University of Maryland School of Medicine - Terrae Mariae Medicus (Baltimore, MD)

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WILLIAM K. AMBERSON. PH.D. Professor oj Physiology and Head oj the Deparlrneiit. He came to Maryland in 19.37 after acquiring his Ph.B. from Lafayette Liniversitv. and his Ph.D. from Princeton. He is very active in research, especially neurophysiology and has studied in Europe on several occasions. lab which allowed us to carry out our experi- ments with a degree of individuality. We worked with frogs, turtles, cats and dogs and in this maimer were vividly impressed by facts about the functioning of the body which before were somewhat nebulous. Here by doing and observ- Positioii is everything in life. ing and correlating we learned. Experimental methods and procedures as applied to animals were conducted by us for our own edification. Diagnostic machines and procedures were also introduced to us. We took ECG and EEG trac- ings of each other under varying conditions. Later we tested our air and bone conduction by the use of the audiometer, and visual fields were Ta.sty morsel. 24

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PHYSIOLOGY From Dr. Amliersun s experiences at Woods Hole and I psala to the Dofi Fig:ht of 1950 we thoroughly enjoyed our assoeialion willi the De- partment of Physiology. This alile group of men had as its goal the desire to impress u|)on our slap-happy synapses the functions of the luirnaii body. We feel that they succeedetl. at least to a certain degree. We know that we did not learn ail that was offered, hut tlie did leave us with the feeling that there is some semblance of order to the human body and a desire to learn more about it in the years to come. The atnujsphere was always that of encouraging inquiry on our part. The Dog Fight of laiO ubirh «as ably sparked by the Department of Phxsiology and assisted by many hundreds of their fellows in- terested in science throughout the ( ity of Bal- timore, and indeed the entire nation, gave to all Me ( of us an experience that will long be remembered. We, as so|jhomores. took (|uile an active part in hel| iiig further medical scientific research when our aid by distributing literature at the polling places helped defeat an ordinance which would have forbade the use of animals for research and study. It was during our course of physiology that we received our first glimpse of the functioning of the liunian bo(l before rigor mortis has set in. Through very well thought out and ably presented lectures on tiie heart, kidney, liver. digestive system, respiratory function, vascular atui endocrine systems and other iiodiU functions we were able to iew the boil as a li ing in- tegrated whole. Tile members of this department did a connncMilaiiie job of teaching, one which w as appreciated b the class of .i. ' i. We particularly enjoyed the fine iiiariirnalian Now you push the bottle down, the mercury goes ' round and ' round and the CO) comes out here. 23

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M.piil, piece. l)li)tleil. Al sdriictiriic liiriiij; the ear several lucky students were hasal and cduld iefiiliniately do what all had wanted to do — jio up and jio to sleep after the ele en ochxk class. Thus our partner learnrd to take a liMH tracing. One feature enj(i e(l i) rnan was the student seminars. Tlie class was hroken down into small groups anil ' acli ue ' k one uould present reports gleaned from llie literature and lead a discussion on some previonsK selected topic. The lessons learned were nKin . DucrKK II ( oNKAi) Smith, 1 11. D.. I ' rojessor oj Physi- ology and Assistant Director oj Postfiradiiatc (.oiiiinillee. Above — Tell me when ou see the little red dot. Lejt — Tiselius apparatus, and attractive scenery. 25