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

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The Founding of the Medical College of Virginia By Wyndham B. Blanton, M.D. Richmond, Va. |HE STORY of the founding of the Medical College of Virginia forms a natural chapter in the general history of medical education in this country. The Revolu- tion did not emancipate America politically without creating a natural desire for freedom and self-expression in education. The practice of indenture and the habit of going abroad for a medical education — the grand tour — both stopped with Yorktown. The first American medical school was opened at the University of Pennsylvania in 1765. By 1783 similar institutions were planted in New York City and at Harvard. By 1837 twelve medical colleges were in operation, three of which were in the South. In Virginia med- ical education was early a prominent issue. An abortive medical department was organized at William and Mary College in 1779 when the famous Dr. James McClurg was made professor of medicine. Quesney ' s Academy in Richmond was an ambitious scheme for higher education, and among its chairs was one devoted to Anatomy. In 1825 the University of Virginia opened the first real medical school in the! state, and by 1838 Dr. Peter Mettauer was attracting scores of students to his academy in Prince Edward. He was teaching and practicing brilliantly in the neighborhood of Hampden-Sidney College. His reputation was national. Why his school was not taken over as the medical department of Hampden-Sidney College is difficult to understand. He was an alumnus of that college and his flourishing school was less than a mile away. The amalgamation of his school with Randolph-Macon some years later, and the tenor of a letter of his, now in possession of Dr. Joseph L. Miller, of Thomas, West Virginia, shows that Mettauef evidently had strong feeling in the matter. The immediate events which led to the founding of this school are interesting. It was gen- erally realized that the great majority of medical students from Virginia were drifting North for an education in spite of the fact that the University of Virginia had been in the field thirteen years. It was even claimed in 1843 that since 1810, 4,140 out of a total of 5,900 Virginia students of medicine had matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania. Another effort to stem the exodus of Virginians must be made. The lay papers joined with the profession in urging the study of medicine at home. Unconsciously, the ' fortunes of the men who were to found the new college were drawing them td Richmond, so that by 1838 there were three ex-professors of medicine and others with fine academic training on the field. Two of them had occupied important positions in the medical faculty of the University of Virginia. Dr. Thomas Johnson held the chair of Anatomy and Surgery at Charlottesville for ten years before he resigned. He then moved to Richmond. Dr. Augustus L. Warner of Baltimore was appointed to succeed Dr. Johnson. He also resigned, and in 1837 moved to Richmond. So strong was the teaching instinct in him that he advertised in the Richmond daily papers the immediate opening of a private medical school of his own. By October 2, 1837, he announced that he was prepared to receive students. These private plans appear to have been cut short by a more ambitious scheme for medical education in Richmond centering around Warner, John Cullen, R. L. Bohannon and L. W. Chamberlayne. The reso- lution which the Hampden-Sidney College Board of Trustees ac ted upon on December i, 1837, must have originated with them. At any event a medical college was created in Richmond on that date as a department of Hampden-Sidney College.

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BOOK ONE THE COLLEGE

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The regulations drawn up at this time provided for six professors who were to give a course of lectures of five months (November toi March) each year. Two years previous study with a reputable practitioner, attendance upon a full course of lectures, dissection, and a thesis, were the requirements for graduatioon. The degree of M.D. was to be conferred by the president and trustees of Hampden-Sidney College. The first faculty and the courses given were as follows: Thomas Johnson, professor of Anatomy and Physiology. John Cullen, professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine. R. L. Bohannon, professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children. L. W. Chamberlayne, professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. Augustus L. Warner, professor of Surgery, and dean. Socrates Maupin, professor of Chemistry and Pharmacy. Forty-six students enrolled the first year. By 1850 there were ninety matriculates. At first a private venture, the state was finally aroused to foster it by substantial pecuniary help. For several years both the college and infirmary were under one roof, housed in the Union Hotel, Twelfth and Main streets. The Richmond papers of the day wrote enthusiastically of the physical outlay. The museum and chemical equipment were impressive. The school was much in the daily press at the opening of each session. For a week or tem days each professor gave a popular lecture to which the general public was invited. These lectures were fully commented upon in the papers the following day. In 1850 the school was moved to the new building on Shockoe Hill, which is now known as the Egyptian building. Here again the college and infirmary were under one roof. There were three lecture rooms, an airy dissecting room, and a basement. Gas lights were a feature. The infirmary had three wards and cared for patients for from $3.00 to $5.00 a week. Among the early faculties there occur illustrious names which should not be forgotten. Jeffries IVyman, a graduate of Harvard Medical School. Three years professor of Anatomy (1843-1847). He was called to the Harvard professorship of Anatomy. He became a distin- guished paleontologist as well as anatomist. It was he who was responsible for the splendid museum of our college in those days. Charles Bell Gibson. — Like so many others was educated at the University of Pennsylvania. He was in the faculty from ' 1846-1865. He introduced ether anesthesia into Virginia. He was an orator and soldier as well as a great surgeon. David H. Tucker. — Student of medicine at both the University of Virginia and the University of Pennsylvania. Then walked the hospitals, especially in Paris. He was a distinguished professor of medicine (1847-1869). Beverly R. IVelford. — Graduate of the University of Maryland. Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1854-1878). He enjoyed the distinction of being once president of the Amer- ican Medical Association. E. Broivn Sequard. — International physiologist, was just long enough in the faculty (1853- 1855) to establish a menagerie of dogs and cats in the basement and to leave upon his stu- dents an indelible impression of a great vivisectionist and original investigator in one of the fundamental sciences.