Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-05-24


IT, reasonable requests was by making
id lease to the said physicians, after com
g. lnissioning them as professors, for
ri term of twenty-five years. In this leas,
is not only was possession of certain prem
ly ises given to the Faculty, but in clear anC
es emphatic language all power and contro
III over the entire Department of Medicine
= and Surgery, the Board binding it.
If self 10 confirm all nominations Ia
], / proiessOrships and all rules and regua-
y tons ordained blythe Faculty. On the other
h hand the interests of the University were
: so carefully guarded in the articles as 10
+ render loss Of property or of regulations
c an impossibility.
c The wisdom and propriety of the plan
y upon which the Medical Department was
t thus established after mature deliberation
: on the part of the Board has been fully
r justified by IFS subsequent history. In
4 less than tiveyears it took position as one of
l / thethree great medical schools of America.
5 Its Faculty have expended upon the build
: ings not less than twenty thousand dollars.
thus giving the University a Medical
, Schooi-house remarkably extensive and
complete. They have supplied to the
} Department Museum so amply furnished
with all the appliances needed for instruc-
ton as to win the admiration and applause
of the great number of physicians who
inspected its cases during the period When
our city was vast military arsenal They
have expended from their tuition fees for
repairs, insurance, advertising and other
contingent expenses, which in all well en-
dowed institutions are paid from the cor
poration funds, the large sum of eighty
and odd thousand dollars. They have
given &c the University the good will
and grateful affection of over thir- |
teen hundred Medical Alumni, most |
| OF whom are now resident in Ten |
nessee or other Southern States, ready to |
cooperate in building up other Depart
ments of the University. All this has
been accomplished in a comparatively
| short period by the skillful combination |
OF individual energy, unity and activity |
with the unused resources of great pub
| lie institution.
Ii. BY accepting the propositions now
before us for the establishment of q Col |
legiate Department upon a plan some
what analogous to that which has proved |
so brilliant a success in the medical |
branch of the institution, the Boarl will |
meet the just expectations of the public,
which has the right to demand the re-
opening of the College, with its COM
mencements, its honors, its exhibitions
its academic life and animation.
The gentlemen who are to head this |
important undertaking are known, hon
ored and esteemed throughout the entire
land from whence students are expected
to come, not merely as famous upon the |
great theatre of public life, but as ac-
complishcd and experienced educators.
The one, a member of distinguished |
Connecticut family, though native of |
Florida, was graduated with high honor
at the National Academy at the early age |
of nineteen. After serving with dis
tinction through the Mexican war, he
was assigned a position as Assistant
Professor at West Point, where for three
years he taught the graduating classes,
gaining well-merited eminence in this la
borious work. For some eight years sub
sequently he was stationed upon the Mex
lean frontier and in the Indian country,
generally with detached or independent |
command. Here he made high character |
for executive ability and for attachments
in Natural Science. From the great civil
strife he emerged with the happy and
rare reputation, universally conceded, of 1
brilliant military genius combined with I
untarnished humanity and unblemished in {
tegrity. Among the various pursuits open 6
TO his. choice he hesitated for season be-
tween taking orders in the Protestant
Episcopal Church or devOting himself to | i
the work of teaching. He selected the q
latter rs bis calling. Having refused the {
presidency of several well-known institu- t
lions, he opened an establishment upon {
his own premises in Kentucky some year '
or two since. In consequence of the re-. '
cent destruction of large edifce by fire, I
he has after visiting Nashville and con- 9
sulting with friends determined to unite {
in the propositions now before the Board. 5
In the very prime of life, stimulated to q
exertiOn by the desire of provi ling for c
the comfort of wife and five little chill c
dren, fond of the labOrs of the class
and lecture room, animated by t
the philanthropic spirit of the true edu- J
Gator, there is no reason why he {
should not achieve distinction in the a
quiet walks of academic life, equal in | q
usefulness, if not in brilliancy, to that so | 4
early gained upon widely different !
scene of action. 9
Ills associate in this proposition has so | ]
long been q resident of Nashville, and is r
so well known as identified with collegiate | d
education, that it is hardly necessary to a
detail his antecedents. In early life he L
earned, by teaching, the means which | Q
enabled him to prepare for West Point, V
where he obtained the thorough scientific | a
training which characterizes the United / e
States Military Academy. For period t
of thirteen years previously TO 1861, he | s
was engaged in the work of education, a
He thus became personally acquainted v
with large classes of young men from the a
entire Valley of the Mississippi. As a c
governor of boys and young men, the C
difficult work in all colleges, he made a d
high reputation. Retiring, and perhaps Il
diffident when appearing in public, slow v
and cautious IN his utterances, he has b
doubtless been too lightly appreciated by r.
the careless or prejudiced observer. Amid 9
the excitement of the battlefield, his rare r
powers of command and discipline have d
been fully acknowledged Calm, conscien- q
tiOus, unhinching and firm in the dischage "
of irksome and Onerous duty, he has uni 7
fOrmly won the confidence and respect. / a
no less than the esteem of the many who Il
have been associated with him as col Il
leagues, or been under his care as pupils. Ii
The two gentlemen well combine the a
qualifications essential TO the management t
of pOpulOus College. a
Ill The most powerful of the several
urgent reasons which should cause the II
Board to adopt the proposed plan of re- G
the Undergraduate Depart b
ment of the University, is the considera p
ton that in period of time so brief as TO Ii
be merely day in its history, the funds o
now belonging to it will, if managed with a
the prudence, safety and skill which has v
heretofore marked the financial admins il
tratlOn of the Board, increase TO such an Il
extent as TO he worthy the name RNnow- c
MEST b
The principal of the Montgomery Bell II
Academy fund will in the year 1888 c
amout to sixty thousand dollars. The a
Collegiate Fund should at that time p
amount to about one hundred and ten ?
dollars.
If at the close of this period of fifteen
years the plan is found to work well, and 81
in the ordinary course of events, it is a
almost impossible that it should fail to do u
so; the Board may continue it for a It
second period of the same duration. In s.
f1,saN 10, L., 3