The rapid advance of the art of dental surgery, and its recognition by the leading medical associations of this country as a specialty of medicine, placed it with oral surgery in a more exalted position than it formerly occupied. The advent into its ranks of a large number of intelligent men, created a new impetus to thought and investigation, and led to the establishment of the University of Maryland Dental Department. The first session of this dental department opened with 60 matriculates in attendance, and the first graduating class numbered 34, a number of whom had passed previous sessions at other dental schools. The class of the session 1892-'93 numbered 107 students. Two years after the organization of this dental department it was found necessary to add to the original dental building two large wings, and during the summer of 1889, another addition was erected as large as the original building, making a dental infirmary 100 feet long by 40 feet wide, with a corresponding increase in the size of the dental laboratory. An extensive museum hall has also been added, which contains a large number of dental, pathological and other specimens which have been presented and collected from various parts of the world and which are of great interest to the dental student. The government of this dental department is wholly vested in its faculty, the dental professors of which are members of the Board of Regents of the University of Maryland. The faculty consists of 7 professors and 19 demonstrators. The dental students attend the regular lectures of the medical department on anatomy, physiology, surgery, chemistry, and materia medica and therapeutics, in addition to the lectures and clinics on purely dental subjects. They are also required to dissect the human body, and have the privilege of attending all the surgical clinics. In the dental infirmary certain hours each day are devoted to operations on patients, as a large number of patients present themselves for such services. Since October, 1891, attendance on three regular winter sessions of five months each in separate years have been required before gradua tion. Before matriculating the student is required to furnish evidence of the possession of a good English education.' 'A large number of prizes are awarded yearly, consisting of gold medals and dental instruments. Since the organization of the school a "post-graduate course" has been open annually on payment of the matriculation fee only. Over 250 have graduated from the school. The present faculty is F. J. S. Gorgas, M. D., D. D. S., Dean, and J. H. Harris, M. D., D. S.; F. T. Miles, M. D.; L. McLane Tiffany, M. D.; Randolph Winslow, M. D.; J. E. Michael, M. D.; R. Dorsey Coale, PH, D.; and I. E. Atkinson, M. D., professors, CHAPTER V. THE THIRD UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND (1865). This institution had its being only on paper and in the brain of its projector, Rev. Libertus Van Bokkelen, the able and energetic man who, after the civil war, organized the school system of the State. In February, 1865, he made a report to the general assembly, in which report he submitted the draft for an act for "a uniform system of public instruction for the State of Maryland." That draft contained provisions that St. John's College, Washington College, the Maryland Agricultural College, the faculties of arts and sciences and of medicine in the second University of Maryland, together with a law school, to be located at Annapolis and connected with St. John's College, should constitute the University of Maryland. This list of institutions included all then existing for higher education in the State, save the Baltimore Female College and those under the control of the Roman Catholic Church. As an afterthought, he suggested that the Maryland Institute might be included in the university, with an endowment to aid the school of design and to establish a professorship of practical and theoretical mechanics. The law school should receive an annual appropriation of $1,000 and in return therefor should grant free tuition to ten graduates of the colleges in the university. The university should annually hold commencements and grant degrees in Baltimore City on the 4th of July. This was not to interfere with the colleges having separate commencements, though they were to grant no degrees. The university should be "controlled and governed" by a board of regents, "consisting of the several faculties of the preexisting university," which was not be dissolved, but rather to have its corporate powers enlarged, and of the faculties of the other three colleges in the new university. In addition there should be a "university council, consisting of the State board of education, the president of the faculties of the affiliated colleges, and of the medical and law schools, and four citizens, appointed by the governor, eminent for their learning and zeal in the cause of education. The council shall advise with reference to the course of study and grade of attainment required for graduation, but in all Vide pp. 113, 118 of the pamphlet report. 2 Title II, Ch. IX, secs. 4, 5, 8; vide pp. 91-93 of pamphlet report. cases the examinations for degrees shall be conducted by the faculties of the respective colleges." Degrees were to be conferred by the provost of the university on the 4th of July, annually, the candidates being presented by the president of the college in which they graduate.' In addition to the degree of bachelor of arts, that of bachelor of science may be conferred "upon young men of scientific attainments, graduates of the colleges, although they may not have completed the course of Latin and Greek classics." In addition to control of the colleges, the council of the university was given power to "appoint the course of study to be pursued in the high schools, adopting the classical and scientific course specially for admission to the university colleges." It is noteworthy, that in addition to the two regular courses in the colleges, special courses might be added without authority from the council, in military science and tactics, practical and scientific agricul ture, civil engineering, or mechanic arts. The Hon. John P. Kennedy, provost of the existing University of Maryland, was in full sympathy with the movement, and himself suggested the plan for the annual commencements.2 Dr. Van Bokkelen's remarks in defense of his plans, are as follows: The colleges are combined under one system which will secure harmony of action, while it does not interfere with individual enterprise. We make the colleges parts of a general system, instead of leaving them to work by themselves with little else than local patronage, and without the stimulus of even moderate emulation. Each college, as an integral part of the university, becomes responsible to the regents, and is pledged to sustain the scholastic reputation of the university. They are all preparing young men for the law school, and the school of medicine; they will all present candidates for the honors of the Peabody Institute. work together with an honorable ambition to excel in the contest, in which all earnest competitors find honor, if not the highest reward. They will I know of no State in which the idea of a university can so readily and so beautifully become a reality as in Maryland, possessing as she docs, all the agencies (but one3) now in active operation, and the means to provide that promptly and effectively. This plan, however, having many merits, and combining many excellent features found in the first University of Maryland, the English universities, and the University of the State of New York, was not destined to be put into operation. The legislature, in 1865, passed an act modeled on Dr. Van Bokkelen's, in which it provided for a University of Maryland, constituted according to the plan of the zealous superintendent of public instruction, but omitted the sections in the proposed bill which provided for the organization and government of the institution. The university so founded was never organized, and its paper existence ended when the act of 1865 was superseded by the act of 1867. Commencements to be in the hall of the Peabody Institute. 3Law school. The idea of a union of all higher institutions of the State into one university, as we have seen, has been the dream of able men since the very beginning of higher education in Maryland. Up to this time, it has been only a dream, but may we not hope that at some time in the not far distant future the dream may become a reality, and such a plan may be adopted. The many advantages thereof can be easily seen, and a great impetus would be given to the advancement of higher education by putting into force the ideas of William Smith, of John P. Kennedy, and of Libertus Van Bokkelen. 1122-No. 19—10 CHAPTER VI. THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY (1874-1894).1 By DANIEL C. GILMAN, President of the University. Twenty years having elapsed since the death of the founder, the following historical statements may be of interest to the public: Before speaking of the university, a few words should be devoted to the memory of its founder, Johns Hopkins, of Baltimore. This largeminded man, whose name is now renowned in the annals of American philanthropy, acquired his fortune by slow and sagacious methods. He was born May 19, 1795, in Anne Arundel County, Md., not far from the city of Annapolis, of a family which for several generations had adhered to the views of the Society of Friends. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the colony. While still a boy, Johns Hopkins came to Baltimore without any capital but good health, the thrifty habits in which he had been brought up, and unusual capacity for a life of industrious enterprise. He began on the lowest round of the ladder of fortune, and by his economy, fidelity, sagacity, and perseverance he rose to independence and influence. He was called to many positions of financial responsibility, among the most important being that of president of the Merchants' National Bank and tlfat of a director in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. He was a man of positive opinions in political affairs, yet he never entered political life; and although he contributed to the support of educational and benevolent societies, he was not active in their management. In the latter part of his life he dwelt during the winter in a large mansion, still standing on the north side of Saratoga street, west of North Charles street, and during the summer on an estate called Clifton, in Baltimore County. In both these places he exercised hospitality without ostentation. He bought a large library and many oil paintings, which are now preserved in memorial rooms at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Nevertheless, his pursuits were wholly mercantile, and his time and strength were chiefly devoted to the business in which he was engaged, first as a wholesale grocer and afterwards as a cap italist interested in many and diverse financial undertakings. More than once, in time of commercial panic, he lent his credit to the support of individuals and firms with a liberality which entitled him to This sketch was published in the Johns Hopkins University Circulars for 1893-'94. |