A CONTRIBUTION 
TO THE 
M E D I C A L II T S T O R Y 
OF 
NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
BY 
A. B. CROSBY, A. 
Professor of Surgery in Dartmouth Medical College, in the University of Ver- 
mont, in the University of Michigan, and in the Long Island 
College Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
READ BEFORE THE 
NEW HAMPSHIRE MEDICAL SOCIETY, CONCORD, JUNE, 1870. 
AND REPUBLISHED FROM THEIR TRANSACTIONS. 
NASHUA : 
PRINTED BY MOORE AND LANGLEY. 
1 8 7 0. MEDICAL HISTORY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
A. B. CROSBY, M. I>. 
Fellows of the New Hampshire Medical Society : 
The season that brings us together is one of harmonious 
beauty. Crowned is the forehead of Summer with a bloom 
of surpassing loveliness, njeet for this "■bridal of earth and 
sky." Wherever the eye may rest, upon the mountain, the 
valley, the woods, lakes, streams-everywhere is life-life 
in its prime of beauty, life for life's great end-fruition, a 
mighty harvest, a full garner for the winter of time. 
To many of us come thoughts of other summers whose 
garlands have faded away. To many comes that sadness, 
not visible to describe, yet ever linked with thoughts of 
nature to an ear like ours, doomed to harken to " the still, 
sad music of humanity.'' 
" So build we up the being that we are, 
Thus deeply drinking in the soul of things." 
" The clouds that gather round the setting sun 
Do take a sombre coloring, from an eye 
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; 
Another race hath been, and other palms are won." 
As we gather around this altar consecrated to human 
suffering, and place dur annual offering upon it, it is surely 
not unmeet at certain periods to invoke the "Angel of the 4 
backward look." "Memory," says one, "is like the stern 
light of a vessel, that illuminates the path just passed, but 
throws no gleam on the future." Yet they tell us that 
history but repeats itself, and it has come to be an aphorism 
that there is no way of judging of the future but by the 
past. 
The fathers of our art who sleep within 
" The low green tent 
Whose curtain never outward swings," 
were once where we stand to-day. If we read their record 
we shall find how they worked hard, lived well and died 
poor. Bnt above and beyond these prosaic facts we shall 
learn how theirs were lives of practical benevolence, 
devoted to the good of their kind. And in many of those 
long lives of ill-requited labor, of long suffering and well 
doing, we may discover deeds as heroic, all unsyllabled and 
unsung though they be, as any that the world perpetuates 
in marble and bronze. Such retrospects, while they do 
away with many illusions, can not but give us a more abid- 
ing faith and incite us to live like them, that our end may 
be like theirs. 
I propose to recall something of the early medical history 
of New Hampshire, and as associated with it, something of 
the history of the Dartmouth Medical College. The 
progress of medical science in New Hampshire has been 
gradual. During the first hundred years after the settle- 
ment of the state, medicine had few exponents. Ami 
hence it is that no distinguished names in the profession 
during that period have come down to us. During the 
first fifty years of the second century in the history of the 
Granite State, a number of men arose distinguished for 
their medical knowledge and their zeal in advancing its 
most important interests. By more or less frequent inter- 
course with the mother country, by occasional immigration 5 
from the schools of Europe, and by the importation of ap- 
proved authors, these pioneers in our art did the most for 
themselves that their isolated position admitted. Though 
they had not the advantages of the medical establishments 
now so common in our country, they had all the aid that 
could be derived from the published works of the most em- 
inent medical men of Europe. The medical works most 
generally in use at that time were those of Sydenham, Com- 
mentaries of Van Swietan, and the practical writings of 
Whytt, Mac Brooks, and Huxham. Physiology was rep- 
resented by Haller ; anatomy by Cowper, Douglas, Chesel- 
den, Munroe and Winslow. The surgeries of Heister 
Sharp, LeDran and Pott, were the standards, while obstet- 
rics were taught from the works of Smellie and Hunter. 
The physician of the present day, who in a comfortable 
carriage drives rapidly over smooth roads or glides almost 
imperceptibly over the country in a railroad train, with all 
the approved appliances of our time, can form no adequate 
idea of the hardships that attended on the life of the phy- 
sician in those early days. There were in the majority of 
instances no roads, and the luckless disciple of JEsculapius, 
on horseback, or, quite as frequently, on foot, was obliged 
to pick his uncertain way by the aid of spotted trees. 
One of the earliest practitioners in my own neighbor- 
hood- who left a good name and an honorable record- 
was, tradition says, the owner of a pair of shoes. When 
he visited the poor his feet like those of his patient were 
habitually bare, the shoes being carefully concealed within 
the capacious saddle-bags, in part for economy's sake, but 
quite as much lest the feelings of his humble friends should 
be wounded. But when he approached, at long intervals, 
a patrician bed, the long cherished shoes were donned, and 
in these galoches of professional fortune, he was wont 
proudly to tread the sick room like any aristocrat, well shod. 
It is .related that on one of his professional trips he was 6 
consulted by a young man from Connecticut, who, bred in 
comfort, had come into the new country and cleared a 
piece of land, but his poor bare feet were bruised, torn and 
bleeding. "I know what will cure you," said the benevo- 
lent doctor, and, opening his saddle-bags, he gave him the 
long treasured shoes; and then, lest, I fancy, his resolution 
should fail him, he turned his face resolutely homeward, 
" Nor cast one longing lingering look behind." 
The doctor of those days was almost always obliged to 
attend to his own commissary department. Ilasty-pudding 
was his principal reliance; although during the winter 
months he could occasionally indulge in the luxury of pea 
soup, frozen into cakes of a size suitable for transportation, 
and which a friendly fire would speedily render palatable. 
There was little money in the country, and, in order to 
live, the physician inevitably became a farmer. Thus his 
patients could pay him in live stock, and when this had ac- 
cumulated he was obliged to drive it to market, and so he 
became a drover. Those were indeed primitive times, yet 
that they were not incompatible with excellent professional 
attainments, is rendered evident by the honorable record of 
the period. 
Previous to 1780 there was no medical organization nor 
association in the state. The student entered his name 
with sonie eminent practitioner of medicine, and studied as 
long as he fancied, or as long as his means lasted. During 
the first two years he usually lived at home, going to recite 
at intervals of a week or a month, according to his con- 
venience. The third year was generally spent in riding with 
some physician to witness the treatment of disease. There 
was no fixed standard of acquirements for admission into 
the profession. 
Dissection of the human body was almost wholly un- 
known, and only the marked men in the profession pos- 7 
sessed a skeleton. Nevertheless there was here and there 
a worthy disciple of the great Vesalius who dared public 
opinion sufficiently to attempt to gain a knowledge of anat- 
omy by dissections of the human body. The first execu- 
tion for a capital offence in my own county took place at 
Haverhill, the condemned man being a negro. The gal- 
lows was erected in an open field, and a large concourse 
assembled to witness the melancholy spectacle. Dr. Mc- 
Kinstry, of Newbury, Vt., secured the body, which was 
rapidly carried to a cabin on the great Ox-Bow Meadow. 
All the neighboring physicians were invited to be present, 
and were requested to bring any dissecting instrument they 
might deem of use. Tradition says that one brought a 
hand-saw, another an axe, still another a butcher's cleaver, 
and a fourth came armed with a large carving-knife and fork. 
Meantime popular excitement at this proposed sacrilege 
had reached a high pitch, and it seemed for a time as 
though all the instruments of these pseudo anatomists 
must be used in self defence. A guard, however, with fire- 
arms, was stationed around the locality, and, thus protected, 
the dissection began. The great point to be settled was 
what should be done first. After long and earnest consul- 
tation, it was unanimously decided that the subject should 
first be skinned, and skinned it accordingly was, with neat- 
ness and dispatch. The cuticle of this unfortunate Ethiop 
was subsequently tanned and cut up into small pieces, as 
souvenirs of the occasion. Tradition says, with how much 
truth I know not, that an enthusiastic but impudent 
student cut off the ears and sent them in a letter to one of 
the professors in the academical department of Dartmouth 
College, whom he did not particularly admire. 
How far these dissections were carried, or how long they 
were continued, I am not informed. There is, however, still 
living, at North Haverhill, Dr. McNab, a venerable medical 8 
man, who was present and aided in this early effort to 
establish a "chair of anatomy." 
At the period of which I write, and long afterwards, tlie 
popular prejudice against dissections of the human body 
was so great that 'they could only be practiced by stealth, 
alid the material could be obtained in no legitimate way. 
If the venerable walls of our State Medical College could 
speak, or if the veterans among its professors would speak, 
they could, I fancy, 
" A tale unfold. " 
But those walls are dumb, and none of my respected col- 
leagues have volunteered to enlighten us, and, therefore, I 
imagine that they believe with our JEsculapian poet that, 
there are some things that are better 
"Hushed up amoug one's friends." 
Fortunately this unjustifiable popular prejudice no longer 
exists. Modern legislators, wiser than their fathers, have 
rendered it easy for the medical student to legitimately pur- 
sue the study of practical anatomy without wounding the 
sensibilities of the living and without desecrating the graves 
of the dead. The act passed by the New Hampshire Leg- 
islature, at its last session, and on the petition of this soci- 
ety, is creditable to the intelligence of that body, while it 
is of great advantage to the profession. 
Having satisfied his preceptor, the young candidate for 
medical honors left with a certificate of his qualifications in 
the different departments. If he was a proficient in sur- 
gery, it was mentioned that he had enjoyed the rare privi- 
lege of studying the human skeleton. 
In the early days of medicine in our country we copied 
the European fashion, where the different branches were 
practiced by different men. This proved to be wholly im- 
practicable in our country towns, where there were scarcely 9 
inhabitants enough to support one professional man. ft 
was no uncommon circumstance for a physician and a sur- 
geon to associate in business, each becoming the pupil of 
the other, while each practiced in his original vocation. 
My grandfather, Dr. Asa Crosby, became associated in this 
way with the original Dr. Kittredge, who was the founder 
of a long family dynasty of physicians in New Hampshire. 
Indeed, the name of Kittredge became so well and favorably 
known as the representative of medical skill that some phy- 
sicians applied to the legislature for a change of their 
names, believing that, in popular estimation at least, they 
would thus acquire something of the hereditary prestige. 
The practice of obstetrics in these early days was almost 
wholly in the hands of women. But as most of these fe- 
male practitioners were ignorant of the first principles of 
tire art, they frequently did a great deal of mischief. Not 
content to be the handmaids of Nature, they adopted many 
absurd prejudices and superstitions that proved as injuri- 
ous to their patients as they were unnecessary. The abuses 
in this department became at length so glaring that about 
the beginning of the present century this branch began to 
be practiced by the physicians, and a little later the cus- 
tom became universal. More recently the tide seems flow- 
ing in the opposite direction, especially in the larger towns 
and cities. It is a noticeable fact, however, that the fe- 
male physicians of the present day have, as a rule, enjoyed 
the benefit of systematic medical instruction. 
Previously to, and about 1790, the leading physicians in 
the state felt the necessity of some medical organization for 
personal improvement and protection. In 1791 the project 
assumed a definite shape in the formation of the New 
Hampshire Medical Society, outlie petition of Josiah Bart- 
lett and eighteen others, all regular practitioners of medi- 
cine. The legislature, by the terms of the charter, vested 
in these gentlemen and their successors all the rights, im- 10 
munities an,d privileges pertaining to corporate bodies. 
The society was at first limited to seventy members, but 
at the session of 1816 a supplementary act was passed, ex- 
tending the number to two hundred. The society, through 
its censors, was empowered to examine candidates for med- 
ical honors, and, if found worthy, to issue to them a license 
to practice. 
It is evident that the founders of this society were in 
earnest, and that they labored to improve themselves 
and elevate the profession. Dr. Bartlett gave one hundred 
and fifty volumes to the society, and during the first twenty 
years about two hundred volumes were added by purchase. 
It is to be regretted that these books have all been spirited 
away. Dr. W. D. Buck, in an admirable oration, delivered 
before this society at its last annual meeting, thus writes of 
its early history: "Papers were read and discussed, orations 
delivered, by such men as Nathan Smith, Mussey, Perkins, 
Twitchell, Asa Crosby, Ramsey and others, ordered to be 
placed on file, and sometimes to be printed. Members 
were continually disciplined for consulting with irregulars, 
for presuming to question the utility, publicly, of any or- 
thodox remedy, even for the slightest ethical obliquity ; 
were obliged to pay their assessments or be sued, and poor 
Peter Green was driven to the necessity of shoving up his 
library on two occasions, for arrearages. A committee was 
appointed, who selected his best books, and added them 
to the library, whether or not (to use a legal phrase) by a 
mesne process, I don't know. The scanty records of the 
doings of this society for the first thirty or forty years, show 
those men to have been terribly in earnest, and the record 
is more complete during the first than the second thirty 
years." 
District societies were made auxiliary to the state soci- 
ety, and the books of the latter were loaned from time to 
time to the former. The district societies are, I believe, 11 
all dead, and I fear they were at least partially responsi- 
ble for the loss of our library. "But," as Dr. Buck well 
says, "the loss of our library is not so great a misfortune 
as the loss of every scrap of the transactions (so far as I 
know) of the first sixty-four years ; the years of the experi- 
ence of such men as Smith, Perkins, Mussey, Twitch ell, &c. 
The papers read, and the discussions held, would be to us 
invaluable, and it is a shame that they have been lost." 
The transactions of the society have been published during' 
the last sixteen years, 
This admirable organization has continued in active op- 
eration up to the present time, and the good it has done, 
in raising the standard of the profession, is incalculable. 
The published list of its members includes the names of 
many, celebrated physicians, whose celebrity has been not 
only state but national. 
Soon after the inception of the enterprise, the impression 
became general that the state society, excellent as it was 
both in design and execution, did not fully answer the 
medical wants of New Hampshire. There were those who 
felt that the young men of the state should have systematic 
didactic instruction, and that this could be accomplished 
only by the foundation of a regularly chartered medical 
college. This plan was eventually reduced to a demon- 
stration through the energy and talents of one man. It is 
with profound veneration that I write the name of Na- 
than Smith. Himself a member of the society, I know not 
but he gained inspiration and encouragement for the en- 
terprise from his associates here. At the annual meeting- 
of the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College, in August, 
1796, Mr. Nathan Smith, who was then a Bachelor of Med- 
icine, not having received the degree of M. D., made an 
application to the board, asking their encouragement and 
approbation of a plan he had devised to establish a Profes- 
sorship of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in connec- 12 
tion with Dartmouth College. After considerable discus- 
sion, the board voted to postpone their final action upon 
the proposition for a year, but in the meantime a resolution 
was passed complimentary to the character and energy of 
Mr. Smith, and promising such encouragement and assist- 
ance in the future as the plan might merit and the cir- 
cumstances of tire college admit. 
The records of the college are extremely barren of de- 
tails respecting the preliminary steps towards a medical es- 
tablishment, and there are no mean's of knowing what the 
action of the board was the following year. It is evident, 
however, that some measures must have been taken in re- 
lation to the future welfare of the school, for in the year 
1798 we find that "the fee for conferring the degree of 
Bachelor of Medicine pro meritis be twenty dollars." The 
honorary degree of Master of Arts was the same year 
conferred on Mr. Smith, while it remained for a subsequent 
board to discover that his professional attainments merited 
the rank and title of Doctor. 
Later in the same session it was voted "That a profes- 
sor be appointed, whose duty it shall be to deliver public 
lectures upon Anatomy, Surgery, Chemistry, Materia Med- 
ica, and the Theory and Practice of Physic, and that said 
professor be entitled to receive payment for instruction in 
those branches, as hereafter mentioned, as compensation for 
his services in that office." Mr. Smith was at once chosen 
to fulfil the laborious, and to us almost incredible duties of 
this professorship, while the compensation alluded to was 
for a long time held in abeyance. It may be that the 
trustees thought that to so self-sacrificing a man, reward of 
conscience would be superior to any pecuniary emolument. 
We also find that in this year the board adopted the fol- 
lowing code of Medical Statutes: 
1. Lectures shall begin on the first day of October, an- 
nually, and continue ten weeks, during which the profes- 13 
sor shall deliver three lectures daily, Saturday and Sun- 
day excepted. 
2. In the lectures on the theory and practice of Phy- 
sic, shall be explained the nature of diseases and method of 
cure. 
3. The lectures on Chemistry and Materia Medica shall 
be accompanied by actual experiments, tending to explain 
and demonstrate the principles of chemistry, and an exhi- 
bition shall be made of the principal medicines used in cur- 
ing disease, with an explanation of their medicinal quali- 
ties, and effect on the human body. 
4. In the lectures on Anatomy and Surgery, shall be 
demonstrated the parts of the human body by dissecting a 
recent subject, if such subject, can be legally obtained ; other- 
wise, by exhibiting anatomical preparations, which shall be 
attended by the performance of the principal capital opera- 
tions in surgery. 
5. The medical professor shall be entitled to the use of 
the college library and apparatus gratis. 
6. The medical students shall be entitled to the use of 
the college library under the discretionary restrictions of 
the President. 
7. Medical students shall be subject to the same rules 
of morality and decorum as Bachelors in Art residing at the 
college. 
8. No graduate of any college shall be admitted to an 
examination for the degree of Bachelor of Medicine, unless 
lie shall have studied two full years with some respecta- 
ble physician or surgeon, and attended two full courses of 
lectures at some university. 
9. No person not a graduate shall be admitted to such 
an examination unless he shall have studied three full years, 
as above, attended two full courses of lectures, and shall, 
upon a preparatory examination before the President and 
professors, be able to parse the English and Latin lan- 14 
guages, to construe Virgil and Cicero's orations, to pos- 
sess a good knowledge of common arithmetic, geometry, 
geography and natural and moral philosophy. 
10. Examinations shall be holden in public before the 
executive authority of the college, by the medical professor, 
and candidates shall read and defend a dissertation, etc. 
11. Every person receiving a degree in medicine shall 
cause his thesis to be printed, and sixteen copies thereof to 
be delivered to the President, for the use of the college and 
trustees. 
12. The fee for attending a full course of lectures shall 
be fifty dollars ; that is, for anatomy and surgery, twenty- 
five dollars ; for chemistry and materia medica, fifteen dol- 
lars, and for theory and practice, ten dollars. 
13. The members of the two senior classes in college 
may attend the medical lectures by paying twenty dollars 
for the full course. 
Besides these statutes, the trustees voted that Mr. Smith 
might employ assistance in any of his departments, at his 
own expense, and that one half part of the fees for confer- 
ring the degree of Bachelor of Medicine be his perquisite, 
and the other half a perquisite to the president of the 
college. 
The first course of lectures was delivered in the fall of 
1797, although Mr. Smith was not elected to his professor- 
ship until after his return from Europe, the following year. 
In the year 1798, two young men were graduated with the 
degree of Bachelor of Medicine. The next year the trus- 
tees voted to appropriate the northeast corner room in 
.Dartmouth Hall to the use of Professor Smith, and it was 
repaired and furnished for that purpose. The room was a 
small one, scarcely as large as a common parlor, but still it 
served for a lecture hall, dissecting room, chemical labora- 
tory and library, for several years, when another room ad- 
joining was appropriated to the same purpose. 15 
In 1801, the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred 
upon Mr. Smith, and a committee was appointed to confer 
with him in relation to a salary, and concerning some pro- 
posed alterations in the Medical Department. It would 
seem that corporations as well as individuals are addicted 
to procrastination, for that committee, as well as several 
others subsequently appointed for the same purpose, never 
reported. A grant of fifty dollars per annum was voted 
him, upon which he was to allow a debt he owed the col- 
lege for money loaned. I fancy that this latter was fur- 
nished him in order to enable him to visit Europe. 
The trustees about this time made a change in the term 
of study required for a degree. The new statute fixed the 
period of three years for academical graduates, and five 
years for non-graduates. 
The evidence is pretty strong that the undergraduates 
who attended the lectures paid for the privilege rather re- 
luctantly, for, by the request of Dr. Smith, it was voted 
that the treasurer collect, as part of the regular college 
bills, all lecture fees due from college students. 
In 1802 the salary of the Professor of Medicine was fixed 
at fifty dollars, and an additional grant of fifty dollars, 
yearly, was voted for contingent expenses. These emolu- 
ments were not, however, ample enough to induce Dr. 
Smith to remain. Accordingly, in 1803, the board voted 
a yearly sum of one hundred dollars for the purpose of 
accommodating him with a house, and added, as an ad- 
ditional bonus, the use of ten acres of land as a pasture, 
both to be continued during his residence in Hanover and 
his continuance in the professorship. Notwithstanding 
these tempting allurements of house-rent and pasturage, 
Dr. Smith still indicated his intention of leaving. Thus 
stimulated, the board, in 1804, voted to raise his salary to 
two hundred dollars, at which sum it remained a fixture. 
Through the politeness of Professor Albert Smith, who 16 
obtained the facts at no little trouble and expense, 1 am 
enabled to give the official records of the New Hampshire 
Legislature bearing on this subject; from which we learn 
that the Senate and House journals, November session, 
1802, and also of 1806, are wanting. We find, however, 
the following official records : 
Senate, June 10, 1803. 
D Resolve, That Dr. Nathan Smith have and receive out 
of the treasury, in his capacity as professor of anatomy, 
surgery and chemistry, six hundred dollars for the pur- 
pose of purchasing the apparatus prayed for, the appara- 
tus to remain the property of the state for the use of said 
institution, was brought up, read and concurred. Present- 
ed and approved. 
House, June 6, 1807. 
Voted, That Messrsbe a com- 
mittee to consider the petition of Dr. Nathan Smith and 
others, for and in behalf of the New Hampshire Medical 
Institution, and report thereon. 
House, June 10, 1807. 
Committee reported that the petitioners have leave to 
bring in a bill. Report accepted. 
House, June 13, 1809. 
Voted, That Messrs. Evans, Harper, Woodbury, Cady 
and S. P. Webster, with such as the Senate may join, be a 
committee to consider the petition of Dr. Nathan Smith, 
praying for assistance, that he may be enabled to erect 
buildings near Dartmouth College, for the use of the medi- 
cal school, and report thereon. 
(Journal of June 14th, 1809, torn out.) 
Voted, That Messrs. Hough, Kimball and Olcutt, be a. 
House, June 16, 1809. 17 
committee to take into consideration a bill making a grant 
of six thousand dollars to Dr. Nathan Smith, of Hanover, 
for certain purposes therein mentioned, and report the 
probable expense of erecting the buildings therein men- 
tioned. 
June 17. The said committee reported "That three 
thousand, four hundred and fifty dollars will be the prob- 
able expense of erecting and completing the proposed 
buildings.'1 
Again : Voted, That Messrs. Meserve, Hough and Par- 
rot, be a committee to take into consideration a bill making 
a grant of six thousand dollars to Dr. Nathan Smith, and 
report such alterations and amendments as they shall judge 
necessary. 
House, June 10, 1809. 
On reading the bill entitled " An Act appropriating three 
thousand, four hundred and fifty dollars for certain pur- 
poses therein mentioned, and on the question, " Shall the 
first section pass ?" which is in the following words : 
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of 
Representatives in General Court convened : That the sum 
of three thousand, four hundred and fifty dollars be, and 
the same hereby is, appropriated for the purpose of erect- 
ing a building of brick, or stone, for a medical school, 
sixty-five feet in length, thirty-two feet in width, and 
two stories in height; provided the said Nathan Smith, be- 
fore the said money, or any part thereof, be paid out of 
the treasury, convey to the state of New Hampshire, by 
a good and valid title, one half acre of land, contiguous 
to Dartmouth College, whereon to erect said building ; and 
provided the said Nathan assigns to the state afore- 
said, such parts of the anatomical museum, and chemical 
apparatus, as are his private property." 18 
The yeas and nays being called thereon, stood, yeas, 102, 
nays 59, so the section passed. 
House, June 9, 1812. 
Voted, That the petition of Dr. Nathan Smith, praying 
for legislative aid, be referred to the committee to whom 
was referred so much of His Excellency's communication as 
relates to literature and science, and that they report 
thereon. 
June Session, 
Tuesday, June 16, 1812. 
House met according to adjournment. 
The committee on the petition of Dr. Nathan Smith, re- 
ported the following statement of facts : "The legislature 
in 1809, appropriated the sum of three thousand, four 
hundred and fifty dollars for the purpose of erecting, at 
Hanover, a building of brick, or stone, fora medical school, 
to be sxity-five feet in length, thirty-two feet in width, 
and two stories in height, on condition that Dr. Smith, be- 
fore said money, or any part thereof, be paid out of the 
treasury, should convey to the state of New Hampshire, 
by a good and valid title, one half acre of land contiguous 
to Dartmouth College, whereon to erect said building, and 
also to assign to said State such parts of the anatomical mu- 
seum and chemical apparatus as were his private property. 
In compliance with this condition. Dr. Smith has legally 
conveyed one acre, instead of half an acre, of land, and as- 
signed said anatomical and chemical apparatus to the state. 
The anatomical and chemical apparatus, so assigned, are at 
a moderate estimate, of the value of one thousand five 
hundred dollars. 
The committee appointed to superintend the erection of 
the building, in the act of 1809, to render it convenient and 
useful for the purposes intended, concluded to add ten feet 
to the length, and, to accommodate more students, to di- 19 
vide the two wings into three stories ; this was done, how- 
ever, without increasing the heighth of the walls. The al- 
teration from the first plan appears to have been neces- 
sary. The full sum of three thousand, four hundred and 
fifty dollars has been appropriated toward the erection and 
completion of the building, under the direction of the com- 
mittee, who received compensation for their trouble of Dr. 
Smith. But the amount of the appropriation was found to 
be insufficient to defray the expenses of finishing the build- 
ing in a plain and suitable manner, in a sum of one thou- 
sand, two hundred and seventeen dollars and fourteen cents. 
This sum Dr. Smith has paid, or secured to be paid to the 
contractors. 
The building, and anatomical and chemical apparatus, will 
be exclusively the property of the state, on the death or re- 
moval of Dr. Smith from the medical school. 
The committee would further state, that ten years pre- 
ceding the year 1798, Dr. Smith spent much time, and a 
very considerable sum of money, acquired by his practice, 
in attaining a more perfect knowledge of his profession and 
in procuring a library and other apparatus, in order to pro- 
mote medical science in the state, especially knowledge in 
surgery; that Dr. Smith, in 1798, was appointed Profes- 
sor of Medicine at Dartmouth College, and then commenced 
a course of public instruction in al] the branches of medical 
science generally taught in medical schools, with a library 
and other apparatus, procured at his own expense, and 
without any salary from the college. From 1798 to 1810, 
Dr. Smith supported the medical school by his own indefa- 
tigable exertions, in teaching all the branches of medicine 
himself, except in two instances, when he procured, at his 
own expense, assistant instructors. During the last twelve 
years, through his liberal management, the advantages of 
medical instruction have been greatly improved, and the 
number of those who attended the medical school increased. 20 
At present, the medical institution at Hanover affords to- 
students of medicine all the means of a correct and useful 
education. The number of students for the last three or 
four years, we believe to have been greater than at any 
medical school in the United States, that at Philadelphia 
excepted. The reputation of the school is deservedly high. 
Its connection with Dartmouth College increases the use- 
fulness and celebrity of that literary institution. On the 
whole, we do not hesitate to declare that this medical 
school is worthy the patronage of the legislature. 
Under these circumstances, the committeee submit to the 
consideration of the legislature, whether it would not be 
proper to allow Dr. Smith the sum of one thousand, tw o 
hundred and seventeen dollars and fourteen cents. 
Levi Jackson, 
For the Committee. 
Yeas 58, nays 96. So the motion did not prevail. 
We find nothing of interest in the records of the college 
proper from 1804 until 1810, when Dr. Cyrus Perkins, 
(created a doctor upon that occasion), was elected Professor 
of Anatomy. Some trouble having occurred about this 
time between the college officers and the medical students, 
the following articles were added to the laws : 
1. That each person, previous to becoming a member of 
the Medical Institution, shall be required to give satisfac- 
tory evidence that he possesses a good moral character. 
2. That it be required of medical students that they 
conduct themselves respectfully towards the executive of- 
ficers of the college, and if any of them should be guilty of 
immoral or ungentlemanly conduct, the executive may ex- 
pel them, and no professor shall receive or continue to re- 
ceive as his private pupil, any such expelled person, or 
recommend him to any other medical man or institution. 21 
3. That the executive officers of the college be, and 
hereby are authorized to visit the rooms of the medical 
students whenever they think proper. 
In the year 1812, some important changes were made 
in the economy of the institution. Up to this time the 
degree of Bachelor of Medicine only was conferred upon 
recent graduates, while the degree of M. D. was only al- 
lowed in course three years after graduation. This was 
now changed, and the degree of Doctor of Medicine was 
conferred upon all medical graduates. The term of study 
was again changed and fixed at the present standard. An- 
. other of the new regulations, and perhaps the least agree- 
able one to the students, compelled candidates to read 
their theses publicly in the chapel. 
The Faculty was also strengthened by the appointment 
of Rufus Graves, Esq., as lecturer on chemistry, making 
this department, for the first time, a separate branch. Col. 
Graves, although a good lecturer, was an unsuccessful 
manipulator, which caused his dismission in 1815, three 
years later. During this same year we find that Mr Reuben 
D. Mussey, a name thoroughly identified with the success 
of the school, and with medical progress in New Hampshire, 
was created a Doctor of Medicine. 
In 1814, Dr. Smith, having been absent for a year, it was 
voted that the salary and emoluments pertaining to the 
chair of medicine, be paid to Dr. Perkins, and at an ad- 
journed meeting the resignation of Dr. Smith was received 
and accepted. The Board then proceeded to elect Dr. 
Mussey Professor of Theory and Practice and Materia 
Medica. In 1816, Dr. Perkins was excused from lecturing 
on Surgery, and Obstetrics was added to his chair, instead, 
while Dr. Mussey assumed the department of Chemistry, 
in addition to his other labors. In the meanwhile Dr. 
Smith was re-elected Professor of Surgery, but declining to 22 
accept, Dr. Muzzey added a course of lectures on this 
branch to his already laborious duties. The following year 
die was somewhat relieved by the choice of Dr. James F. 
Dana, as lecturer on Chemistry, which office he continued 
to hold until 1820, when he was elected to a full profes- 
sorship. In August, 1819, Dr. Perkins resigned his chair, 
which the trustees attempted to fill by the election of the 
lamented Dr. Twitchell, of Keene. To the disappoint- 
ment of all, Dr. T. declined the proffered honor. 
The well known university troubles, which occurred in 
the triad prior to 1820, gave the trustees in that year 
plenty of occupation. The first vote of the Board at this 
meeting was one in which they accepted the proffered fra- 
ternization of the New Hampshire Medical Society, by 
sending delegates to attend the annual examinations. The 
statutes were also altered very materially. By these 
amendments the Medical Faculty were allowed the sole 
control of the discipline, etc., of their department. Stu- 
dents coming to attend lectures were not required to give 
evidence of the possession of a good moral character, as un- 
der the old laws. The invidious have alleged that this 
latter amendment enabled a larger number to avail them- 
selves of the advantages of a medical education than might 
otherwise do so. The requirements for graduation were at 
the same time lessened, being now limited to a knowledge 
of Latin and Natural and Experimental Philosophy, while 
the examinations were to be private, instead of public, as 
heretofore. 
It was determined that the Medical Faculty should hence- 
forth consist of: 
1. The President of the College. 
2. A Professor of Surgery, Obstetrics and Medical Ju- 
risprudence. 
3. A Professor of Theory and Practice and Materia 
Medica. 23 
4. A Professor of Chemistry and Mineralogy. 
5. A professor of Anatomy and Physiology. 
Dr. Mussey was elected to the first of the chairs ; Dr. 
Daniel Oliver, of Salem, Mass., to the second ; Dr. James F. 
Dana, to the third, and Dr. Usher Parsons to the fourth. 
Dr. Parsons remained but two years, when Dr. Mussey was 
appointed Professor of Anatomy, in addition .to his other 
branches. No farther change occurred until 1826, when 
Dr. Dana resigned the chair of Chemistry which was filled 
by the election of Professor Hale, who continued to lecture 
until 1835, when his connection with the college ceased, 
'fhe following year Dr. John Delamater was chosen Pro- 
fessor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, and the present 
incumbent Professor of Chemistry, while in 1838 a great 
change was made in the Medical Faculty by the resigna- 
tion of all the lecturers except Professor Hubbard. By 
the election of the trustees, the Faculty now consisted of 
Elisha Bartlett, Oliver Wendell Holmes, John Delamater, 
Oliver Payson Hubbard, Dixi Crosby, and Stephen W. Wil- 
liams. Dr. Bartlett resigned in 1840, and was succeeded 
by Dr. Joseph Roby. Dr. Delamater also left, and Dr. 
Holmes tendered his resignation. 'The next year, 1841, 
Dr. Phelps and Dr. Peaslee commenced their long and use- 
ful connection with the school. No farther change was 
made until 1849, when Dr. Roby resigned and Dr. Albert 
Smith was elected. In 1867 Dixi Crosby resigned the chair 
of Surgery, and A. B. Crosby, who had served as Adjunct 
Professor of Surgery since 1862, was elected to fill the 
vacancy. In 1869, Dr. Peaslee, having resigned the chair 
of Anatomy and Physiology, was transferred to a new 
chair of the Diseases of Women, while Lyman Bartlett 
How, M. I)., was elected to fill the vacancy. And finally 
Dr. Dixi Crosby has sent in his resignation of the chair of 
Obstetrics, to take effect at the ensuing commencement 24 
(1870), thus terminating an active connection of thirty- 
two years with the school.* 
Such, in brief, is the record of the days and the men that 
have gone before. There is neither time nor occasion for 
extended remarks on the lives and characters of the men 
whose names I have recorded as having been connected 
with this college. Yet of some of them the proprieties of 
the occasion demand a brief mention. 
Nathan Smith, the founder of the school, was without 
dispute a great man. Incited to enter the profession by 
witnessing an amputation in Vermont, he devoted himself 
to acquiring the best preliminary education his means af- 
forded, and eventually entered his profession full of zeal 
and ambition, resolved to act no secondary part in his chosen 
vocation. To found a medical college at Dartmouth was 
the chief desire of his early manhood. Regardless of his 
own pecuniary interests, he borrowed money to buy the 
necessary apparatus and appliances with which to com- 
mence his course of instruction. When the increasing de- 
mands of the institution required a building for its accommo- 
dation, it was through his persona] efforts that it was se- 
cured. The college was probably erected in the year 1811. 
The means were raised and the project carried out by Dr. 
Smith, who, himself, on his own recognizance, furnished a 
large part of the money. A part, as shown by the records, 
was also secured by the same gentleman from the Legisla- 
ture of New Hampshire, a body, I am ashamed to say, 
which has only at the rarest intervals evinced generosity 
or even tolerance towards the only university within the 
state limits. 
Dr. Smith was a man of genius. I hazard nothing in say- 
ing that he was fifty years in advance of his profession. 
* The trustees accepted the resignation of Dr. Crosby, but in recogni- 
tion of his long and distinguished services in connection with the college, 
voted to appoint him Professor Emeritus of Surgery. 25 
He was one of those characters who was not only an ob- 
serving man, but, rarest of all, he was a good observer. 
Nothing escaped him, and when he had seized on all the 
salient points of a given subject, he astounded his listeners 
with the full, symmetrical character of his generalizations. 
As instances in point, let me briefly advert to one or two 
illustrations. When Dr. Smith entered the profession, 
everything in the way of continued fever in the valley of the 
Connecticut was termed typhus. Dr. S. soon became con- 
vinced that while true typhus did prevail, there was yet a 
continued fever essentially different in its character, and so 
he came to differentiate between typhus and typhoid. 
Noting carefully the symptoms in these cases, making au- 
topsies whenever a chance occurred, and observing the 
morbid changes thus revealed, he soon found himself mas- 
ter of the situation. Then he wrote an unpretending little 
tract, in which he embodied his observations and his infer- 
rences. This brochure was undoubtedly the first compre- 
hensive description of typhoid fever ever written, and cov- 
ered in a wonderfully exhaustive way not only the clinical 
history, Iftit the pathology, of this most interesting dis- 
ease. This noble record of results, obtained by observa- 
tions, made mainly at Norwich, Vermont, and" Cornish, 
New Hampshire, was almost the " Vox Clamantis in de- 
serto.''' 
Many years later, in the great hospitals of Paris, Louis 
made and published his own observations in regard to the 
same disease, and the whole medical world rang with plau- 
dits 'of admiration at his genius and learning. But in the 
modest little tract of Nathan Smith, the gist and germ of 
•al] the magnificent discoveries of Louis are anticipated. 
And thus it is again demonstrated that men of genius are 
confined to no age and to no country, but whether in the 
wilds of New Hampshire or in the world's gayest capital, 
they form a fraternity as cosmopolitan as useful. 26 
I have recently learned an incident that still further 
illustrates Dr. Smith's sagacity. While residing in Cornish 
he had a friend who was a sea captain, and who, on his 
return from foreign voyages, was wont to relate to him 
whatever of interest in a medical way he might have 
chanced to observe while abroad. On one occasion he told 
Dr. Smith* that on his previous voyage one of the sailors 
dislocated his hip. There being no surgeon on board, the 
captain tried but in vain to reduce it. The man was ac- 
cordingly placed in a hammock with the dislocation un- 
reduced. During a great storm the sufferer was thrown 
from the hammock to the floor, striking violently on the 
knee of the affected side. On examination, it was found 
that in the fall the hip had some how been set. This in- 
terested Dr. Smith wonderfully, and he questioned the 
narrator again and again as to the exact position of the 
thigh, the knee and. the leg, at the time of the fall. 
From this apparently insignificant circumstance, Dr. 
Smith eventually educed and reduced to successful practice 
the method of reducing dislocations by the manoeuvre, a 
system as useful as it is simple, and as scientific as the 
principle of flexion and leverage on which it depends. 
Had this incident been related to a stupid man, he would 
have seen nothing in it, or to a sceptic, and he would have 
discredited the whole account, but to a man of genius it 
furnished a clue by which another of Nature's labyrinths 
was traced out. This system is by far the best ever de- 
vised, simplifying and rendering easy the work of the sur- 
geon, while reducing human suffering to its minimum. 
I do not propose to recall to your minds how much he 
did for medicine and surgery; that were the work of days, 
not a single hour. But one anecdote I shall venture to re- 
late, out of many, as illustrating a somewhat amusing trait 
in his character. When deeply interested in an operation,- 
he was wont to soliloquize or think aloud, without any 27 
consciousness that he was giving utterance to his thoughts- 
On one occasion, at Cornish, he was operating on a man 
for strangulated hernia, the bed being surrounded by 
anxious friends. On cutting through the abdominal wall 
he discovered a peculiar odor, and immediately his usual 
soliloquy began, as follows : " What! what' have I cut a 
gut? I have-I have cut a gut! They might as well 
make his coffin now as'ever." After this little bit of self' 
communion, he completed the operation with a perfectly 
unmoved face, utterly oblivious that he had said anything. 
He then called the friends into another room, and with a. 
grave face announced to them that the case was a bad one, 
and that he was a little afraid that the man might die. 
Time would fail me to relate the well authenticated tra- 
ditions of his skill, his benevolence and his practical great- 
ness. But almost from the inception of his professional 
life until he left for New Haven, he was the acknowledged 
leader of his profession in the state, and his reputation 
came soon to cover the whole of New' England. He was 
the father of several sons, who have since been distin- 
guished in the same profession. The venerable Professor 
N. R. Smith, of Baltimore, is the eldest, and perhaps the- 
most celebrated of the survivors. 
It was only a short time since I asked a venerable man 
in my ovm neighborhood, whose hair has been silvered by 
more than eighty winters, what manner of man Nathan 
Smith was. He thought a moment, and then, with a. 
moistened eye and a slight quiver of the lip, he replied: 
" He was good to the poor." For more than forty years 
the grass has grown on the grave of Nathan Smith, but 
there are living hearts that still beat his requiem, and 
voices that still repeat this best of epitaphs, " He was good 
to the poor." 
Early associated with this excellent man was Dr. Cyrus 
Perkins. This gentleman was a man of large attainments, 28 
and won an enviable reputation as a medical man of skill 
and learning. In the troubles that sprang up between 
Dartmouth College and the University, Dr. Perkins sym- 
pathized with the latter. After the splendid filial labors 
of Daniel Webster had, in the Supreme Court at Wash- 
ington, insured victory and stability to the college, Pro- 
fessor Perkins resigned and removed to the city of New 
York, where he soon attained a lucrative practice. He 
died a few years since at Staten Island, full of years and 
full of honor. 
Four years ago to-day, June 21, 1866, there died in the 
city of Boston, at an advanced age, a gentleman whose 
reputation as a physician and surgeon has been hardly sec- 
ond to that of any man in America. Although bed-ridden 
for some months before his death, his mind was unimpaired 
and the force of his will was unabated. In gazing on him 
one could exclaim with truth, as did Bayard Taylor when 
he saw the venerable Humboldt, it is " not a ruin, but a 
pyramid." I need only write the name of Reuben I). 
Mussey to recall to the friends of medicine in New Hamp- 
shie the memory of an eminent Christian, a learned physi- 
cian, a world-renowned surgeon, the best labors of whose 
most creditable life were devoted to the good of our state 
college and commonwealth. Time is wanting to give even 
the briefest resume of his pure and most useful life; nor 
is this so essential here, since the state society, at its last 
meeting, took such action in the premises as to insure a 
suitable record of his life and character. 
I cannot forbear to recall for an instant the name of Pro- 
fessor Hale, who, after serving the college in . the chair of 
Chemistry for a few years, lost his connection with the 
institution in a manner by,no means creditable to the trus- 
tees. Professor Hale was an Episcopalian, and was wont 
to hold the service of the church of England at his own 
house, for the benefit of whoever might choose to come. 29 
This course was obnoxious to the college fathers, who were 
at the time strongly sectarian. The board determined on 
his removal, but as it was found that it could not be legally 
accomplished under the college charter, the Alexandrian 
method of treating this heretical knot was adopted. A 
vote was passed abolishing the Professorship of Chemistry. 
Subsequently, as President of Geneva College, Dr. Hale 
passed a most useful life, and only within a few years has 
crossed the " insuperable threshold." 
I should hesitate to recall an event so discreditable to 
the past history of the college, were it not that in these 
latter days more liberal counsels have prevailed, and the 
utmost latitude of opinion, as is consistent with the true 
spirit and intent of a university, has come to be tolerated 
and encouraged. Whatever may have been the derelic- 
tions of Dartmouth in the past, 1 am proud to say that her 
spirit is liberal and catholic now. 
Any contribution to the medical history of New Hamp- 
shire would.be imperfect which should ignore the name of 
Amos Twitchell. Born in 1781, and able to attain only 
the limited advantages of the medical education common 
'to his period, he developed an astonishing genius for sur- 
gery, and both in this branch and in the department of 
practice, he was for a long term of years primus inter 
prlmos among the distinguished medical men of New Eng- 
land. 1 consider the fact well established that Dr. Twitch- 
ell was the pioneer in applying a ligature to the carotid 
artery. Sir Astley Cooper has, I think, the credit of hav- 
ing first applied a ligature to this vessel, but Dr. Twitchell 
antedated Sir Astley's operation six months. Dr. Twitch- 
ell never wrote anything, but he achieved the most bril- 
liant triumphs in his profession, and we must forever de- 
plore that he has left no written record from which we 
might have derived so much in the way of valuable infor- 30 
mation and instruction. Dr. Twitchell died at Keene, 
May 26, 1850, universally admired, respected and beloved. 
The traditions of his playful humor and his graceful wit 
are still cherished by multitudes that never knew him in 
life. The Cheshire House, which was the scene of many 
of his most brilliant mots and sparkling repartees, still 
seems hallowed by his presence, as if his genial spirit 
hovered it. the Eidolon of the place. Fortunately the 
land that knew him can still cherish his name and memory 
in the person of his accomplished nephew and successor, 
Dr. George B. Twitchell. 
I had designed tossay something of Dr. Daniel Oliver, 
who was a gentleman of greater erudition, more liberal 
-culture and greater personal accomplishment, than any 
gentleman who has been connected with the past years of 
the college. Tt is doubtful whether any medical college in 
the country could produce his equal in these respects. I 
should delight to draw a picture of Joseph Roby: grave, 
yet filled with inimitable humor; learned, yet. childlike ; 
lofty and sour to them that loved him not, but to those 
men that sought him. sweet as summer. Never immersed 
in the cares and perplexities of a professional practice, he 
cultivated an aesthetic taste for medicine, and as a teacher 
carried with him the unbounded enthusiasm of his classes. 
I knew him only as a boy. but 1 well remember that when 
he lectured the hall always rang and rang again with ap- 
plause. He, too, has crossed the dark river and rests from 
his labors. But the waning hour warns me that I have no 
longer an opportunity to discourse of the remainder of our 
honored dead (which I might do with profit), nor to dwell 
upon the living, which the proprieties of the occasion 
would not admit. 
I cannot but regret that these facts in the medical his- 
tory of New Hampshire, which, irrelevant and discursive 31 
as they are, have been obtained with no inconsiderable 
amount of difficulty, should have so little of comeliness and 
order, f can only hope that the facts which I this day 
place upon record may prove useful to some one in the 
future who has more time and a greater aptitude for such 
labor and research. 
And so I have done. These reminiscences, if they teach 
us anything, reiterate the old-time tale that " man is but 
dust, the flower of the field and a breath." Yet, though 
they remind us so forcibly of our mortality, they teach us 
how honorable the briefest life may be, if devoted to a use- 
ful calling and consecrated to a holy purpose. In the 
recent language of Stuart Mill: " Nor let any one be dis- 
couraged by what may seem, in moments of despondency, 
the lack of time and of opportunity. Those who know 
how to employ opportunities will often find that they can 
create them, and what we achieve depends less upon the 
amount of time we possess than on the use we make of 
that time." 
It is in no hackneyed phrase that I say ours is a noble 
profcssson ; but if we would attain honor and emolument 
in it, we must sacrifice early and often upon the of 
JEscwlapius. The world is full of poor physicians, but in 
the upper ranks of the profession there is abundant room. 
A determined purpose and untiring industry will insure us 
admittance there. And when the days of our probation 
have passed and we enter the higher professional arena, we 
may enter the lists and break a lance to good purpose. 
The foe with whom our conflict is is worthy of our steel; 
and in the hand to hand encounters of professional life, if 
we win (and win many a time we do), how Ennobling is 
the thought that we have, under the great God, been in- 
strumental in assuaging human agony, in palliating dire 
disease, in saving human life. And if we fail, as when in 32 
fancy the hoofs of the pale horse click beside us, or the 
skeleton fingers follow ours with its knife, shall we despair? 
No ! a thousand times no 1 For in the direst hours of de- 
feat, when the heavens are black above us, there will still 
be the proud consciousness that we have succumbed only 
to the Conqueror of Conquerors.