The field for two establishments was proved to be too restricted, and after party spirit had subsided, and faction had been lulled to rest, a calm appreciation of the circumstances then existing led to the conclusion, that in union there would be additional strength and prosperity. In speaking of the condition of affairs that existed, the late Chief Justice Tilgh-man refers to the part that was taken by Dr. Wistar in bringing about the union of conflicting interests. “Philadelphia had then the misfortune to be divided between two rival schools, the Faculty of Medicine of the College and that of the University of Pennsylvania. He saw and lamented the consequences of this division. It was his wish to unite in one great institution the talents of the city. But finding that the period of union had not yet arrived, he accepted the Professorship offered to him by the College, in order to preserve an influence to be exerted at the proper season, and in this purpose he was not disappointed, for he had the satisfaction of contributing largely to the much desired union which was afterwards effected.”[1]
An amicable adjustment was brought about, followed by an Act of the Legislature, September 30th, 1791, passed in accordance with petitions from the two schools, setting forth the terms of the agreement upon which they had decided to unite. It was agreed that the name of the Institution should be “The University of Pennsylvania,” and that it should be located in the city of Philadelphia. Of this name her graduates have sufficient reason to be proud.
In the Introductory Lecture delivered by Dr. Rush in the month of November, 1791, he thus expresses himself upon the subject of the union: “I should do violence to my feelings should I proceed to the subjects of the ensuing course of lectures, without first congratulating you upon the union of the two Medical Schools of Philadelphia, under a Charter founded upon the most liberal concessions by the gentlemen who projected it, and upon the purest principles of patriotism
- ↑ An Eulogium in commemoration of Dr. Caspar Wistar, late President of the American Philosophical Society, &c., delivered before the Society, March 11th, 1818, by the Hon. William Tilghman, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, &c., Philadelphia, 1818, p. 20.
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