should therefore quit his vocation, or is not wanted, and therefore should not be employed. It resolves itself into a want of capacity to instruct, or a want of pupils to be instructed. Neither of these can be remedied by State bounty or testamentary endowments.

The medical department has thus far been conducted upon the plan that the fee from the student is the only reward of the professor, and I am happy to add, with every prospect of success.

This department being thoroughly and rightly established, I hope to see next the academic department organized, and at the earliest possible moment; and why should we despair of this? The time has come when such an institution is indispensable to the wants and honor of our city. I appeal to every father who has a son to educate. Why should he be compelled to send that son to some eastern village or distant city to give him a liberal education? Can it be that this proud Queen of the Lakes, into whose lap is poured the commercial wealth of eight States, cannot maintain a single college! Are our crowded wharves and glutted warehouses mere mockeries of wealth? No our numerous and costly temples for religious worship not only attest our piety and devotion, but show what the enterprise and noble generosity of Buffalo can accomplish when its sympathies and energies are enlisted in a good cause. Then let me appeal to you on behalf of the University of Buffalo, your own darling child, bearing your own name, and stretching out its arms for your support. Will you see it perish, or will you step forward with true paternal feelings, and minister to its wants, and raise it from despondency to hope, from weakness to power, and from childhood to manhood! If you will, be assured, that you will establish an institution eminently useful to yourselves, which will become the pride and ornament of our city, and for which you will receive the grateful thanks and fervent blessings of unborn millions.

AT THE DEDICATION OF THE

BUFFALO MEDICAL COLLEGE

The first building erected for the University of Buffalo was the medical college at the corner of Main and Virginia streets.1 It was dedicated November 7, 1849, on the occasion of the opening of the fourth annual session of the university. The following is from the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser's report of the following day:

Mr. Fillmore, being introduced, remarked that if any had come there with a view of listening to an address from him, they would probably be disappointed. He had no expectation of delivering an address, but had merely consented to make a few remarks upon the subject of the university generally-its progress from its first inception, the expenses of the building, etc., and on receiving the note of invitation yesterday, had prepared a few statistics. He was not in the habit of committing what he had to say to paper, and therefore his remarks would necessarily be desultory, and not probably very attractive to the D. D.'s and M. D.'s who had assembled here today.

It seems that we have met here to dedicate this building -if it be proper to use the term in this connection. If a few who are here will look back about four years they will remember that on a dark November evening a small number of medical gentlemen, and lawyers and a few other citizens assembled in an office on Main Street for consultation. That consultation was not long, but it was doubtful as to results.

1. Occupied by the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo until the opening of the new medical college on High street, March 5, 1893; soon after that date it was torn down. The site is now covered by the building of the Buffalo Catholic Institute.

They discussed the question whether Buffalo had arrived at a position when it was practicable to establish a college, a university, or a medical school; and it was finally concluded to petition the Legislature for a university charter. A memorial was prepared and a charter was granted under which this medical college is organized, authorizing a capital of $100,000. It required that the college should be organized within three years-that $20,000 should be subscribed and 10 per cent.-$2,000-paid in, before the organization should be perfected and officers elected.

In the summer of 1846 the medical faculty, in connection with some of the enterprising citizens, took the required amount of stock and paid in the ten per cent. In the fall of the same year, the medical department was organized by the election and appointment of officers and professors. The $2,000 was appropriated to the preparation of a building to be occupied temporarily. This first attempt was more successful than the most sanguine friends of the institution had anticipated. The college was opened for the first time in the spring of 1847-it having been determined to commence at this season so as not to interfere with other institutions. The number of students was sixty-three. The next term, in the spring following, opened with ninety-six, showing an increase highly flattering to the faculty.

But a question was raised before the United States Medical Association, in relation to the expediency of extending the term from four to six months, which was decided in favor of the proposition. In this recommendation the medical faculty of this institution readily acquiesced and accordingly resolved on extending the next term from four to six months, and to change the time of its commencement from spring to fall. But recent discussions before the Association at its session in Boston, have raised strong doubts as to the expediency of the extended time. And it is now thought better for the student to attend three terms of four months, than two of six. Long interrupted application is of doubtful utility, and the last appears to be the more enlightened view of the question.

He had been requested to state the amount which had been subscribed towards the erection of this edifice. Independent of the $20,000, it amounted to upwards of $12,000, subscribed by 130 individuals, in sums varying from $20 to $500-$10,000 of which was realized and appropriated to the objects designed. Most of the subscriptions were of $100 each. In March, 1848, the Council purchased this lot, 100 feet on Main Street, running back 200 feet on Virginia, for $2,950-$1,700 of which was paid and the balance secured by a mortgage. Three thousand dollars being found inadequate to pay for the land and erect the building, it was decided to raise $2,000 by a further mortgage. These two sums, amounting to $3,250, are the only encumbrances, and with this exception the institution is free from debt, which must be highly gratifying to all the contributors. The building cost upward of $13,000.

But he found on looking at the charter that the university was authorized to confer literary honors, degrees and diplomas according to the usual practice of such institutions. What are these degrees? What benefits do they confer? He hoped the audience would pardon him if he had to draw on history for his facts in relation to the origin of degrees and the object of conferring them.

What is a university? Where did it originate? What was meant by it? According to his understanding of the subject, universities originated soon after the revival of letters in the eleventh or twelfth century, so that they had been in existence some 700 or 800 years. It was at Paris, or at Bologna, that the first university was established.1 And the celebrated Abelard, better known for his unfortunate

I. To judge from this report of Mr. Fillmore's address, he was in doubt whether Bologna or Paris had the better claim to precedence as a university seat. The establishment of the university at Bologna is recorded as of the year 1119. A somewhat similar institution at Montpellier, in France, was in existence in 1181, whereas the University of Paris and of Oxford in England are said to date from the year 1200. None of these institutions for learning can be declared the first for such purpose, for Cairo had a great school in the tenth century, though there was of course but little resemblance between itor even the scholastic centers at Bologna and Montpellier-and the modern concept of a university.

The

love for Heloise, is well known for the active part he took in establishing the University of Paris. They were not chartered then as now, but of spontaneous growth. Men celebrated for their learning and science, called around them those desirous of being instructed, and after a while they had privileges conferred upon them, until at length universities were established. The degrees were the same then as now, and the universities of Paris and Bologna continued to be models for all Europe down to a late period. first degree was called Bachelor of Arts. And why a Bachelor? This term signifies a young person, unless, indeed, "old" be added to it, and it does not differ greatly in its signification from the degree conferred by the universities. It originated with the military, and meant a young officer-one fresh in his promotion. From the military it was readily transferred to the church, and was used to designate those who had just taken orders-and thence to the university, where it was applied to those yet upon the threshold of science-those still young in knowledge. Hence it is very appropriate. A Bachelor of Arts-one who has taken his first step. We also find Master of Arts, Doctor of Laws, Doctor of Divinity, and Doctor of Medicine. How come these? If he were correctly informed, students were first admitted to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. The next degree at Paris was called Master of Arts, signifying that he was qualified as a master of his profession. These having originated at Paris and Bologna, extended and were adopted by all other universities.

But the degree of M. D. is the one with which we are the most familiar. This originated at Bologna, or extended thence from Paris. Whence comes the term D. D.? It came from the same source. He need not tell his enlightened audience that the Pope conferred the charters upon all the earlier universities. Divinity began to be studied, and D. D. was conferred, implying that the person receiving it was master in the Department of Divinity. How came LL. D. to be conferred? How came it that with so many eminent men in the legal profession in England and in the