– Biography:
– Born on June 23, 1780, in Rockingham County, New Hampshire.
– Studied at Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
– Became a professor at Dartmouth College, Middlebury College, and other institutions.
– Credited as the first surgeon to tie both carotid arteries in 1829.
– Died on June 21, 1866, in Boston.
– Family:
– Son Reuben D. Mussey, Jr. was a lawyer and married to Ellen Spencer Mussey.
– First wife Mary Sewall had no children; second wife Herry Osgood had nine children.
– Sons William H. Mussey and Francis B. Mussey followed their father into medicine.
– Son Charles F. Mussey became a Presbyterian minister.
– Daughters Maria and Catharine married Lyman Mason and Shattuck Hartwell, respectively.
– Vegetarianism:
– Mussey was a vegetarian who abstained from alcohol and tobacco.
– Gave up eating land animal flesh in 1832.
– Contributed to William Alcott’s vegetarian journal, “Library of Health.”
– Book “Health: Its Friends and Foes” (1862) discussed vegetarianism and dangers of tobacco.
– Founding member and vice-president of the American Vegetarian Society in the 1850s.
– Selected publications:
– “Health: Its Friends and Foes” (1862).
– “What Shall I Drink?” (1863).
– References:
– Hamilton, John B. (1896). Life and Times of Doctor Reuben D. Mussey.
– Capace, Nancy. (2000). Encyclopedia of New Hampshire.
– Reuben Dimond Mussey. Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions.
– Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter M (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
– The First Century of the Republic, Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 1876.
Reuben Dimond Mussey, Sr. (June 23, 1780 – June 21, 1866) was an American physician, surgeon, vegetarian and an early opponent of tobacco. He was the fourth president of the American Medical Association.
Reuben Dimond Mussey | |
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Born | June 23, 1780 |
Died | June 21, 1866 |
Occupation(s) | Physician, writer |