science

Thomas David Morrison

Thomas David Morrison is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thomas David Morrison rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas David Morrison (c. 1796 – March 19, 1856) was a medical doctor and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Quebec City around 1796 and worked as a clerk in the medical department of the British Army during the War of 1812.

Key takeaways

Thomas David Morrison belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect Thomas David Morrison to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thomas David Morrison from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thomas David Morrison (c. 1796 – March 19, 1856) was a medical doctor and political figure in Upper Canada. He was born in Quebec City around 1796 and worked as a clerk in the medical department of the British Army during the War of 1812. He studied medicine in the United States and returned to York in 1824 to become a doctor in Upper Canada. He treated patients and served on the Toronto Board of Health during the 1832 and 1834 cholera outbreaks and co-founded the York Dispensary. In 1834 he was elected to the 12th Parliament of Upper Canada, representing the third riding of York County as part of the reform movement. That same year he was elected as an alderman to the Toronto City Council and reelected the subsequent two years. In 1836, he served a term as mayor of Toronto. Morrison had been an early supporter of the reform movement in Upper Canada and participated in meetings to encourage political change. He spoke repeatedly against armed rebellion and encouraged William Lyon Mackenzie to continue soliciting support for his reforms. He did not participate in the Upper Canada Rebellion and remained in his home instead. Nevertheless, he was arrested and charged with treason for planning and executing the rebellion and found not guilty at a subsequent trial. Fearing additional charges, Morrison fled to the United States and resumed practicing medicine. When amnesty was granted to most participants of the rebellion in 1843, he returned to Toronto to continue his medical practice and serve on various boards of medicine. He died on March 19, 1856, of palsy in Toronto.

Early life Thomas David Morrison was born c. 1796 in Quebec City. His father was William Morrison, a senior clerk with the Royal Engineers. He came to York, Upper Canada, before 1816 and two years later he married Effie Gilbert, née Patrick. Morrison was originally an Anglican and served on the board of the Upper Canada Bible Society. In 1818, Morrison helped organise the creation of the first Methodist church in York.

Career pre-rebellion

Clerkship and early medical career From 1812 to 1814, Morrison worked with the British Army as a clerk of acquisitions in the medical department during the War of 1812. In 1816, he was hired as a clerk in York for the office of the surveyor-general. He was fired from his clerkship in 1822 for "uttering languages" and "opinions very unbecoming a person employed in one of His Majesty's public offices". However, he might have been dismissed because he converted to Methodism in 1818 and Upper Canadian government officials thought he deviated from proper Anglican values. After his dismissal, Morrison went to the United States to study medicine. He returned to York and on June 5, 1824, and was licensed to practice medicine in "Physic, Surgery and Midwifery". Morrison opened his practice in York but also travelled north into the country to care for people.

Provincial politics In 1828 Morrison ran for the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada for the constituency of the 3rd riding of York. He ran on a reform platform supported by William Lyon Mackenzie, which opposed the firing of Judge John Walpole Willis by Lieutenant Governor Peregrine Maitland from the Court of King's Bench. He lost the election to John Robinson by 17 votes and unsuccessfully challenged the results. After the election, Morrison helped organise a committee to petition British politicians to intervene in Upper Canada to protect the constitution. Members of this committee were against Maitland's dismissal of Willis. On August 22, 1832, he opened the York Dispensary with William Warren Baldwin and John E. Tims, but it closed a year later because of a lack of funding. In 1832 Solicitor-General Christopher Alexander Hagerman expelled Mackenzie from the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada. Morrison organised a meeting on January 19 to demand the lieutenant-governor call an election to enable Hagerman and others to campaign and explain their actions to voters in Upper Canada. Mackenzie was in England during the subsequent by-election for his Legislative Assembly seat, so Morrison spoke on his behalf at the poll and encouraged others to join his recently created Upper Canada Central Political Union. Morrison proposed the organisational structure of the union and was elected its corresponding secretary. In 1834 Morrison was selected again as the reform movement's candidate for the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in the 3rd riding of York. Morrison won his seat and was reelected in 1836. On November 4, 1835, he was elected as a director for the newly created Bank of the People, created to stop the monopoly of the Bank of Upper Canada.

Municipal politics Morrison was elected alderman for St. Andrew's Ward in Toronto's 1834 city council election and was re-elected to this position in 1835 and 1836. Anticipating a cholera outbreak in Toronto, as a doctor, Morrison was appointed to a reconsecrated Cholera Hospital in 1834. The outbreak was declared later that year while Morrison was a member of the Toronto Board of Health. Morrison quarrelled with Tory members over accusations that Mackenzie, the city's mayor, was interfering with the work of health officers. Morrison was removed from the board when it was restructured two weeks after the outbreak's declaration. Tory newspapers speculated of an argument between Mackenzie and Morrison over the lieutenant governor's offer to fund the Cholera Hospital. Mackenzie explained in his newspaper that Morrison did not want to apply for more funding to the hospital and consequently resigned from the board. In 1836, the lieutenant-governor appointed Morrison to the Medical Board of Upper Canada. In 1836 he was chosen as mayor of Toronto. His mayoralty focused on the conflict between Reformers and Tories in the provincial legislature, but his term was also credited with new infrastructure projects to improve the city's water supply and an increased number of gas-powered street lamps. His council also approved funding to pave major roads with macadam and created a House of Industry, which allowed for the creation of workhouses the following year. He chose not to run for city council in the subsequent municipal election.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas David Morrison

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas David Morrison claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thomas David Morrison before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thomas David Morrison ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thomas David Morrison

In research: Thomas David Morrison appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thomas David Morrison in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thomas David Morrison is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1790s births, 1856 deaths, 19th-century Canadian medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas David Morrison outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thomas David Morrison in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thomas David Morrison means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thomas David Morrison out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas David Morrison in simple terms?

Why does Thomas David Morrison matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thomas David Morrison?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thomas David Morrison.