the duration of the systole and diastole of the human heart.
John Henry Muyskens ('13, Sc.D. '25), who had been Instructor in French and through his work with Professor Meader had become interested in the mechanics of phonetics, did some research work in the Physiological Laboratory on the movements of the mouth, especially of the soft palate. In 1922-23 he became Instructor in Physiology and helped with the laboratory work. In the summer of 1923 he and Dr. Cope conducted an optional laboratory course in physiology. Later, he continued his studies of the mechanics of phonetics in relation to abnormalities of speech.
Other pieces of research in the Physiological Laboratory which were published during the years 1892-1923 were papers by David P. Mayhew and A. E. Guenther; two by George O. Higley, Instructor in Chemistry, who undertook some investigations on the rate of excretion of carbon dioxide; and two by Thomas A. Storey, later Professor of Physical Education at Leland Stanford Junior University.
In 1923 Robert Gesell (Wisconsin '10, M.D. Washington University '14) succeeded Lombard as Professor of Physiology. He had already gained a name for himself in research when he came to the University of Michigan, and this, together with his wide experience as a teacher, made him a welcome addition to the faculty of the Medical School.
At first Gesell had to occupy the quarters in the old Chemical Building (Pharmacology Building), which had been the home of the Department of Physiology since 1910. He wrote in his account of the department:
When I came to Michigan I found a well-organized department but with the growth of physiology and of the classes the University quarters were again in a crowded condition. Fortunately new space [approximately 32,000 square feet gross] in a building to be completed within two years was allotted to the department along with funds for added equipment. With these augmented facilities the possibility of extending substantial opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and for staff research was at hand.
(Gesell, p. 43.)
Method and curriculum. — The history of the Department of Physiology shows an appreciation of the clinical method of instruction from the earliest days, but the conception of a physiological laboratory came much later and was of slow development. With the growth of the laboratory occurred an increasing emphasis on research.
Laboratory instruction. — The first teacher of physiology at the University, Professor Allen, in his president's address in 1859 before the Michigan State Medical Society said:
He did not refer to laboratory work, for at that time there were no physiological laboratories in the country.It is about as difficult to convey to a student by oral instruction any definite ideas of particular diseases, as it is to explain colors to a blind man or sounds to the deaf … It is the clinic only which is the truly substantial part.
(P. 27.)
In his introductory address to the third session of the College of Medicine and Surgery Professor Allen argued the importance of the writing of theses by students. Probably it was due to him that in the first years emphasis was laid on the writing and defending of an original thesis on some medical subject, as a requirement for graduation.
Although a histological and physiological laboratory was organized in 1876 and $3,500 was appropriated by the legislature in the next year for its equipment, the teaching of physiology could not have advanced greatly because the professor at that time, Stowell, was not a trained physiologist, but a histologist. In short,
