Analysis and refutation of the Statements of facts in relation to the expulsion of James C. Cross from Transylvania University --recently published by Dudley, Mitchell & Peter / by James Conquest Cross.

  • Cross, James Conquest.
Date:
1846
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Analysis and refutation of the Statements of facts in relation to the expulsion of James C. Cross from Transylvania University --recently published by Dudley, Mitchell & Peter / by James Conquest Cross. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    12/42
    This letter has been found amongst the pa- pers of the late Dr. Richardson, or it is in the possession of Dr. Dudley. On the 24th of April instead of a written answer as I expected, from Drs. Richardson and Dudley, I received a visit from Dr. Wm, Pawling, then of Lexington, but at present of Danville, Kentucky. He informed me that upon the authority of those individuals, he had come to renew the offer of the chair of Theo- ry and Practice and of the Institutes to Dr. Eb- erle and myself. He soon found that it was perfectly useless to talk to the former on the subject, and then he turned his attention to me exclusively. Drs. R. and D. were wise in the selection of their minister. Dr. Paw- ling and I had been during a considerable part of our boyhood raised together, and for him I cherished, as I do still, the highest respect and warmest friendship. After much discus- sion and argumentation, he finally extorted from me a reluctant consent to take the Insti- tutes withont a guarantee. I here subjoin a letter from Dr. Pawling, which not only confirms the statement above made, but which contradicts that made on the authority of Mr. Hall. Danville, Ky., Sept 18,1846. Dr. Cross—Dear Sir: I received your letter of the 10th inst, but was too unwell .to examine its contents, or to answer it immediately. Nor had I as you supposed read the Statements of Facts by Drs. Dudley, Mitchell, and Peter, but have since. You ask if I did not visit Cincin- nati by authority of Drs. Dudley and Richardson for the purpose of tendering you the Chair of In- stitutes, &c, in the Medical Department of Transylvania University, and whether or not it was exclusively through my persuasion that you were induced finally to agree to accept it. Af- ter the dissolution of the faculty in March, 1837, efforts were being made to fill the va- cancies occasioned by the removal of Drs. Caldwell, Yandell, and Cooke, I suggested to Dr. Bush the policy and propriety of tendering the Theory and Practice to Dr. Eberle, and the Institutes to you. Soon afterwards I had an interview with Dr. Dudley on the subject, who objected to you at first on account of the irra- tability of your temper. The matter, however, was fully and ably discussed by Drs. Dudley, Richardson, Bush, the Rev. N. H. Hall, my- self, and I think Dr. Peter. It was finally de- termined that .the nominations should be made— Dr. Dudley not only having become willing but anxious that the matter should be speedily consum- mated. In consequence of this determination I was urged by Drs. Dudley and Richardson to go, and I went to Cincinnati with authority to tender the Chair of Theory and Practice to Dir Eberle, with a guarantee of $5,000 per an- num for three years, and to tender you the Chair of Institutes, &c. When I arrived at Cincinnati, I visited you first, and made known to you the object of my visit. You at first seemed pleased but soon began to make objec. tions. I used many arguments to convince you that it was to your interest to accept, and you finally agreed to take the Chair of Institutes, &c. Dr. Eberle positively declined, but some- time afterwards sent his son over to Lexington to say that he would accept with a guarantee of $4,000. As I have said I have read the state- ment of Dr. Dudley made on the authority of the Rev. N. H. Hall, and have come to the conclusion that both of them have forgotten many of the facts connected with the appointment of Dr. Eberle and yourself, for the matter was agreed upon long be- fore the action of the Board of Trustees. Yours, WM. PAWLING P. S. In regard to some of the questions yoJ ask me I have no distinct recollection. W. P. My colleagues in the Medical College of Ohio knew that Dr. Pawling was in Cincin- nati—knew the object of his visit, for they had been informed of it by both Dr. Eberle and myself, and consequently two of them immediately upon his leaving the city called' upon me to ascertain the result of his mission. I frankly told them that I had agi'eed to go to Lexington. Several days having elapsed, one of the same individuals visited me and asked that as I had determined to leave them why I did not resign. Regarding my election to the Chair of the Institutes, in Transylvania University, a mathematical certainty, I did actually re- sign my professorship in the Medical College of Ohio before I received any intelligence that I had been elected to the Institutes in Transylvania University. The first or second of May I received a letter from Mr. Robert Wickliffe, Sen., Chairman of the Board of Trustees, together with half a dozen or more from other individuals, all of which informed me of my election. Here are the letters, and I beg the reader to mark their character and import, for he cannot fail to see that great ap- prehension was felt that I would not accept.* Lexington, April 29, 1837. James C. Cross, M. D.—Dear Sir: I am instructed by the Board of Trustees of Transyl- vania University to notify you of your appoint- ment to the Chair of the Institutes and Medical Jurisprudence in the Medical Department of Transylvania University, and to express to you the strong desire of the trustees that you will be pleased to accept, and to notify them that you do so as soon as your convenience will allow. To which I beg leave to add my own. Very respectfully, R. WICKLIFFE, Chairman B. T. T. U. This letter is given that the reader may ob- r This is altogether incompatible with the idea that I electioneered for a chair in Transylvania University and it proves conclusively not only that rather extraordinary pains had been taken to induce me to take a chair in it but that after all they were not fully satisfied with the reluctant assurance I had given their minister Dr Pawl