who very largely influenced his student days. This was Dr. Murdock, an Episcopal minister, who was devoted to boys and to whom the boys looked in turn for spiritual and intellectual guidance. Dr. Murdock established in Salisbury a private school, at one time known as the Episcopal High School, and here Doctor Whitehead studied with all his characteristic enthusiasm for the deeply satisfying things in life and was inspired by that fine type of classical teacher that is fast becoming an influence of the past.

After a few years of instruction under Dr. Murdock, Doctor Whitehead spent a year at Horner's Military School at Oxford, North Carolina, and the following autumn he registered as a student at Wake Forest College, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1886 with the degree of bachelor of arts. His stay at Wake Forest was characterized by his devotion to his studies which gave him a place of high standing, especially in the classical branches, in which he was deeply interested and proficient. The appreciation of this type of intellectual training gave him a comprehensive grasp of the history of the past and the fineness of this type of culture was reflected in his attitude towards modern movements and towards men.

The summer of 1886 found Dr. Whitehead at Salisbury where he spent hours each day engrossed in the study of anatomy and physiology. His power of concentration was remarkable and for long periods during this summer he would bury himself in study and be oblivious to distracting surroundings. In the fall he entered the Medical Department of the University of Virginia, and completed in one year, with high distinction, the regular two year medical course then offered at this University. During this year he came to know in an intimate fashion Dr. Towles, the professor of anatomy at the University of Virginia. Dr. Towles at once appreciated the brilliancy and studious nature of his young pupil and appointed him demonstrator of anatomy. In this capacity he served through the sessions of 1887-88 and 1888-1889. The association of Dr. Whitehead with Professor Towles resulted in the formation of a deep and understanding friendship, and the enthusiasm and teaching ability of Professor Towles very largely influenced his pupil in his final medical

career.

The winter of 1889-90 was spent by Dr. Whitehead in study at hospitals in Philadelphia and New York. The summer of 1890 he returned to Salisbury to form a partnership with his older brother Dr. John Whitehead, for the practice of medicine. It was the object of this partnership for the older member of the firm to devote himself to general medicine, while Dr. Richard Whitehead was to confine himself as much as possible to surgery. Dr. Whitehead was an exceptionally well trained anatomist and had a zeal for surgery which remained with him in the years to come. During this summer he performed numerous operations of a difficult character. His keen ability as a diagnostician enabled him to separate surgical from medical conditions and at this early period in abdominal surgery he successfully operated for appendicitis and other abdominal conditions.

During this summer Dr. Whitehead received a call to the University of North Carolina to be dean of the Medical School and professor of anatomy. Perhaps here was the turning point in his life. He was passionately fond of surgery, but likely the recollection of the quiet scholarly life of the teacher of his early student days, Dr. Murdock, and later the example of his teacher and firm friend Dr. Towles, influenced him to such an extent that he accepted the call to the University. This was not an easy decision to reach, and for hours at a time he would think it over without seeking advice and without consultation with others. This was his way. When a question had to be decided he faced it, thought it out, and acted.

Doctor Whitehead came to Chapel Hill in the fall of 1890 and began his new and difficult task with a quiet determination and deep enthusiasm which were characteristic of all of his labors. He not only undertook the task of organizing a medical school, of teaching, without assistance, anatomy, physiology and materia medica, but he also served in the capacity of university physician and very largely took care of the general practice in the village and surrounding country which was left open through the death of Dr. W. P. Mallett. Think of the labor and of the devotion to labor which made such a life possible!

The medical school for the first year had but few students but these became strong men, and clear thinking and sanely enthusi

astic physicians under the inspiration and fine guidance of their friend and teacher. The school was a success from the start. More men came from year to year to labor under, to learn to love, and to catch the spark of light from "Old man Dick."

On June 4th, 1891, Dr. Whitehead was married to Virgilia Whitehead, of Amherst, Virginia. His marriage was one of those unions of common mutual taste and understanding, and drew him ever closer to the quiet charm of his cultured home, where books, music, flowers, and kindly mirth gave him deep and lasting happiness.

In 1896 the Medical School had proved so successful that, upon President Alderman's recommendation, it was incorporated as an integral part of the University and it was decided to extend the one year course of instruction to a two year course. Dr. Charles S. Mangum was selected to aid in this development. Dr. Whitehead retained the chair of anatomy and assumed the duties of the chair of pathology, while Dr. Mangum served as professor of physiology and materia medica and assisted Dr. Whitehead in the department of anatomy.

Dr. Whitehead was of the firm conviction that the first two years of the medical curriculum could be ably administered and best given in connection with a university and away from the distracting influences of the clinical side of medicine. His idea. was that the teaching in these first two years should be given in a fine and thoroughly scientific fashion, by competent men, to students of such high school and academic training as would be able to appreciate and master the best. To fit himself for this type of task Dr. Whitehead spent the summers from 1890 to 1895 in research in the anatomical laboratories of the Johns Hopkins Medical School and of the University of Chicago. During the teaching years he became actively interested in creative work which found expression in his papers on anatomical and pathological subjects. Not only did he fit himself technically for this high type of academic service in so far as laboratory training was concerned, but almost without aid, he taught himself German, French, and Italian in order that he might the better learn and the better teach.

As a result of Dr. Whitehead's high ideals in medical education

and his fine practical accomplishments at the University, his advice was eagerly sought and his judgment appreciated by medical educators throughout this country. His influence is now felt in numerous institutions which have been reorganized and placed on a modern basis.

In 1905 Dr. Whitehead was called to the chair of anatomy and deanship of the Medical Department of the University of Virginia. Perhaps reluctantly he went to Charlottesville for a consultation with President Alderman. Some hours passed during which the situation at Virginia received his quiet, careful consideration. Finally with his mind made up, but with the vision of his work, his home, and his rose garden at Chapel Hill, he asked: "Can you raise roses in Charlottesville?"-and the fineness of his soul was satisfied.

RICHARD HENRY WHITEHEAD AND THE UNIVERSITY OF

VIRGINIA.

BY THEODORE HOUGH,

Professor of Physiology, University of Virginia.

Richard Henry Whitehead first knew the University of Virginia when, in 1886, he matriculated as a student in its medical school. His father, Dr. Marcellus Whitehead, one of the most widely known, most skilled, and best beloved physicians of North Carolina had died in 1885; an older brother, Dr. John Whitehead, had begun his career as a physician in Salisbury; and, after graduation from Wake Forrest College, Richard Whitehead was looking forward to the practice of medicine as his life work. The selection of the University of Virginia as the school in which to begin his medical study was made deliberately and largely upon the advice of his brother, who had received his own medical education in the schools of the North and who felt that this school had something to give which was lacking in those he had known.

The medical department of the University of Virginia was unique in the fact that teaching and not practice was the primary work of its faculty. Elsewhere medical schools were essentially proprietary, even where they bore a nominal connection with, a university and their faculties consisted of physicians in active practice. Although clinical chairs were filled by specialists, these specialists were chosen, not because of their ability as teachers, but because of their reputation as clinicians and because their connection with hospitals enabled them to offer students clinical demonstrations. In the fundamental sciences of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, specialization was almost unknown in this country. Bowditch at Harvard, Prudden at Columbia, Martin and Welch at Johns Hopkins stood forth as exceptions to the rule, prophets of the future of medical science. Usually, however, these chairs went as consolation prizes to those who failed of appointment to clinical professorships or else were taken by younger men as stepping-stones to this coveted goal.

It was natural that with this method of selecting a faculty, medical instruction should be notoriously inefficient even in the best schools. In contrast to this the University of Virginia chose