48G A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROI-IXA. 



Thomas Reese amassed great knowledge, and wrote an exeellent essa}' 

 on tlie influence of religion in society, for which he was made a Doctor 

 of Divinity by Princeton. John Rutledge was a man of varied attain- 

 ments. 



Dr. John Lining was one of the first experimenters in electricity, and 

 corres})onded on the subject with Franklin. He wrote the first pamphlet 

 on yellow fever that appeared from America. William Bull, the first 

 native of South Carolina that obtained tlie degree of ]M. D., defended a 

 thesis before the University of Leyden. 



After the Revolution there w^ere a number of learned and scientific 

 men. Dr. David Ramsay introduced vaccination into Charleston in 

 ISOG, four years after its discovery by Jenner. (His son, Mr. Nathaniel 

 Ramsay, who was the first subject, died near Columbia, in 1882.) Besides 

 this, he wrote a Universal History, a History of the Revolution, and a 

 History of South Carolina, from which are taken many facts of this 

 sketch, and of all other sketches of our early history. Stephen Elliott 

 was a thorough botanist. Washington Allston, a painter and poet. Hugh 

 S. Legare, a scholar as well as orator. But it is needless to say more. 



This appreciation of higher education led the people of South Carolina 

 first to send their sons abroad and then to endow colleges of their own at 

 home. 



Sketches of these colleges are appended, each written by the president 

 or one of the professors of the college described. 



THE SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE. 



On the 7th day of December, 1723, the Rev. Thomas ]\Iorritt made 

 proposals in the Colonial Assembly for the establishment of a college. 

 This is the first time the word occurs in South Carolina legislation. A 

 manuscript bill, partly in the handwriting of John Rutledge, in the time 

 of Lieutenant-Governor Bull (1769) provides, in addition to public 

 schools, for " a college for the education of the youth of this province." 

 The plan was most liberal, embracing instruction in the natural sciences, 

 medicine and law, as well as in the classics and philosophy. 



To Governor Drayton, however, w^as reserved the honor of inaugu- 

 rating a successful movement. His message, November 23d, 1801, advo- 

 cated the erection of a S'ate College. An Act of Incorporation passed 

 the same year. Fifty tliousand dollars were appropriated for buildings, 

 and six thousand annually for salaries. 



An organization was effected in February, 1S(>2, and liuildings were 

 erected by 1804. A facult}' was chosen in April of that year. Rev. John- 

 atlian Maxcy wa^ elected president. Born in Massachusetts in 1768, he 



