Dentist, Doctor, Dean: Professor Sir Charles Hercus and His Record of Fostering
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Dentist, Doctor, Dean: Professor Sir Charles Hercus and his record of fostering research at the Otago Medical School, 1921-1958. A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the University of Canterbury by Claire Elizabeth Le Couteur University of Canterbury 2013 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................... i Abstract ..................................................................................................................... iii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. v Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 Aims of the thesis ....................................................................................................... 9 Historiography .......................................................................................................... 13 Source material ......................................................................................................... 38 Thesis outline ........................................................................................................... 40 Chapter One: Beginnings ......................................................................................... 47 Chapter Two: Hercus and the origins of scientific and medical research in New Zealand ............................................................................................................ 77 Chapter Three: The Student Dissertations ............................................................. 118 Chapter Four: Conquering endemic goitre 1920-1937 .......................................... 156 Chapter Five: Hercus and the development of preventive medicine in New Zealand ................................................................................................................... 202 Chapter Six: Private funding and the Medical Research Council .......................... 254 Chapter Seven: The Medical Research Council expands and matures .................. 302 Chapter Eight: Conclusion ..................................................................................... 347 Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 361 Primary Sources ..................................................................................................... 361 Student Dissertations .............................................................................................. 363 Theses ..................................................................................................................... 367 Interviews ............................................................................................................... 367 Published ................................................................................................................ 368 Secondary Sources ................................................................................................. 379 Websites ................................................................................................................. 386 Acknowledgements My thanks are due to my supervisor Dr Jane Buckingham who has helped me keep on track during the series of major earthquakes in Christchurch that began three months after I began my study. The disruptions have been huge for everyone and I appreciate her encouragement and assistance. I would like to thank all the people who have contributed to my thesis in many different ways. In particular, I would like to thank Mary Hercus-Rowe for her great interest in learning more about her father’s work at the Medical School and for contributing many helpful answers to my queries. I extend my appreciation to the former students who provided their memories of student days in the School and details on how they researched and wrote their student dissertations. These contributors are Dr Duncan Adams, Dr Barbara Heslop, Dr Richard Rawstron, Sir David Hay, Dr Margaret Guthrie, Dr Maarire Goodall and Brigadier Doctor Brian McMahon. All gave generously of their time in proofreading the transcripts of their interviews and giving additional information later. Dr Warwick Brunton has also given much assistance and his recent book on the history of the Department of Preventive Medicine provided great insight to the part of the School most closely aligned with Sir Charles Hercus. My thanks are due to Julian Kuzma who indexed the very large collection of student dissertations for the Medical School Library. Without this list, I would have found my much harder to complete. In addition, I am very grateful for the patient and efficient assistance that Richard German and his staff at the Medical School Library have given me over the last three years. They helped tremendously by collecting and examining batches of the student dissertations prior to my visiting Dunedin to read them. i I would also like to acknowledge the help of Stuart Cretney, Acquisitions Librarian at the Ministry of Health, who found Michael Watt’s unpublished autobiography for me when I could not locate a copy. My mentor for this thesis was Dr Patrick Cotter, founder of the Cotter Medical History Trust in Christchurch. It was very sad that he died before I completed my study. He suggested the topic and provided a file of newspaper clippings, published papers, images and other material. The file forms part of a collection on New Zealand doctors held by the Trust. I also had the great privilege of using the Trust’s extensive library of books and journals dated mostly before 1950. In addition, I would like to thank the volunteers at the Trust, Dr Bramwell Cook and Dr Shailer Western who have also helped me learn about the School and Hercus. Thanks also to Professor Geoffrey Rice and Assistant Professor Katie Pickles for their help. I would also like to thank my family for their support and understanding while I have completed this thesis. ii Abstract This thesis investigates the development of medical research at the University of Otago Medical School in Dunedin, New Zealand under Sir Charles Hercus, Dean from 1937- 1958. It will also explore his interest and participation in research from his student days and the years before becoming Dean, as well as the influence of the First World War on his career. The study draws upon unpublished material in New Zealand archives and a collection of student projects investigating public health issues. Hercus, as Professor of Public Health and Bacteriology incorporated these projects into the curriculum in the early 1920s. The thesis uses many original papers published in scientific and medical journals by Hercus and his colleagues at the School. Building on a base of archival material including contemporary newspaper accounts, which have lately become available on the Papers Past website, this thesis draws together the individual disease studies undertaken by other thesis writers to give an account of Hercus’s achievements in fostering medical research. A key finding of this thesis is that Hercus was instrumental in building up the research capability of the School. He accomplished this through his own investigations and by helping to establish the New Zealand Medical Research Council. The thesis illustrates the multitude of studies that Hercus undertook personally or facilitated others to pursue, beyond the elimination of endemic goitre, for which he perhaps is best known. Another outcome of this study is an understanding of the difficult path that scientists faced in the early years of the twentieth century in New Zealand if they iii wished to carry out research. This thesis follows the origins of the Department of Scientific Research in the 1920s and the frequent collaboration Hercus made with scientists outside of the School. It will also demonstrate Hercus’s compassion and foresight in employing several Jewish refugee doctors as researchers at the School, who brought expertise into the research programmes. The era was one of great interest in improving the health and wellbeing of a generation affected by wars and deprivation caused by them. A key finding of this thesis is that researchers at the School took steps to mitigate these through making New Zealand more self-sufficient in foodstuffs and to improve the national diet. As well, Hercus lobbied for the establishment of a School of Physical Education within the university to improve the physical fitness of the population. iv Abbreviations AJHR Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives ANZAAS Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science BDS Bachelor of Dental Surgery BECCS British Empire Cancer Campaign Society CBHS Christchurch Boys’ High School DADMS Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services DPH Diploma of Public Health DSIR Department of Scientific and Industrial Research NZBECCS New Zealand Branch of the Empire Cancer Campaign Society NZBMA New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association BMJ British Medical Journal JAMA Journal of the American Medical Association MD Doctor of Medicine MRC Medical Research Council NZMJ New Zealand Medical Journal NZDJ New Zealand Dental Journal NZPD New Zealand Parliamentary Debates NZDF New Zealand Defence Force MRC New Zealand Medical Research Council OUMC Otago University Medical