Page:The History of the University of Pennsylvania, Wood.djvu/87

Rh LANGUISHING CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS IN THE UNIVERSITY.—DEFECTIVE ARRANGEMENTS UPON WHICH THIS CONDITION DEPENDED.

inquiry may now be reasonably made, whether the success of the university was such as to justify those high and apparently well grounded expectations to which the union of the schools had given rise. For the honour of Philadelphia it would be well could we truly answer this question in the affirmative; but the fact is too notorious to be denied, that, with the exception of the pecuniary affairs, which were soon brought into good order and comparative prosperity, there was reason for several years rather to regret a still further depression, than to boast of an advancement in the fortunes of the institution. Since the first establishment of the college, there had scarcely been a period, unless during the severest commotions of the revolution, when the students in the higher branches were less numerous, or the reputation of the seminary at a lower ebb. In the philosophical school, consisting of the two highest classes, there were in the year 1797 only twelve students; the numbers qualified to graduate