On Dec. 29th the following elections took place:—
Dr. William P. C. Barton was appointed Professor of Botany; Dr. Charles Caldwell, Professor of Natural History; Dr. Thomas Cooper, Professor of Mineralogy and Chemistry; and Dr. Thomas T. Hewson, Professor of Comparative Anatomy.
At the same time that this movement was made in behalf of the Natural Sciences, the subject of a Botanical Garden was taken up by the University. In 1815 it was brought before the Trustees in connection with a successful effort to interest the Legislature. The following action was taken Nov. 17:—
“On Motion, the Board agreed to the following: Whereas, the Legislature of Pennsylvania, by their act passed the 19th of March, 1807, granted the Trustees of the Institution, out of the monies due to the State, the sum of Three Thousand Dollars for the purpose of enabling them to establish a Garden for the improvement of the Science of Botany; Resolved, that a Committee be appointed to consider and report the best method of carrying the said intention of the Legislature into effect.”
In 1816 this Committee reported, that in aid of the fund in possession of the University, “they have prepared subscription papers for circulation under direction of the Board.” To this the Medical Faculty liberally responded.[1] The enterprise appears to have so far succeeded as to induce the Trustees, in 1817, to purchase forty-two acres of ground in Penn Township, near the canal road, for the sum of eight thousand dollars.
In the spring of 1818, the Professor of Botany, Dr. W. P. C. Barton, was permitted to use the yard attached to the University building in Ninth Street, for the purposes of a Botanic Garden. Upon the resignation of Dr. Barton no further idea was entertained of maintaining a Botanic Garden, and the land near the city was soon after sold by the University.
The year 1818 was marked by the death of Dr. Wistar. Dr. Caspar Wistar was of German origin. His paternal grandfather came from Hilsbach, near Heidelberg, in the Lower Palatinate, and at an early period settled in Pennsylvania. His parents
- ↑ From a subscription paper which has turned up in the Philosophical Society, it appears the Medical Faculty subscribed six hundred dollars.
