The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-06-28
TO TIE PEOPLE OF TEXAS.

versity- where shall IL be Located?
We desire to bring before you few fact
concerning tie location of the medical De-
partment of the State University:
While there are number of places in WI
broad state we'll suited for the locatiou/6f
the academic and legal departments Of the
university, Galveston offers BY FAR the great
es. advantages for the medical department, Of
that institution.
10 order tbs. the science and art of mcd>
icins may be properly taught, certain tacil>
tiles, which we will briefly enumerats, are
absolutely essential.
To acquire knowledge of anatomy, or the
structure Of the human body, when lies a.
the very foundation of medical education,
an sbu adant supply of material for dissec-
tions is indispensable To lesru thu chsnges
produced in tho organs and other tisu IF
the body BY disc SO, post-mortem examina
tons by the stu1eat are necessary. These
advantages caa only be mad ia connection
with dead-houses of large public hospitals.
The importance of clinlcal, or bedside in
struction, to the media student can hardly
be over.sstim tel. TO study diseases it is
necessary not only 10 have them taught
theoretically by the teachers, but To actually
see them in all their multiform phases. To
learn the art of setting fractured bone, or
amputaiipg limb, something more thaR an
oral description is required. The student
should sec these things done, and assist in
their performance. In other words,
to teach the science and art of
medicine, and prepare tho young physician
for combating disease the intimate comb
nation of practice with thenre ical instruc-
ton il vital necessity. Practical instruc
ten can be given only in connection with
large hospitals, to which the student has free
access, and where he may closely watch the
progress and treatment of the different dis
eases from beginning to end; and, in CAGES
ending fatally, have the opportunity for tho
study Of the morbid changes wrought 10 the
body BY those diseases, 10 post mortem ex-
animal ions.
Galveston can furnish by far the best "a
cilties for such thorough and practical in
struction. While her population may not
so far exceed some other cities, being sea.
port it is cosmopolitan and Il a ing, &nd
hence furnishes much larger proportion Of
hospital patients. There are two very I'D.
mirably constructed hospitals located
in Galveston, with capacity of 450
TO 500 beds. The wards con-
tain, not oaly sick from among her own
ciiz9ns, but also large numbers of patien 5
from all portions Of Texas. conveyed thther
by the numerous railroads converging at the
coast. In addition, the shipping, American
and foreign, that trades at her port furnishes
an amount and variety of clinical mstetial
ten-fold greater than can be afforded by any
other city 10 the state.
By resolutions adopted by the city council
and laid before the legislature at its recent
session the spacious, hospital buildings of
Galveston, with an elegantly fitted up lee
turo room, dissocting nall, ETC., attached.
capable af accommodating one hundred stu.
dents, has been placed at the disposal of the
state BY the same resolutions the ctiZsns
Of Galveston stand "pledged to liberal
contribution for the purchase of
block of lots and tow>
ard the erection of college build =.
ings." Hence, as a question of economy,
Galveston is the best place in the state for
the Medical School.
Numerous presidents for the separate To-
cation of the medical depsrlment-embra.
cling, too, many Of the most eminenty sue
cessful and honored institutions of America.
can be cited. and which 60 to show that il
has always been recognized as question Of
the first moment that medical schools
should DO localed In populous cities, and
especi lily 10 seaport cities. AZ furnishing the
largest amount and best variety Of diseases
for the purpose of teaching Among others,
the University OF Louisiana, located at the
State capital, Baton Rouge, has its medical
department, the largest and most success
full medical colleges in the south, located at
New Orleans. Central University, Rich,
mond, Ky, has its medical department, q
fourishihg school, at Louisville.
These arc but few of the many cases
which could be cited.
In large majority Of the universities OF
both Europe and America having all their
departments in the limits Of the same o ity,
the medical schools, with separate and full
faculty, have their lecture rooms, etc., located
frequently miles away from the academic and
other departments, and always I'D scent TO-,
or, in many instances, In the largest hos pitfalls.
The medical departments of even the best
endowed and most furnishing universities OF
Europe and America, were located in the
smaller interior places, and heuce not con
nected with largs hospt,ls, have invariably
ranked assecond or third rate medical schools
certainly they are recognized rs only pre-.
psratory schoo 9.
The medical department of the university
OF Virginia, located al the small interior
city of Charlottesville, justly honored aud
beloved and widely pa.rJnized AS that uni
versity is, has not proved an exception to
this inexrable rule; despite tho fact tina.
accomplished medical sch ars h ave for years
filled the chair, the dIdsc,ic teaching neces.i-
tated BY The want of hospitals proves an in>
superable obstacle to the success Of the med.
ical department, which had class Of only
fifty students at its last session.
The liability Of Galveston to yellow fever
Is not valid obi sction, as medical instruc-
ton tho world over is only carried on during
the months Of winter and spring. Certainly
the success Of the New Orleans medical
schools negative this objection, besides, for
the past fourteen years Galveston has not
had an epidemic Of yellow fever. Indeed,
Of late yo,rs she has been less subject 10 IL
than soma Interior places.
We desire TO emphas "a the fact that Gal
weston is u candidate Tor tho medical depart
meut only. The facts above men Toned are
incontroverlible; the express object, of the
legislature In allowing the separation Of ,he
medical department was to locate It In Gal
weston. The petition cent up 10 Austin by
100 physicians representing every part Of the
stats explicitly stated that their object Ia
a,king a separation of the msd'c,l depart
ment was that II might be located In Galy q