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THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
THE first step in organizing the Department of Medicine was the appointment in 1848 of Abram Sager (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute '31, M.D. Castleton Medical College [Vt.] '35, A.M. hon. Michigan '52) as Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine. He had been Professor of Botany and Zoology since 1842, but apparently never conducted classes in medicine, as in January, 1850, Samuel Denton (M.D. Castleton Medical College [Vt.] '25) was appointed to the professorship in medicine as well as to that in pathology, and Sager was assigned to the professorship of obstetrics and diseases of women. In 1874 Sager was made Emeritus Professor, but he continued to act as Dean until June, 1875, when he resigned as a protest against the proposed establishment of a department of homeopathy in the Medical School.
The first active head of the Department of Medicine was Samuel Denton, who had been appointed Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine and Pathology in 1850. In 1837 he had been appointed one of the first Regents and he had served for three years; later, his interest in state politics led to service in the state Senate from 1845 to 1848.
According to Dr. William Fleming Breakey, Denton was very dignified in manner and always wore a high hat. He had a large general practice and was much sought in consultation, for he had an excellent reputation for sound judgment and skill in diagnosis and treatment. A great advocate of the use of alcohol in many types of illness, he especially recommended it in "consumption" and in the later stages of protracted fevers. The discrepancy between his views and those of Dr. Alonzo B. Palmer, who bitterly opposed the use of alcohol in all forms, was quickly noticed by the students, who sometimes submitted written questions in class calling attention to the opposing opinions. According to Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, Denton "possibly had something to do with the inauguration of the Medical School, but so far as I can learn he contributed but little to its reputation" (Vaughan, A Doctor's Memories, p. 195). He died in Ann Arbor, August 17, 1860. To succeed him Samuel Glasgow Armor (M.D. Missouri Medical College '44, LL.D. Franklin '72) was, in 1861, appointed Professor of the Principles of Medicine and Materia Medica, although the title was changed at once, by his request, to Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Materia Medica. He had held teaching positions in several middle western medical colleges and was in private practice in Dayton, Ohio, when he accepted the appointment, which he retained until the close of the session of 1867-68.
Dr. Armor, a man of great personal charm, was characterized as an able teacher and lecturer, although he will not be remembered as one who contributed importantly to the advancement of medicine. He made his home in Detroit and was in practice there, for a part of the time, in professional partnership with Dr. Moses Gunn, who was then Professor of Surgery in the University.
Alonzo Benjamin Palmer (M.D. College of Physicians and Surgeons [West. Dist., N. Y.] '39, LL.D. Michigan '81) became associated with the University