Page:A History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.djvu/5



author of this History of the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania was appointed to deliver the opening lecture of the course of 1865, on the occasion of the centenary anniversary. That lecture, delivered at the request of the Faculty, consisted of a succinct statement of events preceding, and of the circumstances connected with, the foundation of the Medical School, with an exposition of the character and labors of the individuals who were prominent in the enterprise of transferring medical education from the Old World to the New, and who by their learning, talents, and energy contributed to its success. It was written for public delivery, and was by no means a complete history of the Medical Department of the University.

Although urged to the publication of that lecture, the author conceived that a more extended account should be given of the origin and progress of the School, and that a fuller notice should be presented of the lives of the eminent men who, by establishing its reputation and extending its usefulness, were identified with its history. A consider-able amount of materials had been collected to accomplish this object, but the entire field of research had not been exhausted, and many sources of information still remained available. In the intervals of leisure since the period referred to, the author has been steadily employed in collecting 1*