ENIn 1774, at the initiative of the Prince-Bishop of Vilnius Ignacy Massal- ski (1729-1794), a school of anatomy and surgery, the Vilnius Medical School, had been founded in Vilnius, and it had existed until 1781, when the new University was reorganized. Its first rector, Marcin Poczobutt (1728-1810), received instructions on 2 November 1780 from the Education Commission to safeguard that school of anatomy and surgery as if it was part of the university (ad Corpus Universitatis). Since Bishop Massalski was the chairman of the Education Commission at the time, this order may have been issued by him. In his inaugural address on 24 November 1781, Poczobutt announced that the new university would consist of two faculties (collegia): physics and morals, and that medical disciplines would be taught for the first time. They would be taught in the Physics Faculty (Collegium physicum) together with experimental physics, mathematics and astronomy. This was the beginning of formal medical education at Vilnius University. A separate Medical Faculty (Collegium medicum) was established in 1797. At about the same time, another initiative to found a medical school came from Count Antoni Tyzenhaus (1733-1785). He was the treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and administrator of the royal estates in Grodno (now Belarus), where in 1776 he founded the Royal School of Medicine, which existed until 1781 when it was transferred to the Vilnius University. [Extract, p. 234]