American Medical Biographies/Rand, Benjamin Howard
Rand, Benjamin Howard (1827–1883).
Benjamin Howard Rand, professor of chemistry in the Jefferson Medical College and author of books on chemistry, was the son of B. H. Rand, writing master in Philadelphia, and was born in that city, October 1, 1827. He began his professional studies in 1843 under Dr. Robert M. Huston, dean of the Jefferson Medical College, subsequently attended the usual course of lectures at Jefferson and received his degree of M. D. there in 1848. During the last two years of his student life he was clinical assistant to Professors Mütter and Pancoast. In 1850 he was elected professor of chemistry in the Franklin Institute, filling the chair until his election as professor of chemistry in Jefferson in 1864. He was secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences from 1852 to 1864 and he served as professor of chemistry in the Philadelphia Medical College until it ceased to exist in 1861. In 1853 he became a fellow of the Philadelphia College of Physicians, and in 1868 a member of the American Philosophical Society. He held the chair of chemistry in Jefferson until 1877, when he returned because of ill health. He died in Philadelphia, February 14, 1883, at the age of fifty-five.
Dr. Rand married Hannah M. Kershow in 1853. She died the following year and fifteen years later (1869) he married Mary M. Washington, great-granddaughter of Fairfax Washington.
His chief published works were: "Chemistry for Students," 1855; "Elements of Medical Chemistry," 1863 and 1875; and he edited Metcalf's "Caloric," two volumes, 1859.