New York Medical College - Fleuroscope Yearbook (Valhalla, NY)

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SCPHCMCRE CLASS President ...,,..V...... ...... M ichael A. Fitzgerald Vice-President ,..,..A, ..,,A.,A R onald I. Jacoby Senator ..,...V..4,..,... .,........ L ester Borden Senator .n.... ..,.....A. I ames Nielsen Secretary ....... .,..n.... C lare L. Dana Treasurer ..V.,. ........ M . joan Horan Skill ur second year at NYMC did not begin quite so abruptly as had our first. We were prepared to be sophomores, largely by the knowledge acquired as freshmen and perhaps equally as well by all the rumors perpetuated by those who had preceded us. We had heard about Clin. Path. Confer- ences, ten courses second term, underlying Robbins in seven different colors, and of practically every other sophomore plaint. Now we could try it for ourselves. First term brought us, among other things, an ability to take notes at a rate approaching the speed of sound, left index fingers that bled refiexly upon en- tering the sixth fioor lab, live disease-causing bugs with which we could play around, twelve hundred drugs with that number to the hundredth power side- effects, and numerous aphorisms in Pathology - apples not falling far from their trees, the human breast as a precancerous lesion, high-powered pathologists with low-powered microscipes -all as a part of the dance of lifev which, for pur- poses of Pathology, was obviously given to sententiousness. Ambiguity held its place among the major plagues upon us fOne of our colleagues noted that soon we would get IBM sheets and pencils - no question sheets - and be given one hour to mark in the first one hundred answersj and someone,s monkey, trained to answer only true,v passed all but one of the twice-weekly Path quizzes. We were, for the first time, exposed to true medical terminology, which we dis- covered to be largely concerned with an abundance of adjectives, causing us to

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hope that we too one day could utter not infrequently usually but sometimes, not however, really often, almost never with straight faces. The high point of the term came with Christmastime. Having resolved a scheduling conflict with the pharmaceutical house, and having incorporated Dr. Denker as our first act, we took to the stage to bring the talents of the '69 Players to NYMC. From midterms until Christmas, members of the Sophomore Class developed notably jaundiced eyes, and on the basis of what they saw, indulged in the surreptitious production of doggerel, all with the purpose of combining such matter into the Christmas show which we had so long anticipated. Rehearsals were post-prandial, following quickly-grabbed lunches and dinners. Some scenes were never the same twice. A full run-through was not held until midnight of production day. And yet it came off. We spoofed everyone-faculty, facilities, and ourselves. So heady was our success that someone, complimented on his performance, said, Thanks We're sold out at P813 next week, and it looks good for the rest of the tour toof' But the essence of the Christmas show is the production of laughter, of guf- faws that can be shared by faculty and students. CHave you ever seen Dr. Reith laugh- laugh hardPl Dr. Bergman enjoyed the festivities, except that his wife, who attended, complained after the show, Louis, I keep telling you to stop pulling on your pants. Some time later he said, Next year the faculty will put on a show for the students? Don't they always? Christmas Vacation can be summed up in revived lines from our production: Try to remember the notes from September?!I canit remember the notes from Decemberf for vacation was a harbinger of finals. As we waded through the slough of exam period, some of us were wondering just how seriously Dr. Franklin had meant his famous ten per-cent statement. Curve-clirnbers, curve-riders, and curve-sliders, we all attacked the giant Bell- curve. Still unresolved is the question of whether we built up antibodies to it or to us. Suddenly-in the course of forty-eight hours-it was second term. Person- nel from various clinical departments were appearing in our lectures more fre- quently. Dr. Pike introduced us to the wonny world. Path went from the oral cavity to the other end and back again for the consideration of still other vis- cera. Everywhere sophomores were seen tapping their chests, eliciting resonance -no medical student would ever admit dullness, even dullness to percussion. Dr. Speer lectured at an even faster rate and was somewhat less predictable in his pursuit of the class list in conferences. Ten courses also signified a concomitant increase in the use of audio-visual aids for teaching purposes. The class became versed in two arts it had not pre- viously realized to be consonent with the successful practice of medicine: taking in the coal-dark andfor sleeping as soon as the lights went out, arising alertf?j with their return. So we pressed on, assaulting the cliffs of medical knowledge with the thought that the ascent would become progressively more natural, more of a part of us -with that thought as something of a motive force. The ascent was, for each of us, an individual matter. We would have our share of stragglers as Well as of Bellerophons, but if there was a general lesson to be gotten from the year, it was this: Chaos is the order of Nature!Order the dream of Man. Bruce A. Eissner