Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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irinie physician “The physician should he of tender disposition, of wise and gentle nature, and more especially an acute observer, capable of benefiting every one by accurate diagnosis, that is to say, by rapid deduction of the unknown from the known. And no physician can be of tender dispose tion if he fails to recognize the nobility of man; nor of philosophical nature unless he be strengthened by God's guidance, and he who is not an accurate observer will not arrive at a correct understanding of the cause of any ailment. Eight

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HI HE publication of this book presages a notable event to a class of medical students. For years to come its anniversary will be remembered as the year of entrance into a profession considered by many the noblest of vocations. Last May, the three hundredth anniversary of the publication of a medical book was celebrated in London by elaborate ceremonials in which King and Prince, the Royal College of Physicians and the Municipality joined. It was a book which established a medical truth, and although derided and attacked at the time of publication, for twenty-one years the author made no reply, content in the confidence that truth would prevail. HARVEY'S DE MOTU CORDIS lives on through the centuries a symbol of that ceaseless search for truth which has characterized the medical profession. In the professions, success is measured by what is done for others by service rendered, rather than as in business, by what is acquired for one's self—by profits received. Medicine is a dauntless, courageous profession. Its members march unarmed and unprotected with the first line tr x ps in battle—they endure the hardships and guard the lives of explorers who brave tropical infection and polar colds. In pestilence and deadly catastrophe the doctor is the first to respond and the last to leave. He suffers infection in the laboratory and in the field, inoculates himself with loathsome disease, experiments with anesthetics upon his own body; not for personal benefit, but that truth may set others free. Grant me the epitaph “He loved the truth and always sought it — asked the outstanding surgeon of our country, as the greatest tribute that could be paid him. May this book serve its class as a permanent reminder of the fine, age-old obligations of medical practice and of that ever constant aim of the profession— the never-ending search for truth. Sincerely, Seven

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IDIC„ W, WaVTNC IDaVDCCCD 1LLIAM WAYNE BABCOCK was horn in East Worcester, New York, June 10, 1872, both parents tracing their ancestors back to Connecticut in 1642. Graduating from the Birmingham High School at seventeen, for two years he studied medicine and Greek in the office of a preceptor, preparatory to attending the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, Maryland. At this time an aversion to doing a post mortem was very great, dead cats and dogs had been one matter, but the human body was another. Not until he had accepted his own mental willingness to have his own body dissected, could he proceed with any degree of comfort in the laboratory. He completed the course with honors and studied at Harvard Summer School; beconv ing Resident Physician at St. Mark's Hospital, Salt Lake City, the following September. After a year's experience at St. Mark's, he returned east to enter the Class of '95 at the University of Pennsylvania. The next seven years were crowded with serious work. He became Resident Physician at the Philadelphia Polyclinic Hospital, assisting among others Doctors B. F. Baer, J. M. Baldy, and T. G. Morton; for two years he was House Surgeon at the Kensington Hospital for women under Dr. C. P. Noble. Following this period, he was Demonstrator and Lecturer in Pathology and Bacteriology at the Medico-Chirurgical College; Curator to the Pathological Society; Assistant Pathologist to the Philadelphia Hospital; and Pathologist to the Kensington Hospital for Women. He was assistant Editor to Bordman Reed of the International Medical Magazine; co-author with Dr. Joseph McFarland, Volume 5 of Cohen’s System of Physiologic Thera' peutics, and he incidentally wrote a prize essay on Preventive Medicine, winning a most acceptable $1,000. In short, from twenty to thirty, when the average medical student is waiting for opportunity and patients, no position was too small, no amount of work was too great for Dr. Babcock to accept. In 190. , Dr. Conwell opened the door of opportunity to a young doctor, who had been persistently preparing, by offering him the Chair of Surgery and Clinical Surgery of Temple College. A trip abroad in 1904, showed him the possibilities of spinal anesthesia and that year he introduced it at the Samaritan Hospital. The rest of the story most of you know; the results of his researches through the years are yours to adopt, and the fruits of his experience are shared with you in the Text Book recently published. In 1917, after a vain effort to have accepted a Samaritan Hospital Unit, Dr. Bab' cock asked for a leave of absence and entered the service at Camp Greenleat as Captain in the M. R. C. He became Regimental Surgeon of the 318th Field Artillery, Camp Jackson, then for two years was Chief of the Surgical Service of General Hospital No. 6, Fort McPherson, Georgia, being commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel in 1918. Dr. Babcock is married and has four children. He is interested in traveling, big game hunting, firearms and books. He is an inveterate reader, always seeking information. His book plate bears the last words of Goethe Light, More Light, which sums up perhaps as well as any three words could the driving force and character of this Beloved and Master Surgeon. j m c