USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity > Part 27
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
The Faculty holds two examinations, annually, for the medical degree, at which three members are a quorum for business. The first examina- tion is held on the day next succeeding that on which the winter courses end. at ten o'clock, A. M. The second, on the Monday next but one pre- ceding the Commencement, in July, at ten o'clock, A. M. In extraordi- nary cases, the Faculty may hold meetings for examination at other times.
The following are the conditions on which students are admitted to ex- amination.
1. Each candidate shall furnish evidence that he is twenty-one years old.
2. He shall have attended two full courses of the Lectures in this Col- lege. Nevertheless, a similar course in any other College or University, approved by the Medical Faculty, may take the place of one of these. A third course may be attended without fee.
3. Ho shall have studied three full years with a regular physician, and be of good moral character.
1. If not graduated in the Arts, he shall satisfy the Faculty in respect to his knowledge of the Latin language and experimental philosophy.
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MEDICAL SCHOOL.
Certificates of competent persons will be received as satisfactory proof of these facts.
Four weeks before examination, he shall hand or send to the Dean a Medical Dissertation written by himself, certificates .of time from the Physicians with whom he has studied, tickets to the Lectures, and the graduating fee, which is twenty dollars. The Dean shall submit the Dis- sertations to the Faculty.
Each candidate having complied with these statutes shall be examined separately in Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, Materia Medica, Mid- wifery, Surgery, and the Theory and Practice of Medicine, and upon his Dissertation. The decision in regard to each shall be made and declared to him at the close of his examination, by the votes of the major part of the members of the Faculty present, and, if favorable, shall be recorded by the Dean, and by him certified to the President, to be laid before the Senatus Academicus.
Those candidates who have received from the Senatus Academicus the final approbation and degree will, after the spring graduation, receive their diplomas from the Dean ; and those who may be approved at the summer examination will receive their degrees and diplomas in Cambridge, on Commencement-day
The fee for matriculation is $ 3. This fee is to be paid to the Dean by all persons who propose to attend any of the courses, and is appropriated to the increase of the Library ; which numbers about 1.200 volumes. and contains all the most important elementary works, and those most used by students, with the writings of the early Greek and Latin medical Fathers, and the later medical classics, beside numerous valuable modern publica- tions. For this Library, the School is principally indebted to the liber- ality of its first Professors, by whom it was collected, chiefly from their own resources, for the benefit of their pupils, and presented, in November. 1819, to the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Although by the formal deed of conveyance the inspection and control of " the Library of the Massachusetts Medical College " was thus (upon certain conditions) vested in the Corporation, they were exonerated from any expense in the matter, and the Medical Faculty assumed the whole care and man- agement of the Library as one of their College duties. In addition to the contributions of its early patrons and founders, valuable donations have been made by Benjamin Vaughan, Ward Nicholas Boylston, and Edward Everett.
Dr. J. C. Warren has exhibited another instance of his truly liberal sci. entific spirit, by placing in the School an extensive anatomical cabinet, containing the donations of Dr. Nichols, formerly of London, and others. with a large number of preparations by himself. Valuable additions have already been made to this collection by Drs. Hayward and Lawrence. A fund has been given by Dr. Warren for its preservation and increase, and
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THE BOTANIC GARDEN.
It is probable that a few years will produce a Museum which will bear a favorable comparison with the best to be found elsewhere.
The fee for the whole course is $ 80. Fees for tickets to the Lectures are required to be paid when the tickets are taken out, and no person can be admitted to a Lecture who does not exhibit his ticket for the same, when called for.
The Hospital and Library are gratuitous. Tickets for the Dissecting. Room, $ 5. A sufficient supply of subjects is provided by the existing laws, furnishing to the class ample means of pursuing the important branch of practical anatomy. Board is as low as in any of our cities.
The fee for graduation is $ 20; which is deposited with the Dean when application is made to him for examination.
Taking into view the amount of instruction given in this School, the ex- tensive apparatus with which it is furnished, its connection with the nu. merous cases and operations of one of the best conducted hospitals in the United States, together with the generally thorough acquisitions and high respectability of its graduates, it may be doubted whether any seminary in the country offers the means of a more complete professional education than may be obtained in the Medical School at Boston.
THE BOTANIC GARDEN,
was established at Cambridge with a view to facilitate the acquisition of botanical knowledge, by the introduction of plants from various parts of the world, and also by the cultivation of such indigenous shrubs, trees, and herbaceous plants, as are worthy of attention on account of their medicinal properties, or their uses in domestic economy and the arts.
So long ago as January, 1784, an attempt was made by the Corporation to induce the Legislature of the State to found a Botanic Garden, in con- nection with the University, in consequence of an offer made by the King of France, through Mr. St. John, his Consul-General at New York, " to furnish such garden with every species of seeds and plants, which may be requested from his royal garden, at his own expense." But the design re- ceived no countenance from the Legislature, the embarrassments of the period, both political and financial, affording an ample apology for the re- jection of this and other similar applications.
Early in the year 1905, a number of gentlemen in Boston and its vicinity raised by subscription a sum exceeding $ 30,000, and laid the foundation of a Professorship of Natural History in the University. By the arti. cles of its constitution, its funds were placed in the hands of the Treasurer of Harvard College, subject to the control of a Board of Visitors, who were intrusted with the selection aud purchase of a site for a Botanic Garden, and with full powers of doing whatsoever in their judgment would enlarge
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THE BOTANIC GARDEN.
and improve the institution, so far as to render it " most useful to promote the arts and agriculture of the State, and the interest of the University at Cambridge." Mr. William Dandridge Peck having been chosen by the subscribers their first Professor, and having been approved as such by the Corporation and Overseers, was authorized, immediately after his election, to embark for Europe, for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the best and most economical means of effecting the objects of the institution. In October, 1807, a site for a Botanic Garden was purchased, which, hav- ing been enlarged by a liberal donation of four acres of adjoining land from Andrew Craigie, Esq., of Cambridge, the Visitors proceeded to cause all the requisite buildings to be erected. On the return of Mr Peck fromn Europe, he entered upon his official duties, and, with the occasional as- sistance of a committee of the Board of Visitors, had the superintendence of the Botanic Garden until his death, in October, 1822.
In establishments of this kind it is usual to employ some person solely in collecting plants ; but the funds of this institution not being sufficient to meet such an expense, no person could be regularly engaged in this ne- cessary employment, and the number of native plants was consequently much smaller than it otherwise would have been. Those friends of the institution who possessed green houses in the vicinity, kindly contributed such exotics as they contained; gentlemen who had visited the tropical regions of the East and West Indies, and Africa, also presented plants and seeds ; and seeds were received from some of the Botanic Gardens in Eu- rope. From these various sources the collection was enriched with many choice and curious plants, of which a Catalogue (occupying some fifty pa- ges) was published by Professor Peck, in 1818, " by direction of the Board of Visitors, for the use of Visiters, and of Students of Botany in Harvard College." A small fee was demanded for admission to the Garden, and annual tickets were issued for the convenience of those families and indi- viduals with whom congeniality of taste made it a favorite place of resort.
In November, 1822, in consequence of the inadequacy of the funds to support a Professor, the Board of Visitors " resolved to assign the care of the Garden to a committee, one of whom shall be a Curator, charged with such general duties relating thereto as are devolved by the statutes of the Professorship on the Professor "; and the Corporation expressing their satisfaction and full concurrence in the measures adopted by the Board, Mr. Thomas Nuttall was, in the same month, appointed Curator of the Bo- tanic Garden, to hold his office during the pleasure of the Board, with the same powers of supervision as the statutes vested in the Professor.
In May, 1831, the Trustees of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, as part of the Visitors of the Professorship of Natural His- tory, being of opinion that, since the discontinuance of the grants of the Legislature, and in the state of the funds of the Professorship, its true in- terest required the whole control of the Botanic Garden to be vested in
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THE BOTANIC GARDEN.
the Corporation, as possessing the best means and the most favorable sit- uation for the maintenance and improvement of the institution, they made known to the Corporation their desire to surrender their trust. While they yielded to this proposal, the Corporation expressed their " grateful sense of the deep interest which has always been manifested by the Trus. tees in the Botanical Institution, and of the great benefits it had derived from their friendly care and oversight "; and assured them that they would constantly endeavor to maintain and support it, so far as the posses- sion of any funds which could be properly applied to that object would en. able them so to do.
Mr. Nuttall continued to perform the duties of the office to which he had been appointed, until his resignation, in 1831; from which time till the appointment of a new Professor of Natural History, on another Found. ation, in 1842, the care of the Botanic Garden devolved upon Mr. W. E. Carter, the Gardener, while the charge of instruction in this department was committed to gentlemen temporarily appointed for that purpose by the Corporation.
The ancient glory of the BOTANIC GARDEN has long since departed. Year by year the funds for its support were sensibly diminished, while the wants of the establishment increased with more than an inverse ratio of rapidity. The hot-house and fences became so dilapidated that it was scarcely possible to repair them, and there were no means for renewal; the disposable funds of the College being too small to warrant such an out- lay as would be necessary to place the institution in a proper position, at a time when there were so many other claims, of the most pressing char. acter, upon its bounty. Year after year the College Treasurer, like a faithful monitor, warned the community that the means of giving instruc- tion in Natural History were rapidly failing ; that the dilapidation of the buildings in the Botanic Garden, and the diminution of its funds, were still going on ; that it was in danger of becoming a memory of the past rather than the hope of the future, - a result which, though it might be delayed for a brief period, was finally inevitable, unless speedy aid were afforded to the drooping establishment, - and that the fate of an institu- tion, in which the public had once taken such an interest, mnust now de- pend upon the exertions of those who desired to see Natural Science en. couraged and cultivated, and exerting its proper influence on the charac. ter of the country.
Although the aid so earnestly intreated for has not been forthcoming, and some time has now elapsed since the Green-house was abandoned, the Garden still drags on a lingering existence; and "it is to be hoped " (to use the words of another) " that the liberality of those particularly inter- ested in this department of Science is not yet exhausted, but that this branch of the College may be soon replaced in the flourishing condition in which it once stood, and which its importance deserves."
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DANE LAW SCHOOL.
DANE LAW SCHOOL.
THE design of this institution is, to afford a complete course of legal ed- ucation for gentlemen intended for the Bar in any of the United States, except in matters of mere local law and practice; and also a systematic course of study in Commercial Jurisprudence for those who intend to de- vote themselves exclusively to mercantile pursuits. It dates, strictly, from the year 1817, when, at the suggestion of the Hon. Isaac Parker, then Chief Justice of Massachusetts, the Hon. Asahel Stearns was appointed University Professor of Law; with the charge of such students as might choose to pursue their professional studies at Cambridge, and avail them- selves of his instruction and of the incidental advantages to be enjoyed there. The Royall Professorship of Law, it is true, had been established in 1815, under the will of the Hon. Isaac Royall, who bequeathed to Har- vard College a large tract of land, "to be appropriated towards the en- dowing a Professor of Law in said College, or a Professor of Physic or Anatomy, whichever the Corporation and Overseers of said College shall judge best for its benefit"; and in 1816, Chief Justice Parker had been chosen the first Professor on that Foundation. But as he did not reside at Cambridge, and gave only a partial attention to the instruction of men- bers of the School, it is principally to the fostering care and eminent qualifications of Professor Stearns, that its earliest success must be at- tributed.
In June, 1829, both of the Professors having retired from their respective offices, a new and unexpected impulse was given to this department, by the liberal proposition of the Hon. Nathan Dane, to lay the foundation of another Professorship of Law in the University ; coupled with a request that the Hon. Joseph Story might receive the first appointment thereto. Mr. Dane's proffered donation was accepted by the Corporation, and, in accordance with his wish, Mr. Justice Story was immediately elected Dane Professor of Law; and at the same time the Royall Professorship was filled by the appointment of John Hooker Ashmun, Esq., of North- ampton, to the vacant chair. After four years of valued service, Mr. Ashmun was removed by death from the station which he so much hon- ored, and his place was supplied by Professor Greenleaf. Under the joint administration of Professors Story and Greenleaf, the School continued to increase in numbers, importance, and resources; and since the de- cease of Judge Story, it has maintained its position, under the care of Professor Greenleaf, and, for one year, of Judge Kent, who have been suc- ceeded by Judge Parker, of New Hampshire, and the Hon. Theophilus Parsons.
In October, 1831, Mr. Dane advanced the sum of $5,000 towards the erection of a Law College ; and proffering, at the same time, a loan of $ 2,000 more, to enable the Corporation to begin the work immediately the
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DANE LAW SCHOOL.
requisite measures were forthwith taken for the building of Dane Hall, which was completed in October of the year following, (1832,) and dedi- cated on the 23d of the same month.
The prosperity of the Law School continuing uninterrupted, and the prospects of the institution being such as to justify, and even require, an enlargement of the building appropriated to its use, in compliance with the wishes of its officers, a considerable portion of its funds was in 1844 devoted to that purpose ; and the building now affords ample accommoda. tions for a school of two hundred and fifty or three hundred students, with rooms for the Professors, Librarian, &c., &c., together with a fine apart. ment for the Library. The subjoined cut is a fair representation of the edifice at the present time. It is of brick, two stories in height, and shaped like the letter T, with a portico in front, supported by four Ionic columns.
The course of instruction in this School is not unlike that pursued in other establishments of the kind. The reading of the students is di. rected by the Professors, who examine into the results of study, and the attainments made by their pupils ; Lectures are delivered upon the most important branches of law, following, in general, the course of some text- book; and moot-courts are held, under the direction of the Professors. Students may enter the School in any stage of their professional studies or mercantile pursuits ; but they are advised, with a view to their own ad- vantage and improvement, to enter at the beginning of those studies, rather than at a later period. No examination, and no particular course
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DANE LAW SCHOOL.
of previous study, are necessary for admission; but the student, if not a graduate of some College, must be at least nineteen years of age, and pro- duce testimonials of good moral character. He also gives a bond, in the sum of $ 200, to the Steward, with a surety resident in Massachusetts, for the payment of College dues ; or deposits, at his election, $ 150 with the Steward, upon his entrance, and at the commencement of each subsequent Terin, to be retained until the end of the Term, and then to be accounted for. No student is matriculated until such testimonials are produced, and security given.
Instruction is given by oral lectures and expositions, (and by recitations and examinations, in connection with thein,) of which there are at least nine every week.
The COURSE of STUDIES is so arranged as to be completed in two Aca- demical years; and the studies for each Term are also arranged, as far as they may be, with reference to a course commencing with that Term, and extending through a period of two years ; so that those who are beginning the study of the law may enter, at the commencement of either Term, upon branches suitable for them. Students may enter, also, if they so desire it, in the middle, or other part, of a Term. But it is recommended to them to enter at the beginning of an Academical year, in preference to any other time, if it be convenient. They are at liberty to elect what studies they will pursue, according to their view of their own wants and attain- ments; but, as a general rule. it is advisable for them, during the first Term, to confine themselves to few branches, as subjects of regular study, giving attendance, however, upon all the Lectures.
When a student is desirous of pursuing a branch of study which does not form the subject of general instruction in that particular Term, the Professors will render him aid in its pursuit as a private study.
The COURSE of INSTRUCTION for the Bar embraces the various branches of the Common Law, and of Equity ; Admiralty, Commercial, Interna- tional, and Constitutional Law; and the Jurisprudence of the United States. Lectures are given, also, upon the history, sources, and general principles of the Civil Law, and upon the theory and practice of Parlia- mentary Law.
The COURSE of INSTRUCTION for the mercantile profession is more lim- ited, and embraces the principal branches only of Commercial Jurispru- dence; namely, the Law of Agency, of Partnership, of Bailments, of Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes, of Insurance, of Shipping, Nav- igation, and other maritime concerns, of sales, and, if the students desire it, of Constitutional Law.
Lectures and instruction are given, throughout the course, on the Law of Real Property, the Civil Law, and Criminal Law, by the Hon. Lu- THER S. CUSHING, Lecturer. The studies in these branches will be under his direction, with aid from the Professors in his absence.
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DANE LAW SCHOOL.
No public instruction is given in the local or peculiar municipal juris prudence of any particular State; but the students are assisted by the Pro- fessors, as occasion may require, in the private study of the law and practice peculiar to their own States.
Two MOOT COURTS are held in each week, at each of which a cause, pre- viously assigned, is argued by four students, and an opinion delivered by the presiding Professor. Clubs are formed among the students, in which dissertations upon legal subjects are read, and cases argued.
The LAW LIBRARY consists of about 14,000 volumes, and includes all the American Reports, and the Statutes of the United States, as well as those of all the States, a regular series of all the English Reports, including the Year-Books, and also the English Statutes, as well as the principal trea- tises in American and English Law; besides a large collection of Scotch, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and other Foreign Law; and a very ample collection of the best editions of the Roman or Civil Law, to gether with the works of the most celebrated commentators upon that Law.
The Library is open for the use of students during the Term, and those who desire it pursue their studies there, especially in the preparation of their Moot Court cases.
PRIZES are annually awarded, at the close of each Academic year, for the best and second best Dissertations, written by students of the Law School, on subjects given out by the Law Faculty, as follows : -
A prize of sirty dollars for the best, and of fifty dollars for the second best Dissertation, by a student who has attended the Law School three of the four Terms immediately preceding the award.
A prize of fifty dollars for the best, and forty dollars for the second best Dissertation, by a student who has attended two of the three Terms next preceding the award.
The merit of the Dissertations is adjudged by Committees of Counsel- lors-at-Law, appointed by the Law Faculty ; and no prize will be awarded. if no Dissertation offered shall be deemed to have sufficient merit.
Students, who have pursued their studies for the term of eighteen months in any law institution having legal authority to confer the degree of Bachelor of Laws, one year of said term having been spent in this School ; or who, having been admitted to the Bar after a year's previous study, have subsequently pursued their studies in this School for one year : are entitled, upon the certificate and recommendation of the Law Faculty. and on payment of all dues to the College, to the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
The ACADMICAL YEAR, which commences on Thursday, six weeks af- ter the third Wednesday in July (August 28th, 1851), is divided into two Terms, of twenty weeks each, with a vacation of six weeks at the end of each Term.
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DANE LAW SCHOOL.
The fees are $ 50 a Term, and $ 25 for half or any less fraction of a Term; for which sum, without any additional charge, students have the use of the lecture rooms, the Law and College libraries, and the text. books; and they are admitted free to all the courses of public Lectures delivered to the undergraduates in the Academical Department of the University.
Upon the payment of a fee of $ 5 for each course, the Law Students may also attend the Lectures delivered in the Lawrence Scientific School on Zoology and Geology, by Professor Agassiz; on Comparative Anatoniy and Physiology, by Professor Wyman ; on Botany, by Professor Gray . and on payment of a fee of $ 10, the Lectures on Chemistry, by Professor Horsford. They may also study any one of the foreign languages taught in the University, on payment of a fee of $ 10 per annum.
The other expenses for a Term are as follows ; -
Board, twenty weeks, from $ 2.50 to $ 3.50 per week, from $ 50 to $ 70 Room-rent, including care of room, but not making fires, . 26 to 52
Furniture, (if the student does not furnish his room), 10 to 20
Washing, 7 to 15
Fuel, for the First or winter Term, from August to January, 12 to 21
" for the Second or summer Term, from February to July, from $ 6 to $ 10.
Servant (if one is employed) to make fires, &c., 5 to 10
$ 110 to $ 188
Fuel, prepared for use, is furnished by the lessee of the College wharf, at the market price, if the students desire it.
The Law School is now so extensively known, and its direct and inci- dental advantages are so highly appreciated, it has so long maintained an elevated rank, and the prospect of its continuance in a similar position is so favorable, that it may be considered as well established in public favor. Its choice and valuable Library, which contains most of the standard works in English and American Law, and in the Civil Law, together with a se lect assortment of those of the writers of France, Germany, and Spain, and which is steadily increasing in size, has already cost nearly $ 40,000, without including the large donations which it has received from private beneficence. The annual fee paid for all its advantages is but one hundred dollars. The funds appropriated to the Law School amount to between forty and fifty thousand dollars, a large portion of which has accumulated from its own resources, beside the sum mentioned above, as having been paid for its Library. At a future period, this flourishing department of the University will receive the benefit of the late Mr. Bussey's munificent bequest, which will probably afford the means of supporting two additional Professors, as well as a permanent Librarian.
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