BARTON, Benjamix Smith, M.D., an American naturalist, who was the first professor of botany and natural history in a college in the United States. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1766, studied for two years at Edinburgh, and afterwards graduated at Göttingen. He settled at Philadelphia, and soon obtained a considerable practice. In 1789 he was appointed to the professorship above mentioned in Philadelphia College; he was made professor of materia medica in 1795, and on the death of Dr Rush in 1813 he obtained the chair of practical medicine. In 1802 he was chosen president of the American Philosophical Society. Barton was the author of various works on natural history, botany, and materia medica. By his lectures and writings he may be said to have founded the American school of natural history. He died in 1815....
BARTON, Elizabeth, the “Maid of Kent,” belonged to the village of Aldington in Kent. She was a pious, nerv0u3, and enthusiastic person, subject to epilepsy; and her enthusiasm, unfortunately for herself, took a political turn at a somewhat critical period in English history. When all England was excited with the attempts made by Henry VIII. to obtain a divorce from Queen Catherine, Elizabeth Barton saw visions and heard speeches, all of which related to the contemplated divorce. These she confided to her parish priest, Richard Masters, and he made them known to Dr Böckling, a canon of Canterbury. Through these men they became widely known, and were everywhere proclaimed to be divine revelations. The chapel at Aldington became the centre of many pilgrimages, and the scene of many excited and tumultuous assemblies. Elizabeth Barton was commonly believed to be a prophetess, and was called the “holy maid of Kent.” Meanwhile her visions continued; she saw letters written in characters of gold sent to her by Mary Magdalene, which contained both revelations and exhortations. Among other things she declared that it was revealed to her that if the contemplated divorce took place, the king would be a dead man within seven months. The principal agents for the Pope and for Queen Catherine lent themselves to fan the excitement. Even such men as bishops Fisher and Warham and Sir Thomas More corresponded with the Maid of Kent. At last the king’s wrath was aroused. In 1533 Elizabeth with her principal supporters, Masters, Böckling, and several others, were examined before parliament, and sentenced to be executed. She was beheaded at Tyburn, April 21, 1534. {Cf. Burnet’s History of the Reformation in England; Lingard’s History of England.)
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