Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine - Synapsis Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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who guided us With this thought to guide us, we began to relax. With the coming of winter, some of us mounted the large auditorium stage to participate in our first Christ- mas show at P.C.O. Then, slightly battered by the ru- mors of surprise exams, the long nights of studying and memorization, and the endless hours of labs and lec- tures, we went home for vacation to rest up for the days to come. After Christmas, our confidence in our- selves began to increase. However, the second term, with a total of 492 hours of clinical and didactic work, did not help to decrease our work load. It was during this time that we learned that our opinions concerning microscopic structures were, worth about a zero. If we had thought that anatomy and histology were exas- perating, we were to find another course which was even more so, namely, neuro-anatomy. 12

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under professors

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in this building Our education was further enhanced during this period by a most pleasant and memorable visit by Per- rin T. Wilson to our college. His enjoyable lectures and demonstrations will long be remembered and appreci- ated. However, it was too good to be true. Just as we thought that we were finally adjusting to the tedious day to day existence of the medical student, a new catastrophe appeared. March produced a biochemical storm which left many of us in its wake. During the third trimester, we discovered that doc- tor ' also meant part-time mechanic and part-time in- ventor. At times, it required great ingenuity to operate the equipment used in the physiology lab; but, bear in mind, that at the end of the term, we all had results of one type or another. Microbiology and parasitology were also a challenge. Where else can one find such little bugs with such long and encompassing names? .After eight exams in the final period, we returned our bone boxes and our slides, and tired but not defeated, we embraced the summer with pleasure and a sense of accomplishment. Our first year at P.C.O. was an ex- perience that we would rather look back upon than forward to. We had made it. We were second year students. Our second year was a tranquil interlude between the frantic scramble for survival of the first year and the restless anticipation that we experienced in the third year. The pressure seemed to be off. We had reached the point where we had mastered the funda- mentals of osteopathic medicine — normal anatomy and physiology. Now, eager to learn, we forged ahead to add the abnormal or diseased state to our armamen- tarian. 13