Charles Rupert Stockard, PhD

Charles Rupert Stockard, a pioneer in the fields of embryology and zoology, was born on February 27, 1879, in Washington County, Miss. He received a BS at the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1899 and a MS at the same school in 1901. At the same school he started his teaching career as an acting professor of Military Science and later at the Jefferson Military College. From there he went on to receive a PhD in Zoology at Columbia University in 1906. In 1922, he received a Doctor of Medicine Degree at Wurzburg, Germany.

His first faculty position at the Cornell University Medical College was as an Assistant in Embryology and Histology in 1906. In 1908, he was the Instructor of Comparative Morphology and in 1909 the Assistant Professor of Embryology and Experimental Morphology. By 1911, he was the Professor of Anatomy and the Head of the Department of Anatomy. His early studies focused on fish embryology, birds, and botany. He was particularly interested in the development of the eye lens of fish and chick embryos.

Later he spent 13 years doing various studies on the effects of alcohol on germ cells, embryos and offspring. He did prove that alcohol had adverse affects on the offspring of male guinea pigs. He used over 100 guinea pigs. During his studies, he noticed that some of the guinea pigs had an extra toe. He did studies of the extra toe in guinea pigs and dogs and how this was inherited. Other studies focused on the study of the origin of vascular endothelium and blood cells and the study of the origin of identical twins in humans and other animals.

He also worked with Dr. George Papanicolaou on the sexual cycle of guinea pigs. This proved useful to Papanicolaou's studies on the female human sexual cycle through the study of vaginal smears. His final 12 years of his life he was studying the premise that "the constitutional differences in humans may depend upon definite heredity patterns of the endocrine complex of the individual."* For this study he established the Experimental Morphology Farm of Cornell University in Mohegan Lake, NY. At this farm he crossed bred hundreds of dogs to study "the inheritance of morphological characters, behavior and instincts, and histological exams of the endocrine glands."* Through this research he also advanced veterinary medicine in his treatment of canine distemper and rickets.

He died on April 7, 1939, after suffering a possible stroke at the age of 60.

*"Charles Rupert Stockard." pp. 29-30 article found in the biography files.