1960 – Anatomy
days By Dr.Philip G
Veerasingam, Retired Surgeon, NHSL, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
It was April 1960, the season when all the land was bright and sunny. I
was in the new batch of admissions to the Medical Faculty, Colombo, the ONLY
Medical Faculty in the WHOLE of Ceylon of those days. The University of Ceylon
had its Science and Engineering Faculty at Reid Avenue, Colombo 7, and there
was the Faculty of Arts at Peradeniya.
We had sat for our Higher School Certificate exam. and completed the
practical exams in Chemistry, Physics, Botany and Zoology at the University,
Science Faculty in Colombo. Those who were successful were called for a ‘Viva
Voce’ exam and the ones weeded out through the ‘Viva’ were admitted to the
Medical Faculty. There was a one year Pre-University course in the Science
Faculty at Reid Avenue, in earlier days. This had been whittled down to a six
months course in each subject and three month courses in Organic Chemistry
later. These periods of stay at the University Science Faculty, named the
Pre-University year, were totally discontinued later.
We had as part of our Zoology studies in the HSC done dissections on
the earthworm, the cockroach, the toad, the shark, and seen a dissection of a
rabbit. We were thus not queasy about dissections on chloroformed specimens of
animal life. Dissecting a dead, formalin preserved human body was another
matter. That ordeal awaited us on entering the portals of the Department of
Anatomy called ‘The Block’ at Francis road, Colombo 8. The fear and terror of
an anticipated ‘rag’ by our ‘Block Seniors’ for the first fortnight mitigated
the fear of contact of a corpse. The standard wear for a medical student was a white
shirt and white longs. The ‘freshers’ were expected to wear in addition, black
ties for the duration of the first two weeks of the ‘rag’. A stern exterior and
verbal abuse by the seniors was part of the treatment given to ‘freshers’. Some
of the male ‘freshers’ were sent on errands to go and propose marriage to
individual female seniors. There was much laughter and fun but the ‘freshers’
were expected to keep a stern face. There was much ribbing and laughter but
also help, given by the seniors to overcome our initial timidity. Bodies of
humans prepared by injecting ‘red lead’ into the arterial system and by being
immersed in ‘formalin baths’ for weeks were prepared for us for dissection.
These ‘bodies’ were kept on individual tiled elevated concrete slabs. These
awaited our attention.
After running the gauntlet of the scowling ‘Block Seniors’ at the
entrance to the Anatomy building, each one of us got the name of the body
partner assigned to him or her. Then we
got the number of the ‘body’ on which one had to do the dissection. There were
three dissecting halls namely ‘A, B and
C’. My dissecting partner was Vasanthanathan from Ananda College, Maradana. He
was a quiet person with a good sense of humor. We two were to dissect the right
upper limb on a body placed in the dissecting room ‘C’ where there were six
bodies on slabs. I took the scalpel and forceps and Vasanthanathan started to
read loud from ‘Cunningham’s dissecting
manual for the upper and lower limbs’. Our first lesson was to isolate and
demonstrate the cutaneous nerves of the upper limb. The task was full of humor. One had to get an
eye to identify a nerve from the surrounding subcutaneous fat. Quite a few
students cut the nerve and then only realized that they had ruined the field.
It was at the end of the first week that one felt slightly relaxed but
the tension was still there what with ‘rag’ and the dissections. This led to a
‘signature’ at the end of the fortnight. ‘Signatures’ called ‘sigs’ were verbal
encounters with the ‘Demonstrators’ at which each student’s progress was assessed.
This was done in groups of eight to ten where a ‘Demonstrator’ or lecturer fired
questions at each one in turn seated on stools in a circle, on the area
dissected. The result was graded as ‘repeat’, ‘unsatisfactory’, ‘
satisfactory’, ‘fair’ and ‘good’. The idea was not to get a ‘repeat or
unsatisfactory’. Many fell by the wayside but picked up and carried on. End of
the term had what was called a ‘revisal’ where the whole area dissected for the
term say the upper limb, was covered.
It was during the end of the first week in the dissecting room ‘C’ that
we had our first taste of humor. The seniors had gone for a lecture and we were
silently doing our dissections. A group of girls from dissecting hall ‘A’ came
visiting friends from the same school. A lean nattily dressed fresher promptly
left his dissection and went to the entrance of the dissecting room. He bowed
to the female ‘freshers’ bending low and said in a loud voice ‘Ladies, you are welcome
to our humble adobe’. Every one burst into laughter and the ladies who were
visiting turned red in the face wondering whether to beat a hasty retreat. It
was then that we realized that the ‘welcomer’ was the younger of the ‘Jay Brothers’ of the
famous recording of the song ‘Cherry blossom tree’. The popular ‘Jay Brothers’
were now ‘freshers’. They were Perrin and Geri Jayasekara. There was never a
dull day in the dissecting room with Geri around.
After the first fortnight the ragging came to an end. The ‘out of
bounds’ common room could now be entered, to enjoy a cup of tea or listen to
music. The black ties came off and white shirt and white satin drill trousers
became the standard ware for the males. One final item of the ‘rag’ remained.
This was the ‘body feed’ where the ‘freshers’ dissecting a body gave a ‘booze
and dinner’ outing to the seniors dissecting on the same body. We had our ‘body
feed’ dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Bristol Street, Fort. It was a place
where there was much caramederie and helpful advice given by the seniors.
One incident caused quite an uproar and laughter among our batch during
dissecting hours. Viji Ponnambalam was a tall well built student. She had as a ‘body
partner’ Piyasena, a lean gangly youth.
While dissecting there had been an argument and Viji took the nearest long bone
at hand, the human femur and hit Piyasena over the head with it. Piyasena fell
down in a dead feint. Everyone gathered round and a sprinkling of water on the
face brought Piyasena ‘back to life’. Viji got the jitters and in her fright
she was imagining her father, Mr G.G. Ponnambalam, whose forte was ‘criminal
law’ defending her at a murder trial.
Viji and Piyasena became good friends subsequently. About ten years ago they
had met each other at an international airport while on transit. Viji recalled
the incident to Piyasena at this airport and these two children of Mother
Lanka, now resident in the USA, had a hearty laugh with their respective
partners in life who happened to be present there.
Dr.Lester Jayawardena was a senior lecturer in Anatomy during our Block
Days in 1960/61. In one of our signatures I remember him quizzing us on the anatomy
of the middle ear. He told a student ’Imagine that you are seated on the floor
of the middle ear facing anteriorly. Tell me what structures you would see on
the wall on your left hand side?’ This was too much imagination to the student
who had crammed up ‘Cunningham’. I ran
into Lester when he conducted my Anatomy Viva for the Primary FRCS held in
Colombo. I answered all his questions on the dissected human body, identifying
all of the structures he pointed at. He was proud to hear that I was one of his
students. I later met Lester at Batticaloa in 1972, when I was Resident Surgeon
at the General Hospital, Batticaloa. Lester had taken his Sabbatical leave to
work at the Manthivu Leprosy Hospital. His quarters were on the mainland and he
was taken by boat every day, to the Manthivu Island where the Leprosy hospital
was situated. He invited me to come and see the various deformities caused by
damage to the peripheral nerves by leprosy. He subsequently became the
Professor of Anatomy in the Peradeniya Medical Faculty.
Dr. Navaratnam was another lecturer in anatomy, who gave us a series of
lectures on the anatomy of the posterior abdominal wall. He started by drawing
the skeleton of the posterior abdominal wall. Then layer by layer he put on the
various structures in the abdomen, till he reached the anterior wall of the
peritoneum. This lesson was a landmark in my study of anatomy and stood the
test of time during my years as a surgeon. Dr. Navaratnam later authored a
popular text book on human anatomy while working in the UK.
Prof Chanmugam had retired by the time we entered the ‘Block’ but the
stories relating to him lingered. It was claimed that he was kind to the
students. At an exam he would hand over a LEFT
femur with his LEFT hand to the student and start the questioning by
asking ‘Which side femur’ is this?’ It was also said that when he found that a
student was performing very well he had a special test, to give the student distinction
marks. He would already have a few carpal bones of the wrist in his trouser
pocket. The student’s hand would be guided into the Professor’s trouser pocket.
The student would be asked to identify say the ‘scaphoid’ bone by the feel of
its shape and pick it out and show it.
The best story of Prof. Chanmugam was with a student named ‘J’ who
failed anatomy repeatedly in the 2nd MB Finals. On the day of the
repeat 2nd MB exam, student ’J’ accompanied by his ‘booze and poker’
student pals appeared in white coat and tie for the exam. Prof. Chanmugam
called ‘J’ in and a pregnant 20 minutes passed. At the end of this time a
flustered ‘J’ came out red in the face and told his friends ‘ Machan this
fellow ‘Chanmu’ knew that I was weak in anatomy. He gave me the toughest bone
to identify and describe, the SPHENOID. I will not be able to pass this exam.
Come let us go for a beer’ and departed with a few commiserating friends. A few
minutes later Prof. Chanmugam arrived and asked ‘J’s remaining friends ‘Where
is this fellow ‘J’? I gave him the easiest bone to describe – the MANDIBLE –
and he identifies it as the SPHENOID. How can I pass him?’
The tales could go on and on but the most striking thing was that the
‘bodies’ on which we dissected, knitted us very close to each other. Even now
in our reunions the mention of the word ‘body partner’ carries a special
relationship. The word ‘Block’ brings back very emotional memories of our first
days at the Medical College.
"My yesterdays walk
with me. They keep step, they are grey faces that peer over my shoulder."
- William Golding
