William Potts Dewees


William Potts Dewees was an American physician, best known for his work in obstetrics, being described in American Medical Biographies as a "Philadelphian obstetrician was so famous that no woman of the time considered herself safe in other hands."
Dewees received a Bachelor of Medicine and in 1806 an M.D. from the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he would become Professor of Obstetrics, and Chair of Obstetrics from 1834 to 1841. His fame comes mainly from three books published in quick succession in the mid-1820s, each of which went to at least ten editions: Compendious System of Midwifery, Treatise on the Physical and Medical Treatment of Children, and Treatise on the Diseases of Females. Of these, the System of Midwifery had the most lasting influence, introducing ideas from British and continental European physicians and becoming the standard reference on obstetrics in the United States for a time.

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