278 
MINUTES  OF  THE  COLLEGE. 
Walters  &  Souder,  shipping  merchants,  to  whom  he  proved  a  valuable 
assistant;  but  his  ambition,  early  directed  toward  the  medical  profession, 
led  him  to  employ  the  hours  usually  devoted  to  recreation  in  enlarging 
the  boundaries  of  his  knowledge,  and  developing  those  faculties  which 
were  to  be  so  usefully  employed  in  after  life.  While  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile pursuits,  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  French  language,  and  com- 
menced the  study  of  medicine  under  the  tuition  of  Dr.  George  Fox. 
In  order  to  promote  his  medical  education,  he  obtained  the  appoint- 
ment, in  1846,  of  Assistant  Apothecary  to  the  Philadelphia  Dispensary,  a 
position  he  filled  for  a  year,  with  great  fidelity  and  satisfaction  to  all  with 
whom  he  was  associated.  In  the  year  1847  he  took  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Medicine  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
Dr.  Thomas  must  have  had  his  full  share  of  those  discouragements  which 
await  the  young  physician  during  the  years  which,  in  a  large  city,  invaria- 
bly intervene  between  the  period  of  graduation  and  the  time  in  which  his 
talents  and  industry  may  win  for  him  an  honorable  reputation  and  an 
independent  support.  No  special  good  fortune  surrounded  his  entrance 
upon  his  chosen  career,  and  he  was  dependant  upon  his  own  indomitable 
energy  and  perseverance,  with  the  encouragement  of  strong  friends,  for 
the  degree  of  success  to  which  he  attained. 
In  the  Franklin  Medical  College,  established  by  Dr.  P.  B.  Goddard, 
James  B.  Rogers,  J.  B.  Biddle,  Meredith  Clymer  and  others,  and  pro- 
mising a  career  of  honor  and  success,  Dr.  Thomas  obtained  the  position 
of  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy,  giving  him  an  opportunity  to  perfect  himself 
in  a  favorite  science,  and,  as  he  doubtless  hoped,  of  realizing  substantial 
pecuniary  advantages  and  professional  reputuation.  This  college,  how- 
ever, was  unable  to  compete  with  the  older  and  more  celebrated  schools, 
and  soon  was  abandoned.  We  have  no  accurate  data  as  to  his  many  es- 
says designed  to  render  available  his  energy  and  industry,  and  to  promote 
advancement  in  the  profession  to  which  he  had  devoted  himself,  but  can 
trace  him  throughout,  as  a  laborious,  enterprizing,  zealous  student  and 
practitioner,  giving  ample  promise  of  the  success  which  ever  attends  upon 
those  qualities,  when  combined  with  integrity  and  purity  of  character. 
In  1849  he  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  John  Bacon  of  this  city.  His 
widow,  survives  him,  with  a  family  of  three  children,  deprived  thus  early 
of  a  father's  care. 
In  1850  the  chair  of  Materia  Medica  in  this  college  having  been  vacated 
by  the  election  of  Professor  Carson  to  a  similar  position  in  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  Dr.  Thomas  became  a  candidate,  and,  recommended  by 
his  many  sterling  qualities,  was  elected  to  fill  it.  He  immediately  en- 
tered on  the  duties  of  his  ofiice  with  characteristic  zeal,  and  from  the  first 
fulfilled  its  requirements  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  all.  With  the  class 
he  was  popular,  from  the  clearness  of  his  instructions,  the  urbanity  of 
his  manners,  and  the  genuine  goodness  of  his  heart ;  to  the  members  of 
