University of Michigan. Department of Physiology

The origins of physiology at the University of Michigan can be traced to the Organic Act of 1837 establishing the university. This act included provisions for a professorship in physiology within the Department of Medicine and Surgery. Physiology was one of four subjects required for graduation of the first class of medical students. The first physiology course was taught in 1850 by Jonathan A. Allen, one of the five original members of the medical department. Upon his resignation in 1854, the medical faculty was reorganized and Abram Sager, the first president of the faculty of the Department of Medicine and Surgery and later dean of the Medical School, was appointed professor of physiology (Professor of Obstetrics and Physiology, Botany and Zoology, 1854; Professor of Obstetrics and Physiology, 1855-1860; Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children, 1860-1875).

Other early prominent professors of physiology at the University of Michigan included Corydon L. Ford, Henry Sewall, and Warren Plimpton Lombard. Corydon L. Ford (Professor of Anatomy, 1854; Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, 1860-1894), although an anatomist, recognized the importance of laboratory work to physiology and urged the administration to establish a physiological laboratory and to appoint a permanent professor on the subject. The modern program of experimental physiology at the university began in 1881 with the appointment of Henry Sewall (Lecturer, 1881; Professor of Physiology, 1882-1888). Sewall was instrumental in the development of the Physiological Laboratory, leading to the first laboratory course in physiology offered in any medical school in the country. Warren Plimpton Lombard (Professor of Physiology and Histology, 1892-1898; Professor of Physiology, 1898-1923) continued to improve upon the physiology laboratory course and to purchase more equipment. By 1904 this laboratory course was required of all medical and homeopathic students.

The first chairman of the Department of Physiology was Robert Gesell, appointed in 1923 (Professor of Physiology, 1923-1954). During his tenure, Gesell oversaw the department's move into the newly constructed East Medical Building and recruited new instructors from the graduate students within the department. Upon the death of Gesell in 1954, John W. Bean was appointed Acting Chair until the arrival of Horace W. Davenport in 1956.

The chairmanship of Horace Willard Davenport (1956-1978) was a period of great growth and refinement for the department. The department grew four times in size, and federal research funds increased steadily. As a result of this growth, much attention was devoted to an examination of the physiology curriculum with courses and requirements being reevaluated and restructured. In 1969, the department was moved from the East Medical Building to the Medical Science II Building.

For further information on the history of the Department of Physiology, the researcher should consult both the Printed Catalog and the Manuscripts Catalog of the Bentley Historical Library. Related manuscript collections include the papers of former students William Aulls Campbell and Anna Marion Cooke, and the papers of Drs. Horace W. Davenport, Robert Gesell, and Warren P. Lombard.