author
George Buchanan
1763–1808
An early American physician and medical writer, he studied in Edinburgh, practiced in Maryland and Philadelphia, and took part in building Baltimore’s medical institutions. His surviving work captures the concerns of medicine in the years just after the American Revolution.
1 Audiobook
Anti-Slavery Opinions before the Year 1800 Read before the Cincinnati Literary Club, November 16, 1872
by William Frederick Poole, George Buchanan
About the author
Born near Baltimore on September 19, 1763, he was the son of Andrew and Susan Lawson Buchanan and a grandson of George Buchanan, the man credited with laying out Baltimore town. He first studied under Dr. Charles Frederick Wiesenthal, then went to the University of Edinburgh, where he earned his M.D. in 1788.
After returning to Maryland, he practiced medicine in Baltimore and later in Philadelphia. Sources describe him as one of the founders of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, and as a physician connected with the early medical life of Baltimore through practice, teaching, and institutional work.
He is remembered today chiefly for his medical writing, including A Dissertation on the Fever of Philadelphia (1793). Buchanan died in Philadelphia on July 9, 1808.