[Footnote 58: Doctor David W. Yandell thus writes of Doctor Short as connected with the Medical Institute of Louisville: "Dr. Short was a most valuable officer. His high scientific attainment, the soundness of his judgment, high dignity and urbanity of manner, his amiable temper and blameless life added character and weight to the institution. Botany was his favorite pursuit. He found the flora of this region (Louisville) virgin and unknown, and so collected, arranged, and classified it that his successors in this field have been able to change nothing and to add but little to his work."] [Footnote 59: We see in the records of the Trustees of Transylvania University that on March 17, 1832, Doctor Short was elected President _pro tem._ of Transylvania University "during the pleasure of the Board," but there is no mention of his acceptance. The fact is, Professors Short, Caldwell, and Dudley acted alternately as President _pro tem._ on public occasions and in signing diplomas, etc., until a President could be elected. The Reverend B. O. Peers was inaugurated President _pro tem._, 1833, and the Reverend Thomas W. Coit, an eminent Episcopalian divine from New England, was installed as President in 1835.] [Footnote 60: The resignation of his predecessor, Doctor Blythe, took place March 16, 1831. (See Records of Transylvania University.)] [Footnote 61: One of his ancestors was General William Eaton, the hero of Derne.] [Footnote 62: In the chemical course of lectures the subject of Electricity was given up to him entirely. He lectured on it as well as performed the experiments.] [Footnote 63: In the catalogue of the Rensselaer School, 1828, appears in the list of undergraduates, "Robert Peter, Pittsburg, Pa., Lecturer on the Experimental and Demonstrative Sciences, Druggist."] [Footnote 64: This "Eclectic Institute" occupied the "colonial" residence on Second Street, now forming a part of the Hagerman Female College. Mr. Peers, H. A. Griswold, and H. H. Eaton were already associated.] [Footnote 65: Doctor Mitchell says (1838): "Dr. Peter added to the Chemical Department several powerful galvanic batteries and a fine collection of apparatus recently procured from the East, making the laboratory more complete than it ever has been before." (Historical Catalogue, 1838.)] [Footnote 66: Of the books, apparatus, etc., purchased in Europe by Doctor Peter we find the following account rendered on March 25, 1839: "Books and plates, six thousand dollars; chemical apparatus, two thousand five hundred dollars; preparations for anatomy and surgery, one thousand five hundred dollars; models for obstetrics, five hundred dollars; specimens for materia medica and therapeutics and drawing, five hundred dollars. A total of eleven thousand dollars."]