The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University

The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University

The late Doctor Robert Peter, one of the most distinguished analytical chemists of his times, was a member of the Medical Faculty of Transylvania University from 1833 to the time of the dissolution of that institution, and afterward occupied chairs in the different colleges into which Transylvania was merged. He was one of the most active of the professors, and did as much as any one else to raise the university to the lofty heights it attained as a school of literature, law, and medicine. It occurred to him after the merger of the Transylvania into the Kentucky University that an institution which had led the way and done so much for literature, law, and medicine should not be permitted to vanish and leave nothing but a name and memory behind. He, therefore, went to work, after the weight of years was gathering fast upon him, to write the history of Transylvania University, and got his work almost finished in 1894, when death, which alone could have arrested him in his undertaking, relieved him of the task at the age of eighty-nine. His daughter, Miss Johanna Peter,[Pg viii] with filial affection worthy of so excellent a father, and public spirit equal to the occasion, rightly estimating so good a work if it should be published and put into the hands of the public, undertook to prepare his manuscripts for publication. One of these manuscripts prepared by her embraced the literary department of Transylvania, and was published by The Filson Club in 1896 as its eleventh publication. When this publication was made, it was intimated, if not promised, that it would be followed in the near future by one of the medical department. Miss Peter, therefore, prepared this second manuscript of her father for publication, and The Filson Club now presents it in the pages which follow as the twentieth number in its regular annual series. The medical department of the Transylvania University no longer exists. Indeed, nothing of the Transylvania University exists except its name. Its learned professors have gone the way of all flesh. The last one of them recently went down to his grave. Its buildings have been swept away by fire or have passed to other institutions with its library and apparatus. Yet all of this renowned University has not passed away. Its fame yet lives, and will not perish while the memory of the living holds sacred the good deeds of predecessors. The distinguished professors made Transylvania University[Pg ix] famous, and made history at the same time, and they themselves are now entitled to a place in history. It is the purpose of The Filson Club, by this publication, to assist in securing for them the place they deserve in the memory of mankind. Doctor Peter, the author, was the fittest of men to sketch these professors and to present life pictures of them. His work, however, if it had remained in manuscript, as he left it, would have been seen but by few, and could have done but little good. In this twentieth publication of The Filson Club, the manuscript will make its way to many and present them with likenesses of those who devoted their lives to instructing the young of our land in the art of administering to the sick and afflicted. The author knew all of his contemporary professors, and the likeness which he has given of some of them will be the ones by which they will be known in after years. Pen pictures are sometimes as efficient as likenesses in oil, and the characteristic of Doctor Peter's pictures is fidelity so executed that they seem to be the originals standing in life before us. In a work like this the essence of its history is biographic, and Doctor Peter has made his work to consist chiefly of biographical sketches of those who made Transylvania University what it was. He gives the leading facts in the life of each of the professors he sketches, and enumerates[Pg x] the other colleges in which they occupied chairs, and gives the titles of the works they published either in book form or magazine articles. He omits nothing in the sketch that is necessary in forming a just idea of the character portrayed. In the long career of Transylvania University she did not fail to make enemies, but she made more friends than enemies to remember her. A few of the living students and the many descendants of the deceased professors and graduates now scattered broadcast over the land will be glad to read what is here said of old Transylvania, and the work will thus be widely known and read. All who see it will be thankful to Doctor Peter for his manuscript, and to Miss Johanna Peter for preparing it for the press, and to The Filson Club for publishing it. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 31816
Author: Peter, Robert
Release Date: Mar 29, 2010
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Peter, Johanna, 1845-1935