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

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Biochemistry Instruction in Biochemistry was to pick up where Histology stopped — at the sub-cellular level. It was to describe the function of the human organ- ism at the molecular level. We were told that to be able to understand the biochemical nature of life we needed to know the language of the biochemist. Biochemistry thus became the most difficult “for- eign” language we had ever attempted to learn since it involved the memorization of thousands of synthetic and metabolic pathways of practically every peptide, carbohydrate, amino acid, and fatty acid known to man and beast. This accomplished, the course passed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as this information became an amorphous haze in the depths of our minds — at least until 22 National Boards. ELIJAH ADAMS, M.D. Head, Department of Biochemistry

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Freshman Anatomy is probably the one course which really tells you that you’re in medical school. Most entering students vividly remember that first afternoon in the dissection laboratory. They soon realize, however, that Anatomy is much more than the traditional dissection of the cadavre — that it encompasses the study of the human organism from several viewpoints. In Histology the various organ systems were studied at the microscopic and even electron-microscopic level. The newly- formed program in Neurological Sciences involved a detailed study of the nervous system — especially the freshman’s favorite: cross-sections of the brain stem. Genetics attempted to elucidate the basic mechanisms of heredity . . . the functioning of the chromosomes. Embryology “told it like it was” — from the beginning. An introduction to clinical medicine was pro- vided by the weekly sessions devoted to correlating material learned in the lecture halls and the labs with actual case material in the hospital and in the pathology labs. FRANK H. J. FIGGE, Ph.D. Head, Department of Anatomy “That’s it, get the rhythm — patty-cake, patty-

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WILLIAM DEWEY BLAKE, M.D. Head, Department of Physiology Physiology The study of Physiology was to provide the third part of our introduction to the human organism by providing an appreciation for the normal function- ing of the various organ systems which make up the organism. We began at the beginning — with the “river of life”: the cardiovascular system. We learned the cardiac cycle inside-out, and forwards and back- wards until P-Q-R-S-T became integral parts of us. The dynamics of respiration followed, and we be- came aware of our breathing for the first time, and of such descriptions as eupnea, apnea, tachypnea, etc., and of the elastic resistances and compli- ance, and of course, Poiseuille’s law. The study of the digestive tract — end to end gave us an appreciation of the many “zymes” and “ases” 23 which enabled us to utilize the energy supplied by the Macke machines. Xo one will forget those memorable lectures on hypo-hyper — which was it? — as the fine workings of the endocrine system were presented.