University of Virginia annual announcements, with a catalogue of the officers and students of the University of Virginia

The session of the Medical Department continues through the full nine
months of the University session. This arrangement enables five professors
to do thoroughly the work which is often allotted to a larger number
in institutions whose session is much shorter.

The importance of a knowledge of Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology,
before commencing the study of the more practical branches, is fully
recognized; and the course of study is so arranged, that during the first
half session the instruction is in these important elementary branches.
During the same time the subjects of Medical Jurisprudence and Obstetrics,
especially the mechanical features of the latter branch, are studied
by the class.

The courses and methods of instruction in the several Schools of the
Department are as follows:

SCHOOL OF GENERAL CHEMISTRY.

Prof. Mallet.

In this School the students are taught thoroughly Chemical Physics and
the principles of Chemistry; and their attention is directed, whenever an
occasion presents itself, to the application of chemical principles to the
Practice of Medicine, Therapeutics, Toxicology and Sanitary Science.
(See p. 28.)

Text-Book:—Fownes's Chemistry. For reference:—Charles's Physiological and
Pathological Chemistry; Wormley's Micro-Chemistry of Poisons.

SCHOOL OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACY.

Prof. Dunnington.

In this School two distinct courses of instruction are offered to students
of Medicine:

I. A course, intended to supplement the instruction in General Chemistry,
consisting of sixteen lessons in the laboratory upon the practical
applications of Chemistry to Medicine. Students are taught the methods
of detecting poisons and of examining animal products (blood, urine, etc.),
chemically and under the microscope.

For this course, if taken, a fee of $15 is charged; the cost of material
is $5 additional.

II A course in practical Pharmaceutical manipulations. This instruction
is offered to those members of the regular Medical classes who desire
to avail themselves of it, without extra charge for tuition, provided
they engage to attend throughout the course. The benefit of such instruction
to physicians, who may often be obliged to put up their own
prescriptions, is obvious. The charge for material consumed is $5.

Both the courses in this School are optional, no examination in them
being required for the Medical degree.

SCHOOL OF ANATOMY AND MATERIA MEDICA.

Prof. Towles.

I. Anatomy.—The instruction in Descriptive, Surgical, and Topographical
Anatomy is given both by didactic lectures and in the
course of Practical Anatomy as taught in the Dissecting Hall. The endeavor
is, throughout, to render the teaching as completely practical as
possible; scarcely is there a statement made that is not illustrated by its
exhibition, either on actual dissection or on the preparation of a dissection;
the effort being to convey knowledge in the so-called natural method; i. e.,
by mental imagery formed by repeated observations of nature. This is
accomplished by exhibiting to the student and requiring him to handle the
dissected parts and preparations made therefrom. The equipment of the
school for this purpose is most ample; and, in addition to the numerous
preparations and dissections, there are models and anatomical paintings,
representing the greater part of the anatomy of the body.

For the course in Practical Anatomy, dissecting material, obtained
under a permissive law of the State, is abundantly supplied without cost
to the student. Each medical student, however many sessions he may
have attended, is required to dissect, under the constant and careful
supervision of the Demonstrator. Attendance in the dissecting-room is
compulsory, a strict record being kept in the case of each student. Besides
the class-examination, which precedes each lecture, and the other
examinations to be mentioned hereafter, each student is required to stand
seven practical examinations on anatomy, one upon osteology, four upon
the different parts of the muscular system, one on the viscera, and one on
the vessels and nerves. These examinations are oral and private, each
student being examined alone. They consist of the identification of the
truths of anatomy on the bones, the cadaver, and the dissected cadaver,
and are thus a perfect test of the student's acquaintance with the gross
structure of the body.

II. Materia Medica and Therapeutics.—The lectures on Materia
Medica occur in the latter half of the session, after the student has obtained
a knowledge of the primary branches, a prerequisite to the proper
understanding of the subject. Particular stress is laid upon the physiological
action and rational therapeutical applications of drugs. The physical
properties of drugs are taught by requiring the student to learn them
from specimens, a complete collection being provided, which contains
specimens both of all the crude drugs and of all their preparations, which
have been dealt with in the lectures.

Text-book:—Wilson's or Gray's or Weisse's Anatomy; Bruce's Materia Medica and
Therapeutics.

SCHOOL OF PHYSIOLOGY AND SURGERY.

Prof. Cabell.

I. In Physiology the lectures are illustrated by plates, and the students
are instructed in Histology as well as in Physiology proper. Much
attention is given throughout the course to the practical bearings of
physiological and histological facts on pathology, and their relations to
the nature and treatment of disease. Extra lectures are given, commencing
about the middle of December, at which the students are questioned
on all that part of Physiology which they have studied previously.
It has been found that these "review lectures" are very useful
to the students as a preparation for the final examinations.

II. In Surgery especial attention is given to the causation and pathology
of the various surgical affections, and the lectures are illustrated by
excellent paintings and by morbid specimens. The applications of
splints and apparatus for the different fractures and the details of minor
surgery are practically exhibited to the class.

Text-books:—Yeo's Manual of Physiology; "Human Physiology," by Henry Power
(American edition); Wilson's Manual of Hygiene and Sanitary Science (fifth edition,
1884); Ashurst's Surgery; Klein's Histology. For occasional reference: Foster's Physiology;
Landois's Physiology; and a few monographs on special subjects.

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, OBSTETRICS, AND MEDICAL
JURISPRUDENCE.

Prof. Dabney.

I. In Medical Jurisprudence the student is instructed in the principles
of the science, and is taught how to apply these principles when he
is summoned as a witness in a court of law.

II In Obstetrics instruction is given by lectures, and the mechanical
principles involved in the study are explained and illustrated by the use
of suitable preparations and models. The student is drilled in this part
of the subject during the early part of the course, and attention is subsequently
called to the diseases and accidents incident to pregnancy and
the puerperal state. Each student is also taught practically the various
manipulations, both manual and instrumental.

III. In Practice of Medicine especial attention is given to the Principles
of the subject, the aim of the teacher being to instruct the students
as thoroughly as possible in the causation of diseases and the morbid
changes which occur in the different tissues. The lectures are illustrated
by morbid specimens, both coarse and microscopic, and each student has
the opportunity of examining these specimens for himself. Each student
furthermore is taught the method of making a physical examination of a
patient, and is required to learn by actual examination, under the supervision
of the Professor, the normal appearances and sounds in the different
regions of the body and over the different organs.

IV. Classes have also been established in Practical Microscopy.
Attendance in these classes is optional, but the desire to make good use
of the opportunity thus offered seems to be general. Each student is

taught practically how to use the microscope, to cut and stain sections of
tissues, to examine urine and blood, etc. In addition to a knowledge of
microscopic manipulation thus obtained, it is found that students can get
a far clearer idea of morbid anatomy and pathology in this way. There
is no fee for this course.

Text-books:—Reese's Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology; Playfair's Midwifery
(last edition); Loomis's Practice of Medicine; Flint's or Loomis's Physical Diagnosis;
Green's Pathology; Friedlander's Practical Microscopy.

INSTRUCTION IN THE DISPENSARY.

A Free Dispensary is now in operation at the University, under the
charge of the Medical Professors. Here the students are taught the
methods of examining patients, and the changes which occur in the normal
functions of the body as a result of disease. In recognition of the impossibility
of giving practical instruction by the ordinary clinical lectures,
the class is divided into sections, so that each student may have the opportunity
of examining patients for himself, under the guidance of the Professor.
In addition to the patients who come to the Dispensary, others
who are too sick to attend there are visited at their homes.

EXAMINATIONS.

The examinations are of two characters: 1st. The daily oral examinations;
2nd. Written examinations, Intermediate and Final.

The value of the daily examination or recitations on the subject of the
preceding lecture can scarcely be overestimated; students who would not
otherwise take advantage of their opportunities for instruction being
thereby stimulated to increased exertion. These recitations also give the
Professor an opportunity of finding out the difficulties which the student
may have encountered in the previous lecture, and of correcting erroneous
impressions which he may have formed.

The intermediate written examinations stimulate the student to proper
reviews, and serve to familiarize him with the form and methods of examination
for graduation.

The examinations for graduation are rigid written examinations, in
which the answers to the questions must be full and comprehensive.

Besides these examinations, there is a general oral review at the very
close of the session on all the different branches on which the student

has graduated during either that session or some preceding one; this
review, being intended to test the permanent acquisition of such general
knowledge as every practitioner of medicine should possess, need call for
no special preparation.

Heartily approving the regulation of medical practice by the State, and
the establishment of State Boards of Medical Examiners, entirely independent
of medical schools, the Faculty have introduced these oral reviews
in order to prepare students more thoroughly for the State Examinations
in Virginia, and the other States which hold such examinations,
as well as for entrance into the Medical Corps of the Army and Navy
and the Marine Hospital service.

REQUISITES FOR GRADUATION.

Graduation in Medicine, as in the other Departments and Schools of
the University of Virginia, does not depend upon the length of time which
may have been spent in the study of medicine, but upon the real preparation
of the student, as indicated by rigid examinations, which he is called
upon to stand. Hence it is possible for a diligent student to graduate in
one session; but the severe and protracted labor necessary for this purpose
is attended with evils of which the medical faculty is fully conscious;
and it is considered far better for a student to attend lectures for two sessions,
giving his attention during the first session to the subjects of Chemistry,
Anatomy, and Physiology especially, and endeavoring to obtain only
a general knowledge of the other branches, so that he may be the better
enabled to complete the course and to profit by the instruction of the
second year.

EXPENSES.

The necessary expenses of a medical student will be from about $315
to about $365, varying as the individual may choose plainer or more expensive
board. No estimate is here included for books, travelling expenses,
or pocket-money.

University of Virginia Library

MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.

COURSES OF STUDY IN GENERAL.