I
$l__ o,   (ft   i   'i
A PLEA
FOR
STABILITY AND PERMANENCE
INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING;
DELIVERED BEFORE THE
TRUSTEES, OFFICERS AND STUDENTS
                   ft.
OF THE
          V;
CLEVELAND MEDICAL COLLEGE,
FEBRUARY 26, 18
BY REV. GEORGE E. PIERCE, D D.

   PRESIDENT OF WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE,
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST,
     CLEVELAND:
YOUNGLOVE'S STEAM POWER PRESS
        1845.
3or) ^ 
 
  A PLEA FOR STABILITY AND PERMANENCE

                          IN

INSTITUTIONS  OF  LEARNING.
   Many of the higher and professional schools of antiquity were of
 brief continuance, enduring no longer than the lives of the distinguish*
 ed teachers whose talents and learning gave them celebrity.  During
 the most flourishing period of Greek and Roman literature, schools of
 a  higher grade were exceedingly numerous, in which were  taught
 Grammar,  Rhetoric,  Logic, Ethics, Law and Medicine, or, in general,
 the national language, the constitution of the state and the nature of
 man, with whatever of practical skill could render knowledge availa-
 ble in the business of life.  These schools had for their accommoda-
 tion a private dwelling, a grove, a garden,  a portico, a temple, a the-
 atre or some halls of the city, where the people  were accustomed to
 hold their public assemblies.  Hence, while they were efficient in ac-
 complishing the ends of education,  in  preparing the leading men of
 the state for great achievements, and in aiding to give the world a lit-
 erature  and philosophy which have been  admired in all ages, the
 schools themselves  have, to a great extent, gone into oblivion, and
 modern  curiosity remains ungratified in regard to their structure and
 discipline.  If an exception is to be made in favor of some schools of
 permanent notoriety, it is because they were presided  over by  some
 philosopher of great celebrity; or were devoted to the maintenance of
 the system  of doctrines of some distinguished philosophical sect, or
 were the objects of state or royal patronage, from whence they  were
provided with superior charms and accommodations, and rendered at-
tractive as places of literary resort.   The mosi distinguished schools 
4
 of antiquity were the Academy, the Lyceum and the Portico at Athens
 the  Athenaeum at Rome, and the Museum  at Alexandria.   The Aca-
 demy was the institution where Plato taught, and where the doctrines
 of the Academic sect were long maintained.  It was situated in a pub-
 lic garden or grove in the suburbs of Athens, laid in beautiful walks,
 planted with olive and palm trees, and watered by a delightful stream;
 with scenery,  rendered more grave and  ornamental by the proximity
 of a highly adorned cemetery, in which were the statues, and temples,
 and  sepulchres of the  illustrious dead.   The Lyceum was upon  the
 banks of the Ilissus,  which  watered the opposite skirt of the  city, in
 an enclosure dedicated to  \polio and decorated  with fountains and
 groves and buildings, known as the favorite walk of  Aristotle and his
 disciples,  and  frequented by learned rnenT given  to retirement and
 study.   The Portico was the resort of Zeno and his  disciples  of  the
 stoic sect.   These schools continued to be the resort of the Greek and
 Roman youth  and men of learning for many centuries, and were in-
 fluential in stamping  an impress upon the affairs  of men for many
 generations.   In the later ages  of Rome,  the emperor Adrian built
 the Athenauirn, a large amphitheatre, after the plan of the Grecian
 institutions,  and it continued to be the most  distinguished school at
 Rome till the time of the christian emperors.  But  the most celebrated
 school of  antiquity,  and that which most resembled a modern  univer-
 sity, was the Museum at Alexandria.   Alexander, in laying the foun-
 dations of the city, called by his name, determined to make it  distin-
 guished as the  seat of empire, the centre of commerce, and the resort
 of learned men.   Mi »st of the city was built in a  single year.  And
 during the reign of the  Ptohinies, by whom he was succeeded, it gained
 all the grandeur and magnificence, which his fond vision had antici-
 pated.   In the most beautiful part of the city, and near the great har-
 bor, arid in connection with the royal palaces and  gardens, stood the
 Museum, a large and splendid edifice, where many scholars lived and
ate together, supported  by the royal bounty, pursued their studies, and
instructed the  hundreds of youth and men  in pursuit of knowledge,
 who resorted thither from all parts of the civilized world.   The libra-
ry collected here, with  great industry and at great  expense, was the
largest in the world :  containing, at one-time, about 700,000 volumes.
The observatory was furnished with the best instruments of the age.
This institution continued to enjoy uninterrupted  prosperity,  to con- 
5
 centrate and diffuse the lights of science for more than five  hundred
 yeais ; when, in the reign of Aurelian, it was destroyed by civil com-
 motion.   Alexandria, however, continued  to be  the seat of learning
 for a much longer period.
   The Colleges, Universities and Professional schools of Modern Eu-
 rope, have had  a greater measure of stability and permanence, than
 the schools of antiquity.  The  feudal system, a  privileged nobility,
 hereditary sovereignty, and a state religion, are  causes which resist
 •change, and foster those institutions by which they are upheld.  The
 prevalence of Popery, also, with its orders of priesthood, its splendid
 and pompous ritual, its monastic establishments  and its rich  endow-
 ments, bestowed with the avowed purpose of extending its power and
 perpetuating an unchanged character, has had a powerful influence in
 giving permanence to such institutions of learning as it has originated
 and sustained.   Of more than one hundred  universities in Europe,
 about one half have  existed  from three to six centuries.   The most
 ancient of these are those of Bologna, Paris, Cambridge and Oxford,
 which were founded not far from the close  of the twelfth century.
   Compared with *hose of  other countries, it is  a matter of  course,
 that the institutions of learning in the United States, should be yet in
 their infancy.   But though our land has not been long under the do-
 minion of civilized society,  and though our state and national govern-
 ments  are of but recent organization,  our  people have not been un-
 mindful  of the  necessity of institutions for the higher  degrees of
classic and scientific attainment, and for the study of the learned pro-
 fessions.  But hitherto  the work has consisted chiefly in laying foun-
dations, and providing for existing exigencies,  while the expectation
 is that our institutions will pour their richest blessings on coming gen-
 erations.  In these circumstances, a heavy  responsibility rests on those
 who lay their foundations, and originate the character and influence
 which  they rray be expected to possess in all future time.   It  is well
 known that the institutions  of a people assume form and character
 from the characteristics of the people themselves.   From  the  nature
 of our government, from our  freedom in the exercise of political and
 religious opinions, from the  newness of our country and the rapid de-
 velopment of its resources, it results that our  people are thoughtful
 and intelligent, and ardent and active and enterprising, and, to a great
 extent, dissatisfied with any pressnt attainment and eagerly pushing 
6
forward to the realization of some anticipated good.  These character-
istics show their results in regard  to our literary institutions.   Col-
leges, and universities, and professional seminaries, are originated and
spread through our country beyond the natural demand, or the  power
of sustaining them.  The work of laying foundations is entered upon
with zeal and activity, but without counting the cost, and, after years
of toil and expenditure, discouragement ensues, and the work  is suf-
fered to languish, or perhaps is abandoned.  It has come  to this, that
some men will  not co-operate, except it be in some splendid scheme,
which is to result in the building of a city, the  endowment of  a col-
lege, the renovation of society and the realization of an earthly para-
dise ;  and the more Utopian the  project, the more  ready they  are  to
part with their wealth to push it onward.  But the day has gone, when
an Alexandria  can start into existence in  the  course of a few years;
and it  needs  the wisdom, the wealth  and the  power of an Alexander
for its accomplishment.
  Our remarks have brought us to this position : stability and a regard
to permanence should be made first  requistes  in originating and con-
ducting our  institutions of learning.   Whatever  may be said in re-
gard to the institutions of Europe,  their  adherence to  the forms and
usages of  a darker period, and  their unwillingness to  assume a posi-
tion appropriate to an age of  discovery and advancement, the danger
in our country, is in the opposite direction.   We are in danger of
wasting our energies in transient efforts, and embarking our resour-
ces in reckless adventure, to result only in exhaustion  and disappoint-
ment.   Our ability is limited.   We have not  at our control the accu-
mulated wealth  of ages.   We have not the resources of kings and con-
querors.  With most of our people their possessions are not the result
of inheritance, but of their own care and industry.  But they have
a great work  to perform, if they would provide the needful institutions
of learning for our growing country, and they have nothing to waste
on fruitless experiment.   They need to build  upon a sure basis  and of
tried material, and to cause every pillar and every wall, as it ascends,
to bear the marks of steadfastness and durability.  The lives of men
are brief,  and the  influences which  they, as individuals, are able to
exert are transient; but the state endures, the  church of God endures>
truth endures, and  the great  fundamental principles  of science and
philosophy are enduring, and the institutions  by which they are sus- 
7
tained should be enduring.  Weak and selfish men may be satisfied with
institutions which will benefit themselves and their families, and which
are adapted only to  advance their own honor and influence during
their life-time.  But the wise and  benevolent, the honored  men, who
take enlarged views and form liberal plans, and on whom our institu
tions of learning are  chiefly to depend for encouragement and sup-
port, will not be satisfied to embark in enterprises of this kind with a
view to mere transient results.  They will desire to act for  their coun-
try,  and to provide institutions  that will sustain its government and
laws and prosperity while the nation shall endure.   They will wish to
be instrumental in enlightening the human mind,  and relieving the
wants  and alleviating the  sorrows of  man, in coming generations.
The worthy men who are devoting themselves to the infant  institutions
of our  western country, and toiling to lay the foundations of collegiate
and professional schools, are not sustained in their labors and sacrifices
and self-denials by a regard merely to immediate and apparent results.
They are prompted by higher and stronger motives.  They look for-
ward to the period when these  institutions shall have  acquired the
strength and stability of mature age, and shall pour unnumbered bless-
ings upon the millions of people by which our country shall  then be
inhabited.   They  regard  the  institutions of the older states.  They
look at our honored Yale, striking deep its roots  and throwing up its
branches with abundance  of green leaves and rich fruits, after a
growth of more than a hundred years.   They admire its steadily in-
creasing stability and energy for great and good  results  during the
long administration of its present venerated head, and that of the no
less venerable man by whom he was preceded.  And they indulge the
fond anticipation that the day will come—not that  their eyes will be-
hold it, but that it will arise to  greet posterity—when the  institutions
which  they now cherish, will be alike influential, in sending  out their
healing waters, their heavenly radiance, among mankind.  These are
the things that inspire hope, and prompt to patient  endurance.
   It is manifest then that among the causes which may be expected,
to give stability and permanence to an institution of learning, it must,
first of all, have an important and permanent end to accomplish.  Why
is an institution originated ?  Does it seek the advancement of some
great and permanent interest, that will need an institution to  promote
it, through all the changes of coming years ?   Or has it  for an object 
8
some local or transient design, which may be accomplished and then
go into oblivion, or which will fail to awaken interest when the cir-
cumstances that gave it birth shall  have passed away ?   Whichever
end may be aimed at,  the institution may be expected to have a dura-
bility according to the  design for which it was originated.  A college
or a university  or a professional school,  may be started for the sole
purpose of benefiting a town, a village, or a city ; or  it may be  sent
off into some remote wilderness to enhance the value of property; or
it may have for its end to sustain the interests and advance the senti-
ments of some  political party ; or it may have a sectarian character
and devote itself to the propagation of some new forms of theological
doctrines ; or it may  devote itself to the establishment of some new
theory in medicine, or some vagary  in  morals or in the elements of
social life ; and as the interests and opinions which  gave it birth shall
die away, or prove themselves vain and fanciful, the institution  also
will be left to languish and die.   The appropriate objects of an  insti-
tution of learning are great and permanent, and  are  essentially the
same in every age and nation.  You may have for your object in lay
ing the foundations and providing the endowments of a seat of learn-
ing, the establishment of truth and  righteousness,  the discovery and
promulgation of the great and immutable principles of science, the
subduing and invigorating of the human intellect, the imparting to the
mind the richest treasures of knowledge, and superadding that dexter-
ty and refinement and ait which give to knowledge its  power;  you
may have it for your object to provide an adequate number of learned
men to fill the professions of Medicine, Law and Theology—the Phy-
sician, to apply the principles of the healing art to the frail tenement
of life, to stand by the bed of distress, and arrest  the progress of dis-
ease, and alleviate pain and ward off the hand of  death—the Lawyer,
to guard your property, enact your laws, and maintain the welfare of
your country—the Theologian,  to  enlighten your ignorance, make
plain the path of duty,  soothe your sorrows, lead you gently to the
gates of death, and aid your triumphant entrance into life and immor-
tality.   Let these  be  your objects,  and let  them be kept steadily in
view, and you may rear an  institution  durable as  the interests with
which  it is blended, and permanent as the nation whose welfare it up.
holds, and whose glory it adorns.
   Another cause of the stability and permanence of an institution of 
9
learning will be found, in the selection of men of talent and eloquence
(o preside over  the various departments of instruction and faithfully
execute the work that is assigned them.   Success is chiefly dependent
on  the  ability of the officers of instruction; and the board  of trust
have no more important and responsible duty than the selection of the
men to  whom they may  commit the work of instruction.   Knowledge
is imparted when the impressions of one mind are conveyed to anoth-
er.   In the work of instruction, the Professor imparts the treasures of
his own mind to those whom he instructs, and they receive an impress
from the excellences or deformities by which his mind is characterized.
The artist copies the best models and from them endeavors to form his
own taste and perfect his own genius.  The student copies his instruc-
tor, and after his character, talent and attainment expects to improve
and perfect his own  accomplishments.   It is manifest, then,  that the
best specimens of mind and manner and attainment should be found
in those who instruct in our seats of learning, and from whom the ed-
ucated of the rising generation will take their impress.   The learned
nations of antiquity sought men the  most distinguished for talent and
attainment as the instructors of youth ; and when the most distinguish-
ed philosophers  gave their instructions, they were thronged by great
numbers of  admiring  auditors.   In the Colleges and Universities of
Europe, il is the first principle to fill the chair of instruction with men
of the most profound talent and learning;  and it is supposed that the
celebrity and perpetuity  of an institution will depend on a firm adher-
ence to  this principle.   The same principle must be regarded and will
have its influence in the institutions  of this country.  An institution
may appear to  flourish for a time, when its faculty are made up by
taking the available candidate ; and partiality  and party spirit may
surround inferior abilities and attainments with  a temporary populari-
ty,  and  prevent  the reputation of the establishment from sinking. But
the institution that does not adopt  and rigidly adhere to the principle of
filling its professorships with the best men, will sooner or later find its
limit and fail in the accomplishment of valuable results.
  Again, ample and valuable accommodations, will have  great influ-
ence in giving stability and  permanence to an institution  of learning.
Let our colleges and professional schools have  good buildings, exten-
sive and valuable libraries, choice cabinets, ample apparatus, and other
preparations  which  illustrate  science  and render it attractive, and 
10
these institutions will not only become more valuable, but more stable,
and more worthy of the permanent regard of an intelligent people.
Associated action always becomes more interesting, more vigorous and
more abiding, when a large amount of common property is subject to
control, and is to be used for the common benefit.   A  family without
a home, without a house, without household comforts and conveniences,
without a garden  or a homestead,  has no common attraction,  leads a
wandering life,  and is despised, when the pressure of necessity, which
kept them together in the years of childhood, has ceased to be felt.  Not
so with a family  of a large inheritance.  The family mansion  with
its appurtenances, is the centre of attraction, perhaps for many gene-
rations, and  the garden, the grove, the  hill  and the vale which have
been the delights of childhood, are sought again and again, even in the
years of manhood and old age, with the fondest recollections of youth-
ful enjoyment.   The religious society associated for the purpose  of
sustaining the worship  of God and advancing the christian cause, has
prospect of stability and permanence when it has provided a rich and
tasteful and  commodious house of worship, and has  made the needful
provisions to render its services comely and  attractive.  The sanctu-
ary becomes the home of the soul, and the parents arid the children and
the children's children seek it with delight.   When the state provides
itself with rich  and appropriate halls of legislation and seats  of justice,
and adorns its capital with institutions  for the  public good, the subjects
of the government become patriotic, and the state gains strength and
stability.  The college or the professional school, in  these respects, re-
sembles the family,  the parish, the state.  And the young  men  who
have enjoyed the benefits  of an  institution amply provided with ac-
commodations and  means of instruction, will remember it as their
home, their sanctuary, as the state that ruled the waywardness of youth,
and by a salutary discipline guided them to manliness and virtue.  And
along  the progress of  revolving years,  the multitudes of those  who
have been sent  out to discharge the duties and sustain the responsibili-
ties of life, will return to tread again the halls of science, to greet an
old instructor and companions in study, and enjoy again the  familiar
scenes of former years.  It was not altogether the eloquence of Plato
and Aristotle and their successors, that drew  together the great multi-
tudes who resorted to the Academy and the Lyceum through successive
centuries.  The beauties of architecture, of  sculpture  and  painting, 
11
the cool and refreshing groves and fountains  and rivulets, scenery so
well  adapted to literary companionship,  had their  influence.   And
the princely halls  of the Museum,  and the Alexandrian library, and
other attractions of a city renowned as the royal residence, and the
literary and commercial centre of the civilized world, had their influ-
ence in perpetuating  its fame as a place of resort for the learned, as
well as the lectures of the learned men by whom instruction was im-
parted.
   I am aware that the objection will arise, that the  accommodations
and conveniences cf an  institution of learning are expensive, and that,
in a  new country, there are not resources  at control,  to erect edifices,
purchase libraries and provide apparatus, and that hence they must be
dispensed with.  It  is just and right  that the amount of resources
should regulate expenditure, and that limited means should have a lim-
ited  application,  providing first,  those things that are indispensable,
and  making such arrangements that additions and improvements may
be made  as  future resources shall justify.  But it is possible, if not
certain, that we have not yet reached the measure of our ability, and
that  we are using an economy that is short-sighted, and that will sac-
rifice our best interests.   It has been supposed that funds could be. in
a  great measure, dispensed with, and that institutions might become
self-supporting.  The worthy Dr. Nelson, founder of the  Mission In-
stitute at Quincy, Illinois, conceived the  idea, that young men might
be prepared  for the ministry in the wilderness,—that they could cut
down the trees with their own hands, build log cabins, as  places of
abode and study, and upon the cleared soil raise their own provisions,
and,  under his supervision and instruction,  hear each other's recita-
tions,  and acquire a bodily and mental preparation for the ministry that
could be secured in no other  way.  A  little before his death, the wor-
thy Doctor was enquired of in regard to the success  of his enterprise.
He found no fault with his system, but said he had made one mistake.
And he had now made the discovery that, contrary to bis former opin-
ions, the pious  young men of this country did not desire to preach the
gospel, and this he assigned as the cause of his failure.   Perhaps  he
would  claim that he was not the author of the systsm, and that  he had
examples of high authority.   It is  said that Elijah,  and the prophets
whom he taught, had their lodgment in the caves of  Carmel, and that
Elisha, who  succeeded  him  as a teacher, had a school,  in which he 
                               12

 taught young prophets to  preach,  in  Gilgal.  And the young men
 complained that their  accommodations  were not sufficiently ample.
 and obtained leave to go to the banks  of Jordan  and cut timber for
 their enlargement;  and the borrowed  axe, that was lost and recover-
 ed by a miracle, was used by the manual-labor students  of Elisha in
 preparing a place for their own residence.   When the Son of Man
 taught his disciples, he had not where to lay his head ; and the school
 of John, the Baptist, was in the wilderness, and his meat was  locusts
 and wild honey.   Such, however, were not wholly the customs of the
 age and country.  The school of Gamaliel, in which Paul and Bar-
 nabas were educated, was located in the metropolis of Israel, and we
 may believe that this illustrious teacher, sprung  from a distinguished
 family and for thirty years President of the Sanhedrim,  had at his
 control the apartments of the temple, or other places of resort for the
 accommodation of the multitudes brought up at his feet.  In some states
 of society, and in circumstances of  deep poverty, it would be expedi-
 ent to provide for instruction alone,  and to dispense with all accommo-
 dations, except such as are  necessary to sustain and preserve life. But
 such is not our state of society ; such are not our circumstances.  In
 some respects we are in a new country.   In other respects we are in a
 country far advanced in wealth, and elevation, and refinement.   We
 are upon a soil but recently occupied, and the  foundations of our insti-
 tutions were but recently laid.   In other respects  we are but the fur-
 ther development of a state of society that has been in rapid  progress
 for more than two  hundred  years.   Some of us were nurtured in the
older states, and, with settled character and  habits, have suffered a
 mere transfer to a different  locality.   Some  of us were nurtured in
 families thus transferred, and are the descendants of a worthy ances-
try.   And we will never admit that  a mere transfer, though it be to a
fairer country, a richer soil and milder  skies, is to be the cause of de-
generacy.  Let us, then, have institutions adapted to the advanced state
of society in which we  are.   We are  able to provide for our  own
 wants.  We can have, in our colleges, and seminaries, able and learn-
ed professors. We  can provide the necessary endowments.  And when
the case calls for it, in any of  the departments of our institutions, we
can erect  neat and  tasteful edifices, fitted to adorn  our cities and vil-
lages.   We can provide ample libraries,  and apparatus, and  other
means by which instruction is  facilitated.    And the day  may not be 
IS
distant, when  We can connect, with our seats of science, gardens, and
groves, and walks, and fountains, and make them the places of happy
resort to all lovers of learning, taste  and refinement.
   I have only to add, that the attachment and influence of the  gradu-*
ates will give stability and permanence to  an institution of learning.
These are the products for which the institution was originated, and
the evidence of its skillful  workmanship;  and as they go out from
year to year, with minds  well formed and capabilities enhanced,  they
are letters of commendation in behalf of their alma mater, that may
be known and read of all men,  They were brought together at an
early  age, when impressions were  deep  and lasting.   They were
brought under common influences,  designed to fit them for the impor-
tant stations which they were  to occupy in society.  They have a
common stock of knowledge,  common sentiments  and  attachments,
and their sympathies  and fond remembrances all  cluster around the
institution  to  which  they  were indebted for much of their advance-
ment in life.   It is a matter of course that they should desire its per-
manent welfare, and that they should avail themselves of the stations
which they occupy, and the wealth  which they are  enabled to accu-
mulate, to promote its advancement.  The graduates of an institution
constitute a sort of family or community, receiving annual accessions
to the brotherhood,  which is to be increased and perpetuated, notwith-
standing the invasion of the'r ranks by death, through many  genera-
tions.   And whatever other relations they may sustain  in life, their
relation to the institution where they  have received their intellectual
and moral culture, and their obligations to it, are cheerfully  acknow-
ledged.   Thus some institutions in  our country have already, in their
graduates, hundreds and thousands of worthy sons,  proud  of their pa*
rentage, ready to defend the fame, advance the usefulness and increase
the patronage of their alma mater.
   I have now brought to view  some  of the principles on which the
Western  Reserve College  was  founded, and   by  which  those
who have the care of  its iriterests expect to be guided.  In laying its
foundations, they have had, from the beginning, regard to stability and
permanence.   They have sought the accomplishment of a great and
permanent object,  the advancement  of  the higher departments of
education,  and   thereby the  best  interests  of  their  country,
the church and the world; and they have never been diverted from 
14
their object by local jealousy, sectarian feeling or party interest. Their
standard of  education has been avowedly high,  from the belief that
nothing short of giving advantages equal to what are found in the best
institutions of the land, would sustain the reputation of the college,
meet the public demand or accomplish  the end  at which they were
aiming ; and in carrying out their object they have sought for profes-
sors, men of talent and attainment, adequate to the work to which they
were called.   They have aimed to provide, with all possible dispatch,
adequate buildings, libraries and apparatus, and  they expect  that the
growing number of their graduates will  rally around their  standard,
cheer them  on in their work, and  sustain their enterprise in the pro-
gress of  its future development.
   The charter of  the  Western Reserve College was granted the 8th
of February, 1826.  Of course the college has passed the nineteenth
anniversary of its chartered existence.   The charter provides that the
college shall be erected on a plan sufficiently extensive  to afford in-
struction in  the liberal arts and sciences, and *hat the trustees may, as
their ability shall increase,  and the  interests  of the community shall
require, erect additional departments for the study of any or all of the
liberal professions.   There was no other thought then, than  that one
institution for collegiate and professional education, if there should be
ability to erect it, would be adequate to the wants of the Western Re-
serve.   The kings of England, who sent their subjects to plant  colo-
nies and  christianize the savages of North America, granted charters
without any exact regard  to boundary,  and sometimes made repeated
conveyance of the same territory.   Now if the  legislature  of Ohio,
in their wisdom and benevolence, have laid charter upon charter, and
have made double or triple  conveyance of the same privilege, still  it
must be remembered that the trustees of the Western Reserve College,
have the prior grants, are still in the field, and in a state of occupancy.
And it has always been their design, as well as their privilege,  to es-
tablish a college with professional departments.   The Theological de-
partment, is coeval  with  the  college.   In  October, 1834,  when  a
counter movement was about to be made, they re&olved and published :
" That it has been, and still is the intention of this board, when the in-
terests of the community  shall require it, to establish a Medical de-
partment in  connection with this college, and that correspondence be
had on the subject with physicians on the Reserve." The result of this 
15
correspondence, was a general expression of opinion in favor of the
measure, though some physicians expressed doubt  whether the  time
had then arrived for establishing the department.  The trustees waited
till they believed that the time had come, and that the interests of the
community required its establishment.  Its location in Cleveland was
matter of convenience ;  and as a department of the college they now
contemplate it as having stability and permanence.  They rejoice in
having secured the services of able and experienced men in its profes-
sorships.  They contemplate with satisfaction  the  numerous attend-
ance, we think unprecedented considering the age of the department,
on the courses of instruction that have been delivered.  They rejoice
in the zeal and liberality of the citizens of Cleveland, in raising funds
by which the department is to be accommodated with an ample and ap-
propriate edifice,  which may stand as an ornament  to their city and a
monument to their munificence.   Let me say,  my  friends, we rejoice
to find you co-operating with us in a great and good work.  And when,
in a few years,  your city  shall be accommodated, like some of the At-
lantic cities, with communication to the interior by steam and railroad,
Hudson and Cleveland will be brought in close proximity, and our in-
stitution will be one, worthy of your co-operation, a stable, well en-
dowed college,  with professional departments, a university, though not
ambitious of the name, an institution adequate to the  education of our
sons in the higher departments of learning, an ornament to our  state:
and a worthy example of western improvement.
   Before closing, we wish to give our parting salutations to the gradu-
ating class.   Young Gentlemen : The board of trustees learn, with
high satisfaction,  the proficiency  you have  made in  the studies of
the honorable profession  to which  you have devoted your lives.   We
are happy to learn, that such has been your devotion to the science and
knowledge of Medicine, under the direction of your private instruc-
tors, and in connection with the  lectures of the Medical Faculty, that
you have passed an examination highly creditable  to yourselves, and
that you  have manifested such attainments as render you worthy of
the honors of this institution, and give high hopes  of your becoming
ornaments to your profession.   We rejoice in the testimony that your
instructors have been able to give us in favor of your moral character
and correct deportment; and in regard to  your observance of their
requirements, and your gentlemanly conduct while in attendance up- 
16
on their lectures, and  in your intercourse with the worthy and hospi-
table people of this city.  It is with satisfaction that we register your
names among the alumni of the Western Reserve College, and reckon
you among the first fruits of its Medical  department.   We are confi-
dent that, as you go out into the world and engage in the duties of your
profession, you will  cherish a grateful remembrance  of  the  worthy
men to whose instruction you have submitted yourselves, and will de-
light in the success of  the enterprise to which they have devoted their
talents and attainments.  You will rejoice with them in the more am-
ple accommodations with which  the department is to be provided,  in
the rising walls of the new edifice and the ample  libraries and cabi-
nets with which it is to be filled,  and more than all  in the thronging
multitudes that will crowd its halls and become eager listeners to the
lessons of wisdom which we trust they may be long spared to impart.
But I must check these anticipations.
   Young  gentlemen,  the day of  duty has come.   Go to your  respec*
tive fields of  labor*   Go, carrying all the treasures of wisdom you
have been enabled to  gather, and sustain,  with all the abilities God
has given you, the arduous duties of your profession.   Go as the mes-
sengers of mercy to the scenes of sorrow and distress.   Go to the bed-
sides of the sick and  the languishing,  to arrest disease and  restore
health.   If your services are needed, go to the humble abodes of pov-
erty and want, and apply the needful remedies without price, and look
to Him who will not suffer a cup of cold water, rightly presented, to
go unrewarded-