Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons - P and S Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Figure 2. Samuel Bard, M.D., LL.D. particular, but be also a public benefit to society . Thus. was opened, on November Znd. 1767. the Medical School of King's College. the first medical school in America. directly associated with an institution of general learning tFig. ll. Its organizers and faculty were Drs. Samuel Clossy fAnatomyl. John Jones tSurgeryl. Peter Middleton tTheory of Physicl. Samuel Bard lPractice of Physici. James Smith tChemistry and Materia Medical. and John V.B. Tennent tMidwiferyl lFig. 21. The first graduation was held on May 16th. 1769 in Trinity Church. In a ceremony that lasted over five hours the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine tM.B.J were conferred on Robert Tucker and Samuel Kissam. Subsequently, the hrst two M.D. degrees in the colonies were awarded to Robert Tucker, in l770. and to Samuel Kissam in l77l. tThe latter's graduation thesis was titled An inaugural essay on the antihelmintic quality ofthe Phafeolus Zuratenfis Siliqua hirfuta. or Cow-ltchl. For many years. there has been a controversy oncerning the priority of awarding medical degrees etween King's College and the College of Philadelphia later to become the University of Pennsylvanial. lthough the College of Medicine of Philadelphia became he first institution to award medical degrees when it warded the degree of Bachelor of Physic in l768. it warded its first Doctor of Medicine degrees in June of 771. over a year after King's College awarded Robert ucker the degree of Doctor of Medicine in May of l770. oreover. if we are to be accurate. neither ofthese nstitutions was in reality the first to confer such a degree. Such distinction falls upon Yale College. xx hich fifty years earlier. in 1720 honored one of its major benefactors. Daniel Tucker. with an honorary M.D.: facetiously interpreted as Multum Donavitf' In I769. in his speech given at the first graduation ceremony ofthe medical school. Samuel Bard made a strong plea for building a public hospital in New York. The need for a hospital which would serve the community and afford the best and only means of properly instructing pupils in the practice of medicine, prompted Samuel Bard and the rest of the faculty to petition and Obtain. in l77l. a Royal Charter from King George III. authorizing the construction of'The New York Hospital. The plans for the hospital were drawn by In 1767, a group of young physicians offered their services to the Board of Governors of the College 'tto institute a medical school within this college, for instructing pupils in the most useful and necesary branches of medicine. Dr. Jones. Professor of Surgery. the same year. and the cornerstone was laid in 1773. But. the completion ofthe first New York public hospital suffered repeated setbacks. In 1776. it was damaged in a great fire and in the battle of New York. After new buildings were built in 1782, it sustained damages in the Doctors' Riot of I788. when a mob angered by rumours ofphysicians' grave robbing tresurrectionistl activities stormed the hospital. destroyed its anatomical collection and rampaged through doctors' offices throughout the city for four days. The hospital finally opened in l79l and became the first teaching hospital in New York City. The year 1776 polarized the entire population. making the traditional refuge ofthe medical profession in neutrality virtually impossible. At the medical school. the faculty became divided into Loyalists tBard. Clossy. and Middletonl and Patriots tJones and Smithl. As it was becoming clear the war would soon shift from Boston to New York, an army of 20.000 hastily mobilized. untried revolutionaries came to defend the city. In April I776. medical studies were suspended at King's College. the students were dispersed. and the college was taken over by the Committee for Safety and then by Washington's troops. Despite accurately anticipating English intentions. General Washington was unable to hold the city. His losses in the brief battles of New York and Long Island to General Howe resulted in English domination of New York until I783. The war. the occupation and the serious fires of 1776 and I778 had a devastating effect on the city. whose population shrank to halfits pre-war size. In I783. the city changed hands. the rebuilding began and the medical 23

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THE EARLY HISTORY Of The College of Physicians and Surgeons l 1,4-1 4-' ..- .. --' ---., .. 'T'-' 5' ' N 'rf' -f '--ffiii.-. - T - -' Figure 1. King's College circa 1760 tColumbiana Collection, Columbia By PETER-ANDREW ALDEA The first medical instruction in this country was inthe form of human dissection and was done as early as 1750 in New York City by Drs. John Bard and Peter Middleton. For the most part, however, the standards of medical care were very poor and loose. On October 3 l st. 1754, George Il by the grace of God, of Great Britain. France, and Ireland, King, Defender ofthe Faith, etc. proclaimed in a royal charter: Know Ye, that Wee. considering the premises, do of our special Grace, Certain Knowledge, and meer motion, by these presents. will, Grant, Constitute, and ordain, . . ., That there be erected and made on the said Lands, a College, and other Buildings and Improvements, for the use and conveniency ofthe same, which shall be called and Known by the name of Kings College, for the Instruction and Education of Youth in the Learned Languages, and , 'fi- .- I ,- Liberal Ans and Sciences: thus, establishing King's College in New York City. The first active effort of starting medical education at King's College was by Dr. James Jay Uohn .Iay's older brotheri. He left his practice and went to London, in 1763, to raise funds for this purpose, and succeeded in his mission sufficiently to be knighted by King George III. KA scandal arose, however, when he was unable to deliver the full sum raised. prompting him to delay his return to New York, and start a practice in London instead, which he kept until the war broke out.J In 1767, a group of young physicians offered their services to the board of governors ofthe college to institute a medical school within this college. for instructing pupils in the most useful and necessary branches of medicine. Their offer was readily accepted by the board, as it was convinced that such a school wil not only tby promoting the true knowledge of medicinel tend to the honour and reputation ofthis college in

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void left by the war was quickly filling with physicians and surgeons released from military service. The war. however, did not bring about any remarkable changes in medical education. Medical education remained based predominantly on the apprentice system, in which a few students attended formal courses in addition to their studies in doctors' offices. and even fewer pursued advanced medical education abroad. A newcomer to this post-war New York medical scene was Dr. Nicholas Romayne, who was educated in Edinburgh, Paris and Leyden. In 1784, with the help of Samuel Bard. the former King's College reopened as Columbia College. Dr. Romayne was named both Trustee and Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the medical schoolzjoining him on the faculty were Samuel Bard fChemistryJ, Charles McKnight tAnatomy and Surgeryl. Benjamin Kissam llnstitutes of Medicinel. and Ebenezer Crosby tMidwiferyJ. Unfortunately, the medical school was short-lived. In addition to personal differences between Romayne and Bard, there was considerable friction In April 1776, medical studies were suspended at King's College, the students were dispersed, and the College was taken over by the Committee for Safety and then by Washington's troops. concerning the practice of private instruction by members of the faculty. In 1787. Romayne resigned from the faculty to form his own medical school. Subsequent faculty resignations shortly thereafter effectively closed down the school. In 1791. Romayne petitioned the Regents of the University ofthe State of New York to recognize his school. However, such action by the Regents was fought by the trustees of Columbia College, who claimed that only they had the legal right to form a medical school. Subsequently, when the Columbia College Medical School proved a failure, the Regents allowed the Medical Society ofthe County of New York, in March 1807, to incorporate as a College of Physicians and Surgeons. The president ofthe society, Dr. Romayne, became the president ofthe Collegegjoining him on the faculty were Drs. Samuel Mitchell tChemistryl, David Hosack lSurgery, Midwifery. Materia Medica and Botanyl, Edward Miller tPractice of Medicinel. Archibald Bruce fMineralogyl. John Augustine Smith tAnatomyl, and Benjamin DeWitt tlnstitutes of Medicinel. The College was first located at No. 18 Park Place tformerly. Robinson Streetl. At that time. most ofthe city was below Chambers Street. The wealthier residences were at the lower end of Broadway, about the Battery and Bowling Green, with the shops in the upper part ofthe same street. Broadway was paved only to the neighborhood of Canal Street beyond which it continued as a road. Canal Street itself existed only on paper. and was represented by a swamp and a sluggish stream. crossed by a bridge at the intersection of Broadway. Two years later. in 1809. the College moved to No. 553 2-1 Pearl Street. In 1810. it was reported that certain misunderstandings having taken place between the then president fDr. Romaynej and the professors prompted the Regents to investigate these differences. In 1811. at the age of sixty-nine, Samuel Bard was called from retirement to the presidency ofthe College of Physicians and Surgeons. After returning to New York in 1784, and reorganizing Columbia College, Bard fthe former Loyalistl had opened a very fashionable and busy practice, which included George Washington fwhose carbuncle he successfully incised, in 1789, assisted by his father, Dr. John Bardl. Samuel Bard retired. in 1789, to his estate in Hyde Park, New York to devote his leisure to the care of his estate and to scientific and literary pursuits. The year 1811, also saw the graduation ofthe first class teight studentsl ofthe College of Physicians and Surgeons. For the next few years, while the Columbia College Medical School had little more than maintained an existence, Cconferring its last degree on Robert Morrel. in 18103, the College of Physicians and Surgeons had becom quite successful. In 1813. it moved again, this time to a three-story building at No. 3 Barclay Street, and in its eighth session 11814-18151, the class numbered 121 students. In 1814, to allow the professors ofthe Columbia College Medical School tojoin the faculty ofthe College of Physicians and Surgeons, all the medical lectures at Columbia were suspended and complete union had taken place. ln reality. however, there was no true union between the two institutions. In 1860. underthe leadership of Edward Delafield, the College of Physicians and Surgeons became independent ofthe Regents ofthe State University and became the Medical Department of In 1784, with the help of Samuel Bard, the former King's College reopened as Columbia College . . . In 1787, Dr. Romayne, Professor of the Practice of Medicine, resigned from the faculty of the Columbia College School of Medicine to form his own medical school. Subsequent faculty resignations shortly thereafter effectively closed down the Columbia College School of Medicine. Columbia College. In this union. however. both institutions were united only in conferring the M.D. degrees, but remained independent of one another. A true union between the College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia College. was established only in March 1891, when the latter surrendered its charter. donated all its property tvalued at 1.625 million dollarsl to, and became an integral part of. Columbia University. Dr, David Hosack. Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, purchased from the city a twenty acre enclosure of land, which was located some three miles north ofthe city, on which he planted a great C