\&vi. Gj
N
APPEAL
TO THE
MEDICAL  PROFESSION
O V THE
UNITED STATES,
BY JAMES CONQUEST CROSS, M. D,

«*> /I
     CINCINNATI:
PRINTED AT THE DAILY ATLAS OFFICE.
         1846. 
ijg 
APPEAL.
   I have been guilty of a great  deriliction of duty, and have^
in consequence of it, I fear, suffered much in public estimation.
This  has consisted in my forbearance  towards a  man  whom
it was always in  my power to have demolished, so far at least,
as his intellectual, scientific and moral claims have  given  him
consideration with the reflecting and upright part of mankind.
Of this  he  shall have no  reason, so far, at least, as I am
concerned, to  complain  in  future, nor shall he  congratulate
himself that he has a license to perpetrate every variety of
atrocious outrage  without  the  apprehension of being held  to a
strict accountability.  To those familiar with the peculiar,  I
had  almost said  anomolous, and  unprecedented structure of
Lexington society, my  silence in relation  to  grievances, so
diversified  and aggravated, as  to  be quite sufficient  to have
forced the dumb  to speech, may  be  a topic of animadversion,
but certainly not  a subject of surprise.
   I was born, reared and  educated in  Lexington, and have
but little real  or personal  interest  in  Kentucky out  of  the
county of Fayette, and have,  therefore, been  constrained to
remain  here  long after inclination, could I have indulged it,
would have prompted me  to shake from my feet with indignant
contempt, the dust of the  city of my  nativity.   Nor is this the
first time my heart has been made to feel emotions so unnatural,
if not unworthy  and discreditable.  Twelve years ago  I  was
driven into exile by the same malign  influence that has pursued
me with  the  most envenomed rancour  ever since.   I  found
refuge and was honored in a neighboring city.  There I  was
not permitted to remain.   The  turpitude and treachery of the
man whose sway is still unfortunately paramount in Lexington,
had brought the Medical Department of Transylvania Univer-
sity to the very  verge of  ruin.   The  Medical Faculty  was 
4
dissolved, and he and his  colleague, (for although he had two,
one of them justly scorned to interest himself in the matter,) the
prostituted remnants of a once flourishing institution looked around
in almost hopeless despair for those who would co-operate with
them in supporting its ancient grandeur and glory.   Repeatedly
were the  chairs tendered  and as often were  they rejected,
and finally  it was feared they would be obliged to give them to
three subordinate  men.   In this   situation,  after  irresistible
importunity, having already  refused it once, I agreed to take
the Institutes.  The love  I cherished, in despite of the most
causeless and ungrateful persecution, for the place of my birth
persuaded me to fly, (at a heavy sacrifice,) to  the rescue  of my
Alma Mater.  When I joined my new colleagues I found, to
my great disappointment and  dissatisfaction, that  the  whole
responsibility of completing the reorganization rested  exclusively
upon myself.   They were discouraged — had, besides prevailing
on me to join them, done  nothing, and evidently did not know
what to do.   Before I had been  six weeks  a member  of the
faculty I travelled two  thousand  miles on the business  of the
School, and completed, to  the satisfaction of all, the reorganiza-
tion.   Thus, by my energy and  enterprise, was  the  entire
overthrow of the Medical  Department of Transylvania Univer-
sity in 1837 averted, and ever since, until the spring of 1844, was
it enabled by the same means to maintain its ground; and I would
have extended its popularity and  usefulness, had  not my exer-
tions been thwarted by  those who  were too  stupid  to  be
enlightened by instruction,  and too jealous to be indebted to
my enterprise.   Since 1844, its condition of progressive  decay
has  been such as to mortify the pride instead of flattering the
vanity of those concerned in it.   This, and a brief history of
the  events that led to  my  resignation in 1844, together with
the incontestible fact, that those who rule  and regulate  public
opinion have transferred  their homage  from  the omnipotence
of truth to the omnipotence  of a name, and that name that of
B. W.  Dudley, will be regarded,  by the public at large, as
sufficient apology  for entertaining and expressing sentiments
apparently ungrateful, and of which, under othei circumstances,
I should be heartily ashamed.
  The  necessity I  was under, and  am still, to remain in Lex-
i  ngton, was the reason why 1 did not, in 1844,  give a full history,
not  only of the events that led to my resignation  but  of my
connexion  with Transylvania University, and thus have  placed
myself, in my true position, before the public.  This would have
been to render my  situation as a citizen of  Lexington less
enviable and more intolerable than  that of the fiends of hell,
for these people have, on  more  than one  occassion, solemnly
determined to sustain Dr.  Dudley per fas et ne fas.   When 
".)
they rallied around and supported him and drove from  Lexing-
ton Drs. Caldwell, Yandell and Cooke, in 1837, although it was
established by testimony diversified, concurrent and irresistible
that he was the arch-traitor to Lexington, who originated the
scheme  to  remove  the  Medical  School to  Louisville,  they
permitted no one to  doubt their readiness and  willingness to go
any unauthorized length  in  his defence.  Such facts as  this
teaches me with unmistakeable clearness that I shall be exposed
to the bitter and heartless baiting of the snarling emissaries of
a  bastard aristocracy, for daring to utter a word in  condemna-
tion of their pet and patron, but I shall derive  great consolation
for the  fact,  that  they,  like Romish  priests,   are  indus-
trious  to  propagate  a belief in  a  thing they have not  the
least faith  in  themselves — that  their  mad  and  desperate
denunciations of me will  be as insincere  as  their bombastic
panegyrics of Dr. Dudley are hollow and  deceitful; for it is  a
fact, that while they proclaim his alledged merits from the house-
tops, they instifled  and  secretly  uttered  whispers, pronounce
him adequate  to the perpetration  of  any  moral atrocity—
while by their injustice they drove  from Lexington  Drs.  Cald-
well, Yandell and Cooke — three  men,  who, whatever may be
their faults  or  defects, are as infinitely superior to  Dr. Dudley,
intellectually, scientifically and morally,  as the vertical blaze of
a tropical sun is superior to the faint  and scarcely distinguisha-
ble  glimmer of the  most  distant  star, they in private charge
upon him the authorship  of the crime for which  they made
his  colleagues  suffer.   I  must   be   permitted  to  say  this
condition of things induced me to desire  a postponement of  this
appeal until I should be able to place myself in a  community
guided by a more enlightened sense of justice.  In saying this,
however, I do not wish to be understood to charge the conduct
of the mass of the people to corrupt motives,  but to a regreta-
ble lack of  that intelligence absolutely necessary to comprehend
the  wants and  interests of a School of Medicine, but who in
consequence thereof, have been scandalized as guilty, of a mean
and servile  sequacity to  the behests  of a man  whose most
enlarged views have always been strictly bounded by an exclu-
sively  selfish and individual  ambition.   Whatever  his hollow-
hearted  friends may say of his liberality, for  not one of them
has  any real respect for  or confidence  in  him, he is  a perfect
petrifaction of  selfishness, and all his charities are nothing more
than the interest of the capital of all sorts of  iniquuity.   This
is  proved  by the fact that in all  the numerous difficulties in
which he has  involved  himself with his colleagues he  has
shrunk  from  his  proper  personal  responsibility by skulking
behind the Medical  School; thus  persuading the citizens of
Lexington that the issue was not  between  himself and  those 
6
whom he had insulted and outraged, but between the latter and
themselves.  Victory has crowned his policy on so many occa-
sions  with success that it would be  absurd and  preposterous  to
suppose he will not rely upon it, in  future, with unwavering
confidence.  Now it is not surprising that in full  view of this and
the complete ostracism  within " the two miles square" that awaits
me, I should say this Appeal is not not made  to the  citizens of
Lexington but to the Medical Profession of the United States.
   I  repeat,  that  while I  am aware, I  shall  have  no  more
chance in this community than pain  a discretion, in the hands
of a  Frenchman, I would  have  been  content to suffer in  si-
lence, until my appeal could have  been made  under better
auspices,  but this has  not  been permitted.  The conduct  of
my tormentors and persecutors has been such  as to make fur-
ther forbearance on  my part,  a criminal and pusillanimous de-
sertion of duty.  Since  I left it, the  Medical  Department  of
Transylvania  University has sunk into utter insignificance,
and promises soon to enable its enemies to  exclaim in insolent
riumph Troja fait:  When  it  shall  have  ceased to be, and
all knowledge of its  existence shall have dwindled into  a legend
of tradition, I will be able to say, and with a clear conscience,
to the deluded and  betrayed people  of Lexington:

                  "Shake not your gory locks at me
                  Thou canst  not say I  did it."

   The  rapid   decline  of the Medical School,  which  I can
prove I did  not desire, my late  colleagues  know   is  owing
almost exclusively to my withdrawel from it and their wretch-
edly  stupid  administration  of its affairs, but  which   they en-
deavor to   convince  the public is owing to my misrepresen-
tations.    I  defy  them to  prove that  I  have  been  guilty
of a  single misrepresentation, or  that  I have  spoken  to  a
a score of  medical  men out  of the city  of Lexington, on the
subject.  When I was  in  Tennessee  and Virginia advocating
the claims  of Mr. Clay  to the  Presidency, I had  but little in-
tercourse with medical  men; and had enough to think and
speak of, without, except incidentally and rarely, thinking  or
speaking of  them or their school. If my withdrawel has in-
jured the  school,  and this, no  intelligent or  candid  man
will question or  deny the injury that has  been  inflicted upon it
by their stupid administration of its affairs has been so great that
it is now incurable.  In proof of this allegation, I will advert  to
two facts only, although it is in my power to write a respecta-
ble sized volume on the subject.  In  the* spring of 1844 they
filled the  chair of Theory  and  Practice with a  man wholly
incompetent, and in every respect unworthy.   This I told them
at the time,  and labored with infinite zeal to  convince them 
7
they  were  inflicting a wound upon the institution, from which
it  would be  scarcely  possible foj  it to  recover.    In the.
face  of  facts,  however, that should  have  persuaded and con
vinced  the most  sodden and stubborn stolidity  every  mem"
ber of the  faculty voted  for his nominaation,  except myself
My  negative  stands upon  the Minutes of  the  Faculty, and
I desired it to be sent with  the  nomination to the Board
of Trustees,  in the  hope  that they  would ask  for  the rea-
sons that caused   me to  refuse  supporting it.   But this by a
formal and  unanim ous  vote  was  refused.   Thus   proving
they  were  conscious that  although  they,  actuated   by pre-
judice and opposition,  had  resisted  my reasoning, the Board
of Trustees  would not prove impregnable to  its assaults.—
The  individual alluded to has  been  compelled, it is said, and
believed, to  leave the School, thus  illustrating my foresight,
and proving the  truth  of all I said  on the  subject.
  The  chair of  Midwifery  was vacated  last  autumn, by the
death of Dr. Richardson.   Forty-nine Physicians, we  are told,
applied  for it, almost  all of them Western and Southern men.
The  Class numbered a few more students, it is said, than the
previous session.   What was the cause of this ?  To  strength-
en  their claims with the  Faculty, each and all  of  them did
what was in their power, to have themselves represented in the
Class by as many students as  possible.   What, therefore, was
the obvious  policy of the  Faculty ?  Every rational  man will
say  a  selection  from  amongst the  forty-nine Western and
Southern men  for  it   is utterly absurd  to  say what they have
impliedly asserted, that a competent individual  could not be
found amongst them.   Did they select a Western or  a South-
ern man ?   No indeed—they were  incapable of so  rational
an  act.   They gave  the chair to a citizen of Baltimore—to a
man, that it was said, but  now denied, did not even apply for
it,  and what  is   worse than all,  to  one, of but  little,   if
any  reputation or importance in the  profession.*   What  I
said  of their  Professor  of Theory  and  Practice  was  not
believed, and  I ask  not the citizens  of Lexington to believe
what  I   now  say of their  new Professor  of Midwifery,  at
least until   the result  testifies  for  or against me,  or  what
is still   more  important,  until  they  have obtained the con-
sent  of Dr. Dudley to do  so;  for  it is  nothing but   right
that the  serfs of the  Autocrat should know his wishes before
  *The appointee, (who it is said owes  his elevation in some measure to the
cause that I did—the Faculty is in a state  of controversial insolvoncy, and
needs some  one who can write to defend it,) will, I trust, believe  that  I allude
to  him, not from personal dislike, but because the necessities of the case re-
quired it, and when obliged to speak I must be excused for preferring frank-
ness  to flattery. 
8
they dare to consult, or express their own.  But in view of
these facts, what must necessarily be the feelings and  senti-
ments  of the  forty-nine  defeated   candidates,  aforesaid ?—
Where will  that phalanx of students be found, that gave some
respectability to the Class in the city of Lexington, last winter,
but which the stupid vanity of Dr.  Dudley and  his journey-
men ascribed to their  extraordinary,  but  unrecognized  and
incognosible merit.   Think  you in  the halls of Transylvania?
If so I am ignorant  of men—They will be found in Louisville,
Cincinnati  and the  Eastern cities ; for it is impossible that the
forty-nine should be satisfied with having their claims set aside,
for those of a man  superior to few,  and inferior to many of
them.  When a  Faculty  is  capable  of conduct  so  palpably
stupid and irrational, as to make it  impossible for sophistry to
obscure or  disguise   it, it is  the silliest of  all nonsense for
them to seek in my alleged misrepresentations, or in any other
cause,  the  decline  of the institution of which  they are  the
unworthy and incompetent  guardians.  Their supidity which
was  congenital,  and their rascality,  a disease they caught in
early life,  through   all  the stages   of which they have  pas-
sed with nosographic regularity, are the  most formidable ene
mies they have to contend with ;  and when they subdue these,
they will not find what  I say or do,  a cause  of serious embar-
rassment.  Into this  digression  I have been  lured by a desire
to show that  the  rapid decline of the Medical School, of
this city,  is ascribable to other more substantial and permanent
causes, than my supposed misrepresentations, for I am unwilling
to be charge with "throwing water  upon a drowning rat."
  I now proceed to  vindicate myself  from a charge that I know
will be preferred against me, at least in this city, which is, that
I am making a wanton assault upon  the Medical  Department
of Transylvania University.   Months before I left  home in
last  September,  for Europe, I was  fully aware  that my late
colleagues were engaged in secret and insidious efforts to injure
me in public estimation,  and  I unavailingly  endeavored to
obtain satisfactory  proof of it.  When, however, I  was  four
thousand miles from  home, in a foreign country, and  the possi-
bility of detection almost precluded, they were emboldened to
tamper with my friends.  Instead of  acting an open, a generous
and manly part, they with a baseness of heart at which humani-
ty will shudder, seized upon  my absence, when apparently it
was  out  of my power to  know what they were doing, or to
defend myself against their foul and infamous machinations,
to destroy me.   Besides the revolting nature of the atrocity of
which  they were guilty, and  of which  any  man of common
honesty would have been ashamed, they have put me to infinite
inconvenience and trouble.  As all  my friends  know, and the 
                             9

public prints repeatedly announced thatit was my intention to re
main  in Europe eighteen months or two years, for the  purpose
of cultivating  the  medical, and collateral sciences.  Instead
of that, I have been obliged to return home after an  absence
of little more  than eight months, and that too, for the purpose
of defending my character  against the assassin assaults of my
enemies.  This  being  the  fact,  as  I  will  presently prove, I
shall stand amply justified in the course I  am  now pursuing, in
the estimation of the public at large, although, that  great pub-
lic will be surprised, and probably not  believe me when I  say,
that this  consideration will have no  weight  with  the little
public of the village of Lexington.  Instead of publicly assail-
ing me when I was at  home, and the facts fresh in  the recollec-
tion of every one, they took advantage of my absence to poison
the public mind  by  epistolary  communications  made to the
physicians of the valley of the Mississippi.  They, dead to the
remorseless atrocity of such a crime, dared to wield the dagger
of the assassin in the dark.
   Considering  the secret  and  covert manner in which they
aimed at my destruction, together with the circumstance of my
great distance from home, it is very wonderful that I should  ever
have  learned any thing of the base and pussillanimous  conduct
of my enemies.   But there is an overruling Providence.   To
suppose or believe that  God could  or would smile  upon  such
villany would be undeniable proof of the  rankest infidelity, and
this  the  sanctimonious  hypocrites  should  have  known.   For
such iniquitj' there is a sure and certain retributive justice, and
this is discoverable in the fact that letters which they supposed
would distil a poison into all ranks of the  public mind and  irre-
coverably destroy me in public estimation, without the possibili-
ty of my knowing what  the heartless, soulless and reckless as-
sassins were  doing, were copied  by their  correspondents, and
sent to me in the city of Paris, France.   Here is an example,
written  in the  month of December last,  in Lexington,  by a
member  of the Medical Faculty  of Transylvania University.
His name I withhold for the present, as I wish him to writhe yet
a  little longer in the  anguish  of conscious meanness, in solitude
and unknown:
   "As an alumnus of our school, I feel that you have a right to
know something of the official action in  reference to  the  late
Professor of the Institutes in the Medical  Department of Tran-
sylvania University, and being under the impression that you
have  been misinformed in reference to this matter, I now  give
exact copies of the documents in that case, with necessary re-
marks:
                           LEXINGTON, May 25, 1844.
   Professor  Cross,—Sir:  Circumstances having occurred re-
                                                2 
10
lating to your private character, which will  hereafter  prevent
us from co-operating with  you as  a member of the Medical
Faculty of Transylvania  University, we feel called  on by an
imperious sense of duty to the Institution, to request you to send
to the Board of Trustees your resignation of the chair you hold,
as speedily as possible.   We invite you to this measure, hoping
that it may appear a spontaneous act of your own.
                                B.  W. DUDLEY,
                                W. H. RICHARDSON,
                                THOS. D. MITCHELL,
                                ROBT. PETER,

                  MEDICAL HALL, Lex.,  May 28,  1844.
   Professor  Cross,—Sir:  I  am authorized  and  directed  by
the members  of the Faculty who signed the paper sent you on
Saturday last, to request that  you will make  known your deci-
sion  in  the premises by Thursday at noon, of this week, in de-
fault of which, it will be their duty to  lay the  matter before
the Board of  Trustees.             By order:
                         THOS.  D.  MITCHELL, Dean.

   "On  the  receipt  of the  first note, Judge Wooley and  Mr.
Clay were employed  to  effect the withdrawal of the  request to
resign.* Finding that the efforts made could not  succeed, the re-
signation came to the Board May 29th. In place of being a volun-
tary resignation, on account of the sinking state of ths school, as
was  alledged  by the late Professor, he  was actually and unani-
mously  required to resign for gross obliquities of character.   The
facts! were kept secret, much to our injury, while he proclaim-
ed a false position  entirely as the basis of a voluntary withdraw-
al.!   •"■  have not room here for details, but have judged it proper
that you should  know thus much."   The individual to whom the
above letter was written, and who sent a copy of it to me while in
the city of Paris, very justly remarks: "If  1, being an alumnus,
had  a right to know, &c, then every physician  who has gradu-
ated since the school was first organized has—and has, of course,
been furnished with the same documentary evidence  which has
been given to me;"  and further, he  says the above letter, "the

  *A lie as false as perjury itself, and the scoundrel who penned the above letter
knew it.
  tWhat facts'?  Those which go to prove that the author of this letter and his
colleagues, have been guilty of all that is deliberate in malignity and of all that is
depraved  in crime?
  i This is a falsehood  at which perjury itself would blush, as can be proved by
Professor  Gross, of Louisville, to whom I wrote, and by Prof. Geo. McClelland, of
Philadelphia, I believe, to whom I also wrote—by Prof. Smith, of Baltimore, and
Prof.  Bartlett, of Lowell, to whom a friend promised and did write, and by the fact
that I affected no coneealment on the subject, and requested my friends when they
should speak of my resignation to give all the necessary facts. 
11
original of which I have in my possession, I have no doubt, is a
faithful abstract of thousands which have been circulated through
the West and South."
   Redemptionless as I  knew Dr. Dudley and his tools to be,
the reception of the above letter both shocked and amazed me.
They  had  already committed  an  act that bore  the  indel-
ible impress of almost unimagined atrocity, and I, in  mercy,
supposed  they must  have so  loathed  themselves  on account
of  it  that  they would never venture  upon its repetition or
do any  thing  to  provoke  me  to  a public exposure  of the
enormous outrage of which they, in an extempore  fit of mad
and desperate depravity, had been guilty.    But in this I was
mistaken, and am now ready to admit that  I know not the ex-
cesses  into  which  double-dyed, incarnate   exemplifications of
turpitude  are capable  of running.  I did not believe, I confess,
that even they would  dare  boast of having sunk  their  souls
into
             "A pit of ink, that the wide sea
             Hath drops too few to wash away."

   Without in this  place entering upon  an analysis of the above
letter,  which, as my correspondent correctly remarks, is a  faith-
ful adstract  of thousands that have been circulated through the
West and South,"  I will simply ask is there a living human be-
ing who can or will  condemn me  for  making this appeal, if I
shall be able  to neutralize, counteract  or  destroy the force of
the impression it was designed to make?  Where is the  shame-
less sycophant that will attempt to fix on me the brand of public
reprobation  for standing on  the imprescriptible law of self-pro-
tection, to  vindicate my character from  an injury the  most
deadly that  human wickedness could inflict?  Certainly not be-
yond the limits of  the "two miles square," and I scarcely believe
that one so lost to  all sense of honor—so insensible to every
generous impulse of justice, can be found within them.  Indeed
were I willing, I think I might with safety confide in the  deci-
sion of the people of the consequential little village of  Lex-
ington  itself.  As,  however, I have not  consulted their wishes
on the subject, and as I do not  intend to be disturbed by their
sayings or doings in  the premises,  I  proceed at once to give  a
history of the  train of events that  led to my resignation, and
leave those to whom I  appeal  to determine whether my resig-
nation  was voluntary or forced, and whether or not my late col-
leagues had recourse to means so base that the most profligate
and  abandoned scoundrels upon record would have disdained
to employ.
   The incompetency of Dr. Bush as a teacher of anatomy was
not a novel  or an original suggestion of  Dr. Pinckard, although 
12
he formally and publicly made it for the first time in the spring
of 1844.   It was an allegation that had  been constantly made
by certain members of the Faculty, particularly Drs. Mitchell
and Richardson, ever since the session of 1837-38.*  On this
subject their  complaints were  uninterrupted, bitter and rancor-
ous.   A stereotyped remark of the  former was, that Dr. Bush
was the most ignorant and illiterate man he ever knew connect-
ed with any school of medicine.  This  opinion I endorsed,  and
I am  fully convinced that any competent judge, personally ac-
quainted with him as a teacher, would not be able conscientious-
ly to  do otherwise.  Dr.  Richardson was more emphatic  and
boisterous  in  his complaints against Dr. Bush  than any other
member of the Faculty, but his loose, disjointed  way of express-
ing himself, and his every day inconsistencies defrauded what
he said, of much of its weight and influence.  That Dr. Smith
looked upon the utter incompetency of Dr. Bush as a fixed fact,
I had the assurance  of Drs.  Mitchell  and  Richardson, and I
may say also of Dr. Peter, for he informed  me when I asserted
that the Introductory  Lecture  of Dr.  Bush, which  had been
published by the Class, would disgrace the School, that it would
have  been infinitely more discreditable had not Dr. Smith re-
viewed it  in manuscript and made all the alterations that were
possible without re-writing it.   Although  the relations that  sub-
sisted between Dr. Smith  and myself were of the most friendly
character, I  do not recollect to have heard him express himself
in relation to Dr. Bush, but as he is a  distinguished Anatomist
and Surgeon, he could not have thought otherwise than was repor-
ted to me  by Drs. Mitchell and Richardson.   With Dr. Bartlett
my intercourse was more intimate and confidential than with any
other member of the Faculty, and his opinion of Dr. Bush,  as a
teacher, was substantially that of Drs. Mitchell, Richardson and
myself.  He was cautious in the expression of his  opinions in
the presence of the two former, and not too communicative in
his intercourse with me.  He had  no  faith in the veracity or
candor of Dr. Mitchell—no confidence in the judgment or  con-
sistency of Dr. Richardson—much fear  of my prudence, while I
had every reason to believe he relied  upon  my honesty, vera-
city and rectitude of intention.  While there seemed to be no
difference of opinion between  Drs.  Mitchell, Richardson, Bart-
lett  and  myself, in relation to  the  incompetency of Dr. Bush,
the two former very frequently and obstinately urged the neces-
sity of decided action on the subject, while the two latter were op-

  *Dr. Richardson is no more, and the reader will believe me, I trust, when I as-
sure him that it is with the utmost regret I find it impossible to make this appeal in-
telligible, or indeed to make it at all without frequent reference to his name. Allusion
,to him is, therefore, absolutely necessary and unavoidable, being in no way what-
ever the result of inclination or choice. 
13
posed to any movement, on the score of policy, unless the cheerful
concurrence of Dr. Dudley could be obtained and of this they had
no hope.  With  Dr. Bartlett I had frequent conversations on this
subject, and at the last one that took place which was in my house
just before the last  time he  left Lexington, he said: "Sir, to use
your  own language  I do  not believe there is any remedy."*
This is the response frequently made by me to those who seemed
anxious to make a move against Dr.  Bush, independently of the
consent of Dr. Dudley.  I  must explain here why I regarded
the concurrence of Dr. Dudley  as, in some  measure, indispen-
sable.   Firstly, judging from the past, I believed his influence
with the Board  of  Trustees sufficiently great to defeat any  at-
tempt  that might be  made  against  Dr.  Bush, that should not
receive his support: secondly, even  were it possible to succeed
in despite of his opposition, it would  give him, in all probability,
so much dissatisfaction as to cause him to resign, and thus serious-
ly injure the School:  and thirdly, I never had given and deter-
mined never to give a vote  or  promote a  movement for the
gratification of personal  animosity, and this  interpretation I
knew would be put upon my conduct by those  who were impa-
tient to find cause of  complaint against me.
  The settled conviction of two thirds of the Medical Faculty,
that Dr. Bush was wholly incompetent, cannot now be made a
subject of serious  controversy.  They expressed themselves so
fully and  freely, both in and out of the  Faculty, that it would
be preposterous  for them to attempt its denial.   The necessity of
his removal being admitted, it was however, very difficult to de-
termine how it was to be  effected.   Both Drs. Richardson, and
Mitchell,  but  the former particularly, urged  me to take the in-
itiatory step, assuring me at the same time, that I should receive
their energetic  and  zealous co-operation.   To this I  was ear-
nestly pressed on  the alleged ground of my greater influence
and popularity with the Class.  To which 1 uniformly responded,
that I was the last man in  the Faculty to  whom  so important
a measure should be confided, for  however necessary the remo-
val of Dr. Bush might be regarded, my conduct would be as-
cribed to motives of hostility towards Dr. Dudley, and that de-
feat would be the  inevitable consequence.   Had no other rea-
son existed, the equivocal  relations  that had subsisted between
Dr. Dudley and  myself, ever since I became a  member of the
Faculty, was entirely sufficient to prevent my taking a leading
or prominent  part  in the matter.  But  this was  not  the only
cause of my declinature,  for  I could not easily be-' made to
shrink from a  proper degree  of responsibility, in  any case

  *Dr. Bartlett will pardon me for using his name in this connexion, and whenever
occasion shall render it necessary in the subsequent parts of this appeal, when he
reflects that it is almost unavoidable. 
14
where the interests of the School were involved.  I knew well,
I thought, the men with whom I was expected to act.   In the
firmness of Drs. Mitchell and Richardson I had no confidence.
That they would pusillanimously shrink from responsibility on the
slightest indication of difficuly or  danger,  I had no doubt, and
the truth of this apprehension the result fully proved as the rea-
der shall  hear, although I took every  precaution not to suffer
myself to be placed in  a leading or prominent position.
  When Dr.  Richardson found his efforts  to  flatter  me  into
open  hostility with  Drs.  Dudley and Bush  ineffectual,  he
changed his plan of operations.  He pretended that in his con-
versations with Dr. Dudley, he had ascertained that  it would
not be long before he would ask for a separation of the chairs
of Anatomy and  Surgery, under the expectation that the Fac-
ulty would nominate  Dr. Bush to the chair of Anatomy,  which
would be thus vacated.  He insisted that his colleagues should
do  nothing to remove  this  impression  from the mind of Dr.
Dudley—that the first object to  be attained was the separation,
and that  when this  should  be accomplished, we could  and
would put into  it whom we pleased, regardless  of the wishes
and expectations of Dr. Dudley.  This is what he called dip-
lomacy.
  The incompetency of Dr.  Bush was not the only ground of
complaint against him.   His  views and those of Dr. Dudley in
relation  to the teaching of Anatomy, were highly obnoxious  to
the aversion of every member of the Faculty.  They contend-
ed, and perhaps persuaded some  of the students to believe that it
was altogether useless for them to dissect. That by observing Dr.
Bush dissect, they would be  made good practical  Anatomists in
a shorter  time than if they  were to dissect themselves; than
which no sophism could  be more  perfectly absurd.  As well
might the  ridiculous attempt be made to teach a youth a mechan-
ical art,  without  permitting him  to use the appropriate  tools,
as think of making an  Anatomist without handling the scalpel.
But the attempt to refute such an  argument  is  wholly superflu-
ous, as it evidently had its origin in a purely sordid and grasping
spirit.  The views however of Drs. Dudley and Bush ultimately
became so offensive to  certain members of the Faculty, to Dr.
Mitchell in particular,  that they absolutely refused to recom-
mend the  students to  join the dissecting  Class, in consequence of
which the number that cultivated practical  anatomy  was very
small, but the number  whom we were  obliged to graduate, but
who had never dissected an hour in  their lives, was very great.
In looking over Dr. Yandell's JVarralive, I discover this is not a
new complaint, for I find at p 21, the following remarks:—"That
it was his (Dr. Dudley's) reiterated confessions—to which no hon-
orable man,  who knew the value  of anatomical knowledge, 
15
could listen without  feelings of deep humiliation— that stu-
dents of medicine, in  this  School, were lulled " into  the delusion
that dissections were not  necessary, in order to keep  out of sight
the poverty of the dissecting room.  On this subject Dr.  Cald-
well remarks  in  his  Thoughts on  Schools of Medicine,  in  re-
lation to the provisions of the School of Transylvania,  for the
teaching of special anatomy:—"Certain it is they are extreme-
ly meagre.  The Professor  of Anatomy even discourages them
as to dissection, if he does not openly dissuade  them from  it,
as an  unnecessary  and useless employment.  For  this  he has
his reasons.  He has  no subjects  to spare  to them for that pur-
pose; and he  is anxious to conceal  the poverty of his  depart-
ment."   What now, I.ask, must be  thought of the moral integ-
rity of that man,  who, after this public  exposure  of the very
reprehensible  subterfuge, to which he was, and is, in the habit of
resorting, dares still  to impose upon  the  credulity and unsus-
pecting simplicity of those who have a right, in as much, as they
pay  him for it, to expect solid  and  substantial instruction  at his
hands.
  I have  given a  plain unexaggerated statement  of the esti-
mate placed by the Faculty upon Dr. Bush as a teacher of An-
atomy.   This, humble as it was, and  mortifying as it must have
been to  a proud and ambitious man, was not peculiar to them.
Before  much interest  was  taken  in the  subject by  those
members  of the Faculty to  whom we have  referred,  the stu-
dents had with extraordinary unanimity pronounced him incom-
petent.   Their complaints were loud  and often indignant, and
more than  once  formal attempts were  made  to petition the
Board of  Trustees to remove him,  and they failed, chiefly be-
cause of the interposition of him, whom he and  his  master per-
tinaciously continued to regard as  their greatest enemy.  On
one occasion  in particular, and  that was during the session of
1840—41 through my agency exclusively, a memorial addressed
to the Board of Trustees, demanding his  removal,  and  already
signed by more than one  hundred  students,  was suppressed.—
This I say was done  at my instance,  and in obedience  exclu-
sively to my wishes, and  I was induced to  interfere because I
did not consider it a proper mode of proceeding against him.—
Notwithstanding the  obligations he was  thus placed under to
me, not only then  but since, when similar  attempts  were made,
the  faction over which he  ruled  intimated in language that
could not be  misunderstood,  that  I was  the instigator of the
opposition to him, that prevailed amongst the students.  Such
conduct as  was ascribed to me, I regard  not only  as disrepu-
table but disgraceful, and I would  willingly have voted for the
expulsion of any member  who had been  found guilty of it.—
While,  however, I who was wholly innocent, was made the ob- 
16
ject of much  unmerited persecution,  another  who was guilty
was apparently looked upon in the light of a friend.  In a pub-
lication made by Dr. Pinckard, the 20th September, 1844, we
find this charge made against Dr.  Richardson, in the following
words:
   "Dr. R. did also approve last winter, as we are informed by a
medical friend of undoubted  veracity,  of the Memorial to the
Trustees,  which  was  circulated by the  medical students for
the purpose of  effecting a re-organization  in  the anatomical
department of the School.   He asked  why the  students did not
sign it? as  it was right  that they should, for the good of the
School."
   For such conduct no  explanation was given — no  apology
made and no defence attempted and for the simple reason that it
rested upon proof too palpable to be  denied  or obscured  by
sophistry.   These  statements  are  made not for the purpose of
gratifying any  animosity which I may  be supposed   to  have
against Dr. Bush, for I am  incapable of  cherishing hatred
against such  a man, but in justification of the  course which
events, over which I, at  least, had  no  control, obliged  certain
members of the Faculty to pursue;  and  to correct the impression
that has been industriously  propagated, that I was the cause of
his unpopularity with the students.  This  I  not only deny, but
assert that  I  never, directly or indirectly, attempted to impair
the standing of  a colleague with the students, either while
I held a professorship in  the Medical College of Ohio or in the
Medical Department of Transylvania University, unless the ref-
utation of the ridiculous dogmas of Dr.  Dudley be   suscepti-
ble of that interpretation.
   In the spring of 1844, I visited, with my family, the Eastern
cities.   During my absence from Lexington Dr. Pinckard, with
a view to a separation of  the chairs of Anatomy and Surgery,
and the substitution  of a competent individual in the  place of
Dr. Bush, published  in the  Lexington Inquirer a  series  of arti-
cles, in which the wants of the school were  freely, fully and
fairly exhibited.  I was  in New York  when the fact was com-
municated to me by  Dr.  Sayre, of that city, and I expressed to
him my gratification that I was not in Lexington, because if there,
I felt certain I  should  be  charged with being their instigator,
and perhaps author.  This  circumstance, which should  have
exculpated me in the estimation of every candid mind, was,
however, overlooked  by Dr. Dudley and his satellites, and I was
boldly charged with  being  their author.   The publication of the
three or four articles  did  not occupy more than  so many weeks,
and they  were answered in  the order of their appearance
consequently the  second,  third and   fourth of  Dr. Pinckard
were rejoinders, and dwelt mainly on  such topics as had been 
17
suggested by his respondent.  This shows that while there  is a
bare possibility that I might have written  the first article before
my departure, it is utterly absurd to suppose I could have writ-
ten those that appeared  subsequently.   That I did not write
the first is proved  by the perfect uniformity of style that pervades
the whole series.   If Dr. Pinckard did not write them, of which
however, I have no doubt, there was more reason to suspect Dr.
Mitchell of  being their author than any one else, for he was on
the ground and so  delighted with their contents that he could
not wait for the appearance of the Lexington Inquirer, but hur-
ried the evening before to Second street to read them in proof,
and the proof of  at least one of them he aided in correcting.
   The day after my return to Lexington I saw Drs. Mitchell
and Richardson, and the joyous countenances which they sport-
ed  would have awakened the jealousy  of  Harlequin himself.
They declared that the articles  of Dr. Pinckard  were strong,
efficient and capitally timed—that they had brought Dr. Dudley
to his senses—that he had become so alarmed for the School that
he  was  willing the chairs of  Anatomy and  Surgery should be
separated and  that if I  would earnestly  co-operate with  them
there would  be no difficulty in removing Dr. Bush, and obtaining
an  able teacher of Anatomy in his place.  This was  all very
fine and very flattering, but I  confess I  thought it, and I  told
them so, too good  to be true.  But they were  sanguine, and
would listen to no discouraging suggestion, for when I told them
they would find Dudley like the Irishman's flea, which was not
under his thumb  though  he thought him there—they charged
me with timidity and an unwillingness to risk any thing  for the
good  of the School.  So satisfied were they that  Dr.  Dudley
would submit  to every requisite reformation, that they  had ac-
tually, before my return to  Lexington,  prevailed  on General
Combs to write to Dr. George McClelland, of Philadelphia, on
the subject of taking the Anatomical Chair, which was, however,
yet to be vacated. In the plentitude of their imagined power
they made an informal tender  of  the Chair of Anatomy to Dr.
McClelland.   I endeavored to moderate  their exultation, for I
thought I saw plainly they had not won  the victory of which
they were so proud, and  emphatically told them they need not
look for  my co-operation  in the enterprise in which they were
engaged except on one condition, which was that Dr. Dudley
should voluntarily submit to the changes contemplated and de-
sired, for otherwise 1 thought  it probable he would resign, an
event which could not fail to injure the School in its  then very
precarious  state.   To remove my scruples on  this point, Dr.
Richardson not only assured me that he had it from the lips of
Dr. Dudley  repeatedly that he would  consent to the  proposed
changes but permitted me to read two letters that had been ad-
                     3 
18
 dressed to him by Dr. Dudley, in which he (Dr.  D.) fully com-
 mitted  himself to the necessity of an immediate disjunction of
 the Chairs of Anatomy and Surgery.  In one of them I thought
 I discovered a very intelligible intimation that after the separa-
 tion he, (Dr. D.) would expect the Faculty to nominate Dr. Bush
 to the Chair of Anatomy.  When  I informed Dr. Richardson
 that I did not believe Dr. Dudley would submit to the much de-
 sired separation unless the Faculty would give a pledge that Dr.
 Bush should receive the nomination, he flew into  a  passion,  de-
 clared that  I  had misinterpreted the letter, but, if  not, before
 he  would yield to such degrading terms, he would resign.  This
 was very energetic talk, but the result proved  that it was  as
 unmeaning  as the "tinkling cymbal and sounding  brass."
  The following memorandum, taken down about the time, has
 been furnished by a friend, from  which the reader will  be able
 to form an accurate idea of the position occupied and the course
 pursued by  Dr. Mitchell: "The day after the first  article (of Dr.
 Pinckard) appeared, as well as I now remember,  Prof. Mitchell
 was at my office  and  we  were conversing about the views  of
 Dr. Pinckard, Dr. M.  remarked in the  course of his conversa-
 tion that  he was just about  to send off the catalogues which
 were to go out of the  State, but that he would now keep them
 until a re-organization was effected, which he thought ought  to
 be done  by  the  1st June.  On  another occasion Dr. Mitchell
 told me that he had gone so far as to write complimentary noti-
 ces of the new Professors which  were to be, meaning as I sup-
 posed Drs. McClelland and Watson.  Prof. Cross had not then
 resigned.  Dr. Mitchell as fully concurred as  a man  could well
 do in the course  advised  and  recommended  by  Dr. Pinckard.
 He expressed himself unreservedly, at my office, without any
 regard, as if; struck me, as to who was present  at the time.  He
 never enjoined secresy, nor ^aid  that he  spoke in confidence.
 Indeed I admired very much the  bold and  decided stand which
 he took.   He was decidedly opposed to the election of Dr. Bush
 to the Chair of Anatomy, and even expressed  himself in opposi-
 tion to his being retained in  the School  as Demonstrator."   It
 was remarked by the writer of this  memorandum, that  "if Dr.
 McClelland  had agreed  to  come here he would be  a great ac-
 quisition  to  the School, and supposed that Dr. Bush might  be
 allowed to retain the place which he originally held; but even
 that was objected to on the part of  Prof. Mitchell."  There  is
 much more  that is important and interesting  in  the memoran-
 dum that lies before me, which future events may  induce me to
 spread before the public, but as I  have already quoted  enough
 to answer my present object, I shall  merely say that the author
 closes his memorandum  with the remark that "I  have  avoided
stating any thing except what was known to me personally and
my own opinions." 
19
  Thus the reader is put in possession of the views and purpo-
ses entertained by Drs.  Mitchell and  Richardson  before  I re-
turned to Lexington, as  far at least as they could be discovered
from their actions and  language; and  I  agreed to co-operate
with them only after it was distinctly understood that I should
not be required to take the initiatory  step in any of the move-
ments that  were contemplated,  and  that my .support  of any
measure  which  I  thought would  probably  drive Dr. Dudley
from the School, must not  to be expected.   In a few days after
my return to Lexington, I  distinctly understood that Dr. Dudley
was not so completely at the disposal otDrs. Mitchell and Rich-
ardson, as they  had pretended to believe in their conversations
with me.  This was what  I strongly suspected from  the begin-
ning.    When Dr. Dadley   committed  himself to a separation
of the chairs he occupied,  I presume he supposed his colleagues
would  be sttisfisd, and would willingly give  Dr. Bash  the  chair
of Anatomy.   He was  however soon undeceived on this sub-
ject, and went so far, as I learned from  Dr  Richardson, as to
requre  a  positive  pledge   from  the  Faculty, that  they would
nominate Dr. Bush  to the   chair of Anatomy, before  he would
consent to a separation.   Our situation now was too palpable
to be misunderstood—we must either submit to the insolent dic-
tation  of Dr. Dudley, or appeal  to  the Board  of  Trustees.—
The former 1 was determined  not  to  do, and so expressed my
self to  both  Drs. Richardson and Mitchell, but particularly the
former.  I formally  and emphatically  declared  that the mat-
ter had  now  assumed  such  a form, in  consequence of thfe
haughty and imperious tone recently  assumed by Dr. Dudley
that if  he did not submit,  and that too by  the 1st of July, to
the changes which we  regarded as absolutely indispensable to
the future prosperity of the School,  I would  leave it; and re-
marked that 1 could not see how any  high-minded and  honora-
ble man  could do otherwise.  Never  did  I  announce a deter-
mination that was  more  sincere  or  irrevocable,  for I  would
leave the most  profitable  and prosperous  institution that ever
flourished, before I  would  be a tennis-ball—a shuttle-cock or a
scullion to any  man on earth.   Under this  new aspect of the
case,  I  urged Drs. Mitchell and  Richardson to make an appeal
to  the   Board of Trustees; and as  an inducement  to do so,
proffered them my earnest co-operation.*   I thought it due the
Board  of Trustees  and the  citizens  of Lexington, that they
should  be officially informed of our reasonable demands, and if

  *My  readiness now to act without consulting the wishes of  Dr. Dudley,
arose from two causes,  i. e.—his arrogance and the humiliating position  we
should have been placed in, in the event of our abandoning the  reforms spo-
ken of.  To the achievement of them,  Drs, Mitchell, Richardson and myself
were fully committed, and this the physicians  and people of Lexington knew. 
20
then, they  should not be granted, we  would be justified in pur-
suing the only course that, I believe, was left, to men who were
not disposed  to be regarded  as mere automata  ready to  ex-
ecute the will of a master.  That I had known these men  for
years, was  now apparent—that I had rightly  appreciated them
could not be  doubted.—I saw plainly they  had rather submit to
Dr. Dudley,  than pursue a course, which  in  the  event of fail-
ure, and of this I had but little doubt, would  leave us no alter-
native but  an immediate and  simultaneous resignation.  Thus
they were  for several days in a state of the  greatest and most
laughable irresolution.   They both strove  with commutual zeal
in acts of such bitter abuse of Dr. Dudley,  as plainly to show
that hatred and revenge are not solely endemic in the region of
                 " The Pyrenean and the river Po."
While at the same time the least  sagacious could have seen
that should he raise  his bristles, they were ready to crouch to
him,  with  a sycophancy at which oriental  adulation would
blush.  While  things were in  this condition, and even before,
I emphatically declared to many individuals that I would  not
submit to the dictation of Dr. Dudley,  and that the moment I
received positive proof that the proper  concessions were not to
be expected from him, I would resign.
  In  a few days the  irresolution of  Drs. Mitchell  and Richard-
son had vanished.  General Combs  had received  a  letter from
Dr. McClelland, which led them to  believe that he  would take
the chair   of Anatomy.  This  immediately  transformed  those
men from  timid  sequacious agitators, into bold and blustering
braggarts.  They declared they were now perfectly indifferent
as to  the course Dr. Dudley might think  fit to  pursue—that
should  he  determine to  resign, so  far from regretting, they
would be glad of it, for they would  be thus rid  of a despot,
and obtain  in his stead  an abler  man and  better surgeon than
he ever was.  It was now their design to place Dr. McClelland
in the chair of Surgery, in the event of the  resignation of  Dr.
Dudley, and look out for a teacher of Anatomy.   All this they
considered  very  practicable, and very expedient;  and deter-
mined at   once to call  a  meeting  of the Faculty—to  make
known our  wishes to Dr. Dudley, and in  the  event of his refu-
sing to gratifying them, to appeal  forthwith  to  the Board of
Trustees.   Such a course without a further effort  to induce  Dr.
Dudley  voluntarily to yield to our  demands, I considered not
only inexpedient, but fraught with  the  most  disastrous conse-
quences.  Instead of so summary a mode of proceeding, I re-
commended that  before any  official action  was  taken on the
subject, Dr.  Richardson, whose intercourse was  more  intimate
with Dr. Dudley, than  that of any other member  of the Facul- 
21
ty, should go to him and inform him of the  intelligence which
had been received through General Combs, from Dr. McClel-
land—in a courteous but decided  manner  communicate to him
our wishes, and the course which his opposition would compel
us to pursue, and ask his co-operation.   To my surprise this
proposition was at  once indignantly  rejected, by  both  Drs
Richardson and Mitchell declaring that they scorned to ask a
favor of him, and would not have his co-operation, that they were
able, and would effect the reforms  desired, in  despite of him.
I asked—You surely do not desire to drive Dr. Dudley from the
School ?   To  which  Dr.  Richardson   responded,  and  Dr.
Mitchell assented, to it " We are  willing  to keep him, but we
will not beg  him  to stay."  To  all of which  I was opposed,
not because I had any high opinion  of  the  capacity  or knowl-
edge of Dr.  Dudley, but because  he  had  some how or other
acquired a great reputation, and  his loss would  be a great inju-
ry to the School.   After much vague  and scarcely intelligible
discussion, it  was  determined that a Faculty meeting should be
immediately summoned, for the purpose of adopting such reso-
lutions as would embody our views in  relation  to the chairs of
Anatomy and  Surgery,  it being distinctly  understood, at the
same time that every precaution should  be taken  to prevent
the intelligence that had  been  received  from Dr. McClelland,
coming to the  knowledge of Dr. Dudley.  Their motives for
this, I confess, were  not very intelligible, but I agreed  to ob-
serve silence, in order to have  officially  communicated  to Dr.
Dudley, our wish to  have the  chairs of Anatomy and Surgery
separated, that he might refuse it in a  formal manner, as I had
reason to believe  he would, from what  Dr. Richardson had told
me.  This  I  desired,  for as I  had  in  an already  avowed
contingency, decided to resign, it was my  intention  to base my
resignation upon  that  circumstance.  On  the  16th of May,
1844, a meeting  of  the  Faculty  was  summoned, and for the
purpose above indicated.  All the members  of the Faculty
were present except Dr. Dudley.   It was then  resolved that
the interests of the School imperiously  required a separation of
the chairs of Anatomy and Surgery—that the Dean  be desired
to communicate this resolution to  Dr. Dudley,  and that he (D)
be  requested to give the Faculty an answer the ensuing even-
ing.  These  resolutions were  supported by  Dr. Richardson,
Mitchell and myself— Dr. Peter, I  believe, voted against them.
  The morning of the 17th of May, I  met Dr. Dudley on Mill,
a few steps from  Main st.  Hs seemed exceedingly  gratified  at
seeing me, greeted me as my friend, and I, at his request retra-
ced my steps, locked arm in  arm with him, towards his house.
The only subjects of conversation, were those of the  separation
of the chairs of Anatomy and Surgery, and the nomination of 
22
Dr. Bush by the Faculty, to  that of the former, when it should
be vacated.   His only object appeared to be to procure my co-
operation for the achievement of the latter  object.  I informed
him, that in all 1 had said and done, I had  been  prompted ex-
clusively by a desire to  promote the interests  of  the  School—
that I had no personal animosity against Dr. Bush to gratify—
that the opposition of Drs. Mitchell,  Richardson  and myself to
him, arose as far I could judge from  an honest and  thorough
conviction of his incompetency—that even if  I were disposed
to second his views in  behalf of Dr.  Bush, it  was now impossi-
ble, for my honor was  pledged  to aid Drs.  Mitchell  and Rich-
ardson in the achievement of the reforms at which they aimed,
and that as all three of us had  committed  ourselves in the ful-
lest manner,  in so many forms,  and to so  many persons, to re-
treat from the position we had taken, without  disgrace, was ut-
terly impracticable.   Furthermore, I declared, that  even were
it possible  for me to  be guilty  of such treachery as to  desert
Drs. Mitchell and Richardson, nothing could reconcile them to
the elevation of Dr. Bush to a Professorship.   To which he re-
sponded in substance:—"I would rather  lose my  right  arm
than do, or  suffer anything to be  done, that  would  reflect on
the character of a colleague,* but Sir, if you  will  agree to it,
fmake   B. Professor of Anatomy,)  I care  but little what they
(Mitchell and Richardson) think or do.j  " Sir, said I," it is im-
possible, nor do I believe a single  member of the Faculty will
agree  to  it, with the exception,   perhaps, of Dr. Peter.  He
immediately turned from me evidently much irritated, saying at
the same time  "good  morning."
   Within a  few hours afterwards  I saw Dr. Richardson, and  I
communicated to him my accidental interview with Dr. Dudley—
I told him that 1  was satisfied from what he had said that he would
not submit to the separation of the  Chairs of Anatomy and  Sur-
gery without a pledge that  Dr. Bush should  be  nominated for
the former when vacated, and  that this would be the import of
the communication  we would  receive from him that evening.
Then, paid  he,  in that  event we  will  appeal  to  the Board of
Trustees, and if they refuse to  listen  to reason  you shall see
that you are not the only member  of the  Faculty who will not
submit to the insolent arrogance of Dr. Dudley.
   May 17th.  The Faculty met in  the evening according to ad-

  *This idle  and ostentatious display of affection for the reputation of his col-
leagues, is only equalled  by  the gratitude which the dog feels for the bull that
is tossing him, or the mouse for the cat by which he is worried; and this amiable
feaura in the character  of Dr.  Dudley, we may find it  necessary hereafter  to
illustrate and explain.
  tThe above do not profess to be the precise words  of Dr.  Dudley, but they
embody his meaning, at  least as I understood him. 
23
journment, and instead of receiving from Dr. Dudley a written
communication as was expected, he met us in person.   The mo-
ment the object the meeting was stated, Dr. Dudley let us know
with an air of as  haughty self-importance  and supercilious con-
tempt as if he had been the Great Mogul himself, surrounded with
his guards, that "it was utterly impossible for him to resign either
of the chairs he then held."  At this announcement Dr. Mitch-
ell bounced as suddenly as if he had been bitten by a tarantula
—Dr. Richardson shrunk back as if scorched by the glance of
Dudley's eye—and Dr.  Peter, his  mouth  like the aperture of
a poor-box, with  a fawning, cringing, parasitical grin, seemed
to say, "I told you so."  After  this avowal, which to me was
not unexpected, Dr. Dudley paused for a few moments and then
said in a more conciliatory tone that  Dr. Bush had not  had a
fair  chance—that he had always occupied  a subordinate and
consequently an embarrassing position in  the Faculty—that he
had been allowed to lecture but three times a week, and that he
was convinced that if he were permitted to leture twice as often,
and thus  be placed nearer on a footing of equality with  us, he
would be able to give satisfaction.  Immediately after Dr. Dudley
had closed his remarks, Dr. Richardson instead of moving, as was
expected, an  appeal  to the Board of Trustees, to my surprise
made a long rambling speech and if I understood him correctly
he did not differ materially on any important  point  from Dr.
Dudley.  While this speech was being made exultation glisten-
 ed in the eyes of Drs. Dudley and Peter, the  latter of  whom
believing  from the sentiments to which  Dr. Richardson had
 given utterance, that he had deserted Dr. Mitchell and myself,
 and that  as we were now in a minority we would yield, had the
 unblushing assurance to propose that the Faculty should unite
 in condemning the conduct of Dr.  Pinckard, in contradicting
 his  statements, and if this were done it would  be easy to dis-
 credit all he  had said and written.   At this Dr. Mitchell took
 fire, and  turning upon him asked him indignantly if he wished
 the members of the Faculty to lie.   Seeing no chance  of  an
 appeal to the Board of Trustees being made, and every chance
 of the evil of which we complained being aggravated instead
 of remedied 1 moved  that the consideration  of  the subject  lor
 the present be dismissed, and that the teaching of Anatomy and
 Surgery  be suffered to  remain in statu quo.  Believing that Dr.
 Bush had already lectured too often  for the good of the School,
 my  object in making  the above motion was to prevent his  ob-
 taining the privilege of lecturing six times a week which seem-
 ed to be the aim  of Dr. Dudley.  The  motion was adopted
 unanimously, and the meeting adjourned
   May 23d  I met Dr. Mitchell at Phillips'  corner, who with
 a fluttering, anxious expression of countenance that looked per- 
24
 fectly awful, the color of his face changing almost prismatically,
 informed me that he had just  learned that it was  the intention
 of Dr. Dudley to have himself, Dr. Richardson and myself expel-
 led the Faculty.  This intelligence I treated with the contempt
 it deserved, for great as  I believed his influence to be with the
 Board of Trustees I had no idea he could prevail upon them  to
 commit so gross and  indefenisble an outrage.   In  the  midst  of
 this conversation, which I did not  consider worth continuing,
 Judge Wooley passed and signified that he wished to see me,
 when I abruptly left Dr. Mitchell to the comfort of his gloomy
 forebodings.
   May 24th. I was  followed into the store of Messrs. Boyd &
 Colwell by Dr. Richardson, who, with  a most  portentous and
 obstetrical cast of countenance, a sure indication  that he was
 parturient  with something  prodigious, informed  me  that  he
 wished me to go home with him as he had matter of importance
 to communicate.  He began immediately to speak of the rumor
 that had evidently disturbed  the tranquility of Dr.  Mitchell,
 and here I must remark that while  both of them  hated Dr.
 Dudley with the utmost intcnseness they dreaded his wrath more
 than the  Gentoo's do a visit from Peshush, or than they did that
 of their  God, whom they  hypocritically professed to serve.
 When I  said  to Dr. Richardson that  Dr. Mitchell had impreg-
 nated him with his fears he responded that although he had
 spoken to him on the subject  he had also heard it from other
 sources, and that he  had reason to believe the subject was seri-
 ously agitated in a certain quarter.  He also informed  me that
 Dr. Peter had been to see him a few hours before on an errand
 from Dr.  Dudley, who wished the two letters he (R.) had received
 from him, (D.,)  and which committed the  latter  to the reforms
 we desired, with the assurance that they (the letters) should be re-
 turned so soon as he had obtained copies of them.   When he told
me that he had granted the requost of Dr. Dudley, and  that the
letters were then in his possession, I at  once  charged him with
having been guilty of a most silly indiscretion, and told him that
instead of sending the originals, he should have sent him copies of
them only, that it was a shallow  trick to obtain possession of them,
and that he would never see them again.  Well, said Dr. R, per-
haps you are right, for he is capable  of anything, and if I had
them again, it would  take more  than the jesuistry of Peter to
dispossess me of them;" but like the chicken sliding in the egg
down the Irishman's throat  he spoke too late.  Now I venture
the allegation  that those letters have not been found by those
who have possession  of the papers of Dr. R, while letters pur-
porting to be copies of those written by Dr. R to Dr.  D.   have
and  this  I do, because I have  had  the most conclusive  assu-
rance  that this was  not  the  first time  he  (Dudley) had 
25
repossessed himself of his  letters  under  false  pretences.   Dr.
Richardson then read to me the letters to which I have justfre-
ferred, and which I  have  no doubt  have been found  amongst
his papers, but which I had not seen  before, in order  to obtain
my opinion of their contents,  for  he  said he  feared  it would
become  necessary to publish  them, and  he wished to know if
they contained anything that could  not safely  meet the public
eye.  1 did  my utmost  to tranquillize him,  for he was  very
much disturbed, and indulged in the most intemperate  denunci-
ations of  Dr. Dudley.    I saw  plainly  that  he  thought  he
was to  be victimized,  for  he  proposed that should  Dr. Dudley
attempt the expulsion of either himself, Dr.  Mitchell or myself,
the moment this should be certainly ascertained, all three of us
should  simultaneously  resign,  and  make  a joint  publication
against  Dr.  Dudley.   To which I  responded: "Sir,  you  and
Dr. Mitchell are  at liberty  to  pursue  what  course  you may
think expedient—in relation to myself you are already aware
of my determination, for I have repeatedly told you that if by
the first of July, Dr. Dudley does not recover his  senses, and
submit to  such changes as  the interests of the  School  demand,
I  will resign, and  I  now say in  addition, that  I'll not only re-
sign, but  I will give to the public my reasons for  doing so.*
   About 5 o'clock in  the afternoon,  I  received the  following
notice:
                         MEDICAL HALL,  May  24, 1844
    A Faculty meeting will be held in the usual place, to-mor-
row, at 11 o'clock, A. M.
                            THOS. D. MITCHELL, Dean
    For Professor Cross.
    That the  defection  of  Drs. Mitchell and  Richardson  was
neither suspected nor feared on the 2lst of May 1844,  only four
 days before their treachery became manifest, is proved by the
following quotation extracted from an article  of Dr.  Pinckard,
that was published in the Lexington  Inquirer  of that date.
   " At a Faculty meeting  a few evenings since  resolutions were passed by a
majority of  the Professors expressing the  necessity and urging  Dr. Dudley to
   ♦This, although strictly true, as to what was my fixed purpose, was a most in-
discreet publication of what I intended to do after resigning, for it had, I am fully
satisfied, a controlling agency in driving my colleagues to the adoption of an ex-
pedient.evidently full of difficulty and desperate hazard.  They might  have been
willing, perhaps, to have suffered me to retire in  silence,  but to permit me to
leave the School under auspices propitious to an assault upon the insolent and
arrogant  assumptions of Dr. Dudley, was too much to expect,  and  to betray
my design to men of whom I had some knowledge, and that too of a character not
very flattering, was a great weakness.  Besides the necessity which there was to
deter me from an exposure of the conduct of Dr. Dudley,  the recent defection of
his colleagues, Drs. Richardson and Mitchell, made it indispensable that I should
not be allowed to  comment  on their turpitude and  treachery.
                 4 
26
resign one of his professorships, giving him the privilege of retaining  the one he
should prefer (supposing he would retain the chair of Surgery) so that a competent
Anatomist might be appointed.
  What do you suppose was  the result1?   And that too, after he had expressed
his  willingness to do  what his colleagues  might think would  be for  the  best
interests of the School ?
  Dr. Dudley positively refuses  to resign either of his  chairs, unless  the faculty
will concur with him and appoint his incompetent adjunct to  the  Professorship of
Anatomy!  Thus striving to make the school more objectionable than  at present,
and insulting the majority of his talented colleagues by such an offer  when they
had  expressed their belief  that he was incompetent for the subaltern  position  he
now occupies.  A  majority of  the faculty, with  a dignity becoming the elevated
position  which they occupy, and that relf-respect which should characterise all
honorable men, and  especially when the interests of science are concerned, very
properly and promptly rejected his offer;  nothing then has been done.
  The  result is our  School will go down, effectually down, unless the reorganiza-
tion we have so frequently urged, is effected  immediately.   Who shall bear the
odium of  its wreck, its ruin?   W« unhesitatingly say Dr.  Dudley — all the
physicians say Dr. Dudley — three to one in  the Faculty say Dr. Dudley; and you
the Trustees who are the guardians of the School, will we  know, when too  late,
have to unite and join the universal cry, Dr. Dudley—You the Mayor and  City
Council will then properly  inquire, who promised that our  Medical Class should
double its number,  at that time over two hundred ; would you borrow and appro-
priate  the enormous  sum  of more than  $50,000 for the  exclusive  benefit  of
Transylvania Medical School—you borrowed and appropriated that sum, believing
in the promises of Dr. Dudley.  [That Dr. D.  made  these  promises we  have the
statement of several councilmen.]
  The  Faculty, with the exception of Dr. Peter, have done  all in their power, to
place the School in a position to command respect at home, and confidence abroad,
by their efforts to have the proper vacancies, so that they might  appoint a distin-
guished Professor and  Demonstrator of Anatomy.   For this  they  deserve the
thanks  of every  friend  of our  Profession  and of Medical  Science,  and  in an
especial manner, do they deserve the thanks of the citizens of our city, for doing
all in their power to sustain our sinking School.
  Now  what  shall  be done?  Will  you, the  Trustees stand idly by, indifferent
to the best interests of the School, not only as expressed by us, but by the Faculty,
and the physicians generally, which  requires its immediate  reorganization ?  Will
you the Mayor and  Council and the citizens of Lexington, remain  silent  upon
this subject of such importance and interest  to you?  For whom  have  the ciiizens
made so many pecuniary sacrifices, to benefit and to sustain the School ?  For Dr.
 D.  Yet, Dr. Dudley is  now doing all in his  power to sacrifice  your  School,  by
preventing its reorganization — although he said  he was willing to do anything
that was honorable to advance its interests.  The Professors, his colleagues, the
physicians of the city, the  friends of science and of the Scheol, unite in  saying it
 is honorable, it is right, it is imperatively demanded by the sinking condition of the
 School, and  for its future success that he  resign one of his chairs.
   But he refuses.  He still domineers as  he  has  always done, to  the injury of our
 School, and  thus prevents Professors Mitchell, Cross and Richardson, from filling
 one of the chairs, which he should vacate, with one of the ablest Anatomists and
 Surgeons in the United States.
   Are you willing to see the School go down?   The School that you have nurtured
 by the  most lavish expenditures, and the greatest pecuniary sacrifices?  If so  do
 nothing, and your splendid Medical  hall will be deserted by the proud aspiring
 youth of the great valley of the Mississippi.  We respectfully say to the Trustees
 you should now act, and come  to the aid  of a majority of the  Faculty.  If you
 refuse, we call on the Mayor  and Council and  the citizens generally, to come to 
27
their aid, and say to Dr. Dudley, Sir, you have no right, either morally or officially,
as an honorable man, to resist and oppose the efforts of your colleagues, to elevate
the Medical School and promote the true interests  of the city of Lexington, by
making the required reorganization.
  Belter, far better, that he, Dr. B. W. Dudley, should leave the School, than
that all the talent  in it  besides should leave it.  What honorable man, what
talented man would stay in it, or what honorable or talented man would come in,
if Dr. Dudley is still to be their ruler?"
 _ May  25th, 1844. About 9 A. M., I met Dr. Mitchell on the
side-walk before  the  Medical  College,  when he told me there
would be no Faculty  Meeting that day—that it had been defer-
red.  The  cause  of  it I did  not  ask nor did he  inlorm me.
After having been about  the public square two or three hours I
turned towards home, and on  the way I found before Dr. Dar-
by's office Drs.  Pinckard, Lewis  and others.  The  subject of
conversation, before I joined them, was the difficulties in which
the Medical School appeared  to  be involved, which was con-
tinued to be discussed after my arrival, as will appear by the
following letter addressed to me by Dr.  Lewis:
           SHORT  STREET, Lexington, 13th June, 1844.
   Prof. Cross,—Dear Sir:  I  received  your note of the 12th,
(yesterday,) requesting me to give you the import of  the conver-
sation that  took place on  Saturday, the 25th of May,  before Dr.
Darby's office, in which  you,  Dr.  Pinckard  and myself  were
engaged.
   The  subjects  of conversation  at the  time referred  to  were
briefly the  reputed  compromise in the  Faculty by  which Dr.
Bush was  to  fill  the Anatomical Chair the ensuing session on
trial; the propriety of taking before the  Trustees the resolution
passed by the majority of the Faculty, touching the importance
of  separating  the   Chairs   of Anatomy  and  Surgery,  the
qualifications of Dr.  Bush to  fill the Chair of Anatomy, and
lastly the intentions of Dr. Dudley towards the majority of the
Faculty whom it was reported had passed said resolution.
   You  distinctly denied a knowledge of the existence of a reso-
lution by which Dr.  Bush was  to  fill the Anatomical Chair  on
trial the ensuing session, and stated that you had offered a reso-
lution  in the spirit of compromise—that the Chairs remain as
they were  before  a reorganization was proposed,  and which
resolution  was passed unanimously.   You remarked that  it
would be impolitic to urge the reorganization before the Trus-
tees as  it could  not  be effected and would injure  the School.
My recollection does not serve me as to any remark made by
you in  relation  to  Prof. Dudley's feelings and supposed inten-
tions towards the majority of the Faculty.  You further stated
in the conversation alluded to "that it was hard or you did not
know why  if Dr. Pinckard  chose  to write against  the School, 
28
and get up a difficulty that you  and others should be held res-
ponsible for it.
           I  am, very respectfully,
                  Your friend and  ob't servant,
                                      JNO. T. LEWIS.
  P. S.—Professors Richardson, Mitchell and yourself were cen-
sured, by the  company present, for not taking the resolution pas-
sed by a  majority of the Faculty before  the  Trustees.  The
opinion was expressed that  Prof. Dudley intended making a
clean sweep of all the Chairs occupied by  those not in favor of
his views, and  you were told that the Trustees were ready to
hear any complaints from the Faculty, but  would pay no atten-
tion to the communication of "A Friend to Lexington."
                                      JNO.  T. LEWIS.

   Immediately after the  conversation in  which the  topics
referred  to  in  the  above   letter  were  spoken  of closed, I
resumed my   walk towards my house as  the dinner  hour
was  fast  approaching.   On  my  way I observed the  Med-
ical  College  door standing  open,  and thinking it probable
that I  should  find Dr.  Mitchell in the  Faculty room, as  he
spent much of his time  there, I entered  for  the purpose of
telling him what I had just  heard.  To my surprise instead of
finding him alone he was in company with  Drs. Richardson and
Peter.  They appeared  about adjourning,  but when I remarked
that I wished  to speak to Drs. R. and M., they remained and
Dr. Peter departed.  I gave to  them  my understanding of  the
resolution that I had offered, in  relation to Dr. Bush, which  ac-
corded exactly with  the  explanation  I  had just given  to Drs.
Pinckard and Lewis, and asked them if such was not their  un-
derstanding of it.   When  I  remark that this resolution had
been a subject of conversation with both  Drs. Mitchell and
Richardson since its adoption, and that they agreed  with  me in
regard to its  import  and intention, the reader will be  able to
conceive  of  my surprise and disappointment  when they both
declared that the resolution  merely dismissed the subject with-
out any reference to the teaching of Anatomy the ensuing  ses-
sion.  For a  flat contradiction of this  statement I appeal  to the
Minutes of the Faculty, and will abide  by their testimony if
they have not been disfigured or defaced, for I proposed the re-
solution.  I then told them that we were much censured for not
having sent  the resolution  in relation to  the separation  of the
 Chairs of Anatomy and Surgery to the Board of Trustees,  and
 urged upon them the necessity  of it.  This  they both opposed,
 and Dr. Richardson with great vehemence.  Now it is a notori-
 ous fact that both Drs. Mitchell and Richardson had approved of
 every  step  that had   been  taken  by  Dr.  Pinckard,  and 
29
boasted of  the support of  the physicians  of Second  street,
against whom the latter inveighed bitterly on this occasion, de-
nouncing them as agitators, meddlers and disturbers of the peace
of the town.  The reader may  well imagine my amazement at
this announcement.  Both Drs.  Richardson  and  Mitchell ap-
peared very restless and impatient  to have this interview
brought to a close, for they ran  about the room like geese in the
agonies of egg-laying,  but this  I did not intend  to suffer, for I
was  now convinced, from  what I had just heard,  particu-
larly   when  connected  as  it was, in  my  mind, with  the
conversation I had had with Dr. Dudley on the morning of the
17th May, that  they had been, by him, debauched from their
allegiance to me, and were now traitors; and I fancied in looking
upon  them I realized something of the truth of the remark made
by Pitt, "that there were men in whose countenances villany is so
impressed it were impiety not to believe it."   I told them it was
currently rumored and confidently believed  that  it was the in-
tention of Dr. Dudley  to  have those who voted  for the resolu-
tion   demanding  a separation  of the Chairs  of Anatomy and
Surgery  expelled the Faculty, and that if such was the  fact now
was the time to act upon  the proposition  Dr. Richardson had
made  the day before, which the reader will  recollect was that
Drs. Richardson,  Mitchell and myself should resign and make a
joint publication.  The moment I reminded  Dr. Richardson of
this  they both  started for the  door as if the avenger  of blood
was at their heels, Dr. Richardson remarking as he went out
that he should not at least for the present, for he was not afraid
of being  turned  out.  Then said I, if they turn me  out they
must  do it quickly.  As I returned home from the Medical Col-
lege I met Dr. Dudley on the side-walk,  who greeted  me with
his usual stereotyped Macsycophant grin.
   That no doubt may  exist of the  truth of the account I have
given  of the conversation had with  Drs. Mitchell  and Richard-
son in the Faculty room, on the 25th May, 1844, I here give
a letter  addressed to me by Dr. Pinckard, with whom 1 had a
conversation on the  following Monday, and  which  the  reader
will at once perceive could  only refer  to  the discoveries made
by me in the one  held with  those  men on the previous Satur-
day:—

                           LEXINGTON, July 23d, 1846.
   Dr. Cross,—Dear Sir: Yours of the 21st inst., (mailed at
Louisville,) was received to-day.  You request me to send you
at Cincinnati my recollections of a conversation that accidentally
took place  between you and myself near the  1st Presbyterian
Church in Lexington,  on  the 27th  of May, 1844.  I  recollect
the date as  it was the Monday after the Saturday we had the 
30
conversation before Dr. Darby's office, in which Dr. Lewis par-
ticipated.
  On Monday, the 27th of May, 1844,1 met Professor Cross on
the pavement at the corner of the 1st Presbyterian Church, and
asked him why he, Drs. Richardson and Mitchell did not press
the reorganization of the School, and  stated that I had under-
stood  from Dr.  Mitchell at Dr. Darby's office the week  before,
that he, (Mitchell,) Richardson and Cross had, by a resolution at
a Faculty meeting forced  Dr. Dudley  to place  himself in the
hands of the Faculty.  I further stated that I knew  they (Mitch-
ell, Richardson and Cross,) were all unanimous in the belief that
the future prosperity and very existence of the School depended
upon  the resignation of Dr. Dudley of one of his professorships,
and the removal of Dr. Bush on the ground of incompetency—
that although  Dr.  Lewis had stated a few days before on the
authority of a member of the Board of  Trustees, with whom he
had conversed, that they (the Trustees) had threatened to  turn
out all those who opposed Dr. Dudley, I could not  believe that
they would be  guilty of such enormous injustice to a majority
of the Faculty, merely for the purpose of ministering  to  the
vengeance of Dr. Dudley.  The reply of Dr. Cross to my inter-
rogatory and the  remarks  that  accompanied it  was as follows:
That  all hope of  effecting any reform in the School was extin-
guished—that Drs. Mitchell and Richardson had not only aban-
doned him, but every position  they had heretofore taken in re-
gard to the proposed reorganization, and that they  so far from
again urging the necessity of Dr. Bush's removal from the School,
for which they had been so clamorous, were now willing  to vote
for his nomination to the Chair of Anatomy, which Dr. Dudley
was willing and would resign only on that condition.  This ap-
peared to me incredible, and I asked him his reason for suppo-
sing that they (Mitchell and Richardson) could be guilty of such
turpitude.'  He replied he could say no more at  present, but re-
quested me to recollect what  he had said.  This was before I
knew any thing about Dr. Cross' having been requested to re-
sign, and before any one suspected Drs. Mitchell and Richard-
son of such  inconsistency and  treachery  as  he  plainlya said
they had been and  would  be guilty of.
   The night after this interview 1  was  at Dr. Cross' house with
Dr. Darby, when he explained to us why he  had spoken to me
as he had, the day before.   I then said to Drs. Cross and Dar-
by that the hint  which  had been given by  Dr. Lewis, had not
been  lost on  Drs. Mitchell and Richardson,  for they knowing
how obnoxious Dr. Cross was to  the aversion  of Dr. Dndley,
immediately determined to offer him  up as a sacrifice to propit-
iate Dr. Dudley's anger, and thus to obtain from him permission
to remain in the  School. 
31
   Subsequent events proved the truth of all that Dr. Cross, had
predicted, for Drs. Mitchell  and  Richardson  did  vote for the
nomination  of Dr. Bush  to the chair  of Anatomy,  and he was
elected by the Board  of Trustees.   My predictions  would also
have been fulfilled, had not Drs. Mitchell and Richardson pro-
ved traitors  to their colleague Dr. Cross.   For this, and agreeing
to support the nomination of Dr. Bush, they  were permitted to
remain in the School.
                                            T.  B.  PINCKARD.
   Many  of  the  allegations  embodied in  the preceding history,
were presented  to the public by Dr. Pinckard so  long ago as
the 20th  of September,  1844.   These particularly  affect  the
conduct  and  character  of Drs. Mitchell and Richardson.  As
neither of those individuals have ever dared to answer or attempt
their  refutation, the  public  is bound  to believe  that  they are
true, and insusceptible  of refutation.   We  therefore  deem  it
perfectly  legitimate to quote an extract from the article of Dr.
Pinckard, which  was  published the 20th of September,  1844.
in confirmation of wfjat we have said.  Dr. Pinkard, remarks:
   "Yes, Dr. M.  and Dr. R. did approve and express an  entire approval of all
we wrote previous to the return of Dr. Cross  from the East.  They urged  him  by
letter, as we are informed, to hurry home and  unite with them in re-organizing the
School.  He did hasten home for that purpose, and to assist in filling the vacant
chair of Theory  and Practice and heartily united with them in the opinion that all
we had written was true, and that the best interest of our city required Dr.  Dudley
to resign one of his Professorships, either the chair of Anatomy or Surgery — the
vacant chair to be filled with an experienced and able Professor of unquestionable
abilities. Did  not Dr. Richardson, after the publication of our fourth number and
before the return of Dr. C. from the East, feel so confident that Dr. Dudley would
be forced by public opinion, and a majority of the Faculty, if not by the Trustees,
to resign one of his chairs, that he got a friend to write to Dr.  Geo. McClelland,
ex-Professor of the Jefferson Medical School, Philadelphia, to get him to accept
the vacant chair?  These same Professors, Mitchell, Richardson and Cross, did
also concur with us fully in the opinion that Dr. Bush was incompetent as  an
Adjunct Professor of Anatomy, and Dr. Richardson, as we are informed, addressed
one or two letters to Dudley, insisting on the re-organization of the School, &c.
   Do not these facts prove that Drs.  Mitchell, Richardson and Cross, were as
anxious for the re-organization of the School as we were,  and that they made just
the same effort that we did  to put down the  School, — if desiring its re-organiza-
 tion  and the  appointment of the  ablest men in our  land to  fill  the vacant
 Professorships, was an attempt to put it down?  Yes, they went farther than  we
 did, — they acted in a different sphere, in their official capacity, they passed, as
 we stated in our last article, a resolution at a regular Faculty meeting, requiring
 of Dr.  Dudley, for the benefit of the  School, that he should resign one of his
 Professorships.
   Will it not  be strange if we should be covered with shame and infamy, as the
 'Professor's editorial' predicts  for our agency in urging  a  re-organization of our
 Medical School,  and these gentlemen go without a 'cover' in these particulars, when
 they co-operated with us,  and sustained us by endorsing  all we said as  true?
 We leave to the public to  answer the question, and say what part of the 'cover1
 belongs to  us,  and what part to them.
   Now, we again repeat that  all we wrote was designed for the best interest of
 the School, and of our city, and if our suggestions had have been adopted which 
32
were sanctioned by these three professors, which was to procure the most talented
and  experienced men in the nation, we may confidently ask the question  would
not our School possess at this moment more power to accomplish  the great ends
of its organization, than it now has?
  But it may be replied, it is  not  certain now, that Dr. Bush  is to be perma-
nently Professor of Anatomy.  Dr. Dudley has only placed him in that important
chair this winter, on trial, as we have been informed that Dr. Peter has stated; and
that if he proves himself an able professor contrary to  the opinions so frequently
expressed by Professors Mitchell, Richardson and Cross, and the  physicians and
students generally—then he is to remain permanently as Professor of Special and
Surgical Anatomy  in Transylvania Medical School; otherwise he is %to leave the
School, and give place to some man  of acknowledged talents  and experience
competent to teach this important and primary branch of our profession.
  We were not for making any experiments of this sort; nor were Drs. Richard-
son and Mitchell, while they were acting in union with their talented colleague
Dr. Cross.  But strange to tell, these same Professors, Mitchell  and Richardson,
(from some cause or other, — known  doubtless to themselves, we  assert the fact,
and leave them to explain) changed their position.  Abandoned  not only us, but
also proved traitorous to their brother Professor,  Dr. Cross, by deserting him, and
joined themselves to Dr.  Dudley, who  by some peculiar operation, mesmeric  or
cabalistic, enabled  these very Professors at once — with  the rapidity of 'presto
change1 — to change their  opinions, long, deliberately and rationally made up,
expressed time and again—that Dr. Bush was incompetent  to teach Anatomy as
an Adjunct; and now they say he is competent and well qualified to make an able
Professor of Anatomy!!!
   Immediately after  the  conversation  above  referred  to, as
having been held  with  Drs. Mitchell  and Richardson, in the
Faculty room,  on Saturday the 25th of May, 1844, I returned
home.   No sooner did  I  enter my  office, than I sat down  and
wrote a letter  to M. C. Johnson, Esq.,  Chairman of the Board
of Trustees, in  which  the Professorship  I held in the Medical
Department of Transylvania  University, was resigned.  It ran
thus:

                           LEXINGTON, May 25th, 1844.
   M.  C. Johnson,  Esq., Chairman, cy-c.
                                            Alarmed and astound-
ed at some remarks which fell  to-day from Drs. Mitchell  and
Richardson, but  more particularly  from  the  latter,  I decided
at once to put  into execution  an act which I  had for some  time
determined  on, and expressed to several individuals—which was
that, in the  event of all  hope  being  lost  of re-organizing the
School, I would resign.   You will, therefore, be pleased to con-
sider the Chair  of Institutes and Medical Jurisprudence as va-
cated.                                   JAMES C.  CROSS.
   This letter it  was my  intention  to send to  the  Chairman  of
the  Board  of Trustees,  immediately  after dinner.   Indeed  it
would have been sent  before, in which event I should have  anti-
cipated the precipitate  vengeance of my enemies,  but the ser-
vant who would  have been the  bearer of it, was wanted in the
dining-room,—dinner  being  already  served.   1  had scarcely
risen from the table,  after  dinner, when the Curator, shaking 
33
like an aspen leaf and disclaiming with the most significant zeal
all  knowledge of  its  contents, handed  me the following letter.
The reader who  knows that  character is a  Phoenix which can
expire but once, and from whose ashes there is no resurrection,
will, after reading it, believe me,  when I  say  that  it not only
astonished and confounded but overwhelmed  me.
                            LEXINGTON,  May 25th, 1844.
  To Professor Cross,—Sir,
                               Circumstances having  occurred
relating to your private,  character,* which  will hereafter pre-
vent us from co-operating with  you as a member of the Medi-
cal Faculty  of Transylvania  University, we   feel called on by
an  imperious sense of duty to the  institution, to request you to
send to  the Board of Trustees, your resignation  of the  chair
you hold, as speedily as possible.
  We invite you to this measure,  hoping that it may appear as
a spontaneous act of your own.
                                   B. W. DUDLEY,
                                   W. H. RICHARDSON,
                                   THOS. D. MITCHELL,
                                   ROBT.  PETER.

   My feelings upon reading this infamous epistle, an epistle writ-
ten during a vindictive  paroxysm  of exasperated  rascality, and
designed, not only to rob me of every,  residuary hope  or topic
of  consolation, but to condemn me  to everlasting infamy,  may
be imagined but cannot  be described.  It struck  me  perfectly
speechless and motionless with the  mingled emotions of terror,
indignation  and contempt.   Human depravity  had resorted to
an expedient of  which I had no conception,  and in the exis-
  * This va<me and general  impromptu allegation was unaccompanied  by a
single specification, and, therefore, like a ghost story or an avalanche, increases
in horror, as it goes. It would be stupid in me to anticipate my enemies, for
                " Mischief thou art swift
           To enter in the thoughts of desperate men, "
especially of those who know that
                " The world a willing stander by,
                Inclines to aid a specious lie."
When the " gross obliquities of character" with which I am charged are specified,
it will be time enough for me to notice them — it will be time enough then for me to
appeal from the gossiping credulity of scandal to the justice of those who are far
removed from the sphere of personal feeling and personal influence.  Cato may
surpass me in virtue and St. Paul in spirituality — my infirmities may be numerous
and great, but they are those of an honest man, who is not only ready and willing
to defend Rome but to carry the war into Africa.  No man needs more the propa-
gation of the sentiment embodied in the Spanish proverb, "Write the private faults
of men in sand, their public virtues on brass," than Dr. Dudley.  He should
recollect that Phalarius roasted Perillus in his own brazen bull.
              5 
34
tence of which even the too prompt suspiciousness of my nature
did not permit me to believe.  I saw at once into whose  hands
I had fallen.  Two of my  colleagues, who for weeks had striv-
en with me, with commutual zeal in a common and laudable
enterprise, had but a few minutes before proved to  me that they
were cowardly  traitors; but  now  they  forced me to regard
them, with their  comrades, as incarnate  concentrations  of the
worst vices, and the perfect antithesis of every thing generous,
benevolent or ennobling  in the human  character. Knowing
that I had determined to  re«ign,  and that too  immediately—
that I intended  to give my reasons for doing so to the public,
and that  if I should, it would  blast forever  the  prospects  of
the  institution,  they thought  it necessary, if possible,  to avert
so  dreadful a calamity,  and therefore taking  "base counsel  of
their fears," they hesitated not to have recourse to  an expedient
at which  current scoundrelism would have blushed; they paused
not at  the commission  of  an  act of moral  assassination, from
 which the most  cold-blooded and motiveless inhumanity would
 have recoiled in terror and disgust.
   Here I ask the reader  to pause,  and  reflect upon the  fact,
 that in the brief space of  less than two hours, my private char-
 acter had become so obnoxious to the aversion of my colleagues
 that they were obliged to  decline association with  me as a mem-
 ber of the Faculty.   This declaration they had the daring ef-
 frontery to make in  the  face of the facts  that I had every day
 previously  been  in  consultation  with  Drs.  Richardson and
 Mitchell—had walked the streets, on the  17th of May, arm in
 arm with Dr. Dudley, though there was less honor than discred-
 it in that—had late  on the day before received  a notice from
 the Dean of the Faculty,  that there would be a Faculty meet-
 ing on that very day, and had been less than two hours  before
 I received their written invitation to resign,  with two of them,
 ex-officially, it is true, conversing on the business of the  School.
 Never, and to  this I am willing to testify on  oath,  had  my col-
 leagues,  individually  or   collectively—directly  or indirectly,
 given me to understand  that my  conduct was in any respect
  objectionable.   The first intimation I ever received from them
 on this subject was contained in the note of the  25th of May,
  1844, inviting  me to resign.  Besides  I had  been present at
  every meeting of the Faculty since my return from New York,
  and had actively participated in  their  proceedings as its min-
  utes  will  most conclusively prove.   Nor is  this all; during
  the same week, a number of my brother practitioners of the
  city of Lexington,  paid me as high a tribute of respect and ad-
  miration as any reasonable man could desire.  That  my proof-
  less and unsupported dictum may  not be  relied  on, I give the
  transaction to  which I refer, in the language of Dr. Pinckard,
  who remarks: 
35
  " That the distant public may form a proper estimate of the standing and reputa-
tion of Dr. Cross in Lexington, we insert a memorial written by a  Physician, and
signed by ten of the most respectable practising Physicians in  the city, and others
equally as respectable  were willing and preparing  to sign  it, but  they had been
informed that Dr. Watson had been appointed to the vacant  chair the very day the
memorial  was circulated, and they were unwilling, very properly, to interfere after
the appointment was made.  *This  memorial was gotten up and circulated with-
out consulting  Dr. Cross, and without his knowledge."
  " The Subscribers, alumni of Transylvania  University and  others, informed of
the fact that the chair of the Theory and Practice, in the Medical  Department of
the University, is now vacant in consequence of the resignation of the late Prof.
E.  Bartlett, would most respectfully recommend to the Hon. Board of Trustees of
Transylvania, Dr. Jas. C. Cross, as a Physician and Gentleman, in our judgments
every way qualified to fill that Chair.
  Many reasons induce us  to make this  recommendation,  among which are the
following:
  No chair in the School has perhaps changed its occupant more  frequently than
has that of the Theory and Practice.   Since the re-organization  in  1837, it has
been filled by three gentlemen, each one distinguished and deservedly popular as a
Teacher.   Death removed the lamented Eberle.  Smith and Bartlett have found
greater inducements in an Eastern City.  It now remains to be determined whether
we will be more fortunate in obtaining the services of a man who will  be more
likely to remain among us.  No one denies the importance of  having a permanent
Teacher in this most distinguished and useful chair.  Nothing can  more retard
the onward progress of our School, than frequent changes in the Chair of Theory
and Practice of Medicine.
   Physicians  in the  Southern and Western States are eminently practical men.
The diseases which they have to treat are not such as are likely to  recover without
the aid of Medicine.   Facts the most abundant prove this; nor are they such as
will yield to a temporising or expectant course of treatment.  Not only the Faculty
of  Doctors, but the people are fully of this opinion.
   How  important, is it not, then, that the Physicians who  have the first care of
medical students, throughout the great valley of the West, should know who it is
that fills this most important of all the  chairs  in any Medical School.   Notwith-
standing  the annual announcements, the fact is nevertheless true,  the changes  in
this chair have been  so  frequent that  numbers of Medical gentlemen, are every
year uninformed who fills  the chair of Theory and Practice in  the Lexington
School.   A Professor has hardly been here long enough to make himself known,
through the Students  to the Doctors and people of the West and South,  before he
resigns, and goes  elsewhere; carrying with  him, of course, if he  is  a man  of
distinguished ability, some of  the Students, who would, otherwise, form  a  part  of
our class.
   Who is more likely to be permanent among us, than  our fellow-citizen Dr.
 Cross ?   Those  early associations and ties which  induce other men to  return  to
 their early homes, all combine to induce him to remain among us.
   And when, we  are able to say, as we  can in strictest truth, and without a
  *The  most infamous  means  were resorted to to prevent the Physicians of
Lexington signing the memorial.   To some it was said by one  of my colleagues
and  another individual  connected with the University,  who made themselves
particularly active  in  opposing ,for they could  not defeat,  the memorial that Dr.
Bartlett had not resigned, and to others that the chair of Theory and Practice had
been  already filled by. the election of Dr. Watson,  neither of which statements
were  true.  Besides, it is believed the  election  of Dr. Watson  to  the chair of
Theory and Practice,  was precipitated, to the great injury of the School, simply to
exclude me from it. 
36
shadow of flattery, that no Physician is more favorably known, throughout the
Southern and Western States, as a man of extensive and critical knowledge of the
Science of Medicine, and as a successful Practitioner, one too, who has already
acquired a most enviable reputation as a Teacher, both in this and the Cincinnati
School; we feel persuaded that the Medical Faculty and the Board of Trustees,
are bound to give due weight and a respectful consideration to our recommen-
dation.
  No medical school in the West, as far North as Kentucky, or in the  Eastern
cities, so far as we are informed, has ever been so fortunate as to have a teacher in
this Chair who has ever practised in a Southern State.  Is not this a desideratum?
Dr. Cross practised for several years in a very sickly section of Alabama, and
there learnt,  in the  only manner it can be learnt, the true character of Southern
diseases.  What has contributed so much to make Dr. James Johnson,of London,
one of the most distinguished medical writers of  the age, as his  extensive and
practical experimental knowledge of the diseases of hot climates?  His works are
the Vade Mecum of every Southern Doctor.  We  want a man who has treated
Southern fevers, to teach our students how to  treat them.  The practical lessons
which Prof.  Cross introduces into his physiological lectures  are at this time
practised upon by hundreds of Physicians throughout the Mississippi Valley.
  As Physicians of the city of Lexington, we take  pleasure in saying  that there is
no Physician more gentlemanly in his deportment, and whom we are better pleased
to meet in consultation than our fellow townsman Dr. Cross, and no man whose
suggestions at the bedside we are more disposed to act upon.
  In conclusion, we earnestly recommend him to  the Board of Trustees, and  to
his brother members of the Medical Faculty of the University, to fill the vacant
chair of the  Theory and Practice in Transylvania University.
  Lexington, May,  1844.

   Now, is it not strange and inscrutable that during the same
week, and not more than two or three days asunder, I should re-
ceive  from four of my colleagues, a letter in which I am told that
my private character is such as to prevent their co-operating with
me as a member of the Faculty, and be  presented  with a  memo-
morial signed by ten of the most respectable physicians of  Lex-
ington,  in which  amongst many other  complimentary things it
is said:—"As physicians of the city of Lexington we take pleas-
ure in saying that  there is no physician  more  gentlemanly in his
deportment, and whom we  are  better pleased to meet in consultation
than our fellow-townsman, Dr.  Cross, and  no man whose  sugges-
tions  at the bed-side, we are  more disposed to act upon."
   So detestable and diabolical  a  conspiracy was never perhaps
formed for the destruction  of any man.   Having already com-
mitted  a  crime unrelieved  by  a single circumstance  of  mitiga-
tion,  I had no right  to suppose or believe  they would hesitate  at
the perpetration of any atrocity to compass their purpose.   My
situation can be readily imagined; instead of having, as I thought
a few hours before, at least two professing friends in the Faculty,
I found myself surrounded by and  in  the merciless  hands  of
blood hounds, of monsters in  human shape, who were ready  to
 signalize  their zeal in  the cause of a man whom  they despised,
 by pouring the venom of a venal turpitude into the heart of one
 who  had not  insulted  or aggrieved them.  Not  only did I see 
37
that the  influence of my resignation was  neutralized and des-
troyed, at least for the present, but that they had placed  me in
a situation from which immaculate purity  would be unable  to
escape unscathed by the  lightning of their vengeance.   With
feelings which this conviction was calculated to inspire, I  deter-
mined to consult Judge Wooley.  I laid the facts before him as
intelligibly as I could, and he at once said, as he then declared,
that I was not in a state of mind to act discreetly or  prudently
in the premises, and therefore insisted that I  should speak to no
one on the subject, but suffer him to take the control of the af-
fair wholly into his own hands.   Having  the fullest confidence
in his prudence, wisdom and  friendship, I  surrendered the mat-
ter  to his management.   What he proposed to do or did, I  knew
not, nor do I now know.   Three days after the reception of the
letter above given, I received the following note from the  Dean
of the Faculty:

                          LEXINGTON, May 28th, 1844.
  To Prof. Cross,—Sir:  I am authorized and  directed by the
members of the Faculty, who signed the paper sent you on Sat-
urday  last, to request that you will make known your decision
in the premises by Thursday atnoon, of this  week,  in default of
which it will be their duty to lay the matter before the  Board of
Trustees.  By order,        THOS. D. MITCHELL, Dean.

  I immediately saw Judge Wooley and exhibited  to him  this
second letter, at which  he appeared  surprised and indignant,
and declared he had never known a more outrageous proceed-
ing on the part of men who claimed to be honest or respectable.
I remarked that  speedy action seemed to be  necessary—that
the course I intended to pursue I had long decided on, but that
I did not wish to take the affair out of his  hands until he volun-
tarily relinquished it.  He advised me to take my own time—that
he would not be hurried—that it was preposterous in the Facul-
ty to think of forcing me to decide before  I had had ample time
to consult with my friends—that Mr. Clay wished to see  me at
his  house that afternoon at 5 o'clock,  and that I must do noth-
ing until I had heard his views on the subject.   I saw Mr. Clay
and had a conversation with him in relation to the two letters I
had receivfed from the Faculty, when he  at  once and emphati-
cally declared the conduct of my colleagues to be an  indefensi-
ble  usurpation of authority.   He proffered his interposition and
from what he  said  I left him  under the impression that he
thought it a difficulty which ought and should be easily settled.
Reflecting on the subject, however, it appeared to me that he
had misunderstood my wishes—that he supposed I desired  to
remain in the Faculty, and that  if he  interposed under this im- 
3S
pression, and should succeed in effecting a settlement of the dif-
ficulty, I would be under an obligation to remain in the school,
which, days before, I had  determined not to do under any cir-
cumstances.   I therefore addressed to him the following note:
                         LEXINGTON, May 28th,  1844.
  Hon. H. Clay,—Dear Sir:  I should feel bound to remain in
the School in  the event of  the success of the effort you propose
making on my behalf.  This is wholly irreconcileable with my
feelings, and  therefore I  decided  after I  left  you to  take the
course which  I  had marked out immediately after a conversa-
tion I had on last Saturday with Drs. Mitchell and Richardson,
but  which I  was  prevented  pursuing by the  reception of a
letter from four of the members of the Faculty.   While,  there-
fore, I express my gratitude to  you for the interest you are dis-
posed to take in the matter, I must inform you that putting your-
self to any trouble on the  subject is wholly unnecessary.
           Yours, truly and respectfully,
                                    JAMES C. CROSS.

   The above note  was written at a late hour  on the 28th, and
sent to Mr. Clay at a very early hour on  the  morning  of the
29th.
                              ASHLAND, 29th May, '44.
   My  dear Sir: Notwithstanding the honor of  your note to me
to-day I  had this morning an interview with  Dr. Dudley.   He
promised  to endeavor to have a  conference with his colleagues
this evening or to-morrow, and communicate the result.  1 shall
be in the  city between 11  and  1  o'clock to-morrow, when  I can
inform you what may have taken place, unless you have resolved
finally to  abandon  the matter.
                    Yours, respectfully,
                                              H. CLAY.
   Dr. Cross.
   I did not call on Mr. Clay at the time  appointed, for I had,
 before receiving his note, sent in  my resignation with the fol-
 lowing explanatory letter:
                          LEXINGTON, May 28th, 1844.
   M.  C. Johnston, Esq., Chairman, &c.—Dear Sir: Finding in
 a  conversation I held in the Faculty Room on last Saturday,
 near the middle of the day, with Drs. Richardson and Mitchell,
 that  I was abandoned by them in  our joint  attempt to effect a
 division of the Chairs of Anatomy and  Surgery, I decided at
 once to do what I had several times declared  to  Dr.  Richard-
 son, as well as other  individuals, I  would  do;  which was to re-
 sign my Professorship in Transylvania University, if the  Chairs 
39
could not be divided.   I immediately returned home and wrote
the letter of resignation, here inclosed, to you, which would have
been  sent to you  during the afternoon of Saturday, the  25th
inst., but for the reception of a letter from four members of the
Faculty asking me to resign, or in other words, requesting me,
terror-stricken, to  sneak out of the School.   It has, therefore,
been  retained thus long only for  the purpose of consulting my
friends  as to the course I  ought to pursue  under the  circum-
stances.
   At the  close of the conversation held with  Drs.  Richardson
and Mitchell, in  the Faculty Room on last Saturday, and as
we were passing out of the door I remarked that if they, (the
Trustees,) turned  me  out they must  do it  quickly.  This was
sufficient, for they well understood what I had threatened  to do,
and they therefore determined to prevent my voluntary  resigna-
tion, and avert its consequences, if possible, by asking me to re-
sign, and thus have a feeble pretext to allege that it was  the
 result of necessity and  not  choice.  Consequently, I received
 about 2 o'clock a letter from Drs. Dudley, Richardson, Mitchell
 and Peter,  to  that effect.   This  was  not, at the utmost, more
 than two hours after I left the Faculty Room.
    The letter from the Faculty attempts to put the necessity of
 my resignation upon other grounds, but I am fully justified in af-
 firming that Drs.  Richardson and Mitchell fully concurred with
 Drs. Dudley and Peter in the letter to me, because of the  rumor
 that they, with me, were to be  sacrificed  by the Trustees to
 please Dr.  Dudley, which rumor they  feared would soon prove
 to be a reality, all of which I can sustain as well as that they
 concurred with Dr. Pinckard before my return from the East.
             Yours truly, and respectfully,
                                      JAMES C. CROSS.

    This letter closed my official connection with  the  Medical
 Faculty of Transylvania University, and it has been ever since,
 and it shall be through the whole future  of my existence, my un-
 ceasing prayer to God to preserve me from derogatory associa-
 tion with any of  his  works  that he has thought fit, from motives
 however scarcely intelligible to man's fallible and feeble powers
 of reason, to clothe in the  form and lineaments of humanity, so
 dead to every touch of compunction.
    That it had been my fixed purpose weeks before I ultimately
 resigned, to do so rather than submit to the high and domineer-
 ing  airs of Dr. Dudley, does not  rest upon the declarations made
 by me to Drs. Richardson  and Mitchell, but upon the testimony
 of those who may be credited, not only as  impartial  witnesses
 but as men over whom a sense of justice has  a paramount and
  controlling influence.  The  following letters, which  were ad- 
10
 dressed to me, and  they could  easily have been multiplied, for
 my determinatian to resign in a certain event was fully disclo-
 sed on frequent occasions, and to many persons, are adduced in
 proof of the truth of the above  allegation.

                           LEXINGTON, June 14, 1844.
   Dr. J. C. Cross:—I  received yours of the 12th inst, yester-
 day evening.
   In reply I state  that  somewhere  about the  middle of May
 last, we fell in company, on our way home, and you mentioned
 the subject of the  difficulties in  the Medical  Department of
 Transylvania University, and we  continued  the conversation
 until we arrived at your steps.  You informed me that a major-
 ity of the Faculty had requested  Dr. Dudley to resign one of
 his Chairs—that he had refused—that the only alternative left
 was  the action of the Board  of Trustees,  and if they failed to
 do anything the School must go down.
   You further stated that unless Dr.  Bush's place was filled by
 a man of more knowledge and reputation, the  School would
 sink, and concluded the conversation by  saying,  "You  may rest
 assured, sir, that I will not sink with it."  I  understood your de-
 termination to be, that  unless Bush  was gotten clear  of, and
 Dudley's Chair divided, you would quit the School.
           Respectfully,                  H.I. BODLEY.
   "Since the question  of dividing the Chairs of Anatomy and
 Surgery has been agitated, I have had  frequent conversations
 with Dr. Cross, upon the whole  subject,  and came to the  con-
 clusion from what he said in these conversations that unless the
 reorganization contemplated  was  effected, Dr.  Cross would
 leave the School.   I stated my opinion as to Dr. Cross' course
 to Prof.  Richardson, (I think on Monday, 20th  inst.,) and to
 several other gentlemen.          JNO.  C. DARBY, M. D.
   May 28th, 1844."
   " Since Professor  Cross' return from the East,  I have  been
 confident he  would dissolve his connection with the Medical
 School of Transylvania University, if the required re-organiza-
 tion of the department  of Anatomy and Surgery was not effect-
 ed.  This opinion was founded on remarks made to me  by him
and from my frequent conversations with a friend who reported
 them to me.                   T. B. PINCKARD, M J).
   Lex., May 28th,  1844.

                    LEXINGTON Ky., 20th  June,  1844.
   I met  with  Professor J. C. Cross at the Dudley House, the
 day after his arrival from the East, and in the course of conver-
 sation asked him what  prospect there was  for a rc-organization
 in the Medical School, and at the same time remarked that I 
41
was impressed with the opinion if something was not done spee-
dily the School  would be  injured  by  the  publications of " A
Friend  to  Lexington."  The  Dr.  responded  that he  did  not
know what would be done—nor  did he care; that he had noth-
ing to do with the difficulties that had arisen in his absence: but
if something was not done in two weeks (or a short time) he knew
what he would do.   My impression was, that  he  intended re-
signing, and  so told Professor Mitchell a few  days afterwards,
who seemed to concur with me in opinion.
                                JOHN T. LEWIS,  M. D.
   " Soon after the return of Dr. Cross  from the East, and some-
time  before his resignation  as Professor in Transylvania, a con-
versation took place in the store in which I  live, in  the pres-
ence of Mr. Thomas Grant.   When the subject of the School
difficulty was named—he said unless the School was re-organi-
zed he  would resign.  We insisted that he should  not—he said
that he would, and had told Mrs. Cross so on  their way home.
We still insisted on his continuing, that he as well as the School
would be  losers by his  resignation, when he replied  that  the
School was going down, and that he was independent of it.
                                      M. B.  MORRISON.
   Lexington, June 18th, 1844."
   The above statement by M. B.  Morrison is literally correct.
                                             T. GRANT*-
   Besides  the declarations made by me in  reference to the  dif-
ficulties that  were the immediate  cause of my  resignation,  the
reader will discover from the  following letter of Professor John
T. Shotwell, that  as  early as  March 1844,  I desired to leave
the Medical Department of T.  U.
                           CINCINNATI, June 15th, 1844.
   Prof. Cross,—My dear Sir.
                                Your  letter of the 13th inst. is
now  before me, and in answer I can state that your resignation
in the Medical Department of Transylvania University, did  not
surprise me.  I was  satisfied  in my own mind, from our confi-
dential conversation, in this  city,  last  March, that you did not
feel agreeably  situated, and  that  you would relieve yourself of
it at  the earliest opportunity.  In fact you so stated, but gave
no particulars.   What the reasons of your dissatisfaction were,
you did not state—neither  did I ask.
  *The venal Scribbler of the Transylvania Medical Faculty, [has denied that
the "sinking state of the School" had anything to do with my resignation.  The
readers of the testimony of Messrs. Bodley, Morrison and Grant, will doubt-
less come to the conclusion that his title to truth rests on very apocryphal authority 
42
   Your letter to me of the Gth of February, last, is, as you re-
 quest, copied on the the next page.
          I am very respectfully,
                      Your obed't Servant,
                                   JOHN  T. SHOTWELL.
   The letter to which  Professor  Shotwell refers, is  here  sub-
joined, and is of such a nature  as scarcely  to admit of  misin-
 terpretation; but to preclude all doubt as  to its  import and de-
 sign,  I  will say  that I had become  so dissatisfied with all
 my  colleagues, with  the  exception  of Dr.  Bartlett,  that  1
 wished to leave the School, and  learning that Dr. Morehead
 was going to Europe,  and did not intend to return, I wished to
 intimate to  Dr. Shotwell, that I was  willing to  take the Chair
 of Theory  and  Practice  in the  Medical College of  Ohio.
 Professor  Shotwell wrote me  that Professor  Morehead had no
 thought  of resigning, and consequently  further correspondence
 on the subject  was unnecessary.*
                       LEXINGTON,  February 6th, 1844.
   Prof.  Shotwell,—My Dear Sir:
                                   I regret that it is not in my
 power to visit Cincinnati before  the  close of the  session, but if
 it were to happen that I could see you, I doubt not that 1 could
 communicate to you, that  which would be of much service to
 you in your official capacity, and in doing  so it would not be
 disagreeable to me.  On this you may reflect, but what I  have
 said must be regarded as strictly confidential.
                                  Yours, very truly,
                                            JAS. C. CROSS.
   P.  S.   Is  it true, as I have heard, that Dr. Morehead returns
 to Europe in the spring and  intends  then  to resign  the chair of
 Theory and Practice?
   The following paragraph appeared in the Boston Medical and
 Surgical  Journal, for February 1844:

   ♦Besides the reasons for wishing to leave the Medical School of Transylvania'
 growing out of my dissatisfaction with my colleagues, was the conviction that Dr,
 Bartlett would not remain in Lexington.   I do not mean to say that he told me so-
 in so many words,  but such was the  impression made on my mind in my inter-
 course with him, although it is possible he did not design it.  This impression I
 communicated to my friends, and the result proved that it was correct. His resig-
 nation was also one reason, why I, so soon after my return from New York, took
 no pains to conceal my intention to leave the School.  While I had him for a col-
 league, I felt in  some degree secure from the machinations of Dr.  Dudley
 and the venal baseness of his sequacious subordinates, and for his conduct on a mem-
 orable occasion I shall ever be grateful.  When he ceased to be my colleague it
 required no CEdipus to see what would be the result. I was convinced  that from
 the hands of those with whom he left me associated,  I had no more chance of jus-
 tice than a comet has of being known when in its aphelion, and therefore upon the
 slightest temptation was willing to leave them. 
43
                "Medical School in Tennessee.—From the Knoxville Argus, intelligence is
              received of an intention on the part of the Trustees of the  University of Tennes-
              see, to organize a Medical Department.  In connection with the project, the name
              of Dr. Cross, of Lexington Ky. is associated.  Having the pleasure of a personal
              acquaintance with the gentleman, we can bear full testimony to the suavity of his
              manners, and to his eminent literary and scientific qualifications, which would give
              character to any institution to which he might be called.   But why should the Uni-
              versity of Transylvania, allow the suggestion to go abroad, that Dr. Cross might
              resign his chair. If there is a spark of that ambition  still remaining in Lexing-
*             ton, which has been so  eminently conspicious for many prosperous years, the
              University will not allow such talent to be withdrawn."
                The paragraph  above is,  says the  Editor of the  Kentucky Gazette on the
              16th of March, 1844, from the  Boston  Medical and Surgical Journal, of Feb-
              ruary last.  What authority the  Knoxville Argus may have for this surmise, we
              know not, but we feel warranted in saying that Dr. Cross has  not the slightest in-
              tention of leaving the chair  which he so ably fills in our University.  His  fine
              talents, varied acquirements, and extensive Medical knowledge, are properly appre-
              ciated here as well as in Boston and Tennessee, and Transylvania could not
              be easily induced to surrender him to any other institution."
                 This document is of no further importance than in so far as it
              proves that the impression  was  abroad  that  I could  not desire
              to remain in an institution  where I was the object of constant,
              unrelenting and undeserved persecution.  Every session for the
              last four years that I was in the Medical Department of Tran-
              sylvania University, the opinion prevailed  in the classes that I
              intended to resign  the  ensuing  spring,  and scores  of students,
              with expressions  of  regret,  asked  me  if   such was  the  fact.
              With the exception of  the sessions of 1841—42 and  the last I
              served in the institution,  I invariably responded in the negative.
              On  these occasions my responses were equivocal.   My dissatis-
              faction with my colleagues was at  the close  of the  session of
              1843—44, familiar to  Dr. Bartlett, and I am persuaded he will
              say  he did  not  believe it  was  my intention  to  remain  in the
              institution for any considerable length of time.   That such also
              was the opinion deduced  by Dr. Sayre of New York,  from the
              conversations I had with  him, while in  that  city in the spring
              of 1844, I am  perfectly  satisfied.  Indeed  there has not been
              an hour since the spring of 1842 that I  would not have left the
              Medical School of  Transylvania, with  as little regret as Baron
              Trenk experienced when he  left his dungeon.  Independently
              of the causes of dissatisfaction  that  peculiarly affected me, the
              sincerity of the assertion just made will  not be questioned if the
              reader calls to mind the  conduct of those  Professors who had
              been summoned from beyond the mountains, for they, and I beg
              to assure them  that in saying so, I mean nothing offensive,
                            "Like  pampered vermin from a falling house,
                               Retreated with the plunder they had gained."
              But  one of them,  it is said,  will return.   This I  cannot  but
              regard as resting upon apocryphal authoritv,  but  if  so, it  onlv
                                   ti 
41
shows that he does not consider discretion the better part of val-
or.   The facts above referred to are sufficient to explain how the
opinion got abroad that I was willing, if not desirous, to break up
my connection  with  the Medical Department  of Transylvania
University.   When the  establishment of a Medical  School in
Nashville was contemplated,  it  was  natural  enough, in view
of these undeniable  facts, that my  name  should  be  connected
with such an enterprise, without  any direct agency on my  part.
I have friends enough in Tennessee who would have hailed such
an event with undisguised satisfaction.  On  the 20th of Septem-
ber 1844,  Dr. Pinckard held the following language:
  " But to return to the causes of Prof. Cross's resignation  which we consider it
our duty to give to  the Medical Public, to correct the many false rumors that have
gone  abroad.  Dr.  Dudley's persisting to fill two professorships, to the evident
injury of the School had dissatisfied Dr.  C. as well  as the professors generally
with the organization of the School.  He saw, as every intelligent Medical Man
must  have seen, that the Rival Schools properly and differently organized must
outstrip ours, and that he, as a professor, must decline in  reputation  as the rival
Schools advanced, and ours diminished in public estimation.   All these anticipations
and  fears of the Professors were realized  the past  session; the Louisville and
Cincinnati Schools had advanced so much in  public estimation, as for the former
to out number us twenty per cent., and the latter to have more bona fide or pay
students, as we believe than " Old Transylvania.'
   Dr. Cross went East some time after the close of the session, for the purpose of
remaining some months,  but the publication of four of  our articles, in  quick
succession, showing the absolute necessity for the immediate reorganization of the
School, the resignation of Dr. Bartlett, with the  opinions  expressed  by us, that
the physicians and  a majority of the Professors, approved the views we published;
and  also letters received by him from medical friends in relation to  our published
articles; and to assist in advising the selection of an able Professor to fill the chair
of  Theory and Practice; hurried him home to  assist in  the proposed reorgani-
zation.  (It is due to Dr. C. and ourself, to state, that he has no  agency, direct or
indirect, in any thing we have written and published, and neither has he  in the
present article; he  is ignorant of our plan of proceeding.  What we have written,
published or prepared for the press has been from a sense of duty we owed to the
Profession, of which we are a member, to our alma mater,  to the medical public
generally, and to  our city.)  On his return home from the East, as previously
stated, Dr. Cross  heartily united with  Professors Mitchell  and Richardson in
approving the proposed reorganization of the School, expressing himself freely to
his friends that unless the reorganization was effected  he would resign the Profes-
sorship and leave the School, and Dr. Cross did resign, so  soon  as he found his
two colleagues had deserted him and united themselves to Dr. Dudley; and what
talented, what honorable man would have remained in the School ? "
   Again on the  25th  of December,  1844, he said  in the  Lex-
 ington   Observer and  Reporter " As for  Dr.  Cross, we again re-
 peat that he did resign his chair, in the School on account of its
 defective organization, viz:  the  monopoly of two  chairs by Dr.
 Dudley, and the incompetency  of Dr. Bush."   Now  these asser-
 tions have been before the public nearly two years, and as it was
 believsd but could  not be proved that a different impression was
 being secretly propagated, they  were distinctly and emphatically
 made, in the hope that they would provoke a contradiction.   But 
15
they dared not venture upon so dangerous an enterprise until  I
was in a foreign country, four thousand miles from home, and then
in a secret, clandestine and most cowardly manner.  When they
thought  the possibility of detection  and consequeut  exposure
absolutely precluded, they ventured upon an act of pusillanimous
baseness  that  must, in  the  estimation  of every generous and
high  minded man, sink them forever into the  unfathomable
depths of human degradation.  During my absence, that grace-
less hypocrite, Thos. D. Mitchell, in a Valedictory Address  to
the graduates last March, declared, as  we have been informed,
that all that had been said and published in relation  to my resig-
nation was false.  This he had never dared to do while I was in
Lexington, nor could he be provoked to do it, as the above pub-
lished assertions of Dr. Pinckard prove.   This address of Mitch-
ell's was written  for  publication, but his colleagues discreetly
determined, knowing  his allegation to  be false, not to venture
upon so  hazardous  an enterprise.  Epistolary assassination was
more to  their taste, and would answer their purpose better.
  That I never, as the letter-writer of the Transylvania Medical
Faculty  asserts in  the letter above quoted, "employed Judge
Wooley and Mr. Clay to effect the withdrawal of the request to
resign,"  is proved positively by the very witnesses  he has sum-
moned to sustain his charge.*   The following letter was addres-
sed to both the Hon. H. Clay and the  Hon. A. K.  Wooley, on
the subject,  and  the responses they returned  me are here sub-
joined:

                           LEXINGTON, June 28th, 1844.
       Dear Sir: My  enemies are attempting  to injure me by
stating, on your authority, that I desired, through your  influence
with  my late colleagues, to  be re-admitted into the  Medical
Faculty  of  Transylvania University.  Will you be good enough
to say whether or not you had any authority to make  any such
proposition to them from me 1
       I have the honor to be, dear sir,
                 Yours, most obediently,
                                       JAMES C. CROSS.
  ♦Here we have an excellent illustration of the blundering candor of a talkative
liar.  Not only are the base and perfidious, false and treacherous in all their rela-
tions with men, but God has so arranged it, for wise and good purposes, that they
shall not be faithful even to their own villanies. A cunning scoundrel would not
have named his witnesses unless he knew them to be suborned perjurers who
were ready to repeat any lesson they were taught.

              "The scorn  of earth and curse of heaven,"

should rest upon the head of the reckless calumniator for daring to  take upon his
prostituted lips the names of such men as Henry Clay and Aaron K. Wooley, for
so detestable a purpose. 
46
                            ASHLAND, 29th June, 1844.
   My  dear Sir: I have received your letter stating that an in-
jury is attempted to be inflicted upon yon, by representing that
my interposition to retain you in the Medical Faculty of Tran-
sylvania University, was at your instance.   Such a representation
was wholly unfounded.  I had but one interview with any mem-
ber of the Faculty or  Trustees on  that subject, and that  was
with Dr.  Dudley,  and prompted  by my own feelings.   More-
over, at the time of the interview  you had  resigned, and  pre-
vious to it had notified me that such was your purpose.
             I am, respectfully,
                    Your friend and ob't servant,
                                              H. CLAY.
   Dr. Cross.

                         LEXINGTON, July  16th, 1846.
   Dear Sir: To your note, received a few days since, respecting
the part I acted as your friend in the difficulty between the Pro-
fessors  of the Medical School  of  Transylvania  and yourself,
immediately before your resignation, I answer that I was not
authorized to pledge or commit you  in  any manner  whatever,
by any course of my own.  You consulted me as a friend, and
I determined, without your knowledge,  to have conversations
with the Professors and ascertain, if practicable, if an honorable
adjustment could be effected.  In every conversation I had with
any of the Professors I distinctly informed them of my purpose,
and that I had no authority from you to commit you.  Pending
the negotiation, and without consultation with me, you resigned.
I did not inform you of any thing which took place between the
Professors and myself, either at the time or since, and your re-
signation was altogether independent of my action.
             Very respectfully, your friend, &c.
                                      A. K. WOOLEY.
   Dr.  J.  C. Cross.

   The question may be asked why I did not  permit the matter
to go before the Board of Trustees?  In  the  first  place I had
inflexibly  determined, and this the reader will not now doubt,
not to remain in the Faculty under any circumstances, and this
fact had already become known.  It being known, therefore,
that it  was my fixed  resolve not to remain in the Faculty, it
would have been too much to  expect that the Board of Trus-
tees would have found it to their interest to sustain me and con-
demn the  conduct of my colleagues, and  that, too, for no other
purpose than that I might resign under the most favorable aus-
pices, and thus be enabled to make war upon my late colleagues,
and, as an unavoidable consequence, upon  the  Institution in 
47
            which they are teachers, to the best possible advantage.  Sec-
            ondly, I knew the character of my accusers. Experience had al-
            ready taught me of what they were capable, and as they were to
            be the  principal witnesses against me, or the suborners of those
            who needed only to be  told what to say, I would have been a
            most unsuspicious fool not  to  have expected, with doubtless  as-
            surance, that all would be  established  against me that  those
            capable of every human abomination could conceive or invent,
*           at least, to the satisfaction of those who were to  be my judges.
            Of their notions of justice public proof had already been given.
            Thirdly, Dr. Dudley, if not the concoctor was at least the living
            principle of this conspiracy, and  his unbounded sway, as had
            been proved on more than one  prominent occasion, over the
            Board of Trustees was acknowledged, therefore, in the estima-
            tion of my friends and myself it was useless to  appeal to them.
            One fact, amongst others, was particularly fresh in my recollec-
            tion, and that was perfectly decisive in convincing me that I
            had nothing to expect but defeat.   If I do that body injustice,
            and I should be very sorry to  do  so, they  must excuse  me, for
            the allegation above made is founded on testimony that has been
            for years before the public, and they have not attempted to deny
            or controvert it.   I allude  to their conduct in driving Drs. Cald-
            well, Yandell and  Cooke from Lexington.
               "The  Medical  Faculty of Transylvania University was dis-
            solved on the 25th of March, 1837," and in the organization of
            the new Faculty,  it  is known that Drs.  Caldwell, Cooke and
            Yandell  "were not included."  It was charged by B. W. Dud-
            ley, that "the said Caldwell and Yandell have  been jointly and
,           severally guilty of treacherous and  faithless  conduct towards
            Transyvania University, its presiding  guardians, and  some  of
            their associate Professors.
               "They have secretly conspired, and  perseveringly urged the
            removal  of the Medical Department from  Lexington and Tran-
            sylvania University."
               Although Dr. Dudley had the unblushing effrontery to, prefer
            this charge it was proved, unanswerably, on the trial that the
            scheme to remove  the School to Louisville originated with him-
            self.  The following is  an extract from the testimony given by
            Dr. Cooke on that occasion:
               «Q.__Who first proposed the removal of the Medical Depart-
            ment of Transylvania to Louisville, in the  Faculty?
               A__Dr. Dudley.
               Q.—On what occasion?
               A___He proposed  it one evening in the  Library, when we
            were about going out; and on my looking surprised, he laughed;
            and at the time I thought  he was  not serious.  But, a few days
            afterwards, he made a formal proposition to that effect, dwelling 
48
largely on the difficulties he encountered here, and on the advan-
tages he should enjoy there.
  Q.—What have  you heard him say about his difficulties in
procuring subjects?
  A.—I have heard  him speak often  on the  subject—more for-
merly than latterly.  When I first came to Lexington he spoke
in such a manner as to alarm  me.  He spoke of being unable
to get a single subject for the class; and of being compelled to
continue on the bones, waiting for one.  He spoke on one occa-
sion in the strongest possible  language  of his unwillingness to
meet the class.   He said, for example, that he "would as soon be
damned," as to meet them in the present unprepared condition.
On another occasion he spoke so strongly that I urged him to
send to  Baltimore,  and  he did  so; though  without effect, I
think from  mismanagement.    He spoke also  of discouraging
dissections  by  the  students,  [which  he  and   Dr.  Bush,  do
still,] because he had not the subjects  to give them.  Of late, we
have had little intercourse, and 1 have heard little from  him on
the subject.
  Q.—Did not the exigencies of his Chair chiefly prevail with
the Faculty in favor of the  removal?
  A.—Certainly.   It was the reason.
  Q.—Would  it ever have been  resolved upon without him?
  A.—I never had thought it.
  Q—Was it not enjoined before the Faculty to keep the mat-
ter secret?
   A.—It was.
   Q.—Did you not consider him as assenting  to it?
   A.—I did, and as joining in  the injunction."
   Dr. Yandell says at page 8 of his Narrative, &c.,"And I aver,
with the testimony of my colleagues  still to sustain me, that he
(Dudley) first proposed the removal, in the Medical Hall, and in the
presence of tne Faculty; and that he was one of the most ardent
 advocates  of the scheme  in  the second and regular  Faculty
consultation.   It will also be shown,  by separate evidence, that
 my accuser, as late  as the middle of June, acted upon the pre-
 sumption of a removal."   Here we are referred to Appendix B,
 and there we find D. A. Sayre saying, under date of March 23,
  1837, that "near the middle of June, Dr. Dudley called on me
 and wished to cancel the contract, (for the Masonic Hall, which
  Dr. Dudley had purchased to convert into a hospital,) offering at
  the same time to pay any loss I might sustain, and giving as a
  reason, that be did not wish to  purchase at present, as he thought
 the Medical School would be moved to  Louisville, and wished me
  not to mention it to  any person  that  the  School would likely be
  moved from this  place; as he felt himself  bound to tell me of it,
 as  being the  reason why he wished to  cancel the contract.''''  Dr. 
                             49

Short's testimony was, that "Dr. Dudley first moved an adjourn-
ment to  Louisville—that  he  had  no intimation that Dr.  D.
would not go until mid-winter."    In a pamphlet published by
Dr.  Caldwell, in the autumn  of  1837, which we have always
regarded as amongst the highest efforts of octogenarian genius
on record, although  the critical acumen of Dr. Dudley discov-
ered it to  be the dotard offspring of drivelling idiocy and conse-
quently unworthy of notice, simply  because  it was unanswer-
able, we  find  him, (Dr.  D.,) on  account  of his conduct  in
relation to the removal of the Medical  School to Louisville,
denounced as a traitor—as  a trader "in falsehood and defama-
tion,"—as a slanderer who "sips it (slander) in and pours  it out
with the deep gusto of the savage at his f re-water, or the ravening
tiger at his banquet of blood."  Further and more pungent
extracts from this masterly production, in  which he is perfectly
daguerreotyped, can and will  be made, if necessary, for the spe-
cial edification of the people of Lexington, as few of them have
been so fortunate as to see it.  In  fact, and this is the most
wonderful part of that most  discreditable transaction, particu-
larly when we recollect the conduct of the Board of Trustees,
Dr. Dudley substantially admitted the truth of the charge made
against him by his colleagues,  although he had solemnly denied
having been the author or  the favorer of the scheme to remove
the Medical School  of  Transylvania to Louisville.   In the Nar-
rative, be, of Dr. Yandell, it  is stated that Dr. Dudley admitted
that he "had  used strong  language to his colleagues; but then
it  was only  to bring  others  out."  On  this frank  but  fatal
admission,  Dr. Yandell  discourses  in the  following murder-
ous  manner:—"Be  it  so.  A book  of  high authority  with
all good  men, though  despised by him, says, 'As  a mad man
who  casteth firebrands, arrows and death, so is the man that
deceiveth  his  neighbor, and  saith,  am I not in sport.' "  He
"used strong  language to bring  others  out."    He  admits,
then, with his candid friend, Dr. Richardson, that  he has "pre-
varicated and stated every thing but  the truth."  But  if he meant
to deceive his colleagues only, and  entrap them, why tell Mr.
Sayre that the School would probably be removed to Louisville,
and that,  therefore, he  did not wish to purchase his house, &c,
&c.  Why say to Mr. Peers,  late in June, that "he need not be
surprised  at seeing him in Louisville—that it was possible the
School could be removed there"—that, whether or not, he, CD.)
would prefer bringing up his sons  in a large city, &c., authori-
zing  him  to mention their conversation to the citizens of Louisville.
Why, in the winter, tell a  Professor  in another department, a
citizen of Lexington of high standing, that he  was under a pledge
to his colleagues to go, which he could not get over—creating in the
mind of that individual so  positive  a certainty of the removal,
                7 
50
that he  wrote to Dr. Drake, to enquire whether he would come to
Lexington and organize a new Faculty."   Now will it be believed
that in the face of this manifold, undeniable and overwhelming
proof of graceless  guilt,  Dr.  Dudley  could find  a  Board of
Trustees, in a civilized country, who were willing to stand be-
tween him  and the derision, hatred and  contempt of mankind—
who, after the windings of his deceit and cunning, stood  fully
exposed, not only kept him from being the despised object of the
"hissing, stinging bolt of scorn," but dared  to drive  from Lex-
ington,  for  the  gratification  of his  malignity, Drs.  Caldwell,
Yandell and Cooke?
  When such men, with such a cause, could not withstand the
influence of Dr.  Dudley with the  Board  of  Trustees, what had
I to expect but complete  and irrecoverable defeat,  especially as
he had  overawed  and overwhelmed my hollow-hearted friends,
more than was the Cimbrian slaves who quailed in the presence
of Marius, and who were ready to share with him the deep and
abiding disgrace of a crime, at the perpetration of which per-
fidy itself would have hesitated.   No  sane or honest man will
pretend that any other result could have  been expected.   Nor
will this conclusion be weakened or invalidated  when we  call
to mind that he  was  aided  in  his  crusade by two men who,
while they hated and feared him  much more than I ever did or
will, had already been debauched from their allegiance to truth
and honor, as the price of their being allowed to remain in the
School.   No one believed at the time  that  after submitting to
the  degradation   they had they would  hesitate  at the  per-
petration  of any outrage  that  he might suggest.  In  illustra-
tion of the truth of this declaration I remark that one of  these
worthies after having declared to  numerous individuals, both in
and out of the profession, that  Dr. Bush was wholly incompe-
tent—after approving repeatedly and  publicly  of all that Dr.
Pinckard  had said—after proclaiming  that he would  resign
rather than vote for his nomination, was made by Dr. Dudley,
to present the nomination of Dr. Bush to the Board of Trustees,
and when asked by one of them, laughing at the time with de-
rision  in  his face, if the nomination was unanimous, respond-
ed that it was; thus proving that  after aiding  in an  enterprise
that will ultimate in the destruction of the School, (for it is now
struggling in the  agonies of dissolution,) both Drs. Richardson
and Mitchell virtually pronounced themselves detractors, slander-
ers and calumniators.   With such a monstrous union of turpitude
and treachery, I felt my  constitutional  inability to contend, and
therefore in obedience to the convictions of my  own judgment,
and the advice of my friends, I determined not to submit to an
investigation before  the  Board of Trustees, for  "judgment was
already rendered  against me  in the Castle," but to appeal, at the
proper time, to the medical profession of the United States. 
51
                 Upon this simple statement of facts, and to the truth of those
              referred to, as having come under my personal observation, I am
              willing solemnly to testify.  1 feel inclined to make, at present, at
              least, no further comment than to say that they led to the attain-
              ment of an object, for the  achievement of which  Dr. Dudley
              had labored with  more zeal than discretion, almost ever since I
              was so unwise as  to be prevailed  on, by  his importunities, to
              become  his colleague.  That  Dr. Dudley has  pursued me
 '            through the agency of his  tools,  with the  most rancorous ani-
              mosity, during the seven years I held a Professorship in Tran-
              sylvania University,  is  a  fact too familiar to all  the classes
              that have  assembled in Lexington, during that time, to need
              illustration or proof, for it cannot be contradicted or denied.  His
              envy was such that it could  not be disguised by sophistry, and his
              jealous hatred too palpable to be palliated by hypocrisy.  Long
              before he finally  succeeded,  he would have  compassed his ob-
              ject, but for my popularity with  the students,  and their detes-
              tation of his machinations against me.   With the  Board of
              Trustees he was  omnipotent, and  this he  knew, but  with the
              great  body of students, at  least, after I unfortunately became
              his colleague, he was almost powerless, and this he also knew.  So
              greatly have I, on numerous  occasions, been outraged by Dr.
              Dudley, that I cannot refrain from referring, in general terms, to a
              transaction that seriously threatened the very existence  of the
              School, and solely because  he aimed at the disgrace and ruin of
              a colleague.  I allude to a  difficulty that arose  out of an attack
              that was made upon me just after leaving  the Medical College,
              by one of  his private pupils  and  at his instigation, as I have
'              ever suspected, if net believed, although I could not prove it. If I
              have been  correctly informed, this has since been  asserted  by
              those who  should know. Be this as it may, the course pursued
              by Dr. D., and every member of the Faculty, with the exception
              of Dr. Bartlett aroused the fiercest indignation in the Class. The
              strife of feeling which the conduct pursued by my colleagues, Drs.
              Dudley, Puchardson, Mitchell  and Peter, produced, and which
              was near causing a dispersion of the Class, may be inferred from
              the  following  resolutions.  This  demonstration  forced the Fa-
              culty into the discharge of its duty, and saved me from being
              sacrificed.   His aim  was to  crush me  then, but  I eluded his
              grasp, and  only because he  was  not as omnipotent with the
              Class,  as with the  Board of Trustees.
                " At a meeting held in the Medical Hall, on last evening, at 7 o'clock, we the
              undersigned, we're appointed a Committee to forward to Professor  Cross a copy of
              the resolutions adopted at said meeting.       Very respectfully,
                                                         I. L. JENKINS, t
                                                         H. TAYLOR.   5
                                                         W. C.  PAYNE. I
                Lex, Feb. 4th, 1842,                         W.W.ADAIR, $ 
52
  In view  of the  recent outrage committed upon  the person  of Dr. James  C.
Cross, Professor of Institutes and Medical Jurisprudence, in Transylvania Uni-
versity, by  one of the pupils, a large and  respectable meeting was called, and the
following resolutions were unanimously adopted, To wit:

  Resolution first — That we deeply deplore and reprobate  the late unfortunate
occurrence as  eminently calculated to bring this  long established and highly
honored institution into merited disrepute, and eventually to deprive it of one of its
brightest ornaments.
  Resolution second — That Professor Cross merits and has the unqualified respect
and esteem of this class.
  Resolution third — That  the declination  of Professor Cross to  perform his
duties in the College whilethe injury to his honor is unrepaired, not only duly merits
the  entire  approbation  of the class, but that they would consider it an insult to
them were he to act otherwise.
  Resolution fourth -*- That with  due deference to the  Medical  Faculty and
Trustees of Transylvania University,  we consider  the indifference  which  they
have manifested in this  matter until recently, (so far as we can learn) as evincing
contempt for the feelings and honor of Professor Cross, and disregard for the
wishes of the class.
  Resolution fifth—That should we be driven to  the necessity of leaving the
institution, we will feel ourselves under no obligation to assist in the furtherance of
its future prospects.
  Resolution sixth—That believing his future will be as bright as his past career
has been brilliant and useful, we his friends and admirers commend him to the kind
consideration of all those who can appreciate  the gentleman, scholar  and philoso-
pher.
  Resolution seventh—That we suspend all further operations until Monday next
at 11 o'clock A. M.
                                          W. E. JONES, Chairman.
  R. H. Ervin, Secretary."

  Justice was  at last extorted  from the Faculty, and  the diffi-
culty, after seriously compromising  the prospects of the institu-
tion, was finally settled, apparently in  an  amicable  manner.
Notwithstanding this,  I determined  to  resign, and immediately
after  Commencement, wrote  my  letter  of resignation,  which
Dr. John A. Metts, of Liberty Hall,  S. Carolina,  who  was living
with me  at the time, was  to have  carried to  the  Chairman of
the  Board  of  Trustees.   From  this I  was dissuaded, for  the
present, by Mrs. Cross, who wished that  I should  reflect a few
days more  on  the subject.   This determination came to  the
knowledge of my  colleagues, and before the expiration of  the
time I  had agreed to  withhold my resignation,  Drs.  Bartlett
and Richardson came to  see me.   Whether  they  came as a
Committee from the Faculty, or in their  own  individual  capa-
cities, I know  not, for I  did not inquire.   The  cause  of their
visit as was  said, was  the rumor that had reached them  of my
intention to resign, and  that they came to dissuade me from it.
From them  I  understood  that such a  step  on  my part would
irreparably injure the School.   I stated  that my  situation  was
anything but pleasant, and  that the constant  and unprovoked 
53
persecution  of me by Dr.  Dudley, had become  perfectly  in-
tolerable, and that I could  not and  would not endure it any
longer.  They, Dr.  Richardson  in particular,  endeavored to
persuade me, that perhaps I was  mistaken—that it  was proba-
ble I  misinterpreted  the motives  and  conduct  of Dr. Dudley,
and that I  magnified his power to  injure me.*   But all this
foiled  to  satisfy me,  and I did  not  decide to remain in the
School, until after they had  assured me, that every thing should
be  done to  render my  situation  agreeable, and that  in future,
there  was every reason to  believe, no difficulty would arise to
disturb the  harmony of the Faculty.   For the confirmation of
the truth, substantially of this statement, I  appeal  to Dr.  Bart-
lett, for in his integrity  I have the fullest confidence,  although   i
Drs. Dudley, Richardson, Mitchell, and Peter  denounced him,
after he resigned in the spring of 1844, as a  dishonest and dishon-
orable man.  But this is not surprising, for  the Professors of the
Medical School of Transylvania,  are like what Dr. Johnson said
of  the Irish, " they are a very candid people—they all always
speak ill of each other."

  Having now laid before  the reader a broad  and  inexpugna-
ble phalanx of facts, which go irresistibly  to establish the posi-
tion, that a conspiracy was formed for my destruction, of which
Dr. Dudley  was the leader,  I  will  not insult his understanding,
or offend his sensibilities, by indulging in vulgar and  vitupera-
tive comments upon the  conduct  of those who banded together
for my ruin, and that too, for no other reason, than because I had
resolved no  longer to be associated with such men.   But I must
remark, in closing, that taking  it  for granted that I shall not be
suffered, nor do I particularly desire it  much as I am disposed to
court  peace with all mankind, to remain  silent in  future,   those
to whom this  Appeal is   addressed, must distinctly  understand
that I  "fight not with small  or great, save only with the King of
Israel"—and that with Dr.  Dudley I am  ready to arrange all
points  of difficulty or difference.   With his understrappers I can-
  *The reluctant justice which the Class had just extorted from the Faculty, and
the triumph I had consequently won  over the  atrocious Machiavelism of Dr.
Dudley was fresh  in their recollections, and they thought they could safely say
that I " magnified his power to injure me. "  I must here remark I had no fear of
Dr . Dudley or his arts  during  the session, for I had invariably  a  populari-
ty with the classes that securely fortified me against his assaults, whether open or
insidious, but I was always apprehensive of him during vacation. My strength was
with the Students, his with the Board of Trustees, and because as Professor Cald-
well justly remarks:—" The sycophancy of his manners, and the frequent entertain-
ments he was enabled to give with a view to the attainment of popularity, had not
only rendered him a favorite of the town, but had made him in some degree a leader
of the ton.   Of this he was ludicrously vain, preferring it  even to real and lasting
fame, to which he has neither  the loftiness of soul to aspire, nor the compass of
mind to comprehend and appreciate it," 
54
not and will not have any thing to do.  It would be to make them
of too much consequence, for they are like some insignificant in-
sects, that can only be observed when magnified.  He may unken-
nel his blood-hounds at me, if he does, it will not be the first time,
and I must defend mysel, for he may  set his venal and libellous
scribblers upon me, If he does, I shall not notice them.  Whatever
may be said, should it be anonymous or otherwise, and I  conde-
scend or be provoked to  notice it; I will most undoubtedly consider
Dr. Dudley as the virtual author, and deport myself accordingly
Independently of the cause that has driven me to make this publi-
cation, there is between us a long standing and  multifarious ac-
count unsettled, which I am willing should be adjusted whenever
it  may suit his convenience or pleasure.
  Lexington, Ky. July  1846.
SUPPLEMENT.
  1 came to Cincinnati some ten days ago to superintend the print-
ing of this Appearand since my arrival intelligence has reached
me that Dr. Dudley, through the agency of his friends, is industri-
ously popularizing the opinion  that  he  should not  be held res-
ponsible for the indiscretions of his  subordinates.   Under ordi-
nary circumstances, if his colleagues were like  to  those  of any
other man, there would  be some pretext  for making, and some
plausibility in such an assertion.  But it  is wholly otherwise—
they all mere ductile instruments of  his despotic will—for  they
fetch and carry like dogs of the Rutland breed.  (Dr. Lawson is
not included in this  allegation, for I have  no  personal knowl-
edge of how far he is, if at all, subservient to Dr.  Dudley.   No
allusion is made  to Drs. Bartlett and Annan, for the former  I
know thinks and acts for himself, and I have no reason to  believe
that the latter will  do otherwise.)   I know too well the  dread
in which he is held by certain of his colleagues to be convinced
that they would dare  do anything relating to the  School  with-
out his knowledge and consent,—they have been much too well
trained to be suspected of  such  presumption.  I know also that
when he meditates mischief, he is too wily and cunning to be
caught occupying a prominent  or responsible  position—others
are thrust forward into the station where he should be found, 
•J.>
and are made the instruments of his vengeance.   This is the
condition on which  his fawners and flatterers are permitted  to
live and  breathe in his presence.  The futurity of his hate and
hostility  continually haunts their  imagination, and they look
upon it as a most disagreeable perspective.   Naturally soft, slip-
pery and sycophantic, the tortuous life he has led has refined his
powers of  malignant annoyance and persecution into the most
repulsive fastidiousness.   His eventful history has proved to him
that it is  not unlikely a day of retribution may come, and when
it does he generally has managed so adroitly as to be able, with
some  plausibility, and he does it too with the  most perfect
Quaker-like mildness, to disclaim all connexion or agency with
the matter.  Though he  moves along with the most confident
and smiling assurance when the atmosphere is clear and the sky
cloudless, he shrinks with fear and trembling (morally) the mo-
ment the tempest,  which his machinations  have created, begins
to roar.  He affects to despise  public  opinion, but he shrinks
like scorched parchment  from  the fiery ordeal  of its criticism.
This, however, is not surprising.
               "No rogue ere felt the halter draw,
               With good opinion of the law."
When any one is to  be punished for a  real or imaginary injury
or insult, or a rival to be  crushed, he sets his sequacious tools to
work—they  are goaded  by him to  activity and zeal—they are
permitted  to  know  neither pause nor hindrance, but like the
fabled vulture of ancient mythology, they  are obliged to pursue
from  day to day the cruel task that has been imposed on them,
until  the object of his  animosity is demolished or  driven into
exile.  His group of servile  slanderers, like the  Chorus of the
Eumenides, go searching  about for their  prey with "eyes that
drop poison."  But should the tortured object of his machina-
tions find out the  real author of  his sufferings, and turn upon
him and threaten  an exposure  of all  the serpent-mazes of his
deceit, he becomes as mild and modest as  a debauched prude,
and one  uniniated into the mysteries of his policy from the  nu-
merous petty favors, most of which are fictitious, and to none of
which would a generous  or  high-minded man allude, that he
boasts to have conferred upon him, would  be led  to  conclude
that the  poor deluded wretch is  most  ungratefully  making war
upon  the best friend he has in the world.   He reminds me of
what  the poet has appropriately said of his great prototype:
         "When the devil was sick, the devil a saint would be,
         When the devil was well, the devil a saint was he."
  This is no impromptu charge suddenly got up to meet the po-
sition now  assumed by his friends  in Lexington.  A knowledge
of his character enabled me to anticipate him, as the reader 
56
will be convinced by turning to pages 5  and 0 of this Appeal,
which were worked off several days before the intelligence  to
which I refer reached  me.  Ridiculously  absurd  as the posi-
tion  assumed,  evidently is, it  will  doubtless  be regarded
as abundantly  sufficient  by  his clique  to  prove  that he  is
a very much and  a very unjustly abused man.  With great
deference to their  sounder  judgment and superior sagacity, I
must be excused for taking the liberty of saying that those who
can be trifled with  by such transparent balderdash  can believe
any extravagance  of intentional  fiction  or mad  fanaticism.
They should not be offended with me for saying this, for I am
ready to admit that it is difficult, if not impossible, to see how
they could, in view of what they have always been  taught  and
constantly seemed  to believe,  to  act  otherwise.   That they
should admire him  as an object  to be little less reverenced than
is the Grand Lama to the enlightened population of Thibet, is
not to be  wondered at, as  it  is quite in accordance with the
training they have  received, and the magnitude of their compre-
hensive ideas.   They have ''swathed, rocked and dandled" him
with social and professional fondness so long that were the genius
of Truth to  appear and question his veracity, or Daniel himself
to arise from the grave, and condemn  his conduct, they would
instinctively respond if  asked whether or not they were correct,
as the fellow did who said, when asked how much thirteen times
thirteen were, that "the thing depends on circumstances."  He
may be, and no doubt is, at least in the  estimation of some  peo-
ple, the deep and broad foundation upon which  the  Corinthian
pillar of aristocracy is to be raised, but  to my humble compre-
hension, competent and impartial judges would pronounce him to
be the very  ideal of self-sufficient folly  and vulgar  incapacity.
His wealth and  the credulity of  his neighbors have given him a
brevet of audacity and insolence that enables him to "cheat
those he has newly  cheated" with  stuff, that it would not  do
to make dreams of.
  It is true  the proximate cause  of this  publication are letters
that have been  written  by the  members of the  Faculty to the
Physicians  of the  South and West, but  the primary and  real
cause of it is the letter  that was written to me on the 25th May,
1844,  in which I was invited to resign, and which  would have
prompted me to make this Appeal two years ago had I not been
unfortunately obliged to remain  in Lexington, and it is only made
now because the indiscreet subalterns of Dr. Dudley will not
suffer me to remain silent.  Had it not been for that letter, those
that were distributed throughout the county during my  absence
in Europe, as "thick as autumnal leaves in Vallambrosa," would
not have been written, and the libellous scribblers of Dr. Dudley
would  not have had an excuse to malign me, nor would they have 
.)?
 dared, even with a knowledge of the fact that 1 had been invited to
 resign, to propagate the grossest and most injurious falsehoods
 without being beckoned by him to prosecute, with zeal, the work
 of extermination.  Who are the  men that wrote that letter, and
 who conspired my ruin?  Dudley, Richardson, Mitchell and Pe-
 ter.  Whose name stands at the head of the list of conspirators?
 That of B. W.  Dudley.  Who  believes that either of the other
 three would have ventured to put his sign-manuel to that infa-
 mous document had his  not occupied the position that it does?
 No one but the baby who does not know how  to take its fingers
 out of the fire.   Why was that  letter written?  To deter  me
 from a public exposure of the course he had pursued in relation
 to the separation of the  Chairs of Anatomy and Surgery, and
 the means he had adopted to effect the elevation of Dr. Bush to
 a Professorship, together with, but this was a very subordinate
 motive with him, the desire to save Drs. Mitchell and Richardson
 from public indignation,  on account of their false and perfidious
 conduct.   After  having obtained  the honor  of a  scandalous
 celebrity for the sacrifices  they had made for him, they were
 entitled to this incidental favor at  his hands.   One of them is
 no more—peace  be to his ashes—I  will not, hyena-like, tear
 open his grave to banquet on his mangled and quivering mem-
 bers—but the other still lives to pollute  heaven's  atmosphere
 with his pestiferous breath, and he may invoke in vain the dark
 and dismal powers of forgetfulness and oblivion, for  if there is
 left one single  emotion of humanity in his heart, he will be se-
 cretly pursued, to the last hour of his existence, by all the aveng-
 ing furies  of shame  and remorse.
   Dr. Dudley did not  write  the  letter to be found on pages 9
 and 10 of this  publication, and this I say because I scorn  to do
 my deadliest enemy injustice even by implication.   But will he
 dare assert that he has never written a letter in which the same
 impression was designed to be made—that he never, in conversa-
 tion, attempted to make the same impression on strangers—that he
 has not patronized the idea that I  was so anxious to be a member
 of the Faculty, that I was willing  to be re-admitted on any terms,
 and to occupy any position—that he has not done his utmost to
 popularize this notion in Lexington, and on account of it to ren-
 der me as odious  as possible—and that he has not condescended
 to every sneaking and  contemptible means to injure and destroy
 me in a city where he is almost as powerful as if he were caliph of
 it, and that  too, almost from the very moment of my advent as  a
 teacher in Transylvania  University ?  When he has answered
 these questions to my satisfaction, perhaps I may be able to pro-
 pound others that will  prove  whether or not I have a right to
hold him responsible.  If he were guiltless, when he knew that
 rertain individuals wh<"> wrrr considered his  recognized mouth-
                                    8 
58
pieces, were insinuating or boldly asserting what he knew to be
false,it was his duty not to have encouraged, as he did, the unau-
thorized loquacity of his minions.  In doing this he was not only
particeps criminis, but became an  important  principal, "for he
that smiles even at a jest  that  plants  a thorn in the breast  of
another, becomes a principal in the mischief."
            "No florid prose nor honeyed lies of rhyme,
            Can^blazon evil deeds or consecrate a crime."
And Dr. Dudley is now at an age when the  thought should be
constantly present to his mind, that
                        "Only the actions of the just
            Smell sweet in death, and blossom in the dust."
   His attempt to throw the blame upon others is well understood
at least by the writer of this Appeal. It bodes no good to some one
—a head is about to fall—his colleagues, and but for their inher-
ent donkeyism they would see it, are in the predicament  of the
folks in the cave of Polyphemus, waiting their turn for the spit.
They  may fancy  themselves  secure, but if they will but look
back through the history of the Medical Department of Tran-
sylvania University, from its foundation to the present moment,
they must be compounded of a most singular mixture of silliness
and stolidity if they do  not discover that their security is just
about as great as that of the sleep of Hamlet's father in his gar-
den; and if they would consult their real interests, and put their
safety beyond the reach of his arts, they will fly'from him as fleetly
as did the Israelites before Pharaoh's police. Witness Richardson,
Drake, Brown, Drake, Blythe, Caldwell, Yandell, Cooke, Short
and Cross.  The next victim to the Moloch of his malignant ven-
geance is already  singled  out—«-his  doom is irreversibly fixed
—should Jove himself, with his eleven gods, come to his aid they
could not save him.   Nor should he be saved.  A self-convicted
"detractor, slanderer and calumniator," who has been proved guil-
ty of cool, deliberate and malignant falsehood deserves not mercy.
Proper self-respect, or rather  respect for  appearances, demands
that he should be made to feel how grossly he has forfeited all
claim to consideration or confidence.   This would be a redeem-
ing act on  the part of Dr. Dudley, and would  incline me to
forgive much that I have suffered at his hands, for
              " 'Tis easier for the generous to forgive,
              Than for offence to ask it."

 Such an act of justice would be an oasis in the desert of his pro-
 fessorial life, and might lead mankind  to look upon his  former
 offences with much allowence.
   I have said that I would not  anticipate my enemies.  This
 line of conduct I was inclined to follow, because to act otherwise 
59
 would be to deprive Dr. Dudley of much malignant satisfaction,
 and I always feel disposed to study his comfort when it does not put
 me to too much inconvenience or trouble. In his response, should he
 venture to make one, he would thus have had an opportunity to
 gloat with undisguised and insolent pleasure upon the unbecomin-
 conduct of one whom he has done his utmost to circumvent and
 destroy.   Now  although I would not thwart his views or plans
 for any personal gratification, I cannot go so far, on his account,
 as to overlook altogether the claims of my friends,  one of whom
 has been  kind  enough to transmit to me the alledged ground
 upon which my late colleagues took the liberty of  saying in the
 letter they wrote to me on the 25th May, '44, that "circumstances
 had occurred relating  to my private character,  which  would
 hereafter prevent them  from co-operating with me  as a member
 of  the Medical Faculty  of Transylvania University."  It ap-
 pears that on the night of the 18th of May, 1844, I was guilty
 of  the shocking and unprecedented outrage  of a  drunken de-
 bauch, and of being found, it is said, in the company of a wo-
 man. ^ Parturiunt montes  et nacitur ridiculus mus.   That I was
 intoxicated on  the night designated  I have   the shame and
 mortification to  be obliged to confess, but that a  woman was in
 my company I can  neither deny or admit, for on that subject I
 have no personal knowledge.  Inebriation on the part of a grave
 Professor is reprehensible, and unless  under very peculiar cir-
 cumstances highly  disreputable.    If any man  every  drank
 "fathom deep healths," until he became  unconscious under miti-
 gating circumstances calculated to palliate and excuse his offence,
 I did, and this was not only known to the hypocritical scrupulosity
 of my immaculate  colleagues, but to the whole of Lexington.
 That the public may judge of the christian love and charity of
 my very sober and chaste colleagues, I will give a faithful account
 of the terrible orgies  of the night of the  18th  of May, based
 upon my own  observation  and the observations of those who
 participated  in  them.   What is singular  I  have  been hunted
 down and nearly destroyed for my participation in the revels of
 that occasion, while others, citizens of Lexington  and other parts
 of the State, who deservedly stand as high as any men in the coun-
 try, have never been even reproached for impropriety of conduct.
  Besides being a Professor of Medicine, I am something of a
 politician, and  have  mingled  more  or  less  in politics for
 several years.   That I  was not  looked upon  as a subaltern
 in the ranks  of the Whig  party is proved  by the  fact  that
 I was called  on by my party in  1842,  to greet  Mr.  Clay on
his  return home  after retiring from  the  Senate  of the United
States, and was  appointed by the Clay Club of Lexington, to
hail as we did, with  acclamations of joy, his nomination by the
 Baltimore Convention for the  Presidency.   During the cam- 
60
paign  of  1844, I  addressed  immense  masses of  people  in
Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Virginia, and  have  now  acci-
dentally in my possession  proof from Mr.  Clay's  own hand,
that I  did good service.   All  that I did for  that  illustrious
individual was at my own expense—without hope of or desire for
fee or reward other than  what might redound from my servi-
ces to  the advantage of my country, from  the  elevation of a
man to the Presidency, whose whole aim during a long, event-
ful and valuable life, has been to promote his country's greatness
and glory.   There was nothing mercenary or  mean  in  my mo-
tives, although those who are too feeble to resist  the downward
tendency of the Medical School  of Transylvania attempted  to
defraud me of all credit by asserting that I engaged in the can-
vass only because it gave me ampler opportunity to  injure the
School.  This was grossly false, for I had little opportunity and
less desire to think of them or their School.   What presumption
to flatter themselves that I had even a vagrant thought for them
or their concerns, when day after  day I dwelt before masses of
the people upon the merits  and claims of an individual in whom
the statesmanly elements of wisdom and patriotism are

            "So mixed that Nature might stand up,
            And say to all the world, This was a man."

  The return of Mr. Clay  from his  Southern tour, was looked
for with intense anxiety, for several  days before he  ultimately
arrived.   It was ascertained that he  would reach Lexington  at
night and this circumstance involved us in considerable perplexi-
ty as to what means should be  adopted in order to receive  him
with proper distinction.   It was on that occasion that the torch-
light procession was first instituted, and as I believe, at my sug-
gestion.  During the several successive  nights  that Mr.  Clay
was expected, immense  crowds  assembled at  Brennan's Hotel.
Political fervor was excited to the highest degree of enthusiasm.
The whigs had obtained  the  candidate of their choice,  and we
his fellow citizens thought we had peculiar  cause to be proud
and pleased.  To strengthen  his cause, it was  customary, if not
natural, for those who took  a  conspicious interest in his election
to mingle with the  masses,  and  to adopt their convivial habits.
This is what I aimed at,  for I thought the best way to promote
his interests, was to conciliate the people,  but unfortunately I
went too far, and, in common with many others, drank too much.
Drinking more or less, was practiced for several nights  in suc-
cession, by those who mingled in the crowds that assembled  at
Brennan's Hotel.  It  was finally ascertained that  Mr.  Clay
would certainly arrive on  the  18th.  The  mass of people that
assembled to  meet him was enormous, while the  enthusiastic
desire to see him, exceeded all  reasonable bounds.  During the 
til
              two or three hours that  the  crowd was collecting, before  the
              arrival of Mr.  Clay, those  that  know  anything of political as-
              semblies,  know that liquor  was not spared.  This  was unfor-
              tunately the case on this occasion,  and still  more unfortuately
              for me, for by the time the procession began to move, I was in a
              state of high exhiliration.  We met Mr. Clay at the city limits,
              conducted him to Ashland,  and returned to Brennan's Hotel,
              about 10  or 11 o'clock.  After further drinking,  for it appear-
 ♦»             ed that in  the jubilant state of feeling which  pervaded  the
              breast of  every one present, that must be prosecuted with vigor
              if every thing else should  be neglected.  The  crowd being
              undispersed, and  showing no  disposition to disperse, it  was
              thought important to have some  speeches, though according to
              my recollection few were in  a condition to listen, and still few-
              er to speak intelligibly.   Several spoke, and I being called on
              amongst the rest, spoke also, though I  would  rather undertake
              to tell what happened  before I was born, than what I said on
              that very  interesting occasion.   Full  of exultation, I  did what
*-             I never did  before, and  what I shall never do again, I consid-
              ered not how  much I drank—with  how many or  with whom I
              drank.  The result may easily be imagined.   When I left the
              Hotel, or how I reached home I cannot tell.   All I know is  that
              I awaked in the morning in my own bed, with a head ready to
              burst and a stomach as dry as a powder-horn and as thirsty as a
              sand-bank.  It has been said that  a woman  was found in my
              office, sometime between three  and four o'clock in the morn-
              ing.  Of this fact I have no knowledge, but if true, it seems sus-
              ceptible of  a satisfactory explanation,  without putting an inju-
*             rious or ungenerous intepretation upon it.   It is more than
              likely that she found me in the streets  and recognizing me, as-
              sisted  me in   getting  home. This, in truth,  appears to be
              the fact, although I did not know it until a few  days ago, and
              since I have been  in this city.  A friend writes me from Lex-
              ington, that a gentleman who was present on the  occasion, had
             just made to him the following statement. I transcribe my friends
              letter:—"He said you was the drunkest man he ever saw—that
              he  never  saw a man who looked  as you  did that night—that
              Brennan set the clock back  two hours, and that  it was nearly
              three o'clock  when you left the Hotel.  That  for nearly two
              hours before you and several  others left the Hotel, you had no
              knowledge of  what you were doing-—that you fell as you at-
              tempted to  go  out of the  door, and that  he learned in  the
              morning that you fell several  times on your way home—that he
              understood that the woman  fell  in  with you  somewhere about
              Mr. Gibson's,  and went home with you—but that you were
             not aware of anything that  happened to you on  your way
              home." 
62
    It is  very  mortifying  to  have  to   make  this  confession,
but it is better that the whole truth should  be known, than that
the malignity of one's  enemies should be  permitted to  distort
an  imprudence  into  a  grossly  criminal  delinquincy.   I have
been for several  years in the habit of occasionally using spirits,
but in  moderation,  if such  a thing is possible,  which   I much
doubt, but  I  was never before, and of course  not since, so over-
taken, and it made so indelible  an  impression upon me, that I am
sure that should I live to the age of Methusaleh it will never  be
obliterated from  my  mind.   So far from looking  upon that de-
bauch   as  a calamity,  I have  every reason to  regard  it as a
blessing.   I knew not the danger to  which I was exposed, and
nothing less,  perhaps, than  so solemn an  admonition could have
convinced me of it.
  This is the reason, it  appears, why my colleagues had the impudence to assail
my private character and the hardihood to request me to resign.  It is  perfectly
obvious that it was a most hollow and unprincipled pretext, and this is  proved by
the fact that the drunken debauch that I, in common with many gentlemen, committed
on  the night of the 18th was known to every one on Monday, if not on Sunday
morning, and yet it was not until the following Saturday that my colleagues deter-
mined to take  advantage of it and use it for my destruction, if possible.  Before,
there was no necessity for so hasty  and  unjustifiable a mode of procedure.  It was
only on Saturday that Dr.  Dudley  had  succeeded in alarming Drs. Mitchell and
Richardson into measures—he had previously ineffectually tried to alienate me from
them and the  meditated reorganization.  They knew well that if I had  decided to
leave the School  in the event of our failing to effect a suitable reorganization, no con-
sideration would prevail on me to remain another instant in it, after the discovery of
the faithlessness of Drs. Mitchell and Richardson, and that besides exposing the con-
duct of Dr. Dudley I would also lay bare the treason of those men.*  To silence
me they thought would save the School an Iliad of misfortunes, and consequently
they hesitated  not to resort to an expedient of the foulest and most infamous char-
acter.  They knew my resignation would, as it has, inflict a mortal wound upon the
institution—but hoped if they could by their reckless calumny keep me out of a rival
School they would be able  to drag out a maimed and crippled existence a few years
longer.  They have therefore pursued me with the most envenomed rancor ever
since, and to accomplish their object they have not hesitated at the perpetration of
any outrage upon truth and justice.  The idea that each of them should, as they did,
lose at least one thousand dollars the very first session after I left them, nearly made
them frantic with rage, and the more sensibly they felt my loss the more resolved
were  they to persecute and oppress me.  The  ludicrous cheerfulness which they
with  difficulty assume, is only a masquerade dress designed to conceal their mor-
tification.  Any one can see through the gossamer-veiled hypocrisy.   Had they
acted like liberal  and enlightened men, I might have been persuaded to  aid in feed-
ing them a little longer, but nothing could have forced me to submit to their master.
  In looking over the pages of this Appeal, as far as printed, I regret to find a num-
ber of expressions in allusion to the people of Lexington more harsh and unjust
than I thought at  the time, and which if I had it now in my power I would either
  ♦Here I wish it to be understood that I attach no blame to Dr. Dudley for aliena-
ting those men from me for the purpose of carrying out his views, if he were con-
vinced that they would prove advantageous to the School.  He may have loved the
treason, but he must have despised the traitors.  But I do blame him for operating
on the fears of those men for the purpose of obliging them to  co-operate with him
in the conspiracy he had conceived for my destruction. 
6o
O
modify or omit altogether.   As this is now too late, all I can do is to make a few
explanatory remarks, that  I may not be too  grossly misunderstood.  I should be
very sorry to wound the feelings of many generous and  honorable, pure-minded
and brave-hearted individuals in  Lexington, some of whom I am proud to be able
to claim as amongst my most devoted friends, and all of whom have merited noth-
ing at my hands but respect and  admiration.   So long have  I been an object of
bitter persecution by Dr. Dudley and his contemptible but arrogant clique, and this is
so well known that this explanation will be considered scarcely necessary in Lexing-
ton, but it is made that the public  abroad  may not suppose that my denunciations
are designed to embrace the whole population.  Far from it—there are many, very
many who hate and despise the faction to whom I allude, as sincerely as I do, but
that faction is powerful,  and by the means which they (or rather I should say he,
Dr. Dudley) use to extend and  establish  their influence, many worthy and good
people are awed into silence, though they cannot be made zealous and unscrupu-
lous partizans.  The mode in which Dr. Dudley operates is well  understood.   If
he finds one refractory and disposed to pursue an independent course, the shibbo-
leth of the camp goes forth, and his social position is rendered as intolerable as
possible, or the prospects  of the business  in which he may be engaged is palpably
obscured, or altogether blasted.   From this latter cause hundreds submit to him in
silence, who otherwise would be  rancorous and  bitter opponents.   While writing
Dr. Dudley and his clique, and the powerful influence they wield,  and which they
have taken a malignant pleasure in making me feel, were  constantly present to my
mind,  and in my ardor to do them justice I inadvertently  forgot  that they did not
constitute the whole of  Lexington, and consequently I find my remarks much more
sweeping  than was  intended.  The manner in which I have now qualified them,
and I  wish to be understood as including every offensive expression, I  trust will
prove  satisfactory.
   On  another subject I  would make a closing remark.  I allude to  Dr. Richardson.
Except under the  most extraordinary and pressing circumstances nothing could
provoke me to disturb the sacred  and  solemn  stillness of the grave.   That ths e
exist in the present case I think cannot be doubted.  He was so completely identi-
 fied ab ovo usque ad mala, with the train of events of which I have endeavored to give
a faithful history, that it was utterly impossible  for me to speak  of them without
 speaking of him.  I was, therefore, obliged either to abandon my character to the
 exterminating vengeance of my enemies, or speak of the part that Dr. Richardson
 took in the  series of events that  led to my resignation.   This I am persuaded the
 world will look upon as a more satisfactory justification of what I have said of him
 than I can regard it myseif.  He  was my preceptor,  and at one  time my friend.
 The hours of pleasure  I  have enjoyed in his society will always  be amongst my
 most agreeable reminiscences, and the obligations I am under to him for the favors
 I have received at his hands, cannot be wholly cancelled by the  fact that his subse-
 quent treatment of me was not of  the most friendly or flattering character.   Could
 I recal many expressions which were intended for Dr. Mitchell, every one of which
 he richly deserves, and the bitterness of any one of which I could not be induced
 to abate in the slightest degree on  his account, but which appear equally applicable
 to Dr. Richardson, I would. I repeat, that nothing but a necessity perfectly irresis-
 tible in its nature could have induced me to introduce the name of Dr. Richardson
 into this Appeal.
    Cincinnati, August 7,1846. 
ERRATA.
Page 3, fifteen lines from top, for  "speech" read "speak."
Pacre 5, eight lines from top, for "teacher," read "teach."
Page 7, six lines from bottom, for  "elevation," read "election."
Page 9, one line from top, for "that it was," read "it  was."
Page 20, eight lines from bottom,  for "gratifying," read "gratify."
Page 50, sixteen lines from top, for "slaves," read "slave."
Page 51, three lines from top, fox "testify.  I feel," read "testify, I feel."
Page 52, twelve lines from top, for  "only duly merits," read "only merits."
Page 54, five lines from top, for "mysel, for," read "myself."
Page 54, seven lines  from top, " I condescend," read "J should condescend."