BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE
OF THE LATE
JOHN RUAN, M.D.;
READ (BY APPOINTMENT) BEFORE THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS
OF PHILADELPHIA,
      By HENRY BOND, M. D.,


         SEPTEMBER 2, 1845,



AND PUBLISHED IN THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE COLLEGE.
/4.^£fc:
      PHILADELPHIA:
WILLIAM F. GEDDES, PRINTER,
   JVo. 112 CIIESTJVUT STREET.

           1845.
/ £~f  << _■  > 
 
                BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE

                           OF THE

            LATE DR.  JOHN RUAN.


   There are many individuals whose lives have been mark-
ed by no achievements of extraordinary brilliancy, and no
incidents to fill the world's mouth; but  which, nevertheless,
present most wholesome  examples for  imitation, and the re-
collections of which are among the most precious treasures
of their friends.  Such are they who listen to the still small
voice of conscience, and think it
              " Greatly wise to talk with their past hours,
         And ask them what report they bore to heaven;
         And how they might have borne more welcome news;"
Rather than to the  loud claims of ambition—that  insatiable
thirsting  for power and distinction, governed only by the
dictates  of  worldly expediency, without scruples  as to the
means adopted in the pursuit and  attainment of its objects ;
but
                 " Whose yesterdays look backward,
          And, like the Parthian, wound him as he flies."
   These  thoughts are  elicited  by the contemplation of the
character of  him,  a notice of  whose life it has been made
my duty, as it is my pleasure, briefly to present to  this So-
ciety. 
                           4
  Dr. John  Ruan  was the second  son of John Ruan, a re-
spectable gentleman planter in the island of St. Croix, in the
West Indies, where  he  was born, June 19th, 1771.  His
father died  ir* 1782,  and his mother  being previously de-
ceased, he and his elder brother were sent by their guardians
to this country to complete their education, and were placed
under the care of Mr. Isaac Barnes, of the City of Trenton,
New Jersey.  Young  Ruan studied four years in the Acad-
emy of  that place, of which the  Rev. James Armstrong,
D. D., was at that  time the Principal.  In 1788, he  entered
the Junior Class of Princeton College, of  which our  late
Vice President, Dr. Otto, was a member; and took  his first
degree in 1790, and afterwards that of Master of Arts.  In
the following winter he attended a course of medical lectures
in Philadelphia.  In the spring of  1791, he went to Edin-
burg, then the  most  renowned medical  school  in Great
Britain,  if not in the world.  There he remained prosecuting
his  medical studies, until  1793, when he in company with
our late President Dr.  Thomas C. James, his fellow student,
returned to  the  United States, and landed  at Wiscasset in
Maine.  It appears, by the catalogue of his Alma Mater, that
he obtained the  degree of M. D.,  but at what time, or in
what institution,  I have not learned.
  Soon  after his return  from Europe, he  commenced  the
practice of  Medicine in the borough of Frankford, near
Philadelphia, where he remained fifteen years;  at the termi-
nation of which period he removed to a farm, which he had
purchased a few  miles from that borough.  There he remain-
ed three years, still devoted  to the  duties of his  profession,
which, in  1811, he relinquished, and  retired to a plantation 
5
in Maryland, where he resided ten years.  He spent the win-
ter of 1821 in his native island, on a visit to his two brothers,
who were planters there.   On his return he found it necessa-
ry, on account of pecuniary losses, to resume the practice of
his profession;  and in the spring of 1822, he settled in New-
portville, in Bucks county, Pa.  But he soon found a country
practice too fatiguing for one at his time of  life, being then
fifty-one years old; and in the autumn of that  year, he re-
moved to  Philadelphia, being encouraged thereto by some of
his old professional friends—particularly by Drs. Otto and
Dewees, and by his warm friend and fellow  student, Dr.
James. He soon acquired business, and in a very few years
had a  larger obstetrical practice  than any other  physician in
this  City.   Two or  three physicians in the Incorporated Dis-
tricts have sometimes made larger annual reports of  births
to the  Board of Health; but, during the twenty-two years of
his professional life in Philadelphia, his  obstetrical practice
amounted to 400 cases more than that of any other  practi-
tioner in the City.  He attended 2922 cases; and from 1830
to 1840, from his sixtieth  to his seventieth year, his cases,
annually, varied from 161  to 214.  To be able, at that time
of life, to undergo  all the watching and fatigue  necessarily
connected  with such a practice, shows that  he  was blessed
with a constitution  of great vigor, and capable  of great en-
durance.
   In the spring of 1843, he had a severe  attack of pneumo-
nia,  by which he was greatly reduced and  prostrated. He
recovered so far as  to enjoy comfortable health and to resume
his professional labors.   But his constitution had received so
severe a shock, that the fatigue and  watching  necessarily 
G
connected with his business, rapidly hastened on the infirmi-
ties of age, and in the summer of 1844, he was compelled
to withdraw entirely from practice; and late in the  autumn
of that year, he removed to a small estate which he owned
in Bucks  county,—where he died, July the  2d, 1845, in the
seventy-fifth year of his age, greatly respected  and deeply
lamented.
   In his manners, Dr. Ruan evinced the simplicity and cour-
teousness of the real gentleman, and the sincerity and benig-
nity of the true Christian.  He well understood and practised
the rules of intercourse observed in  the best bred  society,
and  was punctillious in conforming  to the strictest  rules of
professional etiquette.
   He was no vaunter of his own success, nor had he trum-
peters at hotels and on the corners of the streets  to spread
his fame, and gain adherents.  His uncommon success in his
profession was  the result  of kindness, courteousness, and
fidelity—of his unwearied attention and unmeasured benevo-
lence.  The poor never called on him in vain, and no labour
was ever spared when he could minister to their relief.  He
was always cheerful, but never frivolous; prompt in the dis-
charge of duty, but not officious; gentle, but decided; digni-
fied, but free from austerity.  He  seldom failed to inspire his
patients with the highest confidence in his ability and friend-
ship.  His liberal, tolerant spirit, and the benevolence of his
heart were evinced in every action, and imparted to his con-
versation a peculiar charm.  His extensive and various reading
gave  him a fund of information, which made his conversa-
tion instructive as well as agreeable.
   In all the domestic relations he was a most excellent model 
7
for  imitation.   He was  very little  disposed to mingle in a
throng or to frequent the crowded festive hall; his  pleasures
and his affections centred in the domestic circle.   There he
might almost always be found, except when called away by
the duties of his profession, or by those of religion.  In for-
mer years, he frequently attended the meetings of the College,
but a laborious practice, added to the burden of years, ren-
dered his attendance of late  unfrequent.   He however, con-
tinued to feel a lively interest in the prosperity and  honour of
our Society.
  I cannot learn that Dr. Ruan ever wrote any thing for the
press; but he has  left, in manuscript, some notes of  cases
which he either  attended or witnessed.  It seems, at first
view, somewhat remarkable that one of so cultivated a mind,
and such extensive observation, should have added nothing
to the stock of recorded medical  facts  and  observations.
During that  part of his life,  in which men usually write, if
ever, he  was either engaged  in a laborious country practice,
or was in retirement from the profession; and after his re-
sumption of its active duties, and his  settlement in this City,
the nature and extent of his professional engagements, would
seem to furnish a sufficient reason why, at his time of life, he
did  not  turn author.   And, moreover, one of his promi-
nent characteristics was a dislike, we might almost say, a
morbid repugnance, to the semblance of seeking notoriety.
  In February, 1805, when he resided in Frankford, he was
elected an Honorary Member of the Philadelphia Medical
Society;  and in April,  1823, a few months after  his settle-
ment in this City, he was elected a Fellow of this College.
  He was naturalized in  1798, at  the earliest period  after 
8
his settlement in the country, which the laws of the United
States admitted of; and he always evinced a warm attach-
ment to the interests and institutions of his adopted country.
  Dr. Ruan was married three times, and in each instance
he drew a high prize in the matrimonial lottery.  In 1793,
he married Elizabeth, a daughter of Richard Gibbs, an Eng-
lish gentleman of fortune, by whom he had two children.  In
1805, he married Rachel, a daughter of Dr. William Mcllvain,
of Burlington, N. J., by whom he had several children, all of
whom died  in  childhood.  In  1822, he  married  Susan, a
daughter of  the Hon. William Rodman, of Bensalem, Bucks
county, Pa.,  by whom he had  six children; three of these,
together with their mother, have survived him  to  mourn his
departure.
  He was many years a  communicant  in the Protestant
Episcopal Church, in which he had been baptized in infancy;
and in his protracted sufferings and  infirmities, he was  re-
markably sustained by the hopes and consolations of religion.
Of his religious character, it is perhaps sufficient to say,  for
it is saying much, that his life was so exemplary, so conform-
able to what he professed, that he never gave the enemies
of religion  occasion to  speak reproachfully  of  it on  his
account.
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