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

Page 48 text:

PROCTOLOGV Saturday was movie day for the Junior class when Doctor Many Bacon and his assistants lectured on proctology. The moving pictures, which usually starred Dr. Bacon himself wielding the scalpel, clearly demonstrated lesions and surgical techniques in preparation for the senior year’s O.R. services. Along with these were endless reproductions of barium X-rays, with explanations of the aid they give in diagnosis. Drs. Henry Schneider and Franklin Benedict alternated lectures with Dr. Bacon and from the three of them, we learned about carcinoma of the colon, cryptilis, hemorrhoids, and the myriad other lesions which are the concern of the down-under men. As seniors we were given the opportunity to work in the rectal out-patient department where we learned the procedures in diagnosing proctologic lesions, how to insert the proctoscope, and how to probe a fistula, much to the discomfort of protesting patients. Outstanding among our memories will be many of Dr. Bacon's amusing little eccentricities: for example his method of calling roll by choosing five or six names at random, or his operating with a radio tuned to a ball game or a soap opera. A department dealing with lesions of a nearby UROLOGV legion is that of urology, headed by Dr. Low-rain K. McCrea. As juniors, we were crowded into the auditorium with the senior class to hear Dr. McCrca’s amusing and enlightening lectures and as junior clerks we made ward rounds with him to see old men with prostatic troubles and younger ones with urethral difficulties. The high point in our training came when we spent Wednesday afternoons at P.G.H. with Dr. McCrea. Here we saw patients demonstrating the rare and common venereal diseases. When it was all over, if not accomplished urologists, we were at least aware that “the urologist is working with a water works where you can't sweat a joint—but you can bore a hole. 44

Page 50 text:

In the process of becoming a senior. I have observed, one acquires a jauntily-displayed stethescope, a pocket full of mysterious scraps of paper purported to be lecture notes, a worried look and a duodenal ulcer. On the other hand, one loses his hair, his appetite, his ambition, and a great deal of sleep. After suffering the agonies of the damned and being absolutely sure you have everything from infectious mononucleosis to multiple myeloma, the pits of medical purgatory drop behind and the pearly gates of graduation loom in the distance. Here are the heroes who made it. G R A D U