The History of Dartmouth College

by Baxter Perry Smith

"By vote of the Board of Trustees, in 1820, they accepted the proffered fraternization of the New Hampshire Medical Society, by sending delegates to attend the annual examinations. The statutes were also altered very materially. By these amendments the Medical Faculty were allowed the sole control of the discipline, etc., of their department. Students coming to attend lectures were not required to give evidence of the possession of a good moral character, as under the old laws. The invidious have alleged that this latter amendment enabled a larger number to avail themselves of the advantages of a medical education than might otherwise do so. The requirements for graduation were at the same time lessened, being now limited to a knowledge of Latin and Natural and Experimental Philosophy, while the examinations were to be private, instead of public, as heretofore.

"It was determined that the Medical Faculty should henceforth consist of:

"1. The president of the College.

"2. A professor of Surgery, Obstetrics, and Medical Jurisprudence.

"3. A professor of Theory and Practice and Materia Medica.

"4. A professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy.

"5. A professor of Anatomy and Physiology.

"Dr. Mussey was elected to the first of the professorial chairs; Dr. Daniel Oliver, of Salem, Mass., to the second; Dr. James F. Dana, to the third, and Dr. Usher Parsons to the fourth. Dr. Parsons remained but two years, when Dr. Mussey was appointed professor of Anatomy, in addition to his other branches. No further change occurred until 1826, when Dr. Dana resigned the chair of Chemistry, which was filled by the election of Professor Hale, who continued to lecture until 1835, when his connection with the college ceased. The following year Dr. John Delamater was chosen professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, and the present incumbent, Dr. O. P. Hubbard, professor of Chemistry, while in 1838 a great change was made in the Medical Faculty by the resignation of all the lecturers except Professor Hubbard. By the election of the Trustees, the Faculty now consisted of Elisha Bartlett, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Delamater, Oliver Payson Hubbard, Dixi Crosby, and Stephen W. Williams. Dr. Bartlett resigned in 1840, and was succeeded by Dr. Joseph Roby. Dr. Delamater also left, and Dr. Holmes tendered his resignation. The next year, 1841, Dr. Phelps and Dr. Peaslee commenced their long and useful connection with the school. No farther change was made until 1849, when Dr. Roby resigned and Dr. Albert Smith was elected. In 1867 Dixi Crosby resigned the chair of Surgery, and A. B. Crosby, who had served as adjunct professor of Surgery since 1862, was elected to fill the vacancy. In 1869, Dr. Peaslee, having resigned the chair of Anatomy and Physiology, was transferred to a new chair of the Diseases of Women, while Lyman Bartlett How, M.D., was elected to fill the vacancy. And finally Dr. Dixi Crosby has sent in his resignation of the chair of Obstetrics, to take effect at the ensuing commencement (1870), thus terminating an active connection of thirty-two years with the school.

"Nathan Smith, the founder of the school, was without dispute a great man. He was born at Rehoboth, Massachusetts, September 30, 1762. Incited to enter the profession by witnessing an amputation in Vermont, he devoted himself to acquiring the best preliminary education his means afforded, and eventually entered his profession full of zeal and ambition, resolved to act no secondary part in his chosen vocation. To found a medical college at Dartmouth was the chief desire of his early manhood. Regardless of his own pecuniary interests, he borrowed money to buy the necessary apparatus and appliances with which to commence his course of instruction. When the increasing demands of the institution required a building for its accommodation, it was through his personal efforts that it was secured. The means were raised and the project carried out by Dr. Smith, who, himself, on his own responsibility, furnished a large part of the money. A part, as shown by the records, was also secured by the same gentleman from the Legislature of New Hampshire.

"Dr. Smith was a man of genius. I hazard nothing in saying that he was fifty years in advance of his profession. He was one of those characters who was not only an observing man, but, rarest of all, he was a good observer. Nothing escaped him, and when he had seized on all the salient points of a given subject, he astounded his listeners with the full, symmetrical character of his generalizations.