One of the earliest duties which devolved upon the President and
Trustees, after deciding upon the general scope of the University, was
to select a staff of teachers by whose assistance and counsel the
details of the plan should be worked out. It would hardly be right in
this place to recall the distinctive merits of the able and learned
scholars who have formed the academic staff during the first fourteen
years, but perhaps the writer may be allowed to pay in passing a tribute
of gratitude and respect to those who entered the service of the
University at its beginning. To their suggestions, their enthusiasm,
their learning, and above all their freedom from selfish aims and from
petty jealousies, must be attributed in a great degree the early
distinction of this institution. They came from widely distant places;
they had been trained by widely different methods; they had widely
different intellectual aptitudes; but their diversities were unified by
their devotion to the university in which they were enlisted, and by
their desire to promote its excellence. This spirit has continued till
the present time, and has descended to those who have from time to time
joined the ranks, so that it may be emphatically said that the union of
the Faculty has been the key to its influence.
The first requisite of success in any institution is a staff of eminent
teachers, each of whom gives freely the best of which he is capable. The
best varies with the individual; one may be an admirable lecturer or
teacher; another a profound thinker; a third a keen investigator;
another a skilful experimenter; the next, a man of great acquisitions;
one may excel by his industry, another by his enthusiasm, another by his
learning, another by his genius; but every member of a faculty should be
distinguished by some uncommon attainments and by some special
aptitudes, while the faculty as a whole should be united and
cooperative. Each professor, according to his subject and his talents,
should have his own best mode of working, adjusted to and controlled by
the exigencies of the institution with which he is associated.
The original professors, who were present when instructions began in
October, 1876, were these: as the head and guide of the mathematical
studies, Professor Sylvester, of Cambridge, Woolwich and London, one of
the foremost of European mathematicians; as the leader of classical
studies, Professor Gildersleeve, then of the University of Virginia; as
director of the Chemical Laboratory and of instruction in chemistry,
Professor Remsen, then of Williams College; to organize the work in
Biology (a department then scarcely known in American institutions, but
here regarded as of great importance with reference to the future school
of medicine), Professor Martin, then of Cambridge (Eng.), a pupil of
Professor Michael Foster and of Professor Huxley; as chief in the
department of Physics, Professor Rowland, then holding a subordinate
position in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, whose ability in this
department had been shown by the contributions he had made to scientific
journals; and as collegiate professor, or guide to the undergraduate
students, Professor Charles D. Morris, once an Oxford fellow, and then
of the University of the City of New York.
The names of the professors in the Faculty of Philosophy, from 1876 to
1890, are as follows, arranged in the order of their appointment:
1876 BASIL L. GILDERSLEEVE, LL. D _Greek_.
1876 J.J. SYLVESTER, LL. D _Mathematics_.
1876 IRA KEMSEN, Ph. D _Chemistry_.
1876 HENRY A. ROWLAND, Ph. D _Physics_.
1876 H. NEWELL MARTIN, Sc. D _Biology_.
1876 CHARLES D. MORRIS, A. M _Classics, (Collegiate)._
1883 PAUL HAUPT, Ph. D _Semitic Languages_.
1884 G. STANLEY HALL, LL. D _Psychology._
1884 WILLIAM H. WELCH, M. D _Pathology_.
1884 SIMON NEWCOMB, LL. D _Mathematics and Astronomy_.
1886 JOHN H. WRIGHT, A.M _Classical Philology_.
1889 EDWARD H. GRIFFIN, LL.D _History of Philosophy_.
1891 HERBERT B. ADAMS, Ph.D _Amer. and Inst. History_.
1891 WILLIAM K. BROOKS, Ph.D _Animal Morphology_.
The persons below named have been appointed associate professors,--and
their names are arranged in the order of their appointment:
1883 HERBERT B. ADAMS, Ph.D _History_.
1883 MAURICE BLOOMFIELD, Ph.D _Sanskrit and Comp. Philology_.
1883 WILLIAM K. BROOKS, Ph.D _Animal Morphology_.
1883 THOMAS CRAIG, Ph.D _Mathematics_.
1883 CHARLES S. HASTINGS, Ph.D _Physics_.
1883 HARMON N. MORSE, Ph.D _Chemistry._
1883 WILLIAM E. STORY, Ph.D _Mathematics._
1883 MINTON WARREN, Ph.D _Latin._
1884 A. MARSHALL ELLIOT, Ph.D _Romance Languages_.
1884 J. RENDEL HARRIS, A.M _New Testament Greek_.
1885 GEORGE H. EMMOTT, A.M _Logic_.
1885 C. RENE GREGORY, Ph.D _New Testament Greek_.
1885 GEORGE H. WILLIAMS, Ph.D _Inorganic Geology_.
1885 HENRY WOOD, Ph.D _German_.
1887 RICHARD T. ELY, Ph.D _Political Economy_.
1888 WILLIAM T. COUNCILMAN, M.D _Anatomy_.
1888 WILLIAM H. HOWELL, Ph.D _Animal Physiology_.
1888 ARTHUR L. KIMBALL, Ph.D _Physics_.
1888 EDWARD H. SPIEKER, Ph.D _Greek and Latin_.
1889 Louis DUNCAN, Ph.D _Electricity_.
1889 FABIAN FRANKLIN, Ph.D _Mathematics_.
At the opening of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the principal physicians
and surgeons of that foundation were appointed professors of the
University, namely, arranged in the order of their appointment:
1889 WILLIAM OSLER, M.D _Medicine._
1889 HENRY M. HURD, M.D _Psychiatry_.
1889 HOWARD A. KELLY, M.D _Gynecology_.
1889 WILLIAM S. HALSTED, M.D _Surgery_.
In selecting a staff of teachers, the Trustees have endeavored to
consider especially the devotion of the candidate to some particular
line of study and the certainty of his eminence in that specialty; the
power to pursue independent and original investigation, and to inspire
the young with enthusiasm for study and research; the willingness to
coöperate in building up a new institution; and the freedom from
tendencies toward ecclesiastical or sectional controversies. They
announced that they would not be governed by denominational or
geographical considerations in the appointment of any teacher; but would
endeavor to select the best person whose services they could secure in
the position to be filled,--irrespective of the place where he was born,
or the college in which he was trained, or the religious body with which
he might be enrolled.
It is obvious that in addition to the qualifications above mentioned,
regard has always been paid to those personal characteristics which
cannot be rigorously defined, but which cannot be overlooked if the
ethical as well as the intellectual character of a professorial station
is considered, and if the social relations of a teacher to his
colleagues, his pupils, and their friends, are to be harmoniously
maintained. The professor in a university teaches as much by his example
as by his precepts.
Besides the resident professors, it has been the policy of the
University to enlist from time to time the services of distinguished
scholars as lecturers on those subjects to which their studies have been
particularly directed. During the first few years the number of such
lecturers was larger, and the duration of their visits was longer than
it has been recently. When the faculty was small, the need of the
occasional lecturer was more apparent for obvious reasons, than it has
been in later days. Still the University continues to invite the
cooperation of non-resident professors, and the proximity of Baltimore
to Washington makes it particularly easy to engage learned gentlemen
from the capital to give occasional lectures upon their favorite
studies. Recently a lectureship of Poetry has been founded by Mr. and
Mrs. Turnbull of Baltimore, in memory of a son who is no longer living,
and an annual course may be expected from writers of distinction who are
known either as poets, or as critics, or as historians of poetry. The
first lecturer on this foundation will be Mr. E.C. Stedman, of New York,
the second, Professor Jebb, of Cambridge (Eng.). Another lectureship has
been instituted by Mr. Eugene Levering with the object of promoting the
purposes of the Young Men's Christian Association. The first lecturer on
this foundation was Rev. Dr. Broadus, of Louisville, Ky.
A few of those who held the position of lecturers made Baltimore their
home for such prolonged periods that they could not properly be called
non-resident. The following list contains the principal appointments. It
might be much enlarged by naming those persons who have lectured at the
request of one department of the University and not of the Trustees, and
by naming some who gave but single lectures.
1876 SIMON NEWCOMB _Astronomy_.
1876 LÉONCE RABILLON _French_.
1877 JOHN S. BILLINGS _Medical History, etc_.
1877 FRANCIS J. CHILD _English Literature_,
1877 THOMAS M. COOLEY _Law._
1877 JULIUS E. HILGARD _Geodetic Surveys_.
1877 JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL _Romance Literature_.
1877 JOHN W. MALLET _Technological Chemistry_.
1877 FRANCIS A. WALKER _Political Economy_.
1877 WILLIAM D. WHITNEY _Comparative Philology_.
1878 WILLIAM F. ALLEN _History_.
1878 WILLIAM JAMES _Psychology_.
1878 GEORGE S. MORRIS _History of Philosophy_.
1879 J. LEWIS DIMAN _History._
1879 H. VON HOLST _History_.
1879 WILLIAM G. FARLOW _Botany_.
1879 J. WILLARD GIBBS _Theoretical Mechanics_.
1879 SIDNEY LANIER _English Literature_.
1879 CHARLES S. PEIRCE _Logic_.
1880 JOHN TROWBRIDGE _Physics_.
1881 A. GRAHAM BELL _Phonology_.
1881 S.P. LANGLEY _Physics_.
1881 JOHN McCRADY _Biology_.
1881 JAMES BRYCE _Political Science_.
1881 EDWARD A. FREEMAN _History_.
1881 JOHN J. KNOX _Banking_.
1882 ARTHUR CAYLEY _Mathematics_.
1882 WILLIAM W. GOODWIN _Plato_.
1882 G. STANLEY HALL _Psychology_.
1882 RICHARD M. VENABLE _Constitutional Law_.
1882 JAMES A. HARRISON _Anglo-Saxon_.
1882 J. RENDEL HARRIS _New Testament Greek_.
1883 GEORGE W. CABLE _English Literature_.
1883 WILLIAM W. STORY _Michel Angela_.
1883 HIRAM CORSON _English Literature_.
1883 F. SEYMOUR HADEN _Etchers and Etching_.
1883 JOHN S. BILLINGS _Municipal Hygiene_.
1883 JAMES BRYCE _Roman Law_.
1883 H. VON HOLST _Political Science_.
1884 WILLIAM TRELEASE _Botany_.
1884 J. THACHER CLARKE _Explorations in Assos_.
1884 JOSIAH ROYCE _Philosophy_.
1884 WILLIAM J. STILLMAN _Archaeology_.
1884 CHARLES WALDSTEIN _Archaeology_.
1884 SIR WILLIAM THOMSON _Molecular Dynamics_.
1885 A. MELVILLE BELL _Phonetics, etc_.
1885 EDMUND GOSSE _English Literature_.
1885 EUGENE SCHUYLER _U.S. Diplomacy_.
1885 JUSTIN WINSOR _Shakespeare_.
1885 FREDERICK WEDMORE _Modern Art_.
1886 ISAAC H. HALL _New Testament_.
1886 WILLIAM HAYES WARD _Assyria_.
1886 WILLIAM LIBBEY, JR _Alaska_.
1886 ALFRED R. WALLACE _Island Life_.
1886 MANDELL CREIGHTON _Rise of European Universities_.
1887 ARTHUR L. FROTHINGHAM, JR _Babylonian and Assyrian Art_.
1887 RODOLFO LANCIANI _Roman Archaeology_.
1888 ANDREW D. WHITE _The French Revolution_.
1890 JOHN A. BROADUS _Origin of Christianity_.
The number of associates, readers, and assistants has been very large,
most such appointments having been made for brief periods among young
men of promise looking forward to preferment in this institution or
elsewhere.