Theodric Romeyn Beck
Encyclopedia
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
LL.D (April 11, 1791 – November 19, 1855), alternatively Theodoric Romeyn Beck or T. Romeyn Beck, was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physician in Albany, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
specializing in medical jurisprudence
Medical jurisprudence
Medical jurisprudence, or forensic medicine in the broad sense , now embraces all matters which may bring the physician into contact with the law...
who authored the first significant American book on forensic medicine, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence in 1823.
Biography
Beck was born in Schnenectady, New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, to the family of Caleb Beck of English descent. He graduated from Union College
Union College
Union College is a private, non-denominational liberal arts college located in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. In the 19th century, it became the "Mother of Fraternities", as...
at the age of 16 and the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, often known as P&S, is a graduate school of Columbia University that is located on the health sciences campus in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan...
with an M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
at the age of 20 before going into practice in Albany in 1811. In 1813 he presented to the Albany Society of Arts a comprehensive paper on the mineral resources of the United States. In 1815 he was appointed professor of the institutes of medicine, and lecturer on medical jurisprudence in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Western New York
Fairfield Academy
Fairfield Academy was an academy that existed for nearly one hundred years in the Town of Fairfield, Herkimer County, New York.-Founding:It was organized as an academy for men in 1802, when the community was an active local manufacturing center...
, at Fairfield
Fairfield, New York
Fairfield is a town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 1,607 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Fairfield, Connecticut.The Town of Fairfield is north of the Village of Herkimer and east of Utica...
. He served as the Principal of The Albany Academy
The Albany Academy
The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselaer and the city council of Albany...
from 1817 to 1848, where he encouraged the future curator of the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry
Joseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as a founding member of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science, a precursor of the Smithsonian Institution. During his lifetime, he was highly regarded...
, to enroll as a student and later serve as a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
in 1826. Also during this time, he was a professor of medical jurisprudence at Fairfield Medical College from 1826 until 1836, and professor of materia medica
Materia medica
Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...
in that institution from 1836 till 1840, and at Albany Medical College
Albany Medical College
Albany Medical College is a medical school located in Albany, New York, United States. It was founded in 1839 by Amos Dean, Dr. Thomas Hun and others, and is one of the oldest medical schools in the nation...
from 1840 until 1854.
Stephen Van Rensselaer III
Stephen Van Rensselaer III was Lieutenant Governor of New York as well as a statesman, soldier, and land-owner, the heir to one of the largest estates in the New York region at the time, which made him the tenth richest American of all time, based on the ratio of his fortune to contemporary GDP...
was appointed its President and Beck was appointed its Vice President. He was chosen President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the New York State Medical Society in 1829, and became a manager of the state lunatic asylum before becoming President of the Board of Managers in 1854. During his service, he collected statistics on deaf-mutes, which influenced the legislature to pass laws for the education of the mentally ill. In addition, from 1849 to 1853 he edited the American Journal of Insanity.
His principal work was Elements of Medical Jurisprudence. His brother John Brodhead Beck
John Brodhead Beck
John Brodhead Beck was a New York physician who was an authority on miscarriage, abortion, infant physiology, andassociated forensic issues.-Biography:...
, also a physician, contributed the material on infanticide. The first edition was printed in 1823, a seventh edition was issued in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1842, with notes by Dunlap and Darwell, and a tenth in Albany in 1850.
Dr. Beck also contributed to numerous scientific journals. Another of his brothers, Lewis Caleb Beck
Lewis Caleb Beck
Lewis Caleb Beck was an American physician, botanist, chemist, and mineralogist.-Biography:...
, wrote a noted book on the Mineralogy of New York (1842).
Selected Works
- An inaugural dissertation on insanity (1811)
- On the utility of country medical institutions (1825)
- Statistics of the deaf and dumb in the State of New-York, the United States, and in various countries of Europe (1837)