[ [42] He was Dean of the Faculty.
[ [43] It has been said that Doctor Caldwell was the first person of note to take up the study of Phrenology in this country.
[ [44] Of Doctor Caldwell, Doctor Gross says: "A more majestic figure on the rostrum could hardly be imagined. Tall and erect in person, with a noble head and a piercing black eye, he was the beau ideal of an elegant, entertaining, and accomplished lecturer. He was eloquent, but too artificial, for he had cultivated elocution too much before the mirror." (Autobiographical sketch of Doctor C. W. Short, Page 10.)
[ [45] Doctor Caldwell says (1834): "This institution has been in operation fourteen years.... According to its record book its classes and the degrees conferred by it have been as follows:
| Number of | Number of | |
|---|---|---|
| Years. | Pupils. | Degrees. |
| 1819–20 | 37 | 7 |
| 1820–1 | 93 | 13 |
| 1821–2 | 138 | 37 |
| 1822–3 | 171 | 51 |
| 1823–4 | 200 | 47 |
| 1824–5 | 234 | 57 |
| 1825–6 | 281 | 65 |
| 1826–7 | 190 | 53 |
| 1827–8 | 152 | 53 |
| 1828–9 | 206 | 40 |
| 1829–30 | 199 | 81 |
| 1830–1 | 210 | 52 |
| 1831–2 | 215 | 74 |
| 1832–3 | 222 | 69 |
| 1833–4 | 262 | |
| _____ | ___ | |
| Total | 2,810 | 699 |
"It is believed from this view of it that for its vigorous prosperity and the rapid increase of its classes, the Medical School of Transylvania is without a parallel. Certainly in the United States there is nothing comparable to it. At the commencement of the present century, when the Medical School of Philadelphia had been in operation about forty years, it did not number more, we believe, than 200 pupils. It now contains about 400—rumor says a few more. In thirty-three years, then, that school has added about 200 to its classes, while in less than half that time the school of Transylvania has formed a class of 262. This is the highest eulogy the institution can receive." (Doctor Caldwell to Lexington Medical Society, 1834, "On the Impolicy of Multiplying Schools of Medicine.")
[ [46] At the time of the formation of the "Transylvania Institute" (February 20, 1839), under articles of agreement between the city of Lexington and the Trustees of Transylvania University (see Deed Book No. 17, Page 42, office Fayette County Court), the city endowed the University with seventy thousand dollars; forty-five thousand dollars was to build a new medical hall and provide additional library and apparatus for the same, five thousand dollars for the Law Department, and twenty thousand dollars for Morrison College, securing permanent scholarships in each college. In consequence of a want of harmony in the Board of Trustees as to the location of the proposed medical hall, the medical professors and their friends felt obliged to purchase a lot (corner of Broadway and Second Street, where Doctor Bush's residence was afterward built) at a cost of five thousand dollars, although there was abundant space on the University grounds. This lot, to purchase which citizens contributed three thousand dollars of the five thousand, was given in trust to the University—but, by an unauthorized clause in the deed of conveyance, the lot and the medical hall erected on it at a cost of about thirty-five thousand dollars reverted to the city about 1860. On this building, which was burned during the Civil War, the medical professors also paid out of their own incomes the surplus cost over thirty thousand dollars which had been provided by the city. The medical professors also each contributed annually to the medical library, etc., ten dollars.
[ [47] There remain of this library five thousand, six hundred and eighty-four volumes; pamphlets and medical journals, seven hundred and fifty-four; bound volumes of theses, one hundred and thirty-eight, at Kentucky University.
[ [48] In the session following this disintegration of the school Doctor Thomas D. Mitchell says, in his Historical Catalogue of the Medical School, 1838: "Notwithstanding the great pecuniary embarrassments of the country and the peculiar circumstances accompanying the late disorganization, the number of pupils fell short but fifteen of the previous session."
[ [49] Doctor Mitchell at this time says: "The entire course of lectures in this school costs the sum of one hundred and five dollars. In addition the matriculation fee, which entitles the pupil to use of the very extensive library, is five dollars. The dissecting ticket is ten dollars, and may be taken or omitted at pleasure." The qualifications for candidates for the degree of Doctor of Medicine: "The persons offering must be 21 years of age and must have been engaged in the study of medicine during three years. Two full courses of lectures in a chartered medical school (the last of which in this institution) are also requisite. But persons who exhibit satisfactory proof of having been engaged in reputable practice for the space of four years may be candidates by attending one course of lectures, which must be in this school. Each candidate is required to exhibit all his tickets to the Dean before his name can be enrolled. The fee for graduation is $20." (See Doctor Mitchell's Historical Catalogue, 1838.)