It may be of interest to add a few words about the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine in early times. This was first conferred in 1783 upon E. A. Holyoke and two years later upon Cotton Tufts. Both were Harvard men and among the incorporators of the Massachusetts Medical Society (founded in 1781); Holyoke was its first president. In 1786 the degree was given to the three professors in the new Harvard Medical Institution, Dexter, Warren, and Waterhouse. Of them, only Waterhouse had an ordinary doctorate (from Leyden in 1780); the other two were incorporators of the Medical Society. The records of the Corporation on these first five honorary doctorates are to be found in College Book, VIII. 119, 143, 199, 217, 221. Then follow 24 honorary doctorates before the year 1811, making 29 in all before that year. Of the recipients, 19 were graduates of Harvard College, 12 were incorporators of the Medical Society, 15 were fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 6 of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and 4 of the American Philosophical Society. Most of the 29 were therefore educated gentlemen and no doubt all were experienced practitioners, but they had been trained in the days before it was possible to obtain an ordinary degree in medicine in this country, and only three of them seem to have received ordinary doctorates in Europe and only one the ordinary M.B. there. Hence it was natural for the University, when more fortunate opportunities were being provided for younger men, to recognize skill in the elder generation by conferring a degree which would hardly be given honoris causa to-day. This was in accordance with a vote of November 2, 1784:2 "Honorary degrees in Physic, which may be conferred on Gentlemen of great eminence in the Profession, as a reward of merit, shall be free from all fees."

The Rev. CHARLES E. PARK read the following paper:

EXCOMMUNICATION IN COLONIAL CHURCHES.

The old colonial custom of excommunication has been made the subject of frequent jesting criticism on the part of thoughtless persons of a later age, who claim to find in this custom an indication of the

1 Prophesying is dangerous. While these pages were going through the press, Charles W. Eliot received from Harvard the honorary degree of M. D.!

2 College Book, viii. 180; Overseers' Records, iii. 300.

George Holmes Hall M' and John Fleet M' who passed their examinations on the 8th Instant for the degree of Bachelor of Physic, this day produced certificates to the President from the Medical Professors of their being qualified for said degree. These certificates being communicated by the President to the Corporation and Overseers the degree was voted; and both these young Gentlemen were publicly admitted to it, immediately after the Masters had received their degree; the President having previously presented them to the Overseers in the following words, Vir Excellentissime Gubernator &c &c &c

Presento vobis hosce viros, quos, examine habito, Professores medici judicârunt idoneos esse ad gradum in medicina baccalaurealem suscipiendum. Placeatne ut suscipeant?

The Governor signifying the consent of the Body the President used the following form in admitting them.

Pro auctoritate mihi commissa admitto vos ad gradum in medicina baccalaurealem, vobisque trado hoc diploma, atque do et concedo omnia insignia, jura et privilegia, dignitates ac honores, quibus ad istiusmodi gradum uspiam gentium evecti ornantur vel ornari debent.1

An interesting account of the difficulties thrown by certain members of the Massachusetts Medical Society in the way of these first graduating ceremonies was written by Dr. Ephraim Eliot and is published in the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society and in Harrington. But the worthy doctor wrote his recollections thirtyfive years after the event and speaks of Fleet and Hall as the first Doctors instead of as the first Bachelors of medicine. This degree of M. B. was given to succeeding classes from 1789 to 1810 inclusive.

The first doctorate in course was conferred upon the same John Fleet (A.B. 1785, A.M. 1788), who heads the list of bachelors, exactly seven years, as provided in the regulation, after he took his first degree in medicine. The record of the Corporation, at their meeting on Commencement Day, July 15, 1795, runs thus:

The President having certified that John Fleet, M.B a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Physic, has complied with the Regulations required by the Medical Institution for such degree

Voted, that he be admitted to the degree of Doctor of Physic."

1 College Book, viii. 264.

• 1 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vii. 177 ff.

* History of the Harvard Medical School, i. 112 ff.

4 College Book, viii. 387.

The Overseers concurred on the same day.1 The Latin dissertation of this first Harvard ordinary Doctor of Medicine was duly printed, and I have seen a fine uncut copy of it in the Boston Medical Library. There is no copy in the Harvard Archives in the College Library, as there ought to be. Perhaps some reader of this paper may possess one which he would present for preservation here. The title-page, which was obviously drawn up from a foreign model, bears these words:

Dissertatio Inauguralis Medica, sistens Observationes ad Chirurgiae Operationes pertinentes, apud interrogationem publicam prolocutas et sustentatas die Julii III, habitam, quam annuente summo numine ex auctoritate Reverendi Josephi Willard, Praesidis &c. Honoratorum et Reverendorum Curatorum et etiam Senatus Academici consensu, necnon Institutionis Medicae Decreto, pro gradu doctoratus eruditorum examini submittit Johannes Fleet. A ferro tandem petere Sanitatis praesidia convenit. Heister. Bostoniae: Typis Thomae Fleet, jun. MDCCXCV.

4°, pp. 11.

It is obvious that Dr. Fleet's was an ordinary degree taken in course. Yet in the Quinquennial under his Harvard College Class (1785) he appears as "M.D. (Hon.) 1795," and when we turn to the part of the book which is devoted to honorary degrees, we find him all by himself in 1795 - the fact being that no honorary degrees whatever were given in that year. Some critics object to my use of the term "in course" as applied to Fleet's doctorate; but the term belongs as well to the doctorate as to the M.B. In academic language it means "in regular succession," as contrasted with "out of course" and "honorary" degrees. It is certain that this was the distinction recognized at the time of these early doctorates; for on June 3, 1801, the Corporation voted "that the fee for the Degree of Doctor of Physic in course be the sum of 30 dollars." 2

The second doctor in course was William Ingalls, A.B. 1790, A.M. 1793, M.B. 1794, M.D. 1801. The records in his case are just like those in the case of Fleet.3 His Latin dissertation was not printed until 1803 (two copies in the College Library), but the date on its title-page shows that his public examination took place July 11, 1801. The page is modelled after that of Fleet, and the subject was "Ob

1 Overseers' Records, iv. 192.

• College Book, viii. 480.

8 July 15, 1801, College Book, viii. 484; Overseers' Records, iv. 335.

servationes ad abscessum bursalem pertinentes." A second edition appeared in 1804, and a third in 1810 (both in the College Library). In the Quinquennial, Ingalls appears as "M.D. (Hon.) 1801” in the list of his College Class, and later among the honorary degrees of 1801. Dr. Harrington also enters both Fleet and Ingalls as honorary doctors.

Third comes Samuel Adams with similar records.1 He was not a graduate of Harvard College, and he is one of the inconsistencies of the Quinquennial and of the History of the Medical School. In both he appears in the list of medical graduates of the year 1794, thus: "M.B.; M.D. 1802," escaping the "(Hon.)." I have sought in vain for a copy of his dissertation or for any memoir of him.

The fourth doctor was James Jackson, the well-known Boston physician, and professor in the Medical School (A.B. 1796, A.M. 1799, M.B. 1802, M.D. 1809). The records of the Corporation and Overseers are in this case lacking, for the reason that at the Commencement of 1809 no lists of the recipients of any degrees whatever, except honorary, are to be found in those records. The Corporation Record for all ordinary degrees says "See Files;" but the files are not to be found. The Overseers' Records (V. 206) note that the President read the names of all candidates for A.B. and A.M. and that the Board voted in concurrence with the Corporation. Under these circumstances it is fortunate that a Boston newspaper, the Columbian Centinel for September 2, 1809, gives lists of all the degrees, including James Jackson, M.B., as receiving the degree of M.D. The list of honorary degree men appears in a different paragraph. I find also in the College Library a pamphlet entitled “Remarks on the Brunonian System. By James Jackson, A.A. & M.M.S.S. . . . Boston, 1809." On the second leaf are these words: "An inaugural dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, read and defended before the Rev. President and Medical Professors of Harvard College, at a public examination, on the 25th day of August, 1809." Whether Dr. Jackson also wrote and published a Latin dissertation, in accordance with the regulation, I cannot say; but it is clear that he became a doctor in course in 1809. In the Triennial Catalogue for 1812 he appears as "M.D. 1809," and so in succeeding Triennials and Quin

1 August 25, 1802, College Book, viii. 500; Overseers' Records, iv. 361. 2 August 30, 1809, College Book, ix. 152

quennials until the last issue in 1905, where 1809 is arbitrarily changed to 1811. Dr. Harrington gives the fact correctly but inconsistently with his general statement.

The fifth and sixth doctors were Benjamin Shurtleff and Robert Thaxter, both attaining the degree in 1810. The record of the Corporation is as follows:

Voted, that the Degree of A.B. be conferred on the following Candidates (see list) The Degree of A.M. (see list) Medical Degrees on the following Persons Eleazar Clap M.D. Benjamin Shurtleff M.D. Joshua Thomas M.B. Robert Thaxter M.D. The Honorary Degrees (voted before see p. 170).1

In this record Eleazar Clap' is by an error recommended for M.D.; really he received only M.B. in that year. President Webber, formerly responsible for the records, had suddenly died shortly before this meeting, and the slip is due to some new hand. The Overseers' Records (V. 296) are correct. That only Shurtleff and Thaxter received the doctorate is proved by the lucky preservation of a portion of the original manuscript which was used in the Meeting House by Professor Henry Ware, who presided at Commencement in that year. It is dated Aug. 29, 1810. The admissio to the degree is not preserved, but the presentatio runs thus:

4

Vob. presento Dom. B. Sh: & Dom. Rob: Thaxt. qui gradum in Med. Bac: antehâc donati sunt; - et examine publice habito et dissertationibus enunciatis dignos se praebuerunt qui gradum in medicina Doctoris, pro more Universitatis hujusce, susciperent.

In the Triennials and Quinquennials from 1812 to 1885 inclusive, Shurtleff rightly appeared as "M.D. 1810;" the first English catalogue in 1890 made him "M.D. 1811," and so also later catalogues and Dr. Harrington. Thaxter is rightly given as "M.D. 1810" in Triennials from 1812 to 1845; the erroneous date 1811 was first printed in the Catalogue of 1848, and is found in later catalogues and also in Harrington. I have been unable to discover printed dissertations by either of these two doctors.

1 August 29, 1810, College Book, ix. 179.

' So spelled here and in all Triennials until that of 1830, when the spelling "Clapp" appears thirteen years after the man's death.

• Harvard College Papers, vi. 61.

♦ That is, Benjamin Shurtleff.