Page:A History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.djvu/48



College of Philadelphia was founded in 1749, sixteen years before the medical school was engrafted upon it. This institution was intended to meet the demands of the population for education of a more extended nature than was afforded by the private schools in existence. As liberal pursuits engaged the attention of a greater number of individuals in the Province, and as preparation for the professions, as well as a diffusion of knowledge in arts and letters, became necessary, the importance of employing all the facilities at command was made apparent. “Franklin drew up the plan of an Academy to be erected in the city of Philadelphia, suited to the state of an infant country; but in this, as in all his plans, he confined not his views to the present time only. He looked forward to the period when an institution on an enlarged plan would become necessary. With this view he considered his academy as a foundation for posterity to erect a seminary of learning more extensive and suitable for future circumstances.” Dr. Franklin, himself, was no classically educated scholar, but one of nature’s own perfecting, who probably derived his inspiration from his native Province, Massachusetts.