Mind, Brain, Body, and Behavior

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 41

nervous system, the biochemical basis of therapy, the study of drug
addiction, the development, regeneration and aging of the nervous sys­
tem, perception and behavior, and human relations” were successfully
represented.^30 Furthermore, a unique aspect of the program was the
cross-disciplinary collaborations that occurred amongst the scientists
themselves, without any administrative pressures:

There are projects in which biochemists and bio­

physicists...collaborated on...the biochemical processes

involved in the generation of the nerve impulse. There

are...projects on the relationship between neuroanatomi­

cal and neurophysiological changes and behavior. There

are...projects which interrelate pharmacology with bio­

chemistry and physiology on [the] one hand and behavioral

and clinical sciences on the other. The program of aging

has been attacked from a multidisciplinary point of view

ranging...from anatomical studies through biochemistry,

physiology, psychology, and sociology, to clinical psychiatry

and neurology.^31

The time that Kety had to devote to administration, however, pre­
vented him from keeping fully abreast of the latest developments in his
field and from pursuing his laboratory research on cerebral circulation
and metabolism. He had also become interested in psychopharmacology,
specifically in monoamine neurotransmitters and the actions of psy­
chotomimetic drugs, such as LSD, mescaline, and indole derivatives,
as related to schizophrenia.^32 He thus wanted to step down from the
position of director of the joint NIMH-NINDB basic research pro­
gram. Robert B. Livingston was appointed in November 1956 to succeed
Kety in this position and Kety became the new chief of the Laboratory
of Clinical Science.^33
Livingston had received his A.B. and M.D. degrees from Stanford
University and after completing 18 months’ training in internal medi­
cine entered the Navy Medical Corps as a reserve officer.^34 He then
taught at Yale University, where he worked with John Fulton. In con­
trast to Kety, whose chief responsibility as the first NIMH-NINDB
basic research director was to create the intramural program, Livingston’s