University of Maryland School of Medicine - Terrae Mariae Medicus (Baltimore, MD)

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THE HISTORY OF THE A

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MEDICUS TERRA MARIAE f u l (i ca tion SCHOOL OF MEDICINE and SCHOOL OF NURSING of Dhe University of Maryland Baltimore, Maryland 1952

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SCHOOL OF MEDICINE This building is now in its one hundred and fortieth year as a center of medical education. When it was erected medical practice, as we know it today, was still far in the future. The well known contributions of Pasteur and Lister were a half century away. Percussion of the chest was very new and Laennec had not as yet published his famous “De l’ausculdetation Mediate,” wherein he described the use of that useful instrument of his invention, the stethoscope. The foundation stone of this, the original med- ical school building was laid by Colonel John Eager Howard on April the seventh, 1811. Colonel Howard, a local revolutionary war hero and wealthy land owner, sold the land for nine thousand dollars. The building, completed in 1812, was designed by the noted American architect, R. Cary Long. A newspaper account of the day states: “ — the front forms a handsome peristile of eight columns of Grecian Doric in imitation of the pan- theon of Rome. The rotunda has an amphitheater of sixty feet in diameter capable of accommodating one thousand.” The building was described as “located on a hill just beyond the western boundary of the city, commanding a fine view of the harbour and conveniently situated near the Washington Post road.” Cost of the land for the building and its construction was met by public lottery. At that time this was not an uncommon procedure for financing an institution. Interesting though the old building is, except for the medical school within, it would be only another quaint old Baltimore edifice, the work of a once famous architect. For an interesting account of the actual begin- nings of the medical school we turn to the writings of Dr. Nathaniel Potter, one of the co-founders. In an account written in the eighteen thirties he states: “In 1797 I adopted this city (Baltimore) as a permanent residence and became acquainted with the late John Beale Davidge, M.D. He was born in Annapolis in 1768, son of an ex-captain in the British army and Mary Howard of Anne Arun- del county. He had been educated at Edinburgh and Glasgow, where he had devoted himself to the study of anatomy and physiology. We fre- 5