David Hosack - Medical Contributions

Medical Contributions

Hosack made many important contributions to the field of medicine in his lifetime. He performed the first successful ligature of an aneurism of the femoral artery. He was also the first to introduce the operation for hydrocele by injection, was one of the first physicians to use a stethoscope, and was a strong advocate of smallpox vaccination. He also made a lot of progress towards combating yellow fever, and was the first man to make an accurate description of its symptoms. He was also the creator of America's first botanical garden, Elgin Botanical Garden, which he modeled after the ones he had seen in England. His funding was insufficient to support such a project for so long, and the state legislature eventually purchased his garden for a much lower sum than he had put into it. The garden was then given to Columbia University, which had no interest in continuing with such a costly project.