was elevated by the genius and industry of William and John Hunter; the University of Leyden was brought into high repute by the labours of Boerhaave; and the medical schools of France began to assume a new character. The spirit of improvement reached America; and our physicians, while they felt its influence, perceived the necessity of adopting measures to check the progress of quackery and empiricism, which threatened to overspread the country. But they saw that nothing could be done without instituting measures for the medical education of a greater number of our young men, than enjoyed the means, or possessed the inclination, to resort to Europe. The establishment of medical schools presented the only rational prospect of accomplishing so desirable an object.

Among the various means which have been adopted for the education of young men to the practice of physic, medical schools and public lectures have ever been regarded as the most important, and their utility has been sanctioned by every age. These institutions are almost coeval with the first dawning of medical science; and have been established in almost every populous city in the civilized world. In Egypt, in ancient Greece and Rome, in the principal cities of Spain, in Italy, in France, Germany, and Holland; and, in the last century, in the larger cities of Great Britain; and wherever they have been

Established and flourished, medical science has been elevated, quackery has vanished, and regular physicians have commanded consideration and respect. These facts our physicians had learned and appreciated; and a few of them, who had visited the celebrated schools of Europe, and whose spirits had been fired by the example of the great masters of that day, were anxious that something should be done in their native country. No attempt, however, was made to establish a medical school in America, until 1765.

Previous to this period, and as early as 1750, the body of Hermanus Carroll, a criminal who had been executed for murder, was dissected in the city of New-York, by Dr. John Bard and Dr. Peter Middleton, two of the most eminent physicians of that day, and the blood vessels injected, for the instruction of the young men then engaged in the study of medicine; and this, says our celebrated countryman, Dr. Hosack, was the first essay made in the United States for the purpose of imparting medical knowledge, by the dissection of the human body, of which we have any record.

Six years after this, viz. in 1756, a course of lectures on Anatomy and Surgery, accompanied by dissections of the human body, was delivered at Newport, in the State of Rhode Island, by a Doctor William Hunter, a distinguished Scotch physician, who had been educated at the University of Edin

burgh. To these lectures not only the medical students and physicians, but all the literary gentlemen of the town, were invited.

But these efforts to give instruction by dissections and lectures were only temporary, and no plan was matured and carried into operation, for instituting a regularly organized medical school, till the one of Philadelphia, in 1765.

The foundation of this school was laid by the enterprise and zeal of Drs. Shippin and Morgan. These gentlemen were both natives of Philadelphia, and of about the same age. Having completed their preparatory education, and graduated, Dr. Morgan at the college of Philadelphia, and Dr. Shippin at the college of New-Jersey, they both commenced the study of medicine in their native city; the former with the justly celebrated Dr. Redman, and the latter with his father, then a respectable physician of Philadelphia. After the usual course with their private instructers, they repaired to Europe to complete their medical studies in the public schools. Shippin first visited London, and spent a considerable time in the family of John Hunter; and it was while enjoying the instructions of this eminent teacher, that he imbibed his fondness for anatomy, and first conceived the idea of teaching the science in America. He also enjoyed the friendship of Mr. Hewson, Sir John Pringle, and Dr. Fother

gill; the latter of whom took a deep interest in the improvement of medical science in America, and presented, through Shippin, a valuable set of anatomical drawings to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and particularly with a view to the founding of a medical school in connexion with this institution.

Shippin, after finishing his studies in London, repaired to Edinburgh, where he studied some time and graduated. He afterwards visited France, and returned to his native country in 1762, with the full determination of opening a school of anatomy.

Morgan first visited Europe in 1760, and after attending the lectures of William Hunter and others, in London, he spent two years in Edinburgh, and graduated at that University. From Edinburgh he went to Paris, and passed a winter in attending the medical lectures of that city. He afterwards made the tour of Holland and Italy. On his return to London he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. It was while Shippin and Morgan were in Europe that they concerted the plan of establishing a medical school in their native city. Accordingly, Dr. Shippin, on his return to America, in 1762, commenced a course of lectures on anatomy and midwifery, accompanied by dissections, to a class of ten students,

The private lectures of Dr. Shippin were continued annually, until 1765, at which time Dr. Morgan returned, united in the enterprise, and laid before the

Trustees of the College of Philadelphia a plan for establishing a medical school under their auspices. The plan was adopted; and Drs. Morgan and Ship pin were soon after appointed professors of the school. And thus was laid the foundation of the medical school of Philadelphia. As the school increased in the number of its pupils, additional professorships were created, and different gentlemen appointed to fill the chairs. But the school had not been long in successful operation, when a rival institution was established, and connected with the University.

This division of interest, at a time when the field was scarcely large enough for the support of a single school, produced contention among the physicians, and resulted in the mutual injury of both institutions. At length, in 1791, the two schools were united, by combining the talents of both in the present establishment. Since this period the school has been increasing in the number of its students, till it has arisen from ten, which composed the first class of Dr. Shippin, to nearly five hundred. From the most accurate calculation that can be made, it is computed that not less than seven thousand young men have received instruction within the walls of this school; and at this time there is scarcely a State, a Territory, or a District, in the Union, in which there is not one or more physicians who have attended its lectures. The Pennsylvania Hospital, and Philadelphia