David Hosack (August 31, 1769 – December 22, 1835) was a noted American physician, botanist, and educator. He remains widely known as the doctor who tended to the fatal injuries of

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first United States secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795. Born out of wedlock in Charlest ...

after his duel with

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805. Burr's legacy is defined by his famous personal conflict with Alexand ...

in July 1804, and who had similarly tended to Hamilton's son

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

after his fatal 1801 duel with

George Eacker George I. Eacker ( 1774 – January 4, 1804) was a New York lawyer. He is best known for having fatally shot Philip Hamilton, the eldest son of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, in a duel on November 23, 1801, in Weehawken, ...

. He established several institutions including

Elgin Botanic Garden The Elgin Botanic Garden was the first public botanical garden in the United States, established in 1801 by New York physician David Hosack. By 1810, Hosack was no longer able to fund the garden's expenses, and sold the land to the State of New Yo ...

and a medical school at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Early life and college

Hosack was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the first of seven children of Alexander Hossack , a merchant from Elgin in Scotland, and his wife Jane Arden. Following the end of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, Hosack was sent to New Jersey academies to further his education, first in Newark and then Hackensack. He would go on to attend Columbia College, now a branch of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where he began as a student of art, but eventually became fascinated by medicine. At Columbia, Hosack entered into a medical apprenticeship with Dr.

Richard Bayley Richard Bayley (1745 – August 17, 1801) was a prominent New York City physician and the first chief health officer of the city. An expert in yellow fever, he helped discover its epidemiology, improved city sanitation, and authored the federal Q ...

. While Hosack was studying at New York Hospital in April 1788, a violent crowd formed outside to protest

body snatching Body snatching is the illicit removal of corpses from graves, morgues, and other burial sites. Body snatching is distinct from the act of grave robbery as grave robbing does not explicitly involve the removal of the corpse, but rather theft from ...

, the practice of illicitly obtaining cadavers from graveyards for use in medical training. The rioters had gathered after a medical student taunted a group of children by waving a corpse's arm at them from a window, resulting in several days of violence that was later called the doctors' riot. While trying to protect the laboratory from a mob that broke into the hospital, Hosack was hit on the head with a heavy stone. Soon afterward, Hosack left Columbia and transferred to

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

(then known as the College of New Jersey). Hosack graduated from Princeton with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1789.

Medical education and early practice

In 1789, after graduating from Princeton, Hosack enrolled as a medical student under Dr.

Nicholas Romayne Nicholas Romayne (September 1756, in Hackensack, New Jersey – 21 July 1817, in New York City) was a physician of the United States. Biography He was the son of a silversmith, and received great educational advantages. At the beginning of the ...

, where he regularly visited homes for the poor and insane, as they were among the few places to offer clinical instruction. In the fall of 1790, Hosack transferred to medical school in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, where he wrote a doctoral dissertation on

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

. He married in early 1791, and that spring he received his medical degree from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. In 1791, Hosack and his wife Catharine moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where he opened his first medical practice. They returned a year later to New York City. During Hosack's first few years in medical practice, he concluded that the best practitioners had received at least some of their schooling in Europe, and convinced his father to pay his way to Britain in order to obtain such schooling. Upon arriving in the United Kingdom, Hosack matriculated at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, where he was reportedly horrified to find his knowledge of botany was sorely lacking. Well received by some of the leading scientific minds of the period, Hosack spent much of his time in their botanical gardens and lecture halls. He ultimately became one of the leading American scholars of botany. Hosack returned to America by 1796 and established a practice in New York City. A good deal of Hosack's clinical work was as a family practitioner, including pediatric and obstetric care. In the years that followed, Hosack gained a reputation as a confirmed family man, and for living well.

Hamilton–Burr duel

Hosack was the family doctor of

and his family, and is perhaps best known as the doctor present during Hamilton's duel with

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a Township (New Jersey), township in the North Hudson, New Jersey, northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the North River ...

on July 11, 1804. Hosack, a friend to both Hamilton and Burr, treated Hamilton after Burr fired, and accompanied him across the river to the dockside home of William Bayard Jr., where Hamilton died the next day. Hosack had also treated Hamilton's son

after he was fatally shot by

in a duel at the same location in 1801. At Alexander Hamilton's funeral, Hosack was one of the pallbearers. Three years after the duel, Burr was tried and acquitted on a charge of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

for a conspiracy to form a new nation in the

Louisiana Territory The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805, until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed the Missouri Territory. The territory was formed out of the ...

and

Spanish Texas Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. The term "interior provinces" first appeared in 1712, as an expression meaning "far away" provinces. It was only in 1776 that a lega ...

. Hosack loaned Burr money for passage on a ship to Europe, where Burr lived for several years in self-imposed exile to escape his creditors and the notoriety resulting from the trial.

Contributions to medicine and science

Hosack was the creator in 1801 of America's first

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, the

, which he modeled after gardens he had seen in England.

Teaching career

One of Hosack's most distinguished students was a celebrated New York City physician,

John Franklin Gray John Franklin Gray (September 23, 1804 – June 9, 1882) was an American educator and physician, a pioneer in the field of homoeopathy and one of its first practitioners in the United States. He is also recognized as an important medical reforme ...

, who later became the first practitioner of

homeopathy Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dis ...

in the United States. Gray's embrace of homeopathy, a

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claim ...

discipline, resulted in the loss of Hosack's friendship.

Establishment of hospitals and schools

Lying-In Hospital of New York

In 1798, following a

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

epidemic, Hosack proposed opening the first

lying-in Lying-in is the term given to the European forms of postpartum confinement, the traditional practice involving long bed rest before and after giving birth. The term and the practice it describes are old-fashioned or archaic, but it used to be c ...

hospital in New York, a maternity clinic where he could offer health care to poor pregnant women. He raised funds from subscribers, including Alexander Hamilton, to purchase a house on Cedar Street where the Lying-In Hospital opened in 1799. In 1801, the Lying-In Hospital moved into space rented from New York Hospital, but ceased operations in 1827 when New York Hospital refused to host the facility any longer. The institution continued to exist on paper as a charitable society for several decades after Hosack's death, ultimately merging in 1890 with an obstetrical dispensary that became part of New York Hospital, now

NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New Y ...

Medical colleges

Hosack and his former teacher, Dr.

, both at various times sought academic sponsorship from colleges in order to found new medical schools at those colleges. They were early proponents of the belief that medical education should be easily accessible. One of Hosack's earlier victories was the merger of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and

. He successfully pursued an alliance with Rutgers College, bringing his group of colleagues to

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hosack came under attack by the County Medical Society of New York for "unjustifiable interference in the medical concerns of the state and disregard for the provisions of the laws of the state regarding medical education." After the defeat, Hosack traveled to

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

and succeeded in gaining the sponsorship of Geneva College in

Geneva, New York Geneva is a City (New York), city in Ontario County, New York, Ontario and Seneca County, New York, Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake (New York), Seneca Lake; all land port ...

. Soon after, the medical school previously established in New Jersey at Rutgers transferred its allegiance to Geneva. The trustees of that college voted on October 30, 1827, to establish the medical faculty. Hosack's adversaries filed suit in ''The People v. The Trustees of Geneva College'', in which the court ruled that the college did not have the power to operate or appoint a faculty at any place but Geneva, invalidating the branch of Geneva College in New York City.

Horticulture and botany

In 1801, Hosack created the

, named for his father's Scottish birthplace. It was the first public botanical garden in the United States, established with his purchase of twenty acres of rural land on the outskirts of New York City for just under $5,000, equivalent to $ in dollars. The location, 3½ miles from what was then the city limit, is now bounded by 47th Street on the south, 51st Street on the north, and Fifth Avenue on the east, reaching nearly to Sixth Avenue on the west. It is the present site of

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

. The entire property "was intended by Professor Hosack for a botanical garden, the prime object of which was to be the collection and cultivation of native plants of this country, especially such as possess medicinal properties or are otherwise useful." At his own expense, Hosack landscaped the garden with a variety of indigenous and exotic plants, mostly of American origin. By 1805, after Hosack had spent $75,000 on the effort, the garden was home to 1,500 species of plants from all over the world, including some rare specimens contributed by Thomas Jefferson. The following year, Hosack published a catalogue and visitors' guide, containing an extensive list of the plants under cultivation at Elgin. Hosack's funds were insufficient to support such a project indefinitely, and it was suggested that he was so preoccupied with his endeavors in the creation of Rutgers Medical College that he had neither time nor money to continue the garden. The State of New York purchased Elgin from Hosack, pursuant to an 1810 act of the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

, for a much lower sum than Hosack had paid for the property. Care of the garden was placed in the hands of the

Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...

, which then gave it to Columbia College in 1814. Columbia had no interest in continuing with the costly project. Elgin Botanic Garden was abandoned and eventually fell into decay, and Columbia ultimately leased the land to

John D. Rockefeller, Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in ...

in the 1920s for the

construction of Rockefeller Center The construction of the Rockefeller Center complex in New York City was conceived as an urban renewal project in the late 1920s, spearheaded by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help revitalize Midtown Manhattan. Rockefeller Center is on one of Colum ...

Personal life

Marriages and children

Early in 1791, shortly before receiving his medical degree, Hosack married Catharine Warner, whom he had met while studying at Princeton. Their son Alexander was born in Virginia in June 1792, after which the family moved back to New York City. Shortly after Hosack returned from Scotland to America, his son died. Catharine died soon after, in 1796, giving birth to a second child who also died. These personal tragedies, along with epidemics of

that hit Philadelphia in 1793 and New York in 1795 and 1798, led Hosack to devote much of his life thereafter towards the expansion of medical knowledge and education, as well as the training of doctors in caring for women and children. Hosack became an advocate for the betterment of lives of the poor, which led him to become a founder of the Humane Society. Close to two years after his first wife died, Hosack married a Philadelphia woman, Mary Eddy, a sister of

Thomas Eddy Thomas Eddy (September 5, 1758 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - September 16, 1827 New York City) was an American merchant, banker, philanthropist and politician from New York. Early life He was the son of Irish Quaker immigrants who had come to Ame ...

, a prominent Philadelphia philanthropist and prison reformer. David and Mary Hosack had nine children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. These included Alexander Eddy Hosack (1805–1871), a pioneering surgeon who took on much of his father's practice after his death.

Social and intellectual pursuits

Hosack was one of the founders of the

New-York Historical Society The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum ...

, and its fourth president (1820–1827). He was also a president of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York. He was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1810, the

American Antiquarian Society The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...

in 1814, and a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

the following year. In 1821, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

, and in 1827 he was elected into the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

as an Honorary Academician.

Final days

The

Great Fire of New York The 1835 Great Fire of New York was one of three fires that rendered extensive damage to New York City in the 18th and 19th centuries. The fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom, covering 17 city blocks, killing two people, and destroyin ...

, which began on December 15, 1835, destroyed between 530 and 700 buildings in New York City, covering in 17

city block A city block, residential block, urban block, or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest group of buildings that is surrounded by streets, not counting any type of thoroughfare within t ...

s. Hosack's personal loss of property in the fire was valued at $300,000, equivalent to $ in dollars. Hosack died of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

one week afterward, on December 22, 1835, and was buried at New York Marble Cemetery. In 1888, Hosack's descendants had him reinterred at

Trinity Church Cemetery The parish of Trinity Church has three separate burial grounds associated with it in New York City. The first, Trinity Churchyard, is located in Lower Manhattan at 74 Trinity Place, near Wall Street and Broadway. Alexander Hamilton, Albert Gal ...

, where

is also buried.

In popular culture

Gillen D'Arcy Wood Gillen D'Arcy Wood is Professor of Environmental Humanities and English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is originally from Australia, the son of H. D'Arcy Wood and a grandson of A. Harold Wood. He studied at Monash Universi ...

's 2005 historical novel, ''

Hosack's Folly {{unsourced, date=May 2018 ''Hosack's Folly'' is a 2005 historical novel written by Australian author Gillen D'Arcy Wood. Based on the life of renowned New York physician Dr. David Hosack, the story takes place in 1820s Manhattan during an impe ...

'', was based on the life of Dr. Hosack. ''Hosack's Folly'' takes place twenty years after the Hamilton–Burr duel, during a time of great danger in New York due to a

epidemic. * In the 2015 Broadway musical ''

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

'', an ensemble member carrying a

medical bag A medical bag (doctor's bag, physician's bag) is a portable bag used by a physician or other medical professional to transport medical supplies and medicine. Traditionally, the medical bag was made of leather, opened on the top with a split- ...

represents Hosack (not identified by name) at the duel in which

is killed.

, in the song "

The World Was Wide Enough "The World Was Wide Enough" is the penultimate song from Act 2 of the musical ''Hamilton'', based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, which premiered on Broadway in 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote both the music and lyrics to the song. The song reco ...

", sings that Hamilton brought "a doctor that he knew," adding that "the doctor turned around so he could have deniability."

Selected works

''An introductory lecture on medical education'' (1801)

''Observations on the Canada thistle'' (1810)

''Observations on the establishment of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of New-York'' (1811)

''Observations on the surgery of the ancients: vindicating their claims to many of the reputed discoveries and improvements of modern times'' (1813)

''Observations on the advantages of exposing wounds to the air after capital operations'' (1813)

''Observations on vision'' (1813)

''Observations on the laws governing the communication of contagious diseases: and the means of arresting their progress'' (1815)

''Tribute to the memory of the late Caspar Wistar'' (1818)

''System of practical nosology'' (1821)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hosack, David 1769 births 1835 deaths 18th-century American physicians Columbia College (New York) alumni Princeton University alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Columbia University faculty Rutgers University faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Hobart and William Smith Colleges people Physicians from New York City Members of the American Antiquarian Society Burials at Trinity Church Cemetery Burials at New York Marble Cemetery