 | Catalogue of the University of Virginia |  |
COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.
The session commences on the 1st of October, and continues
without interruption until the 29th of June.
The mode of instruction is by lectures and text-books, accompanied
by rigid daily and stated examinations.
In each school there are three regular lectures a week, besides
many others suited to the several subjects into which the school is
divided.
SCHOOLS.
I.—ANCIENT LANGUAGES.
PROFESSOR HARRISON.
In this school are taught the Latin and Greek languages; the
Greek and Roman History, Geography, and Literature; and the
Hebrew language. The instruction is given partly by lectures
and examinations, and partly by comments on portions of the
text-books appointed to be read by the student.
In Latin there are two classes, a Junior and a Senior, and so
in Greek.
The text-books used in the several classes are chiefly the following:
1. In the Junior Latin Class: Zumpts' Latin Grammar,
Krebs' Guide, Virgil, Horace, Cicero's Orations and his Epistolæ
ad Diversos, Terence, and Cæsar's Commentaries, the last
chiefly with a view to the written exercises.
2. In the Senior Latin Class: Zumpt's Latin Grammar,
Krebs' Guide, Horace, Juvenal, Livy and Tacitus.
3. In the Junior Greek Class: Kühner's Elementary Greek
Grammar, Xenophon's Anabasis, Herodotus and a play of Euripides
or Æschylus. The Greek-English Lexicon of Liddell and
Scott is that preferred.
4. In the Senior Greek Class: Kühner's Larger Greek Grammar,
Euripides, Sophocles, Thucydides and Homer.
5. For the Roman History, studied in the Senior Latin Class,
Schmitz' History of Rome is used as a text-book. Niebuhr's
History of Rome, the History of Rome published by the Society
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Arnold's History of Rome
and the maps of ancient Italy published by the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge are recommended
6. For the Ancient History of Greece, studied in the Senior
Greek Class, the History of Greece published by the Society for
the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, or Thirlwall's History of
Greece, and the maps published by the Society for the Diffusion
of Useful Knowledge are recommended.
It is expected of the students of Latin and Greek that they will
read in their rooms such authors and parts of authors, prescribed
by the Professor, as cannot be read in the lecture-room; e. g.:
Cicero's Epistles to Atticus, his Orations (selected,) and Treatise
De Republica, Sallust, Virgil, Terence, Plautus, Æschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Demosthenes, Æschines,
Thucydides, Plato, &c.
As an essential part of the plan of instruction, the students of
each class are required to furnish written exercises; which consist
in the conversion of Latin or Greek into English, and of English
into Latin or Greek. The exercises are examined by the Professor
and the errors marked; they are then returned to the students,
and the corrections stated and explained in the presence of the
class. For these exercises the classic authors are used as a text,
aided in Latin by Krebs' Guide.
7. Hebrew: The text-books are Biblia Hebraica, Nordheimer's
or Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar, and Gesenii Lexicon
Manuale Hebr. et Chald., or Sauerwein's edition of Rehkopf's
Lex. Hebr. Chald.
In the written translations required as a test of the qualifications
of candidates for degrees, the passages used are selected by the
committee of examination, not from the portions of authors which
have been read and explained in the lecture-room, but at will
from the classic writers generally.
II.—MODERN LANGUAGES.
PROFESSOR SCHELE DE VERE.
The subjects taught in this school are:
1. The French, Italian, Spanish and German Languages, the
English in its Anglo-Saxon Form, and their Literature.
2. The History and Geography of Europe from the fall of the
Roman Empire to the present day.
There are two classes in French, one for beginners, the other
for more advanced students; and the same arrangement is made,
when necessary, in the other languages. Opportunity is also
given to practise speaking the languages. The method of
instruction is by lectures, examinations, written exercises, and
comments on the text-books as read in the lecture-room, the
principal classic authors in each language being used for this
purpose.
Two degrees in this school are required as a condition for obtaining
the degree of A. M.
III.—MATHEMATICS.
PROFESSOR COURTENAY.
In this school there are four classes.
Of these, the Junior commences with the theory of Arithmetic,
the student being supposed to have rendered himself practically
familiar with its various rules before entering the University.
The elements of Algebra are then taught, and after the first
Geometry are pursued simultaneously.
In the second or Intermediate Class, after completing the course
of Algebra, commenced in the preceding class, there are taught
successively the theory of Plane and Spherical Trigonometry,
with the application of the former to the measurement of heights
and distances, and of the latter to Nautical Astronomy, the theory
and practice of Land Surveying and Levelling, Navigation, and
Descriptive Geometry, with its applications to Spherical Projections,
Shadows, and Perspective.
The Senior Class begins with the subject of Analytical Geometry,
and subsequently studies the Differential Calculus, concluding
the course of Pure Mathematics with the Integral Calculus.
There is also a class of Mixed Mathematics, designed exclusively
for such of the more advanced students as may desire to
study the subjects taught therein.
The course embraces the mathematical investigation of the
general laws of equilibrium and motion, both of solids and fluids,
with a variety of applications, especially to Physical Astronomy.
The instruction in each class is conveyed partly by lectures,
and partly by the systematic study of approved text-books, the
student being assisted by full and frequent explanations from the
Professor, and being constantly subjected to rigid examinations.
The progress of the student in every class is also tested by his being
required to perform written exercises, in which the principles
acquired are applied to the solution of particular problems.
The text-books used are: for the Junior Class, Lacroix' or
Davies' Arithmetic, Davies' Bourdon's Algebra, and Legendre's
Geometry. For the Intermediate Class, Bourdon's Algebra, Legendre's
Geometry and Trigonometry, Davies' Surveying, and
Descriptive Geometry. For the Senior Class, Davies' Analytical
Geometry, Young's Differential Calculus, and Young's Integral
Calculus.
Any student entering the school has the privilege of attending
all or any of the classes, as he may elect, and if prepared to enter
an advanced class, may often find it highly advantageous to review
his previous studies by an attendance on a lower class also.
IV.—NATURAL PHILOSOPHY.
PROFESSOR WILLIAM B. ROGERS.
There are three classes in this school: the Junior and Senior
classes of Natural Philosophy, and the class of Geology and Mineralogy.
In the Junior class the illustrations are experimental and graphical.
In the Senior class the subjects, where they admit of it,
comprehensive view of general Physics, the instructions are given
by lectures, aided from time to time by text-books. The following
is the plan of the course:
TERRESTRIAL MECHANICS.
1. General or Rational Mechanics; consisting of Statics and
Dynamics, or the doctrines of Equilibrium and Motion, and their
various applications.
2. Mechanics of Solids.—Molecular Structure of Solids, Excitement
and Transfer of Force, Elements of Machinery, Friction,
Strength of Materials, Motive Powers, &c.
3. Mechanics of Liquids.—Molecular Structure, Resulting
Laws of Equilibrium and Pressure, Flotation, Specific Gravities,
Waves, Motions through Pipes, &c., Resistance, Hydraulic
Machines, &c.
4. Mechanics of Airs.—Molecular Structure, Elasticity, &c.;
Atmosphere, Barometers and Formulæ, Resistance, Pneumatic
Machines, Hydro-Pneumatic do., &c.
5. Capillarity and Endosmose.—Laws and Theory of Capillarity,
Laws of Diffusion, &c.
6. Acoustics.—Mechanism of Molecular Vibrations, Sound-waves,
Propagation and Reflection, Musical Vibration of Chords,
&c.; Musical Scales and Instruments, Speech and Hearing, &c.
7. Thermotics or Heat.—Temperature, Expansion, Latent and
Specific Heat, Heat of Combination, Conduction, &c.; Melloni's
Laws, Vapours, Metereology, Steam Engine, &c.
8. Electricity.—1st. Mechanical. Excitation, Conduction,
&c.; Atmospheric; 2d. Chemical. Excitation, Transfer, Effects,
&c.; Natural Sources and Application of Electricity, &c.
9. Magnetism.—1st. Statical. Induction, Distribution, &c.;
Magnetism of Globe, Dip, &c.; 2d. By Currents. Electro-Magnetic
Phenomena and Laws, Thermo-Electricity, &c.
10. Optics.—Propagation, Reflection, Refraction of Light;
Chromatics, Dispersion, Polarization, &c.; Theories, Optical
Instruments, Photography, the Eye, &c.
CELESTIAL MECHANICS OR ASTRONOMY.
1. Descriptive Astronomy.—General View of Celestial Phenomena,
Modes of Observing and Computing the Places and
Motions of the Heavenly Bodies, Theory of Celestial Motions,
&c.
2. Physical Astronomy.—Investigation of Forces, Planetary
Gravitation, Perturbations, Tides, Nebular Theory, &c.
In the class of Geology and Mineralogy especial attention
The great mineral zones are described by reference to maps
and sections, the order of stratification pointed out, the nature of
the materials shown by specimens, and the relations of all these
features to the agriculture and other resources of the country particularly
dwelt upon. Modes of exploring are taught and methods
given for the analysis of ores, rocks, and soils.
Text Books.—Reference is made in the Junior class to Müller's
Physics, Golding Bird's Natural Philosophy, and the Treatises of
Herschell, Brewster, &c.; in the Senior, to Young's Analytical
Mechanics, and Norton's Astronomy; in Geology, to Lyell,
Trimmer, or De La Beche; and in Mineralogy, to Allen, Dana,
or any of the leading works.
V.—CIVIL ENGINEERING.
This school comprises the following branches of instruction, viz:
I. Graphical Mathematics, embracing Descriptive Geometry,
Perspective Mensuration, &c.
II. Theory of Levelling and Surveying, both ordinary and
topographical.
III. Theory of Roads, Railroads, Canals, Bridges, &c.
IV. Theoretical Mechanics, Hydrostatics, and Hydrodynamics,
as connected with engineering.
V. Laws of Heat and Steam, Theory and Construction of the
Steam Engine.
VI. Geology and Mineralogy.
VII. Levelling, Surveying, &c., taught practically in the field.
VIII. Plan Drawing, Plotting, Topographical Drawing and
Sketching.
The subjects named under the six first heads are divided between
the Professors of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.
Those included under the 7th and 8th heads are taught by the
Teacher of Drawing, under the superintendence of the Professor
above mentioned.
VI.—CHEMISTRY AND MATERIA MEDICA.
PROFESSOR R. E. ROGERS.
CHEMISTRY.
This subject, included in the medical as well as the general
academic course, and forming a department of the School of
Chemistry and Materia Medica, may be studied separately, or in
conjunction with the latter.
The Lectures, which are delivered twice a week throughout
theoretical or practical importance in the science, and in its applications
to Mineralogy, Geology, the Chemical Arts, Agriculture,
and Physiology.
Beginning with an account of the phenomena and laws of
Heat, Light, and Electricity, Mechanical and Voltaic, the course
next takes up the doctrines of chemical reaction, presenting a full
and minute view of the principles of definite combination, with
their hypothetical expression in the form of the atomic theory,
and illustrating these doctrines by numerous experiments and
drawings. To this succeeds Pneumatic Chemistry, in which are
discussed the preparations, properties, and applications of the
various gaseous bodies and their compounds.
This is followed by the detailed account of the metals, their
oxides, chlorides, and other compounds, connecting with each
metal the chemical history of its important salts. A résumé is
now given, accompanied by illustrations of the various processes
of analysis deduced from the preceding facts.
Organic Chemistry is next taken up, embracing an account of
all the more important organic acids, alkaloids, and neutral principles,
together with a view of the alcoholic, aceteous, and other
fermentations; the Chemistry of nutrition, growth, respiration,
&c., in the vegetable and animal economy; and that of soils and
manures, as connected with agriculture.
In connection with these topics, experimental illustrations are
given of all the valuable processes for detecting poisons and for
counteracting their effects. The more important operations of
analysis, as applied to ores, marls, &c., are also described and
exemplified.
Throughout the course, use is constantly made of ample diagrams
illustrating the chemical reactions, according to the method
of equivalents; and the bearings of the recent generalizations of
Dumas, Liebig, Kane, Graham, and others, are particularly referred
to.—Text-Book, Rogers' Turner.
MATERIA MEDICA.
The course of Materia Medica embraces:
I.—General Therapeutics, or an account of the effects of the
various classes of remedies on the organism, and their modus
operandi, so far as understood.
II.—Special Therapeutics, or the application of these agents
to individual diseases, as suggested by experience or the theory of
the particular disease.
III.—A detailed account of the medical agents, in their commercial
history, physical properties, chemical habitudes, pharmaceutical
preparations, doses, and the medical applications.
To aid the student in arranging the multifarious details of the
subject, and to abridge the labor of note-taking, a tabular digest
of all the topics treated of, is at each lecture placed before the
class. Upon this and the details of the lecture, the student is expected
to be prepared, as well as upon the corresponding parts of
the text-book.
The means of illustration in Materia Medica are unusually
ample, embracing a very full series of specimens of medicines in
their various states, and an extensive suit of colored drawings of
medical plants, on an enlarged scale. Text-Book: Dunglison's
Therapeutics and Materia Medica.
The lectures on Chemistry are delivered twice a week; those
on Materia Medica once a week, throughout the course. Meetings
for examinations are held separately generally three times a
week.
VII.—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 consisting of law,
acedemical and medical students. The other of Obstetrics, the
Principles and the Practice of Medicine, and consisting 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
labors, natural, preternatural, and instrumental, the professiona
assistance to be afforded in each, the treatment of a female before
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—diseases. Pathology proper
is next considered under the two forms, Functional and Structural
diseases. Functional diseases, being composed of elements, ultimate
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-Book—Wood's Pathology.
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.
VIII.—ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND SURGERY.
PROFESSOR CABELL.
There are two classes in this School, one of Anatomy and Surgery,
the other of Physiology.
In the former the lectures are illustrated by the demonstration
of wet and dry anatomical preparations, by the use of the splendid
anatomical plates of Bourgery and Jacob, and especially by dissection
of fresh subjects with which the School is abundantly
supplied.
A full course of lectures on Anatomy is completed before the
course on Surgery is commenced, each course embracing a term
of about four and a half months.
In the lectures to the class on Physiology are considered the
functions of the various organs of the body, the mode in which
they are accomplished and the influence of external agents, as
well as of the reactions of the organs on each other, whether as
healthy vital stimuli or as sources of disease. The Professor aims
to adapt his lectures in this class to the wants of the unprofessional
student, who may desire to include in a course of liberal education
an acquaintance with the general principles of the Science
of life.
In both classes the students are subjected to rigid examinations
on the lectures and occasionally on portions of some approved
text-book.
Books recommended:
On Anatomy: any one of the treatises in the subjoined list:
Goddard's Wilson's Anatomy—Horner's Special Anatomy and
Histology—Pancoast's Wistar's Anatomy—Pattieson's Cruveilhier's
Anatomy.
On Surgery: Druitt's Modern Surgery and Miller's Principles
of Surgery.
On Physiology: Carpenter's Elements of Physiology, or Human
Physiology by the same author.
DEPARTMENT OF PRACTICAL ANATOMY.
DR. J. S. DAVIS, DEMONSTRATOR OF ANATOMY.
This department is under the immediate charge of the Demonstrator,
with a general supervision on the part of the Professor of
Anatomy and Surgery, and is abundantly provided with fresh
subjects for the use of the members of the class.
As, owing to the length of the session, the medical students
attend but two lectures a day, ample time is allowed them for
private dissection by day-light.
MEDICAL SCHOOL.
From the foregoing announcement it will be seen that by the
organization of the University, provision is made for teaching all
the branches of Medical Science.
A joint committee of the two houses of the Legislative Assembly,
appointed to investigate the affairs of the University, having
had then attention directed to the peculiar features of this school,
appended to their Report a notice of the advantages resulting from
the direct connection of a Medical School with a general University,
from which the following statement is extracted:
1. Length of Session.—Nearly all the medical schools of this
country are located in our cities or larger towns, and have only a
nominal connection with the colleges from which they borrow
their names and chartered privileges. In these schools the usual
length of a term of instruction by courses of lectures is four
months. In order to embrace all the important branches of Medical
Science in a course of instruction compressed into so short a
term, it is found necessary to employ the services of six or seven
Professors, who deliver six lectures a day. By this arrangement
the students, if they attend all the lectures, are required to spend
nearly the whole of the day in listening to lectures delivered in
rapid succession, and treating of diverse topics. None but those
who have had personal experience in this matter, can fully appreciate
the troubles and difficulties which beset a tyro at the commencement
of his attendance upon lectures, the fatigue of body
and perplexity of mind which he inevitably experiences in his
painful efforts to hear every lecture, and master every subject. In
attempting, after the close of the lectures for the day, to bring in
review the topics discussed by his teachers, he finds links in the
chain here and there broken, he flies from one subject of thought
to another, without adequately mastering any, and confounded
by their number and the utter impossibility of keeping pace in
his private reading at night with the lectures of six Professors, he
despairs of doing more than retaining such portion of the facts
stated in the lectures as may happen to make the strongest impression
on his mind.
In the Medical Department of this institution, the length of the
session, which is nine months, enables three Professors to perform
all the duties which are elsewhere assigned to six. The students
attend but two lectures a day, and thus have ample time for
private reading and for pursuing their Anatomical dissections.
2. System of Daily Examinations.—Immediately before each
lecture, the students in every school of the University are subjected
to a rigid examination on the subject of the preceding lecture, or
on portions of some approved text-book.
Experience has shown this to be an almost necessary adjunct to
the system of teaching by lectures, and it is felt to be of such importance
that the students in other Medical Schools into which its
introduction to any adequate extent is precluded by want of time,
resort to the expedient of employing the services of private instructors
by whom they may be examined at nights on the topics
students for this necessary but extra-collegiate instruction, varies
from $30 to $50 in each case for the four months term of lectures,
and is usually about $100 for the whole year. These fees are
often received by the Professors themselves, in addition to the
usual collegiate fees.
The enactments of the Visiters of the University prescribe that
no Professor shall engage in pursuits of emolument unconnected
with the service of the University, or shall receive from the
members of his class any compensation in addition to that provided
for by the laws. They further require every Professor to
reside within the precincts, both for the purpose of assisting to
enforce the discipline of the college and of being accessible to
the students who may seek assistance in their private hours of
study. These students, then, enjoy here advantages which elsewhere
are purchased at a high price over and above the heavy
necessary collegiate expenses.
3. Order of Studies.—All Medical Colleges aim to place Medical
education on a scientific basis. Indeed, if the practice of the
healing art does not depend on general principles, embodied in
the fundamental sciences of Anatomy, Chemistry, Physiology,
Pathology, and Therapeutics, these branches of Medical Science
had as well be altogether omitted in a course of professional education.
If, however, it does so depend, the propriety and necessity
of laying a good foundation before the superstructure can be
reared, are too obvious to need illustration. This cannot be
done in city schools, in which, as above stated, the lectures on
the different branches of medicine are carried on simultaneously.
This system takes for granted that the students have "read," as
it is termed, with a private practitioner of medicine for a year at
least before he commences his attendance on lectures. This,
however, is not always the case, and when it occurs is not always
an advantage; for it to be observed that the fundamental branches
of Medical Science are precisely those which demand for their
illustration the apparatus only to be found within the walls of
colleges.
It is one of the peculiar advantages of the University Medical
School, that it unites, as may have been inferred from the preceding
remarks, the plan of instruction by private pupilage with that
of public lectures, while the length of the session puts it in the
power of the Professors to pursue a philosophical order of studies,
the students having an opportunity of mastering the elementary
branches before their attention is directed to their practical applications.
4. Conditions of Graduation.—The regulations for graduation
of the Medical schools in cities require that the student shall have
attended two full courses of Medical lectures, and shall have been
medicine. The latter part of this requisition is, however, rarely
insisted upon, although, as above stated, the fact of such previous
study is taken for granted.
At the University a consecutive course of nine months being
more than equivalent to two courses in the city schools in respect
to the time employed and the advantageous distribution of the
subjects of study, the students are permitted to take their diploma
at the end of one session, if they show themselves worthy. The
rigidness of the examinations deters the majority of the class from
making the trial, and none but the perseveringly diligent attain
the honor, which is here truly a testimonial of attainments.
5. Location in a Village.—This has been urged as an objection,
while in point of fact it is the circumstance on which most
of the advantages just cited depend. A residence in a country
village is, moreover, free in a large degree from the objections
that apply to a city in view of the temptations to extravagance
and dissipation in its worst forms.
The importance of the advantages attributed in the foregoing
notice to the Medical Department of this Institution, has been
tested by the experience of over twenty years, during which time
more than one thousand medical students have been educated.
6. It will be noticed that those students who desire to take
their diploma at a city school will yet find an advantage in
attending the first course in an institution organized on the plan
of the Medical Department of the University, by which they
avoid the expense of employing a private instructor, whose other
avocations may and commonly do disqualify him for the proper
discharge of his duties as a teacher.
IX.—MORAL PHILOSOPHY.
PROFESSOR M'GUFFEY.
There are three classes in this school.
The Junior Class studies Rhetoric, Belles-Lettres, and Philosophical
Criticism.
Text-Books.—Blair's Lectures, Campbell's Philosophy of
Rhetoric, (Alison on Taste,) (Montgomery's Lectures,) and
Kame's Elements of Criticism.
The Intermediate Class studies Political Economy, Statistics,
and the Philosophy of Social Relations, or "Ethics of Society."
Text-Books.—on Political Economy, (A. Smith,) Say,
(McCulloch,) Tucker (and Carey); on the Progress of Society,
(Ferguson,) Guizot, (Taylor,) and (McCinnon.)
The Senior Class studies Mental Philosophy, Logic, (inductive
and deductive,) together with Theoretical and Practical Ethics.
Text-Books.—on Mental Philosophy: Brown's Lectures,
Cousin's Psychology, in connection with Locke's Essay. On
Logic, (Mill), and Whately. On Ethics, (Butler), Stewart,
(Whewell), and Jouffroy.
The loctures will be carried on concurrently during the session,
two a week, to each class.
The examinations will be on the Professor's Lectures and the
text-books, that is, those books enumerated above the names of
which are not included in parentheses. Those so included are
to be consulted, but are not required to be studied as text-books.
X.—LAW.
PROFESSOR MINOR.
This school is arranged into two classes, Junior and Senior.
The Junior Class studies the Law of Nature and Nations, the
Science of Government, Constitutional Law, and the elementary
principles of Municipal Law.
The text-books used by it are Vattel's Law of Nations, the
Federalist, Madison's Report of 1799, and Blackstone's Commentaries;
in addition to which lectures are delivered on Government,
and on various topics of National and Constitutional Law, not
discussed in the text-books.
The subjects studied by the Senior Class are the Common and
Statute Law, the Principles of Equity, and Maritime and Commercial
Law.
The text-books in this class are Coke upon Littleton, (Thomas'
edition), Stephen on Pleading, Greenleaf on Evidence, Chitty
on Contracts, Smith's Mercantile Law, Matthews on Executors,
Holcomb's Equity Jurisprudence, Fonblanque's Equity, and
Mitford's Equity Pleading.
The student, for purposes of reference, should also be provided
with Gordon's Digest of the Laws of the U. States, Tate's
Digest of the Laws of Virginia, and Tucker's Commentaries.
The design of this arrangement of the school into two classes,
is, in part, to embrace in the Junior Course those studies which
not only form an essential part of a liberal professional education,
but which, from their universal interest and importance, constitute
a highly useful branch of general education, whilst the Senior
Course is occupied exclusively with the study of the theory and
practice of Law, as a profession.
Students may attend either class or both, and those not wishing
to study Municipal Law at all, can enter for that portion of
the Junior Course which includes national Law, Government,
and Constitutional Law. Candidates for a degree are required to
attend both classes.
Comments are delivered by the Professor on the text-books of
both classes, the purpose of which is to supply what is deficient,
and explain what is obscure in the text, and to induce a thorough
practical comprehension of the subject under consideration. In
his observations on Municipal Law, the Professor refers to the
leading cases and authorities, American and English, which tend
to illustrate the topic in hand, and particularly explains, in its
appropriate connection, the Statute Law of Virginia, and of the
United States, and its effect on the preöxisting law. Each daily
lecture is preceded by an examination on that of the preceding
day, together with its text.
A moot-court is instituted in connection with the school, upon
a plan conforming minutely to the organization of the courts of
the country, the exercises of which are directed, under the immediate
superintendence of the Professor, with a view to familiarize
the student with the practical details of his profession. His
opinion is required on supposed cases; he is called upon to devise
and to institute remedies, by suit or otherwise, to conduct suits at
law, and in chancery, from their inception, through all their
stages, to draw wills, conveyances, and assurances; and, in short,
to discharge most of the functions devolving upon a practitioner
of the law.
Graduates in the school of Law, have the title of Bachelor of
Laws, and, by Act of the Legislature, the diploma is equivalent
to a license from the Judges.
| Catalogue of the University of Virginia | |