John Charnley
McKinley-1891-1950
Maurice B. Visscher*
THE JOURNAL-LANCET
The most fitting tribute to a
modest man is the simple story of the work he did and of the way, he did
it. John Charnley
McKinley played a leading part in the building of a great medical teaching and
research center. The role he played was
primarily that of a working scientist. He
took an important part in policy making too, but he preferred to remain in the
background, working through committees and faculty organization rather than by
entering into public controversy.
John Charnley McKinley was born November 8, 1891, in
One Hippocratic injunction to the good physician was to teach the youth
aspiring to learn the art of healing. In
the day of Hippocrates medicine was more art than
science, but then as now knowledge was the basis of the most enlightened
art. The life work of Dr. McKinley
fulfilled the age-old tradition of the good physician. He spent his life in the three-fold task of
caring for the sick, of advancing the front of knowledge and of teaching the
science and the art of medicine to the generation that was to follow his. He took into his work the three basic qualities,
which any person must have to succeed in such a task. He had superior native intelligence. He acquired an unusual basic training in the
science and skills of medicine. He
possessed the deep human sympathy, which made him sacrifice himself for his
patients, his pupils and his science. Ability, training and motivation are the
indispensables for significant achievement which he
possessed.
His scientific ability was not simply that of the imitator. It was rather that of the innovator. He had imagination and insight as well as a
remarkable memory and sharp Critical judgment.
He used these faculties in his research and in his institutional
organizational activities.
His social idealism made
him decide to spend his life in teaching and research. His humanitarianism also
drove him to accept larger administrative responsibilities, such as the
temporary chairmanship of the department of medicine,
than he was personally anxious to assume.
He held the post only until a younger man, whom he had helped choose, could be groomed properly for that important position. He gladly relinquished it when, the interests
of the medical school as a whole could be better served by his stepping
aside. A team worker, he did not play to the galleries, but to advance the interests of society. He was willing to sacrifice himself to public
exposure for a good cause, but he was not interested in publicity or fame for
himself.
One of Dr. McKinley’s
great contributions to human welfare was his service as secretary of the
Minnesota Basic Medical Science Board.
This position not only was time-consuming and boresome
in its routines, but it exposed him to the danger of bodily assault at the
hands of persons- mainly chiropractors and osteopaths- who were
prevented from exploiting the people of
The author of this
statement had the privilege of association with Charnley
McKinley in several ways over twenty-seven years. Dr. McKinley was his laboratory instructor in
neuro-anatomy and one of his teachers in clinical
neurology. He was also a faculty
colleague for fourteen years. It is on the basis of such day to day contact that these words are
written.
Over many years Charnley McKinley and I
worked together in planning projects for improvement in medical education, for
filling gaps in staff for teaching and research, for improvement in
administrative arrangements within the University, for improvement in
opportunities for young recruits to medical science, and in many other
projects. I can testify to the fact that
his basic motivation was entirely unselfish.
He was a man, not with a dream, but with a well-conceived mission. He had a purpose and it was
not related to the personal welfare of J. C. McKinley. His purpose was to advance human welfare
through improvements sn
teaching and research in medicine at the
He played a very
important part in the years 1919 - 1945 in making the
always for superior scholarship, for high standards and
for academic freedom.
Any life that ends at
fifty-four is a tragedy. It is a tragedy
in Charnley McKinley case because the world, and
especially his community, so badly needs men with his courage, his insight and
his vigor to save itself from the calamities which
mental mediocrity, social insensitivity and personal laziness may impose upon
society. The medical profession, perhaps
as much as any social group, needs brains more than brawn,
and humility more than hate. Charnley McKinley has left his indelible mark upon 20th
century medicine through his contributions to education, to research and to the
elevation of the standards of medical practice in
Publications OF J. CHARNLEY MCKINLEY
Lethargic Encephalitis: Symptomatology and Histoparhology
(with E. M. Hammes) Archives of Internal Medicine,
Vol. 26, pp. 60-75, July, 1920.
The Intraneural Plexus of Fasciculi
and Fibers in the Sciaric Nerve. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, Vol. 6, pp. 377-399,
October, 1921.
Lesions
in the Brain of a Patient with Postencephalitic
Paralysis Agitans. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, Vol. 9, pp.
47-58, January, 1923.
Subacute Combined Degeneration of the Spinal Cord Without Pernicious Anemia: Report of Two Cases with Autopsy
Findings (with L. B. Dickey).
Journal.Lancet, July 15, 1925.
Neuron
Destruction in Postencephalitic Paralysis Agitans Micrometric Study of the Lenticular
Region and Substantia Nigra
(with
Detorticate Rigidity (with N. J. Berkwitz,
R. E. Morris, F. H. Scott). Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine,
vol. 24, pp. 536.538, 1927.
Sodium Ricinoleace and Active Immunity Against
Experimental Monkey Poliomyelitis (with W. P. Larson). Proceedings
of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, vol. 24, pp. 297.300,
1927.
A
Simple Method for Determination of Threshold Value of Vibration Sense. Proceedings of the Society for
Experimental Biology and Medicine, vol. 25, pp. 827-831, 1928.
Quantitative
Studies on Human Muscle Tonus (with N. Joseph Berkwitz). Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, vol. 19, pp.
1036-1056, June, 1928.
Ueber die Innervation und Tãtigkeit der Atemmuskeln
(with Kurt Wachholder). Pfiügers
Archiv für die gesamte Physiologle des Menschen und der Tiere, 222 Band. 5. und 6. Heft, August, 1929.
Ueber das sogenannte Bremsungsphanomen in Muskeldehnungs. kurven
(with Kurt Wachholder). Zeitschrift
für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie, 1929,
121 Band. 1. und 2. Heft.
The
Medical Library. Hospital
Progress, vol. 12, No. 7, July, 1931.
Diffuse Subcortical Sclerosis of the Brain.
A Proposal of Wholesale
Passive Immunization Against Poliornyelitis
Epidemics. Medicine, vol. 14, p. 921, October, 1931.
Electric Action
Potentials in Muscles During Recording of Mechanical
Tonus Tracings (with Nathaniel J. Berkwitz). Archives
of Neurology and Psychiatry, vol. 29, pp. 272.285, February,
1933.
Rigidity
Following Ablation of the Motor Cortex in Monkeys (with Nathaniel J. Berkwitz).
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, vol. 78, No. 6, December,
1933, pp. 604-626.
Modification
of the Electromyogram of the Simple Reaction by Cerebellar Lesions (with S. R. Hathaway). Proceedings of the Society for
Experimental Biology and Medicine, vol. 34, pp. 783-787, 1936.
The
Problem of Acute Poliomyelitis.
Journal-Lancer, vol. 60, No. 10, p. 458, October,
1940.
A Multiphasic Personality Schedule (
A Multiphasic Personality Schedule (
Treatment of Encephalitis (with A. B. Baker).
Journal-Lancet, vol. 61, pp. 386-387, September, 1941.
The Problem of Poliomyeliris.
One of the thirteenth annual series of public lectures
sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of the Sigma Xi.
A Multiphasic Personality Schedule (
A Multiphasic Personality Schedule (
The Identification and Measurement of the Psychoneuroses in
Medical Practice
The
The Present Status of Poliomyelitis Management (with
Editor,
An
Outline of Neuropsychiatry. Fourth edition. John S. Swift Co., Inc.,