Chester R. Burns. 660 pp. Austin (TX): Texas State Historical Association; 2003. US $49.95. ISBN 0-87611-187-8
In 1881, the citizens of Texas voted to locate their state's first university medical school in the island city of Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico. At that time, Galveston was the largest, wealthiest city in Texas and had a reputation for outstanding hospital care and medical education. In October 1891, The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston officially opened its doors. Since that time, the school has evolved from 1 building, 23 students, and 13 faculty members into a modern, 84-acre health science center with more than 2,800 students and 1,600 faculty members. Today, the original building, known by UTMB devotees as “Old Red,” is the only surviving medical school building west of the Mississippi River that was constructed before 1900.
The present volume, written by Chester R. Burns, a professor of medical history at UTMB, was undertaken to chronicle and celebrate the school's first century. In writing this history, the author had 3 main goals: 1) “to pay tribute to those whose voices are now stilled, but whose devotion to UTMB still echoes in our memories;” 2) to “reduce the bewilderment” of newcomers to UTMB; and 3) to encourage others to study UTMB's past. Instead of writing a definitive or encyclopedic history of the medical school, he chose to focus on “the major groups that propelled its evolution.”
Although the book is 660 pages long, its final 268 pages consist of appendices (81 pages), notes (137 pages), a selected bibliography (15 pages), and an index (35 pages).
The text itself (387 pages) comprises 10 chapters that describe UTMB's origin and first decade (chapter 1); events associated with power, money, and campus development (chapters 2–4); the school's missions of caregiving, teaching, and research (chapters 5–7); on-campus cultures (identities, rituals, images) (chapter 8); off-campus cultures (chapter 9); and “a centennial perspective” (chapter 10).
As a former UTMB medical student (1941–42), I was particularly interested in chapter 2, which details the tenure of John Spies as dean and chief executive officer (1938–42) during the Second World War. Spies was a controversial figure who became the center of an institutional power struggle. He was suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer, possibly influenced by German forces in Galveston. He was opposed by many faculty members, especially Drs. Edward Ran-dall and Albert Singleton. Eventually, political unrest at UTMB became so strong that the Texas legislature sent a special committee to Galveston to investigate possible un-American activities. The ensuing kangaroo court was demoralizing to the UTMB community. Although no un-American activities were found, Spies was dismissed for “failure to devote full efforts to training and production of doctors.” The school was placed on probation for several years by the American Association of Medical Colleges. This incident caused me to transfer to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1943. Under new leadership, UTMB soon recovered its reputation as a first-rate academic health care center.
The entire text provides a fascinating chronicle that is exceptionally well written. The style is scholarly yet highly readable and enjoyable. Numerous photographs and tables supplement the written material, and the layout and design are excellent. Overall, I have only 2 minor criticisms: first, I believe that the photographs would have benefited from editing, as even the newer ones tend to be dark, without much sharpness or contrast. The overall photographic results might have been better if the book had been printed on glossy stock rather than on matte paper. Second, the main title seems cumbersome, suggesting an overview of medicine rather than the history of a specific medical school.
Despite these minor criticisms, this book is an outstanding resource that should be of special interest not only to UTMB alumni but also to medical educators, medical historians, academicians, Galvestonians, and devotees of Texana. I congratulate Dr. Burns on producing such a superb volume.
Fig. Dr. William Keiller, 3rd from right, lectures to medical students in 1912.
Fig. William Bohman, superintendent of John Sealy Hospital, displays a “fever therapy cabinet” in 1943. The cabinet was used to treat venereal disease by raising the patient's body temperature to 104–106°F. This treatment was initiated by Dr. Edward Randall, Jr., before the advent of penicillin in the mid-1940s.