Warren, John Collins, MD
Catalog Number: 11
Oil painting, 54" x 39.5", 64" x 51" with frame.
John Collins Warren (1778-1856) was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. John Warren (1753-1815), a founder of Harvard Medical School. In 1797 he graduated from Harvard College as valedictorian of his class and President of the Hasty Pudding Club, of which he was one of the founders. A year later, Dr. Warren learned medicine as an apprentice to his father in his private practice. Dr. Warren traveled abroad to London, Edinburgh, and Paris to further his study of medicine under the best teachers of the day. In fact, it was not until 1819 that Dr. Warren received an honorary M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
In 1802, Dr. Warren entered into a partnership with his father and assisted his father during his lectures at Harvard Medical School. In 1809, he became an adjunct professor of anatomy and surgery and became a full professor in 1815, a position he held until 1847. Also, from 1816 to 1819, Dr. Warren served as the school’s first Dean. Along with his close friend James Jackson, Dr. Warren was instrumental in Harvard Medical School’s move from Cambridge to Boston, and the raising of funds for the 1821 opening of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Warren was appointed the hospital’s first surgeon, and he held an appointment on the staff until 1853. From then until his death, he was a member of the Board of Consultation. Additionally, along with Dr. Jackson, he founded the New-England Journal of Medicine and Surgery in 1812.
Dr. Warren was the first Surgeon in the United States to operate for a strangulated hernia but is best remembered for his role in the first public demonstration of ether anesthesia on October 16, 1846. As Dr. Warren finished operating on the patient, he turned to the audience and exclaimed, "Gentlemen, this is no humbug."
Some of the many organizations Dr. Warren was deeply involved with include the Massachusetts Temperance Society, Massachusetts Agricultural Society, and Boston Society of Natural History. His most important publications include Surgical Observations on Tumours with cases and Operations (1837); A Comparative View of the Sensorial and Nervous Systems in Men and Animals (1822); and The Mastodon Giganteus of North America (1852, 1855). Also, in his attempt to promote physical education, he published Physical Education and the Preservation of Health (1845), and The Preservation of Health (1854).
“When in distress, every man becomes our neighbor.”- Drs. Warren and Jackson (1810)
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