The Midwest pioneer, his ills, cures, & doctors - University Library ...

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and temperance agitation of the time did not add to its
strength.
"Classes were opened with prayer and lessons in anatomy
made more interesting by the interjection of an occasional
Bible-reading. Students who promised not to use liquor,
tobacco and profane language were admitted without having
to pay any tuition. The average medical student found
these requirements too exacting. Thus the school soon
closed its doors. "^'^
In 1817 the Governor and Judges of Michigan Territory
authorized the incorporation of the "Catholepistemiad or
University of Michigania." One of the thirteen Didaxiim
or professorships was the Didaxia of latrica or Medical
Sciences. It was 1837 before this grandiose paper university
was translated into a school. The Michigan medical profession
was exceedingly fortunate in having one of its
members,
Dr. Zana Pitcher, on the University Board of Regents.
In 1847 he was appointed chairman of the committee to
consider the establishment of a medical school. The medical
school as established "was essentially the work of his hands,"
for only minor changes were made in his recommendations
of 1848 and 1849.
The next year, 1850, the school was inaugurated at Ann
Arbor with a faculty of five members. Its growth was
hampered during the early years by a lack of clinical facilities.
This condition was not remedied until over a quarter
of a century later, when, in 1877, a one-hundred-fifty-bed
hospital was provided. During this period patients were
brought to the school by physicians of the state for free
consultation, provided they submitted to demonstration
before the medical students. The early years of the medical
department were filled with conflicts with the homeopaths.
Michigan was one of the first schools in the United States
to require high qualifications for entrance and longer
courses.
The development of hospitals in the West paralleled the
rise of medical schools; the two were interdependent.
Founders of medical schools early recognized the inabihty