Chauncey D. Leake Papers

Chauncey Depew Leake (1896-1978) was born in Elizabeth, NJ., and was an internationally known pharmacologist, medical historian and ethicist. His primary research interests included the biological actions of such drugs as barbitals and morphine, the relationship between chemical constitution and biological action, and the mechanisms of pain and relief of pain. He received a Litt.B. degree from Princeton University, majoring in philosophy with a biology minor in 1917. His scientific career began during World War I. Assigned to the Chemical Warfare Service stationed at the University of Wisconsin, he studied the effects of warfare gases on blood in anaesthetized dogs. After the war, he remained in Madison and received his M.S. and Ph.D. in physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry. He became professor of pharmacology, researching the blood affects of general anesthetics. In 1927 he moved the University of California, San Francisco to organize a pharmacology laboratory. His lab produced such drugs as divinyl ether, carbarson, vioform (clioquinol), amphetamines and nalorphine. These contributions sparked many of the first studies on the mechanisms of drug action. Leake left San Francisco in 1942 when he accepted an appointment as Vice President and Dean of the University of Texas Medical School, Galveston. In 1955, he moved to the Ohio State University to organize their first pharmacology laboratory as assistant dean and professor.

Along with his research expertise, Dr. Leake also dedicated himself to popularizing science and medicine, both for his students and the lay public. His affable lecture technique and speaking qualities reflected his impatience for abstruse medical jargon, and he lobbied incessantly for using every-day, understandable language in scientific writing. His love of language was also reflected in his personal poetry writing. Moreover, Leake's love of writing carried over into the history of medicine, where he was known as one of the field's preeminent contributors. His most well known contributions included a popular version of Harvey's "Circulation of Blood," and Percival's "Medical Ethics."

Dr. Leake authored over 600 articles and twelve books. He also served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the History of Science Society, and served on the editorial boards of many biomedical periodicals. He died of an aortic aneurysm soon after a public reading of his personal poetry.