Graham Lusk was an American physiologist. He was a Professor of Physiology at Yale Medical School from 1895 to 1898.
Background
Graham Lusk was born on February 15, 1866 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. He was the eldest child of the two sons and three daughters of Dr. William Thomson Lusk, and his first wife, Mary Hartwell Chittenden. He was a descendant of John Lusk, who was in Plainfield, Connecticut, in 1740 and in Wethersfield in 1745, and, on his mother's side, of William Chittenden, who emigrated from Cranbrook, Kent, and was one of the original settlers of Guilford, Connecticut, in 1639. Shortly after Graham's birth the family moved to New York City.
Education
Lusk prepared for college at the Berkeley School, entering the School of Mines of Columbia University, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1887, having devoted much time to the study of chemistry. He then went to Germany for further study, settling at Munich, where he came under the influence of Carl von Voit, professor of physiology and one of the foremost workers in the science of nutrition. Here in the Munich laboratory there was planted in Lusk's mind an abiding interest in nutrition, for which the inspiration and friendship of the master was largely responsible. In 1891 he graduated from University of Munich with the Doctor of Philosophy degree. In recognition of his accomplishments Lusk was awarded honorary degrees from the University of Glasgow and the University of Munich, as well as from Yale University.
Career
Lusk's first scientific research (1888) was on the subject of diabetes, involving the metabolism or burning of sugar in the body, thus paving the way for future studies in animal and clinical calorimetry extending over a period of forty-four years. In 1891 he became instructor in physiology in the Yale School of Medicine, being advanced the following year to assistant professor, and in 1895 to the rank of professor.
At Yale he began his important work on phlorhizin glycosuria, which was followed by a prolonged study of the sources of glucose in the body, from which much new information was derived. In 1898 he returned to New York as professor of physiology in New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, no doubt attracted to this position by his father's long connection with the institution. In 1909 he accepted the appointment of professor of physiology in the newly established Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, where the remainder of his life was spent.
In New York he acquired a small Pettenkofer-Voit respiration apparatus for use with dogs, which afforded him the opportunity to study in detail the metabolism of carbohydrate, protein, and fat. He was the first to point out that in metabolic experiments it is the food metabolized or burned, as measured by the calorimeter, and not the food consumed that must be considered in the calculations involved. One of the important findings of his work was that a definite ratio existed between the sugar formed in the body and the protein metabolized as represented by the nitrogen excreted; in dogs with phlorhizin diabetes, for example, half a gram of carbohydrate was produced from the metabolism of one gram of protein. Using this definite ratio of dextrose to nitrogen (D:N) he found that different amounts of sugar are derived from the different amino acids which make up the protein molecule, and that under ordinary conditions sugar is not formed in the metabolism of fat. In 1912 Lusk became actively associated with the Russell Sage Institute of Pathology as its scientific director, thus acquiring the opportunity to study metabolism in disease. A large calorimeter suitable for patients was constructed and installed in a metabolism ward in Bellevue Hospital. Lusk himself was the first experimental subject (1913), ascertaining his own basal metabolism. In 1915 he wrote the first paper of a clinical calorimetry series which at the time of his death numbered fifty articles, the work being carried on by a large number of collaborators, but all planned and controlled by him.
Thus for a period of twenty years he was in a position to carry out experiments on dogs and to supplement them by observations on human subjects, the amount of work done during this period being both large and physiologically important. In 1906 he published The Elements of the Science of Nutrition, which appeared in successive editions of increasing size, the fourth edition in 1928 containing 844 pages, "a review of the scientific substratum upon which rests the knowledge of nutrition both in health and disease. "
Lusk was a voluminous writer, taking pleasure in discussing more or less critically the various controversial subjects of metabolism, and his views were always welcomed, even though not always accepted. He was the founder of the Harvey Society of New York and one of the founders of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. He had a part in the establishment of the American Society of Biological Chemists. During the First World War he was one of the two scientists appointed by the president to represent the United States on the Interallied Scientific Food Commission, which in 1918 was responsible for numerous discussions in London, Paris, and Rome, on minimal food requirements for the allied countries.
Achievements
Membership
Lusk was an active member of the American Physiological Society, member of the National Academy of Sciences, fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, honorary member of the Physiological Society of Great Britain, foreign member of the Royal Society of London, associate member of the Société de Biologie, Paris, honorary member of the Physiologische Gesellschaft of Berlin, and many kindred societies.
Personality
Lusks's influence extended far beyond the experimental work he carried on. Still more significant were his constructive thinking on medical education, the atmosphere he created in his laboratory, the stress he laid on the value of accurate scientific work, his unbounded enthusiasm over good work accomplished, and his deep interest in the welfare and success of his coworkers and students. With a gracious, pleasing personality he charmed all with whom he came in contact, although hampered by a troublesome deafness. He had a host of friends in the scientific world both in America and abroad who welcomed his opinions and esteemed his wisdom. All through his life he maintained his interest in and admiration for the scientific workers of the Munich school, notably Voit, Rubner, Max Cremer, and Otto Frank, and was always ready to extol their influence upon his life work. He made annual visits to the laboratories of Europe, especially Germany, thus keeping in close touch with all that was being done in physiology, biochemistry, and clinical medicine abroad. He served as host to a multitude of foreign workers who visited the United States, his hospitality being unlimited, since he had independent means and a home on Long Island, where he could entertain royally. In these and many other ways he helped greatly in bringing about friendly relations between the scientific workers in the field of physiology and in making clear the great advancement taking place in America.
Connections
On December 20, 1899, Lusk married May W. Tiffany of New York, daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Of this union there were born three children, William, Louise, and Louis.