Jefferson Medical College - Clinic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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These laboratories were put in charge of demonstrators under the supervision of the professors of each branch. The lectureship on ophthalmolo-gy, held by Dr. William Thomson, was made a professor- ship without scat in the faculty. At this time the statutes of Pennsylvania, like those of most Ameri- can States, contained laws against the desecration- of cemeteries. which if enforced would have made dissections next to impossible. Those in authority recognized that an educated physician must know his anatomy well or run the risk of liability to the law for malpractice, and this knowledge could be acquired only by dissection of the human body. But at intervals a person connected with a medical college would be caught in some overt act by officers sharing the vulgar prejudice and the law would be invoked to punish him. At the instance of Dr. W. S. Forbes, in 18:66, a law had been enacted which partially obviated this by allowing dissections upon the unclaimed bodies in Philadelphia county. In 1882, urged on by the clamor of the sensational newspapers, a trial for desecration was brought against Dr. Forbes, while demonstrator of anatomy in the Jefferson Medical College. He was triumphantly vindicated, but not without a publicity which. was intensely annoying and for a time injurious to his professional practice. It was some compensation for this disagreezrble experience that his prosecution brought hin1 the sympathy of his professional brethren and excited an agitation in the ranks of the medical profes- sion, which was coimfmunicated to other enlightened citizens and thus Dr. Forbes became the instrument which caused the enactment of a perfected anatomical bill, not only legalizing dissections, but providing for the compulsory distribution to the medical colleges of all unclaimed dead bodies in the interest of the science which devotes itself to pro- longing human life. A desire to take repose after a lifetime of ceaseless .mental toil caused Professor Gross, in 1882, to resign the chair of surgery, which he had made illustrious for twenty-six years. He received tl1e honor of being named l'I'Uf1'N-WH' f'IlIf'I'ffN-'4- After two years of retirement he died, in his seventy-ninth year. Samuel D. Gross, M.D.. LL.D. Edin., D.C.L. Oxon.. LL.D. Cantab., was born near Easton. Pa. At the age of twenty-three he was graduated Doctor of Medicine in the third class that went forth from Jefferson Medical College. After tive years of practice he became Demonstrator of Anatovmy in the Medical College of Ghio, and with this office began his career of medical teacher, which lasted for forty- nine years. After seven years of hard work, in which he produced a treatise on the Bones and Joints. and another on Pathological Anatomy, he was elected Professor of Surgery in the University of 30

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is Physicians J. Sous-Con12N, M.D., Joniv B. Ronislcrs, M.D., James C. W1i.soN, M.D., Oinvizu P. Rnx, M.D. Aural Surgeons L. '1'UnN1sU1.L, M.D. Gynecologists F. H. Gxs'rc11m.i., M.D., J. Exv1NG Means, M.D. Pathologist Mounts Louosriuarii, M.D. As the successor of the suave and sagacious Biddle, whose lectures were refined to the last degree, but whose personality was even Finer than his work and whoi died in 1878. begins the connection of Roberts Bartholow, M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and General Thera- peutics. He was widely known as a 'medical author and in the Ohio Medical College had imade his mark as a forcible and popular teacher, In the session of 1879-So, Dr. J. Aitken Meigs being in his last illness, Dr. H. C. Chapman was called upon as clemonstrator of physiology to deliver the course of lectures in that branch. In the following' summer Dr. Chapman. equally successful as investigator and teacher, was promoted to the chair vacated by the death of Dr. Meigs. The lectures of Dr. Meigs had been notable for their learning and literary finish, resembling in these qualities the style of his predecessor, Dunglison. As a method of teaching physiology it has given place to the superior course of experiment with instruments of precision. The new laboratory building was opened this same session adjoining the medical hall. It provided a room for section teaching in operative and minor surgery and spacious laboratories for practical chemistry. microscopy and physiology. The equipment for the uses of the student was thought at the time to be adequate, but year by year new and better apparatus was added until in the physiological laboratory the liberal expenditures of Professor Chapman provided a most extensive outfit for study and research. In this year Dr. Morris Longstrcth was appointed Demonstrator of Pathological Anatomy. He obtained material from the autopsies of the Pennsylvania and the Jefferson Hospitals and gave instruction in pathological anatomy and histology. The laboratory of materia inedica and pharmacy in the medical hall was equipped in the following year. Besides the necessary appliances for a practical course in pharmacy. a roo-m was fitted up with instru- ments for special researches in the physiological action of remedies. 29

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Louisville, I-Ie held this position for sixteen years, in the meantime growing to be the chief surgeon of the Southwest and helping to make the school the leading medical center west of the Alleghenies. In 1856, he succeeded Miitter in the faculty of his -AUINM Mfllflf, dedicating to her the remainder of his life. In the years of his connection with Jefferson Medical College he delivered twenty-six animal courses of lectures, published his great System of Surgery, edited for some years the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, wrote many articles for the journals and addresses notable for eloquence and lucidity. He was a skillful operator, careful in diagnosis and profoundly versed in pathology. His lectures w-ere 'made acceptable in a high degree by his imposing presence, animated gestures, sonorous voice and earnest manner. Consecrated to a work in which he excelled, he was honored in life and in death is destined to a lasting fame. In their endeavor to make good the loss entailed by the withdrawal of Dr. Gross, the Trustees provided that surgical instruction should be given by two professors, and elected his son, S. W. Gross, M.D., Professor of the Principles of Surgery and Clinical Surgery, and J. H. Brinton, M.D., Professor of Practice of Surgery and Clinical Surgery, the last named a teacher of many years' experience, who had achieved distinction as a surgeon in the late war. The declining health of Dr. Wfallace compelled him in 1883 to resign the chair of obstetrics, which he had adorned for many years. His was a strong personality, shown in his power of impressing permanently upon the minds of his pupils his clean-cut ideas. The vacancy was filled by the election of Theophilus Parvin, M.D., LL.D., of Indianapolis, widely known as a writer and as a professor in several medical colleges. The long and distinguished service of Dr. R. E. Rogers as teacher of chemistry came to a close 'by his decease in 1885. Excelling in the art of illustration iby striking experiments. the exposition of his dilii- cult science lacked nothing for clearness of speech, while his delivery was always agreeable. For the session of 1884-85 the lectures were de- livered by Professor J. W. Mallet, M.D.. LL.D., F.R.S., who at the end of the session returned to his former position in the University of Virginia. The chair was filled by the appointment of J. W. Holland, M.D., who had thirteen years' experience as professor in the University of Louisville. . In the ensuing session a maternity department was organized in the hospital, and practical instruction was given to members of the graduating class in the use of the laryngoscope and the ophthahnoscope. By the resignation of Dr. NV. H. Pancoast in 1886 a vacancy was made in the chair of anatomy, which was filled by the promotion of 3I