SIMON FLEXNER. 



Third President (1906-08) of the Society for Experimental 

 Biology and Medicine. 1 



Simon Flexnerwas born in Louisville, Ky., March 25,1863. 

 At the age of nineteen he graduated in pharmacy and seven years 

 later received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University 

 of Louisville. His interest was attracted to the microscope at a 

 time when in this country it was little used for medical instruction 

 and during the second year of his medical study he inaugurated a 

 course in histology, which he continued to conduct until after his 

 graduation. In 1890 he pursued post-graduate medical studies 

 at the Johns Hopkins University, giving special attention to path- 

 ology under Professor William H. Welch. 



In 1890 Dr. Flexner was appointed Fellow in Pathology in the 

 Johns Hopkins University. He subsequently held various posi- 

 tions in the pathological department of that University, being 

 Associate Professor of Pathology from 1895 to 1899. In 1896 

 he studied in Strassburg and Prague. During this period he 

 published observations upon a variety of subjects in pathological 

 anatomy, general pathology and bacteriology, among which his 

 studies of terminal infections and pancreatic fat-necrosis are espe- 

 cially noteworthy. 



Early investigation of the relation of bacteria to disease had 

 demonstrated the fact, now well known, that toxic substances, 

 perhaps of albuminous nature, were the means by which micro- 

 organisms caused injury. To a study of such substances and their 

 mode of action, Dr. Flexner has given much attention ; these 

 investigations, begun by an examination of the histological changes 

 caused by the toxins of diphtheria, have been continued in his study 

 of the closely related vegetable poisons, ricin and abrin. His 

 monograph on the Pathology of Toxalbumin Intoxication was 

 published in 1 897. An investigation of the cytotoxic substances 

 produced by immunization of animals to various cells of a foreign 

 species has stimulated much similar research in this country. 

 Further studies have shown that the venoms of snakes resemble, 



1 Similar brief biographies of former presidents appeared in Volumes II and III. 



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