RETIRING PROFESSORS

Evening Star, Issue 23500, 14 February 1940, Page 4

RETIRING PROFESSORS

UNIVERSITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS RECOGNITION OF SERVICES FINE WORK EULOGISED Tributes to tlio work and worth of two retiring professors and one lecturer at the Medical School oyer a number of years were embodied in resolutions carried unanimously at yesterday’s meeting of the Otago University Council. The retiring professors were Ur W. Carraalt Jones (professor of systematic medicine), and Dr Frank Fitchott (professor of clinical medicine and therapeutics). The other was Dr E. H. Williams (lecturer in diseases of children). It was decided that the resolutions should be suitably engrossed and publicly presented at the next meeting of Council. The chancellor (Mr W. J. Morrell) moved the following resolution in reference to Dr Garmalt Jones:— “ On the retirement of Dr D. W. Carmalt Jones, M.A., D.M. (Oxon.), F. F.R.A.C.P.., from the Mary Glendining professorship of systematic medicine, the Council of the University of Otago desires to record its high appreciation of the eminent services rendered by him to tho Medical School and to the university as a whole. “ During his twenty years’ tenure of the Chair, Professor Carmalt Jones has been universally recognised as a teacher of the greatest ability, whose wide knowledge, thoroughness of method and well-balanced judgment have been of inestimable value to his students. His high ideals of professional conduct and his breadth of culture will live in their memory, and his personal interest in their welfare has won the gratitude of all. His own enthusiasm for medicine has been reflected in the record of his pupils, of whom several have already attained distinction. He has also made valuable contributions to medical literature and was personally responsible for the publication of ‘ The Proceedings of the University of Otago Medical School,’ of which seventeen annual volumes have now appeared under his editorship. “His election in 1935 as President of the New Zealand Branch of the British Medical Association, and the position he occupies as New Zealand vice-president of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians are sufficient indication of his high standing in the esteem of tho profession at large. “ Dr Carmalt Jones has also taken an important share in the corporate life of tho university. He }ias done valuable work as chairman for four years (1934-T938) of tho professorial board, as chairman of the board of control, as a member of the board of discipline, and in 1939 as a professorial representative on the University Council, always giving ungrudgingly of his time, thought, and ability. His consistent interest in both athletic and social organisations has been greatly appreciated by tbe students generally. His kindly and gracious personality has won the sincere regard and affection of all with whom he has been associated. In bidding farewell to Professor Carmalt Jones as a member of the University staff, the Council most cordially wishes him many further years of health and happiness to enjoy the leisure he has so fully earned and tho gratitude of his old students throughout and far beyond this Dominion.” EMERITUS PROFESSORSHIP, “ That in recognition of the distinguished service rendered to this University by Dr D. W. Carmalt Jones during his 20 years’ tenure of tbe Mary Glen dining Professorship of systematic medicine he be appointed Professor Emeritus of that subject as from March 1, 1940.”

Tho resolution concerning Dr Fitchett was as follows; “ On the retirement of Dr Frank Fitchett, M.D., C.M. (Edin.), F.R.C..P., F.R.A.C.P., professor of clinical medicine and therapeutics, the Council of the University of Otago gratefully records its sense of the noteworthy services rendered to the university during his long connection with the Medical School.

“ Dr Fitchett, who had joined the honorary staff of the Dunedin Hospital in 1905, was appointed lecturer in pharmacology in 1911, and has occupied his present chair from the session of 1920. By common admission his contriubtion to the work and traditions of the school has been outstanding. His ability as a lecturer and teacher, his incisive yet genial houmour, and his clinical insight, linked with a wide humanity, have been tho admiration of successive generations of students. His strong and kindly personality and his friendly interest in their welfare have won tlleir lasting affection. “ His services to medical education and his eminence in the profession received recognition in 1937 from the Royal College of Physicians of England by the honour of its fellowship. In 1939 he was elected a foundation fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

“ To the general community also Professor Fitchett has rendered valuable services. He served in the South African War as a civil surgeon attached to the Royal Army Medical Corps. Within the Dominion he has been a member of various important commissions; notably the Spahlinger Commission, 1924, and the Tuberculosis Commission, 1928, of which he was chairman, “ It is the sincere and earnest wish of the council that Professor Fitchett may long enjoy in health and happiness the affectionate regard of old students and friends and the greater leisure so well deserved by his years of strenuous labour in the Hospital and in the Medical School for the profession to which his life has been devoted.” EMERITUS PROFESSORSHIP. “ That in recognition of the distinguished service rendered to this university during the past 20 years by Dr Frank Fitchett, professor of clinical medicine and therapeutics, he bo appointed professor emeritus of these subjects as from March 1. 1940.” With reference to Dr Williams the council resolved:— “ On the retireemnt of Dr E. H. Williams, M. 8., Ch.B., M.R.C.9.. L.R.C.P._, D.P.H., from the position of lecturer in the diseases of children, the Council of the University of Otago wishes to record its high appreciation of the contribution which he has made to the teaching of the University Medical School during his many years of service. “ Dr Williams, who graduated from this university in 1899, and had been appointed assistant physician to the Dunedin Hospital in 1906, became the first physician to children in that hos-

pital in 1910. On the establishment in 1914 of the university lectureship in children’s diseases Dr Williams was elected to the position. Ho had for three years before voluntarily given a short course of lectures in the subject at the request, of final-year students. “ Throughout this long period Dr Williams’s lucid and capable lectur'es and demonstrations have given wise and experienced guidance to his classes in their initiation into a branch of medical science which has made steady advances and of which the importance has now gained the widest recognition. The service he has thus rendered to his students and his constant interest are fully realised by them, by his colleagues on the staff, and by the council as the authority controlling the school. “ In thanking Dr Williams the council most heartily wishes him many further years in the enjoyment of health, vigour, and happiness.”