Caspar Wistar (1761-1818) Philadelphia Anatomist

Caspar Wistar, whose maternal ancestors were English and paternal ancestors German, was brought up in the Society of Friends in Philadelphia. He is probably best remembered for the Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology.¹ Caspar attended the Penn Charter School founded by William Penn; when he had completed his classical education, he began the study of medicine under John Redman, assisted John Jones in his practice while he was temporarily absent from New York during the occupation by the British troops, and attended the lectures of Drs. Morgan, Shippen, Rush, and Kuhn. The latter were members of the faculty of the College of Philadelphia, organized in 1765, and amalgamated into the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1779. Wistar received the degree of bachelor of medicine from the University in 1782. In keeping with the tradition at that time of ambitious young physicians in the States to