James Jackson (3 October 1777 in
Newburyport, Massachusetts – 27 August 1867 in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
) was an American
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
. He was a proponent of
Massachusetts General Hospital and became its first physician.
Life and career
He was the son of Newburyport merchant
Jonathan Jackson who had been a representative of
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
in the
Continental Congress. He graduated from
Harvard in 1796, and, after teaching for a year in
Leicester Academy, was employed until December 1797 as a clerk for his father, who was then an officer of the government. After studying medicine in
Salem for two years, he sailed for
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, where he became a “dresser” in
St. Thomas's Hospital, and attended lectures there and at
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...
.
He returned to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
in 1800, and began a medical practice, which he continued until 1866. In 1803 he became a member of the
Massachusetts Medical Society
The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization th ...
, and in 1810 he proposed with
John Collins Warren
John Collins Warren (August 1, 1778 – May 4, 1856) was an American surgeon. In 1846 he gave permission to William T.G. Morton to provide ether anesthesia while Warren performed a minor surgical procedure. News of this first public demonstrat ...
the establishment of a hospital and an asylum for the insane.
Somerville Asylum was soon founded, and afterward the
Massachusetts General Hospital was begun in Boston, of which he was the first physician until he resigned in 1835. In 1810 he was chosen professor of clinical medicine at
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...
, and in 1812 professor of theory and practice, which post he held until 1835,
and was afterward professor emeritus until his death. Jackson was elected 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, a ...
in 1808.
Family
He was the brother of
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
, industrialist
Patrick Tracy Jackson, and
Massachusetts Supreme Court
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously functi ...
judge
Charles Jackson. Among his students was
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (; August 29, 1809 – October 7, 1894) was an American physician, poet, and polymath based in Boston. Grouped among the fireside poets, he was acclaimed by his peers as one of the best writers of the day. His most fa ...
, who married his brother Charles' daughter Amelia Lee Jackson.
Works
* ''On the Brunomian System'' (1809)
* "Remarks on the Medical Effects of Dentition" in the ''New England Medical and Surgical Journal'' (1812)
* ''Eulogy on Dr. John Warren'' (1815)
* ''Syllabus of Lectures'' (1816)
* ''Text-Book of Lectures'' (1825–27)
* A memoir of his son, James Jackson, Jr., who died in 1834
* ''Letters to a Young Physician'' (1855; 4th ed., 1856)
He also published articles in the ''Transactions'' of the Massachusetts Medical Society, of which he was elected president several times. Reports drawn up principally or entirely by him include:
* “On Cow Pox and Small Pox”
* “On Spotted Fever”
* “On Spasmodic Cholera”
He also made numerous other contributions to the ''New England Medical and Surgical Journal'' and other periodicals.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, James (physician)
1777 births
1867 deaths
19th-century American physicians
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
People from Newburyport, Massachusetts
Harvard College alumni
Harvard Medical School faculty
McLean Hospital physicians