Theodore A. Trent-Lyon, the Divinity School graduate held in the slaying of a Yale professor, was described last night as having been "very sick" when he withdrew from Harvard in 1947.

Arlie V. Bock, Oliver Professor of Hygiene, said that Trent-Lyon's withdrawal was arranged by the Hygiene department and the Divinity School Dean's office. He was given over to the care of his mother, Bock added, and further medical care was urged.

"But once a man leaves the University, the Hygiene department cannot do too much," Bock observed.

"Somewhat Bright"

A member of the Divinity School faculty yesterday recalled Trent-Lyon as "a somewhat bright student in the strict academic sense."

Meanwhile, in New Haven, his attorney spent more than two hours conferring with Trent-Lyon in the presence of his mother. Trent-Lyon, a Yale College graduate, was identified Monday by the victim's widow, Mrs. Helen Thorne, as her husband's killer.