Samuel Clark Harvey

It is a pleasure to join in this tribute to a great surgeon and teacher, Samuel Clark Harvey. Though not one of his official family, and with no claim of recognition as one of his pupils and associates, nevertheless I share with many others affection as well as admiration for this fine gentleman. Dr. Harvey's research contributions began when he was a medical student at Yale. It was probably because of these that he obtained an appointment as a house officer at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and joined other brilliant young men such as Francis Blake, Elliott Cutler, and Alan Woods, who were working under Dr. Cushing and Dr. Christian in the early days of this hospital. His appointment as Arthur Tracy Cabot Fellow in Surgery is an indication of the impression which he made on Dr. Cushing. The influence of Dr. Cushing is reflected in his publications on neurosurgical problems, but it must be said that these were overshadowed later by contributions to a great variety of problems in surgery. Included among these are papers on wound healing, shock, cancer, burns, abdominal surgery, thoracic surgery, medical history, and medical education. The work on wound healing, probably the most important problem in surgery, is classic. The r6le which Dr. Harvey has exercised in the training of surgeons approaches in importance the value of his scientific contributions. The careers of those who have trained under him must give him great pride. Great teachers of surgery may use quite different methods in accomplishing their purposes. Dr. Harvey belongs to the group who teaches by example, who stimulates research by his own continuing interest, who exercises care and deliberation on the wards and in the operating room, who stimulates inquiry by avoiding unwarranted dogmatic statements, and who bases his remarks at national surgical meetings on sound experimental and clinical observations.