Medical College of Virginia - X Ray Yearbook (Richmond, VA)

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DENTISTRY L- DKN riS ' I ' RV was well known to tin- ancients. Cnn- siderahle progress hail been made in it 4,000 years ago. The mouths of Egyptian mummies, vith their hllecl, pivoted and artificial teeth hear silent witness to the proficiency of the dentists of the Phara- ohs. Up to the 1 6th century dentistry was a part of medicine, but during that and the s ucceeding centuries dental practice was almost exclusively in the hands of the barber surgeons. Real progress vas not made un- til the 1 8th century, when dentistry first became a sep- arate art. The new specialty was born in France. The dental operations practiced by Fouchard in his fdrty years ' experience and enumerated by him in 1728, in- cluded cleaning, straightening, shortening, scraping cauterizing, filling with lead, fastening, reino -ing, re- placing, transplanting, and artificially constructing teeth. Thus was summarized dental knowledge of that lime. In colonial ' irginia of the 17th century doctors antl chirurgeons practiced what dentistry there was. Their work was limited to extraction and the treatment of toothache. In the i8th century the advances of den- tistry in Europe began to reach these shores, but phvsi- cians still did most of the business. Itinerant dentists were popular at this period. They were usually from England and called themselves sur- geon dentists. Modern dentistry is the product of the 19th century. Ihitil well into the fourth decade of the century, there had been few changes in dental practice for the past two hundred years. There was no real dental profes- sion. Teeth were neglected until they fell out or were pulled out. Toothache was treated by local applica- tions or by extraction, and physicians were called upon for both. The term surgeon dentist was generally applied to the members of the profession until 1839. After that they preferred to be ktinw n as dental sur- geons. Dentistry in the Tnited States after 1830 began its autonomous development and rapidly took the leader- ship away from France and Great Britain. Dental education in Virginia made a slow start due in part to the proximity of an excellent school in Baltimore. This college graduated three men in its second class, and two of them were from ' irginia — J. B. Savier and W. W. H. Thaxton. On October 3, 1S93, the first formal dental teaching in Virginia was inaugurated, ivhen a faculty of Rich- mond physicians and dentists was organized as the Department of Dentistry of the University College of Medicine. Dr. Lewis M. Cowardin became dean of the faculty which was composed of seven physicians and one other dentist, Dr. Charles L. Steel. Cowardin taught the principles and practice of dentistry, together with clinical and oral surgery. Steel taught orthodon- tia and dental prosthesis. A. R. Bowles and A. R. Stratford acted as demonstrators. At the time of its organization this was the only school of dentistry east of Nashville, between Washington and Atlanta. The teaching of dentistry in a medical school on a parity Avith the branches was a new de ' elopment in the South. In 1897 the Medical College of Virginia followed suit by organizing a department in dentistry under Henry C. Jones, D.D.S. This faculty was also top heavy with physicians who outnumbered the dentists five to two. In lieu of a high school or college di- ploma, admission to the department was by examina- tion. There was but one graduate in 1898. These two schools amalgamated in 191 3 to form the present School of Dentistry in the Medical College of ' irginia.

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FOUNDERS OF THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF VIRGINLA 1. Socrates Maupin. 2. John Ciillcn. 3. Richard Lafon Bohannan. 4. Lewis Webb Chambcrlaync. 1 I

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PHARMACY TIIK Ki-nenl(ijj of the miidern ilruKK ' st goes back to tin- N ' orinan coMi|ucst , u lien the Mercerv, whose scene of operation in London was known as the Mercery, controlled the trade in drugs and spices. This Inisiness then passed into the hands of pep- perers, spicers. and later was absorbed by the gro- cers. The apothecaries in 1617 succeeded over the pro- test of the grocers in securing a charter of their own. King James asserted with finality that (irncers arc but merchants. The business of an apothecary is a my- tcr . The rising importance of the apothecary in England accounted for the fact that the London Company sent two apothecaries to the ' irginia Colony before 1624. After that we hear nothing of th;m in Virginia until the iSth century. During the i8th century the drug business in ' irginia was in the hands of physicians who manufactured arid imported drugs from England. riie physician usually compounded his own prescrip- tions, charging fcr his medicine as well as for his islls. The majority of apothecaries, like physicians, learned their trade in this country in an apprenticeship of from three to six ears, serving under a physician or expe- rienced pharmacist. Their masters sent them into th ■ woods in search of popular Indian medicine, such a- Indian hemp, papoose root, Indian tobacco, blood root and mandrake. Later, in the shops, they dried and ex- tracted their drugs in huge kettles, or busied themselves rolling pills on slabs, spreading plasters, and clanging the iron mortar and pestle. In 17S+ at the Pennsylvania Hospital were written the first prcnriptions to be fillid h an apothccnr In the Tnited States. Abraham C ' hauvet, who came to Philadelphia in 1770, was the first practicing physician in this country to write his own prescriptions. In ' ir- ginia, 1771, was probably the first time prescriptions were being filled by apothecaries. Much of the atmosphere of older class adhere to an old pharmac in .Mexandria. The I.eadbetter Orug Store was established in 1792 and is still to be seen oti the corner of King and Fairfax Streets. Here th.- Washingions and Lees and other Northern Neck ' ir- ginians dealt. .Most of the pharmacists of the 19th century received their training in apprenticeships of from three to four ears. . few were graduates of northern schools. The first college to teach pharmacy in this country was in Philadelphia in 1821. Instruction in pharmacy was early a part of the medical curriculum at the Univer- sity of ' irginia. Pharmacy was taught as a part of the Medical course in the Medical College of Virginia friMTi its ery begiiuiing in 1838. In the college cat- alogues of 18S0 notice was gi ' en of courses in materia nudica, therapeutics, chemistry and pharmacy. To- gether they were designated as the School of Phar- macy and led to a special diploma. In 1882 students h;) had had two years in some approved drug store were declared graduates in pharmacy if they had successfully taken examinations in chemistry and ma- teria medica. In 1S93 the rnlvcrsity College of Meilicine was or- ganized in Richmond with a separate department of pharmacy. T. Ashley Miller was the first dean of the pharmacy faculty. In 1897 the old Medical College of irginia followed suit, and divided itself into three departments: medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy. The school of pharmacy offered a two-year graded course. Ketween 1877-1S99, twentv-one pharmacists were grad- uated from the Medical College of Virginia. Several of these graduates are living today. It is interesting to note that on March 3, 18S6, An ait to incorporate the ' irginia Pharmaceutical .Associa- tion, and to regulate the practice of pharmacy, and to guard the sale of poisons in the state of ' irginia, was passed. It permitted only registered pharmacists and practicing physicians to retail, compound, or dis- pense medicines or poisons, or to conduct a pharmacy. Merchants vere permitted to sell such common drugs as (|uinine, epsom salts, and castor oil, calomel, and opium. In order to be registered, a pharmacist had to be a graduate of a recognized college of pharmacy, or to have served three ears as an apprentice in some drug store, or be a licentiate of pharmacy of the Vir- ginia Board of Pharmacy, which was created by the same act. By 1S94 every drug store was re(|uired to have a registered pharmacist in charge. fh