James Rosebrugh Leaming, M.D. (February 25, 1820 – December 5, 1892), was a preeminent physician specializing in heart and lung diseases, author and teacher.James Joseph Walsh, History of Medicine in New York, Vol. I (North America Society, Inc., New York, 1919), p. 267"Obituary; James Rosebrugh Leaming" (PDF), The New York Times, December 6, 1892.
Life
James Rosebrugh Leaming was born in Groveland, New York on February 25, 1820, eldest child of William Leaming and Jane Rosebrugh, granddaughter of Revolutionary war Chaplain Rev. John Rosbrugh.The Physicians and Surgeons of The United States, ed. William B. Atkinson, M.D. (Charles Robson, Philadelphia, 1878), p. 295 He attended Temple Hill Academy in Geneseo, New York, after which he apprenticed with Drs. Edward and Walter Lauderdale.The Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, Second Series, Vol. X (The New York Academy of Medicine, 1894), p. 69 In 1847 he attended the University of the City of New York, now New York University and received the degree of M.D. in 1849.
Leaming took up residency in New York City where he became well known as a teacher, author, and physician. He specialized in diseases of the heart and lungs and became a renowned authority on the subject.The Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, Second Series, Vol. X (The New York Academy of Medicine, 1894), pp. 69–71 Early in his career his lectures on plural pathology and the interpleural origin of rales initially met with a storm of opposition; but within his lifetime he saw these enjoy widespread acceptance in the medical community.Howard A. Kelly, M.D., A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography from 1610 to 1910, Vol. II (W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia & London, 1912), p. 87
Leaming was Professor Emeritus both of the Woman's Medical College (University of the City of New York) and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University where he also had served as the first President. He was a member of the New York Academy of Medicine, The New York County Medical Society, The New York State Medical Society, The Pathological Society, and the American Medical Association.
Shortly before his death he was honored by an assembly of distinguished guests in the drawing-room of his home, among whom was then President-elect Grover Cleveland.The Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, Second Series, Vol. X (The New York Academy of Medicine, 1894), p. 77 He died of tuberculosis at home in New York City on December 5, 1892.
Family
Leaming married first, in January 1853, to Jane Helen Cheesman, daughter of Rev. Lewis Cheesman, D.D., of Philadelphia. they had one son, Edward Leaming, who went on to become a physician in New York city like his father.Samuel Chessman, Genealogy of the Chesman Family In the United States, From 1713 to 1893 (1893), p. 52 She died June 27, 1865Medical and Surgical Reporter; A Weekly Journal, ed. S.W. Butler, M.D., Vol XIII (Alfred Martien, Philadelphia, July 1865 – January 1866), p. 32 In November 1868 he married Kathryn Lawton Strobel, daughter of Rev. W.D. Strobel, D.D., of Rhinebeck, NY; they had one daughter, Abby Anna Leaming. His third marriage was to Susan Emilia Nelson, daughter of John G. Nelson, who survived him.Social Register, New York, 1896, Volume X, Number 1 (Social Register Association, 35 Liberty St., New York City, November 1895), p. 204
Works
Cardiac Murmurs, New York Journal of Medicine, 1848 Respiratory Murmurs, New York Journal of Medicine, 1872 Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2nd Series, 1874 Plastic Exudation within the Pluria, Dry Pleurisy, Brown-Sequard's Archives, 1873 Haemoptysis, Medical Record, 1874 Disturbed Action and Functional Murmurs of the heart, Transactions of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2nd Series, 1876 Fibroid Phthisis, read before the New York Academy of Medicine, 1876 Physical Signs of Interpleural Pathological Processes (Reprinted from the Medical Record, May 25, 1878) Memoir of George P. Cammann, M.D.; Read before the New York Academy of Medicine, October 21st, 1863 (E.P. Dutton & Co., Boston, 1864) Contributions to the study of the heart and lungs (E.B. Treat, New York, 1887)
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