Inaugural address delivered at the opening of the Medical Department of Lind University / by N.S. Davis.

  • Davis, N. S. (Nathan Smith), 1817-1904.
Date:
1859
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Inaugural address delivered at the opening of the Medical Department of Lind University / by N.S. Davis. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    and equally to be apprehended, that those who prescribe the policy of our institutions, will neglect the establishment of junior and senior classes. Meanwhile, we will hope, however, that the student- themselves will become more and more im- pressed with the importance of devoting the first session chiefly to the elementary branches, and the second to the practical. Eaving presented clearly, and illustrated perhaps tediously, the evils ;md defects inherent in the organization of medical schools in this country, we will proceed to state briefly such peculiarities in the organization of the medical department of this Cnivcrsity, as are designed to obviate these evils and defect-. They are: first, the extension of the annual college term to live months; second, the increase in the number of professor- ships corresponding with the number and extent of the branches actually included witliin ihe domain of modem medicine; third, the division Of the term into junior and senior depart- ments in such a way that all Btudenta attending their first course can concent rate their attention upon the more elementary branches, and advance in their B6C 1 COUTSe to tin' more practical; fourth, the giving of fewer lectures each day, with daily examinations, and general examinations at the close oi each department, thereby ensuring a much higher degree of mental discipline, and a more perfect knowledge of each branch brOUghl under review ; fifth, the elevation of clinical medicine and Burgery to the rank of professorships, and the making of daily clinical instruction in the wards of a hospital a necessary part of the course in the senior department l'.N these arrangements we secure to the student of medicine the mean- for pursuing the different branches of medical study, in a Btrictly methodical and natural order of succession. In the junior course, which embraces anatomy, physiology, and histology, Inorganic chemistry, materia medica, and general pathology, with dissections, he concentrates his attention upon, and becomes familiar with the elementary parts of our noble science, lie becomes familiar with the composition, mode of development, structural relations, and functions of the various parts of the human system in a healthy condition, together