Porter Physiology Development Program

Abstract

As we approach the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the American Physiological Society (APS, the Society) we should recall an unusual and significant event that occurred at the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration in Baltimore, Maryland, on 1 April 1938. President Walter E. Garrey, acting on a vote of Council, introduced William Townsend Porter as honorary president and toastmaster with the following warm words of praise (1):

There remains to me the very great privilege of introducing to you the toastmaster of the evening. The name William Townsend Porter is well known to all of you. Nevertheless I wish to take this opportunity for an expression of the eminent part he has played in the development of American physiology. Before the organization of our Society he had established the first laboratory of physiology west of the Atlantic Seaboard at the old St. Louis Medical School, now Washington University. He early established an enviable reputation as a meticulous and penetrating investigator and as a stimulating teacher at the Harvard Medical School. As the first managing editor of the American Journal of Physiology he placed it on the highest scientific and literary plane. For those of us beginning to contribute at that time, I might almost say he taught us how to write and made us like it. I for one will ever be grateful for his pertinent advice and his constructive criticism. Interested always in the development of laboratory teaching, Professor Porter made the designing of apparatus a hobby and through his foundation of the Harvard Apparatus Company he made it possible for American physiological laboratories to obtain apparatus adequate to their needs and at prices within their means. Through his generosity these two foundations are now operated not only for the intellectual but also for the material advantage of the American Physiological Society. They have made possible the establishment of the annual Porter Fellowship. Few indeed are the men who have had American physiology so near the heart. It is with satisfying pleasure that I present to you the toastmaster of the evening, our honorary president, Professor William Townsend Porter.