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MEMORIAL NUMBER 
 
 FOR 
 
 SAMUEL JAMES MELTZER, M.D. 
 
 FOUNDER 
 
 AND 
 
 FIRST PRESIDENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND MEDIQNE 
 
 ADDRESSES GIVEN AT A MEETING OF THE 
 SOQETY HELD AT THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, 
 JANUARY 6, 1921, IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE 
 NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDiaNE AND THE 
 HARVEY SOOETY OF NEW YORK 
 
 NEW YORK 
 1921 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Open Knowledge Commons 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/memorialnumberfoOOsoci 
 
MEMORIAL NUMBER 
 
 FOR 
 
 SAMUEL JAMES MELTZER, M.D. 
 
 FOUNDER 
 
 AND 
 
 FIRST PRESIDENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SOCIETY FOR EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 
 
 ADDRESSES GIVEN AT A MEETING OF THE 
 SOQETY HELD AT THE ACADEMY OF MEDICINE, 
 JANUARY 6, 1921, IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE 
 NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE AND THE 
 HARVEY SOaETY OF NEW YORK 
 
 NEW YORK 
 1921 
 

 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 LANC^STEFt, PA. 
 
Minute expressive of the sentiment of the Society for Experimental 
 Biology and Medicine on the death of Samuel James Meltzer. 
 
 The Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine has been 
 deeply moved by the death of its revered founder, Samuel James 
 Meltzer, who, from the beginning of its career, was the Society's 
 devoted mentor and the personification of the Society's spirit and 
 ideal. 
 
 Meltzer was eminent for many important contributions to 
 biology, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and scientific 
 medicine. Most of his contributions to the advancement of 
 science, after the Society's establishment in 1903, were made 
 originally at meetings of this Society. 
 
 He was a distinguished promoter of the application of ex- 
 perimental methods to research in American medicine. His 
 foundation of this Society was a particularly important means of 
 accelerating that significant development in this country. 
 
 He was an enthusiastic embodiment of the spirit of zealous 
 research, and an ardent exponent of idealism in science and in 
 service. 
 
 He inspired fidelity to truth. He stimulated achievement 
 in research. By example and precept, in the meetings of this 
 Society for seventeen years, Meltzer appealed always to the best 
 in every member. He quickened, in the oldest as well as in the 
 youngest members, the impulses of emulation of his sterling 
 qualities as a man, as an investigator, and as a servant of truth in 
 every relation, that such attributes as his invariably elicit when 
 radiated from an unselfish leader. 
 
 Meltzer's memory will be a continuing inspiration to the 
 members of this society. Proceeding actively along the path his 
 faithful leadership opened to us, and growing steadily in useful, 
 ness and strength, our Society will be not only an enduring monu. 
 ment but also a living testimonial to his achievements, his influ- 
 ence, and his character. 
 
 Deeply conscious of the personal loss that Meltzer's death 
 involves for each of us, but earnestly grateful for the abiding 
 
 3 
 
4 Memorial Number. 
 
 value of his unbroken influence in our hearts, we dedicate our- 
 selves anew to the promotion of the principles that Meltzer 
 exemplified; and we are more firmly resolved than ever so to sup- 
 port and cherish this society that it may continue to be a worthy 
 agency, of cumulative effectiveness-as Meltzer projected it- 
 for the active advancement of science, for the exaltation of truth, 
 and for the ennoblement of service, in biology and medicme. 
 
 Presented by the council and approved by the Society, at 
 the one hundred and fourteenth meeting, held on March i6, 1921. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Dr. Meltzer's relation to the Society for Experimental Biology 
 
 and Medicine. Holmes C. Jackson, Secretary 7-9 
 
 Addresses by members of the Society at the Memorial meeting 
 
 held at the Academy of Medicine January 6, 192 1. 
 
 Memorial remarks by the President, Gary N. Calkins 10 
 
 A tribute to Dr. Meltzer's life and services. 
 
 George B. Wallace 1 1-16 
 
 Dr. Meltzer's message to the present generation. 
 
 Phoebus A. Levene 17—19 
 
 Personal reminiscences of Dr. Meltzer. Graham Lusk. . 20—24 
 Dr. Meltzer's influence on American Physiology. 
 
 William H. Howell 25-36 
 
 Dr. Meltzer's place in American Medicine. 
 
 William H. Welch 37-42 
 
Dr. Meltzer's relation to the Society for Experimental Biology 
 and Medicine. 
 
 By HOLMES C. JACKSON, Secretary. 
 
 After twenty years of active investigation in experimental 
 medicine and allied branches, it was quite natural that the sci- 
 entific ideals of Dr. S. J. Meltzer should express themselves in 
 a desire to form a society whose main purpose lay in stimulating 
 experimental work among the younger men entering the fields 
 of biology and medicine. 
 
 Accordingly, in conjunction with Dr. Graham Lusk, Dr. 
 Meltzer sent an invitation to eight New York investigators to 
 meet at Dr. Lusk's house on January 17, 1903, for the purpose of 
 estabhshing a "Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine." 
 This preliminary conference unanimously endorsed Dr. Meltzer's 
 views and appointed a committee for permanent organization. 
 The charter membership was increased to nineteen and the first 
 meeting occurred on February 25, 1903, in the laboratory of physi- 
 ological chemistry. College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia 
 University. Dr. Meltzer became the first president of the new 
 society and served two years. 
 
 Dr. Meltzer's first thought was to have the scientific program 
 of the meetings presented in the form of demonstrations, and 
 this idea was carried out during the first two years. As the 
 society grew and the number of papers read at the meetings be- 
 came greater, it was found necessary to alter somewhat this ori- 
 ginal intention so as to allow papers to be read by title. 
 
 During the first three years, the reports of the meetings of the 
 Society appeared in Science and in American Medicine. In 
 June, 1906, the decision was reached to publish the Proceedings 
 as a separate journal, one number appearing after each meeting. 
 The Proceedings has now established itself as a well-recognized 
 and much sought for avenue of early publication for preliminary 
 communications with an edition of 700 copies reaching all parts of 
 the world. The meetings of the society have been held monthly 
 
 7 
 
8 Memorial Number. 
 
 each year from October to May inclusive, at the various educa- 
 tional institutions in New York City. In several instances out 
 of town meetings in May were arranged at New Haven, Connecti- 
 cut and at Cold Spring Harbor, New York. 
 
 Dr. Meltzer was a constant attendant at these meetings, 
 adding immensely to their value by kindly discussion of the papers 
 and by his clear cut and pointed criticism. His knowledge of 
 literature was surprisingly accurate, diverse and extensive. He 
 was a great reader and his retentive memory held all that came to 
 his mind. 
 
 As a member of the council he gave much of his thought and 
 energy to the various changes in policy which became necessary 
 from time to time. To his mind the society functioned as a 
 stimulus to scientific effort for the younger men in the various 
 fields of biology and medicine. With this in view, he suggested the 
 formation of branch societies in different parts of the country. 
 Two of these branches, one on the Pacific coast and one in Minne- 
 sota, now meet every two months. Papers read at these meetings 
 are published in the Proceedings. Dr. Meltzer lived to see the 
 membership of the society become world wide and grow from fifty- 
 six at the end of the first year, to four hundred and ten in 1920. 
 Membership in the society is now recognized as a mark of scientific 
 attainment; eligibility requires the publication of a "meritorious 
 original investigation in biology and medicine by the experimental 
 method." 
 
 Dr. Meltzer's death occurred on November 7, 1920. The 
 funeral took place on November 10 from the Ethical Cultural 
 Church, at which Dr. Simon Flexner and Dr. John Lovejoy 
 Eliot delivered memorial addresses. 
 
 At the December meeting of the society it was voted to hold 
 a memorial meeting at the Academy of Medicine in association with 
 the Academy and the Harvey Society of New York. This meeting 
 was largely attended; the president of the Society, Dr. Calkins, 
 presided and addresses were given by Dr. George B. Wallace, 
 Dr. Phoebus Levene, Dr. Graham Lusk, Dr. William H. Howell 
 and Dr. William H. Welch. These addresses are printed in this 
 memorial number of the Proceedings of the society. 
 
 Dr. Meltzer's example was a constant stimulus to the younger 
 
 n 
 
Minute on Death of Samuel James Meltzer. 9 
 
 generation with which he came into contact, and the society feels 
 deeply the loss which it has sustained by his death. The hand 
 which guided the destiny of the society in the selection of its 
 officers and members is no longer active. It is for others who re- 
 main to take up his task in holding fast the ideals which he im- 
 pressed by his personality upon the society and its members. 
 
Memorial remarks. 
 
 By GARY N. CALKINS, President. 
 
 Nearly eighteen years ago, or to be more precise, on the 17th of 
 January, 1903, a small group of men, on the invitation of Dr. 
 Meltzer, met to discuss the formation of a new society for the 
 purpose of encouraging experimental work in the biological sci- 
 ences. The following month the Society for Experimental Biology 
 and Medicine was launched with 19 charter members, and Dr. 
 Meltzer was its first president. 
 
 One of the most characteristic and lovable traits of Dr. Meltzer 
 was his interest in young men and their progress in science. He 
 saw in the National Academy a meeting place for those who had 
 reached established heights in research and he liked to think of his 
 new society as furnishing an opportunity for young men, fledglings 
 in science, to try their wings. Always helpful to them with advice 
 and by example, and always mindful of the highest ideals of 
 scientific research he not only fathered the new society but he 
 nursed it through its period of youth and watched its later growth 
 with a jealous eye to see that the high standard of aims and ideals 
 which he had set for it were maintained. 
 
 We meet tonight to do honor to his memory. The young 
 society has grown and we believe, as we like to think, that his 
 scientific spirit extends today throughout the entire membership 
 of nearly four hundred active workers, and we like to think that 
 the nickname which the Society early received — the Meltzer 
 Verein — is synonymous with scientific idealism. 
 
 In recognition of this scientific spirit, and in respect to the 
 memory of Dr. Meltzer, I am going to ask the members of the 
 Society, and all others present who think as we do, to rise and 
 remain standing for a few seconds. 
 
A tribute to Dr. Meltzer's life and services. 
 
 By GEORGE B. WALLACE. 
 
 As the first speaker this evening and one who, through a 
 friendship of some twenty years, has been largely influenced by 
 Dr. Meltzer, I may be permitted to sketch in a somewhat general 
 way those characteristics of his life and work which have espe- 
 cially impressed me. 
 
 My acquaintance with Dr. Meltzer began in the spring of 
 1902. At that time Professor Cushny was passing through New 
 York and together we went, on what seemed to me a pilgrimage, 
 to call on Dr. Meltzer at his house in Harlem. The visit stands 
 out very clearly in my memory. Dr. Meltzer was then in his 
 fifty-first year, in the full vigor of life and carrying on an extensive 
 hospital and private practice. The conversation, however, was 
 not concerning practice, but mainly on research work, his own and 
 that of others. I recall how greatly I was impressed by his knowl- 
 edge of the scientific work being carried on, by the clearness and 
 fairness of his criticisms, and by his general enthusiasm and 
 optimism. He dwelt at some length on the state of medical 
 science in New York and deplored the isolation of the individual 
 workers and their failure to meet at frequent intervals to present 
 their work and exchange their ideas. Apparently this had been 
 in his mind for some time, for he outlined a plan for the formation 
 of a society which should include all the active workers in the 
 biological and medical sciences. In the following year Dr. 
 Meltzer put this plan into effect, and with the cooperation of a 
 small group of his friends, the Society for Experimental Biology 
 and Medicine was formally launched. 
 
 One of the last occasions on which I saw Dr. Meltzer was at a 
 meeting of the Society held last spring in New Haven. He was 
 then in his seventieth year and in miserable health, but his en- 
 thusiasm was as great as it had been twenty years earlier, and he 
 had made what to him must have been a long and trying journey 
 because of the intense interest he had in the society and in sci- 
 
12 Memorial Number. 
 
 entific work. As we walked very slowly and carefully back to 
 his hotel, he told briefly and rather casually of the bad attack he 
 had had the previous night, for which he had been obliged to call 
 in a local physician, and then went on to describe the excellence 
 of the meeting, the great field covered by the papers, and the 
 fine spirit which was prompting the research work done in this 
 country. This spirit, which he was so quick to see and appreciate 
 in others, was, as a matter of fact, especially exemplified in his 
 own life and work, and one feels in looking over his career, that 
 it must have been the great driving force throughout his whole 
 life, which made him indifferent to obstacles, difficulties and 
 physical infirmities, great enough to daunt the ordinary man. 
 
 It can be truly said of Meltzer that he was a man who loved 
 and pursued knowledge for its own sake. This was an inherent 
 characteristic. When he entered the University of Berlin in 1876, 
 it was the study of philosophy that attracted him particularly and 
 it is probable that had his financial prospects been more favorable, 
 he would have kept himself within this field, stimulated as he was 
 by such eminent teachers as Paulson and Erdman, and by his 
 quickly formed friendship with Steinthal. Moved by financial 
 considerations, however, he entered at this time into the study of 
 medicine. This was a day of great teachers and the University 
 of Berlin was unusually fortunate in this respect. It is not diffi- 
 cult to see how the eager mind of young Meltzer must have been 
 stimulated and indelibly impressed by contact with such masters 
 as Du Bois-Reymond, Virchow, Leyden and Frerichs. It was 
 at this time also that he began a friendship which influenced all 
 his later life, namely, that with Kronecker. With his attractive, 
 friendly personality, his thorough training in physiology under 
 Helmholtz and Ludwig, and in medicine under Traube, his de- 
 votion to experimental science, Kronecker was the ideal guide and 
 friend for the younger man just beginning a scientific career. 
 
 Shortly after his graduation, Meltzer came to New York and 
 began the practice of medicine. He chose America, after careful 
 deliberation, because its democratic form of government especially 
 appealed to him. Previous to his settling in New York, he made 
 several trans-Atlantic trips as a ship's surgeon, and his determina- 
 tion is shown by the fact that, in spite of his being a poor sailor 
 
Dr. Meltzer's Life and Services. 13 
 
 and seasick during the greater part of each trip, he kept this posi- 
 tion and carried on its duties for some time. 
 
 With the environment in which his medical education began, 
 it is small wonder that Meltzer's interest turned to research work. 
 What especially impressed him from the beginning was first, the 
 necessity of careful observation and thoroughness in work, and, 
 second, the importance of facts rather than theories. Those who 
 have heard Meltzer present experimental work will, I think, recall 
 numerous instances in which, when pressed for an explanation of 
 his results, he has replied that although he had a theory, it was 
 only the fact itself that he wished to bring out. 
 
 He began his research work in Kronecker's laboratory while 
 yet a medical student. This work was on the swallowing mechan- 
 ism and he himself was the subject of experimentation. He 
 has given a graphic account of the discomforts endured during these 
 experiments, for he was obliged to sit for hours with two stomach 
 tubes, with rubber balloons attached to their ends, inserted into 
 his esophagus. There is an interesting side-light connected with 
 this work. While carrying on his experiment one day, the labora- 
 tory was unexpectedly visited by the Prussian Minister of Educa- 
 tion, who inspected the laboratory and Meltzer in particular. The 
 explanation of the visit came later. An an ti- vivisection bill had 
 been proposed, backed by the statement that experimentalists 
 would not dream of inflicting on themselves the discomforts to 
 which they were subjecting animals. The Minister was able to 
 report that he himself had just witnessed a voluntary experiment 
 on a human being which was attended by the greatest discomfort 
 and he ventured the assertion that none of those who were so 
 earnestly advocating the bill would be willing to put themselves 
 in the place of the student in physiology. It may be added that 
 the bill was defeated. 
 
 It was while engaged in this work that an idea was brought 
 out, upon which most of his subsequent work centered. This was 
 the phenomenon of inhibition. He had obtained a record of a 
 single swallowing movement, but found that with successive 
 repeated swallowings the record changed completely, in that the 
 contractions failed to appear. In his perplexity he appealed to 
 his friend Kronecker, who suggested the possibility of inhibition. 
 
14 Memorial Number. 
 
 This possibility was eagerly seized upon and developed. It came 
 in time to be the central idea upon which a large part of his re- 
 search work was based. Briefly stated, his conception was that 
 inhibition is as essential a process in cellular activity as is excita- 
 tion. All living tissues are irritable, i.e., they respond to stimula- 
 tion with a vital reaction. This reaction can be either the mani- 
 festations of their specific activity, excitation, or it can be an in- 
 hibition of an existing activity. Absolute rest occurs when both 
 opposing energies are exactly even and the difference between 
 activity and rest consists only in the fact that excitation predomi- 
 nates during activity and inhibition during rest. To support his 
 conception, Meltzer turned his attention to experimental proof. 
 His studies on respiratory function strengthened his belief, as did 
 his work on the gastro-intestinal tract. Later in his search for an 
 agent causing inhibition, he discovered the depressing properties of 
 magnesium and found in this substance what he believed to be the 
 representative of inhibition in the animal body. His numerous 
 papers on the action of magnesium salts are too well known to 
 need review. 
 
 It may be noted here that owing to his wide knowledge gained 
 through years of practice, he endeavored whenever possible to 
 utilize his experimental facts for the service of humanity. Thus 
 he pointed out and devised a technic for the use of magnesium sul- 
 phate as a general anesthetic and in the treatment of tetanus. He 
 described its advantages in the treatment of burns and its applica- 
 tion in the diagnosis of gall bladder disease. Suggested by the 
 magnesium work, he turned his attention to artificial respiration 
 and devised his method of intratracheal insufflation, a method 
 notable for its simplicity, efi^ectiveness and wide application. 
 
 In Meltzer's research work in general there is seen a breadth 
 of view and range of subjects that is remarkable. In his earlier 
 publications, as might be expected, there are found a number 
 of papers on clinical subjects. Thus he wrote on the auscultatory 
 sounds of swallowing, subphrenic abscess, congenital hypertrophic 
 stenosis of the pylorus, otitis media and earache in pneumonia, 
 paratyphoid, mechanical relations in the occurrence of pneumonia, 
 myelopathic albuminosuria, gastralgia, intestinal colic and colic 
 in general. These papers all show a keen observation and careful 
 interpretation of facts. 
 
Dr. Meltzer's Life and Services. 15 
 
 From the outset, however, his interests were in purely sci- 
 entific subjects. His first pubHcation on the swallowing mechan- 
 ism, with Kronecker, has been mentioned. Shortly after his 
 arrival in this country he published with Professor Welch a paper 
 on the behavior of the red blood corpuscles when shaken with in- 
 different substances. In this connection he was again fortunate, 
 in forming an enduring friendship with Professor Welch, a friend- 
 ship based on mutual respect and devotion to science. This paper 
 was the forerunner of a large number on physiological subjects, too 
 numerous to mention individually, which set a standard for Ameri- 
 can work and served as a stimulus for a great quantity of work by 
 others. 
 
 There is another side of Meltzer's career which should receive 
 special recognition. I refer to his part in shaping and hastening 
 the development of scientific medical work in this country. Al- 
 though the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, known 
 affectionately as the " Meltzer Verein," held his particular interest, 
 he was a leading figure in the organization of most of the present 
 day American societies for medical research. His advice in 
 matters of organization, policy, selection of members, was freely 
 given and its value recognized. Of a highly altruistic spirit, his 
 large experience and good judgment kept him from being im- 
 practical. His progressive point of view in all these matters is 
 clear to one who reads his addresses, generally presidential ones. 
 I quote as an example, extracts from his presidential address de- 
 livered before the Association of American Physicians. "The 
 best physician of the future will be the man who has spent years in 
 studying the methods employed in acquiring knowledge in the 
 pure medical sciences and then in applying all his mental energies 
 to a broad study of disease." "Clinical medicine and medical 
 sciences must be brought closely together and work in harmony; 
 that will assure a steady progress of the science and practice of 
 medicine." "Some older members complain that the papers 
 presented at the meetings are getting above their heads. While 
 this may be a fact, it cannot be made the basis of a complaint. 
 The papers of the program of our annual meeting reflect in general 
 the character of the medical studies which prevail at that period." 
 
 Dr. Meltzer was especially instrumental in bringing about 
 
i6 Memorial Number. 
 
 the formation of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, 
 a society made up of younger men, active workers in medicine. 
 This society is unique among medical organizations, in the char- 
 acter and ability of its members and the scientific excellence of 
 their work. It is unquestionably one of the most important in- 
 fluences in this country in the progress of clinical medicine. His 
 address at the first meeting of this society on "The Science of 
 Clinical Medicine, what it ought to be and the men to uphold it" 
 is an especially inspiring one, and sets forth fully the ideals for 
 which he was fighting. Again a paper on "Headship and Or- 
 ganization of Clinical Departments" shows his conception of 
 what the organization of a modern department of medicine should 
 be. Through all these addresses one can find proof of his firm 
 conviction of the successful future of medicine in this country. 
 He had full faith in the new generation, with its education and 
 scientific training. 
 
 I take the opportunity of quoting here a letter, recently re- 
 ceived from Dr. Victor C. Vaughan, which reflects the general 
 regard in which Dr. Meltzer was held by men of his own type. 
 " I know of no one within my wide circle of acquaintances who has 
 more fully filled my ideal of a physician and investigator than Dr. 
 Meltzer. Although busy in the practice of medicine for many 
 years, he always found time to do research, and this was of the 
 highest kind. Personally I loved him like a brother. Profes- 
 sionally I appreciated his great service to science and to his 
 profession." ■• 
 
 And again, I quote from a letter received from Professor Yan- 
 dell Henderson: " I believe that I can, as well as almost any one, 
 testify from my own experience in scientific discussion with Dr. 
 Meltzer, to the value of his constructive criticism. To excite 
 comment on one's work from Dr. Meltzer was to receive at once 
 stimulus, guidance, encouragement, and warning against prema- 
 ture conclusion. The function of critic which he filled for twenty 
 years or more was one of his most valuable services." 
 
 In concluding, I feel that I can speak for the large group of 
 men, young when Meltzer was in his full maturity, who looked 
 on him as a sympathetic friend, a trusted adviser, an exponent 
 of that spirit and accomplishment for which we are all striving. 
 
Dr. Meltzer's message to the present generation. 
 
 By PHOEBUS A. LEVENE. 
 
 I am here tonight to speak not to the old friends of Dr. Meltzer 
 who with him led the medical profession through the thorny walks 
 of a primitive lowland to its present heights of splendor, I am here 
 not to revive old memories so that some may again pass through 
 the joys of their youth. I have come to speak to the younger, 
 to deliver to them the message bequeathed by the older. Dr. S. J. 
 Meltzer. And in order that they may receive the message I shall 
 attempt to draw a sketch of the departed friend and master, not 
 one portraying every detail of his character, not one bringing out 
 every feature of his activities, but an impression portrait such as 
 the young may hold before them while their life and ideals are 
 still in their shaping. I shall throw the light on the side of the 
 man that is the expression of the great ideal of service to humanity. 
 The form of service is truly an incident. 
 
 It so happened that Dr. Meltzer was born in Russia, a country 
 of irrepressible idealism; it so happened that he was born of a 
 race noted for its devotion to whatever it chooses to make the 
 object of its devotion; it so happened that he was born in a small 
 modest town that gave birth to no bankers and to no magnates, 
 but to many men of learning. Unlikely as this may seem, learn- 
 ing was the object of veneration in Dr. Meltzer's birthplace and 
 learning became Dr. Meltzer's ideal. 
 
 In search of learning Dr. Meltzer migrated to Berlin, where he 
 came under the influence of the great masters of medicine, of 
 physiology, and of philosophy. In the atmosphere of these men 
 his character matured, his ideals took concrete shape. Here the 
 decision was formed that medicine was to become the medium 
 of his service to man and here he chose physiology as the medium 
 of self-perfection and of personal enjoinment. So earnestly did 
 Dr. Meltzer apply himself to the task of mastering his medium 
 that soon he gained not only appreciation but also the friendship 
 and affection of those who had been his masters; and then, still 
 
1 8 Memorial Number 
 
 early in his career, he was offered an opportunity of an academic 
 position in BerHn. However, circumstances, among which not 
 the least was an impelling desire for broader activity, induced him 
 to decline the offer and again to migrate, and this time to our land. 
 
 With a background of Virchow, Helmholtz, DuBois Reymond, 
 Koch, Frerichs, etc.. Dr. Meltzer entered New York and on his 
 arrival the contrast of past and present was not very cheering. 
 Medical schools we had, but seats of learning they were not. 
 Theory was not held in great repute, the largest space given to the 
 laboratory was that occupied in announcements. On the school 
 premises it was discovered with difficulty. The material the 
 schools turned out was not of very high grade, but, such as it was, 
 it formed the medical world which young Meltzer was about to 
 join. Here to excel and to turn personal superiority into material 
 gain was not difificult. Many men to whom Fortune was as 
 friendly as to Dr. Meltzer, and who obtained the advantages of 
 a European training, exploited their advantages successfully. 
 Such success did not tempt Dr. Meltzer. On the contrary, from 
 the day of his landing in New York his life was dedicated to the 
 education and the advancement of the mental horizon of the 
 American physician. There were other contemporaries who 
 espoused the same cause, some were of American birth and had 
 the advantages of a European education, and others of foreign 
 birth and education. Prominent among them stand out Welch, 
 Prudden, Janeway, Jacobi, Knopf in this city, again Welch and 
 Osier in Baltimore, and others in other cities. 
 
 But among all these leaders who brought American medicine to 
 its present high stand the place of Dr. Meltzer was from first to 
 last unique. 
 
 To define his place among other leaders briefly, one would say 
 it was more democratic. While others worked for the improve- 
 ment of medical school or hospital. Dr. Meltzer chose for his task 
 the education of the rank and file of M.D.'s, whether they were 
 engaged in the practice of medicine or in the teaching of it. Again 
 to borrow a term from the political vocabulary. Dr. Meltzer 
 became the leader of the progressive opposition minority against 
 the conservative majority. In order to exert his influence with 
 the utmost efficiency, Dr. Meltzer chose to preserve his personal 
 
Message to the Present Generation. 19 
 
 independence and because of this for many years he remained un- 
 afiSliated with school or hospital. Above that of personal in- 
 dependence, Meltzer held the necessity for leadership of one's 
 continuous participation in active experimental investigation. 
 Other leaders, whether educators or practitioners, early abandoned 
 their habit of research. Over them Meltzer had an advantage. 
 He also possessed the advantage of an indomitable craving for 
 reading, and the advantage of a phenomenal memory. 
 
 Thus it happened that unaffiliated, holding no official position, 
 Dr. Meltzer became the feared critic and the recognized leader 
 and teacher both among the men of science and the men of prac- 
 tice. And often when new ideas and new discoveries in medicine 
 had to be introduced to the American public. Dr. Meltzer was 
 called upon to perform the task — ^and he always lived up to the 
 occasion. His success in this direction lay in the fact that he 
 never presented a subject before he assimilated it by experiment 
 in the laboratory. Thus he labored and toiled to attain self- 
 perfection and through self-perfection to aid and teach those 
 around him. 
 
 Dr. Meltzer was one of the few men favored by Fortune who 
 lived to see his efiforts crowned with success. While his mental 
 and physical energies were still in full vigor, the standard of the 
 medical profession of America rose to unexpected heights. Dr. 
 Meltzer could then devote more of his energies to his personal 
 joys, things nearest to his heart — they were his old problems of 
 physiology; old and many new. The opportunity presented it- 
 self with the foundation of the Rockefeller Institute. What he 
 accomplished there, constitutes an important chapter of American 
 medicine and more competent persons than I will give you an 
 account of it. To me, however, tonight, his scientific contribu- 
 tions speak second and his life first. It was a simple life, simple 
 in its dignity and honesty of purpose, magnificent in the humble 
 manner of its great service to man and to ideal. The record of 
 his life is the message Dr. Meltzer leaves not only to his colleagues, 
 not only to the medical profession of America, but to all. 
 
Personal reminiscences of Dr. Meltzer. 
 
 By GRAHAM LUSK. 
 
 A friendly personality so long a constant attendant at every 
 important meeting of this Academy of Medicine has passed from 
 us in the fulness of years and in the honored esteem of his fellow- 
 men. Meltzer was born in Russia, educated in Konigsberg, and 
 then studied philosophy and medicine in Berlin between 1875 and 
 1882. In 1883 he came to New York and began the practice of 
 medicine. He was deeply imbued with the scientific spirit of 
 modern German medicine and was also a highly skilled prac- 
 titioner. 
 
 At one of the clinics in Berlin, so he once told me, a patient 
 was brought into the amphitheater and he, a student sitting in 
 the top row of the circle of seats, was asked to make the diagnosis, 
 to which he quickly replied that the trouble was cancer. "Nein,'' 
 replied the professor. The question was put to several others who 
 gave other interpretations and finally again to Meltzer who re- 
 plied, "I told you, Herr Professor, the patient has cancer." A 
 vigorous "Nein" was the rejoiner, the patient was passed from 
 the room and the professor said, "Herr Meltzer, the patient has 
 carcinoma ventricularis, but never allow yourself to tell anyone 
 that he has a fatal disease." This, Meltzer said, he had carried 
 with him as a lesson all his life. 
 
 Meltzer was not content to cultivate a lucrative practice at 
 the expense of the extinction of his extraordinary, inquisitive 
 mind. So one finds him taking holidays in the laboratories of 
 his friends in Europe and, when at home in New York, he would go 
 to the physiological laboratory of the P. and S., tie his horse to 
 a lamp-post, and with his coachman as assistant, perform some 
 physiological experiment for the comfort of his conscience and the 
 instruction of his mind. 
 
 I well remember a dinner of the Association of American 
 Physicians, held in the spring of 1897, an affair then always 
 participated in by a few physiologists, at which I sat between 
 
Personal Reminiscences of Dr. Meltzer. 21 
 
 Meltzer and Chittenden, and my father sat opposite. After the 
 dinner my father took my seat and explained to them that he 
 considered the success of his book on obstetrics was due to the 
 fact that he had begun his life as a trained physiologist. It was 
 the kind of a beginning that appealed to Meltzer. 
 
 Meltzer was a great believer in associations of scientific men. 
 In the many societies to which he belonged he was the most 
 active member, continually discussing the work presented, and 
 often pointing out similar work which had been accomplished 
 twenty, thirty or fifty years before. His knowledge was phe- 
 nomenal. 
 
 He became dissatisfied with the quality of the men in many of 
 our scientific societies, criticizing them for their lack of activity, 
 and out of this dissatisfaction sprang in 1903 the Society for 
 Experimental Biology and Medicine, sometimes affectionately 
 called the "Meltzer Verein," a name which, when he first heard, 
 he indignantly opposed. Meltzer's original idea was that the 
 society should consist entirely of workers, and that those who did 
 not produce should be automatically dropped. But once the 
 society was formed, the exigencies of warm personal friendships 
 did not allow of the execution of the proposed penalty. How- 
 ever, it represented the central idea of his mind as to what a 
 scientific worker should be. 
 
 At one of the meetings of the American Physiological Society, 
 when it was suggested that the number of papers read by any one 
 man be restricted, Meltzer opposed the resolution and offered a 
 substitute to make it obligatory for every member to present a 
 paper. 
 
 Once I spoke to him of retiring from active work at some in- 
 definite future date, to which he replied, "No, you will never 
 do it. You cannot. You will go on doing the little things you 
 are able to do until the end, just as I shall. There are only two 
 things which would stop me from working. If anyone said to 
 me, ' Meltzer, your work is no longer good ' then I would stop, or 
 if anyone said to me 'Meltzer, you can no longer understand a 
 young man' then I would stop also." 
 
 I remember that one evening Meltzer came to talk with me 
 regarding the establishment of the Harvey Society which was 
 
22 Memorial Number. 
 
 designed to offer a forum for scientific speakers in New York. 
 He opposed the idea at every point, saying that New York was 
 not a scientific center and that there would be no audiences. 
 Two or three days after that he telephoned me to call the meeting 
 which had been proposed but I expostulated that he believed the 
 affair doomed to failure. "Ah, but I have changed my mind," 
 he replied. So the meeting was held with Meltzer in the chair and 
 he overcame one after another all the arguments against the 
 proposed society which a few days before he himself had felt as in- 
 superable objections. Finally he said, "At any rate, we will 
 all go and form a small group to encourage the speakers." At the 
 first meeting Hans Meyer spoke and at the second this hall of 
 the Academy was crowded to hear Carl von Noorden on the oc- 
 casion of his first visit to America. And Meltzer's own lecture 
 before the Harvey Society on the "Factors of Safety in Animal 
 Structure and Animal Economy" attained world-wide celebrity. 
 
 A few years before this New York as a scientific center was 
 pretty bleak and barren. In 1898-99 a few men, Lee, Herter, 
 Dunham, Park, John Thatcher, Benjamin Moore, then in New 
 Haven, and I, who were interested in laboratory work, met 
 together informally at each other's houses and learned to know 
 one another socially. This gathering was not resumed the fol- 
 lowing year. Then there sprang up a Society of Biological 
 Chemists which met at regular intervals in the physiological 
 laboratory of the New York University and Bellevue Hospital 
 Medical College for the reason that this was the only institution 
 to which access could then be obtained in the evening. This 
 society afterward merged with the Society for Experimental 
 Biology and Medicine and later gave its surplus of about a hundred 
 dollars to help institute the Harvey Society. 
 
 It was in 1904, I think, after a meeting of the Society of Ex- 
 perimental Biology and Medicine that Meltzer drove me home 
 from the P. and S. He took me across the park in his brougham 
 drawn by a pair of horses. He said to me "I am going to give 
 up all this. I am going to do what is nearest my heart. I am 
 going to the newly founded Rockefeller Institute to spend the 
 rest of my life in research. They allow me to practice medicine 
 in so far as it pleases me, but my main desire is for experimental 
 work." 
 
Personal Reminiscences of Dr. Meltzer. 23 
 
 This represented the spirit of his great love for scientific work. 
 At one and the same time he not only fulfilled the desire of his 
 life, but he renounced the material treasures of this world, and yet 
 he remained free and untrammeled to do as he liked. On one 
 occasion when I publicly mentioned this incident before him he 
 regarded me with disapproval, and yet I believe it belongs to 
 the story of his life. Very few men at the age of fifty-five would 
 do likewise. 
 
 Meltzer was always a prominent figure at those international 
 congresses which he attended. On such occasions the friend- 
 ships between Meltzer and his old associate, Knonecker, were 
 always warmly renewed. At the International Physiological 
 Congress at Groningen in 1913 Meltzer, speaking in German, 
 presented an eloquent and graciously worded invitation that the 
 proposed congress of 1916 meet in New York. At the close of 
 the speech a German turned to me and said, "Aber, Meltzer's 
 Rede war schon!" 
 
 Like many of us who had known the better side of intellectual 
 Germany, Meltzer was extremely cast down by the war. He 
 sought to prepare the way for peace in his "Fraternitas medi- 
 corum" which was founded on the assumption that, since physi- 
 cians of the Red Cross were bound to serve friend and foe alike, 
 therefore, physicians themselves could readily resume friendly 
 relations at the termination of hostilities. The supreme bar- 
 barity of modern warfare, however, has prevented the consumma- 
 tion of this altruistic hope. 
 
 Meltzer belonged truly to the younger men of his generation. 
 For them he would make any sacrifice. He established the Ameri- 
 can Association of Clinical Research, the members of which were 
 to be workers in the scientific sense. This society was so revolu- 
 tionary that it earned the name of "The Young Turks." He 
 was continually saying that in clinical medicine we had not yet 
 reached a proper level of accomplishment, a level he hoped would 
 still be attained in the future. It is usually hard for an older 
 man to properly appraise those who are much younger than he. 
 Liebig thought Voit a man without ideas, and Voit twenty years 
 later knew of no prominent physiologist of forty years of age, 
 at a time when Kossel and Hofmeister would both have been in- 
 
24 Memorial Number. 
 
 eluded in that category. However, Meltzer was not of the type 
 to grow out of touch with the young men whom he had always so 
 greatly encouraged and his judgment of them was not to be 
 ignored. 
 
 He said to me one day, "Your ideas concerning medical edu- 
 cation are certain to be accepted — not because you say them, but 
 because they are right." These heartening words only illustrate 
 the helpfulness of his spirit as vouchsafed to many. Honest 
 words of strong condemnation or criticism from his lips also 
 meant much to those of us who knew the texture of the mind 
 behind them. 
 
 Last spring he said to me, "If my good friends at the Rocke- 
 feller Institute, out of affection for me and solicitude for my wel- 
 fare, insist that I leave my laboratory there, I want to know if 
 you will not permit me to work in your laboratory." He asked 
 the same privilege of others. In the face of pain and suffering 
 the indomitable spirit of the man could not be overcome. 
 
 We remember how, time and time again, Meltzer has sat 
 among the front seats of this Academy next to his old friend, 
 Abraham Jacobi, and we are grateful to have known one who 
 has added by his own work and by his own personality so richly 
 to the growth of New York as a center of medical science. The 
 story of his life is of value to us all. Once he proudly remarked, 
 "I am of the race of which came Jesus Christ." And, in fact, 
 there are few men of our time who more completely embodied 
 all the Christian virtues. 
 
Dr. Meltzer's influence on American Physiology. 
 
 By WILLIAM H. HOWELL. 
 
 Dr. Samuel James Meltzer was born in Curland, northwestern 
 Russia, March 22, 1851. He received his preliminary education 
 in a Real Gymnasium in Konigsberg and his later training in 
 the University of Berlin where he graduated in medicine in 1882. 
 After taking his medical degree he decided to make his career in 
 America, as the country which in his opinion had the best form of 
 government. He had not sufficient means to make the journey 
 and was therefore obliged to secure a position as ship's surgeon on 
 one of the transatlantic vessels. On arriving in New York it 
 was necessary in the beginning to devote his time mainly to build- 
 ing up a practise sufficient to support his family, but almost from 
 the beginning he made arrangements also to give part of his 
 time to research. From that period until his death on November 
 7, 1920, in his seventieth year he was a tireless investigator. When 
 in the course of time the opportunity came to him from the Rocke- 
 feller Institute to give his time entirely to research he did not hesi- 
 tate in making his decision. At a considerable financial sacrifice 
 he abandoned his medical practise to devote himself to the kind 
 of work that he most loved and most valued. By his good work 
 and his high character he attained a position of honor and distinc- 
 tion in American medicine and endeared himself to his fellow- 
 workers in all parts of the country. His productivity was re- 
 markable. The list of his published papers includes over two 
 hundred and forty titles, distributed among some forty-eight 
 scientific journals of this country, Germany and England. These 
 papers contain contributions to the subjects of physiology, phar- 
 macology, pathology and clinical medicine together with a number 
 of lectures and general addresses. That he was an investigator of 
 recognized standing in these several branches of medicine and was 
 regarded as a valued contributor to so many scientific journals of 
 the first rank is a striking demonstration of the breadth of his in- 
 terests and knowledge. He was a member of twenty or more 
 
 25 
 
26 Memorial Number. 
 
 national scientific or clinical societies and in all of them it may be 
 said he was prepared to take his part as an expert in the reading 
 and the discussion of technical papers. 
 
 He served as president of the American Physiological Society, 
 the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, the American 
 Gastro-enterological Society, the American Society for the Ad- 
 vancement of Clinical Research, the Association of American 
 Physicians and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. 
 The membership in these societies is composed of trained spe- 
 cialists. It is their custom to choose as their presiding officer 
 only those who have made contributions of distinction to the 
 subject to which the society is devoted. It seems to me unique 
 in the modern history of medicine for one man to have received 
 such special recognition from technical workers in so many different 
 fields. 
 
 While his activities covered this large range he was interested 
 primarily in physiology. "I belong," he said in a recent paper "to 
 those who believe . . . that the knowledge of physiology is of 
 special importance to clinical medicine." His work in this field 
 entitles him certainly to be ranked among the foremost American 
 physiologists. In attempting to present some estimate of the 
 results of his labors I must limit myself mainly to his physiological 
 activity. Indeed in this subject alone his papers are so varied 
 that it will be possible to bring under review only what seem to 
 be his major contributions. His first appearance as an investi- 
 gator is recorded in a brief note in the Proceedings of the Berlin 
 Physiological Society, May 14, 1880. In this note it is stated 
 that Professor Kronecker exhibited a dog in which Herr Cand 
 Med. Meltzer had cut the nerves going to the mylohyoid muscle 
 and thus demonstrated the importance of this muscle in the 
 initial stage of swallowing. At a later meeting of the society 
 in the same year Kronecker presented the full results of an in- 
 vestigation carried out by Herr Cand. Med. Meltzer under his 
 supervision on the "Process of Swallowing." This paper was 
 published subsequently by Kronecker and Meltzer in the Monats- 
 bericht der Konigl. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1881. 
 In this important contribution the mechanism of swallowing was 
 given an entirely new interpretation which has since been generally 
 
Influence on American Physiology. 27 
 
 accepted and is known as the Kronecker-Meltzer theory of deglu- 
 tition. Meltzer had attracted Kronecker's attention while a 
 student in his course. Out of this acquaintanceship developed 
 an invitation to engage in a research and eventually a warm friend- 
 ship between the two men that lasted throughout life. Meltzer's 
 career was thus determined while still a student of medicine. 
 Kronecker's influence attracted him to physiology and set his 
 feet in the paths of research. The investigation in which they 
 collaborated was important and original — ^just what part each 
 contributed it is not now possible to discover, but it is interesting 
 to find that this initial venture into research furnished a motif 
 which can be detected recurring again and again in Meltzer's 
 subsequent work. A companion paper upon "Die Irradiationen 
 des Schluckcentrums und ihre Bedeutung" was published by 
 Meltzer alone in 1883. It is a very suggestive paper on account of 
 the careful analysis it contains of the far-reaching and curious 
 effects in the central nervous system of the act of swallowing and 
 also because in it Meltzer announces certain views upon the im- 
 portance of the inhibitory processes which subsequently formed 
 the basis of his theory of inhibition, and remained with him 
 throughout life as a sort of compass by which to set his course on 
 his voyages of discovery. He calls attention in this work to the 
 fact that reflex excitation of the inspiratory muscles is accom- 
 panied by reflex inhibition of the expiratory muscles and vice 
 versa, and he goes on to make the suggestion that a similar re- 
 lationship must prevail in the case of all antagonistic muscles such 
 as the extensors and flexors of the limbs. Some ten years later 
 Sherrington gave the necessary demonstration that this interrela- 
 tion does hold with the muscular antagonists, that the contrac- 
 tion of the one is accompanied by the inhibition of the other and 
 he designated this relationship under the term of "reciprocal 
 innervation." Meltzer meanwhile had been accumulating in- 
 stances of this combined action of excitation and inhibition, but 
 he neglected at that period to apply a distinctive name to this 
 kind of correlated activity. There can be no doubt that when 
 it is possible to label an idea with an appropriate designation its 
 currency in the scientific world is greatly facilitated. In his paper 
 on "The Self-Regulation of Respiration" read before the Ameri- 
 
28 Memorial Number. 
 
 can Physiological Society in 1889 and published in the New York 
 Medical Journal and under a different title in the Archiv. fur 
 Physiologie he describes experiments intended to show that two 
 kinds of afferent fibers exist in the vagus nerve, one exciting and the 
 other inhibiting inspiratory movements. He used this fact to 
 modify the Hering-Breuer theory of the self-regulation of the 
 respirations by assuming that the expansion of the lungs stimulates 
 both groups of fibers. The resultant effect, as in the case of the 
 simultaneous stimulation of the motor and inhibitory fibers to the 
 heart, is a dominance of the inhibitory effect, thus cutting short the 
 inspiration and bringing on an expiration. But after the inhibi- 
 tion ceases the excitatory fibers, which, like the acceleratory 
 fibers of the heart have a long after action, come into play and 
 start a new inspiration. In his first general paper on inhibition 
 this idea of a combined action of opposing processes is extended 
 by the citation of numerous instances taken from physiological 
 literature and is expanded into a general theory which makes 
 inhibition a universal property of irritable tissues. 
 
 "I entertain and defend the view that the phenomena of life 
 are not simply the outcome of the single factor of excitation, but 
 they are the result of a compromise between two antagonistic 
 factors, the fundamental forces of life, excitation and inhibition." 
 
 That is to say, whenever a tissue is stimulated two different 
 processes are aroused, one leading to functional activity and one to 
 a suppression of activity. As to the nature of these processes very 
 little is said. He was not satisfied with the Hering-Gaskell con- 
 ception that excitation follows or is an accompaniment of catabolic 
 changes while inhibition is due to processes of an anabolic or 
 assimilative character. He goes only so far as to assume that 
 both processes are concerned with the kinetic and potential energies 
 of the system, that excitation facilitates the conversion of potential 
 to kinetic energy while inhibition hinders or retards this con- 
 version, like the turning off or on of a stopcock. Nor was he 
 satisfied with Sherrington's term of reciprocal innervation to 
 describe all of the phenomena he had in mind. While this phrase 
 is a suitable designation for the relationship between physically an- 
 tagonistic muscles such as the flexors and extensors it is less ap- 
 propriate in other cases, for example the simultaneous phases of 
 
Influence on American Physiology. 29 
 
 contraction and inhibition exhibited in peristalsis. In later papers 
 he suggested first the term crossed innervation borrowed from von 
 Basch, but subsequently adopted the designation of contrary in- 
 nervation as more applicable to the whole series of phenomena 
 which he was considering. This process he believed is universal in 
 its action — it is "manifest in all the functions of the animal body." 
 Moreover his experience and observation as a practising physician 
 led him to believe that "a disturbance of this law is a factor of more 
 or less importance in the pathogenesis of many disorders and di- 
 seases of the animal body." In this way he would explain in part 
 at least the muscular incoordination in tabes and the gastric crises 
 of that disease, as well as gastric and intestinal colic in general. If 
 the orderly sequence of a peristaltic wave is disturbed so that the 
 advancing wave of contraction meets a contracted instead of an 
 inhibited area conditions are present which may well bring about a 
 distension sufficient to account for the pain of colic. He gives 
 many other illustrations of pathological conditions which may 
 find a plausible explanation on the assumption of a disorder or dis- 
 harmony in the law of contrary innervation. How far Dr. Meltzer 
 was correct in the applications of his theory it is not possible to say. 
 In all probability some of the specific instances that he cites in 
 support of his views are amenable now to other explanations. But 
 it is a fact, I believe, that he was much in advance of his earlier 
 contemporaries in the emphasis he placed upon the significance of 
 inhibition in the general activities of the body. The story is far 
 from being told but it may be said that physiological thought 
 since 1883 has tended more and more toward some such general 
 conception of the role of inhibition as was in Meltzer's mind. For 
 him at least it was a rewarding theory, it played, as he expressed it, 
 a dominating part in all of his researches. One can not wholly ap- 
 preciate his work nor understand his position on controversial 
 pointsunless thisattitude is borne in mind. His theory.of shock for 
 example to which he held tenaciously was that "the various in- 
 juries which are capable of bringing on shock do so by favoring the 
 development of the inhibitory side of all the functions of the body." 
 There is a shifting of the normal balance toward the side of in- 
 hibition. 
 
30 Memorial Number. 
 
 The most important of his contributions in later years will be 
 found in three series of researches, one dealing with the action of 
 adrenalin upon the blood-vessels and the pupillary muscles; one 
 with the inhibitory action of magnesium sulphate and the antag- 
 onistic effect of the calcium salts, and one with the development 
 of his method of artificial respiration by pharyngeal and intra- 
 tracheal insufflation. The first series consists of eight or nine 
 papers, mostly in collaboration with his daughter. They showed 
 in this work that the temporary action of adrenalin upon the blood- 
 vessels may be converted into a long-lasting effect, in the case of 
 the ear-vessels, if these vessels are first denervated by section of the 
 vaso-motor fibers in the sympathetic and the third cervical nerve. 
 A more striking result still was obtained for the iris. In the 
 mammal subcutaneous injections of adrenalin in moderate doses 
 have no effect upon the size of the pupil, but if the superior cervical 
 ganglion is first excised then, after a certain interval, subcutaneous 
 injections bring on a marked and long-lasting dilatation. His 
 explanation of these phenomena was made in terms of his theory of 
 inhibition. Whether or not his views in regard to the relations of 
 the cervical ganglion to pupillary dilatation will stand the test of 
 future experimental work it is to be noted that the observation 
 itself constitutes a significant instance of a kind of independent 
 physiological activity on the part of a peripheral ganglion. The 
 bearing of these facts upon the prevalent conception of the rapid 
 destruction of epinephrin in the tissues was brought out especially 
 in a paper with Auer in which it was shown that if adrenalin is 
 injected into a ligated limb and an hour or so afterward the liga- 
 ture is removed the dilatation of the pupil quickly follows, thus 
 demonstrating that for this long period the adrenalin had re- 
 mained unaffected by the tissues. Incidental results of this 
 series of experiments were his discovery of the use of the frog's eye 
 as a biological reagent for the detection of small concentrations of 
 epinephrin and the rapidity of absorption in intramuscular as 
 compared with subcutaneous injections. 
 
 The work upon the inhibitory and anesthetic effects of mag- 
 nesium salts gave rise to no less than twenty five papers, most of 
 them published in collaboration with one or another of his associ- 
 ates but chiefly with Dr. Auer. The peculiar inhibitory action of 
 
Influence on American Physiology. 31 
 
 magnesium sulphate had attracted his attention as far back as 
 1899, and he reported upon it incidentally in a communication to 
 the American Physiological Society. But in 1904-05, influenced 
 again by his general conception of the importance of the inhibitory 
 processes he took up with Auer a careful physiological study of its 
 action. The results were most interesting and important. When 
 given subcutaneously in certain doses the magnesium sulphate 
 produces a condition of complete unconsciousness and muscular 
 paralysis or relaxation, which is reversible, in the sense that when 
 the animal is given proper care it recovers. Later he was able to 
 show that out of this condition of profound depression or inhibition 
 the animal may be restored to complete consciousness and motil- 
 ity with miraculous suddenness by the intravascular injection of 
 small amounts of calcium chloride. No one who was fortunate 
 enough to see this demonstration as given by Dr. Meltzer will for- 
 get its dram.atic effect upon his audience. A healthy vigorous 
 rabbit was brought quickly to a condition of complete immobility 
 and apparent death by the magnesium sulphate and then even 
 more suddenly raised from the dead and restored to its normal 
 tranquil existence by the injection of some calcium chloride. 
 Meltzer and his collaborators investigated various phases of 
 this action of magnesium sulphate and all of the results obtained 
 tended to strengthen in his mind the conviction that in magnesium 
 he had discovered the element in the body that is especially con- 
 cerned in the processes of inhibition. The antagonistic action of 
 the calcium although exhibited in such a striking way was not in 
 his opinion specific. His own experiments in connection with the 
 results reported by other observers led him to the general view that 
 calcium serves to balance the abnormal activity of the other 
 kations, potassium, sodium and magnesium, whether this ab- 
 normal action is in the ' direction of excitation or of inhibition. 
 Modern work upon the physiological significance of the inorganic 
 constituents of the body fluids which was begun in Ludwig's 
 laboratory, but was given its main impetus by the striking con- 
 tributions of Ringer had concerned itself chiefly with the salts 
 of potassium, sodium and calcium, which alone seemed to be suffi- 
 cient to maintain normal conditions of irritability. Meltzer's 
 work has shown that magnesium also has its place in this ancient 
 
32 Memorial Number. 
 
 balance of powers through which the functional activity of pro- 
 toplasm is controlled. One can understand that in arriving at 
 these results he must have felt that he was approximating at least 
 a demonstration of the correctness of his general conception of the 
 role of inhibition in functional activity. In this as in all of his 
 experimental work Meltzer was eager to give his results a practical 
 application to the art of medicine. The possibilities of the use of 
 magnesium salts as an anesthetic agent in surgical operations were 
 tested with some success on human beings and more important still 
 its efficacy in controlling the spasms of tetanus has had a wide and 
 promising application. 
 
 His last extensive series of researches dealt with anesthetization 
 and artificial respiration through pharyngeal and intratracheal in- 
 sufiflation. Something like twenty-eight papers, most of them in 
 collaboration with pupils or assistants, were devoted to this subject. 
 His interest in this topic seems to have been stimulated by the fact 
 that in his use of magnesium sulphate for anesthetic purposes the 
 chief danger lay in the inhibition of the activity of the respiratory 
 center. To meet this difficulty he undertook a study of the 
 methods of artificial respiration. The initial paper in 1909 by 
 Meltzer and Auer described a method of artificial respiration by 
 continuous insufflation of the lungs through a tracheal catheter. 
 It was found that by this means not only could an animal be kept 
 alive without the action of the respiratory movements to fill and 
 empty the lungs, but that it furnished also a convenient and effi- 
 cient method for anesthetization. The use of this method in 
 animal experimentation and especially its use in human surgery 
 of the thorax and facial region was apparent and on many occa- 
 sions Meltzer sought to make known its advantages and to ask for 
 an adequate trial of its merits at the hands of the practical sur- 
 geons. The method has found some acceptance and the applica- 
 tion of the principle involved will no doubt be extended in the 
 future as the technique of thoracic surgery improves. It was 
 in recognition of the importance of this work that the American 
 Association for Thoracic Surgery asked him, a physician and 
 laboratory worker, to serve as their first president. It was 
 natural that this work should have led him to consider the whole 
 matter of artificial respiration in its relations to resuscitation after 
 
Influence on American Physiology. 33 
 
 accidents of various sorts. His general paper in the Medical 
 Record for 1917 giving a history and critical analysis of the methods 
 of resuscitation is an interesting and valuable contribution. He 
 gives experimental data to prove that his device of intratracheal 
 insufflation is the most efficient method of artificial respiration 
 both for man and animals. But he realized that it is a method 
 which requires special knowledge and training for its successful 
 execution, and his broadening acquaintance with and interest in 
 the practical aspects of resuscitation led him to experiment with 
 the less efficient and less safe method of pharyngeal insufflation. 
 He was a member of the three national commissions on resuscita- 
 tion and served as chairman of the third commission. In connec- 
 tion with the duties of this service he devised a simple portable form 
 of apparatus for pharyngeal insufflation which can be used with 
 very little previous instruction and he demonstrated, with entire 
 success I believe, that this form of apparatus is much more efficient 
 than any of the so-called manual methods of resuscitation, or 
 than any of the special machines for this purpose, pulmotors 
 and lungmotors, which have been exploited commercially during 
 the past few years. It was, I imagine, a sore disappointment to 
 him that he was not able to convince his colleagues on the third 
 commission that this apparatus met all the requirements for in- 
 dustrial and military use. It is probably the simplest and best 
 instrument yet devised for artificial respiration as applied to man, 
 and in institutions or industrial establishments where the need for 
 artificial respiration may arise frequently and where special in- 
 dividuals may be instructed in its use it can be employed to great 
 advantage. But it does require some little amount of training to 
 use it properly — the average uninstructed man or woman can not 
 be trusted to apply it intelligently, and for this reason the com- 
 mission felt that it was wise to urge adoption of a manual method 
 as the form of first aid which may be applied most successfully 
 under ordinary conditions. 
 
 While the researches that I have attempted to summarize repre- 
 sent his most important contribution to physiological science. Dr. 
 Meltzer kept in close touch with the progress in almost all branches 
 of experimental medicine. He gave evidence of this interest in 
 the publication of occasional papers on various topics or in articles 
 
34 Memorial Number. 
 
 of a general character. Shock, cardiac arrhythmias, therapeutics 
 of self-repair, hemolysis, thyroid therapy, edema are among the 
 subjects upon which he wrote, but probably the most original and 
 helpful of his general papers is his well-known Harvey Lecture, 
 1906, on "The Factors of Safety in Animal Structure and Ani- 
 mal Economy." He applied this engineering term in a convincing 
 way to describe the reserve powers possessed by many of the 
 mechanisms of the body. Doubtless the general conception in- 
 volved had occurred to many others, but no one before him so far 
 as I know, had developed the idea so comprehensively and made of 
 this provision a leading factor in the adaptation of the economy to 
 its environment. The happy phrase that he employed served to 
 precipitate the loose thought upon the subject, and its frequent 
 recurrence since in medical literature is proof that the conception 
 which it expresses has found wide acceptance in scientific circles. 
 It is evident that his own thoughts were turned in this direction 
 by the work of Chittenden upon the minimum protein diet. 
 While he accepted, of course, the facts demonstrated by this ob- 
 server in regard to the possibility of maintenance upon a low pro- 
 tein diet he was not willing to believe that a minimum diet is also 
 an optimum diet in relation to the various metabolic stresses to 
 which the body may be subjected. The experiences of the great 
 war may serve to show that he was correct in taking this position. 
 To do full justice to the influence exerted upon contemporary 
 medical research by Meltzer's work would require a careful analysis 
 of the entire medical literature of the period, for, as I have tried 
 to indicate, his sympathies were very broad and his activity was 
 great. In some measure, either as interpreter or contributor this 
 influence was felt at many of the points of contact between medical 
 science and medical practise. The border land between these sub- 
 jects was in fact his special field of work. He had the spirit and 
 ideals of the scientist, and knew at first hand what research work 
 really means. He had experienced the labor and care and de- 
 votion required of those who aspire to increase knowledge. On 
 the other hand he had a personal realization of the difficulties and 
 necessities of medical practise and so was especially fitted to act as 
 a sort of liaison officer between the two great wings of the medical 
 army, the investigators who have the difficult task of discovering 
 
Influence on American Physiology. 35 
 
 new truths, and the practitioners who must learn to apply these 
 truths to the preservation of health and the protection from disease. 
 No one in our generation, I venture to say, was more useful in 
 this country in bringing about a helpful and sympathetic under- 
 standing between the laboratory worker and the physician. As a 
 physiologist he enjoyed the best opportunities and training of 
 his period. He was equipped with the methods and technique 
 that the subject owes to the great masters of the latter half of the 
 nineteenth century. The more modern methods of physics and 
 chemistry which seem to be essential for the new generation of 
 physiological workers he did not possess, but he did not let this 
 deficiency discourage him nor diminish in any way his activity in 
 research. He had the wisdom to understand that the armamen- 
 tarium with which he was provided was adequate for the accom- 
 plishment of much important and necessary investigation. He 
 was no faint-hearted seeker after truth. There never was a time, 
 I fancy, in his active life when his mind was not full of problems 
 that he wished to solve and which he intended to solve in part at 
 least with the aid of his experimental methods. 
 
 Dr. Meltzer was elected to membership in the American 
 Physiological Society at its first annual meeting held in Phila- 
 delphia in December, 1888. From that time until his death he 
 was perhaps its most faithful member in attendance, in the pre- 
 sentation of papers and in participation in the discussions and 
 social intercourse. Other less heroic spirits might weary under the 
 load of papers and seek respite and fresh air by frequent dis- 
 appearances between acts, but this was never the case with Melt- 
 zer. He loved the meetings, he loved to listen to the papers and to 
 take part in the discussions. He had something to say of value on 
 almost every paper that was read. It is small wonder therefore 
 that his position and influence in the society constantly increased 
 in importance. He served as president from 191 1 to 1913, but 
 the older members know that before that time and since his advice 
 was paramount in matters of policy as well as in the selection of 
 officers. He was sincerely and deeply interested in the welfare of 
 the society and believed in its importance as one of the major 
 agencies concerned in the advancement of the cause of physiological 
 research. What he had to say in regard to its policies was always 
 
36 Memorial Number. 
 
 said in the opening meetings and in the plainest of terms, and if 
 in his opinion it was necessary to be critical of either persons or 
 things he never hesitated to express what was in his mind. His 
 courage in stating his position in matters in which some personal 
 criticism necessarily played a part in the discussion has often 
 aroused admiration. He did not indulge in circumlocutions or 
 euphemisms, but was entirely frank and direct. There could be 
 no mistake as to what he thought and yet no matter how plainly 
 and bluntly he might speak there was as a rule no offense taken, 
 because it was evident to every one that what concerned him was 
 not personalities but the principles involved. The American 
 Physiological Society owes much to him for the sound policies and 
 wholesome traditions which have characterized its history. I 
 have not so much direct knowledge of the influence exerted by Dr. 
 Meltzer in the numerous other societies of which he was a member. 
 In the case of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 
 we know that he was its chief founder and for many years its 
 primum movens — it was long known familiarly among scientific 
 men as the Meltzer Verein. I have no doubt that in every or- 
 ganization with which he was connected his influence was always 
 exerted on the side of the highest scientific ideals — -no other position 
 was possible for him. He was high-minded, courageous, sincere 
 and optimistic. Age oftentimes lays a stiffening hand upon the 
 scientific worker, causing him to shrink from the laborious routine 
 of research, but with Meltzer there was never any indication of 
 weariness or sense of failure. In spite of much ill-health and 
 physical suffering in his later years he was full of hope and energy 
 and determination in the pursuit of his scientific ideals and prob- 
 lems. Death came to him, as he would have chosen, while in 
 his study and at his work. He was a good and faithful servant 
 in the cause of medical research. Rewards came to him in the 
 form of academic honors and membership in the most important 
 medical and scientific societies, but I am confident that he found 
 his greatest recompense in the joy of the work and in the affec- 
 tionate appreciation of his many scientific friends. 
 
The place of Dr. Meltzer in American medicine. 
 
 By WILLIAM H. WELCH. 
 
 It seems as though every side of Dr. Meltzer's life and work 
 has been already touched upon. There is little I can add. At the 
 same time I should regret very much not to have had the oppor- 
 tunity of coming here tonight and paying my tribute to the memory 
 of one whom I have held dear ever since the beginning of our ac- 
 quaintance, which dates from Dr. Meltzer's arrival in this country 
 in 1883. The bond that brought us together was one already re- 
 fered to ; we were both pupils of Kronecker, I at an earlier time than 
 Meltzer, when Kronecker was assistant to Ludwig in Leipzig. I 
 had the good fortune of coming under the influence of Kronecker 
 and enjoying a friendship which continued until his death. Every- 
 one who had the opportunity of working with him, loved him. 
 He took a special and permanent interest in all of his pupils. 
 
 When Meltzer came, or even before he came, I received a 
 letter from Kronecker informing me that Meltzer was contemplat- 
 ing coming to this country, and inquiring whether it would be 
 possible for him to secure some academic position. If Dr. Meltzer 
 desired to secure an academic position when he came here, he 
 was soon disillusioned when he saw what the conditions at that 
 time really were. 
 
 Occasionally Meltzer would pour out his heart, and I have 
 had a letter from him within the year, a very intimate one, giving 
 the circumstances of his drawing out from his early environment. 
 He describes in a very graphic way the small city in Russia where 
 he lived with his family circle, a circle of very orthodox Jews 
 with a remarkable love of learning but at the same time a very 
 restricted horizon. There is no little pathos, and some romance 
 which I hardly feel free to tell here, of the circumstances which 
 led him, under the particular influence of one individual, to leave 
 his home and go to Koenigsberg there to enter into another life, 
 another spirit, another world of thought. 
 
38 Memorial Number. 
 
 He came to this country in 1883 with an admirable training 
 in medicine but with his interests centered in experimental physi- 
 ology and particularly in that field of experimental physiology 
 represented by Kronecker. Although a pupil in the DuBois 
 laboratory, it can hardly be said that the character of DuBois' 
 work was the one in which Meltzer was trained or which especially 
 attracted him. He arrived here with a letter from Kronecker and 
 appeared in the little laboratory where I had been for four or 
 five years after my return from Germany — first one room, then 
 finally three rooms in the old Bellevue Hospital Medical College. 
 I was delighted to have him. I recall that about that time Dr. 
 Lange, the surgeon, was working in the laboratory before he had 
 established himself in practice, and I could not give Meltzer a 
 separate room. He had merely a corner in the laboratory and he 
 was a faithful attendant there. He came every day as I recall it, 
 usually in the afternoons, and there we undertook and published 
 together a little piece of research, Meltzer 's independent work 
 practically. I never quite followed him in some of the broader 
 views he subsequently elaborated and based upon that work as to 
 the importance of vibratory movements in living matter. In that 
 apparently detached kind of study he had a breadth of view some- 
 what philosophically tempered. 
 
 That association which was a great delight to me lasted one 
 year. He then moved to Dr. Prudden's laboratory. Dr. Prudden 
 and I had started our laboratories at about the same time. Those 
 laboratories were then practically the only ones in New York where 
 anyone who desired to do any kind of biological or medical labora- 
 tory work, could come. There can be no greater contrast than the 
 conditions in those very modest little laboratories and the splendid 
 equipment of today. This is possibly a good illustration of the 
 "lowlands" of those days as compared to the "heights" of today, 
 and no small influence in bringing this about was that of Meltzer's. 
 But although working for a time in the laboratory of the College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons, most of his research was done in his own 
 little house, often late at night. 
 
 I would like to emphasize what I think is the marvel of Melt- 
 zer's life and work, that remarkable and almost unique combina- 
 tion of active medical practice with the cultivation of a particular 
 
Place of Dr. Meltzer in American Medicine. 39 
 
 science, experimental physiology by laboratory methods. There 
 have been physicians, especially in their younger and lean years, 
 with scientific inclinations who have done excellent work in the 
 laboratory but only for a time; ultimately they were practitioners- 
 There have been practitioners, as for example S. Weir Mitchell, 
 who have continued to be interested in experimental work, but 
 after all they are not comparable to Dr. Meltzer, who combined 
 in an extraordinary manner the life of the practitioner and the 
 life of the real specialist in experimental physiology. It is worth 
 pausing to consider this because it is a remarkable phenemenon. 
 Meltzer must have exerted no little restraint not to allow himself 
 to become so immersed in practice as to cause him to withdraw 
 from his scientific activities. 
 
 The first ten years after his arrival were years in which he 
 produced something nearly every year. There were some years, 
 1884-85-86, of relatively little productivity. In general the 
 period from 1883 to the early nineties of the last century was one 
 in which he was establishing himself in a comfortable practice ; he 
 desired no more. He had to make his livelihood and this was the 
 only congenial way open to him, but he did not allow himself, 
 even during these early years, to be withdrawn from scientific 
 interests and work. It shows a remarkable loyalty to an ideal and 
 a very extraordinary enthusiasm and tenacity of purpose to have 
 accomplished this under conditions apparently so adverse. Once 
 established in a comfortable practice, his scientific interests bore 
 upon his practice and his practice bore upon the character of his 
 scientific progress, as has been already pointed out. 
 
 Dr. Howell has given us an admirable characterization of 
 Meltzer as the experimental physiologist who occupies by prefer- 
 ence that border land between laboratory and practice, a type 
 quite incomprehensible to the ordinary practitioner. 
 
 Meltzer was one of the few earlier physicians in this country 
 whose practice was based upon physiological training, aptitude and 
 interest. S. Weir Mitchell was another, although his interests 
 became mainly clinical. If Dr. Graham Lusk had not already re- 
 ferred to it, I was going to speak of his father also, as another man 
 who, in his special field of obstetrics, founded upon physiological 
 study and interest, made admirable the work of the scientific 
 practitioner in this field. 
 
40 Memorial Number. 
 
 In those early years when Meltzer came to New York, the 
 leading physicians were Jacobi, Clark, the elder Flint, Delafield 
 and Janeway, the scientific basis of whose work was mainly patho- 
 logical anatomy. From this school of pathological anatomists 
 most admirable practitioners have come; but today we recognize 
 that the study of function is essential to make the good doctor, 
 and we must bear in mind that Meltzer typified this idea when 
 scarcely any one else in the country did so. 
 
 In the early nineties Meltzer's productivity amounted to 
 many papers a year, and so continued to the end. It is interesting 
 to consider why. In the first place he was in easier circumstances, 
 not uninterested in his practice, but easier in his circumstances so 
 far as time to give to his work went. Then it was a time too, when 
 there were great advances in scientific and medical education. 
 Laboratories were established in various schools in the country. I 
 wish to emphasize also the formation of special societies such as 
 the Association of American Physicians, devoted to the various 
 specialties, particularly the Physiological Society, where Meltzer 
 played the very important part indicated by Dr. Howell. At 
 this time too, there came the establishment of journals devoted 
 solely to the publication of technical research. They not only 
 provided a much needed means for publication, but they were 
 positively stimulating to the production of research. The first of 
 these was the Journal of Experimental Medicine started in 1896, 
 soon followed by the Journal of Physiology and then by others. 
 The organization of these special societies, the new media of 
 publications, gave Meltzer his opportunity, and how well he used 
 it, how much a part of this development he was, has been indicated 
 here tonight. 
 
 And now, just a little more about his relation to the clinical 
 side. He represented the physiological type of physician. He 
 was, I understand from competent sources, really an accomplished 
 physician, doing full justice to his patients. His influence on 
 clinical medicine however, is not to be measured by his accom- 
 plishments merely as a physician. He was never weary of im- 
 pressing especially upon the younger generation of physicians, that 
 the field of clinical research is just as interesting, as rewarding, as 
 important and just as capable of scientific advancement by re- 
 
Place of Dr. Meltzer in American Medicine. 41 
 
 search as that of physiology or the other branches of medicine to 
 which the term "science" is sometimes, although erroneously, 
 limited. 
 
 Meltzer realized that it is the younger generation that is 
 especially worth working for and trying to influence. He made no 
 mistake. It is delightful to see so many of the younger men here 
 tonight, because I know they are drawn by their affection and 
 admiration for that man who impressed his ideas upon them not 
 only by precept, but by example. In this way, I think, he has 
 exerted a potent influence upon clinical medicine, and I question 
 whether it would have been possible for a man devoting himself 
 solely to laboratory work to have done this. 
 
 His great opportunity came when he was chosen for the head- 
 ship of the division of Physiology and Pharmacology of the Rocke- 
 feller Institute. It was a natural choice. The institute was in 
 its early days and it was extremely important that the particular 
 problems selected for study should fall within a certain, at that 
 time, well-defined group of subjects. Here was a man who was a 
 genuine physiologist, recognized by his compeers, but whose in- 
 terests were largely concerned with problems having relation to 
 practical medicine, although he would have been the last man in 
 the world to advocate that practical application of results should 
 be a guiding principle in discovery. He represented that combina- 
 tion of quality and direction of interest in scientific medicine which 
 made him the ideal man for the new division of physiology and 
 pharmacology. He found here his great opportunity for his 
 splendid work. He was brought into contact with young men 
 and he helped train them here. 
 
 As a member of the Board of Scientific Directors of the Rocke- 
 feller Institute, I wish on this occation, to express on behalf of all 
 my colleagues, and I am sure I speak also for all the scientific 
 workers at the Institute, our sense of personal loss, our very 
 grateful appreciation of Meltzer's life and work and our inexpres- 
 sible debt to him for his many years of devoted and fruitful service. 
 I am glad to have had the privilege of saying these few words in 
 memory of one whose character I greatly admired and whose 
 friendship I cherished. It is well for all of us to come and pay 
 our tribute to the memory of such a man; to recall his worthy 
 
42 Memorial Number. 
 
 qualities of heart, mind and character, his large and enduring 
 influence, his accomplishments and his genius. But after all, it 
 is still better for us, and that is what he would wish, that we 
 leave here animated by his spirit and by his desire to cultivate 
 scientific medicine and to serve our fellow men. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the 
 expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as 
 provided by the library rules or by special arrangement with 
 the Librarian in charge. 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 DATE BORROWED 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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PAM PHLET BINBER 
 
 ^^^ Syracuse, N. Y. 
 := Stockton, Calif. 
 
 KL54.M49 
 Sol 
 1921 
 Society for experimental 
 
 biology and medicine. New York. 
 
 Memorial number for Samuel James 
 Meltaer. 
 
 UK a i9. :B&U.BlNggRY