Directions For Work In The Histological Laboratory, More Especially Arranged For The Use Of Classes In The University Of Michigan
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Gotthelf Carl Huber was an anatomist, administrator, and educator.
Background
Huber was born in Hubballi, India, on August 30, 1865. He was the second child and eldest son of Swiss missionaries, John and Barbara (Weber) Huber. In 1869 the family returned to Switzerland and two years later emigrated to America, where his boyhood was spent in small parishes in Ohio, Indiana, and New York.
Education
He learned German and some Greek at home, but his early formal education was obtained in public schools. He entered the University of Michigan medical school, from which he received his medical degree in 1887.
Career
After two years as assistant demonstrator of anatomy, joined the department of physiology as instructor in histology under Prof. W. H. Howell. Granted a leave of absence for 1891-92, Huber studied in Berlin, particularly in Ehrlich's laboratory, where he learned the intravitam methylene blue method and other techniques. In 1892 he became assistant professor of histology and introduced embryology at the University of Michigan. A period of intensive research, teaching, and administrative work followed, varied by study in Prague in 1895. He was secretary to the medical faculty from 1897 to 1911, by 1898 had become director of the histological laboratory, and by 1903 professor of histology and embryology. Another leave of absence (1911 - 12) permitted his acceptance of a professorship of embryology at the Wistar Institute of Anatomy in Philadelphia. When in 1914 Professor Streeter left the university to become director of the Carnegie Institute of Embryology, Huber assumed charge of both microscopic and gross anatomy at Michigan, as professor of anatomy and director of the anatomical laboratories, and retained the position until his death.
From 1927 he was also dean of the graduate school. He was chosen Russell Lecturer for 1935 by his university colleagues, and in 1936 a memorial volume in his honor was published by his colleagues and graduate students at the University of Michigan (Journal of Comparative Neurology, post). His wide range of research experience and deep interest in both subject matter and students made Huber an excellent teacher, and the affection in which medical students held him is epitomized in his nickname, "Daddy Huber. " His interest in the books available to students led to his participation in the preparation of various texts, most particularly the editing of A Textbook of Histology (1900), by A. A. B"hm and M. von Davidoff, and Piersol's Human Anatomy (1930), the ninth edition of the work. He served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Anatomy (1901 - 20), and as managing editor of the Anatomical Record (1909 - 20).
From its inception in 1905 he was associated with the advisory board of the Wistar Institute of Anatomy. After two years on the committee on anatomy, division of medical sciences, of the National Research Council, he became a member of the Council's Medical Fellowship Board in 1922, and from 1926 until his death was chairman of the board. More than half of the ninety publications credited to Huber deal with neuroanatomy. Probably he was the first American investigator to employ Ehrlich's methylene blue technique. Independently or with Dr. Lydia DeWitt he applied this method to a consideration of various types of nerve terminations. He also investigated, with appropriate techniques, various neurohistological subjects – such as neuroglia and sympathetic ganglion cells, and also spinal ganglion neurons and nervus terminalis in collaboration with Dr. Stacy R. Guild. He was considered an authority on the sympathetic nervous system, and its morphology was the subject of his paper at the 17th International Congress of Medicine (London), where he was official reporter for the section on anatomy.
His interest in nerve degeneration and regeneration was manifested in early publications written with Professor Howell and independently. During the First World War he was appointed contract surgeon for the United States army and his laboratory became a center for the study of nerve degeneration, nerve transplantation, and the formation and treatment of amputation neuromas. A comprehensive program based on his superb technical skill led to significant contributions from him and the collaborating army surgeons. After the war he concentrated on comparative neurology. He collaborated in papers on the submammalian and mammalian forebrain and tectum and in the preparation of an American edition of Vergleichende Anatomie des Nervensystems, by C. U. Ariëns Kappers. He also began assembling one of the largest comparative neurological collections in the world, preparing approximately five hundred series himself.
Huber contributed widely to the histology of other than nervous tissues. Of fundamental importance is his work on the structure and blood supply of the uriniferous tubule, in which his interest was aroused by Professor Cushney. Using the Born method, he made the first waxplate reconstruction of a complete uriniferous tubule, and by modification of a previously used maceration method prepared a series of dissections of such tubules in various vertebrates. By perfecting a technique (earlier suggested by Krassuskaja) which permitted corrosion following injection of the blood vessels, he demonstrated that practically all the blood to the parenchyma of the kidney passes through a second capillary plexus – a matter then unsettled. He summarized the structure of the mammalian renal tubule for E. V. Cowdrey's Special Cytology (1928, 1932) and for The Kidney in Health and Diseases, by Hilding Berglund and Grace Medes, which appeared after his death.
As an embryologist he is known particularly for his work on the development of the uriniferous tubule, his monographic account of the early developmental history of the rat, and his studies of the notochord. His scientific attainments, his organizing and editorial ability, and his wholehearted encouragement of young investigators made Huber a dominant character in anatomy. His mastery of technique underlay all his scientific achievements, for he modified existing methods or devised new methods and apparatus as the need arose.
He was deliberate, patient, and an indefatigable worker, painstakingly writing and rewriting his manuscripts in longhand and making most of his drawings. Early in his career he necessarily shouldered a heavy load of teaching and technical work, and he never learned to lighten his burdens adequately by sharing them with others. His ability to concentrate on the matter at hand enabled him to carry a full research program even when administrative duties became exacting. Collaborators and graduate students found him rich in suggestions, and inspiring in his enthusiasm, but chary of both praise and blame.
He was a member of various scientific and honorary societies and was particularly active in the American Association of Anatomists, of which he was second vice-president (1900 - 01), secretary-treasurer (1902 - 13), and president (1914 - 15).
Personality
In person he combined a fine appearance with the manners of a gentleman. He had a keen sense of humor and his courtesy and social ease were proverbial.
Connections
He was devoted to his family, which consisted of Lucy Parker Huber, whom he married on April 18, 1893, and their three children, Lucy, Carl, and John Franklin, all of whom survived him.