Drexel University College of Medicine - Medic Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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1 Xlyhfjxvll' 1 1 f A Q 'V -1 W Q.-f... - f 'it ,- A. l X Q' xs.. s N ff Who can erase from his memory the famous Chemistry examinations? Do you remember: Question l lworth T0 pointsl: al Classify the proteins, giving several examples of each. CNOT one, NOT two, NOT three, but SEVERAL! You guess how many . . . I bl Give the common name, chemical name, structural formula, and auto li- cence number of the discoverer, of any 20 amino acids, listing SEVERAL proteins containing each one. Points will be de- ducted if only a FEW are listed. cl Discuss the contributions of Dorothy Wrinch fgood old Dorothylj to protein chemistry. Before each exam, the rules for examina- tion were ominously read by Dr. Chandler. We had three hours-not one moment more-to an- swer ten enormous questions. Anyone handing in less than four legibly written and grammatically perfect quiz books was practically assured of a failing grade. lt was a writing marathon, and it was foolhardy to enter the examination without several Knot one, two, or threell freshly filled fountain pens. At the same time it was foolhardy to attempt to leave the auditorium in a hurry once the examination was completed. We had to run the gamut of a statistical analysis by Dr. Chandler, who recorded for each examinee the order and time of departure, the number of books written, the number of pages in each book, and the order and number of questions answered. There were also unknows to do in the labo- ratory, where one drop of reagent past the end point in a procedure such as the Folin-Wu- modified-by-Chandler technique lunpublishedl would throw the result off by as much as 0.000412 per cent, no less! Also, there were write-ups on experiments to be submitted, the grades for which depended primarily on whether one owned cardboard folders, brass fasteners, a typewriter, a Speedball pen, and an assort- ment of colored inks. With training such as this, is our prowess in Chemistry to be questioned?

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The Chemistry course-the first one, that is- was under the direction of Dr. W. A. Pearson, Ph.C., Ph.D., Phar.D., M.D., Sc.D., LL.D., and Dr. Joseph S. Hepburn, A.B., A.M., B.S., M.S., Ph.D., Chem.D., M.D., with the able assistance of Dr. J. P. Chandler, Ph.D. The textbook we used during this phase of Chemistry was the fab- ulous P. and H. The course extended over a period of thirty-two weeks, presumably cover- ing the fields of lipins for ly-pins or lip-pids l, carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, hormones, tissues, and analytical and clinical procedures. Besides these subiects, we learned other interest- ing facts, such as: Dr. Chandler was a Captain in World War I, Dr. Pearson had a friend whose urinary bladder capacity was greater than that of anyone on record, the urine of a student nurse who had been given knockout drops would yield a positive aldose test, and anyone dipping a pipette into a reagent stock bottle was worse than John L. Lewis. All this led merely to a swivel chair knowledge because the chief engineer incessantly put a caboose on things. Nevertheless, Chemistry was fun. It was satisfying to spike Dr. Pearson's urine-unknown stock bottle with uranium nitrate solution. Also, one felt that he had made a valuable contribu- tion when he added his own feces to those of the rest of the class. Chemistrylectures were unparalleled byany other lectures in our four years at Hahnemann. Attendance was, of necessity, virtually 'I00 per cent and punctual, lest Dr. Chandler note your vacant seat number at precisely nine point zero zero o'clock. For Dr. Hepburn's stimulating lec- tures on carbohydrates and food chemistryg the chances of finding vacant seats were even slim- mer, since those available were occupied by students' wives and girl friends. These guests came frequently to witness Dr. Hepburn's im- pressive antics, and it was for them especially that he often outdid himself. if s J ,.,,...-our 9 O I Qvulrhf- Al

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X x ,.-LA fd? 4-- 1- '- , ,,, np t 3... ' l F! John C. Scott, Ph.D. Professor and Head of the Division ol Physiology Emerson A. Reed, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Physiology Floyd J. Wiercinski, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Physiology George D. Geckeler, M.D. Lecturer in Physiology Brion A. Cookson, M.B., Ch.B. Instructor in Physiology Aaron Bechtel, B.S. Research Assistant William C. Foster, Ph.B., M.S. Research Associate Physiology has been the nemesis of many a student at Hahnemann. It has been said that the scholastic status of a freshman in his class invariably parallels his grade in Dr. Scott's course. The course itself consisted of three one- hour lectures per week, two three-hour labora- tory periods, and all the extra study time we could steal from our other subiects. In order to save time in taking notes, we were required to purchase a physiology bible, a 150-page set of lecture notes compiled by Dr. Scott. ln a very short time we discovered that this voluminous mass of condensed physiology represented only the bare essentials to be mastered in order to appease Dr. Scott, and that the real bible was McLeod's Physiology with perhaps a gob or two of Best and Taylor!