David Marine (1880-1976): Nestor of Thyroidology

DAVID MARINE (1880-1976): NESTOR OF THYROIDOLOGY JOSIP MATOVINOVIC* And so we thoughtfit to spend our time and pains m writing Ae lives of famous persons. ... [1, p. 31] "The lives of noble Greeks and Romans" have remained through the centuries living lessons for subsequent generations. More than any other element of human culture, medicine combines science and humanism, thus subscribing to the universal ideals of truth, beauty, and goodness. The Ufe and work ofDavid Marine is an epitome of this noble proposition. Origins and Education ofDavid Marine In his "History as a System" Ortega y Gasset makes an overstatement: "What nature is to things, history, res gestae, is to man" [2, p. 217]. And yet, this pronouncement somehow applies to the origins of David Marine. The French kings Henri IV and Louis XIV decisively influenced the course of his ancestors' lives. The former issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598, giving the Protestant minority in France freedom of religion and protection from persecution. The latter suppressed these rights one by one and in 1685 revoked the edict. David's Huguenot ancestor , MiUicent Marin, did not wait for the last act. Instead, he left Brittany in 1666 for Maryland, thus preceding the exodus of many thousands of his Protestant compatriots [3]. On both sides of the Adantic, Marine's ancestors were farmers, and he was born on a farm at Whitleysburg, Maryland, on September 20, 1880. The American Medical Association ?Professor of internal medicine, Division of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109. 1 am deeply grateful to Dr. David N. Marine who graciously shared memories of his father and most cordially aided this work. I also thank Miss Helen F. Meranda and Mrs. Jean L. Barnard who offered expert and untiring bibliographic assistance, Mrs. Cornelia D. Osborn and Miss Linder Markham for their expert typing, and many others who contributed to this endeavor.© 1978 by The University of Chicago. 0031-5982/78/2104-0047$01.00 Perspectives in Biology and Medicine ¦ Summer 1978 \ 565 had been founded 33 years earlier, and the American Academy of Sciences was only 17 years old at the time. The Marine family was hardworking, conservative in life-style, and moderately prosperous. Some of the older members might have looked like the Iowans of Grant Wood's Gothic Series. David lost both ofhis parents before he reached the age of 7. Sadly, no memories ofthem survive. They left an endowment for the education of David and his two younger sisters. One ofthem graduated from nursing school, and the other became a teacher. He finished grade school in a nearby village, and lived until age 15 with an aunt on a farm near Denton, Maryland [3]. Early rural experiences had a profound influence on his way of life and work, his scientific interests, his approach to research, and even on his activities in retirement. At the age of 16 David entered Western Maryland CoUege at Westminster where he received the best education of the time, with a good background in history and literature. There was relatively Utile science, but being general and not specialized, it fit in weU with the other mental furniture of an educated man of the turn of the century. David made good use of that science. His knowledge of German and French proved very advantageous too, since much of the scientific literature between 1850 and 1914 was published in either German or French. In 1900 David enrolled at The Johns Hopkins University to study zoology under W. K. Brooks, professor of comparative anatomy. But in his first year he had already decided to become a physician and dierefore added German and chemistry to his curriculum. In 1901 he entered The Johns Hopkins Medical School, and in 1905 he graduated high in his class [4]. The industrial revolution and die strong influence of German ideas in science and technology had been the moving forces in the founding of The Johns Hopkins University. It is noteworthy that the opening address in 1881 was delivered by Thomas H. Huxley. Naturally a protagonist of a strong science curriculum and a gallant opponent of Matthew Arnold, he insisted diat universities should be centers...