University of Virginia Library

THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.

JAMES L. CABELL, M. D.,
Professor of Comparative Anatomy, Physiology and Surgery.

Text-Books.—Dalton's Physiology, Huxley's Elements of Physiology, Ashurst's
Surgery.

JOHN STAIGE DAVIS, M. D.,
Professor of Anatomy and Materia Medica.

Text-Books.—Wilson's Anatomy and Biddles' Materia Medica.

JAMES F. HARRISON, M. D.,
Professor of Medical Jurisprudence, Obstetrics, and Practice of Medicine.

Text-Books.—Flint's Practice of Medicine, (last edition,) Hartshorne's Essentials,
Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence, (last edition,) Leishman's Midwifery, (last
edition.)

J. W. MALLET, M. D., LL. D.,
Professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy.

Text-Books.—Fownes' Chemistry and Parrish's Pharmacy.

WM. B. TOWLES, M. D.,
Demonstrator of Anatomy.

The Medical Department is organized on the same general plan as
the other departments of the University, the distinctive features of which
are comprehensiveness and thoroughness of instruction, and the graduation
of the student upon satisfactory evidences of attainments only, without
regard to the length of time he may have been attending the lectures.
An experience of more than forty years has fully tested the excellence of
the plan. The scholarship of the alumni of the institution and the value
of its degrees are now freely conceded by cultivated and liberal men
throughout the country.

The Medical Department of the University aims at thorough work
in its special province, to wit: the instruction of the student in the principles
of medicine, and his discipline in the modes of acquiring and applying

knowledge. Thus, whilst the only solid foundation of professional
attainments is laid, the mental faculties are expanded and strengthened
for that growth in knowledge, usefulness and distinction to which every
one who enlists in an honorable and responsible profession should aspire.
The organization and arrangements by which these aims are successfully
accomplished may be briefly stated:

ARRANGEMENTS OF STUDIES.

The length of the session, (nine months) renders it convenient and
eligible to distribute the subjects of instruction among a smaller number
of Professors than in the other medical schools of the United States,
whose sessions are only four or five months long. Thus, to one Professor
is assigned Physiology and Surgery; to another, Human Anatomy and
Materia Medica; to a third Chemistry and Pharmacy; and to a fourth,
Medical Jurisprudence, Obstetrics, and the Practice of Medicine. This
distribution renders it practicable to bring the different subjects to the attention
of the student in their natural and successive order. The arrangement
of the lectures is such that he acquires a competent knowledge of Anatomy,
Physiology and Chemistry, before he enters upon the study of the principles
and practice of Medicine and Surgery, which can only be studied
properly in the lights shed upon them by the former. The instructions
in Materia Medica and Pharmacy are also given in due relation to the
progress of the student in Chemistry.

PHARMACY.

The introduction of Pharmacy into the course of instruction is another
feature of interest, serving, as it does, to initiate the student into an art
which he will find of value when he comes to the practice of his profession.

LECTURES AND DAILY EXAMINATIONS.

Favored as the student is in the comprehensiveness, scientific basis
and order of his studies, he is not less favored by arrangements which
give ample time for the preparation of every lecture, and address motives
to him for such preparation. Each professor gives three regular lectures
a week, with occasional extra lectures, making the average weekly aggregate
not over fourteen, or a little more than two a day. The student, therefore,
is not over-burdened with lecture-room attendance. He has time
for study in his private room, to consult books, and compare their teachings
with the oral instructions of his Professor, and to digest and systematise
his acquisitions from both sources. The daily examinations which
precede every lecture supply the stimulus to regular and active study,

serve as summary reviews of what he has already heard or read, and as
correctives of any misconceptions he may have fallen into in his hearing or
reading. The daily examinations constitute a very valuable part of the
exercises of the Institution, and are taken into account in determining
the fitness of a student for graduation.

APPARATUS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

The equipment of the Medical Department in apparatus, specimens
and drawings, is extensive and excellent. The collection of paintings
for the illustration of the lectures on Anatomy, Physiology and Surgery,
several hundred in number, is unequalled by anything of the kind in the
United States, or perhaps abroad.

PRACTICAL ANATOMY AND DISSECTION.

The Department furnishes every facility for the study of practical
Anatomy that can be furnished in similar institutions elsewhere. Adequate
provision is made for the supply of subjects, and each student has
the opportunity, by actual dissections under the guidance of the Demonstrator
of Anatomy, of acquiring a practical knowledge of the structure
of the human body in all its parts.

DEGREES.

The degree of Doctor of Medicine is conferred upon such students as
prove their fitness for the same by rigid and searching examination. It
has ever been the policy of the Institution to make its honors testimonials
of merit, and not certificates of attendance on a prescribed course of instruction.
In accordance with this policy, the degree of Doctor of
Medicine may be conferred on a first-course student if found worthy of it.
Not only is it within reach of the intelligent, diligent and persevering
to graduate in one session of nine months, but in point of fact many do
thus graduate.

LABORATORY COURSES FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS.

In addition to the usual course of Medical Lectures, two special
courses of instruction will be given by the Professor of Analytical Chemistry,
to such Medical Students as may desire to pursue them:

1st. Sixteen lessons in the practical applications of Chemistry to
Medicine, (the detection of poisons, chemical and microscopic examinations
of animal products, urine, blood, etc.)

2nd. Twelve lessons in practical pharmaceutical manipulations.

Each of the above (optional) courses will be at a charge of $20 tuition
fee, and $5 for laboratory material consumed.