Observations on the Means of Improving the Medical Police of the City of New-York: Delivered as an Introductory Discourse, in the Hall of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, on the Sixth of November, 1820

New York, 1820. 8vo. Disbound wrappers. pp. 82 of ? Title leaf lacking portion of blank area at the bottom (15% or so of total leaf). The concept of medical police is quite interesting in the context of urban social history. The "police" focused on everything for occupational hazards to prostitution, abandoned children, and public safety such public alcoholism and toxins and poisons that could be an immediate hazard to public heath. David Hosack was noted American physician but remains "widely known as the doctor who tended to the fatal injuries of Alexander Hamilton after his duel with Aaron Burr in July 1804" His second wife was the wealthy widow of the merchant and shipowner Henry A. Coster, and brought $300,000 and seven children from her earlier marriage into the Hosack household. The newfound wealth enabled enabled Hosack to live and entertain lavishly- the splendor of his parties was the talk of the town, and he built an opulent baronial estate on the Hudson. His fortune was lost in 1835 as a result of a sweeping fire that bankrupted insurance companies he was invested in, and he died that year with the financial stress contributing to his rapid decline.

OCLC Number:1029959092. RARE. No copies in RBH since 1982.