Theodric Romeyn Beck

Theodric Romeyn Beck(April 11, 1791 – November 19, 1855), alternativelyTheodoric Romeyn BeckorT. Romeyn Beck,was an American physician inAlbany, New York,specializing inmedical jurisprudencewho authored the first significant American book onforensic medicine,Elements of Medical Jurisprudencein 1823.

Theodric Romeyn Beck
Born	April 11, 1791 Albany
Died	November 19, 1855(aged 64)
Alma mater	Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Union College
Occupation	Psychiatrist,lawyer

Biography

Beck was born inSchenectady, New York,to the family of Caleb Beck of English descent. He graduated fromUnion Collegeat the age of 16 and theColumbia University College of Physicians and Surgeonswith anM.D.at the age of 20 before going into practice in Albany in 1811. In 1813 he presented to the Albany Society of Arts a comprehensive paper on the mineral resources of the United States. In 1815 he was appointed professor of the institutes of medicine, and lecturer on medical jurisprudence in theCollege of Physicians and Surgeons of Western New York,atFairfield.Beck was also elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Societyin 1815.He served as theprincipalof theAlbany Academyfrom 1817 to 1848, where he encouraged the future curator of theSmithsonian Institution,Joseph Henry,to enroll as a student and later serve as a professor of mathematics andnatural philosophyin 1826. Also during this time, he was a professor of medical jurisprudence at Fairfield Medical College from 1826 until 1836, and professor ofmateria medicain that institution from 1836 till 1840, and atAlbany Medical Collegefrom 1840 until 1854. He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Societyin 1839.

Elements of Medical Jurisprudence

In 1823, while secretary of the Society for the Promotion of Useful Arts (SPUA), he founded the Albany Lyceum of Natural History, which focused on the preservation of mineral and botanical specimens collected in New York state surveys. The following year, SPUA and the Albany Lyceum of Natural History merged to form the Albany Institute;Stephen Van Rensselaer IIIwas appointed its president and Beck was appointed its vice president. He was chosenpresidentof the New York State Medical Society in 1829, and became a manager of the statelunatic asylumbefore becoming president of the Board of Managers in 1854. During his service, he collected statistics ondeaf-mutes,which influenced the legislature to pass laws for the education of thementally ill.In addition, from 1849 to 1853 he edited theAmerican Journal of Insanity.

His principal work wasElements of Medical Jurisprudence.His brotherJohn Brodhead Beck,also a physician, contributed the material oninfanticide.The first edition was printed in 1823, a seventh edition was issued inLondonin 1842, with notes by Dunlap and Darwell, and a tenth in Albany in 1850.

Beck also contributed to numerous scientific journals. Another of his brothers,Lewis Caleb Beck,wrote a noted book on theMineralogy of New York(1842).

Selected works

• An inaugural dissertation on insanity(1811)
• On the utility of country medical institutions(1825)
• Statistics of the deaf and dumb in the State of New-York, the United States, and in various countries of Europe(1837)

References

• Wilson, J. G.;Fiske, J.,eds. (1900)."Beck, Theodoric Romeyn".Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.New York: D. Appleton.

Further reading

• Frank H. Hamilton (1861)."Theodric Romeyn Beck 1791–1855".In Samuel David Gross (ed.).Lives of Eminent American Physicians of the 19th Century.Lindsay & Blakiston. pp. 776–795.ISBN9780608421261.
• Thomas Hall Shastid (1920). "Beck, Theodric Romeyn (1791–1855)". In Howard A. Kelly and Walter L. Burrage (ed.).American Medical Biographies.The Norman, Remington Company. pp.87–88.
• Chester R. Burns (1999). "Beck, Theodric Romeyn".American National Biography(online ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1200069.(subscription required)
• "Beck, Theodoric Romeyn".Dictionary of American Biography.New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1928–1990.
• "Beck, Theodoric Romeyn".The American Cyclopædia.1879.

External links

Media related toTheodoric Romeyn Beckat Wikimedia Commons