# Nathaniel Chapman

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American physician 1780–1853

Not to be confused with [Nathaniel Chipman](/source/Nathaniel_Chipman).

1846 engraving by Welch & Walters from a daguerreotype by M. P. Simmons

**Nathaniel Chapman** (28 May 1780 – 1 July 1853) was an American [medical doctor](/source/Medical_doctor).[1] He was the founding president of the [American Medical Association](/source/American_Medical_Association) in 1847.[2] Chapman founded the *[American Journal of the Medical Sciences](/source/American_Journal_of_the_Medical_Sciences)* in 1820 and served as its editor for some years, and also served as President of both the [Philadelphia Medical Society](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philadelphia_Medical_Society&action=edit&redlink=1) and the [American Philosophical Society](/source/American_Philosophical_Society) (elected 1807).[3]

## Early life

Chapman was born in Summer Hill, located north of [Four Mile Run](/source/Four_Mile_Run) in present-day [Arlington County](/source/Arlington_County%2C_Virginia), [Virginia](/source/Virginia), son of George Chapman and Amelia MacRae.[4] He received his early education in six years at the classical academy of [Alexandria](/source/Alexandria%2C_Virginia). He later attended two colleges for a short time, before moving to [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia) in 1797, where he began studying under [Benjamin Rush](/source/Benjamin_Rush) and attending lectures at the [University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine](/source/University_of_Pennsylvania_School_of_Medicine). He earned his [M.D.](/source/Doctor_of_Medicine) in 1800, with a thesis on [hydrophobia](/source/Rabies).

### Personal life

His wife, Rebekah Biddle, painted by [Benjamin Trott](/source/Benjamin_Trott_(painter)) (ca. 1815)

In 1808, he married Rebekah Biddle (1782-1870), the daughter of [Clement Biddle](/source/Clement_Biddle) and Rebekah Cornell of Philadelphia.[5]

## Career

Upon his graduation, Chapman traveled to the [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom) in 1801, spending a year in [London](/source/London) as a pupil of [John Abernethy](/source/John_Abernethy_(surgeon)), and three in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh), where he attended lectures at the medical school of the [University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh). While in Edinburgh he became acquainted with a number of well-known people, including [Dugald Stewart](/source/Dugald_Stewart), the [Earl of Buchan](/source/David_Erskine%2C_11th_Earl_of_Buchan), and [Henry Brougham](/source/Henry_Brougham%2C_1st_Baron_Brougham_and_Vaux).

Chapman returned to the United States in 1804, and established a medical practice in Philadelphia. He gave a private course of lectures on [obstetrics](/source/Obstetrics) in the same year, which proved so popular that, in 1806 at age 26, he was elected adjunct to the Professor of [Midwifery](/source/Midwifery) at the University of Pennsylvania, and soon thereafter was made chair of [Materia Medica](/source/Materia_Medica). Upon the death of Benjamin Rush in 1813, he was transferred to the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine (after [Benjamin Smith Barton](/source/Benjamin_Smith_Barton) held the post for a brief time. Chapman gained the post in 1815.), which he would retain for nearly forty years, until his retirement in 1850. In addition to his lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, he also gave annual lectures at the [Philadelphia Alms House](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Philadelphia_Alms_House&action=edit&redlink=1) and the [Medical Institute of Philadelphia](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Medical_Institute_of_Philadelphia&action=edit&redlink=1).

Of his published works, the most popular were *Select Speeches, Forensic and Parliamentary* (1804), touching on both medical and political matters, and *Therapeutics* (1817), a work on what was then termed *[materia medica](/source/Materia_medica)* that went through seven editions.

## Selected works

- [*An essay on the canine state of fever* (dissertation) (1801)](https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-2545067R-bk)

- [*Lectures on the more important eruptive fevers, haemorrhages and dropsies, and on gout and rheumatism* (1844)](https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-63340440R-bk)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-AMB_1-0)** Kelly, Howard A.; Burrage, Walter L. (eds.). ["Chapman, Nathaniel"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/American_Medical_Biographies/Chapman,_Nathaniel). [*American Medical Biographies*](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/American_Medical_Biographies). Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Full List of Annual Meetings and Presidents"](http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/about-ama/our-history/full-list-annual-meetings-presidents.page). *American Medical Association*. Retrieved 25 November 2012.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["APS Member History"](https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Nathaniel+Chapman&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced). *search.amphilsoc.org*. Retrieved 2021-04-02.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** A History of Chapman and Alexander Families, by Sigismunda Mary Francis Chapman, The Dietz Printing Company, Richmond, VA 1947, p. 22, [https://archive.org/details/historyofchapman00chap/page/22](https://archive.org/details/historyofchapman00chap/page/22)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Benjamin Trott | Mrs. Nathaniel Chapman (Rebekah Biddle) | The Met"](http://metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/12818). *metmuseum.org*. [The Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/The_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art). Retrieved 11 February 2017.

## References

- ["Death of Nathaniel Chapman, M.D."](https://books.google.com/books?id=khYCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA532) *[The Medical Examiner](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Medical_Examiner&action=edit&redlink=1)*. **9**. Lindsay & Blakiston: 532–535. 1853.

## External links

- Media related to [Nathaniel Chapman](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Nathaniel_Chapman) at Wikimedia Commons

- [Works by or about Nathaniel Chapman](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Chapman%2C%20Nathaniel%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Nathaniel%20Chapman%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Chapman%2C%20Nathaniel%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Nathaniel%20Chapman%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Chapman%2C%20N%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Nathaniel%20Chapman%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Chapman%2C%20Nathaniel%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Nathaniel%20Chapman%22%29%20OR%20%28%221780-1853%22%20AND%20Chapman%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

v t e Presidents of the American Medical Association 1847–1875 Nathaniel Chapman (1847–1848) Alexander Hodgdon Stevens (1848–1849) John Collins Warren (1849–1850) Reuben D. Mussey (1850–1851) James Moultrie (1851–1852) Beverly R. Wellford (1852–1853) Jonathan Knight (1853–1854) Charles A. Pope (1854–1855) George Bacon Wood (1855–1856) Zina Pitcher (1856–1857) Paul F. Eve (1857–1858) Harvey Lindsly (1858–1859) Henry Miller (1859–1860) Eli Ives (1860–1861) Alden March (1863–1864) Nathan Smith Davis (1864–1866) David Humphreys Storer (1866–1867) Henry F. Askew (1867–1868) Samuel D. Gross (1868–1869) William O. Baldwin (1869–1870) George Mendenhall (1870–1871) Alfred Stillé (1871–1872) D. W. Yandell (1872–1873) Thomas M. Logan (1873–1874) Joseph M. Toner (1874–1875) 1875–1900 W. K. Bowling (1875–1876) J. Marion Sims (1876–1877) Henry I. Bowditch (1877–1878) T. G. Richardson (1878–1879) Theophilus Parvin (1879–1880) Lewis Sayre (1880–1881) John T. Hodgen (1881–1882) Joseph Janvier Woodward (1882–1883) John Light Atlee (1883–1884) Austin Flint I (1884–1885) H. F. Campbell (1885–1886) William Brodie (1886–1887) E. H. Gregory (1887–1888) A. Y. P. Garnett (1888–1889) W. W. Dawson (1889–1890) E. M. Moore (1890–1891) W. T. Briggs (1891–1892) H. O. Marcy (1892–1893) Hunter McGuire (1893–1894) James F. Hibberd (1894–1895) Donald MacLean, 1885–1896) R. Beverly Cole (1896–1897) Nicholas Senn (1897–1898) George Miller Sternberg (1898–1899) J. M. Mathews (1899–1900) 1900–1925 William Williams Keen (1900–1901) C. A. L. Reed (1901–1902) John Allan Wyeth (1902–1903) Frank Billings (1903–1904) John Herr Musser (1904–1905) L. S. McMurtry (1905–1906) William James Mayo (1906–1907) Joseph D. Bryant (1907–1908) H. L. Burrell (1908–1909) William C. Gorgas (1909–1910) William H. Welch (1910–1911) John Benjamin Murphy (1911–1912) Abraham Jacobi (1912–1913) John A. Witherspoon (1913–1914) Victor C. Vaughan (1914–1915) William L. Rodman (1915) Albert Vander Veer (vice president) (1915–1916) Rupert Blue (1916–1917) Charles Horace Mayo (1917–1918) Arthur D. Bevan (1918–1919) Alexander Lambert (1919–1920) William Clarence Braisted (1920–1921) Hubert Work (1921–1922) George de Schweinitz (1922–1923) Ray Lyman Wilbur (1923–1924) William Allen Pusey (1924–1925) 1925–1950 William D. Haggard (1925–1926) Wendell C. Phillips (1926–1927) Jabez N. Jackson (1927–1928) William W. Thayer (1928–1929) Malcolm L. Harris (1929–1930) William Gerry Morgan (1930–1931) E. Starr Judd (1931–1932) Edward H. Cary (1932–1933) Dean D. Lewis (1933–1934) Walter L. Bierring (1934–1935) James S. McLester (1935–1936) James Tate Mason (1936) Charles G. Heyd (1936–1937) J. H. J. Upham (1937–1938) Irvin Abell (1938–1939) Rock Sleyster (1939–1940) Nathan B. Van Etten (1940–1941) Frank Lahey (1941–1942) Fred W. Rankin (1942–1943) James E. Paullin (1943–1944) Herman L. Kretschmer (1944–1945) Roger I. Lee (1945–1946) H. H. Shoulders (1946–1947) Edward L. Bortz (1947–1948) Roscoe L. Sensenich (1948–1949) Ernest E. Irons (1949–1950) 1950–1975 Elmer L. Henderson (1950–1951) John W. Cline (1951–1952) Louis H. Bauer (1952–1953) Edward J. McCormick (1953–1954) Walter B. Martin (1954–1955) Elmer Hess (1955–1956) Dwight H. Murray (1956–1957) David B. Allman (1957–1958) Gunnar Gundersen (1958–1959) Louis M. Orr (1959–1960) E. Vincent Askey (1960–1961) Leonard W. Larson (1961–1962) George M. Fister (1962–1963) Edward R. Annis (1963–1964) Norman A. Welch (1964) Donovan F. Ward (vice president) (1964–1965) James Z. Appel (1965–1966) Charles L. Hudson (1966–1967) Milford O. Rouse (1967–1968) Dwight Locke Wilbur (1968–1969) Gerald D. Dorman (1969–1970) W. C. Bornemeier (1970–1971) Wesley W. Hall (1971–1972) C. A. Hoffman (1972–1972) Russell B. Roth (1973–1974) Malcolm C. Todd (1974–1975) 1975–2000 Max H. Parrott (1975–1976) Richard E. Palmer (1976–1977) John H. Budd (1977–1978) Thomas E. Nesbitt (1978–1979) Hoyt D. Gardner (1979–1980) Robert B. Hunter (1980–1981) Daniel T. Cloud, 1981–1982) William Y. Rial (1982–1983) Frank J. Jirka Jr. (1983–1984) Joseph F. Boyle (1984–1985) Harrison L. Rogers Jr. (1985–1986) John J. Coury Jr. (1986–1987) William S. Hotchkiss (1987–1988) James E. Davis (1988–1989) Alan R. Nelson (1989–1990) C. John Tupper (1990–1991) John J. Ring (1991–1992) John L. Clowe (1992–1993) Joseph T. Painter (1993–1994) Robert E. McAfee (1994–1995) Lonnie R. Bristow (1995–1996) Daniel H. Johnson Jr. (1996–1997) Percy Wootton (1997–1998) Nancy Dickey (1998–1999) Thomas Reardon (1999–2000) 2000– Randolph D. Smoak Jr. (2000–2001) Richard F. Corlin (2001–2002) Yank D. Coble Jr. (2002–2003) Donald J. Palmisano (2003–2004) John C. Nelson (2004–2005) J. Edward Hill (2005–2006) William G. Plested III (2006–2007) Ronald M. Davis (2007–2008) Nancy H. Nielsen (2008–2009) J. James Rohack (2009–2010) Cecil B. Wilson (2010–2011) Peter W. Carmel (2011–2012) Jeremy A. Lazarus (2012–2013) Ardis Dee Hoven (2013–2014) Robert M. Wah (2014–2015) Steven J. Stack (2015–2016) Andrew W. Gurman (2016–2017) David O. Barbe (2017–2018) Barbara L. McAneny (2018–2019) Patrice Harris (2019–2020) Susan R. Bailey (2020–2021) Gerald E. Harmon (2021–2022) Jack Resneck Jr. (2022–2023) Jesse Ehrenfeld (2023–2024) Bruce A. Scott (2024–2025) Bobby Mukkamala (2025–present)

Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Netherlands 2 Latvia Academics CiNii Other Open Library SNAC Yale LUX

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Nathaniel Chapman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Chapman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Chapman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.