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

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ROBKRT H HAMILTON. JR.. M.D. Dr. Saylor always met the chemistry class with a giand entrance through the side door of room 416. Seated in this room, we learned from the little giant the value of brevity and explicitness in answering exam questions, as demonstrated by Fred Becker one day. The chemistry lab was a beehive of industriousness, some of it spurious, with Dr. Saylor inconspicuously off to one side surveying, evaluating and mentally rec- Thought I'tj Jufci Mcv FtROur«n,Doc So Mom Ghirt Discovcries Mrde B Somc LucKy Rcoot ht CHEflllSTR V ording our efforts. His little tours were punctuated by questions like Son, where'll you go to college? or VVhat’d you do that for? , which didn't make sense for a while. But along toward the end of the year, many of us were invited into his office for private chats, or in class he would say, Desk fifty-four doesn’t believe in recording his data in the notebook , and another freshman would bite the dust. That was the year we walked around with cjuart milk bottles full of urine, or solicited it from more productive colleagues in the fourth floor men's room. Beer was the only constant item in our weekend diet: the remainder varied viciously from week to week. The Fox's caustic comment to the student who brought in 1500

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members of the Anatomy department viewed the flotsam and jetsam of dissection with a baleful eye and inevitably sought out the undissected for special attention. It was in these sessions that we fust met Dr. Jean Weston. By die conclusion of the first semester we found ourselves, under his guidance, armed with the colors of the rainbow, madly dashing up and down the CNS on a stenciled sheet of paper that ended up looking like a play-by-play record of an Army football game. When tfie smoke cleared, we had gained an inkling of the mysteries of the nervous system and a thorough inoculation of formaldehyde, if not the anatomy of the brain. The end of our sophomore year arrived, and we had completed neuro and visceral anatomy, histology and embryology. In out junior year we reviewed some of the special anatomy particularity useful clinically. Perhaps out professors were not impressed, but we feel as though we have learned much in all too short a time; that a little brushing up will clear the dull spots. We passed through the anatomy department during a year of change. Dr. Rtixby we remember for his special lectures to us and for his denouncement of Washington in general and New Dealers in particular. The newer members had only a brief period in which to cope with us. but surely Drs. Huber, Weston, and Pritchard will recall on occasion our humble anatomic efforts, and so our reputation will live on. 17

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 :c. after twenty-foin hours of fluid restriction deserves to be added to the lassies of medical humor. l)r. Saylor will ever be remembered by each of us. His graphic portrayal of an experiment, complete with squints, pauses for decision, shaking of imaginary test tubes, were all so serious that to laugh would have been to insult, yet not silently to convulse impossible. I 'his ability to describe a situation was cat tied ovet into Toxicology when Dr. Saylor played for us the role of the poisoned dog, a story no one will ever forget, and one impossible to relate on paper. Dr. Hamilton held sway over us in the chemistry of the vitamins, amino acids and hormones, and awed us with a blackboard display of reactions and structural formulae which our photographic minds were supposed to retain after momentary exposure. I he scholarly command of matters biochemical which we stumbling acolytes admired and envied so much was officially recognized when Dr. Hamilton was elevated to the chair left vacant by Dr. Saylor's retirement. Before the year was over, Dr. Mona Spiegel-Adolf lectured to us on colloid chemistry. If an accurate poll were to be taken, and if the results of the final examination are i be believed, her shapely assistant probably received more attention than Dr. Spiegel-Adolf's learned words, much to the sorrow of many latei on. Dr. Saylor concluded his teaching career with our class. The feeling that we expressed as lie dosed the door for the last time was sincere: that we had been fortunate to have been included in his forty years of teaching.