himself. If this were so Shippen's efforts were crowned with success, for, on April 11, 1777, he was appointed to succeed Morgan as director-general of the Military Hospital and physician-in-chief of the American Army. This position he held until his resignation in January, 1781. In August, 1780, he was courtmartialed [SIC] on charges affecting his financial integrity. He was acquitted and, as stated above, continued in his position.
In 1798 Shippen suffered a terrible blow in the death of his son, a young man of great promise Dr. Caspar Wistar, in his Eulogium of Shippen delivered before the College of Physicians shortly after his death, says that this loss seemed to destroy his interest in every remaining object. He seldom lectured and his practice declined. He died in Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia, on July 11, 1808.
Wistar gives a delightful pen picture of Shippen: "His person was graceful, his manners polished, his conversation various, and the tones of his voice singularly sweet and conciliatory. In his intercourse with society he was gay without levity, and dignified without haughtiness or austerity. He belonged to a family which was proverbial for good temper. His father, whom he strongly resembled in this respect, during the long life of ninety years had scarcely ever been seen out of humor. He was also particularly agreeable to young people Known as he was to almost every citizen of Philadelphia, it is probable that there was no one who did not wish him well.
Shoemaker, John Veitch (1858–1910)
Born in 1858, he graduated A. B. and A. M. from Dickinson College and M. D, from Jefferson Medical College in 1874. He was a member of the American Academy of Medicine; Association of Military Surgeons of the United States; British Medical Association and London Medical Society; president of the American Medical Editors' Association and president of the American Therapeutic Association: demonstrator and lecturer on anatomy, and lecturer on cutaneous affections in Jefferson Medical College from 1874 to 1886; professor of cutaneous diseases and materia medica and therapeutics since 1886 in the Medico-Chirurgical College, and president of the institution since 1890; senior physician to the Medico-Chirurgical Hospital; founder of the Medical Bulletin in 1879, and Medical Register in 1887; and editor of the Medical Times and Register.
He was surgeon-general of the State of Pennsylvania from 1898 to 1902; and during the Spanish-American War raised the necessary funds and presented to the State of Pennsylvania a fully-equipped hospital train for the transportation of its sick soldiers from Camp Alger, Virginia. He was commissioned first lieutenant, Medical Reserve Corps, United States Army, in 1898.
In 1876 he married Jennie M. Logan, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Shoemaker was a prolific contributor to the literature of dermatology, materia medica and therapeutics. He wrote "Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Skin," pp. 633, 1888: "Practical Treatise on Materia Medica and Therapeutics," 2nd ed., 1046 pp., 1893. He exploited the use of oleates in skin diseases and wrote "Ointments and Oleates Especially in Diseases of the Skin," 2nd ed., 298 pp., 1890. Altogether there are twenty-seven titles of his writings in the Surgeon-General's catalogue. He died at his home in Philadelphia, October 11, 1910, from acute nephritis, aged fifty-two.
Short, Charles Wilkins (1794–1863)
Charles Wilkins Short was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, on October 6, 1794. His father, Peyton Short, emigrated there from Surrey County, Virginia. His mother was Mary, daughter of John Cleves Symmes. He acquired his literary education at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, where he graduated in 1810. In 1813 he entered the University of Pennsylvania as a private pupil of Dr. Caspar Wistar (q. v), and thence graduated in 1815, first settling in Lexington, Kentucky. He remained only a short time, moving to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he practised until 1825 when he was called to the chair of materia medica and medical botany in the Transylvania University. There he served acting also as dean of the faculty, for ten years.
With his colleague, Dr. John Esten Cook, (q. v.), he founded the Transylvania Journal of Medicine and the Associate Sciences in 1828. The University of Louisville, then an institution but one year old, called him to the
