ADDRESS
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
FHILOMATHEAN SOCIETIT
of the
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
BY GEORGE B. WOOD, Itt.D.
   HONORARY MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY.
July 26, 1826.
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE SOCIETY.
       R. Wright, Printer.
1826. 
/
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W^75a>e 
ADDRESS.
  In most of the colleges of the United States, so-
cieties have been formed  by the students, which, in
some  instances,  have  existed  for many years, and
have exerted a very favourable influence over the for-
tunes of the respective  establishments with  which
they have  been connected.  Of their beneficial ef-
fects, when properly regulated, we have satisfactory
evidence in the encouragement which they receive
from the college  officers, who  are best qualified to
form a correct judgment of their tendency and ope-
ration.  Nor is it difficult  to discover  in what their
usefulness consists.   By fostering a spirit of honora-
ble emulation, they support and invigorate  those ex-
ertions  in  the acquisition of knowledge,  which, if
not properly encouraged,  are too apt to yield  to the
seduction of youthful pleasures, or to languish under
the influence of an indolent disposition.  They pro-
duce a  union of feeling and sentiment, which amal-
gamates their members into one body; which teaches
each individual to connect his own honour  with that
of his  community; and excites him to such circum-
spection of  conduct, and  diligence in study, as may
serve to maintain if not to exalt its reputation.  By
the independent exercise of thought, and the frequent
trials of intellectual attainment  and ability, for which
they afford  occasion, they  tend  to produce a certain
strength and manliness of  thinking; while they pre-
vent that  overweening opinion of one's own superi-
ority, and that consequent arrogance of manner, which
are the natural results of solitary study, and  which
have not unfrequently  subjected the young collegian,
on his first entrance into the world, to ridicule or dis-
3 7H 
4
 like.  The frequent and intimate association, and the
 community of feeling  to  which they give rise, lead
 to the formation of sincere friendships, which, origi-
 nating while the heart is glowing with generous emo-
 tion, and not yet palsied by the benumbning influence
 of the world, often continue through life, shedding
 an  uniform  lustre over its cheque red course, and
 sometimes  brightening even the  gloom of  its close.
  Thus  useful in  promoting the  improvement,  in
 forming the character, in contributing to  the  lasting
 happiness of their  youthful members, these college
 associations deserve the attention of all who feel in-
 terested in the general subject of education, and more
 particularly of the relatives and friends of the young
 men who are exposed to their operation.  It cannot,
 therefore, be deemed presumption, if they occasionally
 appear before the  public,  and claim that  notice and
 sympathy,  which, to the generous spirit of youth, are
 the strongest incitements to exertion, and  the sweet-
 est  reward of success.   By thus acting,  they  place
 themselves, in some   measure,  under  the  guardi-
anship of  public opinion, and  give a pledge  that
 their conduct shall be regulated by such  rules, and
 their efforts directed  to such ends, as may challenge
 general approbation.   An enlightened  community
will therefore meet their  advances with indulgence;
 and  accordingly we  find, that  on  occasion of their
anniversary exhibitions and orations, they are gene-
rally favoured with the attendance of a numerous and
respectable audience, disposed to receive pleasure, and
to judge favourably of the efforts made to please them.
  The Philomathean  Society,  by  whose  invitation
 we are now met together, was founded by the stu-
dents in the collegiate  department  of the Pennsylva-
nia University, soon after the election of the present
Provost.   A duration of more  than twelve  years
indicates that it  was established, and has been con- 
5
ducted, upon  correct principles;  for institutions of
this  nature, when  badly organized, seldom outlive
the first warmth of zeal  which created  them; and
when directed to improper ends, or productive, by
mismanagement, of injurious consequences, are liable
to be suppressed by the college authorities.   Since
the period of  its origin, the society has, on several
occasions, presented itself to the public notice of its
friends.  Generally, its exhibitions have consisted of
essays in  oratory by its junior  members; but  in the
past  year it  was determined that  the anniversary
should  be celebrated by the delivery of an address,
by some individual to be appointed  for the  purpose;
and  the same  plan has been  adopted for the present
occasion.   I need not mention that to professor Keat-
ing  belongs the honour of having first united the suf-
frages of  the  society in his favour; an honour  due as
well to his literary and  scientific attainments, as to the
public spirit which he has exhibited in the promotion
of objects of  general utility.  For  my own election
 to the same  office, I am  indebted,  perhaps, to that
 partiality with which the individuals of any associa-
 tion regard those, who were among its earliest mem-
 bers, and most zealous supporters.
   As the subject of this anniversary address, I know
 of nothing which has stronger  claims on the  notice
 of the speaker, or can  more appropriately engage the
 attention of the audience, than the affairs of the col-
 lege, under the auspices of which the society, whose
 origin we commemorate, was instituted, and  by the
 favour of which it continues to be  fostered and sup-
 ported.  A  short history of this seminary,  with an
 account of its present condition and prospects, cannot
 be  unacceptable  to  those  who, as  citizens of Phila-
 delphia, must feel a deep interest in whatever  affects,
 even in a remote degree, its welfare and reputation.
   The University of  Pennsylvania embraces three 
6
 distinct departments; those of Medicine, of Natural
 Science, and  the Arts.*  It is the  last of these to
 which I wish particularly to direct  your attention.
 The medical department has attained a celebrity, not
 only in this place, but throughout the United States,
 and even beyond the Atlantic, which supersedes the
 necessity of description, and renders eulogy super-
 fluous.   The  department of natural  science, though
 embracing several professorships, the  duties of which
 have, in some instances, been performed with much
 credit to  their  occupants, is  yet so  imperfectly or-
 ganized, and has been managed  with so little system,
 as to present no appearance of a regular association.f
 To the  college, therefore, as  distinct from the facul-
 ties of medicine and natural science, the observations
 which follow will be  confined. J  To  express a hope
 that they may be the means of directing more atten-

  * By the regulations of the university  there are two other
 departments, namely, those of Law  and  of General Litera-
 ture:—but at present they are merely nominal. The professor-
 ship of law is vacant, and that of general literature, though
 occupied by a gentleman who has given abundant proof of
 his oualifications for the office, does  not  afford sufficient in-
 ducement to divert  any portion of his attention from  more
 pleasant or profitable occupation.
  t  In the department of natural science five professorships
 were instituted, namely, 1st, of Natural  Philosophy; 2d, of
 Botany;  3d, of Natural History, including  Geology  and
 Zoology; 4th, of Mineralogy and Chemistry, as applied to the
arts;  5th, of Comparative  Anatomy.  On  the subjects  of
natural philosophy, botany,  and  chemistry applied to  the
arts, several courses of lectures have been given, which have
attracted much attention.  The other subjects have been en-
tirely neglected, at least for many years.
  X  It may be proper to mention  that in the department of
 of the arts,—-beside the college, there are included an academy
or grammar school, and charity schools in which the children
 of the poor, both boys and  girls, receive gratuitous instruc-
tion.  But it is to  the college alone that attention is now in-
 vited . 
7
tion to this important institution, and of exciting a
greater interest in its prosperity, might subject me
to the imputation of vanity.  The spirit of good will,
however, in which  they are made, and which must
find an  answering feeling in the breast of every one
present, will secure them a kind, perhaps a partial
reception.
   Our  college can boast of no great antiquity.   Set-
tled,  originally, by  members of the religious society
of Friends, Philadelphia, and the colony of which it
was the capital, remained, for many years, under their
exclusive direction.   Averse, by principle, from all
titles of honour;  attaching little importance to those
higher studies, which in their estimation, were rather
ornamental than useful;  and accustomed to view the
colleges of Europe  as  ecclesiastical  establishments,
which, in whatever shape, were  in direct opposition
to their religious views, they were  content with in-
structing  their youth in seminaries less ambitious in
their designation, and less complex  in their organi-
 zation  and government.   Sensible, however, of the
 great importance of an  elementary education, they
 directed their attention  to the subject very speedily
 after their first arrival in this country; and, by the
 the  year  1712,  a system had  been matured and
 adopted,  which has continued in uninterrupted ope-
 ration  down to the present time, and has been  found
 to answer satisfactorily its intended purposes. Funds,
 supplied  by the  society out of its public  property,
 were vested in a body of trustees, incorporated by a
 charter* from William Penn; and to this body, which,

   * A charter was  granted  by William Penn so early as the
  year 1693; but it was found advisable to alter some of its pro-
  visions, and it was not till near the close of the year 1711,
  that the act  of incorporation was obtained, by which the
  school  was permanently organized. « he charter of 1693 is the
  first which was given in this state for literary purposes. 
8
 by the right of supplying vacancies, was  rendered
 perpetual, the establishment and direction of the ne-
 cessary schools were  entrusted.   These schools, in
 which were taught the  Latin  language, the inferior
 branches of mathematics, and the  rudiments of En-
 glish literature, though under the  sole  management
 of Friends, were open to the youth of all sects; and,
 till the middle of the century, continued to be the only
 public places of instruction within the city.   But the^
 rapid increase of the colony in population and wealth,
 and the consequent demand for well educated men to
 fill the learned professions, and the various offices of
 sta:e, led necessarily to the adoption of a  more ex-
 tended and  liberal system of instruction, suited to
 the wants of a numerous and mixed people.
   The subject had frequently engaged the attention
 of a few individuals, among whom our great Frank-
 lin, ever  prominent  in  works  of public usefulness,
 was one of the most conspicuous.   Their sentiments
 having been communicated to several  others, excited
 considerable interest; and the plan of an  academy
 was at length drawn  up by Franklin,  and submitted
 to the approval of those  who appeared to  be concern-
 ed for the success of the project.*  Twenty-four of
 the most respectable and influential citizens,  without
 regard to difference of religious opinion, or of profes-
 sional pursuit, associated themselves together under

  * Among the names of these original trustees will be found
 many which are still well known and highly respected in Phila-
 delphia. They were James Logan, Thomas Lawrence, William
 Allen, Juhn Inglis, Tench Francis, William Masters, Lloyd
 Zachary,  Samuel M'Call jun., Joseph  Turner,  Benjamin
 Franklin, Thomas Leech, William Shippen, Robert Strettell,
 Philip Syng, Charles Willing, Phineas Bond, Richard Peters,
 Abraham Taylor, Thomas Bond, Thomas Hopkinson,  Wil-
liam Plumsted, Joshua Maddox, Thomas White, and  Wil-
 liam Coleman.  Benjamin Franklin was  the first president
 of the board. 
9
the title of " Trustees of the Academy of Philadel-
phia."   The scheme was now laid before the public,
and its patronage requested.   Such was the spirit of
the people, and so obvious the promised advantages,
that an adequate sum was speedily subscribed;  and,
in the commencement of the  year 1750, the academy
went into  operation.*   Three  schools, one for the
Latin, one  for the mathematics, and one for the En-
glish  tongue, were immediately opened; two charity
schools were soon added; and  so flourishing was the
condition of the institution, and so fair its prospects
of permanent success, that  the  trustees  determined
to apply for a charter of incorporation, which, in the
year  1753, they obtained from  the  proprietary go-
vernment.  The  prosperity which  continued to at-
tend the undertaking, soon induced them to expand
their  views beyond  the limits of a simple academy.
In the  year 1755 the charter, at their request, was
so altered, as to confer upon them the right of grant-
ing degrees, of appointing  professors, and of assum-
ing, in all  other respects, the character of a collegi-
ate body.   They now took the title of " Trustees of

  * The building occupied by the school was that at present
known by the name of the academy, situated in Fourth, be-
tween Arch  and Market streets.  It was originally erected
under  the direction of the celebrated Whitfield and others,
as a place for the gratuitous  instruction of the poor, and for
public worship; and was  purchased by the trustees, subject
to the  condition that a charity school should be maintained in
it, and that  any protestant minister of the Gospel, without
regard to sect, who might be willing to sign certain funda-
mental articles of faith, and in other respects might be judged
qualified, should be allowed to preach, on all proper occasions,
either in the house itself, or  in  some place on the premises,
which might thereafter be  set apart for the purpose: and it
was especially stipulated, that the " free and uninterrupted
use of the said  place of worship should be permitted  to the
Rev. Mr. George Whitfield, whenever he might happen to oe
in the city, and desire to preach therein."
   B 
10
 the College, Academy, and  Charity School of Phi-
 ladelphia."  Reserving  to themselves  the  rights of
 making  laws, of bestowing  both the ordinary and
 honorary degrees, and of exercising a general super-
intendence  over  the affairs of the institution, they
 transferred its immediate government, with all the
necessary powers for maintaining order and promoting
industry among the students, to  a faculty composed
of the professors,  of whom the principal was denomi-
nated  provost, and the second  in  authority  vice-
provost.  The choice of the professors seems to have
been made with  impartiality and judgment.   The
Rev. Dr. William S>i<ith, the first provost, was a man
of distinguished abilities, and of no mean reputation
as a writer.  The degree of doctor in divinity, con-
ferred  upon him by the university of  Oxford, and
subsequently by the learned faculties of Aberdeen and
Dublin,  evinces the  esteem  in  which his  station,
talents  and exertions were held  in Europe.   The
vice-provost, the Rev.  Dr. Alison, had long  been fa-
vourably known in the province, as a private  teacher.
Mr. Kinnersley,  professor  of English and  oratory,
was the associate of Franklin in his investigations into
the subject of electricity; and  the merit of several
discoveries in this science is claimed for him by  his
cotemporaries.  The professor of languages was re-
puted to be inferior, as a classical  scholar, to none on
the continent. In the Magazines  of the time, we are
presented  with some of his compositions in Latin,
which indicate a cultivated taste, and an accurate ac-
quaintance with that language.
   Under such officers,  with the zealous  co-operation
of the  most influential  men in the colony, and in the
midst of an increasing population, eager after im-
provement, the college could  not  but partake of that
impulse, which, with irrisistible  force,  was bearing
forward the whole  country in the career of national 
11
prosperity.   Its halls soon beeame crowded with stu-
dents, and numerous individuals received its honours,
who, by the political, literary, or professional distinc-
tion they afterward attained, gave testimony of its
practical advantages.  A few years aft r the first or-
ganization of the college, the number of scholars at
one time under instruction, was not less than one hun-
dred; and, if we include the academy and  charity
schools, more than  three hundred were partaking of
the benefits of the  institution.   When we consider
that the amount of the population, from among which
these numbers were drawn, was less than one-third
of that at present contained  within the  same limits,
we shall  have reason to judge favourably, both of the
merits of a  school  which attracted so much  patron-
age, and of the  spirit of the  colonists, who  showed
themselves so well  aware of the  importance of edu-
cation, and so ready to avail themselves of the offer-
ed  advantages.   Such, indeed, was the confidence
inspired  by the  regulations and  management of  the
college, that a gentleman of considerable celebrity,
born and educated in England, declared, in  a letter
to a friend, that, for the primary education of his own
children, he should prefer the  school of Philadel-
phia, not only to any other  in  the  provinces,  but
even to his favourite Oxford.
   The pecuniary resources upon  which  the trustees
relied,  were wholly independent of legislative  as-
sistance.   To the private contributions of the citi-
zens, by which they had  originally been enabled to
commence their operations, were subsequently added
grants of land and  money by the proprietaries, and
subscriptions to a considerable amount, obtained by the
personaUapplication of the provost, from the friends
of learning  in England.*  The funds derived from

  * The private contributions within the province amounted,
during the first twelve years, to seven thousand pounds ster- 
12
 these sources, united with the proceeds of the school
 itself, were  sufficient  to maintain  it in a prosperous


 ling, of which two thousand were subscribed by the twenty-
 four gentlemen who formed  the  original board of trustees.
 Considerable sums were  also  raised by means of lotteries,
 charity sermons, and  collections at the commencements and
 other  public exhibitions  of the college.   Three  thousand
 pounds were granted by the proprietaries, Thomas and Richard
 Penn,  who also  conveyed to the trustees a portion of  their
 manor of Perkasie, containing  between two and three thou-
 sand acres of land, to be held forever for the benefit of the
 institution.
  In the year 1761, the trustees, finding that the income of
 the college was insufficient to defray the necessary expenses,
 and having exhausted  the sources from which money could be
 obtained in the province, determined to make application to the
mother country for assistance.  With this view they proposed
to the provost, Dr. Smith, to take a voyage to England, where
his personal endeavours  might be useful in promoting their
design.   He cheerfully acquiesced, and being provided  with
the proper credentials, left his  family and embarked for Eu-
rope.   After his  arrival, finding that a gentleman had been
sent on a similar errand, by the college of New York, he
thought it advisable  that  they  should pursue their object in
connexion, and divide equally the proceeds of their joint ap-
plication.   Many very influential individuals became inter-
ested for their  success; and in the course of two or three
years a collection had been  made in Great Britain and  Ire-
land, of which the share that fell to the college of Philadel-
phia was more than six thousand pounds sterling. This bene-
faction having been conferred with the understanding that it
 should form a permanent fund, the  money was invested by
the trustees in the best securities, and  the interest  applied
to the  purposes of the institution. To the exertions of Dr.
 Smith  this favourable issue of their  project was mainly at-
 tributable, and  their sense of his merits on  the occasion is
 very strongly expressed, in several places, on the minutes of
 the board.   In  the account of his reception on  his return
 from abroad, it  is  stated, that  "the  president, iif the name
 and by the  order of the trustees, delivered him  their' unani-
 mous  thanks, m the warmest and most  affectionate manner,
 for the great zeal, diligence, ability and address which he had
 shown in the management of this collection, for which all the
 friends of this institution, as well as of learning in general, * 
13
state, till the breaking out of the revolutionary con-
test.   The storm which swept away so many  politi-
cal institutions, and changed,  in  some  measure, the
face of civil society, could not  be expected to leave
untouched an  establishment, the influence of which,
if improperly exerted, might  bear so strongly upon
the welfare of the country.   A provision of the char-
ter demanded from  the officers of the college, before
entering upon  their  duties, an oath of allegiance to
the king of Great Britain;  and it was suspected that
the inclinations of some of the most influential among
them, were but too well  in  accordance with the ob-
ligation  of their oath.   It  was  alleged,  moreover,
that by consulting the  interests of a particular sect,
the trustees had deviated from the declared intention

were under the greatest  obligations to him."   Not content
with thanks alone, they voted him an annual allowance of one
hundred pounds, expressly as a consideration for his services
in England,  and independent of his salary as provost.
   About ten years after this splendid contribution from En-
gland, it was  thought advisable to make further efforts at
home. A subscription was set on foot in Pennsylvania, which
was attended with  some success; and  in the province of
South Carolina, whither Dr. Smith was sent by the board,
more than one thousand  pounds sterling were collected.  The
West Indies also contributed.
   But the finances, which by these  various means had been
brought into a flourishing condition, were thrown into disor-
der by the troubles of the revolution.   The bonds and mort-
gages held by the trustees, were, in many instances, redeem-
ed in the depreciated currency of the  times;  the  receipts
 from tuition fell off with the number of students; and while
 the former  resources were  thus  diminished, the increased
 prices of the necessaries of life called for increased expendi-
 ture.  The  funds of the college thus  became inadequate to
 its proper support; and  this  circumstance was urged, among
 others, as a reason for the interference of the legislature in
 its affairs.  It was undoubtedly an excellent reason for ex-
 tending assistance; but certainly afforded no excuse for the
 course which was adopted, of entirely subverting the insti-
 tution. 
14
  ot the founders, who had been actuated by the most
  catholic spirit, as regarded religious opinion.*   Ac-
  cordingly, in the year 1779, it was recommended, by
  the executive council, that the affairs of the college
  should be made  the subject of examination by the
  legislature; that whatever, in its charter or manage-
  ment, should  be found  incompatible with  the new
 order of  things, should be abrogated; and the whole
 remodelled, so as at once to preserve the original ob-
 jects of the  founders, and religiously to guard  the
 best interests of the community.   The sentiments of
 the assembly were  in  perfect agreement with those
 of the council; and a law  was enacted, by which it
 was hoped they  might attain the end proposed.  The
 oath of allegiance,  in the former charter, was trans-
 ferred to the commonwealth; all the offices of the in-
 stitution were declared vacant;  a new board of trus-
 tees was  appointed; and the old appellation of Col-
 lege, Academy, and Charity school of Philadelphia,
 was exchanged for  the more highly sounding  title of
 University of Pennsylvania. To show that they were
 actuated by no hostility to knowledge itself, they not
 only vested in the new trustees the property of which
 the college was before possessed, but granted to the
 university a very considerable endowment out of the

  * This accusation of partiality seems  to have been wholly
 destitute of foundation,  Among the officers of the  college
 were men of several different religious denominations, and
 students were admitted  indiscriminately without regard  to
the peculiarity of their tenets.   When the  collections were
 made  in Great Britain,  it was expressly stated, in order
that none might give under false impressions, that the estab-
lishment was on the most liberal foundation, open alike to
persons of every sect;  and a  declaration to this effect, drawn
up and inserted in the  minute book of the  trustees, was
signed by all the gentlemen then members of the board, and
subsequently, by all who became members, until  the board
itself was dissolved by the abrogation of the charter under
which it acted. 
                        15

forfeited estates.* However arbitrary the proceeding
might be considered, it accorded with the predomi-
nant  feeling of the  times; and  the party who felt
themselves  aggrieved, having used  expostulation in
vain, were compelled to yield for the present, and ap-
peal for redress  to a  period  of less political excite-
ment.  The new trustees proceeded immediately to
the organization of the institution.  The Rev. Dr.
John Ewing, a member of the board, was appointed
 to the  provostship,  and carried into that office a cha-
 racter  of great moral excellence, united with exten-
 sive  acquirements,  and indefatigable industry.  At
 the same time, the celebrated Rittenhouse was chosen
 vice-provost and professor of astronomy.
    But  the success of the university did not corres-
 pond with the lofty pretensions of its title.  Whether
 the  unsettled condition of  the country, consequent
 upon a long war, was unfavourable to the cultivation
 of learning;  whether the dissatisfaction  with  which
 many  respectable  citizens regarded the late measure
 of the legislature, had turned the current of patron-
 age  towards the neighbouring colleges; or whatever
 other  cause may have operated, certain it is, that the
 new school was seldom  crowded  with students, and
 its  commencements seldom  graced with a numerous
 band of graduates.
    It could not be expected that the trustees and fa-
  culty  of the old college, should acquiesce quietly in
  what  they conceived to  be an arbitrary violation of
  their  rights.   To  take away their charter, without
  the formality of a trial, without even  the allegation
  of an unlawful  act, was a proceeding which could  be
  justified only upon the plea of necessity; but, at the
  same  time, to deprive them of property, entrusted,

    * The real  estate conveyed to the university, in conse-
   quence of  this grant, amounted to the yearly value of nearly
   one thousand four hundred pounds, Pennsylvania currency. 
16
with the full confidence of its former possessors, to
their management, and partly acquired by their own
individual exertions; upon which, moreover, some of
their number were depending for an authorised sub-
sistence, was, in  their  opinion, a  stretch of power
more becoming an Eastern despot,  than the support-
ers of a free government.   In a clause of the consti-
tution under which the  commonwealth was then go-
verned, it  was declared, that individuals  associated
for the promotion of learning,  or for religious and
charitable purposes, should be left in the  undisturbed
enjoyment of their former privileges;  and the treat-
ment, therefore, which  they had received, could be
reconciled as little with positive law as with natural
justice.   Many respectable citizens shared in their
sentiments and feelings; memorials, representing their
case, were, on several occasions, presented to  the le-
gislature;  and the tumult of  party spirit having at
length sufficiently subsided to  allow the voice of jus-
tice to be heard, in the year 1789, a law was enacted.
declaring the abrogation of their  charter an  uncon-
stitutional act, and  restoring  to them  the possession
of their estates, and the full exercise of their  former
privileges.                               ^
   Trie  new  school, however, retained  its xharter,
and the property with which  the legislature had en-
dowed it.   There were now,  therefore, in Philadel-
phia, two distinct establishments, each having its own
board of trustees, and its  own faculty.   The college
and academy were  revived under  the superintend-
ence of their former provost; and the university con-
tinued in operation, with  no other change than such
as necessarily resulted from the late decision.
   But neither party bad  reason to be satisfied with
this arrangement.   The funds, which had barely suf-
ficed for the purposes of a single  school, when di-
vided between two, were found wholly inadequate to 
17
their proper support; and distinguished  talent was
neither so abundant,  nor  so easily commanded, that
in the same  city a double faculty of professors could
be created, each  composed of men eminent in their
respective branches, and  calculated to exalt the re-
 Jutation of the school  to which they might belong.
 n the art of teaching, undue opposition, by  dimin-
ishing the reward of  labour, necessarily deteriorates
the  quality of instruction; for the talents  requisite
to great success in this art, being in their nature readi-
ly transferrible, will  be prevented from forsaking it,
only by the combined influence of attachment for its
duties, and the prospect of a competent recompense.
To the common elementary schools this remark is less
applicable.   As in these the requisite  knowledge is
of easy acquisition, and the route  to be  pursued al-
ready kid down with accuracy,  competent teachers
are readily obtained;  and the advantages  resulting to
the  community from  a wide diffusion of  elementary
instruction, more than  counterbalance the evil of its
superficial character.    But the multiplication of col-
leges, beyond the extent  necessary for the  comforta-
ble accommodation of those students who  seek a libe-
ral education, is an  evil of a most  serious  nature.
Even should the same eminent  ability be secured in
their service, it  would operate feebly, from its want
of concentration.  But mediocrity,  both  of attain-
ment  and character, would necessarily be elevated
into stations which could  lead only to mediocrity of
reward; and seminaries, which  should be the nurse-
ries of extensive and  accurate  knowledge, of good
feeling, of correct and exalted sentiment,  would send
forth  their  graduates superficially instructed,  and
vain of the semblance, without the substance of learn-
ing.   The  numbers  of these pretenders would not
compensate for their deficiences; for, in  the scale of
 public benefit and national honour, one who has drunk
   c 
18
 deeply at the fountain of knowledge will outweigh a
 hundred who  have only tasted.   It  may,  indeed,
 be said, that in an equal competition, however nu-
 merous may be  the  competitors, the most  deserv-
 ing will succeed, and thus merit be assured of a suf-
 ficient reward.   But in the strife of numerous pub-
 lic seminaries, especially in a country like ours, di-
 vided  into  sections,  governed by their own  laws,
jealous of their comparative standing, and subject to
 frequent and powerful party excitement, such equality
 of competition is  unattainable.  Almost every school,
 however imperfectly managed, will find some  sup-
 port in the prejudices of private  friendship,  of local
 attachment, or of party feeling; and though the most
 deserving may, in the end, obtain the greatest share
 of patronage, yet the whole stock may be  subjected
 to such minute division, as to render any one  portion
utterly valueless to those who are able to draw, from
other sources, a better subsistence.   It is bad policy,
therefore, to multiply colleges beyond the demand of
the population; at least without at the same time en-
dowing them so largely, as, in this way, to offer a pre-
mium for the high qualifications which  should cha-
racterise their officers.  Two institutions of  this na-
ture, in the same place, depending mainly on popu-
lar support,  can  never flourish:  either the one  will
sink into comparative insignificance, while  the other
shall maintain a  respectable standing; or both  will
fall into decay, and some  distant  establishment reap
the harvest of their dissentions.
   From the experience or anticipation of such a  re-
sult, the schools of Philadelphia had been but a short
time in separate  operation, when  the wish was ex-
pressed, by both parties, of increasing their strength
by a union of interests.   Accordingly, in  the  year
1791, the university and college, in a joint petition
to the  legislature, requested  such alterations in the 
19
acts of incorporation as might be necessary for this
purpose.  A design so obviously beneficial, could not
fail to meet with approval; and the necessary enact-
ments having been obtained, a union on just and sat-
isfactory terms was effected.  An  equal  number of
trustees from  each  institution, formed a new board,
of which  the  governor of the  state was ex officio
president; and which, by the unrestricted right of
supplying vacancies, was rendered independent of any
other controul, than such as resulted from its obligation
to consult the  best interest of the seminary entrusted
to its charge.   In the arrangement of the professor-
ships, the same regard was paid to the claims of the
respective parties;  and the new  faculties  in the arts
and in  medicine, possessed the  united strength of
those from  which  they  were formed.   The  more
comprehensive title of University of Pennsylvania
absorbed, of course, that of the College and Academy,
which, after an interrupted  duration of  nearly for-
ty years,  with a fame which the success of numerous
graduates had spread  over the continent, was now
finally extinguished.
   Soon after  the union of the  schools, the edifice
in which  we are now assembled, erected by the state
of  Pennsylvania as a residence for the  president
of the United  States,  but declined on constitutional
grounds by Mr. Adams, who then filled  the  office,
was purchased by  the trustees, and applied to the
purposes of the university.
   Thus newly organized and located, the institution
has remained, to the present time, without a rival in
the city.  Dr. Ewing  continued to preside over it
till the period of his death, in 1802, since  which time
his  place has been  successively occupied by Dr.
McDowell, the Rev. Dr. Andrews, and the present
respected provost.   It is needless for me  to observe,
that among their associates in the office of instruction. 
20
have been men distinguished for their learning and
science.  Of these, Philadelphia, within a few years,
has experienced  the loss of one, whose elevation to
the presidency of the Philosophical  Society, to the
chair  which had been filled by a Franklin, a  Ritten-
house, a Jefferson, and a Wistar, was the  merited re-
ward of his talents, and of  a long life devoted to the
service of his fellow-citizens.
  Though the name of  the university has been ren-
dered illustrious by the splendid success of its medical
school, yet this very circumstance has perhaps tended,
in some measure,  to  obscure the other department;
the reputation of which has never been commensurate
with the expectations, which  the  extent of  its re-
sources, the talent engaged in  its service, and the
growing  prosperity  and high literary character of
the city in which  it  was located, were calculated to
excite.  An amount of students, seldom, if ever, so
high as one  hundred, and  frequently less than half
the number; and an annual  list of graduates, varying
from five to thirty, though  surpassing the success of
many colleges in the Union, are yet so unequal, either
to the claims of the institution, or to the numbers and
wealth of those from whom it has a right to expect
support, that Philadelphia  must submit to the impu-
tation of unwarrantable apathy in a cause, which is
intimately  connected with her own interest  and
honour.
  The neglect, however, which the school has en-
countered, is perhaps attributable, in part, to certain
defects in its own arrangements.  The  plan which
was first adopted, and which may have been most ac-
cordant with the circumstances of  the times, was
not allowed to expand with the growth of the coun-
try; and became, therefore, disproportionate  to the
more extensive demands of a later  period.
  The admission  of only three classes, and the cohse- 
21
quent  limitation of the term of study to  the same
number of years, produced an impression very unfa-
vourable to the college, which,  on  this account, was
thought to afford fewer opportunities for the acqui-
sition of knowledge, and  to place  the  requisites of
graduation lower, than other similar  establishments.
Other circumstances  contributed  to  strengthen and
increase this  impression.   In the school, as originally
instituted, the students of the college had never been
sufficiently distinguished from those of  the academy;
and by a similar error in the arrangements of the uni-
versity, a grammar school was admitted into the same
buildings with  the collegiate classes.  At one period,
the lowest of these classes was associated  with  the
boys of the grammar school, in the same room  and
under the same teachers; and the confusion thus pro-
duced, was increased by the early age at  which ap-
plications for admittance into the  college  were re-
ceived; so that a distinction not preserved by posi-
tive regulations, could not be  rendered obvious by
any marked  difference in  the appearance of the  stu-
dents.  This may seem a trivial observation; but it
is by such  apparently trifling circumstances, more
than  by any glaring defects of organization, that the
prosperity of an institution is affected;  and  their in-
jurious operation is often rendered inveterate by our
aptness, in searching for the source of any evil, either
to overlook them entirely, or, attributing to them an
influence corresponding with our notions of their im-
portance, to neglect their timely removal or correc-
 tion.
   From the causes to which I have alluded, the col-
 legiate department of the university  obtained the
 reputation, rather of a primary school, adapted to the
 instruction of children, than of a learned seminary
^vhere young men might complete a liberal education* 
22
Its honours thus came to be less highly esteemed than
those of Yale, Harvard, and  Nassau; and as the
warm imagination of youth, ever apt to convert sha-
dows into substance, is often  dazzled  more by the
distinction of a name, than by the merit  which would
deserve it,  we have no  reason to be surprised, that
the current of youthful ambition has set strongly in
the  direction of these latter colleges.  The preju-
dices of parents have concurred with the  wishes of
their children; and not only from the country of which
Philadelphia is the  natural metropolis,  i-ut from our
immediate  neighbourhood, from  the very centre of
the city, the sons of many of the most influential in-
habitants have  been sent to distant seminaries, the
fame of which they have  thus contributed to  exalt,
at the expense of the reputation of their  native place.
   But the causes which gave rise to  this unnatural
preference, so far  as they were connected with the
internal  arrangements of the  university,  have now
ceased to exist!  The grammar school, which has for
many years been distinct in its government and con-
duct from the college, by a recent  determination of
the  trustees, has been entirely removed  from the
buildings appropriated to the purposes of  the latter.
The age of admission into the college has been regu-
lated;  so that no  student  can  now enter at a period
of life, when the mind is not yet sufficiently expand-
ed for the  reception of the higher  kinds of know-
ledge.  By the introduction  of another class, the
whole collegiate term has been extended to four years,
a space of time which, in this country, has been found
to answer most satisfactorily the opposite demands of
business and study.  With this increase in the  num-
ber  of classes, the faculty has  been  augmented  by
the appointment of a tutor and  an additional pro-
fessor; and  an opportunity is thus  afforded, both of 
23
extending the field of instruction, and of cultivating,
with increased effect, the sciences already taught.*
   In these changes, every improvement has been em-
braced, which was requisite to the permanent estab-
lishment of the college on a basis as broad and firm as
that of  any  similar  institution within  the  United
States.  Whatever food, therefore, was afforded  to
prejudice by its former regulations, has been entirely
removed;  and if hereafter the smile of popular fa-
vour shall be  wanting, we  must look for the cause in
circumstances wholly extraneous to the college itself,
and beyond the controul of those who  have the di-
rection of its  affairs.
   No impediment to its prosperity is so much to be
apprehended, as the very general but erroneous opini-

   * The following are extracts from the laws of the Univer-
sity:
   u In the collegiate department  there shall be four profes-
sors, viz: A professor of Moral Philosophy—a professor of
Natural Philosophy and Chemistry—a professor of Languages
—and a professor of Mathematics.  A tutor  to assit in the
instruction of Mathematics and the Languages."
   "The students shall be  distributed into four classes, viz:
the Senior Class,  the Junior Class, the Sophomore Class, and
the Freshman Class."
   " No applicant shall be admitted into the Freshman Class
under the  age  of fourteen; any  special  exception shall be
decided by the  board, upon  the application of  the  professors.
His fitness must appear on  examination, to be conducted by
and in the presence of a  majority of the professors,  who
must concur in opinion that he is  qualified in such branches
of mathematics, and in such  Latin and Greek  authors, as
 shall be prescribed by this board."
   "The requisites for entering the Freshman Class, shall be
 as follows:—Every applicant shall have read Virgil, Sallust,
 and the Odes of Horace, in the Latin; the New Testament,
 Lucian's Dialogues, Xenophon's Cyropedia, and  the Graeca
 Minora of Dalzel, in the Greek language; and learned quan-
 tity and scanning in each.  He shall also have been taught
 Arithmetic, including fractions, and the extraction of roots;
 English Grammar, and the elements of Geography. 
24
on, that large cities are unsuitable for the seats of the
higher seminaries.   The students, it is thought, are,
in these situations,  more exposed to  the seductions of
pleasure,  and therefore less sedulous in the pursuit
of knowledge, than when, confined  within  the small
compass of a country town, frequently under the same
roof with  their instructors, they are either in the way
of no temptation,  or,  by  the  watchfulness of their
superiors, are restrained from  injurious indulgence.
The opinion, however, will stand the test of neither
reason nor experience.
  The tenants of a college are generally at an age,
when the young feeling  of independence has  not
learned submission to the necessary restraints of civil
government;  and contempt of merely legal  authority
is  considered honorable, as the  sign  of  a  bold and
manly spirit.  When collected together in great num-
bers, and  not allowed to  mingle in  general  society,
they learn to regard the good opinion of their fellow
students as their great principle of conduct; and the
sentiments, therefore,  which  the circumstances  of
their age and situation  in  life  render  predominant,
acquire all the force of positive laws.   To evade or
violate the college regulations, and to deceive or defy
the teachers whose office it is to enforce them, are acts
which are often followed rather by the applause than
the disapprobation of those, whose good opinion they
most highly value: and thus it happens,  that the force
of temptation, which  is wanting nowhere but in a
desert, and certainly not in the vicinity of our great
colleges, receives additional strength from those very
measures which are designed to repress it.  That no
vigilance is sufficient .to counteract  the operation of
the irregular propensities of the youthful spirit, thus
encouraged by a sense of  self  respect, and  the  ap-
plause of  associates, is sufficiently  evinced by  the
scenes of  disorder, which  but too frequently disturb 
25
the tranquility both of the rural colleges themselves,
and of the neighbouring inhabitants.
  In large cities the students, instead of dwelling un-
der one roof, are dispersed in  separate families, and
meet   together  only  for  a  few hours  in the day,
when  their regular duties  call them into the pre-
sence  of  their  instructors.   While the  advantages
of emulation are thus gained,  and sufficient oppor-
tunities afforded for forming those friendly connexions
which are often the charm  of their future life, they
are prevented from coalescing into a distinct body,
actuated by feelings and opinions differing from those
of the  community, and often hostile to their own true
interests.   Diffused in the  mass of society, they are
acted upon by the same causes which  influence the
ordinary  formation of character, and imperceptibly
acquire that  cast of mind and  manner which is best
adapted to their future comfort and success in active
life.   They share the  feelings and opinions of the
relatives  and friends  around them; and the fear of
causing uneasiness to  these, or  of  encountering their
disapprobation, is a more  powerful  restraint upon
their conduct than  the  most vigilant enforcement  of
regulations which find no support in their principles
or affections.
  It might  easily be  shown that, in other points  of
view, a city education possesses advantages peculiar
to itself; but want of time will not permit me to dwell
longer on the subject.  There  is,  however, one con-
sideration which I feel unwilling to omit, the import-
ance of which  must form my excuse for  pressing it
upon your attention.   I allude  to the influence which
female society is calculated to exert in forming the
character of youth.   It would  be superfluous, before
an intelligent audience, in a civilized country, either
to maintain the general fact, that the most important
consequences have  resulted to society from the influ-
   D 
26
ence of the softer sex, or  to explain particularly in
what respects this influence has proved beneficial.  In
the vast difference between ancient and modern civili-
zation, we are presented with an illustration, at once,
of its existence and effects.  At present our atten-
tion is directed to the  subject as it bears upon the
important point of education.
  Young men, about to enter upon their v collegiate
course, are generally at an  age when the character,
though it still submits  to the plastic influence of cir-
cumstances, has  begun, however, to acquire a firmer
consistence; and the impressions which are now made,
while they are much deeper and more  distinct, are
not less durable  than  such  as  are received  by the
firmer substance of manhood.   At this  age, there-
fore, it is of the utmost  moment that  the student
should be placed in a situation where every favoura-
ble cause  may have an opportunity to operate: that
while he is storing up  knowledge, and strengthening
his intellectual faculties, his dispositions should not
be suffered to run waste; his personal habits to grow
up into confirmed awkwardness, or offensive peculi-
arity;  his taste  and predilections to be formed  upon
false models, and directed to unsuitable  objects; that,
in fine, he should not  be  allowed to  come from  col-
lege a conceited pedant, filled with notions which
subsequent  experience of their incorrectness  will
hardly be able to eradicate, and deformed by  man-
ners which  no  intercourse  with the world will be
sufficient to smooth  down into courtesy, or brighten
into polish.  Though  I by no means design to assert
that these effects are  the necessary, or, to their full
extent, even the very frequent results of the system
of  education in rural colleges, yet such I conceive, in
a greater or less degree, to be the tendency of seclu-
sion from female society;  particularly from that fa-
miliar intercourse  of  domestic  life, which,  by  its 
27
unremitting operation, imperceptibly, but powerfully
acts upon the character.   A residence with parents
or  friends, during  the long  period of a  collegiate
course, must, on this account, be exceedingly desira-
ble; and strong grounds of preference are thus afford-
ed  for city colleges.
  Could  that general  prejudice  which  operates so
much to  their disadvantage  be overcome, we  might
reasonably hope that our own school would meet with
a degree  of  encouragement,  which would  render it
in  prosperity what it  already is in desert, the equal
of  any similar institution on  this continent.   I have
before  stated, that  whatever might  have  been con-
ceived defective in its arrangements has  been  cor-
rected; and the most fastidious could now  discover,
in  this  respect, no just ground of disapprobation.**

  * The following is the course of instruction prescribed by
the laws of the university:
  In the Freshman year, Latin, Cicero's Orations; Odes and
Satires  of Horace.—Greek, Epictetus; first vol. of the Graeca
Majora; Greek  Exercises.—Roman and Grecian  Antiquities;
Arithmetic reviewed.  Algebra,  to quadratic equations.  Ge-
ometry, the theorems of Euclid.
   In the  Sophomore year, Latin, Cicero, (de  officiis et de
oratore.)  Terence;  Horace's Epistles and Art of Poetry.—
 Greek,  first vol. of Graeca Majora completed; Homer's Iliad.
Latin and Greek exercises. Ancient  and  Modern History.
Rhetoric  and Criticism.  English composition.  Elements of
Algebra and Geometry completed.   Problems of Geometry,
 (practically.)  Application of Algebra to Geometry.  Plain
Trigonometry. Surveying and Mensuration. Spherical Geome-
try and Trigonometry.   Perspective Geography,  including
 the use of the Globes, and  the  construction of Maps  and
 Charts.
   In the  Junior year, Latin, Juvenal and Perseus—Greek,
 second vol. of Gneca Majora.—Logic—Grammar.—Moral
 Philosophy.—Natural  Theology.—Composition.—Forensic
 Discussions.—Higher Algebra.—Analytical Geometry,  (in-
 cluding conic sections.)—Differential Calculus, (Fluxions.)
 —Natural Philosophy and Chemistry.
    In the  Senior year, Longinus and former Greek  and Latin 
28
  Within its scheme of instruction are included all those
  branches of knowledge which are generally thought
  to be the proper subjects for a collegiate course; and
  if, from the nature of his professional views,  from
  peculiarity of  taste, or from  a general craving  after
  knowledge, the student should think it expedient to
  add to  his regular  duties  the pursuit of other stu-
  dies, he will have at his command, within the limits
  of the city, every assistance which can be necessary
  to facilitate his labours, and  expedite his  progress.
  Philadelphia may indeed claim, among American ci-
  ties, a proud pre-eminence in the cultivation of the
  sciences.   In every department of nature,  from the
  lowest grade of inanimate matter up  to the highest
  perfection of organized existence,  she can boast of
  citizens who have themselves laboured successfully.
  and are willing to promote, by their instructions, the
  efforts of others.   Her cabinets  enriched  with the
  spoils of the mineral, the vegetable,  and the animal
  kingdoms; her libraries stored with all the wealth of
  human  intellect;  her  numerous  societies, formed to
  promote knowledge by a combination of  resources
  beyond the means of individuals; these are advan-
  tages, which, combined with the numerous courses of
  instruction by  teachers  both public and private, lay
  open the access to the sciences, and render their  pur-
  suit a source of pleasure rather than a task.
   But it cannot be expected that strangers should be
  fully sensible of advantages which do not seem to be
  justly appreciated by our  own citizens.  So long as
  our  young men resort to distant  seminaries,  it will
  naturally be concluded that the means of education at

  authors  reviewed  or  completed.—Natural  and Political
'  Law.—Metaphysics.—Compositions and  Forensics.—Inte-
  gral Calculus.—Mathematical course reviewed.—Mathemati-
  cal  principles of Natural Philosophy.—Second  course o£
  Natural  Philosophy.—Chemistry. 
29
home are deficient; and against the force of example,
argument and assertion will be of little avail.   If the
inhabitants of Philadelphia  are  desirous  that their
college should flourish, they will most effectually con-
tribute to this result  by giving it, what a strict ex-
amination will  satisfy them  it deserves, their own
united support.   The patronage of a city containing
a population  so numerous, wealthy, and enlightened
as ours, if not of itself sufficient for  the  prosperity
of this one school, will at least communicate to it such
an impulse, that in the race of competition, it will be
left behind by none even of  those which have hith-
erto scarcely deigned to acknowledge it as  a rival.
Philadelphians  have  been accused of deficiency in
public spirit, and it must be  acknowledged that they
have in general been content with accomplishing useful
enterprises, without trumpeting forth their exertions
and  success to all the  world. More given to action
than to speech,  they have done much for which they
have received no credit; and the reputation of the
city is therefore below its real desert.  But I fear
that, with regard to the college, we must submit to
the  justice of the accusation, and  confess that we
have accomplished much less than was called  for by a
just sense of the public good and the public honour.
   The opportunity,  however, yet  remains of reme-
dying  the consequences of  former neglect, and  of
exercising, in the support of this institution, the same
energy which  has been displayed in objects of not
more vital importance.  They whom I now address,
by their presence on  this occasion, exhibit an interest
 in the  prosperity of the school which needs no ex-
traneous impulse:—but were my voice capable of be-
ing extended to the  great mass of Philadelphians, I
would exhort them to put off that apathy with which
 they have so long regarded  an institution  connected
 most intimately with the reputation of their city.   I 
i
30
would call upon  them to examine its regulations, to
investigate its management, to estimate, with impar-
tiality, the advantages which it offers; and if, in none
of these circumstances,  it should  prove inferior to
other  seminaries, I would confidently refer to their
own sense of justice its preferable  claims  to  their
patronage.  I would  appeal to their public spirit
and pride as citizens; and pointing to the glory which
has been thrown  around  many cities of  Europe by
the celebrity of their colleges, would  endeavour to
rouse that honorable emulation, which, while it scorns
to detract from the merits of others, can never  rest
under  their superiority.  Finally, I would say to
them,  your  school of medicine has risen  to a station
little inferior to the  highest; it has  increased  your
prosperity at home;  it has exalted your reputation
abroad;—upon yourselves it depends that your school
of arts shall attain  an equal elevation; that it shall
equally contribute to your profit and  honour; that in
distant countries  and in  future ages, it shall, in  like
manner,, be  cited as the glory not of this city only,
but of  the United States, and of the American con-
tinent.