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

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Dr. Granville Sharp Pattison Granville Pattison To most students and Baltimoreans, there was no doubt that the greatest lecturer at Maryland was the eloquent Scottish professor, Granville Sharp Pattison. He made no lasting medical dis- coveries but his energy, his reputation and his incredible charisma invigorated the Medical Col- lege. He radiated greatness whether he pos- sessed it or not, and more importantly he gave his associates a sense of greatness. Wherever Pattison went he attracted admirers. Students regularly applauded his lectures, and most of them, assumed as he did, that they had heard the world ' s greatest authority on whatever he had discussed. He was elected dean of the medical faculty within a year of his arrival. Extraordinarily handsome, he especially impressed the women. Wives and debutantes of Baltimore pursued him with notable success and 50 years after he left Baltimore, his amours were legendary. It was said that he had taken so much mercury (for V.D.) that he was afraid to touch a doorbell for fear of electric shock. Pattison arrived in Baltimore in 1820 with the usual storm of controversy in his wake. He had left Glasgow because of the adultery charge concerning the wife of a fellow professor. Landing in Philadel- phia, he advertised his presence and informed the University of Pennsylvania that he was available to assume the chair of surgery. Infuriated by their refusal, he attempted to organize a rival group of physi- cians hoping to drive the older school out of business. Tiring of that, he offered his services to Mary- land. As a part of the conditions on which he came, Pattison sold to the University a magnificent collec- tion of anatomical specimens that he had acquired in Glasgow. Containing over a thousand specimens of beautifully pickled normal and diseased organs, the collection was invaluable for teaching. Pattison received $7,800 and the University considered that a bargain. Dr. Davidge obligingly took the chair of anatomy so that Pattison could have the chair of surgery that he demanded. Throwing himself into University affairs, Patti- son was fully dedicated to its financial wellbeing as well as his own. To house new facilities and the swelling enrollment, he persuaded the fac- ulty that their eight year old building needed an addition. Completed in 1821, the new, two-story, $8,000 structure was northeast of the older build- ing. Undoubtedly Pattison ' s greatest project was the establishment of a teaching hospital adjacent to the school and administered solely by the pro- fessors for the students. The infirmary, as it was called, was the third University building. Situated across the street from the medical school on Lombard Street and a half a block east of Greene Street, the 60 bed hospital was ready for patients in the fall of 1823. A handsome 4-story building in the Federalist style, it cost the faculty $14,109 for construction and $2,500 for beds and furnish- ings. Resident students could obtain room and board in the hospital for $300 a semester and for the patients the fee for board, room, nurses and doctors was $3 per week. H University of Maryland ..rfr J rr » M Af

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Davidge Hall Is Built . . . Pantheon in Rome and consisted of an upright dome-topped barrel surrounded by a square box. The barrel design included two lecture halls capable of seating over 500 students. The design required strangely curving halls, triangular clos- ets and dark winding stairs which, according to student legend, were designed as a means of escape from mobs protesting dissection. Con- struction of the $45,000 structure began in May, Colonel john Eager Howard, a noted philan- thropist, had offered the physicians a lot at the corner of Lombard and Greene Streets. It was then on the outskirts of town, with the surround- ing fields affording a clear view to the Patapsco River. True to his promise and asking no security or time limit for payment, Howard offered the lot for $10,000 considerably below its market value. He made the first payment of $1,000 and failed to receive further contributions. The chief method of financing the infant school was by lottery, a favorite means of raising money during this era. The general assembly licensed the drawings carefully. In 1808 the assembly granted the College permission to con- duct such a drawing. The lottery was well-publi- cized with about 35,000 tickets sold netting the College slightly over $18,000. The faculty chose a design for the building by Robert Carey Long which was modeled after the 1812 with John Eager Howard laying the corner- stone. In October of 1813 Cocke was to have delivered the dedicatory address but became ill a few days before the ceremony, and as orators of that romantic generation like to recall he died at the moment his address was to have begun. Not only was it one of the finest buildings in the city, but it was probably the finest medical school structure in the world. The new building gave permanence to the medical school, attract- ing for the first time students from other states. The War of 1812 served only to increase enroll- ment. On that morning in 1812, when Francis Scott Key peered toward Baltimore to see if the flag was still there, at least 50 students were attending classes at the corner of Greene and Lombard Streets. 10

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MATCH March 5, 1975 Wake up Frank, the lecture is over Wow! Your mission Tom is to spend three more years in Baltimore. “Yes Scott, all the nurses at Grady love beards. It ' s great that Woody loves us That bastard got my place! Why are these people smiling? Kl 1 ! --. 1 I I I ff •