Page:An Examination of Certain Charges - Alfred Stillé.djvu/15

 January, the vote was passed as recorded above. It cannot then be wondered at, that after betraying such astonishing ignorance, he should coolly, and dispassionately, describe a meeting as taking place, which meeting was never holden at any time, or in any place, by the medical class of the University. But this is not all. He asserts that it was on the day following the 6th January, that this meeting 'was instantly got up,' at which it was determined 'that the students should the following morning compel,' &c., that is to say, that on the 7th the meeting was held, and on the 8th the &#39;closing scene&#39; took place. Yet Dr. Coxe lectured peaceably until the 13th instant, and it was not until the 15th that the closing scene was enacted. It is a revolting task to unveil a subject like the present, yet, the committee consider it their imperious duty to bring to light whatever may tend to discredit the statements of the libeller of their constituents.

A meeting of the class was held on Friday, January 9th, in consequence of a strong impression existing in the class, founded on a reported conversation with Dr. Coxe; the nature of that impression, and of the feeling of the class respecting it, are best perceived in a resolution which was adopted without division, to wit:—"Resolved, that the medical class of the University of Pennsylvania, do not wish any portion of the fee for the ticket of Materia Medica to be refunded, in the event of that chair being vacated."

January 13th brought with it the special meeting of the Board. According to the laws of the University, no Professor can be removed at the same meeting in which his removal is proposed, nor at any other than a stated meeting. The intimation, which the Board of Trustees had given by their vote of the 6th, had met no compliance; the charter of the University prevented the removal of the Professor at the meeting then in session; but one course remained which would evince to all concerned, their final determination, and which was to all intents, except a necessary form, the removal of Dr. Coxe from the chair he occupied; it was resolved, that it is for the interests of the University, that the present incumbent of the chair of Materia Medica be removed. On the following morning many reports were in circulation touching the proceedings of the evening before, all however, tending to impress the opinion that no material decision had been effected by the Board of Trustees. These reports produced no other effect upon the more numerous portion of the class than to determine them to remain quiet until after the action of the Board had taken place. Few comparatively were then aware of the necessity which overruled the wishes of that body, but in the course of the day the real state of the case became generally known, and all, except a very insignificant number, were determined peacefully to await the consummation of the law. We now proceed to that event which is mainly relied on to support the assertion that anarchy and confusion prevailed within the Medical Hall. As seven-eighths of the medical class did not attend the lectures of Dr. Coxe, during several weeks prior to the 15th January, as his lecture was the first in the morning, (at 9 o'clock, A. M.) and the Professor of Surgery lectured at 10 o'clock, there were always, between the hours of nine and ten, a greater or less number collected in the passage, and the sitting room