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

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PHVSIOLOGV Having studied the structure of the human body in the anatomy laboratory, we went to Physiology to discover how it functions. Dr. Hickey was still the professor and head of the department during our first semester. How he managed to deliver an organized lecture from the scraps of paper he pulled out of his pockets, no one could fathom. He was a kindly, helpful, and unobtrusive gentleman, whose one peeve was the lack of orderliness in the laboratory. Dr. Oppenheimer. a graduate of Temple and a student of Dr. Hickey’s, succeeded him as professor when he retired. The new Chief's innate ability to explain complex phenomena simply and un-pedantically endeared him to all of us. His lec-tres on respiration, circulation and gastrointestinal physiology were easy to understand, informative and interesting. Soft-spoken Dr. Collins. who left in our sophomore year only to return two years later, was affable and benign in his presentation of difficult concepts, accomplished by constant repetition and punctuated by long and significant pauses. Dr. Greisheimer. a newcomer to the department in those days, gave us lectures on kidney function, with the latest word on the mathematics of renal clearance tests. Her headlong haste made note-taking difficult, but it was well worth the trouble. MORTON J. OIMT NHKIMI R. M l).

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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.

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In the laboratory we delved into the secrets of life itself. Few things in medical school wrere more awe-inspiring than the isolated turtle heart beating away in its beaker of Ringer’s solution. 1 he famous experiments al Starling. Carlson, and Cannon were repeated in order to fix in our impressionable minds the physiological basis of medical practice. Dr. Spiegel’s preeminence as a neurophysiologist awed us as we listened to his lectures on the physiology of the central nervous system. Sitting on his high stool, pointer in hand, quizzing a befuddled student, he is best described by a para phrase of Dickens’ sketch of Pickwick: A casual observer might possibly have observed nothing unusual . . . but to those who knew that the gigantii brain of Spiegel was working behind that forehead, and that the beaming eyes of Spiegel were behind those glasses, the sight was indeed an interesting one.” His treasured notes and his performing cats both served to impress more deeply upon out minds the principles he taught. l he Saturday morning correlation conferences found the physiologists always in evidence, recalling forgotten facts, and driving home once more the importance of physiology in modern medicine.