Ohio State University College of Medicine - Caducean Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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. XX I 'V .L W X.-'gil .luu .,.V --,. L -..x4lN.,- I Tm -.-:LEA '. f .-,, Eh X X Lkl, lj' -.. vglx'li:gl 'l'2:1g ,'.. . 1w:.5Q7g1 .L i - ..:: ' .2-. -X, ' 4. , -1j,y '-Njxn X-V ' '.-, 4'-4. Y ..-T, , .-L 1+- Page six DR. RICHARD M. Associate Dean 4-,Q-.Q --f., -. . X,.- - .. DR. CHAUNCEY D. LEAKE Assistant Dean

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There ir no greater imrnorality than to occupy a place you cannot fill. -Napoleon Conoerrely, there it no greater tragedy than to fall short of the complete ful- fillment of the intellectual potential with which you were naturally endowed. Dear Colleagues of the Class of 1960: It seems but yesterday that I penned a personal letter to each of you, warmly welcoming you as freshman medical stu- dents into the coveted fellowship of this College and University - and, now, you tell me it is time to write the closing paragraph for this introductory chapter to your medical careers! To refresh your memory, just four years ago, this month, I wrote: Since early last fall 09551 we have been seeking to select those young men and women best pre- pared and most appropriately fitted by natural endowment for the study and practice of medicineg for medicine today combines the disciplines of an ancient Art with the tools of modern science each effectively complementing the other. You are being born currently into a distinguished family with a proud heritage and treasured traditions. You are a very much wanted fand neededj son in this large family of the health sciences . . . You have proved yourself to be a person of integrity, emotionally stable, and a physically and mentally mature student, who gives full promise of the capability of accepting the responsibilities for health and happiness, and at times, of decisions affecting the life and death of your fellowmen. This is a sacred trust for which, together, we shall strive to keep prepared through- out our professional lives. My sincere congratulations to each of you in having faithfully fulfilled your period of legally required four years ap- prentice fellowship, so that now you are ready to launch upon your own professional careers, which in this day of largely controlled infections and increasingly effective preventive health measures, should assure most of you an active life of satisfying practice up to, and perhaps well into the next century, 2000 A.D.! Some of you will remember the preface of John Galsworthy to his novel, The Island Pharisees, where man is de- scribed as born into the world to go on a journey - and for the most part on the high road. Most people like those main roadsg mostly their fathers went on these roads before themg on these roads one is sure of pleasant company, good food and safe shelters for the night. Relatively few people venture out into the unknown, where unmapped forests, un- charted rivers and trackless swamps with quick sands and hostile animals and men may be. Some of those who do leave the beaten track temporarily, hurry back and are happy to get back again on the safer and pleasanter highway, and take good care not to leave it again, some of the more adventurous perish without ever being heard from againg but once in a great while a man of courage and resourcefulness does get through, and then, a new road is opened to mankind - or, in this age, a new airway is pioneered to the uttermost limit of the Universe. Such are the choices with which you are now faced. Your many friends and associates, and now, your colleagues, wish you well, having every confidence that from this class will come those who will contribute mightily to the future progress of medicine, while also guaranteeing the perpetuation and application of all that is best in today's current medical practice. Just do not try to occupy a position for which you are unqualified, and do not accept a challenge less than your maximum genius is capable of meeting. Hans Selye has just made a rather startling prediction which should give pause and stimulation to you as you begin your medical careers: If the causes of aging can be found, there is no good medical reason to believe that it will not be possible for science to find some practical way of slowing the process down, or even bringing it to a standstill! In the terms I am using here, aging can be regarded as a disease. Like any other direare it if probably preventable or curable. And since tissue is technically immortal the normal life span of a human being may be described as any number of years the medical science of the moment is capable of making it - today's 70 years, a' hundred, or perhaps more. There is no theoretical limit - though there will always be a practical limit set by imperfect medical skill and knowledge, and the risky, but unavoidable adventure of living outside a test tube. Welcome! Now into the full, satisfying fellowship of the medical profession, where you are so urgently needed and where you will strengthen and be strengthened by the small but courageous majority, who so live and work that others may live more abundantly. Charles A. Doan, M.D. Dean Page we

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DR. N. PAUL HUDSON Assifmnt Dean and S ecretary THE DEA R I' Page Jeverz