Harvard School of Medicine - Aesculapiad Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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Laboratory of the Brigham Hospital. Dr. Christian's interest in the circulatory apparatus was evidenced from the beginning by his being the first person in this country to use the electrocardiograph in the study of circulatory disorders in a general hospital. His interest in renal diseases, begun, as reflected in his publications, even before the opening of the Brigham Hospital, has gone on unabated until the present time. Liver therapy in primary anemia by Doctors Minot and Murphy com- menced in his clinic. Dr. Christian initiated in the Brigham Hospital the custom of inviting a distinguished colleague to visit the hospital for a short period each year as Physician-in-Chief pro tempore. This innovation was a happy one which has brought to his clinic new points of view and a stimulus to the junior members of the Staff which cannot easily be evaluated. The great breadth of his interests is seen in his membership in our great medical organizations. He has been Chairman of the Section of Pathology and Physiology of the American Medical Association and later Chairman of the Section of the Practice of Medicine. He has been a member of the House of Delegates as well. His interest in the investi- gative side of medicine is shown by his charter memberships in the American Association of Pathologists and Bacteriologists and in the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He has also served as President of the Association of American Physicians. Indeed, his mem- bership and service in' our leading medical organizations are evidence of 'his continued interest in pushing forward the frontiers of medical practice. Dr. Christian has proven himself both a great teacher and an out- standing clinician. No student or practitioner of medicine ever worked up his cases more thoroughly or followed them more carefully to the operating table or the autopsy table for 'final proof of his deductions and reasoning. His, example in thoroughness is a major reason for the great success of his pupils and this quality has made him a superb clinician. Moreover, this sense of thoroughness is seen in his devotion to his teach- ing engagements. He has always carefully arranged his share in the medical curriculum and meticulously fulhlled his obligations to the students, . A We who are soon to lose Dr. Christiarfs services because of retire- ment will long appreciate the immense value of this teacher to our School of Medicine. We only hope that his clinical abilities and suc- cessful teaching methods, outstanding for more than a quarter of a century, will be an inspiration to his successors. IO

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by the students as an unusual teacher. When, shortly afterwards, he entered upon his duties as Instructor in the Theory and Practice of Physic, matters of great importance for the future education of our students at the Harvard Medical School began to happen. In the elec- tive course in medicine given by Dr. Reginald H. Fitz, then Hersey Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, Dr. Christian instituted for the first time in Boston the clinical clerkship arrangement of teach- ing our students QIQO5-075. This was the Hrst opportunity given to the students to take histories, conduct physical examinations and carry out laboratory procedures on their ward patients. If patients died, the stu- dents were always presentbat the autopsies, and indeed generally per- formed them. The thoroughness and closeness of the association of the student with the patient over a considerable period of time was an inno- vation of the greatest importance to this School. Dr. Christian had already experienced the advantage of this form of teaching at Johns Hopkins, but we who subsequently prohted from it here owe to him a deep debt of gratitude. While Dr. Christian was Dean of the Medical School, a good deal of reorganization of great beneht to the School took place. At first the Summer School of Medicine was reorganized, and later the Graduate School of Medicine was established as a continued growth of this re- organized Summer School. The relationships between the Associated Hospitals were tremendously improved, and the custom was started whereby the nomination of the Chiefs of Staffs in most of the afliliated hospitals originated in the Medical School. During his Deanship, a new Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine was established, and it was also during his term of oliice that the Faculty of the Medical School first brought forward a new degree, that of Doctor of Public Health. With the opening of the new Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in IQI 3, Dr. Christianjs career as a great clinical teacher began. It would be impossible to review in the short space available here the tremendous influence for good in American medicine which has emanated from his teachings at this Hospital. The amazing number of distinguished pupils who now hold high places in medicine scattered all over our country are the chief documents of his precious influence. N 0 teacher of medi- cine in our day has sent forward a more capable or meritorious group of pupils. The very breadth of his clinical teaching emphasizes his value as a teacher. VVe note among his pupils men who now hold distinguished positions in the realms of cardiology, bacteriology, allergy, and general medicine. The field of allergy as now practiced in this country really began with the work of his pupil, Dr. I. C. Walker, in the Medical 9

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