John Call Dalton (February 2, 1825 – February 12, 1889) was an American physiologist and vivisection activist who became the first full-time professor of physiology in the United States.

Early life

Dalton was born in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. He studied under French physiologist Claude Bernard in France. Dalton had two understudies: John Green Curtis and William Stewart Halsted. Dalton and Curtis were associated with the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Dalton was a professor of physiology at the college; however, it is unclear whether his son was as well. Dalton received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University.

Career

The anatomy of the brain was primarily drawn by Europeans prior to Dalton's more detailed and precise sketches of the brain. Dalton received an award from the American Medical Association in 1851 for his essay "Corpus Luteum". He was a professor at the University at Buffalo for a brief time, but resigned in 1854. Dalton served as a professor or chairperson at the Vermont medical college and the Long Island College Hospital. John became the president of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1884. In 1866, he authored Vivisection: What It Is and What It has Accomplished for the New York Academy of Medicine. It summarized the benefits of vivisection.

Works

  • A Treatise on Physiology and Hygiene : for Schools, Families, and Colleges. – New York : London : Harper & Bros.; Sampson Low, Son & Marston, 1869
  • A treatise on human physiology : designed for the use of students and practitioners of medicine. – Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1861
  • The Experimental Method of Medicine – Philadelphia, 1882
  • Doctrines of the circulation : a history of physiological opinion and discovery, in regard to the circulation of the blood. – Philadelphia : Henry C. Lea's Son & Co., 1884
  • Topographical anatomy of the brain. – Philadelphia, Lea brothers & Co., 1885

Speech

  • Vivisection; what it is, and what it has accomplished. - Read before New York Academy of Medicine. Dec 13, 1866

Script : University of Michigan, University Library

Autobiography

  • John Call Dalton, M.D., U.S.V.. – [Cambridge: Riverside Press], 1892 ( regarding his brief service in the 7th New York Infantry , National Guard)

References

Sources

  • S. Weir Mitchell: Memoir of John Call Dalton, 1825–1889. In: National Academy of Sciences : Biographical Memoirs. – Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 1895, Vol. III, pp. 177–185.