Benjamin Rush: Born on December 24, 1745 to April 19, 1813, in Byberry, Pennsylvania. He had an B.A. at the college of New Jersey, and a M.D. at the University of Edinburgh. He was appointed surgeon-general to the armies of the middle department of the Continental Army in 1777. He was appalled at the conditions the army had and complained to George Washington, who then ended his miltary career. He became the Professor of medical theory and clinical practice at the consolidated University of Pennsylvania in 1791, where he was a popular figure at the height of his influence in medicine and in social circles. Rush published the first American textbook on Chemistry. In 1773 he contributed editorial assays to the papers about the Patriot cause and also joined the American Philosophical Society. He was also a chemistry teacher at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a pioneer in psychiatry and physiology. He strengthened his reputation by staying in the city and tending all the people stricken with the yellow fever epidemic.
