George Bacon Wood

George Bacon Wood (March 13, 1797 – March 30, 1879) was an American medical doctor, chemist, professor, and writer. He was chair of chemistry and materia medica at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. He served as chair of materia medica, as well as chair and professor emeritus of theory and practice of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He published frequently and is best known for the Dispensatory of the United States with Dr. Franklin Bache, A Treatise on the Practice of Medicine, and A Treatise on Therapeutics and Pharmacology of Materia Medica.

He served as a trustee at the University of Pennsylvania and funded an endowment to create an auxiliary faculty for five chairs of medicine. He worked as a physician at the Pennsylvania Institute for the Deaf and Dumb from 1822 to 1844 and Pennsylvania Hospital from 1835 to 1844. He served as a trustee of Girard College and as president of the American Medical Association, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and the American Philosophical Society.

Early life and education Wood was born on March 13, 1797, in Greenwich, New Jersey and received his A.B. degree in 1815 and his M.D. in 1818 from the University of Pennsylvania.

Career He was professor of chemistry at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and in 1822 accepted the chair of chemistry. He served in that role until 1831 until it was changed to the chair of materia medica. He resigned in 1835 to accept the same role in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1850, he was elected chair of the theory and practice of medicine to replace Nathaniel Chapman. He was a member of a number of other societies, and served as president of the American Medical Association from 1855 to 1856. He died on March 30, 1879, in Philadelphia and was interred in Section 10, Lot 14 to 17, of Laurel Hill Cemetery. They had no children and she died in 1865.

Publications The History of the University of Pennsylvania, From Its Origin to the Year 1827, Philadelphia: McCarty & Davis, 1834 The Dispensatory of the United States of America, Philadelphia: Grigg & Elliot, 1839 A Memoir of the Life and Character of the Late Joseph Parrish, M.D. Read Before the Medical Society of Philadelphia, October 23d, 1840., Philadelphia: Lydia R. Bailey, Printer, 1840 An Address on the Occasion of the Centennial Celebration of the Founding of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Delivered June 10th, 1851, Philadelphia: T.K. and P.G. Collins, 1851 A Biographical Memoir of Samuel George Morton, M.D., Philadelphia: T.K. and P.G. Collins, 1853 A Treatise on the Practice of Medicine in Two Volumes - Vol. I., Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co, 1855 A Treatise on the Practice of Medicine in Two Volumes - Vol. II., Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co, 1855 A Treatise on Therapeutics, and Pharmacology of Materia Medica. In Two Volumes. Vol. I., Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co., 1855 A Treatise on Therapeutics, and Pharmacology of Materia Medica. In Two Volumes. Vol. II., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Co., 1856 Proceedings on the Occasion of Laying the Corner Stone of the New Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane, at Philadelphia., Philadelphia: T.K. and P.G. Collins, 1856 Introductory to the Course of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Medicine, in the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: Collins Printers, 1858 Introductory Lectures and Addresses on Medical Subjects Delivered Chiefly Before the Medical Classes of the University of Pennsylvania., Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1859 Biographical Memoir of the Late Franklin Bache, M. D., Prepared at the Request of the American Philosophical Society, and Read Before the Society, June 16, 1865, Philadelphia: Sherman & Co., Printers., 1865