Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 37.djvu/239

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Medical Education of Dr. Whitman
201

along the Canadian border. In 1812 the University of the State of New York conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of medicine. In 1825 Dr. Willoughby was fifty-six years old, had been teaching on the faculty for thirteen years, which period was preceded by extensive private teaching for more than twenty years.

Dr. James Hadley, a graduate in both arts and medicine, was professor of chemistry, materia medica, and mineralogy. In 1825 he was forty years old and had had sixteen years of teaching experience. During his entire teaching career, which covered forty-four years, he held professorships in three medical colleges and two colleges of arts. His scholarly tastes were transmitted to his descendants. All three of his sons who reached maturity became professors in leading institutions. One of these sons was professor of Greek in Yale College and the son of this man was the late Arthur Twining Hadley, president for over twenty years of Yale University.

Theodoric Romeyn Beck was professor of medicine and medical jurisprudence. He was a graduate in both arts and medicine, and in 1825 he was thirty-five years of age and had had ten years experience as a professor on this faculty. He was soon after president of the New York State Medical Society. Dr. Beck was one of the leaders of American medicine in the first half of the nineteenth century.

James McNaughton, a native of Scotland, was professor of anatomy and physiology. He graduated in medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1817. In 1825 Dr. McNaughton, then thirty-one years of age, had been a member of the faculty for five years. He had a long subsequent career in teaching, with a constantly increasing reputation.

It is evident that Marcus Whitman chose to enter a school with a distinguished group of capable, well-educated, and experienced teachers. At that time this faculty had a high reputation throughout the country and by some reliable contemporary writers was stated to be the best medical faculty in the United States.

The subjects taught at that school in 1825-26 may be judged from the titles of the professorships. They included anatomy,