SKETCH OF DR. WILLIAM PEPPER. 837 



the beginning of a successful professional career. Another son, 

 Dr. WILLIAM PEPPER, the subject of this sketch, was born in 

 Philadelphia, August 21, 1843. 



Dr. Pepper received his educational training solely in the city 

 of his birth, having graduated from the college department of 

 the University of Pennsylvania in 1862, in the same class with Pro- 

 vost Charles C. Harrison, Thomas McKean, Dr. Persifor Fraser, 

 and many other men prominent in university circles. He graduated 

 from the Medical School in 1864, and at once began the practice 

 of medicine. His connection with the University of Pennsylvania 

 began in 1868, when he was appointed lecturer on morbid anat- 

 omy. From 1870 to 1876 he was lecturer on clinical medicine. 

 In 1876 Dr. Pepper was given a full professorship of clinical medi- 

 cine, in which he continued until 1887, when he succeeded Dr. 

 Alfred Stille in the chair of the Theory and Practice of Medi- 

 cine. 



During this early period of his career Dr. Pepper labored with 

 untiring zeal in the practice of his profession, and he also became 

 eminently successful as a teacher. In 1877 he set forth his views 

 on higher medical education in an address at the opening of the 

 one hundred and twelfth course of lectures in the University Med- 

 ical School.* At that time a very low standard existed in the 

 medical schools of our country, and Dr. Pepper, in his address, 

 urged the following reforms: 



1. The establishment of a preparatory examination. 



2. The lengthening of the course to at least three full years. 



3. The careful grading of the course. 



4. The introduction of ample practical instruction of each stu- 

 dent both at the bedside and in laboratories. 



5. The establishment of fixed salaries for the professors, so that 

 they may no longer have any pecuniary interest in the size of their 

 classes. 



It was a source of gratification to Dr. Pepper that he lived to 

 see all these reforms in medical education adopted. On the ex- 

 tension of the medical course to four years he subscribed $50,000 

 toward a permanent endowment of $250,000. As early as 1871 

 he began to urge the establishment of a university hospital, the 

 subject being first discussed in a conversation with Dr. H. C. Wood 

 and Dr. William F. Norris. An appeal was made to the public, 

 and Dr. Pepper was made chairman of a finance committee. By 

 May, 1872, a splendid site and $350,000 for building and endow- 

 ment had been secured. Dr. Pepper was selected as chairman of 



* Higher Medical Education. The True Interest of the Public and of the Profession. 

 By William Pepper, M. D., LL. D. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1894. 



