Life

Born in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, he was the son of David Yeats, a physician who was the Secretary of the East Florida

East Florida

East Florida was a colony of Great Britain from 1763–1783 and of Spain from 1783–1822. East Florida was established by the British colonial government in 1763; as its name implies it consisted of the eastern part of the region of Florida, with West Florida comprising the western parts. Its capital...

 Colony in Florida. He matriculated from Hertford College, Oxford

Hertford College, Oxford

Hertford College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is located in Catte Street, directly opposite the main entrance of the original Bodleian Library. As of 2006, the college had a financial endowment of £52m. There are 612 students , plus various visiting...

, on 21 January 1790, graduating B.A. on 15 October 1793, M.A. on 25 May 1796, M.B. on 4 May 1797. He was incorporated M.B. at Dublin in 1807, and graduated M.D. from Trinity College

Trinity College, Oxford

The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...

, Oxford, on 7 June 1814. He spent two winter sessions in Edinburgh and one in London, and then practised at Bedford

Bedford

Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...

, where he assisted in the establishment of the Bedford general infirmary, and at a later period of the lunatic asylum near the town. He was nominated physician to each of these institutions. While at Bedford he acquired the friendship of Samuel Whitbread and of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford

John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford

John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford KG, PC, LLD, FSA , known as Lord John Russell until 1802, was a British Whig politician and notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Ministry of All the Talents...

.

On the Duke of Bedford's nomination to the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, Yeats accompanied him to Dublin in March 1806 as his private physician. While at Dublin he was instrumental in establishing the Dublin Humane Society, and was made a member of Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

. On the duke's return to England in 1807 he resumed his position at Bedford, where he later served as mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

. About 1814 he moved to London, where he was admitted a candidate of the Royal College of Physicians

Royal College of Physicians

The Royal College of Physicians of London was founded in 1518 as the College of Physicians by royal charter of King Henry VIII in 1518 - the first medical institution in England to receive a royal charter...

 on 30 September 1814, and a fellow on 30 September 1815. He was Gulstonian lecturer in 1817, censor in 1818, and Croonian lecturer around 1826 (speaking against the stethoscope

Stethoscope

The stethoscope is an acoustic medical device for auscultation, or listening to the internal sounds of an animal body. It is often used to listen to lung and heart sounds. It is also used to listen to intestines and blood flow in arteries and veins...

).

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 1 July 1819, and died at Tunbridge Wells on 14 November 1836. He married a daughter of Patrick Colquhoun

Patrick Colquhoun

Patrick Colquhoun was a Scottish merchant, statistician, magistrate, and founder of the first regular preventive police force in England, the Thames River Police.-Early life:...

.

Works

Yeats's major work, Observations on the Claims of the Moderns to some Discoveries in Chemistry and Physiology (London), was published in 1798, after he had settled at Bedford. In it he called attention to the experiments of John Mayow

John Mayow

John Mayow FRS was a chemist, physician, and physiologist who is remembered today for conducting early research into respiration and the nature of air...

, whose merits Thomas Beddoes

Thomas Beddoes

Thomas Beddoes , English physician and scientific writer, was born at Shifnal in Shropshire. He was a reforming practitioner and teacher of medicine, and an associate of leading scientific figures. Beddoes was a friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and, according to E. S...

had discovered two years before. It was uncritical but helped rescue his achievements from oblivion.

Yeats was the author of:

• ‘An Address on the Nature and Efficacy of the Cowpox in preventing the Smallpox,’ London, 1803
• 'A Statement of the Early Symptoms which lead to Water on the Brain, London, 1815; 2nd edit., London, 1833.
• 'A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Writings of Patrick Colquhoun,' London, 1815.

He also published many papers in 'Annals of Medicine,' the 'Medical and Physical Journal' and 'Medical Transactions.'