Ebony and Ivy

by Craig Steven Wilder

  6. Andrew Duncan, Heads of Lectures on Medical Jurisprudence, or the Institutiones Medicinae Legalis, Delivered at the University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh: Neill, 1792), iii, 12–14. The first volume was on anatomy and the second covered the dissection and mapping of the human body. See William Nisbet, The Edinburgh School of Medicine; Containing the Preliminary of Fundamental Branches of Professional Education, viz. Anatomy, Medical Chemistry, and Botany. Intended as an Introduction to the Clinical Guide. The Whole Forming a Complete System of Medical Education and Practice According to the Arrangement of the Edinburgh School, 4 vols. (London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1802).

  7. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 9; David Hosack, A Funeral Address, Delivered on the Twenty-Sixth of May, 1818, at the Interment of Doctor James Tillary, Late President of the St. Andrew’s Society of the City of New-York (New York: C. S. Van Winkle, 1818), 6–9; Hosack, Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College, 93, 158, 161; Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College, 62.

  8. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 9; Matthias H. Williamson, An Inaugural Dissertation on the Scarlet Fever, Attended with an Ulcerated Sore-Throat. Submitted to the Examination of the Rev. John Ewing, S.T.P. Provost; the Trustees and Medical Professors of the University of Pennsylvania; for the Degree Doctor of Medicine: On the Tenth Day of May, A.D. 1793 (Philadelphia: Johnston and Justice, 1793); Hosack, Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College, 158–61; Report of the Proceedings of the Medical and Surgical Society of the University of the State of New-York, 3.

  9. Mulatto was defined as the offspring of a white and a black person, a quadroon as the child of a white person and a mulatto, and a sambo as the product of a black person and a mulatto. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 10–22.

  10. In 1825 several Physicians and Surgeons faculty resigned and formed a new medical program. They bought a building in New York City for $25,000 and sought affiliation with Geneva, Rutgers, and other colleges. Letter from Wright Post, president, et al., College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, 25 March 1825, Rutgers Medical College Records, 1792–1793, Box 2, Folder 12, RG 29/A, Rutgers University Archives; Documents in the Matter of an Application to the Honourable The Legislature of the State of New-York, for a Charter for Manhattan College (New York: J. Seymour, 1829); 3–17; Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College, 63; Samuel L. Mitchill, “A Sketch of the Mineralogical History of the State of New-York,” Medical Repository (1798) I., no. 3; Milton Halsey Thomas, comp., Columbia University Officers and Alumni, 1754–1857 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936), 282; DeWitt Clinton, A Memoir on the Antiquities of the Western Parts of the State of New-York, Read Before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New-York (Albany, NY: I. W. Clark, 1818); Hosack, Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College. Also see David Hosack, Memoir of De Witt Clinton, with an Appendix, Containing Numerous Documents, Illustrative of the Principal Events of His Life (New York: J. Seymour, 1829).

  11. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 16, 20. Earlier, David Hosack had drawn up the curriculum and discipline for a short-lived medical college. See David Hosack, Course of Studies Designed for the Private Medical School Established in New-York (New York: Van Winkle, Wiley, 1816).

  12. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 22–24; [Felix Pascalis Ouvriere], Medico-Chymical Dissertations on the Causes of the Epidemic Called Yellow Fever; and on the Best Antimonial Preparations for the Use of Medicine (Philadelphia: Snowden and M’Corkle, 1796); Felix Pascalis Ouvriere, An Account of the Contagious Epidemic Yellow Fever, Which Prevailed in Philadelphia in the Summer and Autumn of 1797; Comprising the Questions of Its Causes and Domestic Origin, Characters, Medical Treatment, and Prevention (Philadelphia: Snowden and M’Corkle, 1798), 5–7; Nisbet, Edinburgh School of Medicine, I:137; Hosack, Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College, 24–33.

  13. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 24–40.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid., 40–42.

  16. Vitto alleged that Comecho got his aunt, Mary Ephraim, to sell the land, used the money to get out of jail, joined the military, and then refused to honor the deed. Charles Francis Adams, Some Phases of Sexual Morality and Church Discipline in Colonial New England (Cambridge, MA: John Wilson and Son, 1891); David Flaherty, “Law and the Enforcement of Morals in Early America,” in Lawrence M. Friedman and Harry N. Scheiber, eds., American Law and the Constitutional Order: Historical Perspectives (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988), 52–65; Graham Russell Hodges, “The Pastor and the Prostitute: Sexual Power Among African Americans and Germans in Colonial New York,” in Martha Hodes, ed., Sex, Love, Race: Crossing Boundaries in North American History (New York: New York University Press, 1999), 60–71; “The Petition of Prince Vitto, late a Negro man servant to the Rev[eren]d Oliver Peabody of Natick,” 26 August 1755, Acts and Resolves of the General Court, vol. 9: 390–91, Massachusetts State Archives; Charles J. Hoadly, ed., The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut (Hartford, CT: Case, Lockwood, and Brainard, 1850–), 273–74; Arthur W. Calhoun, The American Family in the Colonial Period (1917; New York: Dover, 2004), 132–33.

  17. Joseph Hawkins, A History of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa: And Travels into the Interior of That Country; Containing Particular Descriptions of the Climate and Inhabitants, and Interesting Particulars Concerning the Slave Trade (Troy, NY: Luther Pratt, 1797), iii–ix.

  18. Nancy Stepan, The Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain, 1800–1960 (London: Macmillan, 1982), esp. xiii–xix; Thomas Church, D.D., A Sermon Preached Before the Royal College of Physicians, London, in the Parish-Church of St. Mary-le-Bow, On Wednesday, September 20, 1752. Being One of the Anniversary Sermons, Appointed by the Will of the Lady Sadlier, Pursuant to the Design of Her First Husband, William Croune, M.D. (London: John and James Rivington, 1752).

  19. Such facilities had contributed to the leading medical programs of Europe, including Leiden and Edinburgh. Harvard’s overseers organized a garden five years later. Hosack’s project enjoyed the liberal support of well-placed New Yorkers such as Morgan Lewis. Assisted by his marriage to Gertrude Livingston, Lewis became a prominent attorney, slave owner, and public official. He was chief justice of New York until 1804, when he became governor. While serving as a trustee of Columbia College, Lewis adopted Hosack’s endeavor. The garden eventually received state support under the condition that the other colleges in the state could use the facility. In 1807 a medical student from Versailles, France, dedicated his dissertation to Hosack, thanking the professor for purchasing and sustaining the garden and, thereby, raising the reputation of Columbia. The state eventually bought Elgin Garden from Hosack for about $75,000. It was transferred to Columbia in 1814. Columbia held the land as real estate for the next century, when it became part of the site of Rockefeller Center. David Hosack, The Establishment and Progress of the Elgin Botanic Garden, and the Subsequent Disposal of the Same to the State of New-York (New York: C. S. Van Winkle, 1811); Josiah Quincy, The History of Harvard University (Cambridge, MA: J. Owen, 1840), II:328–29; Richard A. Harrison, Princetonians, 1769–1775: A Biographical Dictionary (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), 308–16; Simon Schaffer, “The Glorious Revolution and Medicine in Britain and the Netherlands,” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, June 1989, 167; Alire Raffeneau Delile, An Inaugural Dissertation on Pulmonary Consumption. Submitted to the Public Examination of the Faculty of Physic Under the Authority of the Trustees of Columbia College, in the State of New-York, the Right Rev. Benjamin Moore, D.D., President; for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine, on the 5th Day of May, 1807 (New York: T. and J. Swords, 1807); David Hosack, An Inaugural Discourse, Delivered Before the New-York Horticultural Society at Their Anniversary Meeting, on the 31st of August 1824 (New York: J. Seymour, 1824); “An Act Instituting a Lottery for the Promotion of Literature and for Other Purposes,” passed 13 April 1814, Collections of the New-York Historical Society, for the Year 181
4 (New York: Van Winkle and Wiley, 1814), II:xi; John S. Whitehead, The Separation of College and State: Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, and Yale, 1776–1876 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 26–27.

  20. On the training, education, and specializations of nineteenth-century American scientists, see Donald deB. Beaver, The American Scientific Community, 1800–1860: A Statistical-Historical Study (New York: Arno, 1980). The Constitution and Bye-Laws of the New-York Historical Society, Instituted in the City of New-York the 10th Day of December, 1804 (New York: T. and J. Swords, 1805); The Charter and By-Laws of the New-York Dispensary, Instituted, 1790 (New York: C. S. Van Winkle, printer to the University, 1818).

  21. Published in 1801, Dr. Hosack’s lecture on medical education outlined much of the science literature being used in American colleges. David Hosack, An Introductory Lecture on Medical Education; Delivered at the Commencement of the Annual Course of Lectures on Botany and the Materia Medica (New York: T. and J. Swords, 1801); Stepan, Idea of Race in Science, 8–12; Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, Elements of Physiology, trans. Charles Caldwell (Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1795). See especially Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, De l’unité du genre humain, et de ses variétés, ouvrage précédé d’une lettre à Joseph Banks, trans. Fred Chardel (Paris: Allut, 1804); Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, A Short System of Comparative Anatomy, trans. William Lawrence (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807).

  22. Stepan, Idea of Race in Science, xii–19; Georges Cuvier, Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, trans. William Ross (London: Wilson, 1802); James Cowles Prichard, Researches into the Physical History of Man (London: John and Arthur Arch, 1813); William Lawrence, Introduction to Comparative Anatomy and Physiology; Being the Two Introductory Lectures Delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons, on the 21st and 25th of March, 1816 (London: J. Callow, 1816); W[illiam] Lawrence, Lectures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man, Delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons (Salem: Foote and Brown, 1828).

  23. List of Members, Laws, and Library Catalogue, of the Medical Society of Edinburgh. Instituted MDCCXXXVII; Incorporated by Royal Charter, December 14, MDCCLXXVIII (Edinburgh: William Aitken, 1820), iii–lxiv and appendices; Douglas Sloan, The Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal (New York: Teachers College Press, 1971), 26.

  24. Hosack, Inaugural Discourse, Delivered at the Opening of the Rutgers Medical College, 24; John Morgan, A Discourse Upon the Institution of Medical Schools in America; Delivered at a Public Anniversary Commencement, Held in the College of Philadelphia, May 30 and 31, 1765. With a Preface Containing, Amongst Other Things, the Author’s Apology for Attempting to Introduce the Regular Mode of Practicing Physic in Philadelphia (Philadelphia: William Bradford, 1765), 28–33; Whitfield J. Bell Jr., “Some American Students of ‘That Shining Oracle of Physic,’ Dr. William Cullen of Edinburgh, 1755–1766,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 20 June 1950, 279; Donald J. D’Elia, “Dr. Benjamin Rush and the American Medical Revolution,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, August 23, 1966, 227–34; Betsey Copping Corner, “Day Book of an Education: William Shippen’s Student Days in London (1759–1760) and His Subsequent Career,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, April 21, 1950, 135–36.

  25. Valentine Seaman, M.D., Account of the Yellow Fever, as it Appeared in the City of New-York in the Year 1795, Containing Besides its History, &c. the Most Probable Means of Preventing its Return, and of Avoiding it, in Case it Should Again Become Epidemic (New York: Hopkins, Webb, 1796).

  26. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 14; Felix Pascalis, Eulogy on the Life and Character of the Hon Samuel Latham Mitchill, M.D. Delivered at the Request of the New-York City and County Medical Society, in the Superior Court Room, City Hall, October 15th, 1831 (New York: American Argus Press, 1831), 6–7.

  27. Harry B. Yoshpe, “Record of Slave Manumissions in New York During the Colonial and Early National Periods,” Journal of Negro History, January 1941, 80, 84, 87; Samuel Mitchill’s manumission contract for Betsy, 18 June 1816, Records of the New York Manumission Society, New-York Historical Society.

  28. Samuel Stanhope Smith, Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species. To Which are Added Strictures on Lord Kaims’s Discourse, on the Original Diversity of Mankind (Philadelphia: Robert Aitken, 1787), 22–25, 35n–36n, 48–53. For instance, one scholar has found a large number of students from the South in the courses of the prominent chemist William Cullen. See Bell, “Some American Students of ‘That Shining Oracle of Physic,’ Dr. William Cullen,” 279–81; Sloan, Scottish Enlightenment and the American College, 27.

  29. Almshouse v. Whistelo, 22–23; George Cuvier, The Animal Kingdom, Arranged after Its Organization, Forming a Natural History of Animals, and an Introduction to Comparative Anatomy (1817; London: Wm. S. Orr, 1849), 50.

  30. Augustus K. Gardner, Eulogy on John W. Francis, M.D., LL.D. Delivered Before the New York Medico-Chirurgical College, March 7, 1861 (New York: By order of the College, 1861), 6–9, Special Collections and University Archives, Alexander Library, Rutgers University. Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College, 65.

  31. Report of the Proceedings of the Medical and Surgical Society of the University of the State of New-York, During the Winter of 1807–1808; Being the First Session of the Society (New York: C. S. Van Winkle, 1808).

  32. Richard Hofstadter, Academic Freedom in the Age of the College (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 149; George B. Wood, Early History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its Origin to the Year 1827 (1833; Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1896), 57–58; Rev. Thomas Ball’s marriage certificate for William Shippen Jr. and Alice Lee, 3 April 1762, and the last will and testament of William Shippen Jr., 25 July 1807, Shippen Family Papers, Cartons 3–4, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

  33. John Bard, New York City, to Samuel Bard, Edinburgh, 9 April 1763, and 19 September 1764, Bard Collection, Malloch Rare Book Room, New York Academy of Medicine; John Bard to Samuel Bard, 19 October 1761, Bard Family Papers, Box 1, Folder 7, Archives and Special Collections, Stevenson Library, Bard College; Philip K. Wilson, “Acquiring Surgical Know-How: Occupational and Lay Instruction in Early Eighteenth-Century London,” in Roy Porter, ed., The Popularization of Medicine, 1650–1850 (London: Routledge, 1992), 42–43.

  34. Articles of agreement between John Bard, Mr. Stovenby, Esqr. of Dutchess County, and Lucus Lazeire of Dutchess County, 4 May 1763, Bard Collection, New York Academy of Medicine; advertisement for Hyde Park, 12 May 1768 and surveyors reports, Box 2, Folder 1, and the records relating to St. Stephen’s College and New York Life Insurance and Trust, Box 3, Folder 2, Bard Family Papers, Bard Collection; Abraham Ernest Helffenstein, Pierre Fauconnier and His Descendants with Some Account of the Allied Valleaux (Philadelphia: S. H. Burbank, 1911), 86–99; G. O. Seilhamer, The Bard Family: A History and Genealogy of the Bards of “Carroll’s Delight” Together with a Chronicle of the Bards and Genealogies of the Bard Kinship (Chambersburg, PA: Kittochtinny Press, 1908), 96–100; Walter Barrett, The Old Merchants of New York City (New York: Carleton, 1863), II:283–88; Sharon Ann Murphy, Investing in Life: Insurance in Antebellum America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), 13–14; John M’Vickar, A Domestic Narrative of the Life of Samuel Bard, M.D., LL.D., Late President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the University of the State of New-York, &c. (New York: At the Literary Rooms, 1822), 73–74. Professor John McVickar explained the medicinal use of opium in his children’s reader, First Lessons in Political Economy, for the Use of Primary and Common Schools (Albany, NY: Common School Depository, 1837), 43. See also “The 150th Anniversary of the Foundation of King’s College,” To Dragma of Alpha Omicron Pi, January 1905, 23.

  35. The Royall Professorship is still an active chair at Harvard. Charles Tufts, the Boston businessman, donated about one hundred acres of land and considerable money for Tufts University, a Universalist college in Medford, Massachuse
tts. Harvard University Quinquennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates, 1636–1930 (Cambridge, MA: By the University, 1930), 24–25; Myrtle Parnell, Report on Isaac Royall House, compiled May 1962, “Medford-Royall, Isaac” vertical files, Medford Public Library; Alexandra A. Chan, Slavery in the Age of Reason: Archaeology at a New England Farm (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007), 1–6, 19–95; William Richard Cutter, ed., Historic Homes and Places, and Genealogies and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1908), II:785–88; Josiah Quincy, An Address Delivered at the Dedication of Dane Law College in Harvard University, October 23, 1832 (Cambridge, MA: E. W. Metcalf, 1832); Quincy, History of Harvard University, II:317–19, 425–27; Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1860–61 (Cambridge, MA: Welch, Bigelow, 1862), 45.

  36. Hofstadter, Academic Freedom in the Age of the College, 129–30; Peter Dobkin Hall, “What the Merchants Did with Their Money: Charitable and Testamentary Trusts in Massachusetts, 1780–1880,” in Conrad Edick Wright and Katheryn P. Viens, eds., Entrepreneurs: The Boston Business Community, 1700–1850 (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1997), 400–01; Massachusetts General Hospital, Address of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital to the Public (Boston: J. Belcher, 1814); Harvard University Quinquennial Catalogue, 30; L. Vernon Briggs, History and Genealogy of the Cabot Family, 1475–1927 (Boston: Charles E. Goodspeed, 1927), I:340–41, II:483–503.