Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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snip but too soon came the realization that his year on the continent was about over, and Dr. English had to return to America and Harvard for completion of his fellowship. The passing of another twelve months saw the end of his stay at Harvard: likewise the end of three years of persistent and concentrated psychiatric study. The boy from the farm had come far . . . there were but few laps to go now! Spurgeon English was not only interested in securing further training in psychoanalysis when he returned to Berlin in 1932. he was also very anxious to see Ellen Brown. There was no interrupting call from Harvard this time, and on February 28. 1933, after his psychoanalytic studies had been finished, they were married. One month later the new Mrs. English joined her husband on his return to the United In May, 1933. Dr. English became the newly appointed Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine. 1938 was the momentous year, however, for in that year at the early age of 37. Dr. English was made Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry. At last the long sought goal had been reached. Dr. English’s extra-professional interests are indeed numerous. His musical career began during medical school with lessons in playing the banjo; later the piano accordian fell before his talent. and most recently the bass has commanded his attention. These varied musical abilities are put to practical use when Dr. English joins Dr. Wright and seven other fellow musicians in providing entertainment for the boys in the services at the 17th Locust U.S.O. once each month. Traveling is another of Dr. English's enjoyments, and 1936 saw him and Mrs. English attending the Olympic Games in Berlin, later driving throughout Germany. Austria. Hungary, Switzerland, France and Holland. He also likes amateur photography and a weekly game of golf. And finally his greatest interest is in his family which at the present time boasts of three boys. Wesley (10), O. Spurgeon. Jr. (7). and Carroll (2). Dr. English has contributed to the medical literature with, “Common Neuroses of Children and Adults” (English and Pearson—1937). “Psychosomatic Medicine” (Weiss and English—1943), “The Emotional Problems of Living” (English and Pearson—1945). He has already l een president of the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Society and this year is President of the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society. For your abilities as a teacher, for giving us a finer appreciation of the mental sufferings of our fellowmen. and finally for a better philosophy of life itself, we the Class of 1945 thank you. Dr. O. Spurgeon English. Knowing you has l een a real privilege. Twlvc

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TO THE CLASS OF 1«M5 THREE years ago during a typically sultry Philadelphia August you began your medical career. During those early days the road ahead seemed long and there were moments of great discouragement. Many an evening the temptation was great to desert the many hours of needed study for an evening of recreation, but a view of the goal ahead gave perserverance, and in perserver-atice there were established habits of industry which will stand you in good stead throughout your lifetime of medical practice. And during those early days also came a fuller realization than you had ever had before of the marvels of the profession you had chosen. It was indeed a privilege to be permitted to study and delve into the amazing intricacies of the human organism and to learn the lessons which would become so fundamental in later years when treating disturbances of structure and function in that organism. Just as though you were travelling through an entirely new Wonderland, every day brought new vistas each as marvellous as those of the day before, but never lacking for variety. Once it was the astonishing complexity of the communicating pathways in the central nervous system, then it was the electrophysical marvel of the activation of the cardiac musculature, and again it was the phenomenal activators and regulators of the extremely complex chemical reaction patterns essential to life, etc., etc. Thus the pre-clinical years passed as the fascination of it all imbued you with new interest, new energy to carry on despite all difficulties. The Junior and Senior years brought at last the long anticipated contact with patients. Now you felt close to real medical practice. The problems of the patients assigned to you were real-life problems and there was a great joy in applying the fundamentals which you had mastered to the un- ravelling of them. Diagnosis was found to l e an exciting mental process of the highest order embracing careful and painstaking observation, correlation and interpretation. And you realized more and more its importance in practice as you saw that the days of empiricism are gone forever and that the miracles of modern therapy depend on the application of specific remedies to disease states for which they have definite indication. During these days also you glimpsed the satisfaction which is the delight of the doctor's heart and the most important income he receives as he watches a very sick patient restored to health and happiness by his ministrations. Finally as you prepared for graduation and the years of practice to follow you came to realize fully another fact of utmost importance. The patients you saw were not just cases having diseases, but real persons with emotions often much distraught by the difficulties in which they found themselves. This was manifest to you in many ways, but it was especially evident in those instances in which medical science had no cure to offer. One patient showed his emotions with tears, another hid his behind a face of stoical resignation, while a third found complete solace in the Sacred Page. In the latter you saw the workings of the prescription of the Great Physician. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled. And seeing this you understood that a physician must also be a minister to souls. Thus has the foundation for your medical practice been laid. It is a good foundation and one worthy of a fine superstructure. What will l e built upon it depends on you. Will it be wood, hay, stubble, or will it be gold and silver which will stand the testings of judgment ? Thomas M. Durant, M.D. Fourteen