Medical College of Pennsylvania - Iatrian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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The Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania Some Historical Facts BY CLARA MARSHALL, M.D., Dean. As it was in the beginning, Dux femina facti, which, liberally translated, reads, A woman was at the bottom of it, and that woman was Esther Fussell, daughter of Bartholomew and Rebecca Bond Fussell, of Chester County, Pa., who was in her day and generation a remarkable woman. She was herself interested in medicine and when her brother Bartholomew was old enough, she encouraged him to turn his attention in that direction. He felt deeply grateful to her and when he graduated, he registered in his mind the purpose to do all he could for the sex to which she belonged. I know, said he, she was more capable of study- ing medicine than ever I was, yet she could not do so on account of her sex. This mutter took at deep hold of his mind, and to his beloved wife, Lydia Bond Fussell, he expressed the purpose of one day trying to open a medical school for women, adding, with true Quaker caution, when the fitting time arrives. The ultimate carrying out of this project, which was left for others to accomplish, constitutes a most interesting chapter in the history of the College, but one which cannot be dwelt upon in the limited space assigned, suffice it to say, that a charter was obtained bearing the date of March II, 1850. Through the generosity of VVilliam J. Mullin, the unexpired lease of a property at 627 Arch street was purchased, the building remodelled to adapt it to the purposes of the College, and it was opened for the recep- tion of students October 12, 1850. The first graduating class numbered eight women, some of whom became eminently successful in practice. One of the number, Dr. Ann Preston, was elected to the chair of Physiology and Hygiene in the College and subsequently became dean of the faculty, both positions being held by her until her death in 1872. 28

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iv 'fa THE COLLEGE IN 1850

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The corporate name of the institution was the Female Medical Col- lege of Pennsylvania, afterward changed to the more specific title of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. The original Board of Corporators was composed of men, but the tenth annual announcement speaks of the appointment of a Board of Lady Managers, who were subsequently referred to as having in vicw the establishment in the city of a hospital for the exclusive accommodation of women and children, under the auspices of this institution, to sub- serve as far as may be proved to be wise and prudent, the purpose of a clinical school? The hospital referred to was the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia, the charter for which was obtained March 22, 1861. Of the thirty-nine fggj incorporators of this hospital, fifteen USD were corporators of the College, twelve CIZD were members of its Board of Lady Managers, making twenty-seven f27D with direct college connectiong the remaining twelve QIZD were either relatives or friends of the twenty-seven f27D. So highly did the managers of the NVoman's Hospital value the services of Dr. Ann Preston in its behalf, that their annual report pub- lished after her death contains the following: To her efforts more than all other influences may be traced its very origin. The Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia was opened in its present location, and soon afterward the College was moved from Arch street, having rented rooms in the hospital building. The whole structure consisted of two double dwelling-houses with, on the first Hoor of each house, a hall in the center, one long room on one side of this hall and two smaller rooms on the other side. The College rented the three rooms on the first floor of one of these houses, one of the smaller rooms being utilized as a museum, the other as a chemical laboratory. The single long room was used for lecture purposes. In this latter room, we attended lectures and quizzes from ten o'clock in the morning until six in the afternoon with an intermission of two hours at noon, here, too, the clinical lectures were held and the illustrative material for the lectures on anatomy was also brought here. A small brick structure attached to the building and reached only by going out of doors, constituted the anatomical laboratory. The cadavers used by the professors of Anatomy were carried into the lecture room by an aged janitor assisted by students. We sat upon moderately hard cushions placed upon very hard wooden setteesg the remains of these 'Introductory address, Eleventh Annual Session, October 17, 1860, by Reynell Coates, M.D. 29