Prof. A.C.E. Koch - Physiology

"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 Leeds and I spent the best part of thirty years chasing Claude Bernard and his internal environment!  Things went the full circle for me a few years back, when I was invited by the Physiologists in Colombo to deliver his memorial lecture.  Professor Basnayake was in the audience and he came up to me before the lecture and asked me if I remembered him!  How could one forget these people?”

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 Austin 50 car. He had trained in the Respiratory Physiology Laboratory at Oxford possibly with A.P. Douglas of “Douglas bag” fame. He used to boast that Roger Bannister (the first person to run the mile under 4 minutes and later, a famous neurologist) was a medical student at Oxford at the time and was tested on the treadmill there. Professor Koch used to take the Reproductive Physiology lectures and used to pun on the term "Castrated Cock".  Being forewarned by our seniors we were
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")