Franklin Bache to Thomas Jefferson, 27 March 1824
From Franklin Bache
Philadelphia, March 27th 1824.
Sir;
In July last, I wrote to Judge Cooper, President of South Carolina College, respecting a vacant professorship of Chemistry, which I saw, by the public papers of Charleston, was to be filled. In his reply, which was very frank and satisfactory, he informed me of the strong claims of Mr Vanuxem, his present adjunct, in the event of his declining the department of Chemistry, and the great probability, if not certainty, of his election.
In a postscript, however, to his letter, as if to make amends for the unfavourable view that he took of my wishes, relatively to his College, he gives me the following intimation; I use his own words: “I think there will be a vacancy to be filled at the Virginia University this time twelvemonth.”
Ever since I received Judge Cooper’s letter, I had proposed to myself to address you on the subject, to request information respecting the department of Chemistry in your university; but various circumstances have procrastinated the fulfilment of my intention, until the present time.
If it would not be asking too much, I should be glad to be informed respecting the leading particulars of the footing, on which the Chemical Chair is placed; or, if this request would impose too great a task, perhaps you could refer me to printed documents, which would give me the desired information.
Are the names of Candidates for the professorship of Chemistry, at present receivable; and if so, will it be sufficient that I make myself known to you as an applicant, as I now do, to bring me regularly under the notice of your trustees, or must I make a formal application, in some other quarter, to some one specially authorized to receive such applications?
If I supposed the professorship referred to was immediately to be filled, I should lose no time in repairing to Charlotteville, and making myself known by a personal application to the different members of the board of Trustees or Visiters; but under present circumstances, I must await the reception of more exact information, before I venture to take this step.
If it should surprize you, that a perfect stranger should thus attempt to impose upon you the trouble of a correspondence on his own business, I have no excuse to offer, but the general impression I have imbibed, of your goodness;1 unless, indeed, I have built somewhat on your former friendship to my late father, Benjamin Franklin Bache, presuming it might create a favourable disposition towards his eldest son.
Franklin Bache.
RC (ViU: TJP); at foot of text: “To Thomas Jefferson Monticello”; endorsed by TJ as received 1 Apr. 1824 and so recorded in SJL.
Franklin Bache (1792–1864), physician, chemist, and educator, was the great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin. A native of Philadelphia, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, receiving A.B. and M.D. degrees in 1810 and 1814, respectively, with a thesis the latter year on emphysema. Bache served in the United States Army as a surgeon’s mate in 1813, was promoted to surgeon the following year, and resigned in 1816. In addition to his own works, such as A System of Chemistry for the Use of Students of Medicine (Philadelphia, 1819) and essays on accupuncture and penology, Bache edited and revised works by others on chemistry and medicine, including Robert Hare’s American edition of Andrew Ure’s A Dictionary of Chemistry (Philadelphia, 1821). Bache conducted the North American Medical and Surgical Journal, 1826–31, revised the Pharmacopœia of the United States of America, and worked with George B. Wood on eleven editions of the Dispensatory of the United States of America. Appointed a physician at the Walnut Street Prison in 1824 and the Eastern State Penitentiary in 1829, he held both positions until 1836. Bache was a professor of chemistry at the Franklin Institute, 1826–32, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 1831–41, and Jefferson Medical College, 1841–64. He became a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1820, held a succession of offices, and served as its president, 1853–55. Bache was also an active Freemason, a supporter of the temperance movement, and president of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at the time of his death. His personal property and real estate in 1860 had a combined value of $40,000. Bache died in Philadelphia (ANB; DAB; University of Pennsylvania Catalogue, 26; University of Pennsylvania Medical Graduates, 7; Heitman, U.S. Army, 1:179; JEP, 2:433, 436, 536, 576 [31 July, 1 Aug. 1813, 14, 26 Oct. 1814]; APS, Minutes, 21 Apr. 1820, 7 Jan. 1853 [MS in PPAmP]; DNA: RG 29, CS, Pa., Philadelphia, 1860; Philadelphia Inquirer, 22 Mar. 1864; APS, Proceedings 10 [1865]: 121–36).
1. Word interlined in place of “kindness.”
Index Entries
- American Philosophical Society; members of search
- Bache, Benjamin Franklin (1769–98) search
- Bache, Franklin; identified search
- Bache, Franklin; letter from search
- Bache, Franklin; seeks professorship search
- chemistry; applicants to teach at University of Virginia search
- chemistry; collegiate education in search
- Cooper, Thomas (1759–1839); and professors for University of Virginia search
- Cooper, Thomas (1759–1839); president of South Carolina College search
- Jefferson, Thomas; Correspondence; letters of application and recommendation to search
- patronage; letters of application and recommendation to TJ search
- South Carolina College (later University of South Carolina); faculty applicants search
- Vanuxem, Lardner Clark; as professor at South Carolina College search
- Virginia, University of; Board of Visitors; and faculty recruitment search
- Virginia, University of; Faculty and Curriculum; faculty applicants search