George B. Wood

“ John Ewing, the first provost of the university, had risen by his own exertions from very humble beginnings. The son of a farmer of moderate circumstances in Maryland, and one of a numerous family, he had neither, when a boy, the advantages of a regular education, nor, in his manhood, the assistance of any influential relatives to push his fortunes in the world. Gifted, however, with a strong propensity to scientific pursuits, he improved the slender opportunities which were afforded him in his native place by industrious and eager application ”

“ The age and infirmities of the late provost were probably thought to unfit him for the superintendence of a great seminary, in which vigour of authority must be conjoined with extensive knowledge and talents for instructing; and an inferior station could hardly have been offered with propriety, or accepted without degradation. It is possible, however, that a little leaven of old political animosity may have lurked in the minds of those who opposed him, and mingling with the more obvious motives, have communicated to them a force and influence which they might not otherwise have possessed. ”

“ Having given a brief account of the gentlemen who composed the faculty of arts, as it was constituted immediately after the union of the schools, and of their successors to the present time, we may now recur to what belongs, perhaps, more strictly to the history of the institution—the consideration, namely, of those various changes in its external and internal affairs which circumstances and a more mature experience have at different periods rendered necessary or advisable. ”

“ That he should have countenanced the injury done to his former friends, and even been willing to partake of their spoils, is only a proof that the best men, by the violence of party excitement, are apt to have their vision so perverted, that an act of injustice, if it promote the great political object in view, assumes in their eyes the colour of necessity, if not of virtue. ”

“ The success of the university was by no means adequate to the expectations, which the patronage of the legislature and its own advantages of situation were calculated to excite. It is true that the inferior schools were generally well attended; but the college classes were small, and the graduates few; and at no period could it boast of a prosperity equal to that which the college had at one time enjoyed. ”

“ In the same spirit which originated the measures above detailed, the board of trustees, in the year 1816, determined to institute a new department in the university, to be devoted more especially to the advancement of those branches of science which could not be advantageously brought within the scheme of the seminary as it then existed. It was evidently impossible, during the regular collegiate course, to acquire an intimate and thorough acquaintance with all the diversified subjects of human knowledge. ”

“ A want so obvious could not escape the penetration of our great Franklin; and, with his active and patriotic spirit, to be convinced of any public deficiency, was at once to use every exertion for its supply. ”

“ For the honour of Philadelphia it would be well could we truly answer this question in the affirmative; but the fact is too notorious to be denied, that, with the exception of the pecuniary affairs, which were soon brought into good order and comparative prosperity, there was reason for several years rather to regret a still further depression, than to boast of an advancement in the fortunes of the institution. ”

“ In the higher branches of knowledge, instruction was accessible only to the sons of the wealthy, who were able to support the expense of a residence abroad, either in the mother country, or in one of the older colonies of New England. There was, therefore, an urgent demand for a seminary, founded upon liberal principles, and embracing within its plan all those subjects of study, which are necessary to qualify the youth of a growing and prosperous community for the performance of the various duties of public and private life. ”

“ We may, indeed, be proud as Philadelphians, that our city has been able to afford so many distinguished names as are to be found in the catalogue of those who have at different times directed the affairs of the college and university. ”

“ Beside a fixed salary, which to the provost is one thousand dollars, to the vice-provost nine hundred, and to each of the other professors about eight hundred and fifty, they severalty have the use of one of the houses belonging to the university, or an equivalent sum in money, and divide equally between them the proceeds of tuition. They are moreover entitled to a small sum from every graduate in the arts; and the provost and vice-provost derive a considerable addition to their income from the fees which they receive upon affixing their signatures to the medical diplomas. ”

“ Morgan has laid before me a proposal for introducing new professorships into the college, for the instruction of all such as shall incline to go into the study and practice of physic and surgery, as well as the several occupations attending upon these necessary and useful arts. He thinks his scheme, if patronised by the trustees, will at present give reputation and strength to the institution, and though it may for some time occasion a, small expense, yet after a little while it will gradually support itself and even make considerable additions to the academy funds. ”

“ As young men of high natural endowments, and strong inclination to the medical profession, are often deterred from entering into it by their inability to bear the necessary charges, a proposition was very generously made by the faculty to the board of trustees, that a permanent provision should be made for the gratuitous education of six: students, to be selected from among those who might appear most deserving, and most in need of assistance. ”

“ The first colonists of Pennsylvania, were, perhaps, less negligent in providing the means of elementary instruction, than those of most of the other settlements. In the year 1689, only seven years after the foundation of Philadelphia, a public school was established in this city, by members of the Society of Friends, which was incorporated in 1697, and after undergoing various changes in its organization, received, in 1711, a final charter from William Penn. ”

“ The assembly seems not to have required the instigation of the president to sharpen its animosity, or to invigorate its proceedings; for with a precipitation unusual in a matter so important and so little requiring haste, a law was enacted, abrogating in fact the former charters granted by the proprietors, and removing from their offices in the institution, the trustees, provost, vice-provost, professors, and all others attached to it by any tie of authority or dependence. It is true that a preparatory committee was appointed ”

“ It would be a source of great regret, should an establishment which promised so much honour to the university, and so much good to the community, be allowed to fail. The public patronage, however, affords an insufficient compensation for the labour and talents which are requisite for a proper performance of the duties of the several professorships; and it is hardly probable that this department will ever prosper, unless the trustees should be able, from their own funds, to supply the deficiency of public support, by salaries adequate to the services required. ”

“ The principal conditions of the union were, first, that the name of the institution should be the University of Pennsylvania; secondly, that twenty-four individuals, chosen equally by the two boards from their own numbers, should, with the governor of the state constitute the new board, of which the governor should be ex officio president; and thirdly, that the "professors who might be deemed necessary to constitute the faculty in arts and in medicine" should as far as possible be taken equally from each institution. ”

“ The qualifications for the first degree, or that of bachelor in medicine, were a competent acquaintance with the Latin language, and with those branches of mathematics and natural philosophy which were deemed necessary prerequisites to a good medical education; the serving of a sufficient apprenticeship with some reputable practitioner of physic; a general knowledge of pharmacy; and finally, an attendance upon at least one complete course of lectures, and on the practice of the hospital for one year. ”

“ The board of trustees, which, though composed of some of the wisest and best men in the community, is naturally slow in the formation of opinions, and still slower in its decisions, was quickened by this spirit of its own creation into clearer views and more energetic action. ”

“ The four remaining schools were each to have a distinct professor; the grammar school, a professor of Latin and Greek; the mathematical school, a professor of mathematics; the English school, a professor of English and the belles-lettres; and the German school, a professor of the German and oriental languages. To fill the six professorships thus established, three individuals were to be chosen out of each of the former faculties, in compliance with that provision of the act of union, by which the trustees were bound to select the officers of the university equally from the two seminaries. ”

“ In the preamble of this law, the proceedings of the legislature by which these estates and privileges had been transferred to the trustees of the university, was stigmatized as "repugnant to justice, a violation of the constitution of this commonwealth, and dangerous in its precedent to all incorporated bodies;" so different are the views which will be taken of the same subject by men in the opposite states of calmness and excitement. ”

“ The charge for boarding, in the college buildings, was twenty-five pounds fifteen shillings a-year; so that, for the very moderate annual sum of about thirty pounds or eighty dollars, a young man might, at that period, receive his support in the first city, and his education in one of the highest seminaries of English America. During the revolution it was found necessary, from the same causes which induced an increase in the salaries of the professors, to raise the price of tuition first to twelve, and afterwards to twenty pounds a-year. ”

“ Born and educated in Great Britain, he emigrated to this country about the commencement of the year 1754, and soon after his arrival, was employed in the academy to teach those higher branches, which were at that time introduced into its course of studies. In the performance of this duty, he acquitted himself so well, and, in other respects, gave so much satisfaction to the trustees, that when the institution assumed the form of a college, he was unanimously chosen to fill the office of provost. ”

“ Smith, on his return from England, after having completed the great collection in that country, brought with him a letter to the board, signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, by the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and by Dr. Chandler, the object of which was to represent to the trustees the propriety of adopting "a fundamental rule or declaration," binding themselves to preserve inviolate the original broad and liberal plan of the seminary, and thus preventing those unpleasant jealousies and contentions, which could not but spring from a suspicion of undue partiality to any one religious sect. ”

“ One year is appropriated to each class; so that the whole college term extends to four years. The requisites for admission into the lowest or freshman class are, that the applicant should not be under the age of fourteen; that he should have been taught arithmetic, and the rudiments of geography; and that he should have read, in the Latin language, Virgil, Sallust, and the Odes of Horace; in the Greek, the New Testament, Lucian's Dialogues, Xenophon's Cyropædia, and the Græca Minora of Dalzel. The course of study embraces the highest Greek and Latin classics, with Grecian and Roman antiquities ”

“ The charity schools, which constituted a third division of the department of arts, were also placed under the care of the faculty; so that the college, while in itself independent, was enabled to exercise over the inferior branches a degree of authority, sufficient to preserve them in accordance with its own interests, and to give the character of a regular system to all the operations of the seminary. ”

“ Full courses of lectures, about four months in duration, are annually delivered upon each of these branches, with the single exception of the institutes of medicine, which being attached to the subject of the practice, of itself the most copious in the whole round of the science, forms a burden too heavy for the powers of one individual, however expanded may be his intellect, and vigorous his application. ”