256 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [April, 



August 17, 1845. He was the son of George W. Chapman, a lieu- 

 tenant in the United States Navy, and grandson of Dr. Nathaniel 

 Chapman, who, coming from Virginia in the autumn of 1797, had 

 married Miss Rebecca Biddle, a daughter of Colonel Clement Biddle, 

 Commissary General of the Continental Army. In 1813 Dr. Chapman 

 became associated with the Medical Department of the University 

 of Pennsylvania, with which he was connected continuously until 

 1853, as Professor of Materia Medica, the Theory and Practice of 

 Medicine, and of Clinical Medicine. 



Henry's mother was Miss Emily Markoe, the daughter of John 

 Markoe, and granddaughter of Abraham Markoe, the first Captain 

 of the Philadelphia City Troop. She and her family were remark- 

 able for their wit and humor, and her son amply inherited both. 

 His character in early life, and indeed up to the last, was somewhat 

 of a contradiction. While thoroughly enjoying the diversions so 

 liberally supplied by his social position, he early manifested an interest 

 in chemistry and physics. His genial and joyous nature made him 

 one of the most attractive of boys, and as a young man his society 

 was sought by many older than himself. These attractive qualities 

 persisted, with no sign of diminution, throughout his mature years. 



His early education was received at the Faires Classical Institute, 

 then located at No. 238 Dean Street, now officially Camac Street, but 

 coming to be known popularly as Club Alley. The Institute was 

 at the time the most exclusive, as well as one of the best, schools in 

 Philadelphia. 



The Rev. John W. Faires, Principal of the Institute, became an 

 instructor of boys in 1831, his first pupils being William Cadwalader, 

 later a member of the Academy, and his cousin J. Williams Biddle. 

 During a period of more than fifty years Dr. Faires had a successful 

 career as a teacher, his alumni including many of the most distin- 

 guished men of the city and state. He was a strict disciplinarian 

 and he held unflinchingly to the doctrine that to spare the rod was 

 to spoil the child. The daily floggings which took place in the presence 

 of the higher classes, and of which Hemy Chapman, because of his 

 love of fun and impatience of discipline, received his full share as the 

 penalty of his larks, would be regarded now, when the independence 

 of "the little child" is held to be the paramount interest of society, 

 as not far short of brutal. The master had a collection of rattans in 

 his desk adapted to the size and age of the culprits, and as he made 

 his selection for the particular one in hand and bent it to test its 

 elasticity, the boy enjoyed a few moments of anticipation of what 



