the power of the University, they would be contributing towards the public good, and at the same time elevating the character of the institution over which they presided. A department of natural science was accordingly created, embracing five professorships, which were immediately filled by the choice of men recommended either by their general talent, or by their peculiar fitness for the offices to which they were appointed. The duty of the professors was to give annual courses of lectures to the public, for which their remuneration was to consist in the fees of the attendants; and the advantages which they derived from the University, besides the honour of the connection, were the gratuitous use of suitable apartments, and access to the apparatus belonging to the institution. Though the rule demanding annual courses has not been exactly complied with by all the gentlemen who have accepted professorships in this department, yet on the more important and popular subjects lectures have been regularly given, in some instances, to numerous classes;

and the general result, if not so favourable as might have been anticipated, has been such as fully to justify the original adoption of the measure, and to give rise to the hope that much may flow from it hereafter.

CHAPTER XIV.

STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY IN THE YEAR 1827.

In order to complete the view which it is the object of this essay to lay before the public, it will be necessary to give an account of the arrangement and condition. of the several departments of the University, as they exist at the present time.* If, in the execution of this task, some facts which are already familiar should be again brought into notice, it is hoped that the advantages to be derived from the integrity of the picture, will overbalance the irksomeness of the repetition.

The institution is under the control of a Board of Trustees, composed of twenty

* It will be recollected by the reader, that the period here alluded to was the year 1827, when this account of the University was prepared. In any instance in which material alterations have been made since that period, the fact will be stated in a note, with the present date.-January, 1834.

four citizens of Pennsylvania, together with the governor of the State, who is ex officio president. This board is perpetual; and, in the exercise of its authority, is subject to no other limitations than such as are fixed by the several charters under which it acts. For the transaction of business a stated meeting is held every month, and special meetings are occasionally called when any important matter demands immediate attention; but, as in the management of so extensive an establishment, there are many objects which require a constant and vigilant superintendence, the board divides itself into standing committees, to each of which some particular province is ascribed for its especial charge. The duties of secretary and treasurer are performed by an officer appointed by the board, who is compensated by a regular salary and a small commission upon the revenues of the institution.*

The names of all those who filled the office of trustee, from the origin of the school to the period at

The University is nominally divided into five distinct departments, those, namely,

which the College and University were united, have been mentioned in previous notes. Those elected since that period, whose places have been vacated by death or resignation, are the following:

Alexander James Dallas, Joseph B. McKean, Joseph Ball, Samuel M. Fox, Thomas M. Willing, Moses Levy, John T. Mifflin, John H. Brinton, John R. Coxe, Anthony Morris, Thomas M. Francis, William Tilghman, late Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, Rev. James P. Wilson, George Fox, Zaccheus Collins, Thomas Duncan, Rev. Jacob J. Janeway, Robert Walsh, Jr., Rev. Thomas H. Skinner, and Rev. Thomas McAuley.

The following gentlemen, exclusive of the governor of the State, compose the board, at the date of this

note:

1. Rt. Rev. William White, D.D.,

2. William Rawle, LL.D.,

3. Benjamin R. Morgan,

4. James Gibson,

5. Horace Binney, LL. D.,

6. William Meredith,

7. Benjamin Chew,

8. Robert Waln,

9. John Sergeant, LL.D.,

10. Thomas Cadwalader,

II. Peter S. Duponceau, LL.D.,

12. Nicholas Biddle,

13. Charles Chauncey, LL.D.