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

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E, Babies Hospital - October 29, 1928 called out when the crowd could not be dissuaded peaceably. and in the confrontation which followed several rioters were shot and killed. The next year the New York Legislature passed a law to make the bodies of executed criminals available for dissection. This source did not provide sufficient anatomic material for dissection, and the practice of grave robbing continued. In 1791, Dr. Romayne asked the Regents for a charter for a medical school which he had established with several associates. The Regents favored such a plan but had to wait for the Legislature to pass enabling legislation on March 24, 1791. In the meantime the Columbia Tmstees, spurred on by John Bard, convinced the Regents that they were in the process of upgrading their medical school. and so Romayne was denied his charter. Romayne continued his medical school through an affiliation with Queen's College in New Jersey until that school closed for lack of funds in 1793. Columbia, in 1793. gave up the practice of awarding the M.B.. principally because most of the students who received the M.B. did not go on to obtain the M.D. At this time New York State did not require physicians to possess any medical degree. Columbia's admissions requirements were more stringent than other private schools. For all of these reasons. Columbia continued to do poorly. and awarded only 31 Doctorates from 1793 to 1807. ln 1806 Dr. Romayne. having returned from an extended trip abroad. became president of the New York County Medical Society. As president of the Society. in February 1807 he petitioned the Regents for 23

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incorporation of the Society as a College of Physicians and Surgeons, This request was granted on March 12. 1807. although in granting the charter the Regents reserved for themselves the power to appoint professors. confer degrees. and to alter the school charter. Romayne was appointed Lecturer in Anatomy, and was elected President by the faculty, The school opened its first session in a rented house at 18 Robinson Street with 53 students. The school grew rapidly and moved to Magazine Street tnow Pearl Streetl at the end of the second year. Problems arose within a few years when the Regents revised the school charter to take upon themselves the determination of a candidates eligibility for a degree. They also acted to raise fees significantly. The fourth session opened in 1810 with so few students that instruction in all courses save Anatomy and Chemistry ceased within a few weeks. Dr. Romayne and several other P845 faculty members resigned to form a private medical school. Instruction at Romayne's new school began in November 1811 with 100 students, the largest medical class in New York history at that time. This clearly indicates that a shortage of students was not the reason for the failure of P845 to attract them. One individual who figured prominently in this period was Dr. David Hosack. For some time he was simultaneously a member of the medical faculty at Columbia College and a Trustee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. It seems that he served as a destabilizing influence for both institutions. One of Hosack's plans was to merge the Columbia College medical faculty with PSLS. He had friends among the Regents, and convinced them that the Columbia faculty would be eager to unite with PSLS. The Regents. in April 1811. released a new list of faculty appointments to P8LS. including the members of the Columbia faculty. only to learn that these men had not been consulted and would not accept the appointments. ln response. the Regents ignored Columbia in their annual report. and the Legislature withheld funding for Columbia. In spite of all of these difficulties the first P8LS commencement was held on May 15. 1811 with eight students receiving M.D.'s. P843 moved to No. 3 Barclay Street in 1813. An agreement was worked out between the Columbia medical professors and PKLS. and in that year the professors accepted faculty appointments at PSLS. This union might have been expected to bring about a stable medical institution. but differences remained between the Regents. Trustees. and the Faculty. The conflict came to a head in April 1826 when the entire medical faculty resigned and set out to form a rival medical school. One small event of 1814 which later came to mean a great deal to Columbia College deserves mention. Columbia College. in a sorry state following many Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center February 26. 1926 25