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

Page 33 text:

the best sleeper during lectures of any we can boast and that's saying a whole lot. He plays no favorites but picks out a prominent front row seat and there saws wood in class after class. Even then Dr. Reilly was sporting bow ties and Jim for Apples? has demonstrated conclusively the delectability of cigars as a daily food. During the last twenty-five years many changes have occurred here at the medical school and at the hospital. In 1918 the new wing of the medical building had not been built and Maloney Clinic was not even a blue print. So-cadavers were dis' sected on the fourth floor of the Hare Building at the corner of Thirtyfsixth and Spruce Streets, medical students broke beakers and heated Kjeldahl flasks in Chemistry on the first three floors of that building. Dr. Schmidt, Dr. Ravdin and the rest of their class learned the characteristics of Coryne' bacterium diphtheriae and of Vibrio cholerae in the Laboratory of Hygiene Know the Laboratory of Public Health and Preventive Medicinej, not in the present medical school buildings. Strangest of all, to us, perhaps, would be the absence of the library at the head of the steps. That room simply did not exist in 1918. In its place were two large amphitheaters-lecture rooms A and B occupying two floors as do C and D today. Between the two amphitheaters on the main floor was a hall with lockers on either side. When the new wing was added to the medical school in 1928, the two rooms were sealed over and the library moved from its scanty quarters on the west side of the second floor to its present location. Pepper Laboratory, a three story, red brick, ivy' covered building, occupied the site where Maloney Clinic now stands. It was here that Dr. William Pepper, Dean of the Medical School and Assistant Professor of Clinical Pathology, held his classes. The lawn in front of the lab was carefully en' closed by a fence and mowed by one Billy Was- sermann, a very wooly sheep who grazed contentedly in his private pen. Aside from the zoologic inf terest of a sheep living on Spruce Street, Billy was the source of the sheep red corpuscles for the Wassermann tests requested by the doctors of the University Hospital. The roster for 1918 is strikingly similar to that of today. Of course, it was incorporated into the catalog instead of being handed out as a single sheet of paper on registration day, but the fourth, and also the third, year schedules required, even in those days, a superfintellect or extreme patience to disentangle and decipher them. The seniors each had a number to determine in which trimester group he belonged and after that it was a case of following that number through many and sundry schedules that looked surprisingly like ours. As for the Juniors, they had Medical Dispensary fMedical O.P.D. to usj in the afternoon instead of the morning, thus missing fewer lunches than we did, and they didn't go to Phipps at all. The struggle with Physiology was put off until second year and Bacteriology appeared on the iirst year roster. Fourth year obstetrical service was at South' eastern Dispensary, an old home on South Tenth Street which, through the intervention of Dr. Barton Cooke Hirst, had been transformed into an obstetrical O.P.D. The 1918 Scope gives a vivid description of this service. Situated as it is among the poor of Philadelphia, 'where the spirochetes are thicker than the dicky birds in the spring time,' it affords a haven whither the dusky amazons from the valley of the Kongo and mothers of prospective Italian warriors flock for examination and the assurance of subsequent treatment. There is no fee for the service of 'doctors' from the South' eastern Dispensary other than the registration fee of twentyffive cents, if the patient can resist the temptation to give the attending student carfare. Carfare, however, is of very little use to the student as those South Philadelphia cars never run after midnight, except in the direction opposite to the one desired. The patients usually prefer to show their appreciation for the service rendered by having 'Il Dottore' sample the many wines and cordials, which are as much a part of the Italian home as are the marriage certificate, the baby and the garlic. This, moreover, is no small task for there are as many kinds as there are operations for the retrofdisplaced uterus, vis '57'. Such are the facts gleaned from SCOPES of years gone by and these brief glimpses into yesterday have given us a youthful, rollicking picture of the men whom we, today, respect as teachers, as great doctors and as friends. E. RUTH Balsirwirsaa, Class of April, 1943. 'fwcntyfnine

Page 32 text:

Twenty-Five Years The Scores of a quarter of a century ago make interesting reading, particularly those parts that concern men whom we know today. In 1917 Morton McCutcheon and Thomas Mc' Millan fwith a mustachej were seniors. Of Dr. McCutcheon it was said, He was given first place in the honor group of 1917. We are confident in his prognosis-a successful physician. And of Dr. McMillan: 'Tyom' is one of the best liked fellows in the class, even though he is tending to become 'robustf We'l1 always remember his 'Good mawr1in,' everybody. How ah youfall feelin' today? The 1918 SCOPE also yielded various interesting side lights. Dr. Pendergrass was known as Gene or Pendy and it was said, At first sight Pendy creates the impression of being a busy man. But on better aquaintance he waxes more friendly and sociable and he might even invite you to a game of checkers or something else exciting. Another graduate of that year was Dr. Ravdin. That little fat boy, who answers to 'Ravie' is a holy terror when it comes to getting grades without working for them, but that is only one of his minor accomplishments, his chief accomplishment being with' the ladies. They strive for his favor like children for Castoria. His mere presence in the city enables the Bell Telephone Company to declare an extra dividend each year. Dr. Schmidt was on the SCOPE board and led the class and there is no reason why Carl should not, as he lacks nothing but hair on the top of his head. Among those of the faculty listed in the SCOPES of that time as being on leave of absence in military service were: William Pepper, assistant professor of clinical pathology and Dean of the Medical School, Edward Krumbhaar, assistant professor of research medicine and associate in medicine, J. Harold Austin, associate in medicineg Truman G. Schnabel, instructor in medicine, George Wilson, instructor in neurology and assistant instructor in medicine, Frederick Leavitt, instructor in Neurolf Ago OSYS Alexander Randall, assistant instructor in genito-urinary surgeryg Balduin Lucke, assistant instructor in Pathology, O. H. Perry Pepper, asso' ciate in medicine and in Research Surgeryg and Eldridge L. Eliason, instructor in Surgery. Dr. Kern was on a naval hospital ship, the U.S.S. Solace, and Dr. Richards was working on Shock at the British Army Medical Corps Laboratories. More information about the men in service was contained in the 1919 SCOPE than in the one for 1918. Dr. Eliason was one of the first to go, bidding the class farewell in his Major's uniform and ref turning in that of a Lieutenant Colonel. Lt. Col. john B. Carnett, writing from Base Hospital Number Twenty, described some of the activities in France. Eliason is away as head of a surgical team. Their team is known as the 'Speed Team,' to whose care is entrusted all the very desperate patients, whose only chance for life is a short, swift, skilful operation. At their previous station Eli was surgical C. O., that is the surgeon in charge of all surgery done at that hospital. This team has made an excellent record in the Chateau Thierry, St. Mihiel and Argonne drives. Randall left us long since to be a consultant to a division. Leavitt has been doing front line work in a Neurological Hospital. Williams-in civil life an obstetrician-missed his only chance at pracf ticing his civilian specialty by being away on leave when a report came in that a refugee girl had the 'grippe' and was waiting to see a doctor. Our dietitian went to investigate and was barely in time to oliiciate at the arrival of a nine pound baby. Of the Seniors in 1919 it was written that Francis Heed Adler 'debilitated' between following Burr as a psychiatrist or his dad as a proctologist-a case of 'Heads or Tails,' but as for that and other things, give the boy time. Dr. Grant had also gained a certain renown among his classmates. Chubby is an amateur pugilist of ability but the championship he holds lies in another field:-he is Twcntyrcight

Page 34 text:

CLINICAL YEARS