Back to Founding of AATS
Dr. Samuel J. Meltzer was born in 1851 in Russia. His family emigrated
to Germany where, bent on a medical career, he received his medical degree from
the University of Berlin in 1882. As was the case with other Jews, he saw less
future in Germany than in America and came to this country in 1883 by working
his way as a ship's surgeon.
Within a short time, he had built up a very busy medical practice in
New York. However, his primary interest was physiology, a result of his earlier
work with Kronecker on the swallowing mechanism later known as the
Kronecker-Meltzer theory of deglutition. With prodigious effort, he managed to
carry on his studies, often in facilities borrowed from' the hospital or health
department. By 1904, he welcomed an opportunity to reduce the load of general
practice by accepting a half-time appointment in physiology at the Rockefeller
Institute, then located at Lexington Avenue and 50th Street. Following
dedication of Founder's Hall, on March 11, 1906, as the first unit of the
present complex, he moved his operations to this new site. In 1907, he
abandoned practice completely to become a full-time physiologist at the
Institute, joining Flexner, Levine and Opie as a full member.
Meltzer was assisted in his diversified investigations by his daughter,
Clara Auer and her husband, John Auer. Together, they studied the mechanism of
swallowing, the formation of bile salts, the pattern of intestinal peristalsis
and sugar metabolism. With Kleiner, he prepared a crude emulsion of pancreatic
tissue which lowered the blood sugar in experimental diabetes three years
before Banting and Best reported the discovery of insulin. The work with his
daughter on the excitatory action of adrenalin on the blood vessels of the iris
and its enhancement by sympathetic denervation provided the basis for the
frog's iris test for adrenalin. This was the subject matter of the first
published report from the Institute at its permanent location. A by-product of
this effort was his demonstration that injected substances were absorbed more
rapidly from muscles than the subcutaneous site. Meltzer's group also
contributed to the observation that bronchial muscle spasm was the cause of
death in anaphylactic shock in guinea pigs. Their deduction that human asthma
has a similar mechanism has stood the test of time.
For thoracic surgeons, his most meritorious work was on intratracheal
insufflation, the forerunner of present methods of anesthesia. In most of this
work, he was aided by Dr. John Auer and it might be said that they backed into
this contribution. They had published 25 papers covering their observations on
the unconscious and relaxed state produced by the injection of magnesium
sulphate and its reversibility by calcium. Its toxicity interdicted its anticipated
use for anesthesia but it did find some application in theseizures of tetanus. Their knowledge of the inhibitory
effects of magnesium on the respiratory center led to a study of the currently
available methods of artificial respiration to prevent acute pneumothorax. They
conceived the idea of blowing air into the trachea, which they dubbed
intratracheal insufflation. To facilitate the method, they designed the
Meltzer-Auer tube. Soon afterwards, they demonstrated that respiration could be
satisfactorily maintained by this means, even with both the thoracic cavities
of a dog widely open. This work was first reported in 1909 in the Medical
Record. At about the same time, Sauerbruch was returning to New York with his
differential chamber, following its demonstration in Chicago. Upon departing
for Europe, he left his chamber with Willy Meyer, and, since Dr. Meyer had no
place to put it, Dr. Meltzer provided space in his laboratory. There followed a
brisk competition to determine which of these two methods would sustain
respiration more adequately during open thoracic operations. Meltzer soon
incorporated anesthetic capabilities in his method and urged its use.
Experimentally, and then clinically, Carrel, Lilienthal, Elsberg, and
eventually Meyer demonstrated the great superiority of insufflation. Therewith
ended the dread of open pneumothorax and mediastinal flutter in thoracic
operations.
A restless individual such as Meltzer required constant outlets for his
energy. He organized The New York Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine
which was called at the time "The Meltzer Verein". Out of an intense belief in
the value of new discoveries, he banded a group of young people - the "Young
Turks" - into the Society for Clinical Investigation. In an attempt to promote
a better understanding of Germany, he organized the "Fraternitas Medicorum"
which collapsed when America entered the war.
With a record such as this, it is little wonder that Samuel Meltzer
became a charter member of both the NYSTS and the AATS. His election as first
President of the latter organization certainly was justified and acclaimed,
although his friendship with Dr. Meyer probably precipitated the event.
Dr. Samuel Meltzer died in 1920, after 69 fruitful years.
