FISHER, Joshua, physician, born in Dedham, Massachusetts, 17 May 1748; died in Beverly, Massachusetts, 15 March 1833. He was graduated at Harvard in 1766, studied medicine, and began practice. When hostilities with Great Britain began in 1775 he volunteered as surgeon on a privateer, and was captured, but escaped to France, again entering the service. After the war he settled in practice at Beverly, Massachusetts, and attained a high reputation in his profession. He was an ardent student of nature, and at his death bequeathed $20,000 to found at Harvard a professorship of natural history, comprehending the three kingdoms animal, vegetable, and mineralor a part of them. He was president of the Massachusetts medical society. He published a " Discourse on Narcotics " (1806). See "A Brief Memoir of Joshua Fisher, M. D.," by Dr. Walter Channing.