 | Catalogue of the University of Virginia |  |
VI.—MEDICINE.
PROFESSOR HOWARD.
In this school are taught Medical Jurisprudence, Obstetrics, the
Principles and the Practice of Medicine. It is composed of two
classes. One of Medical Jurisprudence, and consists of law,
academical and medical students. The other of Obstetrics, the
Principles and the Practice of Medicine, and consists wholly of
medical students. To allow the medical student time to attain
proficiency in Anatomy and Physiology, Chemistry, and Materia
Medica, before he is required to apply these branches in the study
of the Principles and the Practice of Medicine, the course is opened
with Medical Jurisprudence, which is followed by Obstetrics,
and both are completed before the Principles or the Practice of
Medicine are entered upon.
MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.
The lectures on this branch show the aid which legislation and
the administration of the laws derive from medicine, and consist
chiefly of the application of the principles of medical science to
the elucidation and administration of the laws, and the legal decisions
in cases of insanity, every variety of mental impairment,
crime, &c. , &c. Text-Books:—the Professor's Outlines, and
Beck or Taylor.
OBSTETRICS.
The lectures on this branch comprehend an account of all
labours, natural, preternatural, and instrumental, the professional
assistance to be afforded in each, the treatment of a female before,
during, and after delivery, and the diseases of infancy. The
lectures are amply illustrated by specimens and plates, and all
manual evolutions, and the application of instruments, are demonstrated
on the improved phantome of Hebermehl. The students
also practice manual and instrumental delivery on the manikin.
Text-Book:—the last edition of Meigs' Midwifery.
THE PRINCIPLES OF MEDICINE.
The Principles of Medicine, as taught in this school, comprise
General Pathology, and a brief view of General Therapeutics;
also Etiology, Nosology, Semeiology, Diagnosis, and Prognosis.
The nature and division of causes are first considered, which introduces
the student to their effects—disease. Pathology proper
is next considered under the two forms, Functional and Structural
and proximate, are analyzed into their constituent parts, and
the elements considered separately before they are contemplated
in combination. Structural diseases, being rarely confined to one
anatomical element, cannot be strictly distinguished into ultimate
and proximate elements, and are therefore arranged under the three
heads: increased, diminished, and perverted nutrition. After the
student thoroughly understands the nature of the causes of diseases,
their divisions, modes of operation; and the resulting effects upon
function and structure in the ultimate and proximate elements of
disease, a general view is given of the influences that can be
brought to remove or counteract their elements. And the course
on the Principles is then concluded by the consideration of nosology,
semeiology, diagnosis, prognosis, and the different modes of
death. Text-Books:—Wood's General Pathology, and General
Therapeutics.
PRACTICE OF MEDICINE, OR SPECIAL PATHOLOGY AND SPECIAL
THERAPEUTICS.
As the most natural and practically useful arrangement, all local
diseases are classified and treated of according to their locality, or
the organ or set of organs which they affect; whilst general diseases
are arranged altogether pathologically. Much attention is given
to Physical Diagnosis. Pathological Anatomy occupies a conspicuous
place in the course, and is illustrated by Carswell's large
and splendid colored plates, and, when practicable, by specimens.
Text-Book:—Wood's Practice of Medicine.
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