Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/63

Rh final passage of the law, they met at the house of Dr. Franklin, who was the oldest member of the board, and the only survivor of the original founders of the institution. The infirmities of the venerable patriot confined him chiefly if not altogether within doors, and at his request the meetings continued to be held at his dwelling till the middle of summer, when the increasing severity of his disorder rendered him totally unable to attend to public duties. Of the twenty-four trustees who constituted the board at the period of its dissolution, about ten years before this time, only fourteen remained; the rest having either died in the interval, or deserted the country during the revolution. Their first measures were to obtain possession of the college buildings, to organize the different departments of the seminary according to the former plan, to fill up vacancies in the various professorships, and to supply the deficiency in their own number by the election of new members. Of the professors in the department of the arts, Dr. Smith and James Davidson were the only survivors. The former, as a matter of course, took the place of provost; and the latter, who, as was previously mentioned, had been employed in the university, accepted 8