William Potts Dewees (May 5, 1768 – May 18, 1841) 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 ...

, best known for his work in

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

, being described in American Medical Biographies as a "

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 ...

n obstetrician

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

was so famous that no parturient woman of the time considered herself safe in other hands." Dewees received a

Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

and in 1806 an

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

from the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he would become Professor of Obstetrics, and Chair of Obstetrics from 1834 to 1841. In 1819, Dewees was elected to 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 ...

. His fame comes mainly from three books published in quick succession in the mid-1820s, each of which went to at least ten editions: ''Compendious System of Midwifery'' (1824), ''Treatise on the Physical and Medical Treatment of Children'' (1825), and ''Treatise on the Diseases of Females'' (1826). Of these, the ''System of Midwifery'' had the most lasting influence, introducing ideas from British and continental European physicians (especially

Jean-Louis Baudelocque Jean-Louis Baudelocque (30 November 1745 – 2 May 1810) was a French obstetrician who studied and practiced medicine in Paris. He was born in Heilly, in the French region of Picardy. Baudelocque is known for making obstetrics a scientific discip ...

) and becoming the standard reference on obstetrics in the United States for a time.

Works

''An essay on the means of lessening pain, and facilitating certain cases of difficult parturition'' (1806)
* ''Compendious System of Midwifery'' (1824) * ''Treatise on the Physical and Medical Treatment of Children'' (1825)
''Treatise on the Diseases of Females'' (1826)
* ''Practice of Medicine'' (1830)

Notes

References

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External links

Hodge, Hugh L. ''An eulogium on William P. Dewees, M.D: delivered before the medical students of the University of Pennsylvania, November 5, 1842'', (1842)
From the Digital Collections of the

National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dewees, William Potts 1768 births 1841 deaths American obstetricians American medical writers American male non-fiction writers Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Physicians from Pennsylvania