An Uulikely Medical School

Two hundred years after adubious start, the campus hasreason to celebrate.

Smith's idea was novel for a couple of.reasons. First, the only three medical schools in the nation—Harvard, Columbia and the University of Pennsylyania of pennsylyania were all located in cities. Second, the training of doctors at an institution of higher learning was almost unheard of. At that time most doctors acquired their medical practical apprenticeships with physicians. those enrolling in medical schools, half were illiterate.

Nathan Smith, who had already trained seveal apprentices in his Corlislt, New Hampshire, actice, held to higher stands. Having earned a medical degree from Harvard, he believed that all physicians should be trained; in the science and theory as well as the practice—of medicine. In Smith began lecturing at Dartmouth in anatomy, surgery, chemistry, and medicine. the following year the trustrees formally founded the Dartmouth .Medical School.

Bur Smith did more than start a medical school. He created the Dartmouth niche that endures all these years later. As in Smith's Jay. Dartmouth remains a small undergraduate college that offers professional training. While undergraduate education remains the primary focus of the place, undergraduates as far hack as Daniel Webster 1801 have benefited from the intellectual power and experience of the graduate-level faculty.

The next eight .pages celebrate centuries two centuries of history, science, and paling on the Hanover Planin.