University of Virginia Library

VI. Courses of Instruction—Professional, Continued

It has been affirmed that the senior John Staige Davis,
the second demonstrator of anatomy in the history of the
School of Medicine, was the first instructor in the annals
of that school to encourage the members of his class
to learn for themselves through individual dissections.
This practical method of teaching was carried further in
this department during the Eighth Period, 1896–1904,
than it had been during any of the periods which antedated
it. It was in the expansion of laboratory facilities
that the growth of the department in practical usefulness
was now most discernible. That expansion, as we
have seen, had become increasingly perceptible after
the election of Professor Tuttle, in 1888, to the chair of
biology. Down to 1907, he continued to offer a course
in medical biology, the most important feature of which,

perhaps, was the instruction in histology in the laboratory
during one half of the year. In 1892–93, he assumed
charge of the course in bacteriology, in which laboratory
instruction was given during fourteen weeks of
the session.[11] A course in pathology,—which included
four hours of laboratory work each week, from November
to April,—was undertaken by the younger John
Staige Davis, who had been appointed Professor Tuttle's
assistant.

But the Faculty was still discontented with the progress
of the department. "The lack of a hospital," they asserted
in June, 1895, in their report to the Visitors,
"stands as a bar to our keeping pace with the improvement
in other schools, and we, therefore, urge the necessity
of securing it." These schools,—even in the South,
—with their improved clinical facilities had already become
destructive competitors. Not long before the occurrence
of the Great Fire, the General Faculty asked the
medical faculty to draft a scheme that would provide for
a three years medical course; and this change, when proposed
to the Board, was adopted by that body. The
distribution in force from the session of 1895–96, was as
follows: the studies of the first year embraced anatomy,
histology, bacteriology, and chemistry; those of the second,
physiology, pathology, materia medica, and obstetrics;
of the third, surgery, gynecology, practice of medicine,
hygiene, and medical jurisprudence. The theory of
this arrangement was that the first year should be given
up to the acquisition of those special sciences which were
to form the foundation of the whole work of the course;
and the second year, to the mastering of those more distinctly

medical sciences which were based on the work of
the first year, and also of professional subjects of study.
The third year was to be entirely taken up with the latter
subjects. The course of the first year also called for a
large degree of practical research in the laboratory and
the dissecting room.

With the adoption of a three years course, it became
necessary to provide for reexaminations at the end of the
second and third sessions in case of a student's failure to
reach the prescribed standard in his examinations on some
of the subjects of the previous session. The course was
already so long and so varied that few candidates for the
degree would have been willing to cover the whole of any
single year again, should he have fallen short in his examinations
in one or two branches only. He must, however,
have passed satisfactorily in at least two of the
studies pursued during the previous session and attained
on one or more of the remaining subjects a standard approved
by the Faculty. If the student had attended one
course of lectures spread over seven months, or two
courses spread over fourteen months, in another medical
school of high repute, he was to enjoy the right to graduate
in the University's department of medicine at the
end of one year or two years, in correspondence with the
length of his previous studies elsewhere. But he must
have first passed a successful examination at the University
of Virginia[12] on all the subjects which had been
embraced in this course in the medical school with which
he had been previously associated.

These different provisions, valuable as they were, still
did not satisfy the paramount aspiration of the medical
faculty. What they still desired most was the establishment
of a modern hospital, which would furnish the clinical

facilities now more pressingly demanded than ever, if
the prestige of their department was to be maintained.
The professors of that department pointed out that the
three years course was, after all, a three years course only
in name, as the graduate was compelled to pass at least
twelve months in some hospital elsewhere in order to obtain
the indispensable knowledge of clinics. It is true
that the department was still in possession of a dispensary
in which about three thousand cases were annually
treated; but the drawback to this fact, advantageous as it
was, was the brevity of the time that could be allotted
to each patient, for it did not pretend to be more than
out-door practice. The medical faculty earnestly disclaimed
any wish or intention on their part to abandon
the theoretical plan of teaching. A hospital, they said,
in reality, would be only the logical upshot of the traditions
of the school. It would be merely an extension of
the pathological laboratory. "Theory and practice,"
they declared, "had become so closely related that men
like Pasteur had been obliged to leave their research for
the causes of disease and to try to find out its treatment."

It was estimated by a committee of the General Faculty
that the erection and maintenance of a hospital would
entail an expense of at least seventy-five thousand dollars.
Of this amount, about twenty-five thousand would
be required for the mere building. No action was taken
by the Board until March 2, 1899, and when they did
move, it was chiefly due to the influence of the chairman
of the Faculty, Professor Barringer, of the medical department,
who, with all the persistence of a modern Cato,
had never ceased to emphasize the need for hospital
facilities. The sum of one hundred and fifty dollars was
appropriated for the drafting of plans for suitable structures.
Paul J. Pelz, the architect of Randall Hall and

the Congressional Library, was employed for the purpose.
He submitted a scheme for a short corridor pavilion
hospital, consisting of a central administration
building, with pavilions on either side having the breadth
and length to afford the area required for one hundred
and fifty beds. This plan having received the approval
of the Board, that body reserved twenty thousand dollars
out of the Fayerweather Fund, yet to be collected, with
which to make a start upon the building; but it was not
until October 10 of the same year, (1899),—in consequence
of the delay caused by the litigation over that
bequest,—that it became practicable to deposit $9,200 in
the hands of the construction committee, composed of
Professors Barringer, Mallet and Davis, for immediate
use so far as that sum would be able to go. Barringer
was instructed to solicit, during his vacation, contributions
from the alumni and public at large to repay the expense
of pushing the work to a finish. After the structure had
been raised to the second story, it was found necessary
to draw upon the general income of the University in
order to put the walls under roof.

The administration building was inaugurated in April,
1901. It had cost the sum of $26,600, about one-fourth
more than the original calculation, owing to the advance
in prices. This building contained the offices, operating
rooms, and clinical laboratories. It was not at first intended
for the accommodation of patients; but after a
short interval (1902), several rooms on the second floor
occupied by nurses and the solarium, together with some
space on the first floor, were thrown open to admit the
beds of twenty-five patients. The building continued to
be used as a general hospital until the pavilions had been
added. During the session of 1903–04, the General Assembly
appropriated the sum of $31,000, and with this

supplementary amount, one of these structures was
erected.

In the enlarged design for the entire hospital as finally
drafted (1904), the group was to consist of a row of
rectangular edifices, separated by open spaces about
thirty-five feet in length. The administration building
was to stand in the centre. On each side of it were to be
placed two other buildings, which were to contain separate
wards for white and colored patients, male and
female. The University infirmary was to be erected at
the south end of the group, and a lecture-hall at the north
end. The plan for the entire number of edifices was not
carried out in actual construction until after the close of
the Eighth Period 1896–1904. By the end of 1904,
however, six hundred and fifty-seven patients had been admitted
to the wards then in use, and the hospital was already
fulfilling with conspicuous success the clinical purposes
which the medical faculty, led by Professor Barringer,
had so persistently and so wisely harped upon in
their unbending determination to secure the establishment
in the end.

By the session of 1895–96, the faculty of the medical
department comprised Mallet, of the School of Chemistry,
Tuttle, of the School of Biology, Barringer, of the
School of Physiology and Materia Medica, and A. H.
Buckmaster, of the School of Gynecology, Obstetrics, and
Practice, while Christian was the professor of anatomy
and surgery, John Staige Davis, the adjunct professor of
pathology and hygiene, and H. S. Hedges, the demonstrator
of anatomy. Davis was subsequently succeeded by
William A. Lambeth as the professor of hygiene. The
Faculty in October, 1898, recommended that Davis
should be appointed to a new chair to be devoted to
courses in pathology, clinical diagnosis, and surgical diseases.[13]

It was also to include practical laboratory instruction.
During the last session (1904–1905) of the
Eighth Period, the medical faculty was made up of Professors
Mallet, Tuttle, Barringer, Christian, Buckmaster,
Davis, Dunnington, and Flippen, with Lambeth as
professor of hygiene and materia medica. Dr. Flippen
was the adjunct professor of bacteriology. There were
numerous assistants, instructors, and demonstrators.

During the session of 1898–99, the different courses of
the medical department were for the first time distributed
over a period of four years. The studies for the first
year were to embrace chemistry, descriptive anatomy and
biology; for the second, physiology, bacteriology, general
pathology; regional anatomy, and hygiene; for the third,
embryology, obstetrics, practice of medicine, surgery, special
pathology, clinical diagnosis, and materia medica; for
the fourth, the practice of medicine, therapeutics, clinical
surgery, dermatology, diseases of eye and ear, gynecology,
and medical jurisprudence. During the fourth
year, the previous laboratory courses in histology, pathology
and comparative anatomy were to be extended, and
additional work in chemistry and physics was also then
to be required. Professors Dunnington and W. J. Humphreys
were the lecturers on the last two subjects.

During the following session (1899–1900), the medical
faculty announced that, in the future, they would expect
of every medical student at his first matriculation,
"evidence of adequate preparation for the work of the
medical department." For the present, they said, they
would be content with the proof of his possession of a
sound general education. It would be looked upon as sufficient
proof of this fact should the applicant be able to

show that he had obtained the degree of bachelor of
arts from a seat of learning of collegiate rank; or be
able to present a certificate of good standing in the
classes of such an institution; or the diploma of graduation
in a high school of reputation, whether public or
private; or a testimonial of excellent character from the
principal of such a school. If thought to be advisable,
the applicant could be further required to demonstrate
his proficiency by the test of an actual examination.

In 1901, a training school for nurses was established
at the University; and two years afterwards, the first
class was graduated. The instruction in the primary
branches was given by the professors in the medical
school; the instruction in clinics by the professors or their
assistants who were attached to the hospital.