Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse
by Gilbert Stuart, ca. 1776
Oil on canvas, 22 1/4" x 18"
Redwood Library Painting
Collection
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Benjamin Waterhouse
b.
Newport, RI, March 4, 1754
d. Cambridge, MA, October 2, 1846
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Considered to be the most famous physician native to Newport. Waterhouse
was one of 11 children. His entire boyhood spent in Newport.
Influenced by reading medical books at Redwood Library, Waterhouse decided
early on a medical career.
At age 16 he entered upon the study of medicine as an apprentice of Dr.
John Halliburton. Following this stint, at the age of 21 years in
1775, he would sail for London just before the War of Independence, to
live and study with a relative of his mother’s named Dr. John Fothergill.
He would study at Edinburgh and Leiden before returning to Newport in June
1782. Not here very long he was appointed professor in the first
faculty of the Harvard Medical School.
The house that faced Liberty Square, (corner of Farewell and Marlborough
Streets) where he was born, no longer exists. It is now the site
of Emory Lodge and the River Lane Apartments (also known as 50 Washington
Square).
His portrait, done by his very good friend Gilbert Stuart, hangs at Redwood
Library.
Dr. Waterhouse would become one of, if not the best, educated physicians
of his era in this country.
In 1786, Dr. Waterhouse began delivering lectures at Rhode Island College
(now known as Brown University). These lectures were the first mineralogy
instructions (systematic) to be given in the U.S.
However, his major contribution to medicine was considered to be his work
on a vaccination for smallpox. The vaccination for smallpox with
cowpox serum originated in England by Dr. Edward Jenner. Benjamin Waterhouse
was the first physician to use Jenner’s method in the U.S.
On July 8, 1800, he inoculated his 5 year old son and others with a pure
cowpox vaccine which he had received from England. This pure cowpox
vaccine provided Waterhouse with the proper results in the experimentation
of a safe vaccination against smallpox. The inoculation was not done
in Newport, but in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he was Professor of Theory
and Practice of Physics at Harvard.
Dr. Waterhouse becomes the first doctor in the United States to successfully
vaccinate with cowpox serum against the deadly disease of smallpox.
Falling out developed with Harvard, forced to resign in 1812. Eventually
appointed by President Madison as medical superintendent of all the military
posts in New England. Position held until 1820.
Thereafter, turned his attention to writing. Maintained his home
on the street that bears his name in Cambrige, MA. Interred at the
Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA.
Bibliography
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