The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-12-29

out good practitioners that does not
devote itself to scientific research? Is
| 1t not further true that tho faculty OF
tho medical department OF tho Uni
versity OF Virginia think that x Is
J moro feasible, when all tho facts aro
considered, for the State to maintain
| such medical school In Richmond, n
| city OF 10000 inhabitants. than in
| charlottesville. town of 1900 and
| moreover, has not thlB Same faculty
! shown by Its action In adding continu-
ally to It's requirements for matricu-
latton and graduation and by its in
nistence OH the necessity of research.
that II is seeking efficiency and not
moro numbers In Its advocacy Of the
union OF tho schools?
| DR.. Harrison quotes at length from
DR.. Adami, OF Montreal. and Insists
rightly on the necessity of breadth In
medical education. think every man
school Ia part and parcel OF great
university Of many faculties. But how
! to attain that in this case, that Is the
! very question. Certainly tho medical
students of tho University of Virginia
| In the past weie not studying under
conditions that remotely approached
| the ideal. for no education beyond the
three RS was required for entrance
| and man might and did often, gradn-
| ate sometimes In one year, without
| the remotest education In and knowl-
edge OF humanity. beyond an ana
! tomical one. Tho proposed now medi-
! cal school would require an under
graduate college degree, as requisite
| for admission. l assume, certainly II
would raise the present requirement OF
tho university medical department,
which asks about two years of high
| school work or its equivalent The
ideal condition would seem to demand
the concentration OF tho medical schools
at the University OF Virginia.
| But would 1t be possible really to
maintain modern medical department
or tho first rank and OF large size In
| Charlottesville7 say Largo size"
| meaning the single medical school In
the State, for II Is an essential part of
the arguments OF those who, like my
self. Are for more concentration in
State institutions. that tho State can
not support more than one good medi-
! cal school.
DR.. Harrison seems to cite Germany
as an example Of decentrallzed
| medical education, and, of course,
| he is right in taking II as a
model. But I beg to be allowed to
! point out that there Is no real analogy
/ between Virginia and Germany. The
real analogy should be between this
! country at large and Germany He
!
! lessor Fritsch. of the University of
Bonn. who says: ut is the great good
! fortune of us Germans that instead OF
ono determinative central place, we
/ possess great number of centres OF
scientific authority in our numerous
universities" Exactly SO, and the new
| proposed medical department of the
University of Virginia would attempt
| to become one Of the centres of scien-
| tifc authority In medical knowledge
in the United States. DIR. Harrison can
certainly not mean that the state of
| Virginia. one of forty-eight component
parts of our country, is really a unit
analogous to the German empire Ger
many has indeed some twenty-five uni
versities for her population OF co.
| 100000, and the smaller universities
hold their own manfully, but Virginia
is educationally not on n par with the
| poorer provinces of Germany He
! speaks as IL the institutions of Vir-
ginia were meant to servo n popula-
| ton cut of by such lines from tho
surrounding population as tho bound
aries that separate Germans from
Frenchmen, Austrians. Swiss or Rus
SLAMS.
AS n matter of fact. Virginia is more
closely akin to any other American
State in needs and thought than some
OF the provinces OF the kingdom OF
Prussia are to each other let alone
Germany as whole. This is not to
! argue, of course. that the State of
virginia should hand over its control
OF education to Carnegie boards or
any other private corporation, and do
not believe there Is any intention on
the part Of the State to do so.
What L want to emphasize is that
the old notion that Virginia is an en-
tty separable In life and interests and
nf
, States. whatever it was once. and
however some people may wish 1T were
still, Is now not iE accord with facts
We must base our educational institu-
tions on recognition of things as they
are.
Again, pr. Harrison adduces the au-
thority OF Professor Hyrtl OF Vienna.
for comparison between good instruc-
ton In medicine at the small" univer-
sity OF Dorpat, and poor instruction Mt
the great one OF Vienna. He does not
quote Professor Hyrtl. but the lam
guage he uses certainly means that.
Know very little about the University
OF vienna, but do know that medical
instruction at the University of Berlin
Is unexcelled, and IL size has caused
q degeneration In the medical depart
ment at Vienna, no such result has
taken place In the study OF philoloey
there. DR.. Harrison goes so far as
to assert that the best educated young
medical men como from the smaller
universities and colleges" I have no
means OF judging how far such n
sweeping observation is Just. and L
do not assert the contrary. But If Dr.
Harrison intends TO draw any such
conclusion with regard to our medical
education from the case OF such uni
versities as Dorpat, want to remind
him that II is not small in the sense
that the University of Virginia is small.
In 1902 the University of Dorpat HAD
l,1S3 students, of whom 767 were medi-
cal students, over seven times as many
as the medical department. of tho uni
versity at present. and moro than the
numbers OF the Medical College of Vir-
gicla and the university medical de-
partment put together.
AS SEQ the question 1t Is this:
There are now two medical schools re-
ceivinS State support They arc com
petitors with many lavish!y suDplied