This honor, however, might properly be
divided with Dr. Zina Pitcher of Detroit, who, as a member of the first
Board of Regents, was responsible for the early introduction of the
teaching of medicine in the University. But Dr. Gunn was on the ground
as early as 1849, and from the first he labored earnestly and
effectively in the organization of the new Department, which was beset
by many difficulties, particularly in his own field, where the problem
of finding adequate material for the study of anatomy was almost
insuperable for many years. Many are the hints given in the
reminiscences of the older men of the practical ways this difficulty was
met, but for the most part the matter is shrouded in a discreet silence.
Dr. Gunn was of a commanding character and presence and his "trained
hand dared to do many operations, the landmarks of which were not then
described in the works on surgery." He soon gave up his work in Anatomy
and was succeeded in 1854 by Dr. Corydon La Ford, Geneva, '42, a
sensitive and earnest teacher, who had a way of "making dry bones and
anatomical tissues of absorbing interest." It is said of him that in his
day he probably taught more students than any other teacher of anatomy.
Occupying hardly a lesser place than Dr. Ford in the memories of the
older medical graduates was his factotum, Gregor Nagele, better known as
"Doc" Nagele. As an immigrant just landed, he helped in the construction
of the old Medical Building and remained to become for years the
presiding genius of the Department, and, through his long association
with Dr. Ford, an unofficial demonstrator of anatomy to the "boys."

Dr. Denton, another member of that first Faculty, was long remembered by
his students because of his high hat and his buck-board wagon, as well
as by his belief in the medical efficiency of alcohol; in which he came
into violent conflict with one of his confreres and eventual successor
in the Professorship of Pathology and Theory and Practice. This was Dr.
A.B. Palmer, a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in
1839, who in 1854 succeeded Dr. Allen, the first of the original Faculty
to go. Dr. Palmer was a conspicuous personage in Ann Arbor for many
years, energetic in public welfare and a lover not only of his
profession but of his professorship and its duties. One of his
students remarks: "He would have been willing to get up in the night and
lecture if asked, so enthusiastic was he in his efforts to