In 1803 the New Hampshire Legislature granted $600 to Dr. Smith for the purchase of apparatus, and in 1809 $3,450 for "a building of brick or stone for a medical school, sixty-five feet in length, thirty-two feet in width, and two stories in height," Dr. Smith furnishing land for the purpose. He furnished one acre, on which a brick building seventy-five feet in length, two stories in the middle, with wings of three stories, was erected, at a cost of over $4,600, Dr. Smith becoming responsible for the balance. By the terms of the above grants the building and anatomical and chemical apparatus became the property of the State upon the removal of Dr. Smith from the institution, which is with propriety styled the "New Hampshire Medical College."
In 1810 Dr. Cyrus Perkins (created a Doctor upon that occasion) was elected professor of Anatomy. Some trouble having occurred about this time between the college officers and the Medical students, the following articles were added to the laws.
"'1. That each person, previous to becoming a member of the Medical institution, shall be required to give satisfactory evidence that he possesses a good moral character.
"'2. That it be required of medical students that they conduct themselves respectfully towards the executive officers of the college, and if any of them should be guilty of immoral or ungentlemanly conduct the executive may expel them, and no professor shall receive or continue to receive as his private pupil any such expelled person, or recommend him to any other medical man or institution.
"'3. That the executive officers of the college be, and hereby are authorized to visit the rooms of the medical students whenever they think proper.'
"In the year 1812, some important changes were made in the economy of the institution. Up to this time the degree of Bachelor of Medicine only was conferred upon recent graduates, while the degree of M.D. was only allowed in course three years after graduation. This was now changed, and the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon all medical graduates. The term of study was again changed, and fixed at the present standard. Another of the new regulations and perhaps the least agreeable one to the students, compelled candidates to read their theses publicly in the chapel.
"The Faculty was also strengthened by the appointment of Rufus Graves, Esq., as lecturer on Chemistry, making this department, for the first time, a separate branch. Colonel Graves, although a good lecturer, was an unsuccessful manipulator, which caused his dismission in 1815, three years later. During the same year [1812, at Dartmouth] we find that Mr. Reuben D. Mussey, a name thoroughly identified with the success of the school, and with medical progress in New Hampshire, was created a Doctor of Medicine.
"In 1814, Dr. Smith having been absent for a year, it was voted that the salary and emoluments pertaining to the chair of Medicine, be paid to Dr. Perkins, and at an adjourned meeting the resignation of Dr. Smith was received and accepted. The Board then proceeded to elect Dr. Mussey professor of Theory and Practice and Materia Medica. In 1816, Dr. Perkins was excused from lecturing on Surgery, and Obstetrics was added to his chair, instead, while Dr. Mussey assumed the department of Chemistry, in addition to his other labors. In the meanwhile Dr. Smith was reëlected professor of Surgery, but declining to accept, Dr. Massey added a course of lectures on this branch to his already laborious duties. The following year he was somewhat relieved by the choice of Dr. James F. Dana, as lecturer on Chemistry, which office he continued to hold until 1820, when he was elected to a full professorship. In August, 1819, Dr. Perkins resigned his chair.