Harvard Medical School got its start in 1783 when John Warren, a surgeon in the American Revolution, began giving lectures for the Boston Medical Society. These lectures were so popular that Harvard College (from which Warren had graduated in 1771) saw the opportunity to catch up with its rivals, the College of Philadelphia and King's College (Columbia University), both of which had established medical schools. When it was first established in 1783, the Medical Institution of Harvard College had little money, a few pieces of laboratory equipment, and a dingy classroom in the basement of Harvard Hall. Warren was appointed professor of anatomy and surgery, Benjamin Waterhouse (unpopular and pretentious, but the best-educated doctor in New England professor of theory and practice of physic, and Aaron Dexter professor of chemistry. Students who could pay their tees were admitted; there were no entrance exams. Since some of the students...