But,
to our dismay, the right was suspended. The proofs of our general
proficiency, which we hoped would reconcile the professors to us as
students of medicine, alarmed people, and raised us unscrupulous enemies
in some who were justly respected, and others who had influence, though
they hardly deserved it.
"A general council of the university was called to reconsider the pledge
the Senate had given us, and overawe the university court by the weight
of academic opinion. The court itself was fluctuating, and ready to turn
either way. A large number of male students co-operated against us with a
petition. They, too, were a little vexed at our respectable figure in the
preliminary examination.
"The assembly met and the union orator got up; he was a preacher of the
Gospel, and carried the weight of that office. Christianity, as well as
science, seemed to rise against us in his person. He made a long and
eloquent speech, based on the intelligent surmises and popular prejudices
that were diffused in a hundred leading articles, and in letters to the
editor by men and women, to whom history was a dead letter in modern
controversies; for the Press battled this matter for two years, and
furnished each party with an artillery of reasons, _pro_ and _con.
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