Part 63

A lawyer of eminence.

Footnote 257:

Then attorney-general of Pennsylvania.

Footnote 258:

In selecting the twenty-four trustees for the proposed Academy, as well as in the formation of his plan, Dr. Franklin consulted, besides the three gentlemen named with him, in the text, Dr. Phineas Bond, a physician of eminence in Philadelphia and a worthy character. The trustees, whose names were inserted in the contributions, and which were subscribed on the 13th of Nov. 1749, were among the most respectable citizens of Philadelphia. The plan of the then projected Academy was adapted to “the state of an infant country;” Dr. Franklin having considered it as only “a foundation, for posterity to erect (thereon) a seminary of learning more extensive, and suitable to future circumstances.”

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The Rev. William Smith, M. A. (afterwards D. D.) was inducted, on the 25th of May, 1754, as head of this seminary, under the title of Provost, with the professorship of natural philosophy annexed to that station.

On the 14th of May, 1755, an additional charter was granted by the Proprietaries to this seminary, by which a College was engrafted upon the original Academy: a joint government was agreed on for both, under the style of “The College, Academy and Charitable School, of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania;” and this enlarged institution became invested with a power of conferring degrees, and appointing professors in the various branches of the arts and sciences.

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Footnote 259:

He was, afterwards, also professor of astronomy and rhetoric; and he gave lectures in these branches, in addition to natural philosophy.

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The first commencement, in this College and Academy, was held the 17th of May, 1757; on which occasion, an excellent charge was delivered to the graduates, by the Provost. One passage in that charge is so patriotic and impressive, as to merit attention at all times, in a country that boasts of a free constitution of government; its introduction at this time, and on the present occasion, cannot be considered improper: it is the following animated and eloquent exhortation to active patriotism, in times of misrule, popular delusion, and public danger:—

“Should your Country call, or should you perceive the restless tools of faction at work in their dark cabals, and ‘stealing upon the secure hour of Liberty;’ should you see the corruptors, or the corrupted, imposing upon the public with specious names,—undermining the civil and religious principles of their country, and gradually paving the way to certain Slavery, by spreading destructive notions of Government;—then, Oh! then, be nobly roused! Be all eye, and ear, and heart, and voice, and hand, in a cause so glorious! Cry aloud, and spare not,—fearless of danger, regardless of opposition, and little solicitous about the frowns of power, or the machinations of villany. Let the world know, that Liberty is your unconquerable delight; and that you are sworn foes to every species of bondage, either of body or of mind. These are subjects for which you need not be ashamed to sacrifice your ease and every other private advantage. For, certainly, if there be aught upon earth suited to the native greatness of the human mind, and worthy of contention,—it must be to assert the cause of Religion, and to support the fundamental rights and liberties of mankind, and to strive for the constitution of your country,—and a government of laws, not of Men.”

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Footnote 260:

The following is an extract from the Salutatory Oration delivered by Mr. Paul Jackson, at the first Commencement held in the College of Philadelphia; when a Master’s degree was conferred on that gentleman, and on him only.

After making his salutations of respect to the professors generally, the orator thus addressed the Rev. Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Smith, the Provost:

“Præcipué, Te, collegii et academiæ hujus Præefecte venerande! summâ benevolentiâ a nobis observari par est. Tu gressus nostros, dum subtilioris sapientiæ recessus curiosé indagamus, direxisti. Tu nobis, mansuetioribus musis operam impendentibus, orationis simplicis ac perspicuæ regulas, venusta ornamenta ac veneres accuraté eleganterque explicuisti. Tu, quid sit magnificum tum in verbis, tum in sententiis, tum in figuris, edocuisti, omnesque sublimitatis fontes, ipsius Longini majestatem et acumen feliciter æmulatus, auditoribus tuis admirantibus retexisti. Qui vult fieri disertus, scripta tua, tanquam præceptorum exempla luculenta, sæpius versato; animum intendat ad argumenta multifaria, quæ tam varié, tam numerosé, tam abundanter, tam illuminaté, tum rebus tum verbis tractasti.”

Footnote 260a:

Mr. Jackson was professor of languages and master of the Latin school, in the college, until the spring of the year 1758; when he accepted of a captaincy in the provincial service, in the expedition under general Forbes, against the French and their Indian allies. On the resignation of his professorship, Mr. Jackson was succeeded by Mr. Beveridge.

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In the year 1765, the original plan of this institution was greatly enlarged, by the addition of the Medical School; with the appointment of Professors, for reading lectures in anatomy, botany, chemistry, the materia medica, the theory and practice of physick, and also for delivering clynical lectures in the Pennsylvania Hospital. Since that period, and after the erection of the whole of the College-establishment into an University, the Medical department has been still further extended, by the creation of other Professorships in the Schools of Medicine, and filling these new chairs—as well as those originally instituted—with men of distinguished learning and abilities: By which means, the Medical School in Philadelphia, connected with the University of Pennsylvania, now justly vies with that of Edinburgh, in celebrity.

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Footnote 261:

Dr. William Shippen, the younger, who first filled the anatomical chair in the College of Philadelphia, (afterwards, the University of Pennsylvania,) and which he continued to occupy for almost forty-three years with great respectability, may be justly considered as the founder of the medical department of that institution. The establishment of a medical school in his native city, had long been contemplated by this distinguished lecturer, as a most desirable object: but, in the execution of such a plan, serious difficulties were to be encountered at the commencement. In the language of-his anonymous eulogist, “the enterprize, arduous in itself, was rendered abundantly more so, in consideration of its novelty: for, as yet, the voice of a public lecturer in medicine had never been heard in the western world. In order, therefore, to test the practicability of the measure, and to pave the way for a more regular and extensive establishment, he determined to embark in the undertaking himself, by delivering, in a private capacity, a course of lectures on anatomy and surgery: this he did in the winter of 1762-3, being the first winter after his return from his studies and travels in Europe.”

Dr. Shippen’s success, as a private lecturer, demonstrated the expediency of engrafting a medical school on the College; and, in consequence, he was unanimously elected the professor of anatomy and surgery, on the 17th of September, 1765. This able teacher held that chair until his death, which occurred the 11th of July, 1808, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.

Footnote 261a: