Word: gasser
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Physiologist Herbert Spencer Gasser was awed by the great science factory which Mr. Rockefeller financed, which Dr. Simon Flexner created 33 years ago and now relinquished to become director emeritus. Dr. Gasser was fascinated by the scientific prima donnas of the Institute from whom he was expected to produce harmony. And Dr. Gasser was flabbergasted by the newspapermen and one hardbitten, red-headed woman who breathed cigaret smoke at him. Mr. Rockefeller, who showed no discomfort from the smoke, had to help Dr. Gasser out with the interview...
...main question was the future direction of the Rockefeller Institute's research program. Under Pathologist Flexner its chief emphasis has been on what causes disease (pathology). Under Physiologist Gasser it appeared likely that the spotlight would shift to how the body works (physiology). Mr. Rockefeller led off the interview with: ''I am wondering why we started with an expert in pathology, and now we have one in physiology...
...Gasser: It is because we have to give more attention to the functions of the body. It is also because, in the last 50 years in the field of conquest of infectious diseases, we have been very successful. . . . When one looks at the diseases that are decreasing and those that are increasing, one finds that those that are lethal because of deterioration of organs are increasing. Cancer, for example, is going...
Physiologist Gasser's appointment may mark a major turning point in the teaching of Medicine in the U. S. Under the drive of Dr. Welch, who died last year, and Dr. Flexner, who retires this autumn, pathology has dominated medical research. Medical students learn a great deal about diseased cells, tissues and organs, comparatively little about how the human body actually works. This is the province of physiology, which, under Dr. Gasser, may in the future be emphasized at Rockefeller Institute which, in turn, would influence all U. S. medical schools...
With little experience as an administrator, Dr. Gasser was uneasy about a job that may curtail the study of nerve physiology on which his scientific reputation stands and that entails the full management of the Rockefeller Institute and the supervision of its 651 employes, including two Nobel Prizewinners and Charles Augustus Lindbergh. Before he would accept Dr. Flexner's offer, he went to St. Louis to ask advice of old friends at Washington University where he worked for 15 years. They soothed his qualms, advised him to accept. He returned to Dr. Flexner's office, accepted, went scooting...