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Medical casebook of Peter S. Townsend, who at this period maintained a practice on Church Street, near Barclay Street, in lower Manhattan. There are about 30 entries, but many of these are follow-up visits to the same patients. Each entry is in narrative form and does not follow a prescribed pattern. Townsend usually includes age, occupation, and address of the patient, symptoms of the case, and his treatment, including medications prescribed. Many of the patients are relatives of Townsend, but he also treated several employees of the nearby Astor House hotel.
History and Biography
Townsend was born in 1796 in New York City, the son of Solomon and Anne Townsend. He was graduated from Columbia College in 1812 and after study with David Hosack received the M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1816. He was among the founders of the Lyceum of Natural History and the New York Academy of Medicine and was active in politics, serving on the New York City Common Council in 1829-1831. He died of tuberculosis on March 26, 1849.
His publications include A Dissertation on the Influence of the Passions in the Production and Modification of Disease (1816); An Account of the Yellow Fever, as it prevailed in the City of New-York, in the Summer and Autumn of 1822 (1823); and, Memoir on the Topography, Weather, and Diseases of the Bahama Islands (1826).
Subject Headings and Related Records
Administrative Information
Purchase, Old Hickory Bookshop, New York City, 1939.