Obviously, however, Harvard would never let its Medical School get too far into financial trouble, and the school faces rather another problem--that of keeping up the highest standards of education while trying to do its part in meeting the annual need for more and more doctors.

The men with the problems in their laps are a Princeton man, Dr. George P. Berry, Dean of the Medical School since 1949, and Dr. Reginald Fitz '05, assistant dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

Dr. Berry is a firm believer that the medical student needs to take a long-range view of the patient, in which he is seen in relation to his family, the community, and his share of the tax dollar. Of current attempts to increase medical services in the U. S., he has pointed out that there is no great need to build hospitals if there is an inadequate production of properly trained doctors.

In this Dr. Berry echoes the sentiments of the Association of American Medical Colleges, of which he is currently president elect. There has been a three-cornered battle waged in recent years over aid to medical schools and their students between the A.A.M.C., the American Medical Association, and the Federal Security Administration.

So far the AMA has swept the early rounds. Early this year, when President Truman found his omnibus health bill blocked by the AMA lobby (financially the nation's strongest), he attempted to push through a bill giving scholarships to students of medicine and aid to their schools.

A.A.M.C. found only a few things wrong with the Truman plan. It objected to the originally presented "indenture clause", (that the holders of federal scholarships be obliged to serve for a period of time after their graduation in a government agency or in a shortage are designated by the government). Most of the A.A.M.C. also did not press to increase enrollments but thought that government aid should be extended to these students already in medical schools.

The A.M.A., however, opposed the whole bill as "the first step toward the nationalization of the medical profession." In Washington the A.M.A.'s voice was the loudest. The bill died in the House.

While admitting that the bill may rise again, Dr. Fitz believes that debating about it at present is somewhat on the order of heating a dead horse--or at least a horse that is completely anesthetized for some time.

As concerned as Dr. Berry with what seems to be an imminent doctor shortage, Dr. Fitz has disclosed that the Faculty of Medicine is now actually considering the possibility of expansion, presumably to allow an increase in enrollment (technically the school can admit only 110 students annually at present).

As yet in the talking stage, specific details for expansion are a meet point. Where the money would come from is a very mute point. "The U.S. Public Health Service is crying for more doctors," Dr. Fitz points out, "but we must not expand and lose quality."

In the present crisis, as throughout the history of the profession in America, other institutions look to Harvard Medical for leadership. The School has stood first in the ranks of medical progress for more than a century and a half.

From its comparatively humble beginning to its present grandeur and ideal situation, the school has occupied three sites; and has offered the best in educational facilities from the earliest practical training in "Midwifery" to the latest clinical practice methods in Psychoanalysis.

The first three Medical School professors (Anatomy and Surgery, Theory and Practice of Physic, and Chemistry and Materia Medica) did their teaching and demonstrating in the basement of Harvard Hall and Holden Chapel.

Adding the name and prestige of Harvard to Dr. Warren's methods of "practical demonstration" did not make everything as rosy and acceptable as might be expected. Among the problems to arise in the earlier days of the institution was the necessity for, and subsequent ban upon, body-snatching.

At first the professors themselves would wander the graveyard paths by stealth and by night to find specimens good enough to last out a term or a course. Later one professor wrote that the students themselves were becoming very helpful in digging up good subjects. But grave-robbing was obviously a crime, and mutilation of bodies was believed by many to be sacreligious. Harvard had to fight to keep her medical men out of trouble.