Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine - Osteoblast Yearbook (Kirksville, MO)

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History of The A. S. O. DR. RAY G. HULBURT HE American School of Osteopathy was organized in May, 1892, by Dr. A. T. Still The founder of the science had practiced osteopathy for eighteen years pref vious to that, at first alone, and later with the aid of his sons, whom he had instructed. But even with this help, he could no longer handle the crowds of sufferers who came. Among the healed, some insisted on being taught osteopathy, that they in turn might help others. But there was only one man who could teach them, and he was being worked to death. Even experienced teachers who might have wanted to help with other fundaf mental subjects did not care, as Dr. E. R. Booth says in his History of Osteopathy, to incur the ridicule, the censure and the possible ostracism that would follow in the wake of such a course. In 1892, William Smith, a Scottish physician and surgeon, interviewed Dr. Still and wanted to study the new science. He arranged to teach anatomy in return for the privilege of learning osteopathy. About twenty entered school in November, 1892, in a little frame cottage which still stands in Kirksville. The Articles of Incorporation state the school's purpose thus: To improve our system of surgery, midwifery, and treatment of general diseases. . . . The adjustment of the bones is the leading feature of this school. Diplomas were given eighteen graduates on March 2, 1894. At first the enroll' ment did not increase rapidly. Twentyfseven entered in October, 1895, and twenty' three the next January, but from this time on there was a wonderful growth. A brick structure was early erected. In May, 1896, an addition was begun that would double its capacity, but before this was completed it was necessary to start still another addition, and in January, 1897, little more than four years from the organizaf tion of the first class, the institution occupied a building four stories high, containing sixtyfseven f67j rooms, with thirty thousand f3o,oooD feet of floor space. Other buildings have been purchased or erected, the latest being a magnificent laboratory and gymnasium. One of the best hospitals in the state was completed in 1996, and later enlarged. Every kind of operation is performed here, on patients from all over North America and even from across the sea. In this hospital Dr. Geo. A. Still applied to surgical cases the prinf ciples which the Qld Doctor advocated, and which other osteopaths had applied to nearly all, other kinds of cases, virtually revolutionizing the practice of surgery by osteopaths. Curriculum, as well as buildings, grew amazingly. Men well trained in the fundaf mental sciences were attracted from the time the school was well started, and some of the Page 190

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best were retained on the faculty. Almost from the beginning, the course covered twenty months, and included practically everything taught in the medical colleges except materia medica andimajor surgery, the latter being added a little later. In IQO4 the course was extended to cover three years of nine months each, and in 1916, four years of nine months each. Treatment of patients under supervision was a large part of the early course. Now a student is not allowed to treat until he has studied for two and a half years in anatomy, histology, chemistry, physiology, pathology, sympf tomatology and other fundamentals which help him to understand the deep truths of the science of osteopathy. The same standard texts were used here as in the best medical schools. The attitude of earlier instructors and writers was well stated by Dr. Chas. Hazzard in the preface to his Principles of Osteopathy: It is obviously unnecessary to include in such a work, material so easily available in the many standard texts of medical practice. It is better that the student should, so far as necessary, refer to them for the symptomatology, pathology, etc., of the diseases he studies, rather than to fill these pages with a repetition of what has been so well written elsewhere. Thus the author is left free to devote these pages exclusively to the osteopathic aspects of disease. A For more than thirty years, the American School of Osteopathy had no president who was not first a qualified doctor of medicine, convinced of the fallacy of drug medicaf tion before he took up osteopathy. Dr. Geo. A. Still, who was at the head of the school from the Old Doctor's death until November, 1922, took his M. D. degree at North' western University Medical School, studied surgery under Dr. John B. Murphy him- self, and attended clinics in the best known hospitals in Vienna, Berlin, Berne, Paris, London and Edinburgh, and was a whole-hearted osteopath because he had tested out and knew the futility of drugs. Dr. Geo. A. Still was a sample of the type of scientists who are carrying on to make Kirksville, the world's best known rendezvous for the ailing who still have hope, and the home of the greatest therapeutic college of all time. Page 191