Samuel L. Mitchill
| Samuel Latham Mitchill | |
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United States Senator from New York |
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In office November 23, 1804 – March 4, 1809 |
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| Preceded by | John Armstrong, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Obadiah German |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 2nd district |
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In office March 4, 1801 – March 3, 1803 |
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| Preceded by | Edward Livingston |
| Succeeded by | Joshua Sands |
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In office 1810 – March 3, 1813 |
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| Preceded by |
William Denning Gurdon S. Mumford |
| Succeeded by |
Jotham Post, Jr. Egbert Benson |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 3rd district |
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In office March 4, 1803 – November 22, 1804 |
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| Preceded by | Philip Van Cortlandt |
| Succeeded by | George Clinton, Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 20, 1764 Hempstead, New York |
| Died | September 7, 1831 (aged 67) New York City, New York |
| Political party | Democratic-Republican |
Samuel Latham Mitchill (August 20, 1764 – September 7, 1831) was an American physician, naturalist, and politician who lived in Plandome, New York.
Samuel L. Mitchill was born in Hempstead, New York and graduated in 1786 from the University of Edinburgh Medical School with an M.D., an education paid for by a wealthy uncle. Returning to the United States after medical school, Mitchill completed law school.
Mitchill taught chemistry, botany, and natural history at Columbia College from 1792 until 1801 and was a founding editor of The Medical Repository, the first medical journal in the United States. In addition to his Columbia lectures on botany, zoology, and mineralogy, Mitchill collected, identified, and classified many plants and animals, particularly aquatic organisms. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1797. From 1807 to 1826, he taught at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York and then helped organize the short-lived Rutgers Medical College of New Jersey, which he served as vice president until 1830. While at Columbia, Mitchill developed a fallacious theory of disease, which however resulted in his promotion of personal hygiene and improved sanitation.
Mitchill served in the New York State Assembly in 1791 and again in 1798 and was then elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1801 until his resignation on November 22, 1804. In November 1804, Mitchill was elected a U.S. Senator from New York to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Armstrong, and served from November 23, 1804, to March 4, 1809. He then served again in the House of Representatives from December 4, 1810, to March 4, 1813. Mitchill was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1814. On January 29, 1817, Mitchill convened the first meeting of the New York Academy of Sciences, originally called the Lyceum of Natural History, of which he was later elected President.
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