[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 055 (Monday, April 7, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4886-S4887]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO DR. ARTHUR GUYTON

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, our State of Mississippi lost one of its 
finest citizens when Dr. Arthur Guyton was killed in an automobile 
accident on Thursday, April 3. He was a preeminent cardiovascular 
physiologist whose ``Textbook of Medical Physiology'' is the best known 
and most widely used medical school textbook in the world.
  His research on hypertension and heart function was performed at the 
University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and is the basis 
for the level of mankind's knowledge of these subjects today. He was a 
graduate of the University of Mississippi and the Harvard Medical 
School.
  He published his textbook in 1956, which was largely a compilation of 
the lecture notes he used when he was teaching physiology in the early 
1950s at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
  He and his wife Ruth are the parents of 10 children who are all 
physicians and engaged in the practice of medicine. Some are working at 
such leading medical centers as Duke and Johns Hopkins. Dr. Guyton's 
father was also a medical doctor who practiced in Oxford, MS, and was 
dean of the Ole Miss Medical School. No family in America is more 
prominent in the field of medicine.
  Our thoughts and prayers are with this distinguished family. We 
extend to them our sincerest condolences and the thanks of a grateful 
nation for their continuing contributions.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the article 
published in the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson MS, on April 4 be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            World-renowned Miss. Doctor Killed in Car Crash

                           (By Thyrie Bland)

       Dr. Arthur C. Guyton, a world-renowned physiologist and 
     author of the most widely used textbook on physiology, was 
     killed Thursday in a two-vehicle accident in Pocahontas, 
     officials said.
       Guyton's wife, Ruth, who was driving, was in critical 
     condition Thursday night at the

[[Page S4887]]

     University of Mississippi Medical Center, where her husband 
     was a founding father.
       The Guytons' van collided with a car driven by Marjorie 
     Guthrie, of Yazoo City, shortly before 4 p.m. on U.S. 49 
     North in Hinds County, said Warren Strain, a spokesman for 
     the state Department of Public Safety. Guthrie's condition 
     was unavailable.
       Guyton, 83 of Jackson, leaves behind 10 children--all 
     doctors--and a legacy of research.
       The modest physician's hallmark discovery was proving that 
     blood flow is regulated by the body's billions of capillaries 
     and not by the heart, as long thought.
       ``It's just a loss of a giant of the 20th century,'' said 
     Dr. Wallace Conerly, UMC's chief executive officer. ``Still 
     today, what most of us know about hypertension and congestive 
     heart failure, that man did it.''
       An Oxford native, he worked most of his life as a teacher 
     and researcher at UMC, where he was chair of the department 
     of physiology and biophysics for 41 years. He authored the 
     Textbook of Medical Physiology.
       ``I used his textbook to get through Tulane Medical School 
     in 1956,'' Conerly said.
       Guyton retired in 1989 at age 69 from UMC with a gala 
     dubbed Arthur Guyton Day by the state and city.
       ``He still came to the office almost everyday,'' said 
     Barbara Austin, a UMC spokeswoman. ``He still taught 
     classes.''
       Guyton, partially paralyzed from polio at age 27, designed 
     a motorized wheelchair, special hoist and walking brace for 
     which he later earned a Presidential Citation.
       ``My father came from a farm and gave us our goals,'' 
     Guyton told The Clarion-Ledger in 1989. ``My mother had been 
     a teacher and a missionary in China where she taught physics 
     and math, so we could always ask her the scientific 
     questions.''
       Heralded with more than 50 national and international 
     awards in medicine, Guyton always was quick to skip over his 
     own accomplishments to compliment his wife and children. He 
     married Ruth Weigel in 1943 after the two met during a 
     bicycle ride.
       The cause of the accident is under investigation, Strain 
     said.

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Order of Procedure

  Under the previous order, the time until 5 p.m. shall be equally 
divided between the two leaders or their designees.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, my understanding is the Senator from West 
Virginia, Mr. Byrd, is about to make a presentation to the Senate. I 
ask unanimous consent to be recognized following Senator Byrd's 
presentation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I thank the very distinguished Senator from 
North Dakota.

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