In 1824 Doctor Erastus Tuttle, who had been physician and sur- geon of the State Prison for nine years, established a medical school in Auburn, hoping to obtain a charter for it from the Legislature. He lectured to a small class of about a dozen students that autumn and winter, and in January, 1825, explained his project at a public meeting, receiving hearty indorsement. William H. Seward, George B. Throop, Horace Hills and Doctor Ira H. Smith, along with Doctor Tuttle himself, were appointed a committee to me- morialize the Legislature on the subject and obtain a charter. Lec- tures were continued by Doctor Tuttle and medical coadjutors until 1829, when the ambitious founder of the institution died. Doctor John H. Morgan then sought to carry on the college, and as- sociated some able men with him, but the establishment of a medical department in Hobart College influenced the Legislature to deny Auburn's application for a charter, and interest in the institution died out, and the project failed.