prisoners are steadily employed under the eye of the Governor during a considerable part of the day.

The classification, also, of the prisoners according to offences, &c. may be adhered to in the adoption of these discipline wheels; the same wheel or the same constructed shafts can be easily made to pass into distinct compartments, in which the several classes may work in separate parties. In the prison from which the annexed drawing is taken, a treadwheel is erected in each of the six yards, by which the risk and inconvenience of removing a set of prisoners from one part of the prison to another, is obviated.

:

As the mechanism of these Tread Mills is not of a compli cated nature, the regular employment they afford is not likely to be frequently suspended for want of repairs to the machinery and should the supply of corn, &c. at any time fall off, it is not necessary that the labour of the prisoner should be suspended, nor can they be aware of the circumstance; the supply of hard labor may therefore be considered as almost unfailing.

With regard to the expense of these machines, it may be, observed, that although their original cost may, in some instances, appear heavy, the subsequent advantage from their adoption, in point of economy, is by no means inconsiderable, and it is derived in a manner which must be most satisfactory to those who have the important charge and responsible control of these public establishments, viz. from the diminution in the number of persons committed. Such have been the results already experienced at those prisons where this species of corrective discipline is enforced. The saving to the country (in consequence of the reduction in the number of criminals) in the public charges for their apprehension, committal, conviction and maintenance, cannot but be considerable.

By a contrivance of machinery which we cannot here illustrate by a plate, when the machinery of the mill has attained its proper speed, certain balls rise by their centrifugal force, so as to draw a box below the reach of a bell handle, which will then cease to ring a bell, placed in some convenient situation for the purpose. But should the men at the wheels cease to keep up the requisite speed in the mill work, the balls will descend, and a projecting pin on the box, striking the handle, placed in the proper situation for that purpose, will continue to ring the bell till they go on again properly; and by this means, a certain check will be kept on the laborers, and the govenor or taskmaster, apprized even at a distance, that the full work is not performed.

17

BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

OF

HON. JOSHUA BRACKETT, M. D. M. M. S. The progress of Medical science in our country has been gradual. During the first hundred years after the settlement of New-Hampshire, the general state of medicine was limited and hypothetical, and no names of persons who acquired celebrity in the medical profession in this State, have been handed down to posterity. But during the first fifty years of the second century of the existence of our country, there arose, even in New-Hampshire, a number of men distinguished for their medical knowledge, and their zeal to advance its most important interests. By "a regular intercourse with the parent country, occasional immigration from European schools, and a progressive introduction of approved authors," these men were furnished with the best means of instruction which their situation admitted. Though they had not the advantages of medical establishments now so common in our country, they had all the aid which could be derived from the labours of some of the most eminent physicians and physiologists in Europe. The medical works most generally known and in use at the close of that period,or at our political separation from the British empire, were those of Sydenham, the commentaries of Van Swieten, the practical writings of Wyatt, Mead, Brooks and Huxam; the physiology of Haller; the anatomy of Cowper, Keil, Douglass, Cheselden, Munroe and Winslow,; the surgery of Heister, Sharp, Le Dran and Pott; the midwifery of Smellie and Hunter; and the materia medica of Lewis.*

Among the most eminent physicians of New-Hampshire, who commenced their career within the period referred to, may be named the Hon. JOSHUA BRACKETT, M. D. of Portsmouth, of whom we intend to give a short sketch. He was born at Greenland, in this State, in May, 1733. In his pre

** See Dr. Bartlett's Sketch of the Progress of Medical Science in Massachusetts.

+ This Memoir will be principally derived from an account of Dr.Brackett, written by Rev. T. Alden, now President of Alleghany College, and published in in the 26th No. of the Medical Repository, and from a biographical notice, written by Lyman Spaulding, M. D. and entered on the records of the New-Hampshire Medical Society.

paratory course for admission to college, he was placed under the tuition of Rev. Henry Rust, of Stratham. In 1748, he entered Harvard College, and received its usual honors in 1752 and 1755. His collegiate course being finished, he attended to various publications on the science of theology. In contemplating this for a profession, he consulted the pleasure of his parents, more, than his own inclination. Howev er, he proceeded in his studies, received licensure, and became a preacher; but the state of his health was, soon after, such, as obliged him to determine on some other pursuit.

He then devoted himself to the study of a profession, which was more congenial to his turn of mind, and in which Providence had designed him for eminence. He devoted his time diligently to the medical art, under the direction of Dr. Clement Jackson, of Portsmouth, where he became, and continued, a practitioner until his death. On the 30th of October, 1783, he was chosen an honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and in 1791, he was complimented by his alma mater, with a medical doctorate. -

The New-Hampshire Medical Society was formed about the year 1790. That of Massachusetts had been in existence about ten years. The formation of one in this State, was a favourable event, and may be considered a most interesting era in our medical history. Though a more systematic and extensive course of instruction had begun to prevail, and a liberal spirit of enquiry was gradually advancing, yet the benefits of regular meetings for personal improvement and for diffusing medical knowledge, were greatly needed by the physicians scattered over the State. Dr. Brackett was one of the nineteen named in the act of incorporation, which was granted by the legislature on the 16th of February, 1791. He was elected the first vice-president at the first meeting of the society, holden at Exeter on the 4th of May ensuing. On the 19th of June, 1793, he succeeded his excellency Josiah Bartlett, M. D. in the presidency, and, by repeated elections, continued in this office till the 15th of May, 1799, when, in consequence of his declining health, he resigned it. He had, previously, presented the institution with one hundred and forty-three volumes of valuable books, as the foundationof a medical library. On retiring from the presidency, he received an address, which handsomely expressed the respectful acknowledgments of this Society for his diligent and friendly attention to its interests, and for his liberal donation to it.

Doctor Brackett had interested himself on the subject of a

ཡིན་ན

professorship for natural history and botany, at the university in Cambridge. He told Rev. Mr. Alden, not many weeks before his death, that it was a subject, which had much engrossed his mind for thirty years. It afforded him no small satisfaction, that, before his decease, a plan had been adopted for carrying so useful an establishment into effect, and that donations for that purpose, to the amount of several thousand dollars, had been subscribed. He left the request with his consort, that a certain property, of the value of fifteen hundred dollars, when she should have done with it, might be conveyed to the corporation of Harvard college, for the be fore suggested design. Mrs. Brackett, after his decease, said she should "hold his every wish on the subject sacred as a word from heaven." She, accordingly, conveyed the property, with a generous additional sum, a bequest of her own, to the corporation of the college, the benefits of which are now experienced in the beautiful establishment for many years under the direction of the late professor Peck.

Doctor Brackett was much distinguished for his activity and zeal in the cause of American independence. He was one of the committee of safety, during the revolutionary war. At an early period of it, he was appointed a judge of the maritime court, in New-Hampshire, and sustained that office with reputation, till the necessity of it was precluded by the establishment of the district courts.

His profession, however, in which he shone with eminence, was his peculiar delight, as the native bias of his soul led him to the relief of those wants and distresses, which it continually presented to his view. To increase his knowledge and usefulness in it, his reading, which was uncommonly extensive, his observations, which were accurate, and his reflections which were judicious, were principally directed. But in medicine, his motto was, IMITATE NATURE;look at the beasts of the field and imitate them. Their's is nature pure and undefiled by fashion, prejudice, or habit. He was extremely attentive to his patients, and spared no pains to investigate the cause and the nature of their mala-, dies, and to afford relief. In arte obstetrica valde peritus fuit; nulla faemina sub egus cura, labore parturiendi unquam moriente. While a happy general success attended his professional ministrations, his tenderness and sympathy with the sons and daughters of disease and distress, were striking traits in his character, and greatly endear his memory..

Doctor Brackett occasionally made minutes of important cases, which came under his care, and of the measures pur

sued; but as these were merely for his own use, few of thems have been found in a finished state.

He also kept, for twenty-five years before his death, a thermometrical and meteorological registry, which would be a valuable acquisition to the archives of any philosophical society.

His moral deportment appeared to be founded on the principle recognized in the golden rule. He was mild in his temper, of an affable turn, amiable in his disposition, unassuming in his manners, and was sincerely beloved and highly respected in the social walks of life. He was a man of warm friendship, great, benevolence, an enemy to flattery, and no one was ever less ambitious of popular applause.

Humanity made a prominent appearance in the groupe of his excellencies. It ought to be recorded, that, in his professional labors, he was peculiarly kind to the poor, and never made a charge, where he had reason to think the payment would occasion the smallest embarrassment. This was a conduct, which would not have been unworthy of the man of Ross.

For a considerable time before his death, he found that his constitution was under a gradual and general decay, and through a disease in the region of his heart, as to the nature of which he could never be fully satisfied. At length he determined to try the efficacy of the Saratoga waters, for which purpose he set out from Portsmouth, on the 23d of June, 1802. Having arrived at the springs, he continued there but a few days, for he found that his disorder must bring him to the grave; and, feeling a consciousness that the time of his departure was at hand, he hastened to return, that he might be among his friends before the closing scene. He reached home on Friday, the 9th of July, visited several patients, and continued to walk out till the Tuesday following. From that time he was confined till his death, which took place on Saturday, the 17th of July, at two in the morning, 1802. On the ensuing Monday the remains of this philanthropist and physician were interred with great respect, and the tears of the widow and the orphan watered his grave."

In early life, Dr. Brackett was married to Miss Hannah Whipple of Kittery, who was a most amiable, accomplished and dignified woman. Her mental endowments were inferior to none. Her education and acquirements surpassed those of her sex in the vicinity of her residence. With such possessions, she was modest and unassuming. Her favorite studies were Natural Philosophy and more especially Botany.