University of Virginia Library

THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.

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

Text-Books.—Dalton's Physiology, Lectures on Preventive Medicine, by Alfred
Carpenter, M. D.; Ashurst's Surgery. For reference: Flint's Text-Book of Physioology
Stephen Smith's Operative Surgery.

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

Text-Books.—Wilson or Gray's Anatomy, and Farquharson's Materia Medica.

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

Text-Books.—Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence (last edition), Playfair's with Roberts'
Midwifery (last editions), Roberts' Practice of Medicine (last edition), Hartshorne's
Essentials.

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

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

WILLIAM 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 evidence 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:

ARRANGEMENT 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 dissection 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 microsopic examination
of animal products, urine, blood, etc.)

2nd, Fourteen 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.