PITCHER
274
PITCHER
in 1S30, and commenced to study medi-
cine with Dr. Edward Sparks. In 1833 he
graduated from the Jefferson IMedical
College, Pennsylvania, and the following
year entered the United States Navy as
assistant surgeon and continued on active
duty until retired as medical director with
rank of commodore in 1873. In 1848 he
received the vote of thanks of the
General Assembly of Maryland, for
gallant and meritorious sevices in the
Mexican War. He prepared and de-
livered a series of lectures, some of
which were published. Among the best
are: "On the Nerves of the Brain and
Organs of Sense," (1839); "Life and
Character of Admiral ColHngwood"
(1848); "A Treatise on Asiatic
Cholera" (1849); "Home and Foreign
Policy of the Government of the
United States" (1854). In the same
j^ear he also deUvered the commencement
oration at St. John's College, and made
the presentation address at the Naval
Academy on the occasion of Commodore
Perry's presenting the flag that had been
raised on the soil of Japan. Surg.
Pinkney was persistent in his advocacy
for increased and definite rank for the
medical officers in the Navy, and, in
1870, was chairman of a delegation which
proposed the medical staff rank and
grade for the United States Navy which
later, after shght modifications, became
the law. He died at his home near
Easton, Maryland, in 1877, leaving his
widow and a daughter. C. A. P.
Tr. Am. M. Ass., 1S78, xxix.
Pitcher, Zina (1797-1872).
Zina Pitcher, son of Nathaniel Pitcher and Margaret Stevenson, was born April 12, 1797, on a farm in Washington County, New York. When five years old his father died, leaving the mother with four young sons and an unattractive farm. Being Scotch, she had learned the value of education and determined to provide the best possible for her children. Zina worked hard during spring, summer and fall that he might study during the winter in common school or academy.
He began to study medicine at the age of
twenty-one with private practitioners
and at Castleton Medical College, gradu-
ating M. D. from Middlebury College in
1822. While studying medicine he
tutored in Latin, Greek and natural
sciences — the latter with Prof. Eaton, of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy,
New York. Soon after graduating, the
Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, sent
him a commission as assistant surgeon,
United States Army. The responsibihty
of this position rapidly developed his self-
reliance, so that he was soon made
surgeon. During his fifteen years of
army service he was stationed at different
points on the Northern Lakes (then a
savage frontier) on the tributaries of the
Arkansas, among the Creeks, Cherokees,
Choctaws and Osages and at Fortress
Monroe. At these places his leisure
hours were spent in study of nature about
him, observation of the habits of the
Indians, their diseases and the means
used for their recovery. The results of
these studies may be seen in works on
botany, in plants named after him; on
fossils bearing his name; and in a letter
to Dr. Morton on the existence of con-
sumption among the aborigines and in his
article on "Indian Therapeutics," printed
in the fourth volume, of Schoolcraft's
history of the " Conditions and Prospects
of the Indian Tribes." In 1835 he was
president of the Army Medical Board.
In 1836 Dr. Pitcher resigned his commis-
sion and settled in Detroit. From 1837 to
1852 he was regent of the University and
probably planned most details respecting
the medical department. With the
appointment of the medical faculty he
was made emeritus professor. He was
mayor of Detroit in 1840-41-43. Long
dissatisfied with the educational facilities
of the frontier town, he made an exhaus-
tive study of its schools and laid the
results before the Common Council and
persuaded it to join him in asking the
Legislature to enact a law authorizing
the estabUshment of free pubHc schools
in Detroit, which petition was granted.
He was city physician, 1847; county
