USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, from its foundation in 1765 > Part 18
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made with the view to the accommodation of the several schools connected with the Institution.
The first building specially erected for the use of the Medical Professors was situated in Fifth Street below Library-the edi- fice to the south of the Philadelphia Dispensary. It is figured in Birch's Views of Philadelphia, published about 1800, as "Sur- geons' Hall." The exact time that this building was erected seems to have escaped recollection or record. In reporting upon a claim to title involving some portion of the lot adja- cent, which had been ceded in 1788, the Committee of the Trustees, to whom the question was years afterwards referred, remark that "at the date of this deed, and long before, as the Committee have understood, the building called the Anatomi- cal Hall, was erected, &c."1 As the University superseded the College in 1779, this building must have been erected for the accommodation of a part of the Medical Faculty attached to the former. In the early advertisements of the Lectures, there are no references to the location of their delivery, nor have we any record by which we can be guided in designating exactly where each course was given.
Upon the resumption of its charter and privileges by the College in 1789, the University was compelled to provide new accommodations, and it leased a portion of the building then recently erected by the Philosophical Society on Fifth Street, for the term of five years. Upon the union of the schools in 1791, this lease was not resumed. It is evident, from perusing the documents referring to the subject, that the several schools pertaining to the University were cramped for want of room in which to carry on their operations. In an address to the Legislature, on Jan. 3, 1792, the following language is used by the Trustees: "We are desirous that additional buildings may be erected, and that our Library and Philosophical Apparatus should be enlarged, but we find that the revenues at present
1 Upon a close examination of the Minutes of the Board of Trustees, we have been unable to find any reference to the erection of Surgeons' Hall. The Committee referred to, Messrs. Binney and Gibson, accurate lawyers, had they been more successful, would not have used the indefinite lan- guage quoted in giving an opinion upon a title. Surgeons' Hall was sub- sequently the Board of Health office.
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belonging to the Institution will not be sufficient to accomplish these purposes, and the benevolent and liberal views of the Legislature without further aid."
In July, 1800, the Trustees became possessed, by purchase, of the edifice that had been built by the State of Pennsylvania, on Ninth Street, between Chestnut and Market, for the accom- modation of the President of the United States.1 The accept- ance of this building on the part of the General Government was declined by Mr. Adams, and as the government was soon afterwards removed to Washington City, the edifice was sold at auction, and purchased, with adjacent property, by the Trustees of the University. The cost of the edifice itself was twenty-four thousand dollars, and the expense was met by the sale of the south end of the old Academy in Fourth Street.
In 1800, at the time of opening the session, the Medical Faculty applied for accommodation in the building on Ninth Street, and in April, 1802, the Committee on the "New Build- ing" reported that "they have the pleasure of announcing to the Board that all the schools, except the Charity School, were removed to the new University on Ninth Street. They have fitted up the west Bow Room in the second story for the Medical Schools, and if the Chemical Professor should desire a room for his chemical apparatus, he can be accommodated in the lower story."
That this arrangement was not satisfactory is learned from the Minutes of the Medical Faculty, March 17, 1804.
"To the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, the petition of the Medical Professors in said University respect- fully showeth : That from the late increase of medical students, amounting last winter to one hundred and fifty, the rooms in
' The following is from the " Pa. Gazette," May 16, 1792: " On Friday last the Governor of this State laid the Corner Stone of the President's House in Ninth Street. The inscription on the stone is-
This Corner Stone was laid On the 10th day of May, 1792, The State of Pennsylvania out of debt. Thomas Mifflin, Governor."
The edifice was completed in 1797. It was commenced at the time Washington was President, and is said to have cost one hundred thousand dollars.
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which Anatomy and Chemistry are taught, in Fifth Street, are too small to accommodate them:1
" That the room in the University on Ninth Street, in which the other branches of Medicine are taught, is so remote from the Anatomical and Chemical Rooms as to make it disagreea- ble and inconvenient for the students of medicine to pass suc- cessively from one to the other in the inclement season of the year in which the lectures are usually delivered.2
"Under these circumstances your petitioners request the appropriation of four rooms on the first floor of the north end of the building in Fourth Street, formerly the seat of the Uni- versity, exclusively, for their use.
" The advantages of this situation for the delivery of their lectures they conceive to be as follows :-
" First. It will be the centre of population of the city.
"Secondly. It is well sequestered from the streets, and un- connected with dwelling-houses, and thus defended from acci- dent, injuries, and inspection.
" Thirdly. It will readily admit of additions, when they shall become necessary, from the extent of the lot westward on which the building stands.
"Fourthly. It will enable the students to pass with ease from one teacher to another, without exposing themselves in a long walk in bad weather; and, lastly, it will establish a rela- tionship and uniformity between the accommodations of the medical sciences and those respectable and decent apartments in which other branches of science are taught in the Uni- versity.
"The building now occupied by the Professors of Anatomy and Chemistry, your petitioners conceive, may be rented for a sum nearly equal to that which arises from the rent of the rooms which are the objects of the petition."
This petition appears not to have met a favorable reception on the part of the Board of Trustees, and in 1806 a new propo- sition was submitted to the Board, by which the medical pro- fessors held themselves responsible for the interest of a sum to
1 In allusions made to this building, it is sometimes called the Labora- tory, and sometimes the Anatomical Hall.
2 Ninth Street, at the time, was upon the extreme verge of the city.
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be expended in their behalf in the erection of apartments suita- ble for the medical lectures. This proposition was acceded to, and an addition was made to the building in Ninth Street, in which the lectures were delivered, while the room which had been occupied by Dr. Rush and Dr. Barton, on the second floor of the main building, was appropriated for the Museum.
The new apartments were occupied in 1807, and here Dr. Shippen took part in the course which was the last in which he was engaged. Dr. Wistar thus refers to Dr. Shippen in this connection : "Last winter (1807) he delivered the intro- ductory lecture, though very infirm, and unlike what he had formerly been. Yet he was much roused by the appearance of the class in the new theatre, and feelingly described his emo- tions upon comparing these with his original set of students forty years before."
In 1817, the Medical Hall was further enlarged, and on Nov. 4th, 1828, it was "resolved that the present Medical Hall is, in the opinion of the Committee (to whom the subject had been re- ferred), inconvenient in several respects, and as it is incapable of being so altered as to afford accommodations suitable to the flourishing condition of the school, it is deemed advisable to erect a new building." In 1829, the Trustees determined to remove all the buildings, and to substitute for them upon the same lot the two buildings now constituting the Medical Hall and that for the other departments of the University.
The Medical Hall was planned and built under the super- vision of the Faculty. It contains three large lecture rooms, a spacious museum, rooms for anatomical purposes, and small apartments for the use of the professors and for the business of the institution. The corner-stone of this building was laid on the occasion of the commencement of 1829. The following is the account of the ceremonies at the time published :-
" At a Medical Commencement, held March 21st, 1829, in the saloon of the Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, the Degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on one hundred and seven gentlemen, who had passed the examination by the Medical Faculty. On the same occasion the corner-stone of the new Medical Hall was laid, and an inscription to the following effect, along with the list of graduates, was deposited; a suita- 14
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ble address being delivered to the graduates and the public in the Masonic Hall by the Rev. William H. Delancey, D.D., Provost.271
1 INSCRIPTION. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Trustees.
The GOVERNOR OF THE STATE (ex officio), President of the Board.
Rt. Rev. WILLIAM WHITE, D. D.,
NICHOLAS BIDDLE,
EDWARD BURD,
ZACCHEUS COLLINS,
WILLIAM RAWLE, LL.D.,
P. S. DUPONCEAU, LL. D.,
BENJAMIN R. MORGAN,
HORACE BINNEY, LL. D.,
WILLIAM MEREDITH,
BENJAMIN CHEW,
Rev. PHILIP F. MAYER, D. D.,
Rev. JAMES WILSON, D. D.,
PHILIP H. NICKLIN,
ROBERT WALN,
Rt. Rev. HENRY U. ONDERDONK, D.D., JOHN C. LOWBER,
JOHN SERGEANT, LL. D.,
THOMAS CADWALADER,
ROBERT WALSH, JR., LL. D.,
CHARLES CHAUNCEY,
Rev. THOMAS H. SKINNER, D. D. JOSEPH REED, Secretary.
Professors of the Collegiate Department.
The Rev. WILLIAM H. DELANCEY, D. D., Provost, Professor of Moral Philosophy.
ROBERT ADRIAN, LL. D., Vice Provost, and Professor of Mathematics.
The Rev. SAMUEL B. WILEY, D. D., Professor of Languages.
ALEXANDER DALLAS BACHE, A. M., Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry.
The Rev. EDWARD' RUTLEDGE, A. M., Assistant Professor of Moral Phi- losophy.
Professors in the Medical Department.
PHILIP SYNG PHYSICK, M. D., Professor of Anatomy.
NATHANIEL CHAPMAN, M. D., Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Physic and Clinical Medicine.
WILLIAM GIBSON, M. D., Professor of Surgery.
JOHN REDMAN COXE, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica and Pharmacy. ROBERT HARE, M. D., Professor of Chemistry.
THOMAS C. JAMES, M. D., Professor of Midwifery.
WILLIAM E. HORNER, M. D., Adjunct Professor of Anatomy.
WILLIAM P. DEWEES, M. D., Adjunct Professor of Midwifery.
SAMUEL JACKSON, M. D., Assistant to the Professor of the Institutes and Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine.
WILLIAM E. HORNER, Dean.
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States. John C. Calhoun, Vice-President. John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States.
JOSEPH HOPKINSON, LL. D.,
JAMES GIBSON, JOSEPH R. INGERSOLL,
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The medical lectures of the session 1829-30 were delivered in the new building, and the first class of medical graduates issued from its walls in 1830.
The history of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania is here brought to a close. The author has en- deavored to present a clear exposition of the circumstances connected with the rise and progress of this School of Medi- cine, and at the same time to give a succinct account of the lives and labors of the illustrious members of the Profession whose reputation is inseparably connected with it.
In this narrative, omission has designedly been made of any extended exposition of the character and services of the dis- tinguished men still living, who have so greatly added to the strength and contributed to the prosperity of the school; who have retired from the scene of their usefulness, and who now enjoy the reward of consciousness that their talents and acquire- ments have been employed honorably and effectively in the cause of science and humanity. They now continue in connec- tion with the University in the honorary position of emeritus professors. Their distinctive qualities and merits will be the theme of the future historian.
From the uniform success which has attended the career of the medical school of the University, assurance is given that the responsible charge which has been transmitted from generation to generation has been faithfully preserved; that the trust committed to its professors has always been regarded
John Andrew Shulze, Governor of the State of Pennsylvania. John B. Gibson, Chief Justice.
George M. Dallas, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia.
" This inscription, deposited March 21st, A. D. one thousand eight hun- dred and twenty-nine, commemorates the laying of the corner-stone of the new Medical Hall, sixty-four years after the original organization of the Medical Faculty by Drs. Morgan and Shippen ; the institution having in the meantime conferred the degree of Doctor of Medicine upon upwards of two thousand gentlemen educated within its walls, who, dispersed in dif- ferent quarters of the United States, have thus extended the blessings of sound medical instruction, and in many instances organizing themselves into new schools of medicine, have thus made the University of Pennsyl- vania the parent of Medical Science in the United States."
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as a sacred one, and that as such it has been emulously cherished. Nearly eight thousand pupils have graduated from the halls of the institution, and have diffused the blessings of their calling throughout the length and breadth of these United States. But another mission has been assigned to this ancient school of medicine; it has been the nursery of teachers. De- riving its descent from the University of Edinburgh, and more remotely through that institution from the University of Ley- den, the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania has in turn become the parent of numerous schools of medicine, and has thus been the means of transferring the facilities of acquiring and cultivating medical science from the Old World to the New. To the compeers which have been brought into existence by its own and other instrumentalities and which are engaged in laudable and honorable efforts to disseminate true learning and science, and to improve the efficiency and main- tain the exalted character of the Medical Profession, the Uni- versity should ever extend a cordial sympathy. The reputa- tion acquired by them is reactive. It is only by mutually sustained energy that the good of mankind can be successfully promoted.
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APPENDIX.
A .- page 57.
"DR. SHIPPEN's course of ANATOMICAL LECTURES will begin on Thursday, the 14th of November, 1765. It will consist of sixty lectures, in which the situation, figure, and structure of all the Parts of the Human Body will be demonstrated on the fresh subject; their respective uses explained, and their Diseases, with the Indications and Methods of Cure, briefly treated of; all the necessary Operations in Surgery will be performed, a Course of Bandages given, and the whole will conclude with a few plain and general directions in the Practice of Midwifery. Each Per- son to pay six Pistoles.
" Those who incline to attend the Pennsylvania Hospital, and have the Benefit of the curious anatomical Plates and Casts there, to pay six Pistoles to that useful Charity.
" A COURSE OF LECTURES on the MATERIA MEDICA, by John Morgan, M. D., F. R. S., and Professor of Medicine in the College of Philadelphia. Price, Four Pistoles.
"This Course will commence on Monday, the 18th day of No- vember, and be given three times a week, at the College, viz., Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at three o'clock in the afternoon, till finished, which will last between three and four months.
"To render these lectures as instructive as possible to students of Physic, the Doctor proposes, in the course of them, to give some useful Observations on Medicine in general, and the proper manner of conducting the study of Physic. The authors to be read in the Materia Medica will be pointed out. The various Substances made use of in Medicine will be reduced under Classes suited to the principal Indications in the cure of Diseases. Simi- lar virtues in different Plants, and their comparative powers, will be treated of, and an Enquiry made into the different Methods
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APPENDIX.
which have been used in discovering the Qualities of Medicines ; the virtues of the most efficacious will be particularly insisted upon; the Manner of preparing and combining them will be shown by some instructive Lessons upon Pharmaceutic Chemis- try: This will open to students a general Idea both of Chemistry and Pharmacy. To prepare them more effectually for under- standing the art of prescribing with Elegance and Propriety, if time allows, it is proposed to include in this course some critical Lectures upon the chief Preparations contained in the Dispensa- tories of the Royal College of Physicians at London and Edin- burgh. The whole will be illustrated with many useful Practical Observations on Diseases, Diet, and Medicines.
"No person will be admitted without a Ticket for the whole course. Those who propose to attend this course are desired to apply to the Doctor for Tickets, at least a week before the Lec- tures begin. A. Dollar will be required of each student, to matriculate, which will be applied in purchasing Books for a Medical Library in the College for the Benefit of the Medical Students.
JOHN MORGAN.
"P. S. Two convenient lower stores to be let by Dr. Morgan, under his dwelling on Water Street, near Walnut Street, where Mr. Mease lately lived, at a very reasonable rate."
B .- page 91.
" COMMENCEMENT OF THE COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 28, 1769.
"The Degree of Bachelor of Medicine was conferred on James Armstrong, Josias Carroll Hall, John Hodge, John Houston, Thomas Pratt, Alexander Skinner, Myndert Veeder, and John Winder.
" The Medical Exercises were the following :-
" An oration in honor of Medicine, by Mr. Hall.
" A Forensic Dispute, whether Medicine hath done most good or harm in the world, by Messrs. Alexander Skinner and John Hodge.
" An oration on the most probable method of obtaining a good old age, by Mr. John Winder.
" In the composition of these exercises the young gentlemen gave full proofs of learning, as well as a thorough acquaintance with their subjects and the History of Physic, and they were
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APPENDIX.
honored with the close attention and warm approbation of the audience. Mr. Skinner's part of the Forensic Dispute, in par- ticular, seemed to afford singular entertainment, from the candid freedom which he took with his own Profession, and the very humorous manner in which he attempted to prove that Medicine had done more harm than good in the world; which Position of his was, however, very seriously and fully replied to by Mr. Hodge. To this succeeded a very solemn and interesting charge, in which the Provost addressed himself chiefly to the graduates in the arts, adding, with respect to the graduates in Physic, that he had prevailed on a gentleman of their own Profession, whose precepts would receive Dignity from his years and experience, to lay before them what he thought requisite as well for the honour of the College, as for promoting their own future honour and usefulness in life. This part was accordingly performed by Dr. Thomas Bond, in a manner so truly feeling and affectionate that it could not fail to make a serious impression on those for whom it was designed."-Pennsylvania Gazette, July 6, 1769.
C .- page 75.
The following is the announcement of the course under the organization of the Faculty at the date specified :-
" COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 13, 1769.
" DR. RUSH's Introductory Lecture to his course of Chemistry will be delivered publickly at the College on Monday, the 30th inst., at 11 o'clock in the Forenoon.
" DR. MORGAN'S Course of Lectures on the Theory and Prac- tice of Physic will begin on Monday, the 30th inst., at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
" DR. BOND'S Course of Clinical Lectures will begin on Tuesday, the 31st inst., at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, at the Pennsylvania Hospital.
" DR. KUHN'S Course of Materia Medica will begin on Wednes- day, the first of November, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon.
"DR. SHIPPEN'S Course of Anatomy and Surgery will be given on Wednesday, the first of November, at six o'clock in the evening.
"Those gentlemen who propose to attend, these lectures are desired to call on the respective Professors for Tickets of Admis-
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APPENDIX.
sion, any time before the course commences."-Pennsylvania Gazette.
D .- page 75.
" MINUTES OF BOARD OF TRUSTEES, MAY 20, 1771.
" Agreed to the explanation made by the Faculty of the Clause for examining the Candidates for a Doctor's Degree in Physic, which is as follows :-
" That such Candidates be examined on their Theses before the day of Commencement, and on that day, immediately before re- ceiving their Degrees, they be asked a few Questions in Latin on the subject of their Thesis, which they are to answer in the same language.
" It is the order of the Trustees that the Fee for the Degree of Doctor in Physic, be to the Provost one Guinea, and one Guinea to each of the Medical Professors, and that the Public Commence- ment be held on Friday, June 28th.
" It is ordered that all the Fees on Degrees be paid or settled for before the conferring of Degrees.
" At the Commencement June 28th, 1771, the Degree of Bache- lor of Physic was conferred on Benjamin Alison, Jonathan Easton, John Kuhn, Frederick Kuhn, Bodo Otto, Robert Pot- tinger, and William Smith.
"Messrs. Jonathan Elmer, of N. J .; Jonathan Potts, of Potts- grove, Pa. ; James Tilton, of Dover; and Nicholas Way, of Wil- mington, then presented themselves, agreeably to the Rules of the College, to defend, in Latin, the Dissertations printed for the Degree of Doctor in Physic.
" Mr. Elmer's Piece, ' De Causis et Remediis sitis in Febribus,' was impugned by Dr. Kuhn, Professor of Botany and Materia Medica.
"Mr. Potts, 'De Febribus intermittentibus, potissimum ter- tianis,' was impugned by Dr. Morgan, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic.
"Mr. Tilton's 'De Hydrope' was impugned by Dr. Shippen, Professor of Anatomy.
" Mr. Way's 'De Variolarum Insitione' was impugned by Dr. Rush, Professor of Chemistry.
"Each of the candidates having judiciously answered the ob- jections made to some parts of their Dissertations, the Provost conferred upon them the Degree of Doctor of Physic, with par-
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APPENDIX.
ticular solemnity, as the highest mark of literary honour which they could receive in the Profession.
" Dr. Morgan, who was appointed to that part of the Business, entered into a particular account of those Branches of study which the Medical Gentlemen ought still to prosecute with unre- mitted Diligence, if they wished to be eminent in their Profession, laying down some useful rules for an honourable practice in the Discharge of it. He observed that the 'oath' which was pre- scribed by Hippocrates to his Disciples had been generally adopted in Universities and Schools of Physic on like occasions, and that laying aside the form of oaths, the College, which is of a free spirit, wished only to bind its Sons and Graduates by the ties of Honour and Gratitude, and that therefore he begged leave to impress upon those who had received the distinguished Degree of Doctor, that as they were among the foremost sons of the Insti- tution, and as the Birth Day of Medical Honours had arisen upon them with auspicious lustre, they would, in their practice, consult the safety of their Patients, the good of the community, and the dignity of their Profession, so that the Seminary from which they derived their Titles in Physic, might never have cause to be ashamed of them."
E .- page 81.
" It has given Dr. Shippen much pain to hear that not- withstanding all the caution and care he has taken to preserve the utmost decency in opening and dissecting dead bodies, which he has persevered in chiefly from the motive of being useful to mankind, some evil-minded persons, either wantonly or mali- ciously, have reported to his disadvantage that he has taken up some persons who are buried in the Church Burying Ground, which has distressed the minds of his worthy Fellow Citizens. The Doctor, with much pleasure, improves this opportunity to declare that the Report is absolutely false, and to assure them that the bodies he dissected were either of persons who had wil- fully murdered themselves, or were publickly executed, except now and then one from Potter's field, whose death was owing to some particular disease, and that he never had one body from the church or any private Burial Place."-Pennsylvania Gazette, Oct. 31, 1765.
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