Old Philadelphia Families LXVII-CARSON
Philadelphia North American
Date: Sunday 13 SEP 1908
... Joseph CARSON, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (nee LAWRENCE) CARSON, was born April 19, 1808. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1826, and from the medical department of that institution in 1830. Entering at once upon the practice of his profession, he became, long before the close of his career, one of the most noted among the practitioners and teachers of medicine in America.
He was resident physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1830-1831. Then, as surgeon of the ship Georgiana, he made a voyage of a year to the East Indies returning to private practice in August, 1832. From 1836 to 1850 he was professor of materia medica at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy; from 1844 to 1848 was lecturer on materia medica at the Medical Institute of Philadelphia; was physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1849 to 1854; for over a quarter of a century "1850-76" was professor of materia medica and pharmacy at the University of Pennsylvania, etc.
He was a member of most of the medical and scientific societies of the day, and an officer in many of them; the College of Physicians of Philadelphia; the American Philosophical Society, of which he was a curator from 1859 until his death; the Academy of Natural Sciences, of which he was librarian, 1834-36, recording secretary, 1836-37, and vice president, 1859-75; the American Medical Association, the Philadelphia County Medical Society, of which he was president in 1862; of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, of which he was a councilor for many years, etc.
He was a delegate to the national convention for the revision of the pharmacopoeia in 1860 and 1870, and president in the year last mentioned, and a representative to the International Medical Congress in 1876.
Dr. CARSON was an extensive writer upon medical subjects. From October, 1836, to July, 1850, he edited the Journal of Pharmacy. During the same period he edited with notes and additions, Pereir's Materia Medica. In 1847 he published his Illustrations of Medical Botany, in two quarto volumes. He also published "probably his most notable work" a History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.
Whether as a practitioner of medicine, as an instructor in the leading professional schools of Philadelphia, or as a writer upon technical subjects, Dr. CARSON can be said truthfully to have ranked second to none, at a time when Philadelphia was the recognized center of medical skill and erudition in America.
He was twice married, first, to Mary GODDARD, who died without issue, and secondly, to Mary HOLLINGSWORTH, daughter of Henry and Sarah (nee HUMPHREY) HOLLINGSWORTH, of the noted colonial family whose history was set forth in The North AMERICAN of December 15, 1907. Dr. CARSON's death occurred December 30, 1876. ...
