Valedictory to the Graduating Class of the Philadelphia College of Medicine, Delivered in the Musical Fund Hall, February 28, 1852

Philadelphia: T.K. and P.G. Collins, Printers, 1852. 16pp. Pamphlet. Removed. Lacking wrappers; minor foxing; very good.

Graduation address or valedictory given by Dr. Thomas D. Mitchell, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine at the Philadelphia College of Medicine:

"But the most important item at which I have hinted, as related to the true dignity of the profession, is the reception and instruction of office pupils. Every village and rural district has its young men who aspire to Esculapian honors, and hence the certainty of applications to you, in this behalf. Let me express my deep, abiding conviction, that you can do more to elevate the profession, just at this point, than by all other expedients combined. (p9)"

"The Philadelphia College of Medicine had its origins in the Philadelphia School of Anatomy, which was established by James McClintock in 1838. In 1847 McClintock obtained a charter from the Pennsylvania Legislature to establish the Philadelphia College of Medicine.... The five story building contained two lecture rooms, an anatomical theater, a museum, a dissecting room, classrooms, and rooms for professors."¹

Thomas Duché Mitchell (1791-1865), medical author and editor graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1812. He taught physiology at St. John's Lutheran College and, in 1831 organized and taught in the medical department of Miami University in Ohio. In 1835 he was professor of materia medica at Transylvania University, where he remained until becoming chair of the practice of medicine at Philadelphia College of Medicine. In 1857 he became professor of materia medica at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

Mitchell was the author of Medical Chemistry (1819), Elements of Chemical Philosophy (1832), and Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1850). He co-edited the Western Medical Gazette and edited the Journal of Medical and Associate Sciences.

OCLC returns copies at Harvard, Yale, HSP, LCP with descriptors noting the work's subject matter as vocational guidance for those newly-installed in the medical profession.

Note. 1. Extinct Philadelphia Medical Schools, University of Pennsylvania University Archives accessed online. Ref. Kelly, pp805-806.