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 LETTERS 
 
 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 
 
 GRAVIORA MANENT 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 PRINTED BY ALEX. S. GOULD, 144 NASSAU.STREET. 
 
 1841. 
 
V 
 
 
 -r . , 
 
LETTERS 
 
 GRAVIORA MANENT 
 
 COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.* 
 
 Public attention has been long directed to this institution in the 
 hope that it would take some rank among the medical colleges in the 
 country, in some degree proportionate to the patronage which it has 
 received : but it seems that all reasonable expectation is doomed to be 
 disappointed. Its history, although most instructive, has as yet taught 
 its government nothing ; it drags on a miserable, sickly existence, 
 without the confidence of the public, or the support of the medical pro- 
 fession ; and while every other literary and scientific institution in 
 the State is progressively improving in knowledge, usefulness, and 
 respectability, this stands in the same, or a worse condition, than when 
 it was reorganized fifteen years ago. With a liberal charter derived 
 from liberal and intelligent men, (the Regents of the University,) it 
 has been degraded by management into a de facto close corporation, 
 and much worse than such, because the appearance of an election of 
 trustees is preserved by the Regents, while their confidence is abused, 
 and they are made the registrars of the will of the President, who, upon 
 
 * The following letters appeared in the month of February last, in the columns of 
 a daily newspaper, which has but a limited circulation among that class of persons 
 which they principally interest ; the writer, therefore, has thought it expedient to 
 republish them in this form, that they may be more conveniently addressed to those 
 whom they concern. The statements which they contain are facts, and the opinions 
 obvious inferences, and they are given to the public in the hope that they will attract 
 sufficient attention from the Regents of the University, to induce them to apply a 
 corrective. 
 
all occasions of vacancies, recommends privately the successors. So 
 long has this game been played, that the board of trustees is completely 
 controlled by its president, and however difficult it may be to convene 
 a quorum, on ordinary business, it is far otherwise when his interest 
 requires that a quorum should be formed — then the requisite number is 
 not only present, but there is no occasion for any deliberation of any 
 kind : his friends are all sufficiently informed to vote as he wishes, and 
 having voted, the board is immediately adjourned till it shall please 
 the president to convene them again. This farce has been so often 
 acted, that the medical public are disgusted, and have withdrawn all 
 confidence from the school. The government of the institution, how- 
 ever, is not its only vice ; bad as this is, it would still be tolerable if it 
 could be redeemed by the genius, the intelligence, the liberality, or the 
 integrity of its president; but in all these qualities, if he be not deficient, 
 he certainly does not abound : there is nothing to spare : he holds two 
 important situations without possessing the qualifications required for 
 either. As Professor of Physiology, his course of instruction is worth- 
 less.* The title of the course gives him an apology for lecturing on 
 any and every thing which he m^y think co-relevant, and as this 
 desultory mode of talking may be continued ad infinitum^ without stud;', 
 the great doctrines of the laws of healthy functions are altogether 
 forgotten ; and such is the measure of his liberality of expenditure in 
 illustrating his course of lectures, that the price of a rat or rabbit, dog 
 or kitten, has never, to my knowledge, been expended since he has held 
 this distinguished station ! The number of matriculated students is 
 
 * Worthless — The writer does not use this term in the spirit of mere vituperation ; 
 there is no word so well suited to convey the truth ; for although something may be 
 taught which has a positive value as information, there is so much more, which is 
 so false in fact, and erroneous in reasoning, as to leave no doubt on the mind of an 
 intelligent hearer, that the wheat as compared with the chaff bears scarcely any 
 assignable proportion. With the exception of three or four lectures on abstract and 
 abstruse subjects, of little importance whether understood or not ; the whole course is 
 a meagre syllabus of exploded doctrines, which have been so long known as to have 
 been forgotten. The four important subjects of Respiration, Circulation, Digestion, 
 and Secretion, are disposed of as if they were of infinitely less account than the anec- 
 dotes to which they give occasion ; and the time occupied in the serious discussion 
 of physiological truths is as nothing compared with that which is spent in relating 
 pleasant stories. How much truth, for example, would be required to neutralize 
 facts like these ? " That whales are fat, because they live in cold latitudes"—" that 
 nature's laws of compensation, in the absence of fat provide abundance of hair, and 
 that, therefore, the Russians starve their hogs that they may bear good crops of 
 bristles"—" that certain animals possess the love of sentiment as well as the instinct 
 of the sexes"— that in some, the hog for example, the male has its seasons, but the 
 female has not"— all which interesting truths, aside from their importance, areas 
 well settled as that the most meagre sheep always has the best fleece ! ! 
 
about one hundred, of whom about twenty-five attend his lectures, 
 because they cannot be permitted to graduate unless they take out the 
 tickets fur two courses, whether they attend them or not : and when it 
 is considered that this is the most interesting branch of study taught 
 in a medical school, the simple fact that not more than one quarter 
 part of the pupils avail themselves of the lectures delivered by the pre- 
 sident, is a mortifying evidence of the estimate which the students have 
 formed, both of them and him. 
 
 As the Legislature are now in session, and the Regents of the Uni- 
 versity are required by law to meet from time to time during the session 
 for the purpose of supervising the concerns of all the literary and 
 scientific institutions in the state, it is to be devoutly wished that they 
 will take early notice of this school, in order that if changes are 
 necessary, they may come up for deliberation before the adjournment. 
 It would be strange indeed, if every body should be impressed with the 
 necessity of reform in this institution, except the Regents, whose 
 exclusive duty it is to carry out all reform ! and I would respectfully 
 suggest that they appoint a committee to visit the institution as soon as 
 the navigation opens, that there may be time for their report, and the 
 action it may suggest, before their adjournment. Any attempt to pro- 
 cure information in any other manner than by a committee of their 
 own body, will turn out to be idle waste of time, and will result in 
 nothing, as the experience of the last winter has abundantly proved. 
 
 Gravioea manent. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 In my former communication I said that it was devoutly to be wished 
 " That the Regents of the University would send a committee to visit 
 the institution, and report in time for such action as the report of that 
 committee shall suggest." 1 now propose to give the reason for this 
 method of proceeding, in the belief that no other means of arriving at 
 the truth will serve any valuable purpose. The institution is so held 
 in thrall by its president, Dr. Smith, that no order or resolution of 
 their board will reach the board of trustees, or the board of professors, 
 till too late to be of use. On a late occasion the Hon Regents sent 
 to enquire whether or not the interests of the college would not be 
 promoted by h consolidation of some of the courses of instruction ; the 
 communication came to the Registrar, (Dr. Deering,) and of course was 
 transmitted to the president, who in place of calling a meeting of the 
 trustees immediately, and consulting the professors previous to the 
 
call, waited till he was ready, (about three weeks afterward,) and when 
 the trustees convened, he volunteered a report on this subject, mixed 
 up with other matters, which they (the trustees,) laid upon the table, 
 by a decided vote ; it was fair to presume, therefore, that it required 
 further consideration before any final action, but the paper which he 
 presented was never afterward found, the simple truth of the matter 
 being that he had thrown it into the fire as soon as they refused, uncon- 
 ditionally, to accept it ! He was soon relieved, however, from all 
 anxiety on the subject, as he had a friend at hand who offered a reso- 
 lution, believed to be in his own hand writing, viz : that any consoli- 
 dation of the courses of instruction was inexpedient. Now we ask the 
 medical public to look at this matter. It is not only surmised, but 
 known and believed, that the course of Physiology is and has been so 
 conducted that it is for the interest of the college that it should be 
 merged in some other professorship, where it would be better taught, 
 and with less charge to the pupil : and by none was this better under, 
 stood than by the gentleman who offered the resolution ; yet by a little 
 management he is made to stand god-father to a resolution which his 
 own good sense and his conscience condemn. But further, the reso- 
 lution as passed by the Kegents had for its object the benefit of the 
 school — it came from a highly respectable source, a source from which 
 the college derives all its power and privileges, and from which the 
 president himself, by a strange accident, derived his office.* Was it 
 not reasonable that it should have been referred ? Was it not reason- 
 able that the professors of the other branches of instruction should 
 
 * That Dr. Smith's connection with the college was accidental, is shown by the 
 following fact : — In 1826, the executive committee of physicians and surgeons, who 
 had been instrumental in producing the college reform, directed one of their number 
 to invite him to become a candidate for the chair of anatomy and physiology ; upon 
 the receipt of the letter he immediately consented, and by return of mail his answer 
 was received. In a few days, afterward, however, several of the committee found 
 that they had committed a great mistake, since he was believed to be but an indif- 
 ferent substitute for the distinguished professor of those branches (Dr. Post,) who had 
 just resigned : and, moreover, was believed to be a materialist. Under these circum. 
 stances it was suggested that his nomination ought to be opposed, and measures 
 adopted to induce Dr. Post to return, who would bring with him an able dissector in 
 the person of Dr. Frederick King ; this last measure would have succeeded, and Dr. 
 Smith would have been left, to use his own language, in the swamps of Virginia, but 
 for the active and zealous opposition of Dr. Manley, who held it to be disgraceful to 
 invite a gentleman to accept a situation, and having secured his affirmative answer, 
 turn round and interpose every obstacle to his appointment. It was a great error, 
 notwithstanding the honesty of the argument, for if ever there had occurred a case 
 ia which the consideration of consequences should have settled the question of duty, 
 this was one, and every physician in New- York, qualified to form a judgment, is now 
 sensible of it. 
 
have been consulted ? Was it not reasonable that it should have been 
 the subject of deliberation, and that the result to which the trustees 
 arrived should have been presented to the Hon. Regents, with the 
 reasons therefor ? To these several enquiries common sense and com- 
 mon courtesy answer yes, but it did not suit, — the question need not 
 be deliberated : it must not be discussed : it shall not be debated : sic 
 volo said the President ; and this serious resolution of the Regents, 
 one of which had for its object the vital interests of the school, is dis- 
 posed of without even the formality of a reference, through fear that a 
 reference would elicit unwelcome truth. Dr. Smith is too well versed 
 in the management of colleges to permit discussion on subjects which 
 can be disposed of without it : and a reference of any subject to a 
 committee, with one only exception, (questions of finance,) is so 
 strange in that board, that the members of it would be surprised if it 
 was suggested. No man is presumed to know or care what is done, 
 or may be required, except himself; he never brings up a measure till 
 it has been matured outside ; and those who usually vote with him are 
 as ignorant of the consequences of their own acts, as if they believed 
 that they were wholly irresponsible. 
 
 I am sorry that duty obliges me to speak thus plainly, but believing 
 as I do that the removal of Dr. Smith from the station he occupies is a 
 sine quanon condition of the restoration of public confidence and pro- 
 fessional support to the school which he assumes to govern, I can do 
 no less. In seaman's phrase, he owns a timber head in the ship, by 
 virtue of a bond of Bottomry, in the shape of a loan of 85000, and he 
 claims and has heretofore managed to control the interests and the 
 reputation of every man who has, or may have a venture on board. 
 
 Graviora manent. 
 
 No. 3. 
 Tis in the very nature of corporations to degenerate ; the Legisla- 
 ture who creates them always intends to consult the public interest, 
 and those who control them as invariably consult their own. Literary 
 institutions having corporate powers form no exceptions to this rule. 
 A striking illustration of this truth is furnished by the history of the 
 college of physicians and surgeons in this city. Under its former 
 administration so rapid was its declension from the great platform of 
 principle on which it was founded, that it became a private school, 
 owned and governed by the professors, who monopolized all the private 
 as well as the public teaching in this city. The appointments to the 
 
8 
 
 chairs were considered to be capital furnished by the public, from 
 which each man derived a revenue proportioned to his influence among 
 his fellows. So glaring and obtrusive did these abuses become, that 
 the medical profession with unparalled unanimity agreed to bring the 
 college to a severe account. They did so. The controversy lasted 
 six years, and at last, in order to intimidate the Regents, the profes- 
 sors, who it appears had formed with each other an alliance offensive 
 and defensive, hit on the notable expedient of resigning their commis- 
 sions in a body, in the belief that the school without them could not 
 exist, or at the least, that the Regents could be induced to think so, in 
 which event they would not accept their resignations, and might be 
 disposed to dismiss the complaints and the controversy to which they 
 had given occasion. But in this they were disappointed ! Their 
 resignations were all accepted ; and thus, what was only intended to 
 operate a wholesome reform resulted in a complete revolution of the 
 college. Not one of them was invited back, and it became necessary 
 to fill all the chairs. In this emergency attention was by chance 
 directed to John Augustine Smith, then the president of William and 
 Mary College, who had some reputation, and when a young man had 
 lectured in the same school as adjunct to Dr. Post. He was accord- 
 ingly invited to accept the nomination to the chair of Anatomy, to 
 which he readily assented, because, among other reasons, he had a con- 
 troversy then on hand in his own college, which, judging from the 
 temper of the disputants as manifested in the Virginia House of Dele- 
 gates did not auger the most agreeable results for him. He was 
 appointed without serious opposition, and he received a credit in 
 advance for talents as a scholar, and qualities as a teacher, which 
 remains open to this hour : anticipation has not been realized. The 
 Chair was not as abiy filled as had been expected, and as his friends 
 desired ; and it was thought that the interests of the college required 
 that he should give place to one better qualified ; he was accordingly 
 transferred, and Dr. Rhinelander was appointed in his stead. The 
 place he now holds, as Professor, is perhaps better calculated than any 
 other to display all the varied stores of a well furnished mind ; in place 
 of which, the exhibition is like that of a pawnbroker's shop, where 
 every thing presented is out of fashion, old or useless, but all worn 
 before. The stories, which make up three-fourths of the lectures, 
 would be amusing if they had not been so often repeated ; they fall 
 upon the ear of the student in his second term as stale anecdotes, and 
 if he has ever in his boyhood read Goldsmith's inimitable novel of the 
 Vicar of Wakefield, his memory will not fail to call up the character 
 of Jenkinson, whom the good Mr. Primrose prevented from inflicting 
 upon his audience a new edition of his cosmogony. When Dr. Smith was 
 
9 
 
 transposed, or deposed from the chair which for years he had occupied, 
 it was no doubt done for the best, and he acquiesced, from necessity, 
 as is shown by the fact, that when it became vacant by resignation a 
 few years afterward, he did not attempt to reclaim it, knowing that 
 any effort of the kind, after the experience of his former failure, 
 would prove abortive. The presidency, in connection with physiology, 
 seemed to fill up the measure of his aspiration, and he no doubt con- 
 eluded to console himself with the possession of a power, which, if he 
 could not command, would enable him to enforce respect. He holds 
 the doctrine that a president ought of right to control the institution 
 over which he presides ; and although this cherished dogma was sig- 
 nally rebuked by the Virginians, when he was in William and Mary, he 
 still persists to maintain it, and to a certain extent he has succeeded. 
 
 Whether peaceful possession of all the powers of the college in the 
 shape of an Autocracy, can be secured to him or not, the Hon. Regents 
 will determine. 
 
 In my next I propose to look into William and Mary, when I may 
 be able to show the causes of its declension under an autrocratic 
 administration. 
 
 Graviora manent. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 In my last I promised to look into William and Mary College, and I 
 proceed to give a small portion of its history, which is calculated to 
 teach an important lesson to those who are by law made the guardians 
 of our literary institutions. It is impossible that the facts disclosed 
 (to them for the first time,) can be viewed with indifference, since the 
 circumstances in which the College of Physicians and Surgeons is 
 now placed correspond so nearly with those which almost ruined it, 
 I know it is industriously circulated that the cause of Dr. Smith is the 
 cause of the college : and if this be true it can be considered only as a 
 misfortune which must be repaired speedily, if repaired at all ; but it 
 is far otherwise. Those best acquainted with the interests of medical 
 education know, and if asked ihey will say, that the college would be 
 as much relieved by his retreat from it in both the capacities in which 
 he is now attached, as was that of William and Mary when he found it 
 convenient to resign his office of President. 
 
 We gathered from the petitions, remonstrances, and public speeches 
 made in the House of Delegates of Virginia, in the winter of 1824-5 
 that dissention existed in the college in consequence of an attempt of 
 a professor to exact the fees of a full course when he had only 
 
10 
 
 officiated for the half of (he term, or had received his appointment so 
 late that lie could do no more : that the students resisted this exaction, 
 and in the course of the controversy they were represented to have 
 been contumacious, and were required to make the amende honorable 
 to the professor whom their language had offended, on pain of expul- 
 sion from the college : they preferred the alternative rather than dis- 
 grace themselves; and that as a wholesome exercise of discipline, 
 twenty.nine young men were dismissed from the institution ! We learn 
 further, that for three consecutive years, the president had never called 
 the trustees or visitors together; and that the entire management of 
 the institution was left to the control of its professors, who were ever 
 jarring; or to the control of its highly censurable president, (Dr. 
 Smith.) That from the year 1817, when his administration was but 
 three years old, the college began to decline : and that so rapid was 
 the declension, that its numbers were reduced in the last seven years 
 of his presidency from 95 to 83. 
 
 The causes of the defection of the pupils, and the diminution of their 
 number, appear to have been well understood by the inhabitants of 
 Williamsburgh, and they were fully developed in the public speeches of 
 members of the House of Delegates ; but the president had the tact to 
 perceive, that if he could create a new excitement on a new subject, 
 the real causes ot the consumption under which the college labored 
 might be overlooked in comparison of the specious ones which he 
 could present ; and he with his friends petitioned the Legislature to 
 remove the college to a more favorable part of the country, alleging 
 as reasons therefor, the unheal thfulness of the present site : the loca- 
 tion of other schools in its neighborhood, which diminished the wonted 
 supply of pupils, &c. &c. But to all this the remonstrants answered 
 that the decrease in the number of pupils was justly chargeable to its 
 maladministration, and they showed to the satisfaction of the Legisla. 
 ture, as the event proved, that it was so. In this controversy, or rather 
 trial of Dr. Smith, for such it in fact was, he was allowed to be heard 
 at the bar of the house, and he gave his reasons for the removal of the 
 college, but all would not avail ;* the Virginia legislature decided 
 
 * Dr. Smith seems to be particularly fond of exhibiting himself before public 
 bodies, a failing, by the way, which is the natural result of his indomitable vanity. 
 He believes that nothing in which he is interested can be well done, unless he does 
 it. He was an assistant alderman of the 3d Ward of this city, some years ago, and 
 on a certain occasion he attempted to inflict some punishment on his associates at a 
 meeting of the corporation, in the shape of a studied speech, which they, very 
 incourteously no doubt, refused to hear ; when he became very indignant, and char- 
 ged them with a want of taste or lack of judgment, by way of retaliation for the 
 insult. On a late occasion he applied to be heard before the board of Regents, and 
 the privilege was accorded : when he took occasion to say all " manner of evil 
 
11 
 
 against the petition, and the college remains where it has been since 
 the year 1693, all Dr. Smith's reasons to the contrary notwithstanding, 
 viz : swamps, bad climate, unhealthfulness, and rival colleges in the 
 neighborhood ! The simple truth was, that the petition for its removal 
 was one of the expedients to avoid the odium which was due, and did 
 attach to its administration, and the public knew it. I regret that I 
 cannot transcribe more extracts from the speeches of Mr. Tyler and 
 Mr. Jones, who took the side of the remonstrants against the petition 
 for removal, but it is sufficient for my present purpose to remark that 
 the facts and arguments which they urged were deemed conclusive, 
 Mr. Jones said, « It is known that the President of William and Mary 
 denies the right of instruction, and has denounced liberty and equality 
 as a dream. And it is said, reported and believed, that this same Pre- 
 sident is a Deist. Whether the fact be so or not, I know not, and I 
 care not, but of this I am satisfied, that the report, whether true or 
 false, has served materially to depress the college." The charges thus 
 publicly reported remain still uncontradicted. Mr. Tyler, in his speech 
 says, " Can any man doubt but that much of the decline is owing to 
 the cruel, I was going to say tyrannical system of what is called disci- 
 pline, exerted over the young men ?" The cause of the trouble was 
 exaction of fees ! ! and the cause of almost all trouble in colleges is of 
 a kindred character.* It was this which first attracted the attention of 
 
 thing's," in his own peculiar way, and to depreciate the character and acquirements 
 of an absent man, whose only offence was that he would not consent to be indebted 
 to his influence for the station he had occupied as a lecturer in the college. So 
 unusual was such an exhibition before that board, and withal so disgusting to some 
 of the members, that there is little danger of his having an opportunity to repeat it. 
 
 * The course of Physiology in all medical colleges in this country is connected 
 with Anatomy, and it is very proper that it should be ; the demonstration of the struc- 
 tures of the human body belong to the one, and their uses or functions to the other ; 
 he, therefore, who is an incompetent anatomist cannot be a well qualified physiolo- 
 gist. When Dr. Smith was removed from the chair of anatomy, and Dr. Rhine- 
 lander appointed in his place, as no cause then existed for the exercise of severity, 
 but rather regret for its necessity ; a new chair was made as a kind of cushion to 
 break his fall, and the ticket for the course fixed at $14. He lectures, if lecturing 
 it may be called, twice a week, and is perfectly satisfied to receive the fee, without 
 caring whether the student has value for it or not. Amusement seems to be the 
 object, and in good sooth, if such a professorship was necessary for the recreation of 
 the pupils, there are perhaps few men in our profession who would be better qua- 
 lified, if he would generalize less, and look more attentively to the accuracy of his 
 facts. As the case now stands his fee has the character of an exaction, and is much 
 too high, since a larger amount of information, and much more satisfaction, may be 
 had at Peale's museum every evening during the winter, at a much less price. It 
 is a misfortune that his course is sub- graduate, for every student, before he presents 
 himself for examination, must, if educated in this college, pay for this ticket twice 
 which by some is justly considered a great hardship. 
 
12 
 
 the public to the admistration of the College of Physicians and Sur- 
 geons, in 1819, and it is this which now in some degree accounts for 
 the depression of it. Nothing is so well calculated to mar the interests 
 of a college, as the exaction of fees of instruction where no instruction 
 is communicated ; and nothing more is required to render an institution 
 popular, than just dealing with the pupils ; it is all they ask ; but as 
 regards the branch which the president teaches, like that which he has 
 heretofore taught, they have asked in vain till now, and whether even 
 now (hey shall have relief by a consolidation of the course of Phy- 
 siology with Anatomy depends more upon themselves, than the inte- 
 rested influence of him who receives the fee. But to return to William 
 and Mary. In a single sentence I will add that in despite of the ope- 
 ration of the causes which were urged for its removal, it is now in a 
 more flourishing condition than it ever was before, and that its number 
 of students is more than double that which it boasted in the most palmy 
 days of its late president. The continued increment of the number 
 since his departure, is an interesting comment on his former adminis- 
 tration, which I trust will not fail of its influence on the Hon. 
 Regents. 
 
 Graviora manent. 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 In my last, I took occasion to look into the history of William and 
 Mary College, in order to show the benefits of an Autocratic admin- 
 istration ; and as the same causes may be expected to be attended with 
 the same results, I hope that the lesson will not be lost. It is one of 
 the axioms of natural philosophy, that " more causes should not be 
 adduced in explanation of a phenomenon, than being true, are suffi- 
 cient to explain it." However true this may be in physics, it is far 
 otherwise in morals, politics, and medical polemics ; there is generally 
 so much room for evasion, and so many incidents upon which to hang 
 feigned issues, that a small measure of ingenuity, without a due pro- 
 portion of moral, will contrive to impose upon the common sense of 
 well intentioned men, and make the worse appear the better reason. 
 This was emphatically true in the case of William and Mary, and any 
 other reason, but the true one, was assigned for its sickly condition, 
 when under the treatment of Dr. John Augustine Smith. The same 
 management may be expected to be resorted to, in order to explain 
 the condition of the College of Physicians and Surgeons ; we may 
 expect to hear that it has not the cordial support of the medical pro- 
 fession ; and this is true ; but the why 1 will be omitted in the expla- 
 
13 
 
 nation. We shall hear nothing through the Board of Trustees of defi. 
 cient courses of instruction ; nothing of the course of Physiology, as 
 being the standing jest of every medical man who has heard the lec- 
 tures, whether pupil or professor ; nothing of the arrogance, vanity, 
 and egotism of the lecturer, who is always more intent on making a 
 display of himself, than of his subject ; but in place of these : intelli- 
 gence, zeal, ability, industry, and devotion to the cause of medical 
 instruction, will be in the gross, accorded to the professors, and will 
 be written, as usual, by the President himself. Is it any wonder, that 
 under management like this, the college does not flourish ? Is it not 
 more a wonder that it exists at all ? The Presidents of colleges, for 
 the most part, are selected for their moral and intellectual acquire- 
 ment ; they are presumed to be good as well as great, and their charac- 
 ters being such, the institutions over which they preside, borrow, so to 
 say, a revenue of reputation from their personal merits ; but it is far 
 otherwise when the president of a college derives all the reputation he 
 owns from the station he occupies ; and when this borrowing has con- 
 tinued for ten years, without any ability to cancel or diminish the debt 
 as in the present instance, surely the apprehension is not unreasonable 
 that both the debtor and creditor will be declared bankrupt! An arti- 
 ficial reputation, like copper-washed coin, although it may pass cur- 
 rent for a season, will finally discover its own counterfeit ; detection 
 is never difficult ; it is a spontaneous process, which cannot be arrested 
 while it is allowed to circulate ; and soon as discovered, it is of less 
 value, even as base metal, than if never used for purposes of fraud. It 
 is to prevent the inevitable result of detected deceit, that I write these 
 papers : no man will do more to support the College of Physicians and 
 Surgeons than Graviora manent, but he knows that all exertion is 
 vain, so long as base metal passes for sterling silver ; the incorruptible 
 moral, the well educated mind, the kind and conciliating conduct, which, 
 if it could not command respect can solicit it, are all minus qualities 
 in the character of the present incumbent. He is remarkable only 
 for management, and this is a quality more calculated to disgust than 
 to attract students. Those who are associated with him as profes- 
 sors know and feel that he is an incumbrance to the institution, and 
 the very man who presented to the board of trustees that extraordinary 
 resolution, "that any consolidation of the courses of instruction was inex- 
 pedient," was among the first, years ago, to declare it. I am sorry for 
 the necessity imposed of speaking thus plainly, but it i3 truth, and the 
 Hon. Regents ought to know it. If Dr. Smith or any of his apologists 
 are offended by the exhibition, let them show it to be deceptive. My 
 solemn conviction is, that nothing less than his retreat from the col- 
 lege will be followed by any beneficial consequence. In truth it needs 
 
14 
 
 but little to make it one of the most efficient and the most respectable 
 institutions in the country. An opinion has gone abroad that medi- 
 cal men are querulous — that they are always differing ; and to such an 
 extent has this opinion affected the community, that Regents them- 
 selves hate thought that they could not control their own schools of 
 instruction ; and what has been the consequence ? "Why, they have 
 been controlled by one man, (which is certainly true in the instance 
 of which we speak, and likely to be true of every other if the same 
 opinion prevails.) who by a little cunning simply convenes his trustees 
 to register his will. Hitherto I have spoken only of his capacity as a 
 teacher, and the opinions I have given will be endorsed by every one 
 connected with the college who is capable of balancing evidence ; and 
 I invite him to try the question by demanding a scrutiny : he has only 
 to ask for it, and he will be accommodated. In my next, I will exa- 
 mine his conduct as President in its moral aspect. 
 
 It is not a matter of indifference in a school composed of young men 
 just entering on the busy scenes of life, and who are not by necessity 
 subjected to any moral discipline, whether the examples set them by their 
 teachers are worthy of their imitation or not ; the conduct of those 
 whom as teachers they ought to respect, will by necessity measurably 
 control their own ; and, indeed, oftentimes without their consciousness 
 of its influence. Stern integrity, therefore, candor, liberality and 
 ingenuousness, should always mark the character of a public teacher ; 
 duty to the pupil ought never to be sacrificed to the gratification of 
 personal vanity ; and least of all should the station which the profes- 
 sor occupies be prostituted to the base purpose of personal scandal. 
 
 Graviora manent. 
 
 No. 6. 
 As this institution is at the present session of the Legislature 
 petitioning for pecuniary relief, it is a point worthy of some consider- 
 ation whether relief of any kind can be of any service so long as it is 
 conducted on its present plan. The rules for its government are suffi- 
 ciently explicit, and as unexceptionable, perhaps, as those of most 
 medical colleges : but the misfortune is that they are rendered nugatory 
 by the contrivance of its president, and unless some wholesome restraint 
 be laid upon its administration, no legislative aid can serve any other 
 purpose than to perpetuate its abuses. We have seen how the board 
 of trustees is constituted ; we have seen how that board may, in tact, 
 be packed to serve the purposes of the president, without the most dis- 
 tant apprehension of the appointing power (the Regents,) that they are 
 
15 
 
 so used ; we do know that the president hns long been in the habit of 
 privatelv suggesting proper persons ! to fill its vacancies ; and that so 
 successful has been this management, that upon a question which he 
 was particularly interested to carry, his estimated majority included 
 the names of persons suggested by himself, some of whom had not been, 
 but were expected to be appointed ! !* And with facts like these standing 
 out in bold relief, has the public any right to expect a just, equitable, 
 and intelligent administration of its concerns ? I do not now speak 
 of its financial management ; that will be taken care of, probably, 
 under any circumstances, but of those highly responsible and interest- 
 ing duties to which all others are subsidiary. The selection of teach- 
 ers, the recommendation of professors, the supervision of the courses of 
 instruction, are matters too important to be left to the direction of one 
 man, and that man known to be incompetent to fulfil his own engage- 
 ments to the public as a professor. Are the public prepared to accord 
 to him the right of appointing lecturers, and, in truth, professors also, 
 and of dismissing them when he pleases ? There are some disgraceful 
 facts of this character, justly chargeable to Dr. Smith, which the pro- 
 fession ought to know before they place the college in the condition of 
 a private school. 
 
 In the year 1837, Dr. Amariah Brigham, of Hartford, a gentleman 
 of talent, moral, and professional acquirement, which will compare very 
 favorably with those of Dr. Smith himself, was invited by the trustees 
 to take the place of Lecturer on anatomy, the place from which he 
 (Smith) was ejected, when he was superseded by Dr. Rhinelander : he 
 accepted the appointment and lectured one term, at the end of which 
 he resigned! In the year 1837 Dr. Alban G. Smith was appointed by 
 the Regents the professor of Surgery ; he had held a similar chair in 
 the medical college of Cincinnati ; he accepted, and moved to this city* 
 and lectured only two terms, at the end of which he resigned ! And 
 Dr. John Augustine Smith knows that these resignations, although 
 unexpected, were voluntary. We would be glad to be informed, how- 
 ever, of the agency through which these resignations were effected ; 
 we should be pleased to know whether the trustees, in the one case, or 
 the regents of the University in the other, were ever informed of either 
 till asked to act upon the appointment of their successors ; and we 
 would be pleased to be corrected, if we are wrong in our information, 
 
 * Graviora manent has in his possession a curiosity of this kind, in Dr. Smith's 
 own hand writing : it is a statement of the names and number of the trustees, in 
 separate columns, under the heads of aye and no ; this paper contains the names of 
 two persons, neither of whom were trustees at the time the calculation was made, 
 and one of whom has not yet been appointed a trustee. It is written in pencil mark» 
 and therefore cannot be transferred. 
 
that he was agent himself, it he bad an auxiliary in this unrighteous 
 persecution, and I am told tl i will he break silence and give 
 
 the public the name of his a* fo 1839, the trustees of the col- 
 
 lege, without any solicitation, appointed Dr. Manley of this city, lec- 
 turer on Obstetrics, in the place of Dr. Delafield, resigned ; he lectured 
 one term, and at the end of it h< did not resign. The agency of Dr. 
 Smith, and his associate, would 1 ve been of no use, it therefore was 
 not volunteered ; but a systematic plan of operation was devised by him, 
 and carried out through the agency of some of his party, in the board 
 of trustees, which, when opened up and fully understood, will astonish 
 by its baseness. Here we have three incidents in close sequence, in 
 which Dr. John Augustine Smith's management is apparent as the 
 noon day ; and when it is considered that he has by common consent 
 been for years considered the dead weight which the college has been 
 obliged to sustain, the history of them almost assumes the character of 
 fable. 
 
 It may be stated, without fear of successful contradiction, that 
 no man who was ever honored with the title of Professor in any college 
 ever succeeded better in converting a lecture room for instruction into 
 a theatre of mere amusement for the idle student ; the by-play and 
 digressive anecdote, which occupy four-fifths of the time, are permitted 
 to absorb all the interest which ought to attach to the importance of 
 Physiology ; and the student if he receive value of any kind for his 
 money, receives it in any thing but instruction. The pupils are indu- 
 ced, when the stories are twice told, to laugh by courtesy, for in that 
 indeed they may claim to rival their Professor, who always sets the 
 example ; but except as a recreation from severe study, the course of 
 lectures, as conducted, is utterly useless, if not injurious.* 
 
 Graviora manent cannot remove Dr. Smith from the place he occu- 
 pies, but he intends to leave those without apology, who have the 
 power to do it, and will not exercise it. A professor without talent, 
 and a president whose conduct displays, to say the least, a very equivo- 
 cal measure of morals, can hardly be the man to reflect character on 
 the medical profession, or credit on the institution. 
 
 Graviora manent. 
 
 * If John Augustine Smith's chair was an honorary one, or if the student who 
 wished to graduate was not obliged to purchase the ticket, there would be much less 
 dissatisfaction in the school ; the attendance would then be voluntary, in place of 
 being, as now, constrained ; those would join his class who could well afford it, and 
 if they were not instructed in physiology, they might occasionally be amused by his 
 metaphysics. In such a condition of the chair, the revenue to be derived from it 
 would be a revenue of reputation only ; and although that might be small, it would 
 not materially affect the interests of the college, if he was satisfied with its amount. 
 
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