Kaaterskill Books

Upstate New York Physicians

[Medical. New York] [Burton, Thompson].

[Small Archive] Three Certificates Pertaining to Dr. Thompson Burton, Physician of Upstate New York, Signed By Prominent Members of the Medical Community.

Vermont; New York: 1835-1838. 3 pieces. Very good collection, light soiling, contents clean. Item #45307

Three pieces of Dr. Thompson Burton, an Upstate New York physician, certified and signed by prominent members of the Vermont and New York medical communities.

1. [Manuscript] Diploma Signed June 17th, 1835. 8 x 12 1/2 inches. [2 pp]. From the President and Professors of the Medical Academy at Castleton VT, pronouncing Thompson Burton as a Doctor of Medicine, signed by William Tully, President, and Theodore Woodward, Registrar. Additional names include Alden March and Jno. W. Wolf.

2 [Printed Certificate of Membership Signed] Vellum. 10 1/2 x 12 inches. June 28th, 1836, from the Medical Society of the County of Washington, New York, (Instituted 1806). Signed by Salmon Axtell, President, and by James Savage, Secretary. Excellent image of Apollo, god of medicine and healing, shooting a snake (Python) with an arrow.

3. [Printed Certificate of Membership Signed, with Seal] 9 x 8 inches. 1 sheet. June 13th, 1838, from the Montgomery County Medical Society, New York, (incorporated 1806) certifying Thompson Burton as a member of the society. Signed by President Morgan Snyder, and by Secretary Frank Buckler.

Thompson Burton (1812-1892) was born in Charleston, Montgomery county, NY, graduated from Castleton Medical College in VT in 1835, served as an instructor at Albany Medical College in 1842, started practice in Fultonville about 1846, and was President of the Medical society of Montgomery County. He appears to have retired due to ill health in 1855, as an advertisement in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal for 1855 offers his practice, equipment, and real estate for sale, noting that there are no other competing physicians in town.

Considered to be a particularly learned scientist, William Tully (1785-1859) was a lecturer and scholar at several colleges in the north east, and was President of the Vermont Academy of Medicine in Castleton. His wide body of knowledge included the variety of disciplines, including botany, chemistry, physiology, and the natural sciences, and his body of work is culminated in his two volume publication, "Materia Medica, or Pharmacology and Therapeutics," in 1857-58]. His partner, surgeon and medical inventor, Dr. Alden March (1795–1869), founded Practical School for Anatomy and Surgery in Albany, NY, and served as the President of the American Medical Association, and for the New York State Medical Society. The Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College is named after March.

References: Crisfield Johnson: History of Washington Co., New York (1978); Washington Frothingham: History of Montgomery County (1892); Frederick Waite: First Medical College in Vermont: Castleton, 1818-1862 (1949); Albany Medical College: (Catalogue and Circular) of the Trustees and Faculty ..., Volume 3; The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal - Volume 53 - Page 108.

Price: $150.00