VIRGINIA, UNIVERSITY OF (a nte), near Charlottesville, Albemarle co.,Va. ; established by Thomas Jefferson,1825. In this institution there is no curriculum or prescribed course of study to be pursued by every student. In establishing it Mr. Jefferson, for the first time in America, threw open the doors of a university in the true sense of the name, providing, as amply as the available means would permit, for thorough instruction in independent schools in all the chief branches of learning, assuming that the opportuni ties for study thus presented were privileges to be voluntarily and eagerly sought, and -allowing students to select for themselves the departments to which they are led by their special tastes and proposed pursuits in life. No honorary degrees are conferred. The course of study embraces-I. A literary and scientific department; 2. A medical department; 3. A law department. The library, originally selected and arranged by Mr. Jefferson and since enlarged, contains about 36,000 vols. The Brooks museum of
natural history, consisting of well-selected cabinets of zoology, mineralogy, and geol ogy, and a botanical collection, arc arranged in a handsome building, and furnish ample illustration in their several departments. There is a well-appointed infirmary connected with the university for the care and comfort of sick students. Every student sn admission deposits the infirmary fee, which entitles him, in ease of sickness during the session, to the advice and attention of the infirmary physicians, and if necessary, to nursing by professional nurses, without additional charge. Attendance on religious ser vices is purely voluntary. The university has an income of over $36,000. Number of professors (1879-80), 17; other instructors, 7; students, 329. James F. Harrison, M.D., Is chairman of faculty.