pointed successors. Steps were immediately taken to arrange the affairs of the school, and to select suitable individuals to fill the vacant offices. The Rev. Dr. John Ewing, a trustee by right of his station in the Presbyterian church, was chosen provost. David Rittenhouse, the distinguished astronomer, also a trustee, was made a professor, with the title of vice-provost The professorship of the languages was conferred upon the Rev. Robert Davidson, and that of mathematics upon James Cannon, who had been previously employed in the college. James Davidson, who had succeeded Mr. Beveridge as teacher of the Latin and Greek languages, and had been connected with the late institution for more than ten years, was appointed rector of the academy, with an authority independent of the collegiate faculty. A German school was added to the other branches of the seminary; and the Rev. Mr. Kunze gave up his office as one of the trustees, in order to accept the direction of this department. In the course, however, of a very few years, many changes were made. Mr. Rittenhouse, resigning the vice-provostship, was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Magaw;[1] James Davidson was made professor of the languages in the place of the Rev. Robert Davidson, who left the institution; and Robert Patterson, who had before been employed in a subordinate station, was appointed, as the successor of Mr. Cannon, to the chair of mathematics.
Much difficulty was experienced in organizing a medical faculty. For more than three years there was a constant succession of appointments and resignations; and it was not till the autumn of 1783 that the affair was ultimately settled by the reinstatement of the former professors in the respective stations which they had held in the college.
Among the incidents in the history of the university, it
- ↑ The same Samuel Magaw, I suspect, who was mentioned in the list of the first graduates of the college.
