Edward Stevens (diplomat)

Edward Stevens (born February 21, 1754 in Antigua , † September 26, 1834 ) was an American doctor and diplomat . He was a close friend of the American statesman Alexander Hamilton .

family

Stevens 'date of birth was unclear due to a lack of records, with Kristian Caroe giving the year 1752 without a source in his book "Den danske lægestand, 1479-1900" until the historian Michael E. Newton published contemporary records of Stevens' birthplace and date.

Stevens was one of five children. His father, a Scottish merchant named Thomas Stevens, would later become the adoptive father of the orphaned Alexander Hamilton . Stevens and Hamilton were on friendly terms and corresponded in later years.

Education and career

Stevens graduated from King's College in 1774 and then sailed to Great Britain to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh . He received his doctorate on September 12, 1777. Stevens' dissertation on gastric digestion was entitled De alimentorum concoctione . Based on this work, he was the first researcher to isolate human gastric juices. His work confirmed that of René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur , who demonstrated the digestive power of gastric juices and helped dispel previous digestive theories. Stevens' work on digestion had a possible influence on the work of Lazzaro Spallanzani on this subject .

On January 20, 1776, Stevens was inducted into the University's Royal Medical Society and was President of the Society for the academic year 1779/1780. Stevens conducted experiments on the color of blood and received an award for his work. He stayed in Edinburgh until 1783 and was one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh that year .

Stevens returned to Saint Croix in 1783 . He worked there as a doctor for ten years. He cultivated his friendship with Hamilton through correspondence.

In 1792, after the death of his wife Eleanora, Stevens decided to move to North America . Stevens had considered moving to Guyana, but William Thornton pushed him to move to the United States . In 1792 Stevens married Hester Kortright Amory. Stevens ended his ten years as a doctor in the Caribbean and moved to Philadelphia in 1793 . There he led a controversy with Benjamin Rush over methods of treating a yellow fever outbreak . Alexander Hamilton and his wife, Eliza, contracted the disease, and Stevens treated it with bark, wine, and cold baths - a treatment that created some controversy as Stevens disdained the treatment recommended by most doctors. After his recovery, Hamilton became a proponent of the Stevens Method: Stevens was inducted into the American Philosophical Society on April 18, 1794 . Stevens' research on digestion may have influenced other researchers in Philadelphia, particularly John Richardson Young. In 1795, Stevens was appointed professor at King's College.

Little is known about Stevens' last years of life. For two and a half months, 1809-1810, during the British occupation of the Danish Antilles, he was President of St. Croix. He corresponded u. a. with David Hosack .

Honors

The plant genus Stevensia Poit is named after him . from the red family (Rubiaceae).

Web links

• Literature by and about Edward Stevens in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ MichaelENewton: The Birthday of Edward Stevens, Alexander Hamilton's “Dear” Friend. In: Discovering Hamilton. November 5, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2019 (American English). 
2. ^ Wellcome Library: Den danske lægestand, 1479-1900 . Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1905 ( archive.org [accessed June 4, 2019]).
3. ↑ MichaelENewton: The Birthday of Edward Stevens, Alexander Hamilton's “Dear” Friend. In: Discovering Hamilton. November 5, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2019 (American English). 
4. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .