The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-05-29
TWO THOUSANDSEE
COLLEGE FINALS
Medical College of Virginia
Awards Diplomas to Class
OF Sixty.

twelve graduates in pharmacy, and
forty-one doctors Of meiicine received
their diplomas at the hands OF Dean
Tompk;ns. and stood in
line on the immense stage while the
audience applauded.
On the platform were seated mem
bers OF the faculty. and large num-
Der OF prominent alumni. The gradu-
ating class, sixty in number, entered
the Auditorium from the front at
$3.50 o'clock. and proceeding in pairs
down the aisle, took seats reserved for
them on the stage. The appearance
Of the capped and gowned seniors
was the signal for an outburst Of
which grew in volume
as the large feminine contingent
sight OF campus favorites.
Largest Clnss In History.
The exercises opened with prayer
by DIR. IL. d. c. Maclachan. Dean
Tompkins followed with historical
sketch OF the institution since it's
founding seventyfour years since. He
the time. he said. when
the Med cal College OF Virginia had
only twenty-five students. and taught
only four and a half months in the
year Two years OF instruction In
those days. he said. sufiiced for
medical degree.
During the past year. said DR.. Tnomp-
kins. 300 students attended the col
lege, the greatest number in its his
tory. The class of sixty. which was
now going out, ne said, was the larg-
est yet graduated.
In a table compiled in December.
1911" said DR.. Tompkins, 1T has been
shown that the students of this school
rank fourth in the order In which
medical students pass the medical
"a To i,1i,, hn. t., "a
states. there being only three other
schools ahead of this one-Rush, Of
Chicago; Johns Hopkins. OF Baltimore,
and Cornell. of New York. Upwards
of Ia medical schools in the United
States are behind the Medical College
o: Virginia in this respect
According to the latest issue of
Polks Medical Directory. it has sec
gradua -practicing physicians in this
state. which is within thirteen of the
combined number of the graduates OF
the other two Virginia medical schools"
DR.. Tompkins expressed the deep
sense of loss felt by the college in the
by death in the past year OF
two of its professors-Dr. John T.
Davidson and DR.. Daniel j. Coleman.
Modern Progress In Medicine.
The annual address to the graduates
was made by Bishop Dennis j. OCon-
nell, OF the Richmond Diocese, who
took for his general subject the pro-
gress of the science OF medicine from
the materialistic cult of the eighteenth
to the broadly philosophical
study; which it is to-day. From a
constituencies and unfeel!ng practice.
Knowing only physical reactions and
perishable matter. he said, medicine
mas advanced to COMPREHENSIVE
science. which recognizes and deals
with man in his dual identity of soul
and body. The bishop said:
The progress OF science in modern
times has been marvellous. Among
many other causes it is due principal
~ to the fact that medicine has al
lied Itself with u sounder philosophy.
NJ terialism was the prevailing
philosophy OF the eighteenth and part
OF the nineteenth century, and in some
localities medicine fell more or less
under its influences.
Matcrinlism Fatal To Medicine.
No theory of philosophy could be
more fatal TO the profession of medi-
cine than materialism. 1t regards
man as a chemical compound, makes
medicine department OF physics, and
the physician often a mere experi-
menter. To-day all that is changed.
and the more spiritual view of man
has prevailed. This view recognizes
and body bound together by intimate
and mysterious bonds. but influencing
each other profoundly.
Accepting the results of experi-
mental psychology by means of which
the truth of the foregoing was estab-
lished, medicine moved over to the
side OF a spiritual philosophy and
re- oGniZed that man was a mysterious
under the control of the
m nd. 1t formed a body of hygienic
laws for the preservation of health.
and took its place In the world as
renewed and most benefcent science"
immortality n Disease.
Bishop O'Connell sketched briefly
the wonderful strides made by medi-
cine in the past century in checking.
and in many cases Graduating disease.
Asiat'c cholera, diphtheria, typhoid.
and even tuberculosis. he said. have
been robbed of their terror. Not con-
tent with this medical science. he said,
Is rapidly invading the field OF the
spirit, and is laying Its curative hand
upon all forms OF immortality.
I'm the old philosophy of material
ISM" said the bishop, there was no
Man was a physical COM
pound and conscience had no existence.
All that is changed to-day. In the nina
OF mcQlClnc, man Is II moral DelnE up-
der the control of conscience. The laws
of hygiene and morality are in har-
mony. immortality is regarded as Il
disease, serious in the Individual, but
a cancer in the community, injecting
even the unborn. In the extermna-
ton of the malady medicine to-day
lends its support. and becomes an
agent for the promotion of morality.
Alcoholism Doomed.
Its activity in this field" sid
Bishop O'Connell lis not confined to
speculation. 1t has attacked alcohol
ism most vigorously, and the prospects
are that except for degeneratcs, al
coholism will pass away as other cpl
Other vices. too, there are in
society, and we know that in the flu
ture they in their turn will be attack
ed by medicine, and the promise for the
future Is bright under the combined
forces OF religion. morality. philosophy
and medicine"
II hope you will exercise your r..