Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/487

This page needs to be proofread.
History of the University of Pennsylvania.
483

the latter can never overlook. Its continuance to this day in a like loving association is a constant testimony to that early and secure support and alliance, in which the new Faculty received its best inspiration and brightest encouragement. 3 King's College, New York, was not long behind the Phila- delphia enterprise ; and from a letter of Dr. Morgan's we can conceive of the friendly rivalry between the two. He wrote to his friend, Mr. William Hewson, of London, 20 November, 1767 : " I have twenty pupils this year at about five guineas each. Next year we shall confer the degree of Bachelor in Physic on several of them, and that of doctor in three years after. New York has copied us and has six Professors, three of whom you know, to wit : Bard, Professor of Physic ; Tennant of Midwifery ; and Smith, in Chemistry ; besides whom are Dr. Jones, Professor of Surgery ; Middleton, of Physiology ; and Glossy of Anatomy. Time will show in what light we are to consider the rivalship ; for my part, I do not seem to be under great apprehension." King's College conferred its first degree of Bachelor of Physic in 1769, but its first Doctorate was in 1770, and this latter gives King's the precedence in conferring the greater degree. 4 But to return to the Rules of the Philadelphia College which were prefaced by the following Preamble : Whereas the Trustees of the College of Philadelphia by its Charter can confer the usual Degrees granted in the European Seminaries and Uni- versities ; and it being apprehended that the granting Degrees in Physic to Students regularly educated and properly qualified for the same, would contribute greatly to the Encouragement of the Medical School in this Col- lege, and would also be a Means of putting the Practice of Physic on a more respectable and useful Footing, especially in these Parts of America, and would moreover draw many Students for their Education to this city, which is advantageously situated for such an undertaking, in the Center of 3 So close has been the association between the hospital and the medical school, that of the twenty-nine professors who have occupied collegiate chairs, eigh- teen have been attending physicians or surgeons of the hospital and five of the seven medical men first elected to these positions in the hospital were Trustees of the College. Dr. Carson, History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, p. 37.

  • Sir Dr. Hosack's Inaugural Discourse Delivered at the Opening of the Rut-

gers Medical School in the City of New York, 6 November, 1826. Also Dr. Carson's review of the claims of King's College, Hist. Med. Depart. Univ. of Penna., 66-67.