William Potts Dewees, an American physician, born at Pottsgrove, Pa., May 5, 1768, died in Philadelphia, May 18, 1841. He attended several courses of lectures at the university of Pennsylvania, and, without having taken any degree, in 1789 commenced the practice of medicine at Abington, Pa. The degree of M. D. was subsequently conferred on him by the university. The yellow fever having in the summer and autumn of 1793 thinned the ranks of the physicians in Philadelphia, in December of that year Dr. Dewees removed thither, selecting obstetrics for his specialty, and achieved a high reputation in that department. In 1812, being threatened with a pulmonary affection, he relinquished practice, and for five years devoted himself to agriculture. In 1817 he returned to Philadelphia. In 1826 he was elected adjunct professor, and in 1834 professor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the university of Pennsylvania. In the latter year he was attacked by paralysis, and at the commencement of the following year he was obliged to resign his professorship. He settled in Mobile, but resumed his residence in Philadelphia about a year before his death.

He published "Inaugural Essays," "Medical Essays," "System of Midwifery," "A Treatise on the Physical and Medical Treatment of Children," and "A Treatise on Diseases of Females." His last systematic work was his "Practice of Medicine," published in 1830.