a body which in 1817 made him its vice-president. He was a member of the committee that made a pharmacopoeia for the College.
In 1787 he married Mary Fishbourne, daughter of William Fishbourne, a merchant of Philadelphia.
The University of Pennsylvania made him professor of materia medica in 1792, a position which he held for four years and filled with distinction. His last public effort of any importance was furnishing assistance in the making of the United States Pharmacopoeia, in which he was much interested. He read a paper on this subject June 1, 1820, before the Pharmacopoeial Convention. He died after a brief illness from pneumonia, May 12, 1826.