Ohio History Journal

DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEACHING OF PHYSIOLOGY

IN OHIO*

by C. I. REED

Professor of Physiology, University of Illinois, Chicago Professional Colleges

In order to bring the subject into perspective it is necessary to

go back to the year 1726, when the first curricular representation of

physiology was accorded by the University of Edinburgh in appoint-

ing Andrew Sinclair professor of the institutes of medicine. As

applied later, this title very often covered much more than the con-

ventional scope of physiology as a study of function in the healthy

organism. Not infrequently a professor of the institutes and a pro-

fessor of physiology served simultaneously in the same institution.

The first recognition came in America, not in the first medical

school, but in the second one, that founded in King's College, now

Columbia University, in 1769 when Peter Middleton was appointed

professor of physiology and pathology. Of course, the physiology

of that day was something quite different from what is so desig-

nated today. Nevertheless, this gentleman was a highly trained,

capable physician. The title lapsed with his death in 1780, but was

restored in 1806 when a radical reorganization took place which

gave Benjamin De Witt the chair of the institutes.

Caspar Wistar was made professor of the institutes in the Uni-

versity of Pennsylvania in 1789, and in 1792 a reorganization placed

Benjamin Rush in that chair. In point of chronology this is the

oldest continuously functioning department of physiology in North

America, as there is direct continuity through several generations to

the present department in that university. There was a brief flurry

of original research in the first few years of the nineteenth century,

but this was not sustained. In the medical school founded in Harvard

College in 1782 no provision was made for teaching physiology

for nearly sixty years when Oliver Wendell Holmes became pro-

fessor of anatomy and physiology.

* This article was read before the Committee on Medical History and Archives of

the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society at its annual meeting, held at

the Ohio State Museum on April 28, 1951.

355

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356     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

The history of physiology in Ohio began in a rather stormy era

in Cincinnati when Daniel Drake (1785-1852) returned to that

city after a year as professor of materia medica in Transylvania

University at Lexington, Kentucky, and together with a number of

associates began a course of lectures in which he covered the subjects

of medical practice, physiology, and diseases of women and children.

The following year, 1819, he obtained legislative authority for the

organization of a medical school that could grant degrees, and in

1820 the Medical College of Ohio was opened. For some reason,

not now clear, Drake was forced out of the combination in 1822.

No one succeeded him for two years. Then Jedediah Cobb became

professor of anatomy and physiology. Drake went again to Tran-

sylvania for a few years, but finally returned to Cincinnati to engage

in practice. A brief tenure in Jefferson Medical College at Phila-

delphia culminated in his final determination to declare war on his

enemies in Cincinnati. In 1831 he founded the Western Medical

and Physical Journal, the first issue of which carried an announce-

ment of the medical department of Miami University with Drake

as professor of the institutes and George McClellan, professor of

anatomy and physiology. Joseph N. McDowell, nephew of Ephraim

McDowell, was listed as adjunct professor of anatomy and

physiology.

The trustees of the Medical College of Ohio accomplished a

compromise whereby two of Drake's enemies were forced out, and

he was made professor of clinical medicine. Peace reigned only a

short time, however, and now Drake openly declared his intention

to destroy the Medical College of Ohio. By 1835 the school had

become so weakened that he believed the time was ripe. He then

formed the medical department of Cincinnati College with McDowell

as professor of anatomy and Samuel D. Gross, later a surgeon of

note, as professor of pathology, physiology, and medical juris-

prudence.

There was intense rivalry between the two schools for four years,

but despite the able faculty assembled, Drake's "spite college"

closed. Drake and Gross went to the Louisville Medical Instiute

and McDowell to St. Louis. Cobb also had gone to Louisville in

1837. There is no very clear history of physiology for several years.

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The Teaching of Physiology in Ohio  357

 

After Cobb left, John T. Shotwell (1807-1850), a younger cousin

of Drake, succeeded to his chair and even accomplished his own

election to the deanship. He finally, in 1850, gave up the fight to

keep the tottering Medical College of Ohio going. His resignation

was followed after a short time by death from cholera.

At that time the medical department of Transylvania University

was on the decline, but the school in Louisville was becoming a

formidable rival. Two cult schools had opened in Cincinnati. Some-

thing had to be done. Public sentiment demanded Drake's return.

His prestige had grown until he was the most popular and in-

fluential medical personage in the West. He was recalled, but still

there was strife. His advanced age demanded peace, so after a year

he resigned and went back to Louisville. But again public sentiment

decided matters, and again he returned to Cincinnati in 1852 to be

welcomed with a mass meeting. His triumph was short-lived, for

he contracted pneumonia after only a few weeks and died after a

brief illness. While he was actually engaged in clinical teaching

through most of his career, he was nevertheless an able physiologist.

Had he not dissipated so much energy in the feuds among various

schools in Cincinnati, he might have gone into history as such.

After Shotwell's passing, Leonidas M. Lawson (1812-1864) taught

physiology at the Medical College of Ohio for several years, although

he was officially professor of materia medica and pathology. Next

Samuel G. Armor (1819-1885) was professor of physiology and

pathology, to be followed by John H. Tate in 1856 as professor of

physiology, hygiene, and medical jurisprudence. His tenure lasted

only two years. In the new Cincinnati College of Medicine and

Surgery, Cornelius George Comegys (1816-1896), who had just

returned from study with Charcot in Paris, was made professor of

anatomy. A few months later he went over to the newly established

Miami Medical College as professor of the institutes (1852). With

its merger in 1857 into the Medical College of Ohio, he con-

tinued to teach physiology, but resigned a year later in one of the

perennial upheavals. In 1864 he was reinstated, but resigned because

of ill health after four years.

In 1861 Comegys was followed by James T. Hibberd (1816-

1903) as professor of physiology. When he left after a year, W. W.

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358     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

Dawson (1828-1895), who served until Comegys was reinstated,

stepped into the vacancy. After the latter's resignation, Edward

Rives (1833-1883) was professor of physiology for a year, during

which he introduced for the first time in America the use of a pro-

jection lantern as a means of illustrating lectures. It was then called

the "Magic Lantern."

James F. Whittaker (1843-1900) was professor of physiology

until 1879. In rather rapid succession came Frederick Forchheimer

(1853-1913), who occupied the chair to 1895; B. Knox Rachford

to 1898; Allyn C. Poole to 1901; William Muehlberg to 1908; and

E. M. Baehr, who was in charge in 1910 when the merger occurred

from which the college of medicine of the University of Cincinnati

resulted. He was carried over after Martin Fischer took charge.

In 1851 A. H. Baker, having failed to secure an appointment on

the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio, organized the Cin-

cinnati College of Medicine and Surgery which was the first in the

general area to admit women. A separate medical school for women

was in operation for a time under the same management. Still

further, a dental department was in operation for many years.

Here R. A. Spencer was the first professor of physiology and

anatomy, but delegated physiology to Robert Curran. In 1853 he

was followed by Charles Woodward; Chandler B. Chapman, Robert

R. McIlvaine, J. H. Buckner, F. B. Anderson, and J. Trush brought

the sequence up to 1872. R. B. Davey served until 1877, when he

was replaced by Asa Brainard Isham until 1880. He was the first

experimental physiologist in the entire group in Cincinnati. His

studies with his father-in-law, Alonzo Thrasher Keyt, on peripheral

circulation finally evolved into a polygraph recognized by Marey as

superior to his own. Isham first characterized the presphygmic

period, and recorded many other original observations useful to

the modern cardiologist. These were summarized and correlated

in a classical monograph in 1887. William Judkin, J. H. Hazard,

and John M. Shaller apparently filled out the period to 1902 when

the school closed.

The Miami Medical College reopened as a separate institution

in 1865. Comegys' connection with this institution has already been

noted. After the reorganization William H. Taylor was professor

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The Teaching of Physiology in Ohio        359

of physiology, pathology, and morbid anatomy(!) until 1872. Then

came J. C. McKenzie until 1880, and Joseph Eichberg (1859-1908)

until 1894. O. P. Holt and Frank H. Lamb completed the story to

the merger of 1910 which created a great modern school from the

fragments of those gone before.

Martin H. Fischer (1879-   ) graduated from Rush Medical

College in 1901. He had previously been assistant in pathology and

physiology for a year each. For the year following graduation he

was an associate in the latter. He then went with Jacques Loeb to

California as assistant professor of physiology but remained only

three years. For the next five years he was professor of pathology

in Oakland College of Medicine and Surgery.

In 1910 he was called to Cincinnati to head the department of

physiology and has continued active to retirement in 1950. He is

widely recognized as an able investigator and lecturer. His most

important contributions have related to the physical chemistry of

protein and water exchange. E. M. Baehr continued to serve under

Fischer until his death in 1933. He practiced medicine part time,

but did only sporadic research. His most important activity was in

making the local medical profession aware of progress in physiology.

Gustav Eckstein (1890-   ) graduated from the Cincinnati

College of Dental Surgery in 1911 and in 1922 became instructor

in physiology under Fischer. Two years later he completed the

medical course but continued in the department. In 1933 he was

promoted to assistant professor and three years later to associate

professor. His investigations have all been confined to neuro-

physiology.

Robert A. Kehoe (1893-    ) graduated from the college of

medicine of the University of Cincinnati in 1920 and was appointed

assistant professor of physiology. His rank was raised to associate

professor in 1931, and to research professor in 1939. When C. F.

Kettering endowed the laboratory of applied physiology for the

study of industrial problems, he was appointed director. His research

in that capacity has dealt with fatigue and with problems of metal

poisoning.

While the chair of physiology in this school is named in honor

of Joseph Eichberg, he never actually made much contribution to

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360     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

physiological knowledge. The modern period was initiated by

Fischer. Able men have served at various times, but their abilities

were expressed in other directions, except Isham. Practically none

of Fischer's predecessors were trained physiologists, although a few

had studied abroad with such men as Claude Bernard.

Turning now to the opposite corner of the state, we find up in

the Western Reserve a strong spirit of rivalry engendered by the

establishment of the Medical College of Ohio. This spirit took con-

crete form in 1834 when Willoughby University was founded in the

village of Chagrin. Many of the settlers had come from New York,

where the country medical college in Fairfield was then at the acme

of prestige. Its most active president was Dr. Westel Willoughby

just then at the peak of popularity. Since the new school was modeled

after that at Fairfield, the name of the village was changed to

Willoughby.

Apparently there was a great deal of negotiation behind the

scenes which may be disregarded for present purposes. Willoughby

University as such never materialized, and the medical department

functioned alone. The seven faculty members were all local prac-

titioners, and there is doubt that some of them even claimed medical

degrees. George Jones was the first professor of anatomy and phy-

siology, and T. W. Donovan was professor of the institutes of

medicine. Jones was replaced after the first year by Horace A. Ackley,

who in 1843 went to Cleveland as professor of anatomy, phy-

siology, and surgery in the new medical department of Western

Reserve College. Robert W. Paddock was professor of anatomy and

physiology, dean, and secretary. He functioned until the school was

moved to Columbus.

Returning to Western Reserve, John J. Delamater (1815-1886),

an alumnus of New York University School of Medicine (1844),

succeeded Ackley that same year and served until 1856, when he

transferred to materia medica. Procter Thayer (1823-1890) gradu-

ated from the medical school of Western Reserve in 1849 and was

appointed demonstrator in anatomy. Later he succeeded Delamater.

In 1863 he transferred to surgery, in which field he attained to great

prominence. David Scott served for one year as professor of phy-

siology and diseases of children (!!). Isaac Newton Himes (1834-

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The Teaching of Physiology in Ohio       361

1895) served during the year of 1864-65, being followed by John

C. Ferguson (1828-1869) and John Bennitt (1830-1869), each

remaining only a year, and by Joseph Thatcher Woods (1828-1911),

who served two years. In the meantime Himes had gone to Europe

to study microscopy. Upon returning, he was appointed professor

of physiology and histology. This change is significant of the grow-

ing dominance of physiology and of the evolution of microscopic

science. This title was modified further in 1872 to professor of

physiology and physiological and microscopic anatomy. In 1881

Himes abandoned physiology entirely and thereafter devoted all of

his attention to bacteriology and pathology.

Charles Barnsdell Parker (1852-1918) was graduated from the

medical department of Wooster University in 1877 and was ap-

pointed demonstrator in anatomy, and two years later, lecturer in

physiology. When Himes left physiology in Western Reserve,

Parker replaced him with the title of professor of physiology. After

five years he acquired gynecology also, apparently at his own request,

for in 1890 he transferred to that field entirely.

In 1863 G. C. E. Weber (1829-1912) was dismissed from the

faculty of Western Reserve, and, as in so many other similar in-

stances, retaliated by organizing a new medical school in which

he was professor of physiology, histology, and pathology. This

was first known as Charity Hospital Medical College, but in 1870

it went under the nominal protection of Wooster University. In

1868 he was succeeded by James H. Salisbury, and the latter in

turn by Colin Mackenzie, then Daniel Buttrick Smith, Louis B.

Tuckerman, and Arnold Peskind, up to 1891 when the most illus-

trious figure of this group appeared on the scene.

George Washington Crile (1864-1943) graduated from this school

in 1887 and soon began to lecture on histology and minor surgery.

He became professor of histology and physiology (note the

sequence) to serve until 1900, when he transferred to Western

Reserve as professor of surgery.

In the meantime Wooster University (1896) cast the school

adrift, and Ohio Wesleyan University adopted it. In 1910 it merged

with Reserve. After Crile left, G. H. Fitzgerald, an alumnus of

1898, gave cursory attention to physiology for a few years, then

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362     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

was followed by B. F. Hambleton for the last five years. The latter

subsequently went to Vanderbilt, then to Baylor.

After Parker left physiology in Reserve in 1890, he was followed

by John Pascal Sawyer, who divided his time for three years be-

tween physiology and clinical medicine. He had studied in Germany

for a time, and when he decided to give up physiology entirely,

recommended as his successor a man whom he met there, Johannes

Wilhelm Gad (1842-1926), director of the physiological institute

in the University of Berlin. He was then the first full-time pro-

fessional physiologist, and the first and only full-time member of

the faculty. This was too abrupt a change to be well assimilated.

Difficulties arose at once over compensation. Also, he was unable to

speak English clearly when lecturing. This combination brought

about his resignation after one year, and he returned to Europe

to become professor of physiology in the University of Budapest

until 1911.

Christian Sihler (1848-1919) graduated from the medical school

of the University of Michigan in 1871 and some years later went

to Johns Hopkins where he acquired a doctorate in 1881. In 1888

he began to teach histology at Western Reserve. In 1894 he re-

signed to become associate professor of physiology in Wooster

University, and when Gad resigned, he was appointed to that chair

also. Thus he served both institutions for a time.

It had become apparent by this time that the department of

physiology required some drastic treatment in order to keep it

in line with the trends of development in that discipline. A careful

survey of possible candidates was made. Not many were available

in America. Newell Martin's men were all placed. Bowditch at

Harvard had made no special effort to train physiologists. Lombard

had not yet gotten under way at Michigan, and Reichert at Penn-

sylvania had not yet trained anyone. Consequently, there was noth-

ing to do but look abroad. George Neil Stewart (1860-1930) had

been trained in Edinburgh and had followed up with advanced

study in Berlin, Strasbourg, and Cambridge. He had taught in a

number of minor positions in Edinburgh, Victoria, Aberdeen, and

Cambridge. At that time he was with Bowditch as a research asso-

ciate. He was professor of physiology and histology at Western

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The Teaching of Physiology in Ohio         363

Reserve until 1903, when he went to the University of Chicago,

where he remained four years. In 1907 he was called back to Re-

serve as director of the H. K. Cushing Laboratory of Experimental

Medicine. He was the first of the modern school of physiologists to

exert any appreciable influence on this school. His textbook of

physiology was widely used for many years. One of the outstanding

products of Stewart's first tenure at Reserve was Torald Sollmann,

who served as demonstrator in physiology and histology (1896-98),

then went over to pharmacology.

Stewart's successor at Reserve was J. J. R. Macleod (1876-1935).

He had been trained in Aberdeen, Leipzig, and Cambridge, and

was demonstrator in physiology in London, then in biochemistry,

and at the time of his call to Reserve, was Mackinnon Research

Scholar in the Royal Society. He remained as professor of physiology

until 1918 when he was called to Toronto.

Carl John Wiggers (1883-     ) received the medical degree

from Michigan in 1906 and continued in the department teaching

and investigating. Five years later he went to Cornell, where he

remained until 1918 when he was called to Reserve. He developed

a strong department and has turned out many students who now

hold positions as physiologists, one of them being his son, Harold

C. Wiggers, now professor of physiology in Albany Medical Col-

lege. Carl Wiggers' influence on American physiology has been quiet

and progressive.

After the Willoughby Medical College moved to Columbus in

1846, the name was changed to Starling Medical College in recog-

nition of the patronage of Lyne Starling in supplying funds for

the first hospital. It will be recalled that Robert H. Paddock served

two years as professor of physiology, then was succeeded by Francis

Carter under the title of professor of physiology and general

pathology. In 1852 Paddock was recalled for two years more, this

time as professor of anatomy and physiology. Then came John

Dawson, S. D. Turney, and H. C. Pearce, carrying the story up to

1875. Then W. J. Conklin (1844-1916) was professor of phy-

siology and physiological anatomy to 1879. He later went into

pediatrics. David Todd Gilliam served to 1884, then concentrated

on gynecology.

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364     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

As in other centers, factionalism and personal jealousies in 1875

culminated in a schism from which emerged the Columbus Medical

College, which operated until 1892. At that time it closed and part

of the faculty returned to Starling. For the first four years, J. F.

Baldwin was professor of physiology. He later became one of the

capital city's most prominent surgeons. He was followed by William

Warner (1879-83), Howard Jones (1883-86), George M. Waters

(1886-91), and G. F. Jewett (1891-92).

The other portion of the faculty, not being satisfied to rejoin

the Starling faculty, assembled additional associates, and organized

the Ohio Medical University. This title was justified by the inclu-

sion of departments of dentistry and pharmacy. Clovis M. Taylor

was professor of physiology until 1899. Apparently instruction was

still done by lectures and crude demonstrations, as no student teach-

ing laboratory was established for nearly twenty years more. How-

ever, the microscope was coming into more general use.

And now we come to a figure who has received less recognition

for an important service to American physiology than any other

worker in the past century. This man was Albert M. Bleile (1856-

1933), who graduated in 1876 from Starling Medical College. The

next three years were spent in Paris, Vienna, and Leipzig, although

it is not clear just what were his objectives in going abroad. There

is no good evidence that he then intended to become a physiologist.

But he came into association with Carl Ludwig, and thereafter

never lost touch with this great master.

When Bleile returned to America, he began to practice medicine.

When Gilliam resigned in 1884, Bleile succeeded him as professor

of physiology and pathology in Starling. Except for the year on

leave of absence (1897-98), he served that post continuously until

1899. He then transferred to Ohio Medical University, and one of

his students, Charles B. Morrey, later professor of bacteriology,

succeeded to the chair, which he served until 1907, when Starling-

Ohio Medical College was created by the merger of the two schools.

A still more significant development had taken place in the mean-

time. In 1891 it was decided that an academic course in physiology

should be developed at Ohio State University. Bleile was already

on the ground still only a decade away from his work with Ludwig.

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The Teaching of Physiology in Ohio          365

He was asked to organize the work while still continuing his work

in Starling Medical College. Apparently he had never been greatly

attracted to medical practice, so he gave that up completely and

devoted all of his time to an academic career. He not only established

a department of physiology, but included instruction in bacteriology,

microscopy, and physiological chemistry. Each of these subdivisions

eventually expanded into autonomous departments of instruction.

Bleile popularized college physiology to a degree that hundreds of

students were electing the courses in a few years. In addition he

taught courses in physiology and physiological chemistry for students

in the college of veterinary medicine.

It has been stated that the reason he abandoned research after

his earlier years was because he had become disgusted with the

superficiality of so much that passed for scientific investigation.

However, this essayist is of the opinion that the real reason was that

he became absorbed in an investigation so profound and elusive

that he was never able to bring it to a successful culmination and

would not publish progress reports because they might be mis-

leading.

This conclusion resulted from observations made while teaching

a college course in close association with him in the school year of

1916-17. This author occupied an office with a door communicating

with his private laboratory, and saw him spend many hours work-

ing over apparatus very intensively. He never confided in anyone,

but gave the impression that he was trying to apply physico-

chemical methods to the study of protoplasm. At any rate, he was

either engaged with a great problem or he was simply puttering.

His very character precludes the possibility that he could do the

latter.

He was a real pioneer in that he developed on a large scale

coeducational instruction in physiology at a university level. In

this sense he deserves credit beyond any accorded to him up to this

time. He was stern and forbidding in mien, so that one did not

feel free to open discussion with him. Yet he was kindly and con-

siderate when he could help a younger worker. When Clyde Brooks

became head of the department in 1916, Bleile laid aside his own

private interest and entered into a cooperative research project

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366     Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

with Brooks on an analysis of the physical forces involved in blood

pressure.

When Starling and the Ohio Medical College were merged in

1907, W. J. Means became dean. He recognized that his own training

had not been adequate, and resolved to exert every influence to

bring the school to a higher level. His frequent inspection trips

actually served as sources of information, and he never returned

from one of them without disgorging volumes of observations about

the internal workings of other schools. Everything that could be

adapted to his needs, he used without apology or embarrassment.

Bleile and his assistants, R. J. Seymour and E. P. Durant, Sr., were

too well situated in the university department to desire to give full

time to the medical and dental courses. It seemed imperative, there-

fore, that provision be made for strengthening the course in phy-

siology.

In 1910 Roy G. Hoskins (1880-      ) received a doctorate in

physiology under Cannon at Harvard. In fact he was the first so

honored. He undertook the establishment of a modern teaching

laboratory based on the Harvard plan. The actual installation of

the new equipment did not take place until 1911. In the first year

Clayton M. McPeek, then a recent medical graduate, was assisting

in both histology and physiology. J. Clifton Edwards also was a

laboratory assistant.

In the second year this author was first employed as animal

caretaker, dividing time between physiology and bacteriology.

Hoskins, seeing the necessity for additional help, persuaded the

dean to readjust the time allotment to include storeroom keeper

and laboratory assistant. Not having had the course, being just

then admitted to the sophomore class, Hoskins himself undertook

to tutor me in advance. Much of Hoskins' early efforts aroused

antagonism on the part of conservative elements, but Dean W. J.

Means, F. L. Landacre, Ernest Scott, Carl Spohr, Verne Dodd, Jack

Means, Hal Wright, and C. W. McClure gave him loyal support.

Many members of the group engaged in research with him. His

classical studies on the adrenal had just been initiated and were

pursued actively during the three years of his tenure.

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The Teaching of Physiology in Ohio       367

In 1913 Hoskins was called to Northwestern, Edwards went for

a year to Lincoln Memorial Medical College, and McPeek became

acting head of the department. Edwards returned after a year on a

part-time basis. When the Starling-Ohio Medical College was taken

over by Ohio State University in 1914, no immediate change was

made in the status of the two groups. McPeek and Reed, with two

assistants, conducted the work for medical and dental students.

Bleile, Seymour, Durant, and R. L. Mundhenk made up the staff

for the college courses.

In 1916 Clyde Brooks (1881-  ) was called from the University

of Pittsburgh as professor of physiology, pharmacology, and bio-

chemistry. The last course had been taught by several different

persons, among them John F. Lyman and Frederick M. Stanton. The

first course in pharmacology had been instituted in 1911 under

the guidance of Harry Burbacher, dean of the pharmacy depart-

ment. This department was discontinued because the university

already had a well organized college of pharmacy. Burbacher sub-

sequently went into medicine, so that it was fortuitous that Brooks

had already had considerable experience in teaching pharmacology

in Washington University, the University of Chicago, and in Pitts-

burgh. Also he established the policy of exchange of personnel

between the two divisions of the combined department. Later, both

biochemistry and pharmacology were made autonomous departments.

Bleile accepted without question his supersession and even displayed

considerable enthusiasm toward the new regime.

In 1920 Brooks was called to Alabama, and a year later Hoskins

was called back to Ohio State and remained until 1927 when he was

made director of the neuro-endocrine foundation, from which posi-

tion he retired in 1947.

Among those trained under Hoskins during the second period

of tenure were Milton O. Lee, E. C. Albritton, and Fred Hitchcock.

Leonard B. Nice (1882-  ) was called to the department from

the University of Oklahoma after Hoskins left in 1927 and remained

until 1936. Seymour was department administrator from 1927 to

1934 when Frank A. Hartman was called from the University of

Buffalo and functioned as head of the department until 1947 when

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368    Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly

he was made research professor. Eric Ogden (1903-   ) came

from the University of Texas in 1949 to become head of the de-

partment.

There have been other schools in which physiology has had only

insignificant development. Homeopathic schools in general have

given little attention to physiology. The University of Toledo

operated a medical college for a number of years, but physiology

was in the hands of local practitioners throughout its history, and

cannot be said ever to have attained to a modern status.

Charles G. Rogers of Oberlin College has developed a high

grade program in general physiology, but for the most part, physi-

ology in Ohio as elsewhere has reached its most advanced evolution

in the medical colleges. Also as elsewhere there has been constant

conflict between the influences demanding more attention to applied

aspects of physiology, and those attempting to maintain physiology

as a scientific discipline. What the outcome of this tug-of-war

will be, only time can determine. Meantime the problem is pro-

voking study and discussion from which the next stage of evolution

will emerge in due time.

The history of research in Ohio is certainly on a par with that

elsewhere, being characterized by steady, prosaic advance rather

than by sporadic outbursts and recessions. And as everywhere else,

knowledge of physiology has been and is being contributed from

many sources. Immunology, embryology, physiological chemistry,

pharmacology, nutrition, veterinary medicine, clinical surgery, in-

ternal medicine, hematology, the specialties, biology, zoology, or-

ganic and physical chemistry, enzymology, and radiobiology are

making contributions to fundamental physiological knowledge quite

as important as those made by the physiologists. Current conditions

will reduce the training of specialists in physiology. Are we turning

back to the conditions of a century ago when one man might teach

physiology along with one to four additional subjects? It will be

worth while giving attention to that problem in the immediate

future.

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