of prisons, and was one of the early friends and supporters of the Philadelphia library company and the Pennsylvania hospital. —
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His brother, Caspar, physician, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 13 Sept., 1761; d. there, 22 Jan., 1818, was educated at the Friends' school in his native city, where he received a thorough classical training. His interest in medicine began while he was aiding in the care of the wounded after the battle of Germantown, and he made his first studies under the direction of Dr. John Redman. He attended lectures at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and received the degree of bachelor of medicine in 1782. After spending a year in England, he went to Edinburgh, where, in 1786, he received his doctorate. While in Scotland he was, for two successive years, president of the Royal medical society of Edinburgh, and also president of a society for the further investigation of natural history. He returned to this country in January, 1787, and entered on the practice of his profession in Philadelphia, where he was at once appointed one of the physicians to the Philadelphia dispensary. He was professor of chemistry and the institutes of medicine in the College of Philadelphia from 1789 till 1792, when the faculty of that institution united with the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, of which he was adjunct professor of anatomy, midwifery, and surgery until 1808. In that year, on the death of his associate, Dr. William Shippen, Jr., he was given the chair of anatomy, which he retained until his death. His fame attracted students to his lectures, and he was largely the means of establishing the reputation of the school. Meanwhile he was chosen physician to the Pennsylvania hospital, where he remained until 1810. His ability as an anatomist was increased by his description of the posterior portion of the ethmoid bone with the triangular bones attached, which received universal recognition as an original treatment of the subject. It was his habit to throw open his house once every week in the winter, and at these gatherings students, citizens, scientists, and travellers met and discussed subjects of interest. These assemblies, celebrated in the annals of Philadelphia under the title of Wistar parties, were continued long after his death by other residents of that city. The College of physicians elected him a fellow in 1787, and he was appointed one of its censors in 1794, which place he retained until his death. He was elected a member of the American philosophical society in 1787, was chosen its vice-president in 1795, and on the resignation of Thomas Jefferson, in 1815, succeeded to the highest office, which he filled during the remainder of his life. On the death of Dr. Benjamin Rush, Dr. Wistar succeeded to the presidency of the Society for the abolition of slavery. The well-known climbing-shrub, wistaria, which grows wild in the western and southern states, was named in his honor. Dr. Wistar contributed papers to the “Transactions of the College of Physicians” and to the “Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,” and was the author of “A System of Anatomy, for the Use of Students of Medicine” (2 vols., Philadelphia, 1814, originally published in parts). — His son, Isaac Jones, soldier, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 14 Nov., 1827, was educated at Haverford college, Pa., adopted the profession of law, and practised in Philadelphia. He entered the National army in 1861, as a captain in a regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers, and served in Maryland and Virginia, his commission as brigadier-general of volunteers, dated 29 Nov., 1862, being granted for services at Antietam. After the war he resumed practice, and is now president of a canal company and several coal companies in Pennsylvania.
WISTER, Annis Lee, translator, b. in
Philadelphia, Pa., 9 Oct., 1830. She is the daughter of
the Rev. William H. Furness, and married, in 1854,
Dr. Caspar Wister (a descendant of Caspar Wistar,
who came to this country in 1717), who was
born in 1817, and died 20 Dec., 1888. Her education
was received chiefly at home under the care
of her father, and she early began to translate
stories from the German. Subsequently she translated
and adapted various novels, including those
of Eugenie Marlitt, Wilhelmine von Hillern, Friedrich
W. Hackländer, Fanny Lewald, and others,
numbering in all more than thirty volumes (Philadelphia,
1864 et seq.), among which are “The Old
Mam'selle's Secret,” “Gold Elsie,” “The Second
Wife,” “Violetta,” and “The Owl's Nest.” A
uniform set of her German translations has been issued
in thirty volumes (1888). She has also published,
with Dr. Frederic H. Hedge, “Metrical Translations
and Poems” (Boston, 1888).
WISWALL, Ichabod, clergyman, b. in Eng-
land in 1638; d. in Duxbury, Mass., 23 July, 1700.
He emigrated to this country in his youth, studied
at Harvard for three years without being gradu-
ated, was ordained to the ministry, and from 1676
until his death was pastor of the church in Dux-
bury, Mass. He taught for many years, and was
an agent of the colony in 1689 in its efforts to
prevent the union of Plymouth colony to New
York or Massachusetts, visiting England for this
purpose, but was defeated by Increase Mather, the
representative of Massachusetts, who desired the
union. Wiswall published a poem on the comet
of 1680 (London, 1680).
WITHERELL, James, statesman, b. in Mansfield, Mass., 16 June, 1759 ; d. in Detroit, Mich., 9 Jan., 1838. He served in the Revolutionary army as a member of the 11th Massachusetts regiment from the beginning of the war till 1783, when he was mustered out of service, after participating in the principal battles in New York and New Jersey, and being severely wounded at White Plains. He then studied medicine in his native state, was licensed to practise in 1788, and removed to Vermont, where he adopted the profession of law. He served in the legislature in 1798-1803, was a judge of Rutland county for the next two years, state councillor in 1803-7, and a member of congress from October, 1807, till May, 1808, when he resigned to become U. S. judge for the territory of Michigan. He resigned that post in 1828, and was appointed secretary of the territory by President John Quincy Adams. He was active in the management of the municipal and educational affairs of Detroit, and left a valuable collection of papers on the history of that city and the state of Michigan. — His son, Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, jurist, b. in Fair Haven, Vt., 4 Aug., 1797: d. in Detroit, Mich., 26 June, 1867, was educated in a private school in Troy, N. Y., accompanied his father to Michigan, and studied law. He was ad-
