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EXPOSITION
CONDUCT  AND   CHARACTER
     Dr. JOHN AUGUSTINE SMITH,
PRESIDENT OF THE COLL. OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS IN
 THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, AND PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY J
     AS EXHIBITED IN THE SESSION OF 1839—40.
BY JAMES R. MANLEY, M. D.
 LATE LECTURER ON OBSTRETRICS.
c£ *■' rM\ L IT. 9


 N E W-Y OR K :
1841. 
\
5> &Z5 M 
EXPOSITION,  &c.
       When a person finds himself engaged in a controversy against his
     will, and is so peculiarly situated, that he can neither retire with ere-
     dit, nor contend with any  probability of success;  he owes it to him-
     self to explain his situation, in order to account for his discomfiture:
     and more especially is this his duly when the contest is with an un-
     scrupulous adversary, whose besetting folly  is  the idolatry of self;
     whose  rules of action  are the  mere  rules of expediency ; and who
*    will persecute a foe, or  discard a friend ; simulate a truth or apologize
     for falsehood, with the  same stoical indifference with which he  would
     demonstrate a problem  in mathematics; considering only  the end to
     be attained, without taking into consideration the moral fitness of the
     measures by which it is to be accomplished.   I  regret the task which
     necessity  has imposed  upon me, because it must assume a personal

                              Regents of the University.
       Hon. James King, Chancellor, (lately deceased,) Theo. Romeyn Beck, Secretary,
     the Governor and Lieutenant  Governor,  ex officiis,  Elisha Jenkins,  Esq., James
     Thompson, Esq., Peter Wendell, M. D., John Greig, Esq., Jesse Buel, Esq., Gulian
     C. Verplanck, L. L. D., Garrit  Y.  Lansing, Esq , Washington Irving, L. L.  D.,
     John K. Paige, Esq., John A. Dix,  Esq., William  Campbell, Esq., Erastus Corn-
     ing, Esq., Gen, Prosper M. Wetmore, Esq., James M'Kown, Esq., John L. Graham,
     Esq., John  M'Lean, Esq., A. J. Parker, Esq., Hon. John C. Spencer.
                  Trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
       J. Augustine  Smith, M. D., President, Thomas Cock, M. I)., Vice-President,
     Nicoll  H Dering, M. D ,  Registrar, Fanning Tucker, Treasurer, Dr. Anthony L.
     Anderson, Samuel VV. Moore, M. D., George W. Bruen, Esq., J. Kearney Rodgers,
     M. D., John C.  Cheesman, M. D., Edward G. Ludlow, M. D., Joseph Delafield,
      Esq., George Griswold, Esq., George D. Strong, Esq., Henry Wyckoff, Esq., Reu.
     ben Withers, Esq., Benjamin L. Swan, Esq., Floyd Smith, Esq., James B. Murray,
      Esq., Wm. Beach Lawrence, Esq., Wm. K. Strong, Esq.,  R. M. Blatchford, Ed-
     ward Delafield,  M. D., John R. Rhinelander, M. D., John  C. Jay, M.  D., R. B.
      Minturn, Esq., Murray Hoffman, Esq. 
4
character; for the experience of thirty years has taught me, that the
public judge in all such matters with so  much  allowance, as to leave
it very doubtful  whether or not they feel any interest in the  result.
I regret it also for another reason :  I am certain that I  shall convict
Dr. Smith of  conduct which his most partial friends can neither jus-
tify, approve or  palliate; and in speaking of such  conduct it is diffi-
cult to  preserve that  respect, which  controversies with  gentlemen
seem always  to demand  Things  ought to be called  by their proper
names, and I  am not sufficiently acquainted with  my own language
to preserve this rule, and speak of him in respectful terms.   Some
men are such  adepts in  the school of dissimulation, that  the very tur-
pitude of  their conduct  is calculated to work its own apology.   They
are well aware that the world does  not willingly assign to wantonness
what can  be attributed to motive, because wantonness  in mischief is
the attribute of fiends;  they  are aware also, that it will much rather
assign a bad motive than none, for conduct which it cannot explain ;
and they therefore tax their  ingenuity to appear  personally disinter-
ested, that they  may have credit on the  score of duty for that which
would otherwise appear an unpardonable offence : the  above remark,
however paradoxical it may seem, will receive ample  illustration in
the progress of this exposition.
   The dignity and usefulness of official station depend very much on
the character  of the incumbent ;  the disgrace of the one by necessity
involves the degradation of  the other, and as  the public have an in-
terest in maintaining the respectability of both, I  am presented with
an additional  motive for my appeal to  the  profession.  Great  men
may with  impunity  commit petty offences, since  small faults cannot
well be visited with the severity of censure, when there is great coun-
tervailing  merit to redeem  them ;  but it is far otherwise  with  men
who, by accident, are clothed  with  distinction and authority and who
borrow their character from the stations they occupy ;

                " Their little boats should keep near  shore,
                 Though larger ones may venture more ;"

They have no  right to presume that the panoply of office  will be a
sufficient protection for conduct which would disgrace them as private
citizens :  in judging such men, the  public usually strip them of their
official consequence, and with as little ceremony as  if it were a stolen
vestment;  and they must stand  their trials, in their naked personal
characters, divested of their official  trappings.
   If Dr. John Augustine Smith can claim immunity on the  ground
of duty, for his utter disregard of my professional reputation  and pri- 
5
vate feelings, let him make the attempt;  but  it shall  be my business
to sift the evidence on which such a plea is founded: and I purpose to
show from the  minutes  of the  board of trustees over which  he pre-
sides, that it is  a shallow pretext to escape the  odium which his con-
duct justly merits.  If in  the sequel of this  paper I shall state facts
which are discreditable to  him ; conduct marked by  vanity, deceit
and  hypocrisy, in such proportions as to render it difficult to decide
which predominates: if I shall show  petty intrigue so  intent on  its
purposes, as to  have  left its footprints uncovered ; and  all but false-
hood in terms,  (I need  scarcely make this qualification,) as apparent
as the most natural induction can make it : I shall presume that the
public will be furnished with sufficient data upon which to form their
opinion of his  moral and intellectual fitness for  the station  he occu-
pies.  If I show him to have published as truth, what  he could not
know:  if I show him with a measure of hypocrisy which would dis-
grace a Jesuit,  pleading his  duty for the perpetration of an outrage:
if I show him  attempting to deceive his class  into the  belief of that
which he knew to be false:  if I show  him  intriguing  with his fellow
professors; calling them without their knowledge of the business for
which they were convened, and endeavoring  to press them to a vote
to serve his own purposes, which if passed would  have assumed the
nature of a conspiracy: if I afterward show  him quailing under a re-
buke which his livid countenance endorsed as just, and  his matchless
effrontery could not  withstand, in the  presence of his fellow  profes-
sors: if I show him  attempting to pack a  board of trustees, by his
individual nomination to the Hon. Regents, after having declared  to
his own board,  that their nominations would be treated with contempt
by regents, and therefore they  need not make them.  If I show him
in his character of President electioneering  with the trustees of his
nomination, after  their appointment, and show them voting exactly as
ho directed, at one  time for, and at  another time against the same
 candidate, (Dr. Gilman,) and that candidate  his own selection : what
 more  can a discerning public  require to form  a just estimate of  his
 character?  And if—but  here  pity supplants  both  indignation and
 contempt—if  I show him,  at a time when all his plans to injure my
 medical reputation bad proved successful, and  nothing  more  was ne-
 cessary to complete his triumph ; gloating over my  defeat, and de-
 scending to the nethermost depth of personal degradation, by taking ad-
 vantage of his official station to slander me,  in  a  public introductory
 lecture to a mixed assembly at  the opening of the college-  when if
 everv sentence had  been a  falsehood, none without a breach  of cour-
 tesy to the audience could  have contradicted that which was said; 
6
 what more can be required to stamp his character?—only one thing;
 his apology for the tirade :  and in order  that it may not be lost, as its
 preservation may be of use to others in like cases  tempted to offend,
 I will state it.  He had just recovered from a serious illness ;  had suf.
fered much family affliction, and from his own  account had had a  near
 prospect of death.  This was the reason, publicly stated, why  he could
 not prepare a proper lecture suited to the occasion,  and why he pre-
 sented  what would  have otherwise been only the peroration of the
 discourse ! ! !   Such  circumstances  are calculated to humble the spi-
 rit and humanize the feelings, although in his case they appear to have
 had an opposite influence.
   The  task imposed  upon me is unpleasant, because  the  contempt
 which I feel for  the  author of my difficulties, may conflict  with the
 duty which I owe to the public ; there is danger that indignation will
 outstrip discretion, and that  I  may  offend by my manner of treating
 the subject, not  making due allowance for the  calm and  apathetic
 temper in which  some persons  consider all professional  controversies.
 There are those  who affect a wondrous degree of prudence on the
 subject of differences of a personal nature :  if their understandings are
 convinced, they take good care that  their opinions shall not  be  quot-
 ed ;  and if obliged to speak, they deliver themselves in such soft, silky
 and equivocal terms, as to be with difficulty understood.  These peo-
 ple belong to a class very numerous  in all professions, but especially
 in ours; the calculation of interest is the basis of all their social mo-
 rals, and they are silly enough  to believe that  others will give a credit
 to their kindly feelings of benevolence for that conduct which is  alone
 chargeable to  cupidity ; they are  prone, however, to take their sta-
 tions between the  lines of the contending parties,  and while  they
 refuse to recognize the rights of either, they take good care to  make
 merchandize of both.  To such I do not address -this exposition : my
 appeal  is  made to men, who to their intelligence,  add  a sound moral,
 and to  both, the honest confidence which scorns to suppress opinions,
 when truth and justice demand them.
   In forming  a judgment of the  actions of men, two  conditions are
 necessary, to wit, the motives which prompt them and  the  character
 of the  results.   If the consequences are  injurious or disastrous, be
 the  motives never  so pure ; the  judgment is in  fault, and the result
 libels the good sense of the  agent ;  he may be very honest, but  he  is
 not wise.   If the motive be wicked, and the action nevertheless harm-
 less or even beneficial, it gives evidence of a  want of integrity in the
 agent,  which  no benefit to result will atone for, or excuse.  But  if the
 motive be base, and  its consequences productive of no possible  good, 
7
but much  real  mischief; the conclusion  is irresistible, that both re-
ceive only their just desert when they are treated with  marked repro-
bation.   There  is some conduct of such a character as  to make it dif-
ficult for  the most expansive charity to assign to it an honest origin,
and of this description is  that of which I am about to speak, and with-
out further preface I proceed with the narrative ; I regret the neces-
sity, but am  not disposed to shrink from its  responsibility.  In the
situation in which I am placed, duty demands more  than  inclination
prompts: and although the defence of reputation  is as much a duty
and a right, as the defence of the person from actual violence, duty to
the public  comes in  aid of all personal motives and  would leave  me
without  apology if  I neglected to  publish.  Dr.  Smith, is the Pre-
sident of a medical  school whose  varied fortunes, notwithstanding its
public patronage, have invariably disappointed public expectation ;
and it is time to inquire  seriously whether the causes of its stinted
growth and its deficient character are justly chargeable to mismanage-
ment in  its government or want of capacity in  its  teachers.  If its
management is in fault, and will explain its condition, the medical pro-
fession need look no farther; but if paucity of  talent seeks to conceal
its known insufficiency by an affectation  of zeal  for the interests of
science;  or  if both  combine to deceive the public into the belief that
its want of success  is rather apparent than real: the public must be
benefited by  the publication of  facts which may serve to direct their
judgment.   I have no disposition to enter into  a controversy  with a
corporate  school, nor with undue severity to criticise their public
acts, but it Is the extreme of cowardice to permit the public confidence
to be abused through fear of personal consequences; and when, as
now, I find the  authority of the trustees of the  College of Physicians
and  Surgeons used, (it is but charitable  to presume against their bet-
ter judgment,) to deceive the  public into  the belief that such  man-
agement as I will now unmask, is the nearest  approximation to  the
appointment of Professors by Concours as done  in Paris; I am fur-
nished with an additional inducement to make  this publication.*

  * The first clause of the college circular, just issued, is in the following  terms.
  " The Trustees  of the  College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of
the State  of New-York have the satisfaction of assuring the friends of the institu-
tion, that the arrangements made to encourage a zealous and successful prosecution
of medical studies are most ample.  The courses of instruction embrace every
department of medical science, upon each of which the Trustees believe that full
and accurate instruction is afforded.  The system which has been  adopted for
a few years past, of filling vacancies in the faculty by the appointment of Lecturers
on probation, has been productive of the happiest results : and the  Trustees confi. 
8
   If the gentlemen who drew up this paper have  no respect for the
 pubUc, they ought to be presumed to have some for  themselves.   If
 with a general knowledge of the facts of which  they could not be ig-
 norant, they are  willing to tell  the public that" this system of filling
 chairs is the only approach  that has been made in this  country to-
 wards the concours, and was first adopted by the  college of Physicians
 and Surgeons," it is time to inquire what this concours is, and if any
 similarity exists between them, to take good care that the points of re-
 semblance be not multiplied.   Before I have finished 1 will state some
 facts which cannot fail of effect in convincing  the publict hat it is alike
 an insult to common sense and common honesty.  It is too late to claim
 " that full and accurate instruction is afforded  upon each department of
 medical science;  the charge of incompetency in one department at least
 (the department of Physiology) has been  too long and too often iterated
 by every professor in the college, as well as  some lately resigned,  to
 allow the record to be blotted  out by a clause like  this ;  and if any thing
 can  add to the surprise which the announcement occasions, it is the fact
 that it  is made by professors, and presented  to  trustees  for approval
 with a view to publication.*   If in the sequel of this paper the names
 of some of Dr. Smith's associates should be introduced, it will be al-
 ways in connection  with facts, and if they can derive character from
 their connection  or agency in such partnership, I can only say, that
 as the  article  is easily acquired it must be estimated accordingly.
   In the early part of May, 1839, I was invited  by Dr. J. C. Cheese-
 man, a trustee of the College, to become a candidate for the obstetric
 chair in the College of Physicians  and Surgeons, which had  been
 made vacant by the  resignation of Dr. Delafield;  I stated my  objec-
 tions; one of which was,  that perhaps I could  not get it, if I asked
 for it;  another tha.t I did  neither want  or  need it; and  a third, that
 if I  had it, it would oblige me to do  task work; I should be obliged
 to write out  a full course of lectures, as I could not trust myself to
 speak from short  notes ;  and moreover that the  time  had gone past,
 when I could be  flattered by such appointment:  nevertheless I would
 think of it, if he  thought I ought to  take it,  but that in no  circum-
 tances would I make a formal application for it,  and that he must un-
dently believe that the chairs are  now filled by competent and efficient men.
 The  system of filling the chairs is the only approach that has been made
 in  this country towards the concours and was first adopted  by the Col-
 lege of Physicians  and Surgeons."
  * The circulars of the college are usually drawn up by the professors, although
 this duty is sometimes done by the president himself  who is also a professor;  in
 this instance it  was the work of a majority of the professors. 
9
derstand that I held myself at liberty to refuse it in the event of my
appointment.  It was not long aferwards, when meeting at the same
place where the first conversation was held, the same subject came up,
and he  informed me  that he had conversed with several medical mem-
bers of  their board who would bu  pleaded if I would take it, and that
there  was little doubt of my success if I  v    d allow myself to  be  a
candidate.  At this conversation I repeated my former arguments, and
went  into a history of the college professorships as settled in 1826,
when the very chair  now vacant was, by management, in a manner
wrested from me, and when, at a protracted meeting of the regents of
the university in Albany, many ballotings were had without a choice,
and at the last, it being  late, Lieut. Gov. Taylor gave in and changed
his vote, by which I was defeated.  If under all these circumstances
he thought proper to  propose me with the condition I had annexed, he
might do so.  Not long after this Dr. C. met with Dr. John Augustine
Smith and told him what were  the wishes of himself and friends as
respected me, and he was surprised to find him very much opposed,
stating as his reasons that I was too old—had never lectured and would
not do; winding off as usual with  a significant laugh and his usual re-
mark, that gentlemen will differ!  He was  told,  however, that the
attempt would  be made, and it  was  hoped  with success.   I was
then fairly before the  public early in May, as  a candidate for the va-
cant chair.  My intimate friends, among whom  I  numbered Dr. Gil-
man,  were fully apprised of it, and all the circumstances connected
with it; Dr. G. therefore ihought him-elf obliged to make me acquainted
with  the intentions of Dr. Smith, which he  did in a letter of which
the following is a copy :

                                      New-York, May 18,1839.
My dear Sir,
                I called at your house this evening to talk over a mat-
ter in which we  are both interested, and I now write  because I feel
that it is due to the sentiments of respect I have always cherished for
you, and to the kind  feelings you have ever expressed for me, that
there  should be no delay in communicating to you a determination of
mine, by which you  may possibly be affected.  Last evening,  while
you and I were  at  the  Lecture, John Augustine  Smith called on
me,  and  left  a note,  requesting  me to see  him this morning.
I called accordingly,  and he then informed me that he had determined
to make me an offer of his interest in  obtaining the vacant chair of
midwifery in  the  College, and that  if  I consented to  apply he had
little  doubt of my success.   I alluded to your being a candidate: he
                                2 
10
told me, and authorized me to tell you, that he did not believe you could
in any event obtain  the  place, and that, of course, it  would  be idle
for me to stand aside, out of regard to you, when it would only be to
make room for another person.   Combining  this with what you had
told me was  your own opinion as to your  prospect of success, I was
led to entertain the subject.   It is, I trust, unnecessary to say that till
this time I had not thought of the matter; the idea of being a candi-
date  had never  once presented  itself to  my mind.  I have  thought
much on the subject, and consulted  two friends; to  me, as you  are
aware, the  sanction  which  such an  appointment gives to a young
man's professional character is of almost infinite value; under these
circumstances, I confidently trust that you will  not think I do wrong
in applying  for the  place.   I should  very deeply regret  that  this or
any other circumstance should in any way affect our personal rela-
tions.  Be assured that no such influence as this affair is likely to ex-
ert, will in  the slightest degree diminish the respect and esteem with
which I remain, now as ever,
                             Your sincere friend,
                                            C. R. GILMAN.

  Upon  the  receipt  of this  letter, I returned just such an answer as
one friend would to another,  which  I had reason to believe would  be
satisfactory,  and therefore kept no copy ;  but I  confess  1 was sur-
prised that Dr.  Smith should  have directed such a message to be com-
municated.   I had known him long, and at one time intimately ; and
nothing that I was aware of had happened  to mar  our intercourse,
more  than occurs every day between friends whose necessary interests
imperceptibly operate to change their associations.   I knew moreover,
that he could not be ignorant that he was mainly indebted to me for
the chair of anatomy in the  college in  the year 1826, when the in-
stitution  was remodeled, and when  my assent alone would have been
sufficient to have left him at William and Mary college to conduct his
controversy as well as he might with his Virginian friends, although he
had expressed his willingness to  be transferred.  I knew that he was
fully apprised through his friend Dr.  Jaques that serious opposition was
made to  him, after he  was invited to  take the chair  of  anatomy  and
had accepted the invitation, and  that but for my agency he would have
been  defeated ;  and  these facts were but little calculated to diminish
my surprise.   In the year 1826 I was influenced only by the principle
of fair and candid dealing : he had been invited—had gladly accepted—
and  wrong or right,  those who had invited him, (and  I was one,) were
bound to keep their promise.   I  did so at the sacrifice of some kindly 
11
feeling of my then associates; certainly not anticipating my contro-
versy with him as one of its fruits.
  My determination to try the question of his supremacy in the col-
ege was  now triken, for I  could not  make  myself believe  that  the
weakest member belonging  to the  institution  had  sufficient influence
to control the action, or to defeat the intentions of the trustees.
  In a few days a  requisition  for a meeting  of the board was made
out in proper form and  transmitted to him ;  when  he received it, al-
though the day of meeting  was named, he remarked that he would not
call it till he had returned from Albany, where the Regents were still
in session :  and of course  it was  not called.   When  he returned, it
was  found that Dr. Delafield, the  former professor of Obstetrics, had
been appointed a trustee, who was known  by Dr.  S. to be opposed to
my election as lecturer, but for what reason  has not  yet appeared.
The meeting, however,  was finally convened, and hei'e Dr. S's charac-
ter begins to evolve itself.   The special  meeting was held June 11th,
and there were present  John Augustine Smith, president, Dr.  Chees-
man, Drs. J.  R.  B. Rodgers,  Anderson, Ludlow, Moore,  Dering,
Delafield—Messrs.  Tucker,  Swan, Wyckoff, Delafield, Blatchford,
Strong, Bruen,  F. Smith, Griswold—in all  seventeen,  and  a larger
number of trustees than had been convened  for many years, or per-
haps at any time, for any  purpose.*   At this meeting  a  letter was
read from Dr. Bayard, of Nova Scotia, in  answer to one which Dr.
Cock, the vice-president, had written to him after consultation with
some of his associates ; in which he expressed his willingness to re-
move to New-York and take  the vacant chair, if elected ;  and Dr.
Smith took occasion to  make some very flattering remarks on Dr. B.'s
character, and his fitness for the station, which contrasted very strongly
with those with which he honored me ; but the result proved that the
speech was intended only to detract from the  support  which  he  ap-
prehended  would be given  to me :  for Dr. Bayard  did  not  receive a
single vote.  Dr. Gilman was Dr. Smith's candidate, and received all
the votes which were cast in  opposition, except one given to Dr. Bulk-
ley.   As a specimen of candid dealing with  Dr. Bayard on the one
part, and the majority of the board of trustees on  the other, this first
exhibition certainly has its merit!

  *  Extract from minutes of the board of trustees of the College of Physicians and
Surgeons, June 11, 1839 :
  " Letter from Dr. Bayard in answer to one from Dr. Cock was read.
  Dr. Rodgers nominated Dr. Bulkley as a candidate for the lectureship of Obstet-
rics and the diseases of women and children.
  Dr. Rodgers moved that the election of lecturer be postponed one week—motion 
12
  Being elected to the  chair, notwithstanding his violent and cause-
less opposition, I presumed that it would now cease, and that I would
be permitted to conduct my course of instruction in peace ; and in the
fullest confidence that he would not be guilty of any conduct towards
me that would disgrace  himself, (for this was my only security,) I com-
menced my duties, and was proceeding to the entire satisfaction of my
class, when I received information that he had denounced me as an in-
competent lecturer, and  my course of  instruction as  a failure, to the
board of trustees, on the evening of the thirteenth day of January, the
term being but little more than hah%pent ; of course  (he only security
upon  which I had  relied had failed : he had disgraced himself, and it
became my duty, in self-defence to show that no confidence could  be
placed in his declaration.  The manner which he contrived to intro-
duce the subject at the meeting of the  trustees was unique, and calcu-
lated  to teach  a lesson  to any modern   Machiavel.   He is reported lo
have  said, " that it was the proper time to make the  annual report to
the regents of the university, and  that he had prepared one."   It was
read, and immediately after the reading he observed " that it was usual
in such papers to speak of the character of the several  courses of in-
struction, which he had purposely omitted because he could not do so
without including the course of obstetrics ;  and as that was a decided
failure, he had preferred to pass them all without remark."  This an-
nouncement was received with surprise by  the mnjoritv of the mem-
bers, and with  apparent indifference by the rest ; but before time had
been given to ask any explanation, he  observed that there was no more
business befure them, and adjourned  the meeting ;  sufficient conversa-
tion, however,  passed between him  and  some of the trustees before they
left the room, to satisfy  him that there were those present who believed
from their own knowledge, that the statement was untrue.
   When 1 received the  above information,  I confess that I was  con-
founded ; I knew not what course to adopt: but after a little considera-
tion I determined to submit th- subject  to my class, and  to be Governed
by their decision ; and  in order that I might have the ability to  correct
any misrepresentation of what I might say ;  I wrote  out and read the
following paper to  them, after they  had  assembled in the  lecture
room :

negatived ; and it was resolved that the board  now go into a ballot for lecturer.  The
ballots being prepared, Drs.  Rodgers and Deering were appointed tellers, who, on
counting the ballots, announced that James R. Manl.-y was chosen lecturer on' ob-
itetrics, &-c, &c, in the College of Physicians and Surgeons.  Adjourned. 
13
  Gentlemen—I appear before you this evening under peculiar circumstances—cir-
cumstances which I never could have  anticipated, and which to me are peculiarly
embarrassing.   I  did not lecture on Wednesday, and  I  sent  you a note, stating,
that professional  engagements would prevent my meeting  you; besides these 1
have had, and  still have,  alarming sickness in my family;  but these were not all
the reasons ;  I suppressed one which I will now express.  It is known to you that
I was.  in June last, appointed lecturer on Midwifery and the Diseases of Women
and Children in this College, in place  of Dr. Delafield, resigned ; but of the manner
of my  appointment you  are ignorant, and I regret the occasion which makes it
proper  that you should know it.  I now *ay to you that I was solicited to take the
place; that I twice declined  to he a candidate, and was prevailed upon to allow
myself to become a candidate; that I  never asked for  it, ror  even  asked a vote of
a trustee in my favor.  I accepted  the place in the full  determination to do my
duty to the best of my ab'lity, and  I have hitherto  the assurance of my own heart
that I  have done  it; judge of my surprise, then,  when on Tuesday evening last I
heard  from a trustee, that the President of this College, at a  meeting of the  trus-
tees, had the evening before represented my course of instruction as a perfect  fail-
ure.   Without assigning reasons, or even acknowledging that he  had ever heard
me, unless it  was the introductory.  Such a declaration, if true, at such a time,
(the coarse half advanced; is unprecedented, undignified, uncourteous, and an out-
rageous breach of public duty as well  as private decorum.   It is calculated  to de-
stroy my usefulness and repress all zeal in the cause in which I am embarked.  But
the same opinion he expressed  before  my appointment, and at the time that the
election  was  held, so that his  knowledge of  my  qualifications is perfectly gra-
tuitous.
   Under these circumstances, gentlemen, you cannot be surprised at the course I
am now adopting.
   If the declaration  made  by Dr. Smith  is true, the sooner I know it the better;
if not  true, the sooner  it is publicly rebuked the more proper; and I now very re-
spectfully submit this question to you.  If the declaration of Dr. Smith to the trus-
tees, without warrant meets your approbation, you will say so, and I will submit to
your decision, for you  are  the best judges.  I  am  not  acquainted with but very
few of you, but questions of this kind  do not require that I should be.   If you think
that the attempt  to forestall opinion, as Dr. Smith has done, deserves censure, I am
just as well assured you will not hesitate to express it.
   I wait your decision.

    I immediately left the room; they resolved themselves into a meeting
 to take the nbove into  consideration, and on  the  next evening  I  was
 presented with a copy of their proceedings in the  words  following :

   " At a meeting of the students  of the college, held on the  18th of January, 1840
 a committee was appointed, and the following  preamble and resolutions were sub-
 mitted to the consideration of the  class, and adopted:
   Whereas, it has been stated to tbe class by Dr.  Manley that his appointment to
 the chair which he now occupies in this institution has been pronounced before the
 trustees by the president of the college, ' a failure;' and whereas  Dr.  Manley ac-
 companied the above  statement with the declaration of his purpose to resign at 
14
 once his situation as lecturer, should it appear that the sense of the class is such as
 to warrant the above assertion of the president—therefore resolved :
   1st. That the class have heard with deep regret, that anything should have trans.
 pired, implying a want of respect and confidence between any of the  members of
 the  faculty of this  institution.
   2d. That while we regard all questions relating to the qualifications of  professors
 as properly belonging to the trustees, and to be approached, if at all by the students,
 with the utmost reluctance, the class will go so far as to declare that they cannot as-
 sent to the justice of the declaration made by the  president before the trustees.
   3d. That, the class would regard the resignation of Dr. Manley with the  deepest
 regret  and that were such to take place at this stage of the session, it would involve
 serious disadvantages and loss to the class.
  4th.  That for his standing in the  profession, his honorable character, amiable dis-
 position,  the  uniform urbanity of his manners, as well as for his age, this class en-
 tertain for Dr. Manley no other sentiments than those of unfeigned respect.
  5th.  That it is the unanimous desire of the class that Dr. Manley continue his
 services as instructor in this institution.
                             Nath'l. L. Lighthouse, }
                             Nicholas Van Vkauken, > Committee.
                            Jas. Stuart Cooper,     5
                                        James R.  Greacen, Chairman.
                                        Thomas M. Markoe,  Secretary.

   The manner in which this  outrage was committed, was as void of
 apology  as  the  announcement was of truth; for on examining the
 minutes  of the college for  the last ten years, during all  which time
 the greater number of the college reports to  the regents were prepared
 and  volunteered  by Dr. Smith,  no mention is  made of the characters
 of the various courses  of instruction, perhaps  for the simple reason
 that Dr.  Smith himself held the chair of physiology : and its truth is
 seriously impugned by  every professor associated with him, as  they  all
 declared that they preferred me as professor of obstetrics to any other
 person who had not heretofore publicly lectured ;  and, by  the way, this
 declaration  was made by them at the very  time when  he had convened
 them for no other purpose than to induce them to indorse his charge of
 incompetency !
   On  receiving  the above expression of opinion from my class, 1 re-
 sumed my lectures, merely premUing in the following terms  my opinion
of their conduct:

  Gentlemen—The calm,  temperate, discreet and dignified manner in which you
have responded to the appeal which I made to you  on Friday-evening last, must
 commend itself to the approval of every candid and  unprejudiced man, whether in
or out of our  profession: and to me  it has come in  the character of a' seasonable
relief.  It is an expression of opinion, summary and unanimous, and therefore satis
factory.   I can only say  I sincerely thank you.   To the old fashioned medical 
15
maxim, que inter  medendum conveniat  silere, sine  gravi causa non vulgaturum,
although unfortunately more honored in the breach than in the  observance, I most
implicitly subscribe, and I do not think  that my conduct, on the present occasion,
presents an exception, since the gravis causa is obvious.   It would be desirable that
all recollection of what has happened should be forgotten,  but however desirable, it
is confessedly difficult, for the memory acknowledges no master; our recollections
are independent of our will,  and cannot  be controlled by it.  I would forget it, like
a summer day storm, which  however furious and appalling in the onset, has passed
by, and its  fertilizing influences more  than compensated for the disaster it occa-
sioned.  I have one thing more, however, to  ask of you,  gentlemen,  and it  is,
that you will not permit, so far as you are concerned,, any, the least dissention, to
arise in this College on  my account.  I  shall proceed in my course as if nothing
had occurred, and conduct it, I tiust, to a satisfactory termination.

   It seems, however, that my  appeal to my  class offended Dr. Smith's
sense of propriety, since he charged it as an offence  against  all good
order, and endeavored to show from this fact, that I was  an improper
man for a professor, since, if I had  cause of complaint, the application
for redress ought to have  been made to the trustees, and not to the
class.   There would have been some Wright in this remark, but for the
contempt  which he  manifested for his  own argument, by publicly  re.
peating to the students  what he  had  said  to the trustees, with the
wicked  addition that they, the trustees agreed with him in opinion*
   The  next material  fact  relating to  his  agency  occurred on the
evening of Friday, the last day of February, and  the last day of the
course,  when he convened the professors in order,  as  he said,  to take
their opinions of my qualifications.   At  this meeting, which was  as
unauthorized as it was unprecedented, (and so  stated by one of their
number as soon as  he was made  acquainted with the business,) all
present except  himself concurred in  the belief that  I was  the best
qualified candidate  for the chair  of obstetrics  whom  they knew, who
had not been heretofore  a public  lecturer;  but at the same time Dr.
Watts, the professor of anatomy,  proposed  his friend Dr. Bartlelt for
the  place of lecturer,  and spoke of him  as every way qualified, having
been long accustomed to public teaching, and formerly associated with
him  in  one of our provincial medical schools.  This announcement

   *  As soon as Dr. S. found that his conduct had produced some excitement among
the students, he took occasion to say to them, that in the college he stood  in two
 relations :  that he was the president  of the  college,  as well as  the professor of
 physiology, and that it was in the capacity of president that he had considered it to
 be his duty to state his opinion of my course of instruction to the trustees, and that
 they agreed with him  in opinion; but  whether as  to his duty, or the fact  he an-
 nounced, is doubtful, and at best immaterial, as in neither sense was it true, as the
sequel will show. 
16
  from such a source was  little calculated to flatter Dr. Smith, and he
  was not long  in d«teimining upon the only course left for him to pur-
  sue, if he wished to defeat me : which was to abandon his own nominee,
  Dr. Gilman, and  connect his forces  wiih those of Drs. Watts  and
  Parkei, the personal friends of Dr.  Bartlett.   This determination  was
  no .sooner taken than aced upon, and he called upon  Dr.  Gilman  and
  formally made, him acquainted with  it, telling him in so many words,
  that the professors \ ere  all in favor of me, as against any person who
  h id not heretofore been accustomed lo lecture, and that he would now
  be obliged to vote  for i 'r. Bartlett!  !
    As s.ion ;is I heard that the professors had been convened for the pur-
  pose of passing upon my merits, I thought it  my duty to bring up  the
  subject of  the  propriety of such a meeting on the first occasion which
  presented, and as the examination of candidates for (he medical degree
  had commenced, I  found an early opportunity.  As soon as the board of
  professors met on Monday, March 2d, 1 observed that I had some busi-
  ness with them which, in my view,  was as important as the examina-
  tion of candidates, and as it  could  not detain thern long, I suggested
  that the call of candidates be deferred  a few minutes.   I  then, ad-
  dressing  myself to the professors, stated that I had been surprised  to
  hear that  they  had a meeting on Friday evening last, and  that the
 business  before them was the canvass  of mv qualifications as  lee-
 turer on obstetrics—without stopping to  remark on the extraordinary
 character of such a meeting, I would  only say that if  what I heard
 was true, viz. that  each man present was allowed bv common consent
 to quote the opinions of the others, as well as to  present  his own to
 the trustees, 1 had a just cause of complaint ;  and I inquired if it was
 so, for—   H re Dr. J<-hn Augustine Smith interrupted  me by asking
 me  to address the chair, to which I replied that  I  had nothing to  say
 to the chair, and when I  should have occasion to address him person-
 ally, I would do it in su<-h a manner as that the public should know,
 as well as himself,  all  that I had to  say.  I proceeded to address the
 professors, and  required of them, as a  matter of simple justice, that
 they should re-consider their inform.il agreement, and  put  their deci-
 sions or opinions on paper, to  be used officially, if required, or at all
 events, to prevent their use i:i the discretion nf the president, who, as  I
 understood  the  matter, n.ight  quote as  much or  as little of  their
 opinions as he pleased, and to whom  he pleased—that I  was not  dis-
 pos. d ralmly to submit to  this, and I  begged them  to take care and not
 permit their opinions to be misquoted, or themselves to be circumvented.
 At this remaik the president became  very much excited, and said that
he would not sit and listen to such  abuse;  to which I answered, that 
1?
Was as he should choose, he might leave the  room if he  pleased, but
if he staid he must hear it whether  he would  or  not.   He  left the
room, and returned after about  a minute.  I continued  on,  and ob>
served that it was known that Dr. Smith held two offices in the college,
professor and  president of the board of trustees; that  holding these
offices he became the channel of communication between both boards,
and when he met with either ho was presumed to convey their opinions
to the other ;  it was necessary,  therefore, that nothing should be left
to  his discretion, and  as  they  had a meeting,  1 wished the proceed-
ings of that meeting on paper, that  officiality might attach to it, and
not merely to the  man  who conveyed the information, since  by  this
kind of officiality,  as  practised, he  might officially destroy  any re-
putation.  After a few more remarks, a little too  severe to be pala-
table to Dr.  Smith, I left them  to deliberate on what had been  com-
municated.   They continued together  an hour  discussing the subject,
and decided at last, that nothing of  the proceedings of  the  meeting
on Friday should be permitted  to be used ; and they interdicted Dr.
Smith, who confessed that he had understood the whole object of that
meeting far  otherwise.  The only incident worth recording  is,  that
Dr. Torrey, the professor of Chemistry, seemed to be very much sur-
prised that any  persons other  than themselves had been made ac-
quainted with it ;—it  had been held, as he thought, between four
walls, and  how Dr. Manley became  acquainted with the meeting  or
its proceedings was to  him inexplicable.  Dr. John Augustine Smith
expressed the same measure of surprise ; when  to the astonishment of
all concerned, it appeared in  evidence before they separated, that the
person  from whom I received  my information, had received all the
material facts from Dr. Gilman, who had them from Dr. Smith  him-
self!*  Dr. Smith, by the  way,  had made the same remark in  relation
to his denouncement of my course of lectures: it had been made be-
tween four walls  to trustees, and he had  a right  to  think that  it should
have been kept as confidential; which  means  in  plain English, that
Dr. Manley's reputation was to be assailed,  and  peradventure de-

   * Dr Smith told Dr. Gilman, on 25th or 26th of February, that he would have
 the professors together soon, to take  their opinion of  Dr. Manley, and accordingly
 he called them on Friday evening, the 29th, and invited Dr. Parker also, who at-
 tended ! and on Saturday morning he communicated to him its result; among
 other things, that although he—Gilman—was his candidate, he would be obliged to
 vote for Bartlett, a new man, that he stood alone as to recommending  any other
 than a tried man, as all the others preferred Manley to any man who had not lec-
 tured.   (The above is from a conversation had with Dr. Gilman, at his own  house
 Bhortly after the meeting had taken place.)
                                  3 
18
stroyed, but he ought not to know who was  the  assailant!  This is a
sample of the morals of the president !
  During the examination of the candidates nothing  occurred which
could offend the most fastidious sense of propriety, if we except per-
haps the writing of a letter in the presence of  the examiners by Dr.
Watts  to Dr. Bartlett,  and  the  perusal of it  by Dr. Parker.   The
breach   it was  now presumed, was wide enough to  introduce Dr.
Bartlett;  he  without doubt,  was particularly advised  of all  that
had occurred, and  accordingly became Dr.  Smith's candidate to the
exclusion of Dr. Gilman.*
  About the  time, I presume, that this letter was  dispatched, Dr.
Watts  took  some pains to inform me  that I was mistaken in relation

  » In the full belief that Drs. Watts and Parker had an ultimate object in recom-
mending a tried man,  and that Dr. Bartlett's  appointment was at this early period,
the  object of their solicitude ; I determined to satisfy myself and accordingly made
the  inquiry of Dr. Bartlett himself, and received his answer.
Dear Sir—You will confer a favor by permitting me to know the date of a fact, in
which I feel some interest.  It is  known to you that I was lecturer  on Midwifery,
&c. in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New-York,  during the last winter,
and that the chair was made vacant;  that you and Dr. Gilman  became candidates
for it, and that Dr. Gilman was the successful one.  The object of this writing is
to ascertain from you the precise period at which you received information of  the
probable vacancy which induced'you  to become a competitor for that  chair.  By a
reference to your letter files of January, February or March, you will no doubt be
enabled  to give me the information I  seek, and you  will add to the obligation by an
early answer.
                                      Yours, very respectfully,
July 20th, 1840,                                        J. R. MANLEY.
       To Dr. Bartlett.

                                                 Lowell, July 25th, 1840.
  Dear Sir—Your letter of the  23d was received yesterday. As near as I can
ascertain, I first received such intelligence of the probable  vacation of your  chair,
as induced me to present myself to my friends as  a candidate for the place, early
in March last. I had then determined to remove to your city for practice, and had
been for some time making my arrangements to that end.  The unexpected occur-
rence of the contest for your chair led me to visit  New-York; during which visit
various considerations conspired to shake my determination as to a removal to your
city, and they subsequently led to an entire  abandonment of the design.   I only
regret that I  have been in any way mixed up with  the rival interests of the  New-
York profession.   If the above information will be of any use to you, it is very
cheerfully placed at your disposal.
                              Very respectfully
                                      Your friend,
                                           ELISHA BARTLETT.
 To Dr. Manley, New York. 
19
 to his preference of me as a professor, for that he and Dr. Parker bad
 a candidate of their own, Dr. Bartlett of  Massachusetts.   The inform-
 ation however created no  other  surprise than  would naturally arise
 from the avowal of so extraordinary a fact, as  that he a professor
 himself just one year, and but five years before invested with a Doctor's
 degree in this college, and his  associate, who was at this very time on
 probation as a lecturer, should  have the  assurance to attempt to con.
 trol the action of the  board of trustees  for the purpose of appointing
 their friend to a chair in the college, to the exclusion of all the physi-
 cians of this city.
   The next meeting of the board of trustees was held on the  19th of
 March, and as it was called  as an extra session,  it was  convened to
 suit the convenience of Dr.  Smith, who in the meantime was particu-
 larly active  in  procuring the  attendance of those whose  votes he al-
 ways controlled, and  some  of  whom never  attend  unless on very
 special business by his  invitation.   Dr.  Watts had left the city after
 having done all  he could to  second the election of his friend Bartlett.
  By the agency of Dr. Watts, Dr. John  Augustine Smith may sue
 ceed in dividing the odium which  properly attaches to his own con-
 duct;  but meanness and malignity, like the virtues of generosity or
 benevolence  loose nothing by distribution ;  his own responsibility re-
 mains  the  same;  and  whilst  he  may please himself with the idea
 that he  has  associated some support, he has only parted with some
 part of  his personal agency, and  taken a dupe's cowl  in exchange.
 He  was used, his vanity was flattered, while he was made a tool—" a
 pipe to play upon."5
  In my endeavor to  accord to each individual the  full amount of
credit  to which  he is entitled in  thb unhallowed  crusade to  gratify
malignity on the one  hand, and  interest or friendship on the  other;
it is perhaps  necessary to state  my conviction, that from this time on-
ward Dr. Smith  acted  a subordinate  part, although his associate had
sufficient address to allow him all the honor !  He  knew his weak
point, (for  no man thrown in his company for a single hour could be
ignorant of it.)  and he  at once determined to gratify his vanity and
self conceit, while  he turned both to account to serve his friend.
  That the reader may fully understand the force of the above remark,
it is proper to present a little of the history of the chair of anatomy,
 which  Dr. Watts held, and  still, holds.  It will be recollected  that
Dr. John Augustine Smith was  invited in 1S26, upon the reorganiza-
tion of the college, to accept this  chair;  he had  formerly been asso-
ciated with Dr. Post in the same department, but had retired and be-
come the president of William and Mary college in Virginia ; and 
20
about this time his situation there, was any thing but pleasant, and he
was glad to be transferred.  The College of Physicians and Surgeons
found, after he had accepted, that they had in him, much less than they
had anticipated, or thought that they had bargained  for, since the
professors who were associated with him were taxed some thing like
five hundred dollars per annum to pay  the interest of the value of an
anatomical museum to illustrate his  course, which another person (Dr.
Rhinelander) owned, and all his courses of instruction were consider.
ed failures notwithstanding.   He  was moreover strongly suspected  to
be  infidel in his views of revelation, and a materialist in his philo-
sophy.  They submitted however to their own tax  and his teach-
ing  for four or five  years, when  their patience  being  exhausted,
he  was  removed  from the  chair  and  Dr.  Rhinelander  was ap-
pointed in his place ; this last gentleman held  three  or  four years,
and relinquished it for the chair of professor of pathological anatomy,
which had been  held  by Dr.  Mott  who  was then in Europe.  The
place of anatomy  being thus  made vacant, Dr. Brigham of Hartford
was by the trustees appointed lecturer, and conducted  the  course one
session only, when, in consequence  of an intimition either  from Dr.
J. A. Smith or Dr. Delafield, or  both, he  resigned.   Dr. Alexander
H.  Stevens, who  had been ever since the year  1826 the professor of
surgery, had resigned all active duty, and taken  the title of Emeritus
professor of the same branch ; this event also  created a necessity for
the introduction  of a new man to  fill his  place,  and Dr. Alban G.
Smith was, by appointment of the regents of  the university, selected
for that purpose.   He conducted the  course  two  sessions, when  he
received a similar intimation from the same men, and he also resigned.
It is a little remarkable, that the minutes of the board of trustees make
no  mention of any circumstances which could have operated  as causes
for  these resignations ; they  however occurred, and rendered other
appointments  indispensible.   In  this embarrassed condition of  the
college, with dissenlion within and  distrust  from without, Dr. Rhine-
 lander was  willing and desirous to  retire, if he could dispose  of his
 museum ; and now we must introduce Dr. Watts,  who was made lec-
 turer on general anatomy on  the resignation of Dr. Brigham,  and who
 it appears was willing to become the  purchaser, if the chair of the
 anatomical professor was included  in the bargain.  Dr. Rhinelander
 did resign,—Dr. Watts did receive  the  appointment of professor  of
 anatomy, and did purchase the museum; while the place  of  professor
■ of pathological anatomy which Dr. R. resigned was abolished, either
 because it is  unnecessary, or because it  can be conveniently merged
 in  the general course.  There was yet  to be another resignation and 
21
another change !   Dr. Delafield retired from his chair at the termina-
tion of the next session, and  his  resignation and the resignation of
Dr. Alban G. Smith, occurring at the same time rendered the appoint-
ment of two lecturers necessary.  The successor of  Dr. Smith  was
soon found ; and on the credit of Dr. Walts, Dr. Parker was presented
to the trustees, and appointed lecturer on surgery without opposition,
and became joint proprietor of  the museum!   The  history of the chair
which Dr. Delafield  resigned, presents, as by this time the reader is
aware, a very different character.
   It has already been  made to appear probable that the anatomical
museum was an important instrument in the negotiations for resigna-
tions as well as for appointments ;  the sale of it  only made one chair
vacant, but it furnished incumbents for two !
   Dr.  Delafield  also  had, and I beiieve  still  has a museum,  in the
purchase  of which,  Dr.  Watts  had  the  right of  preemption,   but
whether for his own account, or for the joint account of himself and
Dr. Bartlett in  case he had been  elected  to  the obstetric  chair in
place of Dr. Gilman, must now remain a matter of curious  uncertain.
ty ; his preference of a tried man however renders the latter opinion
highly probable.
   After the above information, the reader will  be prepared to  form a
tolerably accurate judgment of the kind of  opposition which I had to
encounter.   All  the professors except one (Dr. John B. Beck, the pro-
fessor of materia medica.) were, through the agency of Dr. John Augus-
tine Smith, made either active agents or passive instruments  in the
work of defeating me ; Dr. Beck alone, at all tiines, and on all  proper
occasions disapproved the conduct of his associates, and I feel  a plea.
sure in bearing this  emphatic testimony to his disinterested and in.
genuous deportment throughout the whole of this controversy.
   But to resume my narrative.  At the meeting of  (he  trustees of
 March 19,  1840, 1 caused the following letter to be presented :—

          To the Trustees of the College  of Physicians and Surgeons.
   Gentlemen—Having been appointed by you lecturer on Obstetrics and diseases
 of women and children, in the  place of Dr. Delafield, who  had resigned; it be-
 comes proper to inform you, that I have discharged the duty assigned  to me.  I
 have delivered a full and complete course,  and I have the satisfaction to say, that
 I have lectured to an  attentive, respectful and intelligent  class of matriculated
 students.  In the discharge of my duty, however, it is incumbent on  me to  state,
 that I have contended with  embarrassments of a most extraordinary  character.
 Previous to my appointment, and when, of  course, no opportunity had been allowed
 to judge of my qualifications as a lecturer, the President of the College pronounced
 me incompetent, and took unusual pains to promulgate his opinions throughout the
 city.   I was appointed, however, notwithstanding his unscrupulous opposition, and 
22
 commenced my course by the delivery of a public introductory, a copy of which
 the students requested for publication ; and it was published.   If any estimate may
 be formed of the character of such compliments, from their scarcity, it is no small
 one, when  it is recollected  that during  the last fifteen  years, and ever since the
 reorganization of the College,  a similar request has not been  made, so far as I am
 informed, of any President or Professor of this College, except Dr. J. B. Beck and
 Dr. Delafield.   I quietly, and, as I supposed, satisfactorily continued my lectures
 until about the middle of the term.'when I was informed  that the President of the
 College had again assailed me, and denounced my course of instruction to the board
 of trustees as a failure, without having ever heard a lecture except the published
 one; so gross an outrage—such an unworthy attempt to break me down I could
 not permit to pass unnoticed, and I felt it to be due both to  myself and my class,
 to address them on the subject.  I told them what  Dr.  Smith had  done—that he
 had pronounced my course a failure ; and begged them, if they concurred in opinion
 with him, frankly to say so; and I plainly intimated that I was ready to resign, as
 I could not hold the situation under such circumstances.   The class responded to
 my appeal by passing the following resolutions unanimously.   Vide page 13.
  Upon the receipt of this expression from the class, I met them at the next stated
 lecture, and after a few remarks to them, proceeded on in my course ; and although
 abundant opportunity was afforded to speak of Dr. Smith's conduct, his name never
 afterwards escaped my lips to  the class :  he, after this  period,  however,  attempted
 to justify his treatment of  me to his class, by stating that he acted in two capacities
 m the College, as Professor and President, and that  in the latter character he acted
 from a sense of  duty, and  that the trustees thought as he did.  Gentlemen, when I
 accepted the place of lecturer, I did not intend to commit my reputation to the keep-
 ing of any individual.  I expected to be judged by my  merits, and so I doubt  not
 did you ; but without my knowledge, for  at least one half of the term, 1  have been
 made the theme of Dr. Smith's obloquy ; and when I become informed, and make
 my appeal to the class, he attempted to justify.  I have conducted this course under
 such a pressure of embarrassment, as no other professor or lecturer in this College
 would have sustained, and I have been supported by the conviction that when  the
facts were known, the Board of Trustees would do  me justice.  If conduct such
 as I have related of Dr. Smith  can pass  without  rebuke, the precedent must be
ruinous to the interest of the school: who will be the next  victim it is impossible
to say; but we may be assured, that there will  be  no security for any lecturer or
 professor belonging to it.
  I have deemed it to be a duty, as well to you as to myself, to make this exposition,
 that you may not ignorantly become a party to a plan  to destroy my reputation,
 under a pretext to serve the  interests of medical education.
                                              Your's respectfully,
                                                     J. R.  MANLEY.

   This meeting of the  19th of March was called as an extra, and it
 was such in more  senses than one.   It was  extra inasmuch as the call
 at the time, outraged all propriety, the meeting  being convened to  re-
 commend lecturers and professors, before the session was terminated,
 and nearly two  months before  the usual period.  It was  extra, as it
 brought together by management more members than had at any time,
 or on any occasion met before.  It was extra in its mode of doing its busi- 
23
ness, for the above letter was read and replied to Verbally by Dr. Smith)
and by an extraordinary stretch of courtesy it was allowed to be placed
on  file !  one part of the  business for which it  was convened  was
done by resolution, and another by ballot;  and it will prove, if I mis-
take not, extraordinary in  its results.  It was extra inasmuch as it
shows  conclusively  that the  most efficient members of the board of
trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University
of the  State of New  York were two merchants ;*  that these two were
not only the  heart and soul,  but the  body corporate, of the  thing
which the college circulars  represent as the facsimile of a  Paris con-
cours.   It  will  be seen, by a reference to the foot note, that  twenty-
two  persons were present ;  that  immediately after the reading of my
letter,  perhaps allowing a  little time  for the  replication  of the Pre*
sident,  (Smith,) a motion was  made to recommend me to the  regents
for the  professor of obstetrics,  &c. and it was decided  in  the  nega.
tive.  Although the minute  makes no account of the  state of the vote,
the reader  is informed that it stood, ayes 9, noes 11, one  silent, and
the president not voting, as usual on  such  occasions,  unless in the
event of a tie.   I was now disposed of.   A communication from Dr.
Gilman is presented offering himself for the situation of lecturer, and
some friend of Dr.  Bartlett puts him in nomination  for the same
place, when a ballot is taken which  results  in the  election  of Dr,
Gilman he  having 12 votes, and  Dr. Bartlett lO.f

  * Mr. Geo. Griswold and Mr. Henry Wyckoff.
  t Minutes of the Meeting of the Trustees of the  College of Physicians and
                        Surgeons, of March, 1840.
  Present.—Drs. John Augustine Smith, Delafield, Jay, Ludlow, Rodgers, Cock,
Moore, Willet,  Cheeseman, Anderson,  Deering, Messrs. Tucker, Swan, F. Smith,
Withers, Blatchford, Griswold, Strung, J. Delafield, Lawrence, Bruen, Wyckoff.
  The minutes of the last meeting were read  and approved.
  On motion, Resolved that Willard Parker,  lecturer on the principles and practice
of surgery, be recommended to the  Hon. the  Regents of the University for the pro-
fessor of the same branches : passed unanimously.
  A communication from Dr. James R. Manley, lecturer on obstetrics, containing1
matters of complaint against the president of the college, was received and read,
and replied to verbally by the president; and  the  said letter ordered on file.
  A motion was made  that James R. Manley,  M. D. lecturer on obstetrics and
diseases of women and children be recommended to the Hon. the Regents for the
professorship of the  same department ; which motion having  been put it was de-
cided in the negative.  A communication from Chandler R. Gilman, M. D. offer-
ing himself as a candidate for lecturer on obstetrics and the diseases of women and
children; and Dr. Bartlett of Lowell, Massachusetts, having  also been put in no-
mination for  the same office, and presented recommendations  therefor;  the ballot 
24
  To account  for  this result, it is only necessary to state that those
two  persons  had been  influenced by Dr. Smith to vote for Dr. Gil*
man, when he was  his  candidate for  the  situation of lecturer, the
previous year; and  as  no reason was assigned  for abandoning him
now,  they only acted  consistently  by voting for  him,  while  Dr.
Smith and all those who at his instance had then supported him, cast
their ballots  for Dr. Bartlett, the candidate of Dr. Watts  and Par-
ker.   These  two votes with  the  silent one on the  resolution imme-
diately  preceding, and  the nine who  had supported me, as against
both, for professor of the same branch,  gave Dr. Gilman the majority.
Thus the event proved that he was indebted for his election, mainly
to those whose  sole design was to defeat  him ;  the simple explana-
tion being that my friends were so disgusted with the management of
Smith & Co. that they determined, one and all to reject their choice.
How far they were influenced by the qualifications of the men, it may
be difficult to determine, and fortunately the face of the record renders
such an inquiry unnecessary :  it furnishes however rather an extra-
ordinary illustration of the benefits to be derived from the rivalship by
concours, as practised in the French  schools of medicine, which the
College of Physicians and Surgeons claim to imitate.
   The  concours  had now  done its  work, and  although  Dr.  John
Augustine Smith had  succeeded in his real object, he  had been de-
feated in his ostensible one;  he had  abandoned  his friend, who sue*
ceeded notwithstanding, but he had compassed  the  end for which he
had  long labored; he uad rid himself  of me, and his disappointment
received an  emollient,  which assuaged  all the  irritation  which  it
had  caused.   It is  true he  had  sacrificed friendship, honor,  truth,
and consistency, but he had been amply repaid, as he had been re-
lieved from the fear of having another  independent man associated
with him, which of all things he most  dreaded.   But even this solace
was doomed  to be drugged with some  bitterness, for, at a meeting of
the Regents  of the University in Albany a few days  afterwards,
(March  31st) two resolutions were passed which  gave him much un-
easiness.  One was  " that  they would proceed to appoint professors
in the  college on  the first Tuesday  in May next;"  and the  other
asking of the trustees  to  inform  them whether  the interests of the
college  would not  be  promoted  by a  consolidation of some of the

was had which  resulted in the choice of Dr. C. R. Gilman, as lecturer on obstetrics
and the diseases of women and children for the ensuing session.*
  App'd J. Acgustine  Smith.              College adjourned.
  * The names in italic voted for the successful candidate. 
25
 professorships!    The ghost  of Banquo  had  less terrors for the
 Thane of Cawdor, than had the last resolution for the doctor.  It had
 been long  due, and long anticipated ;  an informal committee of the
 trustees had long since waited  upon him  to remonstrate with him on
 the character of his course  of instruction ; he had lectured " de omni-
 bus  rebus cmterisque  aliis?' so  long,  twice a week, and received his
 fourteen dollar ticket fee, that he  thought and could not help it, that
 this resolution was meant for him, and he was  troubled.  He knew
 that there was no  course of instruction which  could with  propriety
 be merged in any other, except the one he was appointed  to  teach,
 and every student  knows that  even that was a matter of necessity,
 rather than of choice ; for Physiology is second to none in importance,
 and certainly better  calculated than  any other " to display all  the
 varied stores of a well furnished mind."  It was the manner in which
 it was  taught which  seemed to render consolidation necessary : in-
 struction in the science was more essential, than  mere amusement,
 and therefore it was proper that the business of teaching it should be
 committed  to some person in the  college who would make a  business
 of it.   Dr Smith was  not ignorant of the opinions  of the  profession
 respecting  himself, and  he  seemed to  fear, that  the time had now
 arrived when the evidence of his  incapacity to conduct the course of
 physiology  would assume a shape  too palpable and manifest to be
 mistaken ;  and hence arose his  perturbation.  It had not been taught
 as it should have been, and would  have  been by any other intelligent
 man, who was less intent on making a display of himself  than  of his
 subject.*
  The document came in due course of mail, but was long on hand be-

  * With the exception of three or four lectures on abstract and abstruse subjects,
of little importance whether understood  or not, the whole course is a meagre sylla-
 bus of exploded doctrines, which have been so long known as to have been forgot-
 ten.  The four important subjects of Respiration, Circulation, Digestion and Se-
 cretion, are disposed of as if they were of infinitely less account than the  anecdotes
 to which they give occasion ; and the time occupied in  serious  discussion of physi.
 ological truths is as nothing compared with that which is spent in relating pleasant
 stories.  How much truth, for  example, would be required to neutralize facts like
 these ?   •' That whales are fat, because they live in  cold latitudes"—" that na-
 ture's laws of compensation, in the absence of fat, provide abundance of hair,  and
 that, therefore, the Russians starve their  hogs that they may bear good crops of
 bristles"—" that certain animals possess the love of sentiment as well as the instinct
 of the sexes"—" that in some, the hog for example, the  male has its seasons, but
 the female has not"—all whichjnteresting truths, aside from their  importance, are
 as well settled, as that  the most meagre  sheep always has the best fleece  !
                                  4 
26
fore he called a meeting of trustees to consider it, and when they did
meet, and the paper was laid before them, instead of a reference to a
committee, to which it was entitled, from the source whence it emana-
ted ;  he presented a paper of his own  drafting to be passed and sent to
the Regents as the answer ; but in place of passing it, as was their wont,
the trustees laid it on  the table, some member alledging as an answer
to one part of it at least, that the appointment of professors was a
business with which they as trustees  had  nothing to do.   The paper
although laid on the table  was never  found, he having (it is presumed)
thrown it into the fire; a matter  of regret by the way, as it must
of necessity have embodied the views of  the professor of physiology
on his own course of  instruction.  A friend was  at  hand (Dr. Dela-
field) who. immediately drafted a resolution, which had nothing about
appointments  in  it, but served the  president in his extremity,  most
effectually, by simply stating that  " it was inexpedient to  consolidate
any of the courses of instruction."   If any member of the board, who
was  not a physician had offered this  resolution, it would have created
no surprise, but  coming as it did from Dr. Delafield who knew Dr.
Smith well, and had  fully and  freely expressed  his opinion  of the
course of physiology to  his associates heretofore, it did not pass with-
out a silent note of admiration.
   Things now were  again partially settled, but there was still a  lurk-
ing distrust of the Regents of the  University, who had determined to
appoint professors on  the 5th of May.  Dr.  Smith was disturbed; he
expressed his fears ;  said "that something was wrong in  Albany, and
that  he would go up and correct it," since the Regents might perad-
venture  appoint me to the chair of midwifery, the  trustees' election of
a lecturer notwithstanding.   The  Regents did  hold  their meeting on
the 5th as  by previous resolution  they had  resolved ; and  it was the
largest  meeting since  that board was  organized,  now  nearly  fifty
years.
   Having heard that it  was probable that there would be a full atten-
dance of its members, and that one individual at least, who never was
there before, had  been  requested  to  repair  to  Albany and take  his
seat, I took the liberty of writing to him and received  his answer •
and  although  it arrived to  late to be of use, it furnishes evidence of
the zeal which Dr. Smith displayed  in his  opposition to me; as the
man who now received  his  support  was  the  same, whom he and  all
his friends had but  one  month before repudiated.   It assists to give
a character to the so much vaunted  concours; and as it is creditable 
27
to the writer's feelings its publication can do no injury.*  It may be
remarked however, that  it appears he was ignorant of the  errand on

                                                 * New  York, May 2, 1840.
Dear Sir,
           I have heard from Albany, that Mr. Verplanck had said  that he would
send for  you to be present at a meeting of  the board of Regents on the 5th inst.
The object of this letter which is prompted  as much by my respect for you as by
duty to "myself, is  to inform  you that there  is a controversy between Dr. John
Augustine Smith and me :  on his part conducted with what I conceive inexcusable
pertinacity and wantonness ; and if you are requested to go to Albany, it is that
your vote may be used against  me  and my interests.   I have nothing to ask, but
that if you go, you will fully inform  yourself of the merits of  the question at issue
before you commit  yourself to a vote.  I understand  that although you have been
elected a Regent a long time, you  have never  been present at a meeting of the
board.  If under these circumstances you  for the first time present yourself, and
that by special request of one of those  known to be  in the decided  interest of Dr.
Smith and against me, I have a right to expect  that the  information upon which
you may act, shall be as full as the time  allowed for  examination of merits will
allow.  You  I hope will understand me. I have the highest opinion of  your in-
tegrity and discretion, and only wish you may not  be  circumvented by  ex  parte
statements.
                   With sincere respect, I am
                                           Your obedient servant,
                                                       J.  R. MANLEY.
 To Washington Irving,"Esq. Tarrytown.

                                                 New  York, May 7, 1840.
Dear Sir,
             Your letter of the 2d inst. did  not reach my residence in the country
until after my departure  for Albany and only came to  hand this morning, on my
return.   In going  to Albany I had no view to take  a part in the controversy be-
tween you and Dr. Smith, of which I was utterly ignorant, but merely to take my
seat at the board of Regents, in 'compliance with the general regulations of the
establishment, and in consequence of what  I understood to be the  wishes of my
fellow Regents.
   I had incidentally been  told some days  since  that Dr. Gilman was a candidate
 for a medical professorship,* and that  the  matter would  come before the board:
 understanding that he was a man fully competent to the  office, and that he had
 married a daughter of my old friend Sir. Martin Hoffman, I at once  unsolicited de-
 clared that he should have my vote.  This I did from feelings of early and cherish-
 ed attachment to the Hoffman family, with the  various members of which  I was
 brought  up almost in habits of relationship.   My intentions being thus frankly and
 uniformly expressed, no attempts were made to inflaence mo ;  and when I  took my
 seat at the board, I was not  aware how much agitation  had existed in the matter.
                               Very  respectfully,
                                     Your friend and servant,
 To Dr.  Manley.                               WASHINGTON  IRVING.
     * Dr. Gilman was not a candidate for a professorship, but he and his friends sent petitions or
 memorials to be allowed to lecture under the trustees' appointment. 
28
which  Mr.  Verplanck sent him ;  and  had  never  taken his  seat in
the   board  of Regents   before,  although  he  had  been  a  Regent
several years, nor I may add since, as he resigned last winter.  I wrote
also to the Chancellor of the University, the Hon. James King, which
letter with the answer will be found in  the note below.*

                                             * New-York, May 3d, 1840.
  Dear Sir—From your situation as Chancellor of the University, and your known
character as a man of candor and integrity, you are entitled to be made acquainted
with the incidents which have occurred respecting the chair of Midwifery, previous
to the action upon it, to be had on Tuesday next.   I will do it short as possible, for
I do not wish to be tedious.  1.  I was  invited  to become the  Lecturer,  and never
asked a vote.   2. I was before the public one  month before  appointment, and al-
though Dr. Smith was opposed, and sent me word that I could not be appointed;  I
was appointed.  3. I accepted and conducted the course with satisfaction; he deter-
mined to ruin me, and in the middle of the course denounced me as incompetent
without a single fact, and he  had never heard  me.  4. He begged Professors, col-
lectively and  individually, for  an opinion against  me, and  all refused it.   5. I ap.
pealed to my class,  and they all (fifty-eight) supported me.   6. He called a meeting
of the Trustees before the course was ended, and had every one there, twenty-one
besides himself, and defeated my recommendation by one vote; then  went into  a
ballot for Lecturer, (one month before the last  examination,) to supply the place ;
the Regents  being (though  constantly meeting,) kept ignorant  of  the necessity
of such a measure.  7. When the Regents determined to make Professors on the
5th May, he called another meeting, and  asked them to defer this appointment of
Midwifery; but here he was in a minority, for  they said  it was the regents' right,
and they ought not to interfere, and would not.  8. He is now in Albany to prevent
their action on this subject, and what arguments he will use I do not anticipate.
                                        Your's respectfully,
                                                    J. R MANLEY.
 To the Hon. James King.

                                                    Albany, May 6th, 1840.
Dr. James R. Manley,
   Dear Sir—I received your favor of  the 4th  instant, the morning after its date.
   There was  no necessity of an apology for addressing me on the subject to which
 your letter relates; for I  am always  happy to receive  communications to aid  in
guiding me in my public duties, embracing the good sense  and frank exposition  of
facts set forth in your letter.
   The subject of the appointment of  a Professor of Midwifery in the College of
Physicians and Surgeons in  the city  of New-York, came  before the Regents last
 evening on a resolution to postpone the  appointment indefinitely.   There were more
 members  attending than  at  any  previous meeting  of  the  Regents since  I was
elected.   In the discussions on that resolution,  you were named as a suitable  per.
 son to fill the chair of that Professorship; and  you certainly would not have wanted
 an advocate for that proposition who could have acquitted himself more  entirely to
your  personal satisfaction than Dr.  Wendell of this  city.   But there was official
 evidence before the Board that  Dr. Gilman had been appointed,  by the Trustees 
29
   Those  two resolutions of  the Regents had an effect, materially to
change the character of the  opposition with which I had to contend.
At the commencement, Dr. Smith was alone ;  in the progress of it,
Drs. Parker and Watts become associated, Dr. Smith purchasing their
co-operation by the abandonmeut of his  friend  Dr. Gilman, and the
promise of his support for  their friend Dr. Bartlett ;* and the action
of the Regents seemed now to foreshadow the defeat of both.  .In this
emergency it  became necessary to double  their diligence ;  make a
new treaty ; forget all past discrepancies of action, interest or opinion,
and unite  as one man to control the action of the board  of Regents,
although  the trustees of the  college, had emphatically put  their veto
on the proposition.   Accordingly a meeting is had  at the house of
Dr.  Delafield,  and a paper drawn up to be presented  to  the Regents,
deprecating any appointment of Professor of Midwifery at their en-
suing meeting.   This paper is signed  by Dr.  Smith, President, Dr.
Torrey and Dr. Joseph  M. Smith, avowing  at  the same time, that
they had  the  proxies of Drs.  Watts and Parker, who were  absent
from the city;  Dr. Beck had no invitation, for  the  reason (then as-
signed) that his opinions were known, and it was unnecessary.   Two
papers  in  the  form  of petitions  or  memorials  were  also  circulated
among  the profession, praying  that the  Regents would defer action
on the  subject  and thereby permit  Dr. Gilman  to lecture, not doubt-
ing that he would do credit to the station.  Dr.  Smith himself repairs
to Albany  in company with Washington Irving ; Dr. Delafield writes
to his  friend Luther Bradish ; others write  to their friends in the
board ;  the Governor himself is enlisted, and more persons are con-
vened to do apparently nothing,  as the record shows, but in reality to

a Lecturer in that department for the  ensuing collegiate year; also, that five of the
existing Professors would consider an appointment of Professor of Midwifery, &c.
an injudicious measure on the part of the Regents at this time.  Under these cir-
cumstances,  the Board adopted the resolution to which I deferred.
                                Very respectfully,
                                     Vour's, &c.  &c.,
                                            JAMES KING.
   * There is one  peculiarly amiable feature in  the character of Dr. Watts which
will go far  to palliate or  excuse his zeal; he loves his friends, and in this his con-
duct contrasts vory favorably with that of Dr. John Augustine Smith.  The  Drs.
Parker and Bartlett were the friends  of Dr. Watts and formerly close associates •
they had, it  is said, been colleagues in the same medical schools, and he volunteered
to serve  them without making any preliminary professions, and  did serve them to
the utmost of his ability ; not so Dr.  Smith, he perhaps loves his friend too '• but
he hates his enemy," and having permitted hate to predominate, he abandoned him
without ceremony and quoted Dr. Paley in justification of his conduct! 
30
 relieve Dr.  John Augustine Smith  of his  own fearp, than had  ever
 come together before on any occasion.   Dr. Smith either  requested
 or was invited through his friend Mr.  Verplanck to give  his views on
 the subject, for which they had met, and was permitted  to  indulge in
 in a strain of vituperative eloquence, too offensive to pass without re-
 mark,  as it called for, and  received a castigation from a member of the
 board, which to any other  person would have been a severe  rebuke.
 So  offensive was   this  exhibition  to the  whole  board  of Regents,
 although but one member  answered him, that  the late chancellor  of
 the University, the Hon. James King, declared, when they adjourned,
 that Dr. Smith, should never, with his consent, have the opportunity of
 speaking again before the regents while he held  the station  of its presid-
 ing officer.*

   * Minutes of the Meeting of the Board  of Regents of the University, Albany,
                              May 5th, 1840.
   Present.  Governor W. H. Seward, Lieut. Governor Luther Bradish, ex officio ;
 Chancellor of the University, James  King  ; Vice Chancellor, E. Jenkins ; Messrs.
 Paige, Lansing, Corning, Wendell, McKown, Verplanck, Spencer, Russel, Thomp-
 son, Campbell  and Irving.
   This being  the day appointed by the Regents at their meeting held 31st March
 last, to  fill the  vacant professorships of  the principles and practice of Surgery and
 Midwifery in the college of Physicians and  Surgeons in the City of New York ; the
 Regents in pursuance of  such appointment took into consideration  the propriety of
 filling said vacancies  at the present meeting, and after receiving a  communication
 from Dr. James R. Manley, presenting  himself for the professorship of Obstetrics
 and the Diseases of Women and Children ;  and a communication from Dr. Gilman
 lecturer in said College on the subject of Obstetrics, &c. requesting the Regents to
 postpone the filling of said professorship for the present year ; and  after receiving
 various communications from professors  of said college and others, in relation to the
 filling of said professorships ; and after hearing the president of said  college who
 appeared in person before the Regents  and  presented his views on the same sub-
ject ;  the following resolution submitted by  Mr. Verplanck was unanimously adopt-
 ed, " Whereas the trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of
 New York, have appointed Chandler  R. Gilman, M. D. Lecturer on  Obstetrics and
 Diseases of Women and Children for the present academic year in that institution ;
 therefore, Resolved, that  the consideration  of the  resolution of this board, to pro-
 ceed this day to the appointment of a professor of  the said branches of instruction
 in the said college is hereby postponed to the  first annual meeting in May,  1841."
   At the request of Dr. Smith, the name of the professorship of the principles and
 practice of Surgery was altered so as to  include Surgical Anatomy, and Dr. Parker
 was appointed.
   Mr. Spencer, in reference to the communication from the Trustees of the College
 of Physicians and Surgeons on the subject of consolidation of professorships in said
 college offered the following resolution ;  " That it is inexpedient to consolidate any
 of the professorships in said college."  The  ayes and noes called by Mr. Spencer on 
31
  The business of the board is usually done in conversational debate
and very pleasantly, because personal or party interests have never
been permitted to control their opinions of public duty ; it is  there-
fore as much a matter of surprise that he should have been allowed to
address the board at  all, as it is that he should  have continued his
tirade  till  their sense of  propriety was insulted.  I have no disposi-
tion to cast a censure on the board of Regents, but without offence, I
trust I may be permitted to  say that the result at  which  they arrived,
was not so much  chargeable to their knowledge of the conduct of the
parties  concerned  in the  question,  as to  their entire ignorance.
They were not informed of  the facts as developed in  these pages ; the
trustees of the college whose  business it was to examine and  report
upon the charge of Dr. Smith, were so much under his influence that
they avoided all  inquiry ;  the Regents therefore were kept in  igno-
rance by design ; for it is not possible to believe, that they could have
impliedly endorsed, his conduct, if they had been apprized  of the turpi.
tude which marked evety step of its progress.
   I had nothing to oppose to all  this machinery to influence the ac-
tion of the Regents, if I had been aware that it would have been re-
sorted  to;  I was held  in thrall  by  circumstances which respect for
myself would not permit me to control ; I could neither petition nor
remonstrate, to countervail such means as  Dr. Smith  and his  new
associates adopted.   I had done all that decency required or propriety
prompted, when I had made my simple application  that  I wished to
be considered a candidate, and there>I  left the question.   The resnlt
is before  the  public, and the  motives which operated to produce  it
will be found in the transcript of the Regents' minutes.
   It was  fair to presume that Dr. John Augustine Smith's work was
now done;  all  his plans had  succeeded, and however much  uneasi-
ness the process had  given  him, all was now forgotten, because com.
pensated in my defeat.  He had  by  violence thrust  me from the col-
lege ; " the winter of his discontent had been made glorious summer;"
his friends had relieved him of all anxieties about himself, by  passing
the resolution  that  " it was  inexpedient to consolidate any  of the
courses of instruction," and if he had been wise, he would have  borne
his triumph with modesty if not with meekness ; but it was far other-
wise.   Six months after this time, (Nov. 2,) on the  occasion of open-
ing the college, as it is called, he took occasion  to  make this  infa-

the question of adopting said resolution having been taken ; it was carried in the af-
firmative by votes of all the Regents present except Messrs. Wendell and McKown,
who voted in the negative. 
32
mous history the subject of his discourse, lauding himself, abusing me,
and  even charging the  existence of a  conspiracy to destroy his pro-
fessorship, plainly intimating that some of the  Regents  were parties.
This exhihition was a little too highly wrought to please his friends,
for it was seriously asked, at the close of the oration, whether he had
not grown prematurely  old?  whether he was not in  his dotage? and
if not, was he in his senses ?  and the reason given in the first part of
this  paper, was well calculated  to  provoke  the inquiry, " he had just
recovered from a serious sickness, had suffered  much family affliction
and  had not  time to prepare a  lecture appropriate to the occasion."
When I heard of this,—and  I did hear it before dinner of the  same
day,—I confess  that, although 1  thought I was prepared to hear any
thing, I was  astonished ; it seemed as if malignity  had run mad, and
vanity had destroyed the  equilibrium of intellect.   I did not  easily
credit it, but I  was obliged to submit  to the multiplied  evidence fur-
nished by those who were present and heard him.  Hitherto ingenuity
had  been fatigued  in searching  out the motives of his  conduct ;  but
now it was evident that further  inquiry was useless; and pity for the
man supplanted  every  feeling of indignation.   With such  a  man 1
could  no longer entertain a controversy ; and aside from the influence
which the success of his management might unfortunately  exert  on
other colleges  similarly situated, I  had no  motive to proceed against
him even in self defence; but believing that the college interests, as
well as those of  the public  required that such an outrage  should be
promptly rebuked, I addressed the following letter to the trustees.
          To the Trustees of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
   Gentlemen—I have heard, with surprise, that Dr. John Augustine Smith opened
the  course of lectures at the College on the 2d instant by an introductory address
to a large audience, specially invited in the newspapers, and by circulars to attend ;
and  that the exclusive subjects with which he entertained them were, holding me
up to public contempt, and  lauding himself for the success of his agency in defeat-
ing my appointment as Professor of Midwifery in May last.  His  conduct in mak.
 ing  this virulent attack on  my reputation would not admit apology under the  most
 aggravated provocation ; but under the circumstances of the case, it displays  such
 an  utter destitution of honorable feeling and  correct moral principle, combined
 moreover with such cherished malignity, as makes it difficult to speak of the exhi-
 bition in respectful terms.  I had supposed that as I had been violently driven from
 the College before  the session was ended, by his management eight months since,
 and had taken no measures to keep alive  or to awaken  any recollection of it; that
 it might, at least in some degree, have  been set at rest, as common decency and
 propriety would have  counselled any man situated as  is Dr. Smith : but in this I
 have been disappointed.  He not only revived the  subject  with additions of much
 which is false  in fact, but  attempted  to  impress his hearers with the belief that a
 majority of the Professors, the Trustees, and the  Regents of the University were 
33
of his opinions,  and approved his  conduct.  Of the Regents he particularly in-
stanced the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the State, the Hon. J. C. Spen-
cer; the Chancellor of the University, the Hon. James  King, and the Hon. G. C.
Verplanck, a senator from this district, making an array of names, it must be con-
ceded,  well calculated to give  currency to his slanders.  Whether this be true of
the trustees, you can best judge; whether true of professors, they can individually
answer; and whether true of the  Hon. the  Regents, future enquiry may deter-
mine.
  He premised his remarks  by stating, that this was the  first opportunity which
had presented, to address them as President of- the College, on the subject which
he had  chosen;  and that it was in that character  he appeared before  them, and not
as a Professor.  The object of this note is, to call your  attention to this monstrous
abuse of the privilege of a  public station.  If sueh conduct  be allowed to pass
without censure, by those to  whom  the law entrusts the government  of our literary
and scientific institutions, the consequences cannot be  contemplated without dis-
may !  If the President of a college may, without  danger of reproof, take advan-
tage of his public  character, and under the pretext of  duty slander and libel the
reputations of gentlemen in private  life; there can be no security for  any individual
in the community who may happen to  incur his displeasure.  It is a prostitution of
office too base to escape the  marked reprobation of  the  public.  We live in a land
whose laws secure to us our  lives, our  liberty and  our  property, and surely it was
never contemplated that the  most precious property we possess,  our reputations,
should alone be left without defence.
  I complain that I have been publicly slandered  ; that unusual pains were taken
to make the slanders as public as possible, and I make my first appeal  to you, under
whose  authority it has been published, (if indeed  it be permitted to pass without
reproof.) The allegation I now make is too notorious to need  testimony; if you
should  think that it requires it, 1 refer you to members of your own  board, and to
the Professors of the College.
                               I am,
                                     Your's respectfully,
                                             JAMES R.  MANLEY.
New-York, November 10th, 1840.

   The letter speaks for itself; and although it  contains a plain state-
ment  of facts with  their  obvious inferences, and  commends itself to
             <
the attention  of the trustees on the ground of duty ;  strange as it may
appear, after  it had been read, it was  directed  to  be  returned  to the
writer !   It would  be vain  to attempt to explain this  extraordinary
proceeding, in which duty and  propriety  were alike  insulted, pub-
lie  feeling contemned, and college discipline disgraced ;  and if Mr.
Joseph Delafield,  who is repotted to have made the motion  is not
tashamed of his agency,  it would seem to be  high  time that he should
resign an  office which involves duties which he cannot comprehend.
The fact  must  go to the  world  without  comment, since  none which
could be made  could render it more impressive.  As before  remarked,
                                   5 
34
 Dr. Smith is the President of a medical school, whose varied fortunes,
 have invariably disappointed public expectation, and conduct like thi3
 is little calculated to increase  its influence or its popularity.  A pub-
 lie school, whatever be the amount of its  patronage, or the measure of
 excellence of its professors, must dwindle  to  the insignificance of a
 private stock company, when its president, by management, can con-
 trol all the departments  of  its  government.  If he can  control  the
 election of trustees, and through  them, when  elected,  control  the
 choice of lecturers, and through the joint co-operation of both parties
 so chosen, through  a friend  in  the board of Regents, also  control
 their actions; what security have  the  public that the whole  powers
 of the corporation, (a college  only in  name) will not be prostituted
 to the mere uses  of joint stock companies  in trade, whose business it is
 from the employment of small capitals  to produce large dividends.
 The  people  of this  state have had some  experience of  this kind, and
 the re-organization of this very school in 1826, is an instructive illus-
 tration.
   It was a great mistake to  place the  government of this medical
 school in the hands of persons, who by the necessity of the case  are
 no judges of medical acquirements.*  It was a still greater one, when,
 as  if to render even this organization nugatory, the Regents of  the
 University appointed Dr. Smith who is a  professor, also its president;
 thus making  him the channel of communication between the boards
 of professors  and trustees, he holding the  one office by appointment,
 and assuming  the  other, claiming to  preside over both.   All com-
 munications  between these bodies  must  now  be held through an in-
 terested agent, who is more intent on preserving his own  situation in
 despite of his acknowledged  incompetency,  than in protecting and
 cherishing the interests of the institution.   It is this vice  in the or-
 ganization of the college, which furnished him with  an excuse  for
 his conduct towards me ; when he told his class that he he,ld two offices
 —one as president, the other  as professor; and that he acted in his
character of president, when he denounced my  course of instruction !+
  That Dr. Smith's charge was but a pretext, and a mendacious pre-

  * About one half of the board of trustees are merchants or men who profess no
 knowledge of medical subjects.
  t It  was  the cunning manifested in this device, which alone saves him from a
public prosecution, by indictment, for a malevolent slander, and a suit for special
 damages in a civil action, and he knows it; and it is this which leaves me no alter-
native for the course I now adopt;  whatever of meanness therefore which belongs
 to such a covert attack on reputation, is justly his and he  must wear its disgrace. 
35
text too, is shown, 1st. by the fact that it made no part of his opposi-
tion to me, while I was the  candidate of my friends for the lecture-
ship.  2d. That  he  never embraced the opportunity of hearing a
single lecture delivered to my class, and therefore was not a qualified
judge, even allowing that he  was capable of forming a judgment if he
had heard me.   3d. That if it had been true, there could have been no
necessity for anticipating the action which such  incompetency would
naturally suggest when the course was finished ;  and 4th. It was de-
nied by every associated teacher, at the time he made the inquiry with
a view to their  co-operation in  his infamous attempt to break  me
down.   But on this  point I  forbear, circumstances speak for  them-
selves, and nothing which I  can say will add  to the weight of their
evidence.
  There are some offences  so gross, that the laws of the land have
prescribed no  penalties  for them ; perhaps for the  reason  that those
who have opportunity to commit them, are presumed  to be men of
morals  and education,  who acknowledge the control  either of con-
science or of honor, and therefore not likely to be guilty of them ; or
if peradventure deficient in both, that public opinion will so  punish
the offences, as  effectaally to prevent  their repetition.   Of this de-
scription are libels published from privileged places: scandal or slander
uttered from the pulpit, for  example, will always meet with its just
deserts  without  the  aids of the law of libel, because public feeling
will not permit attacks  on private character to  be made, where they
cannot  according  to   the  ordinary usages of society be publicly
answered ; and by common consent it is held to be mean and despic-
able to use a public  or  official privilege to gratify private or selfish
purposes. It would have been fortunate for Mr. Joseph Delafield,  and
his associates, if the above or a similar reason could have been assign-
ed, for the utter  disregard of my letter to them of November 10th, but
they have put it out of the power of the reader to make  this apology
for them, by directing it to be returned to the writer.  It is a matter
however with  which as an individual I have little concern compared
with that which the public ought to feel ; and it is not probable that
this marked contempt for public opinion will be passed over in silence
when another grant shall be  asked for the support of the institution.
   The last act of this extraordinary exhibition was in  perfect keeping
with the previous steps of the process, and may serve as the crowning
glory, not only  of Dr.  Smith's triumph, but of the Paris  concours
which he and his associates claim to have approximated.   The  Re- 
36
 gents of the University held a meeting at Albany, on the  4th day of
 May, 1841.

   Present,—The Governor, The Lieut. Governor, Messrs. Wendell, Paige, Lansing,
 McKown, Spencer, Verplanck.
   The Regents then proceeded, in pursuance of their resolution of the 5th of May,
 1840, to appoint a Professor of Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women and Children
 in the College of  Physicians and Surgeons in the city of New York, and a com-
 munication from the Trustees of said College, recommending Chandler R. Gilman,
 M. D. to be appointed said professor, having been received  and read, the Regents
 determined to make such appointment by ballot.
   Mr. Wendell  was, at his own request,  excused from voting.   Messrs. Verplanck
 and McKown were appointed Tellers, who reported that they had  received seven
 ballots, of which there were four votes  given for Chandler R. Gilman and three
 blanks.
   On motion of Mr. Spencer, it was resolved that Dr. Chandler R. Gilman  has
 been elected  Professor of  Obstetrics and the Diseases of Women and Children in
 the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of New York, and he is hereby
 declared to be such professor.

   The board of Regents consists of twenty-five members, two of whom
 are ex officio.*  By a bye-law of the  board eight persons constitute a
 quorum, and  it is fair  to  presume that  a majority of the quorum is
 necessary to constitute a successful ballot; but the above transciipt of
 the minutes shows that  but seven ballots were cast, three of which
 were blanks ; so  that of a  board of consisting of twenty-five men
(fifteen  of  whom were present  when  it was  necessary  that  an
election should be  postponed,  one year before, when  I was a candi-
date) only four, not even a majority of a quorum are sufficient to elect
a professor ! and  lest  a  doubt  should exist as to the validity of tho
election, it  is on motion of Mr. Spencer Resolved, that it is such;
and this is the consummation of what the professors in their circulars
dignify by the name of a Paris  concours !
   1 have  now finished the history of  the third dislocation of teachers
which has occurred in the College of Physicians and Surgeons within
three years, and so  far as known, all of them through the  agency of
 its president; the last confessedly so, as he triumphs in his success.
 The two first  'tis true had the character of resignations and in strict-
 ness ought  not to be classed as dislocations, since by the  same rule
Dr. Smith himself would long  ago have been superseded :  besides, in
 the two first  instances it is  said  that Drs. Smith and Delafield only
 were agents  in the negotiation, and as gentlemen, strangers in the
  * Another  ex officio member has since  been added by law, (the Secretary of
 State.) 
37
city of New-York, the incumbents most probably preferred resigning
to continuing longer in  the  company of such associates.   The last
was a pretty well  contested trial if we take into account the charac-
ter of the weapons with which the parties were armed, and the number
of  auxiliaries which  two expectant successors on one  side  brought
into the field, each  intent  on the rewards  of victory, though neither
appears to have had much personal agency.   To the greater part of
readers, the whole narrative  although made up of facts, is in danger
of being viewed in the light  of fable, for want of motive in the agent.
   Flagrant offences must have strong temptations of some kind, other-
wise they who commit  them  may be classed with  those whom the
book of Proverbs  denominates fools ; and as I am unwilling  to place
Dr. Smith in this  category, I feel bound  to find a motive for  his con-
duct.   The one he has thought proper to assign, is too bald a pretence
to deceive any child who can balance evidence, and impugns the in-
telligence of the  whole medical profession, in this city and state ;
who at various times have elected him whom he charges with incom-
petency, to fill the most important offices in their gift; if  there is
room therefore for the  imputation  at all,  it  must apply with  equal
force to his constituents, of whom Dr. Smith was one, and  it will be
time enough to refute it, when he is able to adduce one  tythe part of
the recommendations for any station he ever was invited to occupy.*
The  truth is, that the charge was a pretext to conceal a motive too
mean to be expressed in terms.  The excess of his own fears for his
own situation,  made him suspect an enemy in  every man  whom he
could not use, and he knew enough of me  to settle that question  with-

  * Although it may savour of egotism, it is necessary in order to brand with repro-
bation the base suggestion, to state that Dr. Manley was twice elected president
of the medical society of this county ; at one of these elections the contest was a
warm one and Dr. Smith voted  for him ; that he was twice  elected their represen-
tative to the medical society of the state, (an office  which falls  in by limitation
every four years;) that he was once elected censor of the same society; that
he was  fifteen  or sixteen times elected a censor of the medical society of the
state for the southern district, whose duty by law is to examine all candidates for
licenses under  the state laws, which may present themselves ; that he was twice
elected the president of said society; and that he nowis a censor. That he has been
for a number of years, and until the spring of 1840, the resident physician of this
city, which is an office in the gift of the governor and senate of this state, and ex-
pires by constitutional provision every two years ; and that during all this time, em-
bracing  a period of more than twenty-one years, he never was charged directly or
indirectly, with deficiencies either of talent, tact or integrity in the discharge of the
various duties which the offices required. 
38
out inquiry.  Too  blind  to his own deficiences to appreciate  either
the force or the value of  professional opinion, and yet in dread of its
power, he had for years been endeavoring to fortify himself in his posi-
tion, by privately suggesting candidates for all vacancies occurring in
the board of trustees ;  and  so successful had been his silent management,
that at a full meeting, he  was confident of  a majority on any question
that affected his  interest ;  in proof of which, I  may only state  the
fact that during the  examination of candidates  on one occasion, and
just previous to the vote in the board,  which would definitively settle
the question of my success or defeat, he was engaged in making an
outside canvass of the votes of the trustees under the separate heads
of ayes and noes;  and in this list are found the names of two persons
whom he had recommended to  fill vacancies previous to the ballot,
neither of whem were then  appointed  trustees, and one  of whom is
not appointed yet: it is a curiosity in his  own  writing, which by ac-
cident was left on the table when the examiners adjourned, and is now
in my possession.  The control of the board of trustees, by consequence
would carry the selection of lecturers, and of course no difficulty of
any kind occurred in the choice of Drs. Watts or Parker when  made
lecturers, because  the president was satisfied ;  but when I became a
candidate, every thing that could be made available for my defeat was
put in requisition, and the  certainty which he  entertained of the re-
sult, made him absolutely savage when he  found himself disappointed.
With the majority of the trustees ;  a majority of the teachers, who by
this management  become his  own  appointments; and with an influ-
ential friend in the board of Regents, he not only calculates to render
his own  situation permanent, his  incompetency notwithstanding, but
to govern the institution  ; and the experiment is now in operation !
   I would now willingly close this extraordinary exposition, but I am
sensible that the reader without some key to explain Dr. Smith's con-
duct will be apt to doubt the testimony of his own senses.  That the
weakest member of a college, one who has himself been transposed
because of his incompetency ;  one who, if he was not blind to his own
defects, could not  fail to have been chastened into some degree of
modesty ; one whom every physician and surgeon belonging to  the
institution, whether professor or trustee, considers as  the dead weight
which the  college  has  been  obliged  to carry for more than fifteen
years ; that such  a man with a measure of morals  such  as I have ex-
hibited, and a measure of talent such as he has  shown himself to pos-
sess, should have had the temerity to break through all the restraints
 which society imposes in professional life in order to gratify his own 
39
morbid feelings, is a  circumstance calculated to tax  credulity to the
utmost extent of its capacity.   But surprise will moderate when the
reader is made  acquainted with his  character.  He  belongs  to that
class of men, who although they may acquire their stock of informa-
tion early, are too soon satisfied with their measure of attainment; no
instruction therefore can make  them wiser; with a quick perception,
but a narrow field of intellectual vision, he jumps  to  his conclusions
from slender premises, and marvels that  his  reasoning does not pro-
duce conviction.  Having been a precocious boy, he has become a
vain man, delighting in nothing so much as  the sounds of his own
voice, provided others can hear it also ; and  to  say truth, gratifying
all such as have a taste for Italian  music, where sense has no connec-
tion with sound, and  sentiment makes no  part of the entertainment.
Vanity  in  general is a venial offence, because as it usually manufact-
ures its own penalties, it rarely  becomes very  disgusting ; but there are
cases, where, like a noxious  weed, it stints the growth of every thing
around  it, not only by absorbing all the nutriment  of the soil, but  in-
tercepting  every ray of science  by its upas  shade, and  Dr.  Smith's
vanity is of this character ;  self is the burden of every lecture.   If
called to deliver the  eulogium of a dead friend, he  will turn the oc-
casion to account in  eulogizing himself,* and once  he had the mo-
desty to allow (and to his credit be it said) that he had seen  both in
Europe and America men greater than himself!
   Whatever may be its influence  on the writers, it  is fortunate for
the world,  that  auto-biographies are often written without any con-
sciousness that  they are such ; and  Dr. Smith is  among the  number
of  those who take care to describe  themselves whenever they speak
or write.  It would be impossible to  hear his  lectures, or read  his
printed essays,  without being convinced  that be the subject  what it
may, Dr. Smith's self makes up a large part of it, and the wonder  is
that he is not fatigued by the eternal iteration ;  any  thing will serve
to introduce such a hackneyed  subject! the incidents of a farm yard,
a chicken chase, or a fox hunt, will serve as a point of propagation for
argument  to display the  assumed  fallacy  of commonly received

  * Vide Eulogium on the late Wright Post, M. D. published 1828, in which after
extolling the character of his subject, he very modestly admits that " he was  the
only man with whom in the course of his life, he had come into any sort of collision
whose talents and  whose  station  could for a moment' induce him to consider as a
rival."  And as if to add a sanction to the remark, he appends a note, which gives
the reader to understand, that Dr. Post was made acquainted with his opinion, and
he has reason to think that he was flattered by it! 
40
 opinions on physiology, and one false fact will be adduced to overset
 an induction based on a thousand.*  His principal object appears to
 be to say smart  things without manifesting any great  anxiety about
 the character of his facts, or reflecting on the consequences to which
 his generalizing propensity  necessarily  leads ; and  one  fact, if but
 half examined is for his purposes as good as twenty.
    His  great work, his monumenlum are perennius is entitled Select
 Discourses, and  consists of five introductory  lectures, some  of which
 have been so frequently repeated, that the  reader has a right to believe
 that they are free from the feculence  almost inseparable  from  first
 copies, and yet strange as it may appear,  the philosophy they con-
 tain is  beneath  the  criticism of the merest tyro in  physics. Many
 things are stated as facts, simply because it would be difficult to prove
 them false,  although  no one believes them ; consequences are  set
 down as causes, and  causes as results';  while both  are made  the
 bases of tedious arguments to prove what no untutored Indian ever
 doubted.   With  respect to  some of his  arguments, on phrenology for
 example, it may be safely stated, that although they  are intended to
 disprove the doctrine, and to  render it ridiculous, if they possess  any
 weight or influence, they are  calculated to  support it;  it is however
 not an  unusual  result of his reasoning, to convince the  reader of the

  * An extraordinary confirmation of the above opinion is furnished by a fact of
 recent occurrence.   Dr. Smith is the first Vice President of the New York Lyceum
 of Natural History, and of course occasionally occupies the chair in the absence of
 Mr. Delafield the president;  on one of those occasions, being in the chair, and al-
 ways inclined to be communicative, he observed, " that he never had a more vivid
 impression of the infinite divisibility of matter, than that which was  presented by the
 queen bee, whose one foecundation served for the procreation  of several  successive
generations.'"   What relation the fact, if such, could have with the infinite divisi-
bility of matter, is a little more  than common  sense  can fathom; for  he might
argue the  infinite divisibility of matter, from the transmission of  hereditary gout,
scrofula or consumption with just as much propriety from kindred  premises.   But
the  cream of this serious philosopical deduction is, that the fact which was father to
this vivid  impression is no fact at all.  Monsieur Reaumur years ago settled  this
question as regards the plant louse, (aphis,) but it never entered  into his head to
predicate the same thing of the bee,  (apis ;) it is true of one but not of  the other.
It is probable that the doctor in his rapid reading of some extract in a philosophical
journal, confounded  the two terms ; or, if his apologists please, as the character h,
in Greek at least, non est litem, he concluded that  Monsieur Reaumur so  thought,
and that the terms although generic, were synonyms.   By the way, it may be well
to inform the reader, that the author of this profound speculation, is now engaged
in a course of reading to qualify himself to deliver a course of Geology, for the bene
fit of the Lyceum ! 
41
 truth of the doctrines which he controverts.*   Of one thing the most
 enthusiastic phrenologists may be assured,  and it will  go  far  to an-
 swer all the objections which  Dr. Smith can offer to  their  favorite
 creed, viz.  that with an intimate  knowledge  of his character,  and a
 fac simile of his head to illustrate  the subject, it   would  be  exceed-
 ingly difficult  for the most confirmed  sceptic to resist the evidence of
 its truth.
   Dean  Swift has somewhere said that the world is our  own acquain-
 tance, and the Doctor has improved upon the  Dean, by presuming the
 world to be his own clique ; and it is astonishing with what facility, he
 and others of moderate sense are made the dupes of their own vanity,
 by associating  only  with those, who  as if by a kind of  conventional
 arrangement are pledged to make themselves great men ; and  for that
 purpose burn the incense of adulation under each other's  nose.f  This

   * An amusing instance of this kind occurs in one of the above select lectures ;
 where all  his reasoning is nullified by presenting himself, and his head particularly,
 in illustration ; and indeed it may be well doubted whether the lecture was written
 for any other purpose than to exhibit himself as an extraordinary man, whose pecu-
 liar and transcendent talents, may be  readily explained without the aids to be de-
 rived  from cranial conformation.   He states 'tis true, a fact which may deserve a
 record, viz. that he has one of the largest heads to be found in America ;—that it is
 very long and very narrow, and that  at first view its appearance is deceptive ; but
 he has left the reader to infer its thickness,  presuming I suppose  that  he has fur-
 nished him sufficient data in the work, upon which to form his judgment.* The
 above lectures appear to have had few readers. They are said to have been stereo-
 typed, for  the benefit of another generation !
  t An impressive confirmation of the influence of combination for mutual benefit
 is presented  by the following series  of facts.  There  are seven professors  in the
 College of Physicians and Surgeons, four of whom are  so closely associated, by in-
stinct or interest,  that any one of the number, in case of necessity, and when the
subject involves college politics, speaks for the whole.  The  anomaly which needs
 explanation is, that but little more than two years ago,  these four persons had three
 distinct personal interests. Dr. Smith had, or thought he bad, an interest in defeating
me, and for  this  purpose brought  forward Dr. Gilman as his candidate; but the
board  of trustees  defeated him.  He  afterwards made another trial, the history of
 which will be found in the text, and Drs. Watts and  Parker presented for their can-
 didate Dr. Bartlett of Lowell, Massachusetts ; and  that Dr. Smith might insure
 himself success, he abandoned his friend, (Dr. Gilman,)  and  gave  all his influence
to the  candidate  of Doctors Watts and Parker.  This coalition was also defeated ;
and Dr. Gilman was successful in despite of their opposition, through the agency of
my friends, whose votes were then  of no use to  me.  Here we have Dr. Smith,
Drs. Watts and Parker, and Dr. Gilman all engaged in a tripartite struggle, each
 intent on  his own purposes ; and now, at this  present writing, all the  four are as
 closely associated as if they were uterine brothers!  But this  is not all.   Less than
 one year ago, (in the fall of 1841,) if rumor can be credited, Drs. Gilman, Watts and
 Parker were all found  actively engaged in searching for some man willing to take
 the responsibility of writing a letter to Dr. John Augustine Smith to induce  him to
                                     6 
42
rity has  long  been controlled  by a class of men of  this description.
For many years has its literary and scientific character been made to
depend on the interested, but joint agencies of men  possessed of small
capital but indomitable industry in turning its amount to the best  ad-
vantage ;  and so successful  has been this species of speculation, that
the reputation  acquired  by it is, with some honorable exceptions, al-
most the only celebrity which  is within  the grasp  even of the indus-
trious and talented aspirant.   If he be not  affiliated with some clique,
or attempts to  make his  way without such  aids, he must possess  him-
self in patience, and address  the reading  rather than  the listening
public, who will  not fail to make a just estimate of his merit,  when
time has been allowed them  to  form a judgment.
   It  is  the  influence of these  mutual  benefit  companies which  has
nominated and elected the presidents, vice-presidents and actuaries of
our literary  societies for years; and it is this which  now controls
them.*  These are  the associations which make  great men  out of

resign.'  Would not a Round-Robin have served their purpose, and covered  the
transaction ?  If the report here only stated as such, is not substantially true,  Dr.
Delafield can, if he will, contradict it.
  Are not the reflections suggested by such facts^humiliating?  Can the annals of
criminal combinations, apart from  technical turpitude, furnish any case more instruc-
tive ?  Can a college controlled  by such men, " all things by turns  and nothing
long," lay claim to public patronage ?  Is there not room to fear  that under such
rule, it may soon become a private school ?
  I have  suggested the name of Dr. Delafield as  the referee, simply because  his
agency, for the last two years, has been more active and  efficient than that of any
other person except Dr. Smith : the wherefore he may feel himself obliged to explain
at some future period.
  That Dr. Smith will find it convenient to retire under the pretence of infirm
health, is highly probable, and it is just as probable that.the time may arrive, at the
precise period when the disputed succession is settled.  But the question of succes-
sion if closely examined may go far to account for  the  extraordinary conduct of Dr.
Delafield, who though among the first to suggest the necessity of Dr. John Augus-
tine Smith's retirement from the chair of Physiology, is afterwards found proposing
a resolution " that it is inexpedient to consolidate any of the courses of instruction."
(Vide page, 26.)  Does Dr. Delafield  expect that Dr. Smith will  be made willing
to retire from the office of president of the college,  in order to preserve his situation
as professor?  Or does he think  that the  interests of the institution  require  only
this change, if made for his account?  If he does indulge such soft anticipations
it would  be kindness in his friends to dissipate the delusion.  That such a treaty
could be negotiated, is highly probable; but that it would be  ratified by the regents
is much more uncertain.
  * Some years since, it was thought necessary to recast some  of the professor-
ships in this college with the view of increasing its usefulness and  adding to its re-
putation,  and on  this occasion  as now, professors had the whole control of  the in-
stitution through the agency of some two or three influential men.  They sent to- 
43
small  materials, and  qualify lecturers  on every branch  of science
 without the labor of study.*  It is owing to agency like this that one
man may be at  the same  time, an  anatomist, a physiologist, a meta-
physician, a political ceconomist, nay a naturalist or geologist;  a pre-
sident of one  institution and vice president of another, or indeed any
 thing as per order,  and  claim excellence in all !  He  is  qualified  by
patent to teach  any thing or every thing  by turns, which  his vanity,

Paris and invited a gentleman then  resident there, and formerly our consul, (Mr.
 David B. Warden,) to qualify himself as  a  chemist as soon  as possible, and take
 that chair; which  he accordingly accepted.  He commenced his course of labor and
study with Mons. Vauquelin  for this purpose, but when he was prepared to embark
 for America, other  arrangements had been made, and he was informed that  the
chair had found an occupant!   During  the struggle for the new places, those of
most profit, were of course most in  demand, and considerable altercation ensued ;
 Dr. A. would not have this place—Dr. B. would not have that—Dr. C. insisted on
the one  he  occupied, &c.   At last one of  their  number appealing to Dr. D. said,
<l well then what will be left for you ?" to which he with great good humor answer-
 ed, " Oh gentlemen, gentlemen, don't differ longer about it; suit yourselves—I'll
take  whatever you leave, for  it makes  little difference to me, as I shall  have to
qualify myself before the course commences, be it what it may !"  He was as good
as his word, and took  Natural Philosophy that he might have a wide field for  the
exercise of his talents!
   If my recollection be correct, it  was at this tims that the professors dislocated  the
late Dr. Hamersly, the professor of the theory and practice of physic, after having
crippled his course, by  procuring  his removal from the  New York Hospital, and
making it necessary for him to give his clinical instructions in the New York State
Prison, at the distance of  two miles from the college where he could  not have, at
the most, more than twenty  beds.
   * We have in remembrance a special case in point;—a gentleman  well known
in our clique  circles now extant, by this management was made qualified to lecture
on Midwifery, Institutes of Medicine, MediealJurisprudence, and Materia Medica;
and it is remarkable that he  lectured on  all with an equal degree of facility and
success ! and so well settled is this clique concours, that almost any individual in  '
the least degree familiar with their policy, can predict with  certainty who will pro-
nounce the eulogiums on the penultimate members, or the Octogenarians of Litera-
ture in this city or  state.   We trust' that the reader is loo well informed to require
more particular information,  more especially, if he be a resident of either.
   We recollect the time, when the officers of the several  societies who gave a tone
to the public taste were, nearly all, the same men ; and for the dispatch of business
it was found very convenient:  for example,  the Literary and Philosophical Society,
the Historical Society, and the Academy  of Arts were so happily situated, that if
a meeting of  one was called, it served for  all three :  the officers had only to  declare
one meeting  adjourned, and  another opened, and  by opening another sett of books
it was done;  and when that business was disposed of, declare another society in
session,  and it was  so.  One  of these fraternities found themselves in difficulty,  by
having seriously declared that the books of  admission were  closed, and a death or
resignation only could admit  a member! 
44
 and a week's  preparation may prompt him to attempt.  Now to all
 this pretence,  however ridiculous, there can  be  no serious objection
 provided it be restricted within its own proper limits, and confined to
 subjects of mere taste or the fine arts, where mistakes have no serious
 consequences: but it is far otherwise in the various departments  of
 medicine  where ignorance and error are  liable to be attended with
 fatal results ; here it is essential that the teacher be qualified by study
 and observation before  he  attempts to become an instructor;  he has
 or ought to have higher aims than the mere pecuniary emoluments of
 his vocation, and when  he  has  not, he disgraces the chair he occupies.
 It need not be  disguised, that the  practice of physic has within a few
 years lost  much of the respect which it, formerly, enjoyed ; and  to
 nothing is this more justly attributable, than to the mercenary spirit,
 which the public  think (wrong or right) pervades the medical pro-
 fession.   Medicine practised as a trade is certainly as discreditable  as
 it  is dangerous, and  if the scandal attaches, the odium  is merited :
 whether it does or does not, every intelligent  man  must answer for
 himself; but of one thing  we may be  assured, if it does  not, it soon
 will; since nothing is better calculated to produce this result, than the
 conversion of  the business of teaching it,  into one merely of profit.
 In many parts of this country it has become  a profession by itself, and
 teachers travel from place  to  place  to instruct, who have no experi-
 ence to illustrate or confirm their lessons.  At the present time, the
 labor saving  process of  lecturing is  more in request than  at any for-
 mer period, simply because it  is  easier to  listen than to read; and
 when the  lecturer  looks only to be compensated in coin, it is obvious-
 ly his interest to make his lectures popular,  and there is great danger
 that instruction may be  sacrificed to mere amusement.  Nothing can
 illustrate the above remark with more force, than the  course of physi-
 ology as conducted in this  college, although this has failed of  its or-
 dinary result, from the ignorance, the indifference, and the vanity  of
 the professor:  the attempt however to render  his lectures amusing
 rather than instructive,  is as obvious as the failure to do either ; and
 his class, although, as before remarked, he  has the most  interesting
course of study in  the college  for his subject, is less  in number than
 any other of  his associates.
  A sound moral is the  basis of all character worth possessing ; and
although it sometimes  happens, though  unfortunately, that great ta-
lents in the estimation  of the  world  appear to redeem the want of it,
 yet it would  be difficult to make the public believe, that the persons
more immediately  engaged  in this unrighteous war against  an  indi- 
                               45

vidual, possess  an amount sufficient to shield them from the just in.
dignation which  their conduct merits; since the testimony is yet to
be presented on which any of them can  claim  distinction for capa-
city or acquirements, or the useful application of either, which can
give them a right to be rated above their fellows.  Official distinction
never can confer such a right, although it is often presumed upon.   In
medical schools the office of a professor is and ought to be honorable;
but it cannot create intelligence or morals;  it only furnishes oppor-
tunities for  their display ;  and when the opportunities have been  en-
joyed for years, the public have a right to require evidence of the pos-
session  of the  talents upon which in  advance  they have predicated
their confidence ; and more especially  is this  their duty, when profes-
sors in  place of presenting their  own qualifications for the  stations
they occupy, are particularly anxious  to depreciate  the acquirements
of others.  The whole subject from its inception to the  final settle-
ment, presents  a series  of expedients to avoid a just issue,  and Dr.
John  Augustine  Smith has been  peculiarly unfortunate in finding
men to  be  his  associates in  this  unhallowed enterprize,  through the
temptation presented, of serving  both themselves  and their  friends.
In order that the reader may have a full view of his conduct, and its
results,  we will endeavor to group  the incidents, since  the panorama
can be exhibited in a  nut-shell.  Dr. Smith, for some cause or other
thinks that Dr. Manley is not  the  proper man for  lecturer on Obste-
trics, and does all he can to prevent his election ; he is defeated, how-
ever, the trustees having decided otherwise ;  and here his opposition
might have stopped for a season, and taken counsel of discretion ; in
place of which  it becomes more violent.  Dr. Manley commences and
proceeds in  his course till half advanced, (13th January,) when he  is
informed that Dr. Smith has denounced him  for incompetency before
the board of trustees ; in  the belief that as  the denouncement was
made within four walls, it ought  not  to have been communicated to
any person abroad ; he not only denounces,  but makes  the occasion
to do so, urging as a reason, what was  not such, viz. that " it was
the proper time to render a report to  the Regents, and that it was
usual to speak of the different courses of instruction in such reports ;"
(although it had not been done for ten previous years.)  Dr.  Manley
notwithstanding the embarrassment necessarily caused by such  con-
duct, proceeds and  concludes the course.   After it is  concluded Dr.
Smith, without warrant from law or precedent, calls the professors to-
gether, in order as he said, to take their opinion of Dr. Manley although
they were not apprised of the business of their meeting.  When  met 
46
they determine and give it as their conviction, that Dr. Manley is the
best candidate for the chair whom they know, who has not heretofore
been in the habit  of lecturing; but one of their number (Dr. Watts)
does know a gentleman, a Dr. Bartlett, a friend, accustomed to lec-
ture,  who  would  suit  the station  exactly;  whereupon Dr.  Smith
agrees, that be he who he may, he  is to be preferred to Dr. Manley,
and  immediately  a bargain  is concluded that  the  said Dr. Bartlett
shall be the candidate to receive their joint support, although it  be at
the expense of his first nominee. Dr. Gilman.   After a suitable time
to prepare  for the ballot, a  meeting of the trustees is  called ; Dr.
Smith having previously informed Dr. Gilman, that the professors pre-
ferred  Dr. Manley to  any man who  had  not lectured, and that there-
fore he could not  now support him, but would be obliged  to  give his
influence  to Dr.  Bartlett; his intention  being to defeat Dr. Manley
at all events.   When the trustees meet, they find Dr.  Manley a can-
didate for the  professorship, and Drs. Bartlett and Gilman candidates
for the lectureship in  the event of Dr. Manley's defeat, which Dr.
Smith fully  anticipated.   The question comes up " Resolved, that Dr.
Manley be recommended to the Hon. Uegents as Professor of Obste-
trics," &c.  and as Dr. Smith had  directed, it was negatived in open
vote.   Dr. Manley has then no more  to do with the matter.   Now the
lectureship  comes up, and a  ballot is resorted to, when to the confu-
sion of the partnership,  notwithstanding  the  bushel  of recommenda-
tions for Dr. Bartlett, (few of which were read,) Dr. Gilman is found
to have a majority of their votes, and is declared to be elected ; all the
friends of Dr. Manley casting  their  ballots for Dr. Gilman, and  he
having two friends, and  a neuter to  produce this result.   Not long
afterwards the Regents determine to appoint professors, and fix upon
the fifth day of May, for their meeting ;  whereupon  the whole  coali-
tion  is in trouble through fear  that the  Regents may appoint Dr.
Manley to the chair, their election of a lecturer notwithstanding.  At
this point  the affair assumes extraordinary interest.   Two papers are
circulated about the city asking the  Regents to refrain from appoint-
ing a professor of Obstetrics, as the trustees had elected Dr, Gilman
their lecturer,  and they hoped that  they, the Regents, would permit
him to deliver  a  course under that  authority, not doubting his capa-
city, &c. as usual  in such cases.  The professors also had a meeting,
if four can be called such when the  board consists of seven, and they
seriously represent, that it would be highly injurious to the  college,
if at this time  they appointed a professor  ! and to secure  success, Dr.
Smith  volunteers  to repair to Albany, to be present at the"meeting  of 
47
the Regents and represent in proper person the interests involved in
their action, especially as he had some business of his own relating to
consolidation of courses of instruction.*   With this tremendous battery
and Dr. Smith in person, the Regents  were assaulted in May, 1840,
and it was  hardly to be expected, that they could resist the attack.
The Regents  did  not appoint a professor of Obstetrics ; Dr. Gilman
did continue the lecturer on Obstetrics, and one year afterwards was
appointed  professor  of  the  same branch.   Vide minutes of Regents,
page 36.
   So far, management had  been successful, but it  seemed expedient.
that it should be endorsed by the trustees in order to conceal its  true
character ; for which purpose a college circular is drawn up, dictated
if not written by the same parties ;  in which this outrageous conduct
is dignified by the name  of a Paris concours; and in order that the
 reader may judge of its  merit, we will give him its definition extracted
 from  the  best authority.   Concours :  Mettre une chaire au concours,
 (the  precise sense in which the term is used in  the circular,) la mettre
 a la dispute entre plusieurs pretendans pour la donner a celui qui  aura
 le plus de capacite;  in  fact, to declare  a professorship to  be disposed
 of in  favor of the best qualified candidate.  If the reader will turn
 to the foot note  of  p tge 7, he will have a striking exhibition  of pro-
 fessorial assurance.  The concours in  the cases  of Drs. Watts and
 Parker was  composed,  if report  is  to be  credited, of Drs. John  A.
 Smith and Edward  Delafield ! and in  the case of the professor of ob-
 stetrics,  of  Messrs. Griswold and  Wyckoff!   It  has served the pur-
 pose, however, and  given  to all concerned, some celebrity.  Without
 the  appendage of the  college circular, the whole  might  have been
 considered as an affair  between medical men, discreditable enough 'tis
 true, but  only involving individual  interests ;  but now the institution
 has  been  made to endorse the deception, and  must suffer in its credit,
 having been made the dupe of her agents.  Who can be made to believe
  that qualifications  had any agency in selecting either lecturers  or
  professors, when the term concours is thus prostituted ?  It is an  un-
  worthy attempt to make character, at  others' expense, and when it is

    »  By the way, these voluntary journeys of Dr. Smith to Albany were made at
  the coilesre charge ! He went to Albany before my appointment as lecturer, and
  while there Dr. Delafield,  the resigned professor, is made a trustee.  In the present
  Tase he went partly to defeat the action of the board of trustees who had previous
  ly determined, that the appointment of professors was none of their busmess and
   L they would not interfere ; and partly to save his own profesSOrsh,p which he
    ad gool reason to fear was in danger;  but  he made out  Ms bds of expenses; as
  President  he audited them; and they were  actually paid as college charges' 
48
 known that  this college circular was drawn up  by the  four  profes-
 sors, Dr. Smith, Dr. Gilman, Dr. Watts, and Dr. Parker, who affect to
 control the college, and only presented to trustees, in order to have it
 properly authenticated to serve for a public advertisement; it is calcu-
 lated less to provoke our contempt, than our pity.   This abortive at-
 tempt to clothe the management of Dr. Smith & Co. with the charac-
 ter of a Paris concours, however  ridiculous, is  pardonable compared
 with the pretension which  marks the circular of  the present year, in
 which the  public are seriously assured that " It may be confidently
 DECLARED  THAT THE  FACULTY ARE  DISTINGUISHKD  FOR A DEGREE
 OF  TALENT, ENERGY/ AND  SCIENTIFIC  ACQUISITION NOT SUKPASSED  IN
 the United  States."   This is extracted from the report of the Re-
 gents of the University, but the above mentioned gentlemen, although
 they give it as an  extract, have forgotten to  tell the public that they
 themselves  wrote it! the  trustees having no  more  to  do with  it, than
 with a national treaty ! and  that three of the seven professors never
 saw it till it was in print, is a fact which will  not be denied.  If either
 of these men should  publicly advertise that he possessed wit,  talent,
 energy and scientific acquirement equal to any person  in America,
 what would the public think of his pretensions ?  What name would
 be appropriated to designate such rabid conceit ?   Would any  indivi-
 dual of the four be willing  to be the author of the article ?   And yet
 they write  it as they would a round-robin, and  procure it to be authen-
 ticated as  an academic document, presuming that no person  will be
 curious enough to inquire into its paternity.
  I have now done  what I purposed ;  I have uncovered rottenness too
 offensive to allow me to prosecute the dissection farther ; and it is for
 the public to determine on the merits of the operation. I have no per-
 sonal interest in the result, but I have a right  to presume on the inte-
 grity and common sense of the  community who will not permit such
 conduct as  I have unmasked, to pass unrebuked.  The attempt  to de-
stroy me had its origin in cowardice ;  it was a failure, till temptation
 enlisted auxiliaries; the opinion of Dr. Smith's associates with whom
 he advised, counselled him to caution, if his vanity  would have permit-
 ted him to listen ; " but  I know a man who is in the habit of lecturing,
who I think would suit the place," was the  cabalistic, sentence (uttered
by Dr. Watts  to serve  his friend, Dr. Bartlett,) which robbed him of
his  discretion, and made him the dupe of his pupil.
               " How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds,
                Makes deeds ill done !" 
 
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