Page:A History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.djvu/205

 be expended in their behalf in the erection of apartments suitable for the medical lectures. This proposition was acceded to, and an addition was made to the building in Ninth Street, in which the lectures were delivered, while the room which had been occupied by Dr. Rush and Dr. Barton, on the second floor of the main building, was appropriated for the Museum.

The new apartments were occupied in 1807, and here Dr. Shippen took part in the course which was the last in which he was engaged. Dr. Wistar thus refers to Dr. Shippen in this connection: “Last winter (1807) he delivered the introductory lecture, though very infirm, and unlike what he had formerly been. Yet he was much roused by the appearance of the class in the new theatre, and feelingly described his emotions upon comparing these with his original set of students forty years before.”

In 1817, the Medical Hall was further enlarged, and on Nov. 4th, 1828, it was “resolved that the present Medical Hall is, in the opinion of the Committee (to whom the subject had been referred), inconvenient in several respects, and as it is incapable of being so altered as to afford accommodations suitable to the flourishing condition of the school, it is deemed advisable to erect a new building.” In 1829, the Trustees determined to remove all the buildings, and to substitute for them upon the same lot the two buildings now constituting the Medical Hall and that for the other departments of the University.

The Medical Hall was planned and built under the supervision of the Faculty. It contains three large lecture rooms, a spacious museum, rooms for anatomical purposes, and small apartments for the use of the professors and for the business of the institution. The corner-stone of this building was laid on the occasion of the commencement of 1829. The following is the account of the ceremonies at the time published:—

“At a Medical Commencement, held March 21st, 1829, in the saloon of the Masonic Hall, Chestnut Street, the Degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred on one hundred and seven gentlemen, who had passed the examination by the Medical Faculty. On the same occasion the corner-stone of the new Medical Hall was laid, and an inscription to the following effect, along with the list of graduates, was deposited; a 14