In 1904, physiology disappeared for a time from the curriculum. Only Zoology 1 and 2 were offered, and physiology apparently was encompassed to a degree in these introductory offerings. In 1902, John James Thurber, who had received his Master’s degree from Nebraska, was appointed Professor of Biology. In 1903 the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C. was located in the Tucson Mountains and was apparently available to university personnel. According to the catalog, this new facility was seen as destined to become an important center of active scientific research. This is worthy of note since it was, to my knowledge, the first mention of scientific research in the catalog.
In 1904, Kendrick Charles Babcock, Ph.D., a Harvard-trained historian, became President of the university. Babcock was obviously a strong believer in committees since he formed 13 committees in all, including Athletics, Library, Prizes, Executive, and, somewhat hopefully, a Rhodes Scholarship. Staffing these 13 committees must have been somewhat of a problem since, at the time, there were only 26 faculty members. Among other officers of the University was an M.D., Mrs. Mary Henry Atton, who received her medical training at Northwestern. Her title was Medical Examiner of Young Women. In 1906, Mr. Thurber was joined by an assistant, Miss Opal I. Tillman, who had received the M.S. degree from Ohio State and was an Instructor in Domestic Science and Botany. Of the 31 faculty at that time, 6 were women and were in a variety of areas, including Biology, Math, History, and Latin.
By 1909, Tillman had left and James Greenlief Brown joined as Instructor in Botany. The number of standing committees was reduced to 6, and Biology moved to Science Hall. Biology was located on the third floor and “occupied a fine suite of 8 rooms as required for modern instruction and research”. Brown introduced a course in Plant Physiology consisting of a one-hour lecture and seven hours of lab work each week. In fact, the impact James Greenlief Brown was immediately evident. He was listed in the 1909 catalog as presenting six courses. Brown was teaching Invertebrate Zoology, Vertebrate Zoology, Histology, and introduced a two-semester course in Physiology. The first semester of Brown’s physiology course focused on blood, respiration, secretion, and absorption, while in the second semester, circulation and the nervous system were covered. In 1912, a one-semester course in Physiology was also introduced, consisting of two hours of lecture and six hours of lab per week. Experiments were done on cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, etc., with each student expected to keep a full notebook of results. Laboratory equipment included a centrifuge, an inductorium (to provide electrical stimulation of nerves and muscles), and a rheonome (an instrument used for measuring the electric excitability of tissues).
By 1916, apparently the administration took pity on Mr. Brown and his inordinately heavy courseload, and Charles Taylor Vorhies, was appointed Assistant Professor of Biology. In 1917, Brown was finally made an Assistant Professor, having been an instructor for eight years. In 1919, Biology began teaching Bacteriology. And again, our utility outfielder, James Greenlief Brown was tapped to teach a one-semester course in General Bacteriology along with Elementary Botany, Plant Histology, Plant Physiology, three courses in Morphology, Plant Pathology, Elementary Zoology, Vertebrate Zoology, and two semesters of Physiology. It is said that Brown had a doorway cut between two adjacent laboratories so he could teach two laboratory courses simultaneously.
During the 1890’s, the University was in essence a preparatory school because there were far more high school students being taught by the faculty for eventual entrance into the University than there were college-level students. However, by 1920, the situation had changed considerably. The University had grown to over 1600 students, by 1930 it had risen to 2100, and by 1940 to 3000 students.
Beginning in 1930, Biology underwent massive reorganization, so that aspect of our recent history is not unique. In 1931, the Department of Biology disappeared, and in its place was formed a Department of Zoology, a Department of Entomology, and, curiously, a Department of Botany and Bacteriology. A short time later, Entomology became Entomology and Economic Zoology. In 1935, Botany and Bacteriology split to form separate departments. But 10 years later, Botany merged with Range Ecology. While this shuffling probably caused some restiveness among the faculty, students took it in their stride.
Other issues were on the mind of President Alfred Atkinson, who reported in 1937 that one of the most serious problems at the university was the loss of faculty to other universities because of more favorable working conditions and higher salaries.
During the next two decades (1920-1940), the U of A was essentially an undergraduate institution. Physiology was taught at the undergraduate level in the Department of Biology and Zoology. Graduate programs began to develop in the 20’s but were mostly at the Master’s degree level. One of the first M.S. degrees in Biology was awarded in 1926 on the topic of Seasonal Cycles of Interstitial Cells in the Testis of the Horned Toad. In 1934, an M.S. was awarded in zoology, which had strong physiological connotations. The degree was awarded to Reginald Rambo for studies of dehydration in man in a semi-arid climate. Rambo’s studies, which might be of interest to modern-day moviegoers, focused on erythrocyte counts in humans during the summer and on an inverse correlation between erythrocyte hemoglobin content and environmental temperature. It seems our Rambo drew first blood.
One of the pioneers of our institution in Biology was Charles Taylor Vorhies, who had been hired as an Assistant Professor of Biology in 1916. He had received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1908. Despite a heavy teaching load, he developed an active research program. He wrote the first bulletin published by the University Experiment Station, entitled: Life and History of the Desert Rat, published in 1922. That same year, he became Head of the Department of Biology. He spent much of his time investigating how desert animals lived on little or no water. For many years, he served as chair of the Department of Entomology and Economic Zoology. Vorhies was a recognized leader in the field, and in 1939, he served as President of the Ecological Society of America.
A very important chapter in the history of biology at the University of Arizona was contributed by George and Mary Caldwell. Mary took her B.S. and M.S. degrees at the U of A and joined the biology faculty in 1919 as an instructor.
Among her duties was serving as an assistant to James Greenlief Brown in teaching physiology. She was then Mary Estill. In 1920, George Thornhill Caldwell joined the biology department and took responsibility for teaching physiology and histology. In the early 20’s, Caldwell and Estill were listed as teaching physiology. In the 1927 catalog, Caldwell Mary and George Caldwell and Estill became Caldwell and Caldwell. Actually, they were married in 1925. Both subsequently received Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. While George retained his interest in physiology and zoology, Mary’s interests were in bacteriology, and she became head of that department in 1935. Concurrently, George served as head of Zoology. Both continued in those capacities until the mid-fifties. George died in 1956, but Mary continued her association with the university, carrying on an active research program until recently on the cancer chemotherapy and anti-tumor properties of certain plant extracts.
I would like to digress from this theme slightly to talk about a pioneer American physiologist who has the additional distinction of having been born and raised in Arizona. William Ferguson Hamilton was born in Tombstone, Arizona, on March 8, 1893. This was coincidentally during the first year of operation of our university. His father, Isaac Beeson Hamilton, was a mining camp doctor and sometime instructor of anatomy. His mother, Clara Eddy Hamilton, was a journalist in Los Angeles before her marriage. The story is told in Hamilton family circles that after their marriage and move to Tombstone, the young bride was taken by her husband to a local restaurant for dinner. The waiter inquired whether she would like some Arizona strawberries, to which she most
agreeably assented. He brought her a dish of red kidney beans.
It is said that William Hamilton’s father treated the Earp brothers for the after-effects of a social engagement in Tombstone, known as the shoot-out at OK Corral, as well as treating other numerous lesser-known figures engaged in similar pastimes.
William Hamilton grew up in southern Arizona in various mining camp towns, but graduated from high school in Tucson, where he was on the varsity football team. He attended Pomona
College in Claremont, California, and subsequently received the Ph.D. degree in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley. He then became Head of Physiology at the Medical College of Georgia. He developed a very strong department, was President of the American Physiological Society, and designed the seal of the Society.
At the time William Hamilton was President of the APS – 1955 – the issue of establishing a medical school was becoming of increasing interest in the State of Arizona, with both Phoenix and Tucson expressing interest. The Board of Regents agreed to a study that strongly advised its location in Tucson because of the maturity and quality of the educational programs at this University.