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5th APS President (1911-1913)
Samuel James Meltzer
(1851-1920)
Samuel J. Meltzer was one of the three members of the APS delegation to
the Conference Committee that founded the Federation of American Societies
for Experimental Biology (FASEB, the Federation) on the evening of 31
December 1912. Because the chairmanship of the Executive Committee was
rotated among the societies making up the Federation in order of seniority,
Meltzer, as president of APS in 1913, became the first chairman of the
Executive Committee.
Meltzer was born in Ponevyezh, Russia, into an orthodox Jewish family. He
studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Berlin, where he
pursued experimental research under the direction of Hugo Kronecker on the
mechanism of swallowing. Soon after receiving his medical degree in 1882, he
came to America, where he established himself in medical practice in New
York City and continued research in his spare time in W. H. Welch's
laboratory at Bellevue and J. G. Curtis's laboratory at the College of
Physicians and Surgeons. He was elected to APS at its first annual meeting
in 1888. In 1904 his devotion to physiological research was rewarded when he
was invited to head the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology of the
newly formed Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. He retired from
this position in 1919.
Meltzer's experimental research covered a wide spectrum of subjects in
physiology, pharmacology, pathology, and clinical medicine. He is especially
remembered for the meltzer- Kronecker theory of deglutition, generalized
into a broad theory of inhibition (i.e., every excitation or stimulation of
a tissue was accompanied by a corresponding inhibitory action) that acted as
a stimulus to much of his work. Other important contributions included work
on the anesthetic effects of magnesium salts, artificial respiration through
the technique of intratracheal insufflation, and the action of epinephrine
on blood vessels and the muscles of the iris.
Meltzer played a major role in his day as a liaison between laboratory
scientists and clinicians and as an ardent proponent of the concept of
clinical research. He was a founder and officer of several medical and
biomedical societies, including the Society for Experimental Biology and
Medicine (1903), popularly known as the Meltzer Verein, and the American
Society for Clinical Investigation (1908). Howell recalled that from his
election to APS until his death, Meltzer was perhaps the Society's most
faithful attendant at meetings, where he gave frank but friendly criticisms
of papers and took a leading part in discussions of Society policy. He was
said to have been something of a "kingmaker" when it came to selecting
officers of the Society. F. C. Mann, who first met Meltzer in 1916 on the
occasion of giving his first paper at an APS meeting, wrote of him (Annu.
Rev. Physiol. 17: 1-16, 1955):
"Dr. Meltzer was a sincere idealist, a rugged champion of the experimental
method in research, an enthusiastic physiologist, a physician who diligently
attempted to use his knowledge of physiology to aid his patients, a teacher
of all who had an interest in science.
Selected Publications
1. Anonymous. Samuel James Meltzer. Physiologist 5: 1-7, 1962.
2. Chittenden, R. H. Samuel James Meltzer. In: Dictionary of American
Biography. New York: Scribner, 1933, vol. 12, p. 519-520.
3. Harvey, A. M. Samuel J. Meltzer: pioneer catalyst in the evolution of
clinical science in America. Perspect. Biol. Med. 21: 431-440, 1978.
4. Howell, W. H. Samuel James Meltzer. Science 53: 99-106, 1921.
5. Howell, W. H. Biographical memoir, Samuel James Meltzer, 1851-1920.
Biogr. Mem. Natl. Acad. Sci. 21: 15-23, 1926.
6. Parascandola, J. Samuel James Meltzer. In: Dictionary of Scientific
Biography. New York: Scribner, 1974, vol. 9, p. 265-266.
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