The way of an investigator : a scientist's experiences in medical research / by Walter Bradford Cannon.

  • Walter Bradford Cannon
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The way of an investigator : a scientist's experiences in medical research / by Walter Bradford Cannon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/240 (page 14)
    town was intensified in later years when I learned that it con¬ tained the site of old Fort Crawford, where in the 1820’s the American army surgeon, William Beaumont, “the backwoods physiologist” as Osier called him, made his classic observations on digestion. At the time of the Civil War my father was in his teens. Because of financial stress he had been compelled to stop his formal schooling and go to work to help support the family, consisting then of his parents and two younger brothers. Throughout most of his life he was connected with western railroads and finally became superintendent of transportation on James J. Hill’s Great Northern system. Outside of railroad¬ ing he cherished two utterly inconsistent interests: a desire to have a small farm, which would have kept him somewhat iso¬ lated in the country, and a desire to be a physician, which would have demanded residence in a populous community. He read extensively the literature on both farming and medicine. My father was ingenious. He invented new methods of keep¬ ing records of the movements of cars belonging to the railroad and was instrumental in developing the use of heavy engines to pull long freight trains economically, with little increase in train crews. One of his brothers, who became an engineer, fre¬ quently invented clever devices but none of these brought him any considerable financial return. Unfortunately, my father was subject to moods of deep and silent depression. These moods profoundly lowered the morale of his family but he seemed un¬ able to suppress them even if he saw their dark influence on others; indeed, in his gloom he may not have been aware of its effects. When I was a boy my father refused to buy me ready-made toys. He was himself expert in the use of tools and after giving me some instruction he allowed me free use of an excellent car¬ penter’s tool chest. Occasionally he would work with me in building a small house or other toy structures. I look back upon those times of co-operation as among the happiest mem¬ ories of my father. The conditions that he provided for devel-