John Call Dalton (February 2, 1825 – February 12, 1889) was an American

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

and

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

activist who became the first full-time professor of physiology in the United States.

Early life

Dalton was born in

Chelmsford, Massachusetts Chelmsford () is a town in Massachusetts that was established in 1655. It is located northwest of Boston. The Chelmsford militia played a role in the American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. ...

. He studied under French physiologist

Claude Bernard Claude Bernard (; 12 July 1813 – 10 February 1878) was a French physiologist. Historian I. Bernard Cohen of Harvard University called Bernard "one of the greatest of all men of science". He originated the term '' milieu intérieur'', and the ...

in France. Dalton had two understudies:

John Green Curtis John Green Curtis (October 29, 1844 – September 21, 1913) was an American physiologist who spent most of his career at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Curtis was one of the founding members of the American Physiolo ...

and

William Stewart Halsted William Stewart Halsted, M.D. (September 23, 1852 – September 7, 1922) was an American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of newly discovered anesthetics, and introduced several ...

. Dalton and Curtis were associated with the

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded i ...

in New York. Dalton was a professor of physiology at the college; however, it is unclear whether his son was as well. Dalton received his undergraduate and medical degrees from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Career

The anatomy of the brain was primarily drawn by Europeans prior to Dalton's more detailed and precise sketches of the brain. Dalton received an award from the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's state ...

in 1851 for his essay "Corpus Luteum". He was a professor at the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

for a brief time, but resigned in 1854. Dalton served as a professor or chairperson at the Vermont medical college and the

Long Island College Hospital University Hospital of Brooklyn at Long Island College Hospital (or LICH) was a 506-bed teaching hospital located in the Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York. The hospital was founded in 1858 as Long Island Coll ...

. John became the president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1884. Dalton served as a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

in the

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

from 1861 to 1864. Prior to his resignation in 1864, Dalton was a prominent member in the

medical corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of medica ...

of the national service. He served in the

7th New York Militia The 7th Regiment of the New York Militia, aka the "Silk Stocking" regiment, was an infantry regiment in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Also known as the "Blue-Bloods" due to the disproportionate number of its members who were part o ...

regiment in 1861. Dalton joined the national services as soon as the war commenced. He was primarily a surgeon during this time, and spent a lot of time treating the wounded. John was originally in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

, with the rank of medical officer. However, he spent time as well in the army corps, where he served as the medical inspector in the

6th Army Corps 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

. He was transferred to the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confedera ...

where he was made chief medical inspector of the field-hospitals. Once Dalton resigned in 1865, he was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel as well as colonel of volunteers. Dalton became the sanitary superintendent of the New York

Metropolitan Board of Health The New York City Metropolitan Board of Health was the first modern municipal public health authority in the United States. It was founded in 1866 by the New York City Common Council at a suggestion by the New York Academy of Medicine, following a ...

in March 1866. During the same year in which he resigned from that position, Dalton implemented the ambulance system in New York. Dalton's books included ''The Treatise on Human Physiology''. and the ''Topographical Anatomy of the Brain''. 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 ...

elected Dalton as a member in 1864. Dalton died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

in 1889.

Vivisection

Dalton was a staunch supporter of vivisection. He conducted experiments on living animals at the University of Buffalo and promoted vivisection to medical schools throughout the United States. In 1866, he authored ''Vivisection: What It Is and What It has Accomplished'' for the

New York Academy of Medicine The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health ...

. It summarized the benefits of vivisection.Cervetti, Nancy. (2012). ''S. Weir Mitchell, 1829-1914''. Philadelphia's Literary Physician. Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 60.

Works

* ''A Treatise on Physiology and Hygiene : for Schools, Families, and Colleges''. – New York : London : Harper & Bros. ; Sampson Low, Son & Marston, 1869
''A treatise on human physiology : designed for the use of students and practitioners of medicine''. – Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1861
* ''The Experimental Method of Medicine'' – Philadelphia, 1882 * ''Doctrines of the circulation : a history of physiological opinion and discovery, in regard to the circulation of the blood''. – Philadelphia : Henry C. Lea's Son & Co., 1884 * ''Topographical anatomy of the brain''. – Philadelphia, Lea brothers & Co., 1885 Speech * ''Vivisection; what it is, and what it has accomplished''. - Read before New York Academy of Medicine. Dec 13, 1866 Script : University of Michigan, University Library

Autobiography

*
John Call Dalton, M.D., U.S.V.
'. – ambridge: Riverside Press 1892 ( regarding his brief service in the ''7th New York Infantry '', National Guard)

References

Sources

* S. Weir Mitchell:
Memoir of John Call Dalton, 1825–1889
'. In: ''National Academy of Sciences : Biographical Memoirs''. – Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1895, Vol. III, pp. 177–185. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, John Call 1825 births 1889 deaths American biochemists American physiologists Harvard College alumni Harvard Medical School alumni New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene People from Chelmsford, Massachusetts University at Buffalo faculty Vivisection activists