"Professor Koch’s early lectures
were frequently peppered with the name of 'Claude Bernard'. Even this simple
name was taken down incorrectly in our notes by some and at a subsequent
fortnightly quiz, it was written as 'Lord Bernard Claude' by a colleague. This error was commented on by Professor Koch
in a subsequent lecture. In the hematology lectures he drilled into us the need
to 'cross match' the blood samples and to 'double check' the results to avoid
mistakes with incompatible blood transfusions. One of the students described
this scenario as - 'to cross and double-cross'- the blood, before transfusing
it to a patient.
Professor Koch had his
collection of jokes which he repeated during the lectures. Needless to say, we
found them as incomprehensible as his lectures and we were unable to grasp
their meaning. Professor Koch would pause after relating each joke and say
'AHEM', to indicate to the class that he had cracked a joke. Then the whole
class would erupt into simulated laughter and scraping of feet. Some would even
provide a realistic imitation of 'rolling in laughter', much to the amusement
of their colleagues.
The
white coat and horn-rimmed glasses of Professor Koch are still a vivid memory.
He was kind to us at the exams and never pushed us too hard. He had done his
post graduate work on high altitude physiology and 'oxygen debt' which was his
favorite topic. Deep sea diving and the appearance of 'bends' during rapid
ascent was another of his favorite topics.
Tissa
Kappagoda recalled his memories of Professor Koch’s lectures in this way. “Professor Koch's lectures were exactly as
you described them. Their significance dawned on me 10 years
later when I started doing research in
Our batch-mates,
Ooyirlankumaran and Asoka Dissanayake were among the last batch of lecturers
recruited by Professor Koch just a few months before he retired. Asoka remembers him as a portly figure always
dressed in a white twill suit as was the custom then. “His name was pronounced
as "cock" but I was told much later by my friend Carlo Fonseka that
the “ch” should have been softer as in “couch”. I believe he drove a grey
expected to bring the roof down, by stamping on the wooden floor of the
Physiology Lecture Theatre at this bon
mot. Sadly, he was dead of a liver
disease within a year after his retirement.”
(Extract from 'Remembered Vignettes")
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