`FATHER OF SURGERY'

Dr. Philip S. Physick, called "the father of American surgery," was born in Philadelphia in 1768.

After studies at the universities of Pennsylvania and Edinburgh, Scotland, he became surgeon in 1794 at the Philadelphia Hospital. He was later appointed to the chair of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1819 became professor of anatomy.He invented various surgical instruments, including the needle forceps, and introduced catgut ligatures in surgery. Physick died in 1837.