Adam Seybert (1773-1825) studied medicine under Caspar Wistar and received an M.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1793. He continued his studies in London, Edinburgh, Göttingen, and Paris, building particular expertise in chemistry and mineralogy. In Philadelphia he operated a pharmacy and chemical laboratory. Elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 1797, he served as one of the society’s secretaries from 1799 to 1808 and as a counselor, 1810-11. Seybert was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1809-15, 1817-19 (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928-36, 20 vols. description ends ).

Johann Friedrich blumenbach, a professor of medicine and the curator of the natural history collection at the University of Göttingen, wrote influential works on anthropology and comparative anatomy. The APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends received an English translation (from Latin) of his textbook on physiology in 1795 and elected him to membership in April 1798. From Philippe Reibelt in 1805, TJ purchased a French translation of a natural history textbook by Blumenbach. Later, Wistar’s copy of an English translation of a study of comparative anatomy by the Göttingen scientist came into TJ’s library. Both of those works appeared originally in German. TJ, who studied Blumenbach’s system of classification of species along with those of Linneaus and Georges Cuvier, considered Blumenbach’s to be too heavily based on anatomy (DSB description begins Charles C. Gillispie, ed., Dictionary of Scientific Biography, New York, 1970-80, 16 vols. description ends ; APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Proceedings, 22, pt. 3 [1884], 232, 270; Sowerby, description begins E. Millicent Sowerby, comp., Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C., 1952-59, 5 vols. description ends Nos. 1000, 1019; RS description begins J. Jefferson Looney and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series, Princeton, 2004- , 11 vols. description ends , 7:208-10; TJ to Reibelt, 23 Jan. 1805; Reibelt to TJ, 25 Jan. 1805).