Oliver Peeble Jenkins
Area: neuro inverts
Years: 1892-1916
While at Indiana University, a second student by the name of Oliver Peeble Jenkins, also took up his Ph.D. research studies with David Starr Jordan as his primary advisor, making a study of Hawaiian fishes. Oliver P. Jenkins began his college education at Moore’s Hill College of Indiana, which was organized in 1854 under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. According to his youngest son, Olaf Pitt Jenkins in his book Early Days Memoirs, his father, Oliver Peebles Jenkins, entered Moore's Hill College in 1864 when he was fourteen years of age. He worked his way through school by waking at 4 a.m., sawing up hardwoods such as hickory and black walnut, and then starting all the open fires in the college building during the wintertime. Oliver P. Jenkins choice of Moore's Hill College was clearly the result that both his father and his father in-law were instructors at Moore's Hill College in Indiana. In fact, for a time, both his father and father-in-law each served as presidents’ of Moore’s Hill College; Reverend George Peterson Jenkins, 1887-1890, and Reverend Francis A. Hester, 1876-1879, respectively. By the age of nineteen Oliver P. Jenkins had received two degrees from Moore's Hill College, a Bachelor in Arts (A. B.) in 1869 and Masters in Arts (A. M.) in 1872.
During this period in the United States, most men pursuing a college degree started out their education by studying the ministry. This required students spending much of their time becoming familiar with languages, such as Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. Oliver P. Jenkins had told his son, Olaf, that he had read the Bible in seven different languages. During this period in American history, other than the ministry, the chosen profession acquired through an academic education was usually either medicine or law. For his chosen profession, Oliver P. Jenkins selected the lesser-known subject of natural history.
In order to obtain his academic education in natural history, Oliver Peeble Jenkins was required to venture from one college to another to get the learning he desired. He first attended De Pauw University, followed by Northwestern, next Johns Hopkins, and finally Indiana University, where he received a Master of Science (M.S.) and in 1886 and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in 1890. During his pursuit of this education, Oliver P. Jenkins served as Professor of Natural Science at Moore’s Hill College from 1876-1882; Professor of Natural Science at the Indiana State Normal School, 1883-1886; and Professor of Biology at De Pauw University, Indiana, 1886-1891.
While at Indiana University, OP Jenkins, took up his doctorate research with David Starr Jordan as his primary advisor. This scholarly relationship with Jordan fortuitously resulted in Jenkins being among the first of the faculty members selected by Dr. Jordan for the new Leland Stanford Junior University. The third president of Stanford University Ray Lyman Wilbur, in his Memoirs, provided the following description of his undergraduate advisor, as he experienced OP Jenkins as a course instructor: Dr. Jenkins was a gifted and unusual teacher. His exposition of the subject was always clear and effective, in spite of some hesitation of manner. It was a real delight to see him draw a picture on the blackboard with colored chalk and then, in hesitation for a proper word, pass his hand across his brow-until by the end of the lecture he looked like a painted Indian.
Oliver Peeble Jenkins, like his fellow student Charles Henry Gilbert, remained associated with David Starr Jordan for much of his career. As we will see, both of these men will make their way to the California coast and participate in the development of the Hopkins Seaside Laboratory positioned along the Southern end of Monterey Bay.
Publications:
Physiological evidence of the fluidity of the conducting substance in the pedal nerves of the slug - Ariolimax columbianus. Jenkins, OP; Carlson, AJ. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Pages: 85-92 Published: APR 1904
The rate of the nervous impulse in the ventral nerve-cord of certain worms. Jenkins, OP; Carlson, AJ. JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE NEUROLOGY Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Pages: 259-289 Published: DEC 1903
The rate of nervous impulse in certain molluscs. Jenkins, OP; Carlson, AJ. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY Volume: 8 Issue: 4 Pages: 251-268 Published: JAN 1903
The Passing of Plato, 6th annual commencement address to Stanford University, 1897, Oliver P. Jenkins [pdf]
Memorial Resolution: