Virginia Medical College.
In the year before the war, the
Virginia Medical College had about one hundred and fifty students.
Its prosperity had been gradually, but steadily increasing.
Under the auspices of such scientific and popular gentlemen as composed its Faculty, it could not be otherwise.
The patronage which had been so liberally bestowed upon the schools of
Philadelphia and New York was being diverted and applied to the establishment of an institution of our own, which embraced all the advantages of the
Northern colleges, with facilities essential to Southern students which could not be obtained elsewhere.
The war did not materially diminish the number of students; indeed, we believe it was as great during the last two years of the war as at any former period.
The value of the
College, in furnishing the
Southern armies with a corps of educated and skillful surgeons, cannot be overrated.
The Medical College of
Virginia has again resumed its duties under a Faculty embracing gentlemen of great and varied abilities, and who are devoting themselves with extraordinary energy to the re-establishment of the institution in the confidence of the public, and in more than its ancient usefulness.
It seems to us, however, a great burthen, that the Faculty of a college which is State property, and the smallness of whose fees is utterly inadequate to the compensation of their labors, should be compelled to pay from their own pockets for repairs to the buildings and for insurance.
By some unaccountable oversight, the
State has made no provision for the preservation and protection of its own property — an omission which should be promptly rectified by the present Legislature.
The medical profession has always been a favorite profession in
Virginia, and, perhaps, in no other State are a body of physicians to be found more distinguished by general intelligence and classical attainment, in addition to scientific and professional knowledge.
The confidence and respect entertained for them by the people has been shown in many ways.
There is no atmosphere in which quackery has less chance to live than
Virginia.
It is the duty of the Legislature and the public to sustain an institution which will preserve the efficiency and dignity of the profession, and encourage a Southern college, which must, of necessity, have superior advantages for the treatment of Southern diseases over those of any other latitude.
