University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine - Scope Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Zin jllilemuriam PROFESSOR JGHN MARSHALL i Professor john Marshall died on January 6, 19:25, after an illness of several years' duration. , He was born in Reading, Pa., on February 9, 1855. Dr. Marshall was a student in the Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg from 1873 to 1876 and graduated in Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1878. He then spent three years studying in Norway, Sweden and Germany. Beginning the teaching of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania he was appointed Assistant Demonstrator of Practical Chemistry, which position he held in 1878 and 1879, after which he became Demonstrator of Chemistry until 1889. He was appointed Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology in 1897 and held this position until 1922, since which time he has been the Emeritus Professor. From 1889 to 1897 Dr. Marshall was Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. From 1892 until 19073 Dr. Marshall was Dean of the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania. Scope was fortunate in getting from Dr. ll. A. Hare a copy of his address at the funeral of Dr. Marshall, which follows: 24

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Dr. Piersol received the honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Pennsyl- vania College in 1905 and also from the University of Pennsylvania in 1922. He was president of the American Association of Anatomists, 1910 to 1911. Among the scientific societies in which Dr. Piersol held membership, may be mentioned the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Anatomists, the American Philosophical Society, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and the American Medical Association. ln addition to contributing numerous papers to scientific journals on subjects relating to anatomy, histology and embryology-such as, contributions to the histology of the Harderian gland, the development of the visceral arches and clefts and their derivatives in mammals, the structure of spermatozoa, the obliteration of the vermiform appendix, et cctera-Dr. Piersol published his text-book of Normal Histologyu in 1893, the notable success of which is indicated by the fact that the book has gone through twelve editions, alld, in 1907, his Human Ana- tomy, now in its eighth edition. lflis translation ot' Emil Villiger's Brain and Spinal Cordl' was published in 1912. With the retirement of Dr. Piersol, the School of Medicine of the University lost an able teacher and an infiucntial factor in the educational life of the institution. Though not of an aggressive disposition and though by taste and inclination opposed to controversy, he nevertheless left his impress upon medical education. Thus. he was one of the pioneers in America in emphasizing the important relation of embryology to the study of human anatomy. Prior to his incumbency of the chair of anatomy, embryology had been regarded as a subject of rather abstract interest to the students of medicine, to be engaged in or to be ignored, according to individual taste and preference. Dr. Piersol, however, by the teaching of the facts of development in intimate connection with those of structure and form- correlating the two subjects in such manner as to bring out the relation between the facts of embryology and the peculiarities of adult structure-emphasized and, one may say, popularized the importance of a knowledge of the salient features of embryology not only to the proper understanding of human anatomy, but also to the profitable study of clinical medicine and surgery. During the last twenty- five years many apparent vagaries of anatomy, such as the asymmetry of the veins and arteries of the trunk, the anomalies of these structures as well as of many others, the significance of certain parts of the brain, such as the choroid plexuses, the ventricles, the foruix and the fibre-tracts have been rendered more intelligible and therefore more interesting to the student by bringing to his attention the respective modes of development of these structures. Not only as an efficient and inspiring teacher do the former students of Dr. Piersol hold him in grateful remembrance and high respect, but as the kindly and courteous gentleman, whose sympathetic interest and friendly help could always be counted upon, will his memory be enshrined in the hearts of those whom he taught. Of unfailing urbanity and of gentle dignity of manner, tactful, gracious. sincere, broadly cultured, he combined in a rare degree those qualities that one associates with the personality of the true gentleman. 23

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I am here this afternoon at John Marshal1's request and not because I have the wit, the words, or the worth to speak on this occasion. But I am capable of offering a tribute, inadequate though it be, to him as a friend of many years, and as au old pupil. An old pupil in the sense that several decades have passed since I was under his eye as an undergraduate student, but always a devoted pupil in the sense that my acquaintance with him has taught me that conscientious accuracy must be the constant motive in a man's life. Men having such characteristics rarely appreciate that. without effort on their part, they inspire in all who come in contact with them a love of truth for truth's sake, and John Marshall was one of these. In great towns and villages, in laboratories and hospitals, there are today a multitude of men, who knowingly, or unknowingly, do the right thing because of his example. Would that they could have all come together during his lifetime, told him this fact, and thereby rewarded him for his priceless influence. How often the teacher dies without such evidence to brighten his declining years, so that we join the poet i11 saying: Why do we wait till ears are deaf Before we speak a kindly word And only utter thoughts of praise When not a whisper can be heard.? In these days of great commercial activity the man who loves science for its own sake stands out among the throng as does the beacon light above the dreary coast line, not only because of the purity of his motives, but because scientific investigation so pursued, leads other men to travel the same- path, with the result that true knowledge becomes manifest and his fellow-man is the ultimate beneficiary. There are some men whose lives are like narrow, noisome alleys in a great city and others whose lives resemble broad and open highways, always Hooded with God's sunshine and fresh air. Such men lead other men to tread the streets, or road, which I have just described, and so pass into the great open spaces of happiness. John Marshall belonged to this class. In the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes: A whiter soul or fairer mind A life with purer thought and aim, A gentler eye, a voice more kind, We shall not hope on earth to find. The love that lingers round his name Is more than fame. Bowed in grief, those who knew John Marshall as comrade, student, teacher and investigator, thank God that for untold years after his death his influence for all that is good, all that is brave, and all that is noble, will continue to be felt, and the motives that animated him during life will be as a benediction upon those who were privileged to call him friend, 25