My incredible Grandfather: such a legacy Hillel Abbe Shapiro 966 SA MEDIESE TYDSKRIF DEEL 66 22/29 DESEMBER 1984 In Memoriam Julius Rakoff M.B.CH.B. Drs H. Segal and T. Zabow, of Bellville, CP, write: Julius Rakoff passed away on 29 September 1984 after a long illness borne with great fortitude and courage. He was born in Cape Town in 1925 and grew up in Port Nolloth, CP, where he spent many happy years. His deep love for Namaqualand prompted him to return to Port Nolloth periodically. At the age of 8 years he was enrolled at the South African College Schools in Cape Town. After matriculating there he proceeded to Rhodes University College, where in 1946 he obtained his B.Sc., majoring in psychology and zoology. He obtained the M.Sc. degree in 1948, his thesis being entitled A study of some second-order factors of personality. He then embarked on the study which proved to be his greatest love - medicine. He graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1954 and served his housemanship at Victoria Hospital in Wynberg, CP. This was an extremely happy period of his life and he later returned there as surgical registrar. However, he eventually decided to go into general practice in Milnerton, CP, where he soon became a friend and confidant to his many patients, whom Hillel Abbe Shapiro BA. PH.D.• M.B. CH.B., F.R.S.S. AF., HON. LLD. (NATAL) Professor 1. Gordon, of Durban, writes: When the light of the sun shines through a prism it is broken into beautiful colours, and when the prism is shattered, still the light remains. So does the light of life shine resplendent in the forms of our friends, and so, when their forms are broken, still their life remains; and in that life we are united with them; for the life of their life is also our life, and we are one with them by ties indissoluble. Felix Adler Hillel Abbe Shapiro died on 31 October 1984. At the time of his death he was active and carrying out his work to the utmost of his ability. He was an elected member of the South African Medical and Dental Council and a member of its Executive Committee and of two of its professional boards in the categories of psychology and optometry. He was an elected member of the Council of the College of Medicine of South Africa, a member of the Examinations and Credentials Committee of the Council, and Chairman and Convener of the Faculty of Forensic Medicine of the College. In addition, he was Honorary Editor of the transactions of the College. He was Professor Extraordinarius of Forensic Medicine of the University of South Africa and Visiting Professor of Forensic Medicine of the University of Natal, and part-time Honorary Lecturer in Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. He was also active in the work of national associations concerned with the prevention of blindness, the amelioration of deafness and the provision of renal dialysis for patients in need of renal transplants. Hillel Abbe Shapiro was appropriately named by his parents after the distinguished sage Abba Hillel who lived about 2000 years ago. Hillel matriculated at the Somerset West High School, where he was strongly influenced by an inspiring English teacher - a young Oxford graduate, Mr Marischal Murray, a descendent of Dr Andrew Murray and the brother-in-law of Professor W. A. Jolly, a Professor of Physiology at the University of Cape Town where Professor Shapiro was in the course of time to make his mark. Mr Murray stimulated in Shapiro a deep and abiding interest in English literature. Under this stimulus, the young Shapiro was determined upon a literary career and arrived at UCT clutching in the one hand Roy Campbells The Flaming Terrapin, and in the other Wynwood Reades The Marcyrdom of Man - the first universal history in the English language, which Shapiro had discovered in a job lot of books bought at a sale. he served with utter devotion. Unfortunately, due to poor health, he had to leave general practice; he took up full-time appointments, first at Stikland Hospital, Bellville, CP, and later at Valkenberg Hospital, Cape Town, where he was appointed Deputy Medical Superintendent in 1982. Julius was keenly interested in the history of medicine aPd had a fascination for military history. Stamp-collecting was a lifelong hobby which fulfilled and delighted him, especially during the last year of his life, when he was too ill to practise medicine. A number of his articles were published in the Souch African Medical Journal. We will miss this kind, sympathetic and compassionate man, who endeared himself to his many friends and patients. It was indeed a privilege to have been associated with him. To his wife, Jeanette, who was truly a pillar of strengrh during his prolonged illness, and his sons Steven and David, and his daughter-in-law, we offer our deepest sympathy. At UCT Shapiro majored in English and Latin and took his B.A. degree with distinction in English. At that time he shone among literary students on the campus by carrying off first prizes in the annual poetry competitions. He was exposed to the strong literary influence of Professor John Clark, an erudite classicist who presented his pupil with a copy of a privately printed collection of his poems entitled A Cencury of Sonnecs. Professor Clark was succeeded by Professor Oswald Doughty, the author of, incer alia, Forgoccen Bangla Song Lyrics of che 18ch Cencury. Professor Doughty directed Shapiros studies during the preparatory M.A. course in English in his 3rd year. Shapiro indicated that he wished to prepare a thesis, in place of certain written examination papers, for the M.A. degree. When he announced that he contemplated doing a study of the poetry of Roy Campbell, Professor Brian Cox Doughty exclaimed: But Mr Shapiro, Mr Campbell is still alive!. Thus, what had looked like a promising literary field became an area deserca at the university. In the meantime Shapiro flirted with social anthropology, ethnology and archaeology, and this flirtation turned into a blazing love affair. He not only obtained firsts in these subjects but was also awarded the class medal in ethnology and archaeology. The impulse to experiment with literary forms was now carried over into the scientific field. Under the guidance of A. J. H. Goodwin (then senior lecturer in social anthropology and distinguished archaeologist), Shapiro returned to the False Bay coast to excavate one of the fast-disappearing kitchen middens at Gordons Bay, a few miles from his birthplace. The report on this dig is on me in the Department of Social Anthropology at UCT. Shapiros focus of interest had clearly shifted to the more tangible field of archaeology, and he was advised by Goodwin to enrol for courses in biology and human anatomy. At that time the Head of the Department of Zoology was Professor Lancelot Hogben, the dynamic teacher who had recently burst upon the university scene. Hogben advised Shapiro that his proposed excursion into biology would be unprofitable without a basic knowledge of physics and chemistry, and so Shapiro found himself enrolling in 1930 in the 1st year of the medical curriculum. The stimulus to experiment started Shapiro on his first biological experiment while he was a 1st-year medical student. He fed thyroid glands to tadpoles to observe the accelerated metamorphosis induced by this endocrine gland. It was logical to proceed to the 2nd year of medical study, but now experimental physiology exerted so strong an attraction that it became his main scientific interest, and he saw the value of a medical course largely as an illustration of the functioning of the human body. Nevertheless, he did not see in that qualification a passport to medical practice, because his interest remained focused on experimental physiology. The powerful research stimulus exerted by Hogben influenced Shapiro, as it did many other medical students who had passed through Hogbens hands, to a career in experimental work. In the congenial atmosphere provided by Professor W. A. Jolly in the Department of Physiology and under the guidance of Dr (later Professor) H. Zwarenstein, Shapiro began a planned programme of research into the endocrine control of calcium metabolism in Xenopus laevis (the South African clawed toad or platanna). This work resulted in his being awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1933 for his Studies in the calcium metabolism of the amphibian. During this period Shapiro acquired a background knowledge of the reproductive physiology of Xenopus laevis, on the basis of which, in collaboration with Zwarenstein, he developed the frog test for pregnancy. The historic first test was done on 10 September 1933, and the first report was communicated to a meeting of the Royal Society of South Africa on 18 October that year. A fuller account was published in the Souch African Medical Journal on 23 March 1935 when a series of 132 cases was reviewed. The frog test for pregnancy became the most rapid and most accurate biological· test for detecting chorionic gonadotrophin in the urine; for practical purposes, a positive result in a female meant pregnancy. The test was also applied in the diagnosis of chorion epithelioma and its secondary deposits, and in the diagnosis of testicular tumours producing gonadotrophins. The Shapiro-Zwarenstein test for pregnancy rapidly achieved world-wide recognition and a thriving industry in the exportation of Xenopus laevis from the Cape developed. The extent of Shapiros research activities is reflected in an impressive bibliography of publications during the years 1931-1943. Shapiro and Zwarenstein worked with and guided a number of researchers, including L. P. Bosman, B. J. Shapiro, L. Berk, R. W. S. Cheetham, S. Honikman and I. Schrire. On the basis of research work carried out in 1935 (when he was completing his 5th year of medical study) he was awarded the Science Research Scholarship of the Royal Commission (the 1851 Exhibition Science Research Scholarship). One such scholarship was allocated to South Africa every 3 years, and he was the first medical student to achieve this distinction. Because of this award, he interrupted his medical studies to undertake a programme of endocrine research at the Medical Research Council laboratories in London, under the general guidance of Sir Henry Dale, a Nobel laureate, and under the immediate supervision of Dr A. S. Parkes, F.R.S. SA MEDICAL JOURNAL VOLUME 66 22/29 DECEMBER 1984 967 In 1937 he returned to South Africa as the first government pharmacologist to be appointed to the staff of the Biological Control Laboratories at the Union Health Department in Cape Town. In 1939, through the understanding and helpful co-operation of Dr E. H. Cluver, then Secretary of Health, he was granted leave of absence from the Department to complete his medical studies, graduating M.B. Ch.B. at the end of that year. Shapiro was then transferred to the medicolegal laboratories of the health department and began his career as a forensic pathologist. He immediately volunteered for active service but was directed to remain at his post by the Secretary for Defence. On 13 October 1943 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa. His work as a forensic pathologist afforded him many opportunities to apply scientific method to problems in this field. The result was a series of research publications, the first of which revolutionized the medicolegal approach to the microscopic criteria in the lungs for determining livebirth, and provided a new understanding of the mechanism of breathing in the newborn. Other fundamental contributions included new observations on rigor mortis and the rate of cooling of the human body - observations which have profoundly influenced the accuracy with which the time of death can be determined retrospectively. All these contributions affecting the theory and practice of forensic medicine have been incorporated in authoritative works in this field. In 1948 he gave up his appointments as government pathologist and senior lecturer in medical jurisprudence at UCT to become the first full-time Editor of the Souch African Medical Journal. The wheel had come full circle. Shapiro could now fuse his literary and medical backgrounds in developing medical journalism in South Africa. The success with which he developed the Souch African Medical Journal and established its recognition internationally was a prelude to his founding a series of medical journals. Apart from his medical editorial interests he remained active in forensic medicine. For many years his stature was recognized by his service on the executive committees of international associations of forensic medicine. His academic achievements in South Africa are reflected in his appointments to the University of Natal, the University of South Africa and the University of the Wirwatersrand, as well as in his numerous publications. Professor Shapiro was married to Dr Sonia Machanick, who died about 7 years ago; in recognition of her outstanding achievements the College of Medicine of South Africa established the Sonia Machanick Travelling Fellowship. Professor Shapiro and Dr Sonia Machanick had 4 children - Janice, Paul, Roy and Ian. We comfort them and all the members of his family. South Africa has lost one of its greatest doctors of this century. People and Events/Persone en Gebeure Frere Hospital - 100 years (1881-1981). Every bit of South African medical history that gets into print is to be welcomed. David Lazarus, associated with Frere Hospital in East London for 40 years and sometime Mayor of that city, has painstakingly collected a large number of historical facts about that institution together with many precious photographs. There is an early link with the South African Medical Journal, for 3 years after the Frere opened its doors with a total of 26 beds Dr Darley-Hartley, already associated with the hospital, started the SAMJ. When the hospital was founded as a result of local enterprise the town was in a state of depression and had a handful of doctors, of whom Darley-Hartley and Paley were the first to serve as hospital medical officers. Now East London has 206 doctors, 81 of whom are connected with the Frere Hospital. In the early days patients were supplied with a gown, socks and slippers on admission as well as 2 shirts a week. By 1901 the number of admissions had grown to 731 and that of outpatients to 805. In that year Major Sandiman gave the hospital 50 cases of wine and Mr Auerbach a Rontgen rays apparatus. Two years later Dr Lownds became the first Resident Medical Officer and 94 operations were performed, 77 with chloroform and 17 with ether. Financial crises occurred then as now, and another perennial complaint concerned the shortage of nurses. In 1933 a badly needed new hospital was opened, and a maternity annexe appeared in the same year. World War 11 saw the arrival of a pathology laboratory and also some air-raid precautions - fortunately never needed. Additions to an overloaded hospital were opened in 1942, and a new treatment block in 1969. Frere is now the fourth largest provincial hospital in the Cape, and of course its growth has been accompanied by a change in management from the days when it was maintained largely by local donations. David Lazarus has faithfully recorded the vicissitudes and changes during its first 100 years. Enquiries about his book can be made to him at PO Box 449, East London, 5200. Ophthalmology chair at UCT. The University of Cape Town has appointed Dr Anthony Murray to the Morris Mauerberger Chair of Ophthalmology as a successor to Professor J. L. van Selm, as of 1 January 1985. Dr Murray is a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand and became a Fellow of the. Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1973. He has been serving as part-time consultant at both the Johannesburg General
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