BECK 73
to relieve his suffering by means of opiates and anesthetics, he would very seldom do this. "I do not wish to die," he would almost invariably answer those about him, "either stupified or insane." When finally the grim and dreadful messenger came to summon him, the doctor passed away "not like the galley-slave," but calmly and smilingly, as one reliant upon his glorious faith and supremely confident of a better life hereafter.
He died at Rhinebeck, New York, April 9, 1851. T. H. S.
Gross's American Medical Biography, 1861.
New York Journal of Medicine, 1S51 (C. R.
Gilman).
American Universities and Their Sons, vol. ii.
Beck, Lewis C. (1798-1853).
After taking his M. D., when less than twenty years old, he began, after a little practice in medicine to gather materials for a "Gazetteer" of Illinois and Missouri.
He was the third doctor in the Beck family, and was born at Schenectady, New York, on the fourth of October, 1798, the son of Caleb and Catherine Romeyn Beck. The Schenectady Grammar School furnished his boyish education, and he took his M. A. from Union College in 1815. In 1S21 he gave up his roving habits for a while and settled down to practise in Albany, New York, where he finished three years labor on his "Gazet- teer," spending a good deal on engravings for it. His marriage, too, moderated the "travel fever," and Hannah Maria, daugh- ter of Israel Smith of Albany, further moderated it by making him the father of seven children. Lecturing on natural sciences, writing papers, editing books, studying always, especially botany and general practise of medicine, he ran through life too quickly fur health, but of course went on working, and when an act was passed providing for a geological survey of New *» ork State he was quite ready, and from June to October, 1836, be travelled over 2,412 mile - I'<>r nearly six years he continued these investiga- tions, continuing his co!1<-l'i IcHiiiv far as he could. He never failed toentei
BECK
up observations daily, so that anyone could take up the survey from where he had left off. The report comprised economical mineralogy and descriptive mineralogy with some 533 wood cuts, and was prettily prefaced by his saying "and if the work which was the result of so much solicitude shall be in any degree useful to my fellowmen, to God's sustain- ing power must all the merit be ascribed." From this period up to his death in 1S53, he was constantly engaged in scientific writing, and one of his most important works was the detailed report on cholera made for the governor of New York in 1832.
A list of his many writings can be seen in Gross' "American Medical Biography" under Beck's name. They number over forty and include: "A Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri," 1823; "On the Geographi- cal Botany of the United States," 1828; " Botany of the Northern and Middle States," 1833; "Mineralogy of New York," 1842; " Views Concerning Igneous Action," 1844; "Elementary Lectures on Chemistry, Electricity and Magne- tism," 1S34, which volume won a prize of S120 from James Wadsworth of Monroe County, New York.
His appointments included:
Junior professor of botany, mineralogy and Zoology, Rensselaer School and the same in the Vermont Academy of Medi- cine; professor of chemistry and natural history, Rutgers College, New Jersey; professor of chemistry, Albany Medical College. D. W.
Tr. Med. Soc. N. York, 1854 (J. V. P. Quack-
enbush).
Ann. Med. Soc. County Albany (1806-51),
1864.
Eminent Amer. Phys. and Surgs., Dr. S. D.
Gross.
Beck, Theodric Romeyn (1791-1 S55).
Theodric Romeyn Beck, alienist, was born at Schenectady, New York, S 11, 1 791 . His mother, a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Derick Romeyn, principal of the Academy of Schenectady, was a lady of rare attainments and great force of character.
