American Medical Biographies/Porter, Robert Robinson

by Hannah M. Thompson

Porter, Robert Robinson (1811–1876)

Robert R. Porter entered the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1833, and soon after was appointed resident physician of Frankford Insane Hospital (1835). He was a member of the Delaware State Medical Society, its president in 1858. His practice was confined exclusively to Wilmington, Delaware, with the exception of one year's residence at the Frankford Insane Hospital.

Dr. Porter was a physician of ability and of high professional honor; in addition, a man of enterprise and of public spirit and took a leading position in every movement for public good.

He married, in 1841, Lucinda, only daughter of Judge Millard Hall, and had five daughters and one son. Dr. Porter died suddenly of apoplexy, April 14, 1876.

He published in the American Medical Journal his "Observations on the Condition and Treatment of the Insane," and also assisted Dr. Samuel Morton (q. v.) in the preparation of his work on "Phthisis Pulmonalis."

Hannah M. Thompson.

Hist. of Delaware. John T. Scharf, 1888.