BRIEF EXPOSITIONS OF RATIONAL MEDICINE: TO WHICH IS PREFIXED THE PARADISE OF DOCTORS, A FABLE (Inscribed)

Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1858. First Edition. Hardcover. Octavo, v, 7-75 pages. In Good plus condition. Bound in embossed brown cloth with gilt lettering. Boards show some discoloration to covers; spine with light wear to edges and corners. Text block foxed. Inscribed by author on front free endpaper: "Prof. Geo. B. Wood with the author's regards." An ex-library embossed stamp on title page. MF Consignment. Shelved in Upstairs Hall. George Bacon Wood received his B.A. and M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Wood first taught at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, beginning in 1822 as professor of chemistry and then in 1831 becoming professor of materia medica. He concluded his teaching at the College of Pharmacy in 1835 when he was named professor of materia medica at the University of Pennsylvania; in 1850 he became professor of the theory and practice of medicine, a position he held until he retired in 1860. In 1863 he was elected to the University of Pennsylvania's board of trustees, where he remained until his death. In 1865 Wood endowed an Auxiliary Faculty of Medicine at Penn with five chairs in zoology and comparative anatomy; botany; mineralogy and geology; hygiene; and medical jurisprudence and toxicology. Up until 1855 he continued to instruct medical students privately as well.




Wood was connected with many other institutions during his career. He was an attendant physician at the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb from 1822 to 1844 and at Philadelphia Hospital (later Philadelphia General Hospital) from 1835 to 1859. He was president of the American Philosophical Society from 1859 until his death, of the American Medical Association from 1855 to 1856, and also for many years, of Philadelphia's College of Physicians. Wood was also the author of many books, most notably the Dispensatory of the United States with Dr. Franklin Bache in 1833, and Treatise on the Practice of Medicine in 1847.
- University of Pennsylvania website. 1354648. Special Collections.