ABSTRACT
The unique nature of Johns Hopkins university originated in the strange will of Johns Hopkins, the wealthy Quaker merchant who died on December 24, 1873. In his will Hopkins instructed twelve chosen trustees—seven Quakers and five lawyers—to use half of his seven-million-dollar fortune to found a hospital and the other half to establish "a different kind of college". In his first year, John R. Commons took Professor Richard T. Ely's courses in History of Political Economy, Special Economic Questions, and Elements of Political Economy. In a letter to James Monroe, John R. confessed that his first year at Hopkins had shaken his faith in Henry George's simple view of capitalism and in his simple solution to capitalism's problems. John R. left Hopkins without a degree, but, as Joseph Dorfman noted, he left "professionally trained and entirely ready to grapple with technical problems".
