an American physician and author. Stearns graduated from Yale College in 1837. After graduation he studied for two years in the Medical School of Harvard College, but took his degree of M. D. at the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1840. He began practice in Springfield, but soon became a surgeon in the United States Army, and served in Florida and in New York Harbor in 1841-42. He then spent two years in Europe, and after his return resided mainly in Springfield and New York City, engaged in literary occupations as well as in the practice of his profession.
