Ebony and Ivy (63 page)

51
.
New-York Morning Post
, 15 October 1787; Sappol,
Traffic of Dead Bodies
, 18. For instance, an account of a dissection published the inhumane effects of whippings on a slave.
Independent American
, 10 May 1810. David Hosack's permit to attend at the almshouse for the year beginning 1 January 1789 and samples of tickets to his and other professors' lectures and demonstrations are available in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Written and Printed Documents, John Dalton Scrapbook, Health Sciences Library, Archives and Special Collections, Columbia University.

Southern medical colleges followed the northern pattern. The disproportionate use of black people for training and research captured white southerners' discomfort with human dissection and medical experimentation. In 1807 local physicians organized a medical school in Baltimore, the first in the South. Physicians multiplied the number of southern medical programs in the decades before the Civil War by drawing upon the region's large black populations for subjects. Forming close ties to poorhouses, city hospitals, and plantations, these medical colleges raked the slave system for patients and specimens. Students at some of the best medical programs in the region, such as those in Charleston and Atlanta, did most of their training on the bodies of African Americans, living and dead.

The living had other uses. In 1852 the seven faculty members of the Georgia College of Medicine (1835) in Augusta pooled their money and purchased Grandison Harris for $700 at the slave market in Charleston, South Carolina. Harris was then put to work as the medical college's resurrectionist, digging up new corpses in the evening and carting them back to the laboratories. To hide the illegal seizures and dissections, he scattered the remains in the basement of the medical school, covered them with dirt, and coated the floor with lime to mask the odor. William G. Rothstein,
American Medical Schools and the Practice of Medicine: A History
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 28–29; Todd L. Savitt, “The Use of Blacks for Medical Experiments in the Old South,”
Journal of Southern History
, August 1982, 331–40; Tanya Telfair Sharpe, “Grandison Harris: The Medical College of Georgia's Resurrection Man,” in Robert L. Blakely and Judith M. Harrington, eds.,
Bones in the Basement: Postmortem Racism in Nineteenth-Century Medical Training
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997), 3–6, 206–15.

52
. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach,
Natural Varieties of Mankind
, 3rd ed. (Göttingen, Germany, 1795), in Thomas Bendyshe, ed. and trans.,
The Anthropological Treatises of Johann Friedrich Blumenbach
(London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, 1865), 247–49; Fyfe,
Compendium of the Anatomy of the Human Body
, I:24; Charles White,
An Account of the Regular Gradation in Man, and in Different Animals and Vegetables; and from the Former to the Latter
(London: C. Dilly, 1799), esp. 61–67.

1
.
The Commissioners of the Almshouse v. Alexander Whistelo, a Black Man
, General Sessions—New York, August Term, 1808, 1–7, Schomburg Center, New York Public Library. A complete transcript of the trial was immediately available in New York.
The Commissioners of the Alms-House, vs. Alexander Whistelo, A Black Man; Being a Remarkable Case of Bastardy, Tried and Adjudged by the Mayor, Recorder, and Several Alderman of the City of New-York, Under the Act Passed 6th March 1801, for the Relief of Cities and Towns from the Maintenance of Bastard Children
(New York: David Longworth, 1808). One Baltimore editor noted that the trial “contains the opinions of so many learned men” on the question of generation that it deserved to be reprinted without commentary. See
Medical and Philosophical Register
, 1 October 1808. On the law and violence against women in colonial society, see Ruth H. Bloch,
Gender and Morality in Anglo-American Culture, 1650–1800
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003). On the social and legal culture of Whistelo's New York, see Shane
White, “‘We Dwell in Safety and Pursue Our Honest Callings': Free Blacks in New York City, 1783–1810,”
Journal of American History
, September 1988, 445–70.

2
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 2–5; David Hosack,
An Inaugural Dissertation, on Cholera Morbus Submitted to the Examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. Provost; the Trustees and Medical Professors of the University of Pennsylvania; for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine: On the Twelfth Day of May, A.D. 1791
(New York: Samuel Campbell, 1791); David Hosack,
Syllabus of the Courses of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Physic and on Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women and Children, Delivered in the University of New-York
(New York: Van Winkle, Wiley, 1816); David Hosack,
An Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College, in the City of New-York, on Monday the 6th Day of November, 1826
(New York: J. Seymour, 1826), 156–59; John Howard Raven, comp.
Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College (Originally Queen's College) in New Brunswick, N.J., 1766–1916
(Trenton, NJ: State Gazette Publishing, 1916), 64. Jotham Post dedicated his 1793 dissertation to Professor Post. See
An Inaugural Dissertation, to Disprove the Existence of Muscular Fibres in the Vessels. Submitted to the Public Examination of the Faculty of Physic, Under the Authority of the Trustees of Columbia College in the State of New-York: William Samuel Johnson, LL.D. President; for the Degree of Doctor of Physic; on the Thirtieth Day of April, 1793
(New York: T. and J. Swords, 1793).

3
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 5; see Edvardus Miller, M.B.,
Dissertatio Medica, Inauguralis, de Physconia Splencia. Quam Sub Moderamine Viri Admodum Reverendi D. Joannis Ewing, S.S.T.P. Universitatis Pennsylvaniensis Praefecti
… (Philadelphia: G. Young, 1789); see Samuel Latham Mitchill, Edward Miller, and E. H. Smith,
Address [to Physicians]
(New York: November 15, 1796);
Report of the Proceedings of the Medical and Surgical Society of the University of the State of New-York. During the Winter of 1809–10. Being the Third Session of the Society
(New York: George Long, 1810), 3–4; Hosack,
Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College
, 24–33.

4
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 7–8; Benjaminus Kissam,
Dissertatio Medica Inauguralis, Amplectens Quadam de Utero Gravido. Quam, Annuente Summo Numine, Ex Auctoritate Reverendi admondum Viri D. Gulielmi Robertson, S.S.T.P. Academiae Edinburgenae Praelecti
… (Edinburgh: Balfour and Smellie, 1783), British Library; Herman Le Roy Fairchild,
A History of the New York Academy of Sciences, Formerly the Lyceum of Natural History
(New York: By the author, 1887).

5
. Hosack, for instance, was a member of the Linnaean Society of London and the Royal Medical and Physical Society of Edinburgh.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 8–9; David Hosack,
Syllabus of the Course of Lectures, on Botany, Delivered in Columbia College
(New York: John Childs, 1795);
Catalogue of
the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College
, 63. Valentine Seaman, of New-York,
An Inaugural Dissertation on Opium Submitted to the Examination of John Ewing, S.T.P. Provost; and to the Trustees and Medical Professors of the University of Pennsylvania; for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine: On the Second Day of May, A.D. 1792
(Philadelphia: Johnston and Justice, 1792); Valentine Seaman,
The Midwives Monitor, and Mothers Mirror: Being Three Concluding Lectures of a Course of Instruction on Midwifery. Containing Directions for Pregnant Women; Rules for the Management of Natural Births, and for Early Discovering When the Aid of a Physician is Necessary; and Cautions for Nurses Respecting Both the Mother and Child. To Which is Prefixed a Syllabus of Lectures on That Subject
(New York: Isaac Collins, 1800).

6
. Andrew Duncan,
Heads of Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence, or the Institutiones Medicinae Legalis, Delivered at the University of Edinburgh
(Edinburgh: Neill, 1792), iii, 12–14. The first volume was on anatomy and the second covered the dissection and mapping of the human body. See William Nisbet,
The Edinburgh School of Medicine; Containing the Preliminary of Fundamental Branches of Professional Education, viz. Anatomy, Medical Chemistry, and Botany. Intended as an Introduction to the Clinical Guide. The Whole Forming a Complete System of Medical Education and Practice According to the Arrangement of the Edinburgh School
, 4 vols. (London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1802).

7
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 9; David Hosack,
A Funeral Address, Delivered on the Twenty-Sixth of May, 1818, at the Interment of Doctor James Tillary, Late President of the St. Andrew's Society of the City of New-York
(New York: C. S. Van Winkle, 1818), 6–9; Hosack,
Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College
, 93, 158, 161;
Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College
, 62.

8
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 9; Matthias H. Williamson,
An Inaugural Dissertation on the Scarlet Fever, Attended with an Ulcerated Sore-Throat. Submitted to the Examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. Provost; the Trustees and Medical Professors of the University of Pennsylvania; for the Degree Doctor of Medicine: On the Tenth Day of May, A.D. 1793
(Philadelphia: Johnston and Justice, 1793); Hosack,
Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College
, 158–61;
Report of the Proceedings of the Medical and Surgical Society of the University of the State of New-York
, 3.

9
.
Mulatto
was defined as the offspring of a white and a black person, a
quadroon
as the child of a white person and a mulatto, and a
sambo
as the product of a black person and a mulatto.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 10–22.

10
. In 1825 several Physicians and Surgeons faculty resigned and formed a new medical program. They bought a building in New York City for $25,000 and sought affiliation with Geneva, Rutgers, and other colleges. Letter from Wright Post, president, et al., College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, 25 March 1825, Rutgers Medical College Records,
1792–1793, Box 2, Folder 12, RG 29/A, Rutgers University Archives;
Documents in the Matter of an Application to the Honourable The Legislature of the State of New-York, for a Charter for Manhattan College
(New York: J. Seymour, 1829); 3–17;
Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College
, 63; Samuel L. Mitchill, “A Sketch of the Mineralogical History of the State of New-York,”
Medical Repository
(1798) I., no. 3; Milton Halsey Thomas, comp.,
Columbia University Officers and Alumni, 1754–1857
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), 282; DeWitt Clinton,
A Memoir on the Antiquities of the Western Parts of the State of New-York, Read Before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York
(Albany, NY: I. W. Clark, 1818); Hosack,
Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College
. Also see David Hosack,
Memoir of De Witt Clinton, with an Appendix, Containing Numerous Documents, Illustrative of the Principal Events of His Life
(New York: J. Seymour, 1829).

11
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 16, 20. Earlier, David Hosack had drawn up the curriculum and discipline for a short-lived medical college. See David Hosack,
Course of Studies Designed for the Private Medical School Established in New-York
(New York: Van Winkle, Wiley, 1816).

12
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 22–24; [Felix Pascalis Ouvriere],
Medico-Chymical Dissertations on the Causes of the Epidemic Called Yellow Fever; and on the Best Antimonial Preparations for the Use of Medicine
(Philadelphia: Snowden and M'Corkle, 1796); Felix Pascalis Ouvriere,
An Account of the Contagious Epidemic Yellow Fever, Which Prevailed in Philadelphia in the Summer and Autumn of 1797; Comprising the Questions of Its Causes and Domestic Origin, Characters, Medical Treatment, and Prevention
(Philadelphia: Snowden and M'Corkle, 1798), 5–7; Nisbet,
Edinburgh School of Medicine
, I:137; Hosack,
Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College
, 24–33.

13
.
Almshouse v. Whistelo
, 24–40.

14
. Ibid.

15
. Ibid., 40–42.

16
. Vitto alleged that Comecho got his aunt, Mary Ephraim, to sell the land, used the money to get out of jail, joined the military, and then refused to honor the deed. Charles Francis Adams,
Some Phases of Sexual Morality and Church Discipline in Colonial New England
(Cambridge, MA: John Wilson and Son, 1891); David Flaherty, “Law and the Enforcement of Morals in Early America,” in Lawrence M. Friedman and Harry N. Scheiber, eds.,
American Law and the Constitutional Order: Historical Perspectives
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988), 52–65; Graham Russell Hodges, “The Pastor and the Prostitute: Sexual Power Among African Americans and Germans in Colonial New York,” in Martha Hodes, ed.,
Sex, Love, Race: Crossing Boundaries in North American History
(New York: New York University Press, 1999), 60–71; “The Petition of Prince Vitto, late a Negro man servant to the
Rev[eren]d Oliver Peabody of Natick,” 26 August 1755,
Acts and Resolves of the General Court
, vol. 9: 390–91, Massachusetts State Archives; Charles J. Hoadly, ed.,
The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut
(Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood, and Brainard, 1850–), 273–74; Arthur W. Calhoun,
The American Family in the Colonial Period
(1917; New York: Dover, 2004), 132–33.