John Edwards Holbrook, M.D. 1794 -1871 Professor of Anatomy Click image to enlarge Go to lecture card display HOLBROOK, John Edwards, naturalist, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, 30 December, 1794; died in Norfolk, Massachusetts, 8 September, 1871. He spent his early life in Wrentham, Massachusetts, which for many years had been the home of his father's family, and was graduated at Brown in 1815. He took his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1818, and then continued his professional studies for two years in London and Edinburgh, after which he spent two more years on the continent, devoting much time to natural history, especially in Paris. In 1822 he returned to the United States, and established himself as a physician in Charleston, South Carolina He was chosen professor of anatomy at the Medical college of South Carolina in 1824, and continued to occupy that chair for more than thirty years. Dr. Holbrook attained a high reputation by his lectures, owing to his wonderful knowledge of comparative anatomy, but seldom performed a surgical operation or attended an obstetric case. During the civil war he was head of the examining board of surgeons of South Carolina. Dr. Holbrook's work as a naturalist made his name widely known, His first contribution to science was "American Herpetology, or a Description of Reptiles inhabiting the United States" (5 vols., 4to, Philadelphia, 1842). The simplicity and precision of its descriptions, and the beauty and correctness of its illustrations, attracted attention not only in the United States, but also in Europe. Through it he became acquainted with Louis Agassiz, with whom he afterward maintained the friendliest of relations, visiting him annually during his summer trips to New England. He then began a "Southern Ichthyology," to include descriptions of the fishes of Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida, but, after the publication of two numbers, he found the field too extensive, and therefore confined his studies to the "Ichthyology of South Carolina" (Charleston, 1854 et seq.), of which ten numbers made their appearance. In consequence of the civil war this publication was discontinued. He was a member of the American philosophical society and an early member of the National academy of sciences.--His brother, Silas Pinckney, author, born in Beaufort, South Carolina, 1 June, 1796; died in Pineville, South Carolina, 26 May, 1835, was graduated at Brown in 1815, studied law in Boston, and practised at Med-field, Massachusetts He was one of the most popular contributors to the "New England Galaxy" and the " Boston Courier," to which he furnished sketches entitled "Letters from a Mariner and Travels of a Tin Peddler," under the name of "Jonathan Farbrick," and amusing "Letters from a Boston Merchant," and "Recollections of Japan and China." These, with others, were published as " Sketches by a Traveller" (1834). He also wrote the European part of Peter Parley's "Pictorial Geography," and conducted the "Boston Tribune," and a comic paper called the "Spectacles." Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM   First Faculty of the Medical College of South Carolina.  The first faculty of the Medical College consisted predominantly of young men (only 2 were over the age of thirty). The following men formed the first faculty of the Medical College. Each has a unique story and all helped to create the Medical University of South Carolina: In 1824 the Medical College of South Carolina was established at Charleston. In this school there are seven professorships. The students have the privilege of attending the practice of the Marine Hospital. The professors are: Thomas Grimball Prioleau, M.D. 1786-1876 Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Infants   Edmund Ravenel, M.D. 1791- 1871 Professor of the Chemistry Samuel Henry Dickson, M.D. 1789- 1872 Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Physic Stephen Elliot, LL.D. 1771- 1830 Professor of Botany and Natural History   Henry Rutledge Frost, M.D. 1795- 1866 Professor of Materia Medica John E. Holbrook, M.D.  1794- 1871 Professor of Anatomy