Andrew Taylor Still

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Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO (August 6, 1828 – December 12, 1917) was the father of osteopathy and osteopathic medicine.

He was also a physician and surgeon, author, entrepreneur, and state legislator from Kansas.

He was one of the founders of Baker University, Kansas' oldest four-year college, and he was the founder of the American School of Osteopathy (now A.T.).

Still University (the world's first osteopathic medical school) in Kirksville, Missouri, is located in Still University.

Early life and interests

He was still the son of a Methodist minister and physician. Still decided to follow in his father's footsteps as a physician at an early age. He entered the Civil War after studying medicine and doing an apprenticeship under his father. He served as a hospital steward for the Missouri Cavalry's Company F, but later revealed in his autobiography that he was a "de facto surgeon." Despite biographical reports of him as a physician, there seems to be no evidence that he was ever granted one.

At the time, the Army's hospital stewards had a number of jobs, including maintaining hospital stores, furniture, and sick supplies. Since pharmacists were not available for the hospitals, the hospital stewards filled prescriptions, and if the medical officers were not present, they took care of the patients. Hospital Stewards were often rewarded with raises as a result of a career change to a surgeon or assistant surgeon.

Still's autobiography states he served in the Civil War in Company F of the 9th Kansas Cavalry. According to his military service records for the Missouri regiment, his unit was transferred to the 9th Kansas Infantry, not cavalry, but that the transfer was made "without valid authority." The judge-appointed prosecutor specifies that these men should not be rewarded for this unlawful activity.

Following his wife's death, three of his children, and an adopted child from spinal meningitis in 1864, Still found that the orthodox medical practices of his day were often ineffective and often harmful. Calomel, also known as mercury chloride, was one such medical treatment that was not discussed in the book. Although there were no standard dosages for the drug at the time, scientists of heroic medicine would often prescribe doses that were too large, resulting in mercury poisoning. He devoted the next 30 years of his life to studying the human body and finding alternative ways to treat disease; his techniques included careful anatomic dissection to determine its organ's structure and, consequently, function. This involved exhuming corpses, which, although controversial, was a common feature of many medical schools in the United States and abroad at the time. He took a short course in medicine at the new College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1870.

Spiritualism had a "famous and enduring presence" in his thought when it was first introduced in 1867.

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