that he set out to bring about the organization of a department of 

 biophysics in tlie Medical School. He encountered great opposition 

 to his plan, which he attempted to overcome by sheer strength of 

 character, but this failed, and his efforts nearly killed him. Many 

 times he said to me that he was going to put this through if it was 

 the last thing that he did in this world, but finally it was definitely 

 settled that there would be no such department, and he went back 

 to work once more. The success of such ventures in other places 

 since has proven that there was more in what Dr. Abel suggested 

 than was realized by his colleagues. 



After his work on the pituitary he turned to the problem of insulin. 

 He, Rouiller, and Geiling worked as indefatigably on this as they 

 had on the pituitary gland. In Dr. Geiling, Professor Abel found 

 another devoted soul. Dr. Geiling gave up everything else in life 

 for the Professor, as Mrs. Abel and Charlie Kamphaus both had done. 

 He tested endless insulin fractions on rabbits, he looked out for all of 

 Dr. Abel's affairs, both in and out of the laboratory, such as his 

 traveling arrangements, his tickets, his taxicabs, and countless little 

 things. He went with him to California for this work. He shared 

 with Dr. Rouiller the terrible drives that Dr. Abel made on his prob- 

 lem, which always seemed to come at Christmas, Easter, or during 

 the summer vacation, when one naturally wished to let down a bit, 

 but in spite of Dr. Ceiling's remarking that he wished the Professor 

 could time these drives a little differently, he was always there, 

 working with as great intensity as the Professor himself. Dr. Geiling 

 was a very great help to Professor Abel in his latter years. 



As said before, I have thought of Professor Abel as a mystic, some- 

 one whose mind was in the clouds and yet who was absolutely aware 

 of what was going on in the particular field in which he was interested, 

 whatever this might be, whether it was medical science, the war, or 

 historical affairs. No one, whether it was a new assistant, one of his 

 past associates, one of his colleagues, or a visiting foreigner, ever came 

 into the laboratory without immediately feeling the friendship of this 

 man and his real interest in what one came to see him about. If 

 his visitor was of the first order, himself interested in some problem, 

 the Professor would spend any amount of time discussing it with him 

 regardless of his station in life. On the other hand it did not take but 

 a few moments for Dr. Abel to recognize a second-rate man. He did 

 not exactly like to turn such a man out but devised a convenient 

 method of doing this. He ^vould appear in my doorway with the visitor 

 on his arm and would introduce him to me with the remark, "I 



37 



