Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 629

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.2 linear_foot (3 volumes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Benjamin Champneys lecture notes, circa 1794-1810, Ms. Coll. 629, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

circa 1794-1810 (inclusive)

Creator:

Champneys, Ben. (Benjamin)

Form:

Lecture notes

Abstract:

Benjamin Champneys (1774-1814) was a college and medical student at the University of Pennsylvania (A.B. 1792, M.D. 1805) and, later, a naval surgeon on the frigate Philadelphia. This collection consists of three volumes of notes taken from lectures and reading over an extended period of time and bound together at a later date. The notes focus on the subjects of medicine and chemistry, with additional notes on logic, mathematics, and moral philosophy.

Benjamin Champneys was born near Salem, New Jersey in 1774. He was the grandson of John Fenwicke, an English Quaker and the founder of the first colony of English settlers in New Jersey. Champneys received his medical education in Philadelphia, and received a license from the Supreme Court of New Jersey to practice medicine in the state in 1795. After this he purchased property in Bridgeton, New Jersey and married Sarah Potter. In 1800 he received an appointment as a surgeon in the United States Navy, and served aboard the frigate Philadelphia. After his military service, Champneys studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, receiving his M.D. in 1805. He served in the Assembly of New Jersey in 1806, and practiced vaccination in Bridgeton in 1807. He received a certificate of honorary membership in the medical society of Philadelphia, signed by Dr. Benjamin Rush, in 1808, and also a certificate from the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania as Master Mason, A.L., 5795. He was an honorary member of the American Whig Society of Princeton College. Champney had a large practice in both Salem and Cumberland counties. He died in 1814, after a short illness of typhus fever. [1]

Works cited:

[1] Transactions of the Medical Society of New Jersey, 1873 (1873) Jennings and Hardam, Newark, NJ.

This collection consists of three volumes of notes taken from lectures and reading over an extended period of time and bound together at a later date. The notes are not bound in chronological or subject order and display a variety of foliation and pagination on the formerly independent items. The main subjects are medicine and chemistry, with additional notes on logic, mathematics, and moral philosophy that are probably from Champney's college studies and earlier than the first noted date of 1794.

Volume 1 begins with notes from a course taught by Adam Kuhn in 1794; the second volume begins with notes from John Huxham's (undated) course; and the third volume begins with notes on anatomy. Medical material includes notes from lectures by University of Pennsylvania professors Benjamin Rush, Adam Kuhn, and William Shippen. Reading notes refer to medical and chemical works by William Cullen (1710-1790), John Huxham (1692-1768), Colin Chisholm (1755-1825), Antoine-François de Fourcroy (1755-1809), and Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal (1756-1832). Champneys notes that his notes on Chaptal were made on board the frigate Philadelphia in 1800.