Æneas Munson (born in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

, Connecticut Colony, June 24, 1734; died there, June 16, 1826) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

Biography

He graduated from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1753, and, after being a tutor there and studying divinity under Yale president Ezra Stiles, served as chaplain in the army on Long Island in 1755. He studied medicine under John Darby, and began practice at Bedford, New York, in 1756. In 1760 he moved to New Haven where he resided for more than 50 years. From 1794 to 1901 he was president of the Medical Society of Connecticut, which grew out of the New Haven County Medical Association, of which he had been a founder and president. He was professor at

Yale Medical School The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...

from its establishment in the early 1810s, where he held the first Chair of Materia Medica and

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, until his death. He was known to have had an interest in

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

. During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, he was a surgeon's mate in

Scammell's 1781 Light Infantry Regiment Most commonly referred to as Scammell's light, light corps, or detachment, this was a light infantry regiment under the new organization of the Continental Army prescribed by George Washington in his General Orders of November 1, 1780. The regi ...

, and was often a member of the legislature.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Munson, Aeneas 1734 births 1826 deaths Yale University alumni Physicians from New Haven, Connecticut Yale School of Medicine faculty Physicians in the American Revolution