| CHAPTER I DR. ANDREW TAYLOR STILL. The talent of success is nothing more than doing what you can do well and doing well whatever you do, without a thought of fame. - Longfellow. The History of Osteopathy to the present time is inseparably connected with the life of Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. Osteopathy had its conception in the fertile brain of that one man, was developed by his careful judgment, grew into favor through his determined purpose, and was placed upon a solid footing by his sagacity. All the elements that have contributed to the advancement of Osteopathy are to be found in the very nature of its founder. And many of the elements that make Dr. Still what he has been and still is, are the results of the environments of his life. No artifice can make of a man that for which nature did not endow him. But the natural and artificial surroundings of a young man often determine the particular direction of his life. This is preeminently true of the subject of this chapter. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that the time to begin to train a child is with its grandparents. So the only way to become really familiar with a man is to make the acquaintance of his ancestors.
Dr. Still's great-grandfather on his father's side came to Buncombe County, North Carolina. Whence, is not positively known, but it seems from one account that he and five brothers came from England. Dr. Still's grandfather, Boat Still, was born in North Carolina. He was one of eight brothers, and was said to be the "runt" of the family, weighing two hundred and eleven pounds. He married Mary Lyda, a Dutch woman. She was a good frontier's woman, and is known to have killed the fiercest of wild beasts with her rifle. They raised a family of fifteen children, eight daughters and seven sons, five of whom were doctors. One of the sons, Dr. Abram Still, was Dr. A. T. Still's father. He was born in Buncombe County, North Carolina, about 1797. The family removed to Tennessee where Abram Still was ordained as a preacher in Holston Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, and sent as a circuit rider to Tazewell County in the southwestern part of Virginia. While there he married Martha P. Moore, daughter of the third James Moore mentioned below. There Dr. E. C. Still, Andrew's oldest brother, was born, January 15, 1824. They soon removed to Lee County, Virginia, where James M., Andrew T., Thomas C., and Jane were born. Thence they moved to New Market, Jefferson County, Tennessee, where John W. was born. Thomas C. Still says his father was at one time Parson Brownlow's family physician at Knoxville, Tenn. No wonder he became an ardent abolitionist. All the sons were doctors and strong antislavery men. The following is a continuation of the story of the family, as related to the author by Dr. E. C. Still at his home in Macon, Missouri, November 29, 1944: "Then my father, wanting to get to a new country where he could get land cheap, took a transfer from Holston Conference, M. E. Church, to the Missouri Conference of the same. Moving from there and landing in Macon County, Missouri, near Bloomington, May 2, 1837, he bought a claim at once, at which place Mary M. Still was born. After remaining three years he bought another claim in Schuyler County, moved there and took possession of it, at which place my sister, Marovia M. Still, was born. We remained there five or six years, moving back again to the same place in Macon County, about 1845, at which place my youngest sister, Cassander, was born. We remained in that neighborhood in Macon County for some years, during which time the division of the Methodist Church took place. My father remaining with the old, or Methodist Episcopal Church rendered him unpopular in a political sense. Being what they called a free soiler, at that time, rendering it dangerous to his life, he asked the Methodist Conference for an appointment where he would be in less danger. He was sent to Kansas Territory to the Shawnee Mission about 1852, to the same Indians that massacred the Moore family, they having been transferred by the United States Government. He found there the same names among the Indians as in the east, and some of them remembered the tradition of my great-grandmother's tragic death. "I remained in Macon County and practiced medicine from about 1845 to about 1882. About that time I became interested with my brother, A. T. Still, in the treatment of disease without medicine, afterwards named Osteopathy. Following that practice for some years, assisting my brother in Osteopathy up to the time of McKinley's second election, November, 1990, I was taken down sick at that time and have not practiced since, though I have good health now. I was in service during the Rebellion. "At first the general impression was that we were switched off or crazy. The doctors called Andrew a damned old jackass, and suggested sending him a block of hay. I had obtained their confidence by being a good surgeon. They rather pitied me for siding with the crazy old jackass. The preachers said it was all the works of the devil. Doctors said it was too damned a fraud to be noticed. We were ostracized from any kind of fraternal feeling." While in Missouri, Abram Still served the M. E. Church as circuit rider and presiding elder, and at the same time administered to the sick. Thos. C. Still says of his father "He would often have to stop in the fall season to attend the sick. His universal practice was to keep close by his Bible in his saddle-bags, a well filled wallet of medicines in sections of canes as battles were likely to break. Thus armed his main aim was for the comfort of both soul and body."
The earliest authentic history of Dr. Still's ancestors on his mother's side is found in a most interesting little volume entitled "The Captives of Abb's Valley," written "by a son of Mary Moore," who was a cousin of Dr. Still's mother, and published about 1854. It is found in many Presbyterian Sunday-school libraries, records facts that are indeed stranger than fiction, and contains material that appeals to man's love of adventure as well as his devotion to religion. James Moore, Dr. Still's great-great-grandfather, came from Ireland about the year 1726, and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He was of Scotch descent, his ancestors having emigrated to northern Ireland from Scotland. He married Jane Walker, a descendant of the Rutherfords, of Scotland. They had five sons and five daughters, from whom are descended many of the first families of Virginia and Kentucky. He died about 1792, and his wife, some two years ago. Their sixth child and second son bore the name James Moore also. He married Martha Poage. After several years they moved into Abb's Valley, Tazewell County, Virginia. The fight for possession of that country had long been contested by the Shawnee and the Cherokee Indians, and many a bloody battle had been fought between them, and many depredations upon the early settlers had been committed by both of them. This second James Moore, Dr. Still's great-grandfather, was a man of no ordinary ability. He became a captain in the militia and led a company in General Green's army in the hard fought battle of Guilford Court House, N. C., March 15, 1781. "It has been said of him that he was never known to lose his presence of mind in any emergency in which he was placed." On the morning of July 14, 1786, after the members of the Moore family had begun their respective employments, Black Wolf, at the head of thirty or forty Shawnee warriors, attacked the family. Captain Moore ran to the house, but found the door barred by those who had taken refuge in it. Running past the house, he halted only a moment in climbing the yard fence, when he was pierced with seven balls. He ran about forty paces, fell, and was immediately tomahawked and scalped. Three of the children were also killed, and the others, with their mother, were captured. The Indians started with their captives to near where Detroit now stands. One boy being unable to stand the fatigue of the journey, was killed the second day, and the babe being fretful, had its brains dashed out against a tree. Before they reached their destination, Mrs. Moore and a daughter were also put to death. Dr. E. C. Still relates the following tradition concerning his great-grandmother's death: "Tradition obtained by my grandfather from the Shawnee squaws, says that owing to her complainings of the loss of her child, they took her to the stake, cutting off, slicing, broiling, and eating her breasts before her; sticking her full of fine splinters and burning her at the stake, at a French trading post called Detroit. The above tradition was handed down to me through my mother, who obtained it from her father, James Moore, who had been captured by the Shawnee Indians and kept with them seven years. We don't know the tradition to be history, but my grandfather and my mother believed it to be true; he obtained it from the Shawnee squaws, who thought a great deal of my grandfather and protected him when the braves were drinking and carousing. The squaws obtained it from the braves." A daughter, Mary Moore, and an adopted daughter, Martha Evans, were taken to Canada, where they were sold to Englishmen and were finally given their freedom. The third James Moore, the second son of Captain Moore, and the grandfather of Dr. Still, was captured by Black Wolf, a chief of the Shawnees, in September, 1784, about two years before the massacre mentioned above. The winter was spent as a captive among the Shawnees. In April, 1785, he was sold to a French trader named Ariome and taken to Canada, near Detroit. His sister, Mary Moore, was taken later to the same neighborhood, where they often saw each other. Together, after enduring great hardship during the journey, they returned to Virginia in 1789. Mary married a Presbyterian preacher, Rev. Samuel, Brown. She had seven sons, five of whom were ministers, and one an elder in the Presbyterian Church; the youngest was a doctor. The historian of the "Captives of Abb's Valley" says "James Moore expressed a desire and design to return to Canada for some time after he had been amongst his friends in Virginia, but at last abandoned the plan. Early in life he married a Miss Taylor, of Rockbridge County, settled on the farm which his father had occupied in Abb's Valley, and became the father of a numerous family who, with few exceptions, reside in the same section of country. At an early period, after he had gone to reside in the valley, he became a member of the Methodist Church, and continued in the communion of that church until his death, which occurred in the autumn of 1851. He was spared to see his descendants of the third generation." The Taylor family mentioned above gives origin to the -middle name of the subject of this chapter, Andrew Taylor Still, and eon fleets him with Bishop Wm. Taylor, the pioneer in missionary work in India and Africa, and with ex-Governor Bob Taylor, of Tennessee. Bishop Taylor would have made a good osteopath had he turned his attention in that direction instead of the conversion of the heathen. Doubtless he spent many a night in the wilds of India and Africa with a stone for a pillow. A friend of his in Cincinnati, Mr. J. B. Martin, says that the bishop was subject to headache and insomnia, and learned from experience that nothing gave him relief like a piece of marble for a pillow. He carried with him year after year a flat, smooth slab of marble about an inch thick, three or four wide, and seven or eight long, which he used for a pillow. Having broken his marble once in Cincinnati, Mr. Martin secured another for him. How like the experience of Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, when, at the age often, he used a plow-line for a pillow? (Chapter II, page 45.) Some authorities say that the third James Moore was married three times. Certain it is that he married, besides Miss Taylor, a Miss Patsy Pogue, who became the mother of Martha P. Moore, who was the wife of Abram Still and the mother of Andrew Taylor Still. That Dr. Still's mother was a woman of unusual ability is in evidence, and her early residence and labors upon the frontier make her an historic character. The following relating to her appeared in the Ottawa (Kansas) Journal, in August, 1873: "Mrs. Martha Still, of Centropolis, is in her seventy-fourth year, and thinks she is the first white woman that ever found a home on the soil of Kansas. She claims to be the mother of two territories, Nebraska and Kansas. Herself and husband were connected with the old Shawnee mission. She has four sons in the medical profession, one daughter the wife of a doctor, and one daughter the wife of a preacher, and a good preacher herself. Dr. Still, her deceased husband, was well known through this country as a physician and preacher. Rev. Mr. Adams, her son-in-law, claimed in the conference held in Ottawa last spring, to have preached the first discourse ever delivered on the townsite of that goodly city. Mother Still is in good health, has a quarter section of land under cultivation, good apple orchard, is a conference claimant, and lives to help pay the preachers."
Every osteopath is interested in the story of Dr. Still's life, as found in his autobiography. Many who read that remarkable book may be disappointed; but it is so characteristic of the author that a more thorough acquaintance with it will give a clearer insight into the character and traits of the founder of Osteopathy and beget a keener appreciation of his worth. Concerning the autobiography, and her long acquaintance with Dr. Still, Mrs. M. A. Patterson, Queen City, Missouri, writes: "The autobiography of Dr. Still gives the plain facts of Dr. Still's early life and also of his later life. I have known the family of the old doctor for sixty-four years. I had been afflicted for thirty years with paralysis and have been cured and am enjoying good health. Am now sixty-eight years old. One little incident which occurred in the early life of Dr. Still, I will relate : I think he was about sixteen years old. His father had been to town, and when he came home he saw Andrew sitting by the roadside reading a doctor book. His father said: ‘Andrew, I don't allow any doctor books in my field.’ Andrew just turned around with his feet in the road and went on reading. I told this to the old doctor and he remembered it well. He said it was an anatomy he was reading."
Andrew Taylor Still, the subject of this sketch, was born August 6, 1828, about three miles west of Jonesboro, Lee County, in the extreme western part of Virginia. As shown above, his father was of English and German descent, and his mother Scotch. When he was six years of age, his father removed with his family to Newmarket, in eastern Tennessee. In 1835, he and two older brothers entered what was known as "Holston College," located at Newmarket. A seven weeks' journey in 1837, landed the family of eight, with two wagons and seven horses, in Macon County, Missouri, whither his father had been sent as a missionary, the first of the Methodist Episcopal Church in northern Missouri, Here Andrew attended school during 1839-40. In the spring of 1840 they removed to Schuyler County, Missouri. He thus describes in his autobiography the building in which his schooling was continued "'that autumn we felled trees in the woods and built a log cabin eighteen by twenty feet in size, seven feet high, dirt floor, with one whole log or pole left out to admit light through sheeting tacked over the space, so we could see to read and write." In the spring of 1845 they returned to Macon County. Dr. Still's individuality had begun to assert itself by that time. There probably never was a time in his life when he quietly submitted to unreasonable dictation or accepted questionable theories. He says of one of his early schools: "A school was taught by G. B. Burkhart, but I did not attend it, as he and I did not agree, so I left home and entered school at La Plata, Missouri, conducted by Rev. Samuel Davidson, of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church." Andrew did not differ much from other members of the family. Early in life his disposition to carricature or make sport of things became manifest. These sketches he put in a book which he called his commentary. One of these related to a quack doctor whose remedy for measles was soup from a ram's head. The patient was pictured with the head up to the horns down his throat. Those who have seen his sketches made later in life, and who know his love for the ram, the goat, and the peacock, can readily see the significance of his early sketches. Andrew was not greatly in love with farming, and much of the work incident to the life of a pioneer farmer. "He loved hunting as much as he disliked farming," says his brother Thomas, and "father prevailed upon him to give it up and commence the study of medicine, in which he was as untiring as in hunting. He was an uncommon successful hunter. Many a fine venison did he bring home, and wild turkeys, prairie chickens, and other game in abundance. But when he dropped hunting it was complete." In other words, Dr. Still did when a boy as he does at seventy-seven; he worked with his whole soul at what he undertook to do. Dr. Still's early development was not of the hot-house sort, nor was his education obtained wholly in school. The following is his own account of some of his early experiences: "My father, who was a man educated to do all kinds of work, was a minister, doctor, farmer, and a practical millwright. My mother was a natural mechanic, and made cloth, clothing, and pies to perfection. She believed 'to spare the rod would spoil the child,' and did use it in a homeopathic way. My father said if you wish to get meal in a bag, hold the mouth open. If you wish to get sense in your head, hold it open. If you wish to ride a horse, get on his back; and if you wished to be a skillful rider, hold on to him. My mother said if you wish to drink milk, put it in your mouth, and not on your clothes; for there was but one way to drink milk. My father being a farmer, concluded that a little corn-field education would be good with my mill-wright knowledge, and at an early age I was taught to hold the teams, and do the duties of farm life, until I could manage teams, harrows, plows, scrapers. When I came from the corn-field for dinner, father told me I could rest myself by carrying slop to the hogs. I did not mind the work; it was the exercise that bothered my mind." An idea of the diversions and at the same time the strenuousness of pioneer life with its educative influences, is shown by the following quotation from his autobiography: "My father owned a farm and raised a large amount of corn, and had a great many horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs to feed on it, so our crops were consumed at home. We had so much corn to husk and crib that we were compelled to commence very early, in order to get it stored away before cold weather. When we were all in our teens, my eldest brother nineteen, the next seventeen, and myself about fifteen, we gathered corn from early morn till late in the evening, fed the stock, ate our suppers, and prepared for a good hunt for coons, foxes, opossums, and skunks. We always took a gun, an ax, big butcher-knife, and flint and steel to make fire. We had a polished cow's horn which we could blow as loud as the horn that overthrew the walls of Jericho. As brother Jim was a great talker, we made him chief horn-blower. He went into the yard, and bracing himself, tooted and tooted and split the air for miles, while the dogs collected around him and roared and howled. You never heard such sweet music as brother Jim and the dogs made. Shortly after his melodies began, we were in line of march, front, middle, and rear rank, and soon journeyed to the woods to hunt opossums, polecats, coons, wildcats, foxes, and turkeys." Dr. Still himself thus sums up the effects of this pioneer life: "My frontier experience was valuable to me in more ways than I can ever tell. It was invaluable in my scientific researches. Before I had ever studied anatomy from books, I had almost perfected the knowledge from the great book of nature. The skinning of squirrels brought me into contact with muscles, nerves, and veins. The bones, this great foundation of the wonderful house we live in, were always a study to me long before I learned the hard names given to them by the scientific world. As the skull of the horse was used at my first school as a seat for the indolent scholar, I have thought it might be typical of the good horse-sense that led me to go to the fountain-head of knowledge and there learn the lesson that drugs are dangerous to the body, and the science of medicine just what some great physicians have declared it to be - a humbug."
January 29, 1849, A. T. Still married Miss Mary M. Vaughn. They remained on a farm of eighty acres in Macon County, Missouri, till May, 1853, when they moved to the Wakarusa Mission of the M. E. Church, about six miles east o r Lawrence, Kansas, occupied by a Shawnee tribe. Here he farmed, and with his father doctored the Indians. Here his wife died in 1859 and left him with three children, two of whom have since died. The oldest, Mrs. John W. Cogwill, is living near Ottawa, Kansas. November 20, 1860, Miss Mary E. Turner and Dr. Still were married. He speaks thus of her in his Autobiography: "Over a quarter of a century my wife, Mary E. Still, has given her counsel, advice, consent, and encouraged me to go on and unfold the truths, laws and principles of life; to open and proclaim them to the world by demonstration, which is the only method by which truth can be established. "All who know Mrs. Still can certify as to the faithfulness with which she has stood by her illustrious husband in all his endeavors. Three of their children, Drs. Chas. E., Harry M., and Herman F., are practicing Osteopathy, and Helen Blanche is the wife of Dr. Geo. M. Laughlin. Fred, the youngest son, died in 1896. Of his sons he speaks as follows in the Autobiography: "At this stage of the war my sons are no more prattling children, but men of mature years. They have been the champions of many bloody conflicts. They are at this time commanders of divisions, having worn the epaulets of all ranks. And I feel that future battles fought by them and their subordinates will be as wisely conducted as though I were there in person. "For fear of tiring the reader and leaving him with the belief that there is no wisdom outside of my family, I will say that the river of intelligence is just as close to you and yours as it is to me and mine. Although by good fortune I dipped my cup first in the broad river of Osteopathy, drank and gave to them, which fluid they relished as all intelligent persons do who drink from this river, the same stream flows for you."
Abram Still (father of Dr. Still) was one of the three commissioners to purchase the site for what is now known as Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas. Dr. A. T. Still was then living in Palmyra. About that time the name of the town was changed to Baldwin. He, his brother Thomas, and two others, were appointed commissioners by the general conference to select a spot for the university building. They devoted their energies to the cause of education and contributed most liberally to its material welfare. Dr. Still seems to have been very successful in a financial way before he cast aside the practice of drug therapeusis for Osteopathy. He had accumulated property in Kansas, and he and two brothers donated 480 acres of land for the site of the university. He, his brother, and two other men erected a steam sawmill, which furnished the lumber for twenty miles around. During this time he superintended the erection of the university buildings, sawed lumber, doctored the sick, and represented the people of Douglas County in the legislature. But his old friends in Kansas forsook him when he said: "God has no use for drugs in disease, and I can prove it by His works," and "when I asked the privilege of explaining Osteopathy in the Baldwin University, the doors of the structure I had helped build were closed against me." This statement is literally true and is verified by those now connected with the university.
During the years 1852-3, Dr. Still was a scout surgeon under General John C. Fremont, and during the Civil War was a surgeon in the Union army in the volunteer corps. That was when he began to lose faith in the efficacy of drugs and in existing medical methods. He was an ardent abolitionist and was active in the border warfare in Kansas. He was on intimate terms with John Brown and Jim Lane, the anti-slavery leaders in that strife. In 1857 he was elected on the free-state ticket to represent Douglas County, Kansas, in the legislature; and until March, 1858, was a participant in some of the most thrilling events that have ever occurred within legislative halls. Dr. Still is not so constituted as to shrink from any call to duty. In September, 1861, he enlisted in the Ninth Kansas Cavalry. His battalion of that regiment was disbanded in April, 1862, and May 15, he became captain of Company D, which he organized, of the Eighteenth Kansas Militia, and was soon promoted to the rank of major. Later he was transferred to the Twenty-first Kansas Militia, of which he was major. His regiment was engaged in the encounters in western Missouri till October 24, 1864, when Major Still received orders to disband it, which he did. It was during the campaign of Major Still's regiment against the famous Confederate raider, General Sterling Price, in 1864, that he received injuries on account of which he later made application to the United States Government for a pension. The following is taken from the report of Mr. Hatch, chairman of the committee to which his claim was referred. The report was made June 12, 1880. The surgeon of the regiment gave more detailed testimony as to the facts given below. "Sandy Lowe testifies that he was colonel of said regiment, and that while on the Price raid, from pressure of arms and ammunition on his bowels, claimant contracted rupture, and from his participation for three days in battle he contracted heart disease, all of which occurred in October, 1864. "Dr. J. S. Snelly testifies that he treated the claimant for heart disease from 1866 to 1878; that he was afflicted with valvular lesion of the heart, with syncope when asleep while lying on the left side; and he further testifies that claimant is ruptured on each side, with tendency to paralysis of left side and arm, and that during the whole time he treated claimant there was no improvement in his condition. "The claim was rejected because the War Department contains no record showing the Twenty-first Regiment, Kansas State Militia, was in the United States military service. "In the papers is the commission of claimant as major of said regiment, signed by the governor of the State of Kansas. "In view of these facts, the committee report the bill back to the house with a recommendation that it do pass." He has never lost his interest in the trying times preceding and during the Civil War, and it is a treat to hear him talk in his unostentatious way about them. He is proud of his record as a soldier, and often says he fought to free his country from the thraldom of human slavery; and is now engaged in waging war to free his country from the slavery of drug medication. He is a member of Corporal Dix Post, No. 22, G. A. R., Kirksville, Missouri. John Speer, in his "Life of General James H. Lane, the Liberator of Kansas," in speaking of Dr. Still and his father, says ; "The Rev. Dr. Abram Still, the father of Dr. Andrew T. Still, was a missionary among the Shawnee Indians before white settlement, a divine, a patriot, and a philanthropist; and his entire family were physicians of intelligence and ability. Dr. Andrew T. Still was called in immediately after the wounding of James Lane, as counsel with Dr. Fuller, as well as an immediate friend and coworker in the free state cause. He assisted in the surgical operation and probed the wound, discovering that the ball passed up the thigh several inches. He was first lieutenant in the military company of which Abbott was captain. Was on the most intimate terms with Lane in his command, and afterwards a surgeon in the volunteers under him in the war of the rebellion. He was also identified with all the movements of the time in connection with Lane, John Brown, and the early pioneers in the anti-slavery cause. At the very first opportunity to elect any free state candidates, Dr. Still was elected to the house of representatives (in 1857), in which he served with distinction, the writer sitting by his side in that distinguished body, which gave the finishing stroke to slavery in Kansas; and he is now at the head of one of the most prominent scientific institutions of the west, entitled ‘The American School of Osteopathy.’”
Dr. Still has an inventive mind. His farming experience made him familiar with the difficulties attending the harvesting of large crops of wheat, and impelled him to try to improve upon the existing methods of labor. He invented a device for collecting the grain as it is cut by a reaping machine so as to drop it in bunches suitable for binding. The Wood Mowing Machine Company appropriated the idea and reaped the benefit in dollars and cents, while Dr. Still had an experience which must have been useful to him in the study of the human machine. While living on a farm one of the duties which often fell to his lot was churning. He rigged up a very clever device which lessened the time and labor hitherto necessary to extract butter from cream. He spent some time introducing his churn till 1874; but its chief value to him was in his experience.
Many have indulged in speculation concerning certain phases of Dr. Still's character. No one ever accused him of selfishness in the proper acceptation of that term, but he would be the last man on earth to exploit his unselfish deeds. Ofttimes his own words were misleading to those who were not thoroughly acquainted with him. The following by himself, taken from the Journal of Osteopathy for December, 1896, so clearly shows a certain element in his character, that it is given in full. Those who know him best can appreciate every word and read much more "between the lines" than appears in print: "It is said of me, 'Dr. Still is the biggest hearted man on earth.' Now let me tell you something, I am as selfish as a wolf. I work and study hard from morning till night, year in and out, not for your happiness, but A. T. Still's. I am human and dislike a drone of two legs. I work for bread and meat for myself and those dependent upon me. I love and hate, bitterly and sweetly. I love an honest toiler of body or mind - I hate a liar, a thief, a hypocrite, or a lazy person, all are alike to me. A lazy man has to live and will if he has to lie and steal. I will help those who have an honest claim on my sympathy, and in a loving manner, as a man should do to his fellow man. I hate a man who is all gab and gets sick when his lame and worn-out wife, once a rose, asks him to bring in some wood and water to cook his dinner with. I love the works of nature; to me it is life and joy; it makes a man glad he is a man. I am sorry we know so little of ourselves. Let us put in the twelve months of ninety-seven in study, study for knowledge that will do us good. Never work for the love and admiration of the dear people, which is too often like a soap bubble, and bursts to curse you for what you have done. Remember they, too, have some wolf or dog in their chamber that should be filled with gratitude. I hope and only ask that I may be wisely just to all." Others have noted this spirit of unselfishness in Dr. Still, and given, utterance to their opinions. E. H. Pratt, M. D., LL. D., of Chicago, made use of the following words in an address at Kirksville, as reported by the Kirksville Journal of November 5, 1896: "There is only one safe ground for any one to occupy, and it is the only true ground - that man never originates truth; truth is God's and not man's. And only in so far as we get our individuality and our personality out of the way and become receptacles of truth, get in line with it - God's own truth - do we advance. The reason that Dr. Still is the man he is, is because he has not been conceited, is because he has not been selfish, he has not been hunting after money; that man has not sought reputation as an object of life; he has simply had his eyes fixed upon the star of truth, and he has pursued a uniform course in that direction. So his face, being toward the light, has always shone, not by his own light, but by the reflection of the light he was looking at - God's light. You could not make Dr. Still conceited. You might bow down to him, and tell him he was a god, but he would say, 'You are mistaken.' He will not take it to himself, he will take it back to the God who gave it to him. He will say, 'You can see the same God; don't look at me; look at the truth."'
Most persons are interested in the religious convictions of a great man. Much speculation has been indulged in concerning this element of Dr. Still's character. The uncertainty in the minds of many is not due to any doubt as to his belief, but rather to his reticence in expressing himself on the subject to strangers, and to those who do not seem to understand him. To others he is the embodiment of freedom and candor in talking upon this subject. Dr. Still is pre-eminently a student of man. His field of study involves all the elements that enter into the construction of that incomparable machine, the human body. But the machine with which he is so familiar is not merely composed of bones and muscles and other material forms. It is a living mechanism, animated by the spirit of life, the embodiment of something above those forms of matter that appeal to the physical senses. Dr. Still believes in the direct guidance of an All-wise Providence. With him, God is not simply a spiritual power, but He is the Master Mechanic of the material universe, the crowning effort of His creative power, being man. He used the following words in one of his lectures, and those who have been with him much have often heard him give expression to the same thought. "Good people ought to think pretty well, they ought to think kindly of the Mechanic who made all the mechanics and everything connected with them. I want to make this assertion: That for the last twenty-five years my object has been to find one single defect in all nature, to find one single mistake of Cod. But I have made a total failure in this respect." His religion, judged from the philosophical standpoint, might be considered pantheistic. That idea was expressed during an interview with Dr. Still on November 28, 1904, when he said "I decided about 1845 that that unknown intelligence, call it what you please, that precedes all structure and functions, is trustworthy. His work is perfect. Mind principle permeates the whole universe. When I contended that God had no use for calomel, ipecac, etc., I believe the great intellect knew what it was doing; it kept in the background." Practically, Dr. Still is a spiritualist. Knowing as he does the frauds that have been practiced in the name of religion, and the misapprehension of most people concerning those who believe as he does, he has never forced his beliefs upon any one. But he has always had the courage of his convictions. Those who know him best know that he is always an earnest seeker after truth. Not only that, but when he gets a glimpse of a great truth, whether it be material or spiritual, he holds to it with a patient tenacity that never relaxes. Once in conversation with the writer, he attributed his success to his unswerving fidelity to his religious convictions. He cited the cases of a number of former friends who had been his companions in religious thought, but who had renounced their beliefs for the sake of gain in purse or popularity, who had made a pitiable failure of life. He always insisted in unmistakable words that he who would be guided to the highest and best in the present life, as well as in the life to come, must follow his most noble thoughts and aspirations. The following by Emerson aptly expresses his convictions in this respect: "O my brothers, God exists. There is a soul at the center of nature and over the will of every man so that none of us can wrong the universe. It has so infused its strong enchantment into nature, that we prosper when we accept its advice, and when we struggle to wound its creatures, our hands are glued to our sides, or they beat our own breasts. The whole course of things goes to teach us faith. We need only obey. There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word." The familiar lines of Coleridge represent the practical direction of Dr. Still's religion: "He prayeth best who loveth best Some of us may have thought at times that he was a poet, a seer, rather than a scientist or a philosopher; yet time and again have we returned to the thought that he may be literally right and we wrong. Dr. J. H. Sullivan says, " I think the most beautiful thought Dr. Still ever gave voice to was that in which he said he believed each red corpuscle in the blood had an intelligence all its own, else how can one explain the fact of a certain red corpuscle journeying on and on, say in a peacock's tail feathers, and finally adding to the particular color, which we know to be a physiological fact." Note Dr. Still's words: "Every corpuscle goes like a man in the army, with full instructions where to go, and with unerring precision it does its work - whether it be in the formation of a hair or the throwing of a spot of delicate tinting at certain distances on a peacock's back. "God does not find it necessary to make one of these spots of beauty at a time; He simply endows the corpuscles with mind, and in obedience to His law each one of these soldiers of life goes like a man in the army, with full instructions as to the duty he is to perform. It travels its beaten line without interfering with the work of others. Now you say I am going to get God into trouble by making a statement, claiming that each one of the five million corpuscles contained in a single drop of blood knows just what is expected of it. Is this blasphemy? No. As the troops of General Cook obey his commands unfalteringly, so God's infantry, imbued by Him with mentality, go forth to fulfill their appointed mission in unswerving obedience." It reminds one of Tennyson's well-known lines: "Flower in the crannied wall, Dr. Still says: "To know all of a bone in its entirety would close both ends of eternity." How like the thought of Professor Virchow, "the father of modern medicine," the prince of anatomists, when he expresses what is to him a scientific principle, not a flight of imagination, the same idea in the words, "Every animal presents itself as a sum of vital unities, every one of which manifests all the characteristics of life'' We have not been left without an authoritative statement by Dr. Still himself, as to his views concerning the spiritual as well as the physical man. In solving the problems connected with health and disease, he has considered every part of the human body as to its structure and function. Now as he draws nearer that "bourne whence no traveler returns," he searches more earnestly for a solution of the mysteries of the spiritual life. Fortunately he has not left us to guess his thought. The following statement appears in The Bulletin for September, 1903: "Having spent many years of my life in the study of the anatomy of the physical man, of his bony framework and all thereunto attached, I have also tried to acquaint myself with the real spiritual man when he bids a final farewell to mortality. "By the use of the knife and the microscope, I have traced for lo, these many years, the wonderful and perfect work therein found, carefully inspected every fiber, gland, and all parts of the brain; I have observed in his construction the parts and their uses; I have seen that which has passed beyond, in my mind, the simple forms and functions of this whole existence, and have come with increased desire to know Him who has been the constructor of this most wonderful of all machines known to the human mind; to know whether it be a spiritual personage or a principle that has produced such great results as I have found man to be. Let me say right here I feel as a hungry child seeking the milk of its mother's breast. I am hungry mentally, absolutely hungry beyond description to obtain a more thorough acquaintance with that substance or principle known as human life. This hunger has been with me many years. I have nothing so precious that I would not give to have it satisfied. I want an undebatable knowledge, a better acquaintance with life and whether it be a substance or a principle that contains the many attributes of mind, such as wisdom, memory, the power of reason, and an unlimited number of other attributes. This short statement is to honestly acquaint you with my object in devoting all of my time, far beyond a quarter of a century, to the study of man, his life, his form, and all his wisely adjusted parts, both mental and physical. I have explored for a better knowledge upon this important subject. My daily prayer has been 'Give me that knowledge that will light up the human body in whom we find a union of life with matter and the combined attributes of this union.' I have listened to the theologian. He theorizes and stops. I have listened to the materialist. He philosophizes and fails. I have beheld the phenomena given through the spiritualist medium. His exhibits have been solace and comfort to my soul, believing that he gives much, if not conclusive proof, that the constructor who did build man's body still exists in a form of higher and finer substances, after leaving the old body, than before,"
There are scores of well attested instances in which Dr. Still has shown his power of clairvoyance, - perhaps it would be better to say telepathy. The possession of such a power by many persons cannot be denied; but various theories are advanced by clearheaded, honest investigators to account for the facts. Among these may be mentioned subjective faculties, subconscious faculties, telepathy, coincidence, fraud, and spirits. Such eminent scholars as Professor Wm. James, Alfred Russel Wallace, Sir Wm. Crooks, Paul Carus, James H. Hyslop, Arthur L. Foley, Wm. F. Stead, Minot J. Savage, and C. H. Parkhurst think spirit influence the best explanation to account for many occult phenomena. Those interested in the study of this subject will find a book entitled' "The Widow's Mite and Other Psychic Phenomena," by Isaac K. Funk, full of interest. Whether such a power is a special gift from some higher influence, or an inherent possession of some individuals, makes no difference as to the fact. In the case of Dr. Still, he seems to have inherited this power, if such a thing is possible, from both sides of his family. His brother, Dr. Edward C. Still, relates an incident showing that his father possessed the power of telepathy. One Sunday while preaching he stopped suddenly, asked one of the brethren to continue the services, saying that he must go immediately to see a man several miles away who had become sick suddenly. He had not gone far till he met a messenger coming post haste after him to go to see the patient. Many other incidents of like nature in his father's life are more or less distinctly remembered by Dr. E. C. Still. Had James Moore, Dr. Still's maternal grandfather, obeyed the warning from without, or the voice within, the morning of his capture by the Indians in 1784, he and his father's family might have been saved from the disasters that befell them. The historian, of "The Captives of Abb's Valley" speaks as follows of that unaccountable fear that came over him as he left home on that fatal errand: "He had often gone there alone without fear; but on this occasion he had scarce lost sight of his father's house, when an unaccountable feeling of dread came over him; which became so distressing that he had at one time determined to go back, but was prevented from doing so by the fear of his father's displeasure. He never could explain this fear on any other ground than that it was a strange presentiment of the evil which was about to befall him. It was an undefined apprehension of some great calamity that would befall him; that perhaps some wild beast would devour him. In this agitated state of mind he went forward until he had almost reached the field where the horses were, when Black Wolf and two younger Indians sprang from behind a large log, and yelling the terrific war whoop, rushed on him, and laid hold of him before he had time to think what to do." This power or gift (call it what we please) seems to have been greatly intensified in Dr. A. T. Still. Most persons who have spent even a short time in Kirksville have heard stories of his power to divine what was taking place elsewhere. Several instances with which well known persons are familiar in all the details could be related. One will be related by way of illustration. About 5:30 A. M., July 4, 1898, the day after the victory of the United States over Spain in the great naval battle of Santiago, the writer had occasion to go to the railroad depot in Kirksville. He met Dr. Still coming from the station. He said the report was that a certain number of Spanish vessels had been destroyed, but he insisted that there was one more, as he had seen, "in his mind's eye" the day before, about the time of the battle. He had seen great vessels dashed to pieces, and had been eager from that moment to get authentic news. It will be remembered that the Colon was not reported among the destroyed in the first account of the battle. Dr. E. C. Still relates several incidents from early life of similar import. Dr. A. T. Still, while living in Kansas often wrote letters to his brother in Missouri describing what had taken place there and asked if his account was correct. The report of his brother is that he was almost invariably correct. These manifestations caused some of the family to think he was going crazy; but his oldest brother was in full sympathy with him. Dr. Chas. E. Still says his father would often read the minds of the country people when on lecturing tours, just for amusement and to attract their attention and to interest them in "his method of treating diseases. Later he discontinued that mode of arousing the people, because they began to call his science hypnotism, suggestion, etc., whereas, Dr. Still claimed all the time that there was no connection whatever between his real work and his eccentric conduct.
Here and there Dr. Still would meet with a kindred spirit, one who appreciated his work and sympathized with him in his distresses. But most of those who knew him, looked upon him as a crank, not only throwing away all his own chances for success in life, but also endangering the welfare of others. His Christian friends were especially concerned. The following statement by Dr. Still is a verified fact. He is speaking of the occasion when a preacher assembled his brother's wife and children for the purpose of prayer to God, "Telling him my father was a good man and a saint in heaven while he was of the opinion that I was a hopeless sinner, and had better have the wind taken away before I got any worse. He stirred up such a hurrah and hatred in Macon, and it ran in such a stage, that those whom he could influence believed I was crazy. Children gave me all the road, because I said I did not believe God was a whiskey and opium-drug doctor; that I believed when He made man that He had put as many legs, noses, tongues, and qualities as he needed for any purpose in life for remedies and comfort. For such arguments I was called an infidel, crank, crazy, and God was advised by such theological hooting owls to kill me and save the lambs." - Autobiography, pages 122-3. Indeed, Dr. Still is a crank, according to the most approved definition of that term, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes aptly describes Dr. Still in his description of a crank and the estimate often put upon him. It runs thus: "A crank is a man who does his own thinking. I had a relation who was called a crank. 1 believe I have been spoken of as one, myself. That is what you have to expect if you invent anything that puts an old machine out of fashion, or solve a problem that has puzzled all the world up to your time. There never was a religion founded but its messiah was called a crank. There never was an idea started that woke men out of their stupid indifference but its originator was spoken of as a crank." - Over the Teacups, page 151. Dr. Still's early religious training evidently made a deep impression upon his mind; but his philosophic spirit was not to be fettered by what later seemed to him to be a perversion of true religion. It is, therefore, not surprising that he should apparently go to the other extreme. Indeed he has often been known to use language more forcible than orthodox. Sometimes, also, he appears to be sacrilegious in his methods. He hates sham and deceit. He always liked to hear his teachers go directly to the heart of a subject and present it in their own way rather than follow authorities. Knowing how prone the human heart is to stick to its idols, he was often given to calling a higher power to the assistance of the erring. While these "prayers" often possessed a vein of the author's innate humor, they were really more serious and devout than the reader might suppose. The following prayer illustrates this thought: “O Lord, we ask for help quick. Since life is so short and man's days are few and full of sorrow, we ask that we get some more brevity in our school books. Lead us not into temptation to make our 'text books' big. Now Lord, we ask Thee to either add twenty years more to our days on earth or teach brevity to the professors in all institutions from which we are supposed to receive practical knowledge and useful education. Thou knowest, O Lord, that long prayers come from the insincere, therefore, I do want to see thine arm bare and thy fist doubled and see Thee pound the stupidity out of the heads that do not know that he who would show wisdom by quoting from others, is born with a great degree of native stupidity. Therefore, O Lord, break his pen, spill his ink, and pull his ears till he can see and know that writings are a bore to the reader and only a vindication of a lack of confidence in himself to tell the world anything that is profitable and practicable. Amen.” - Journal of Osteopathy. October, 1901.
Philosophers are often found in the common walks of life. ''One
of the first to appreciate Dr. Still's work and comprehend its possibilities,
was Mr. Robert Harris, a gun-smith of Kirksville, whom the writer
had the pleasure of meeting many times. He was the first to say
to Dr. Still, "Plant that truth right here." Dr. Still
says of him: "He was Osteopathy's first advocate in Kirksville.
I said, after a long conversation with him, 'Mr. Harris, let me
ask you one question, Why is it, in your judgment, that people are
so loath to believe a truth?' He said: 'Dr. Still, in my opinion
a man dreads that which he does not comprehend.' A man dreads to
give up his old boots for fear the new ones will pinch his feet.
We have gone from generation to generation imitating the habits
of our ancestors." Dr. Still is a born philosopher. He always works towards first principles. The comprehensiveness of his philosophy is noticeable in all his work. No sign seems to have been neglected that would lead him in the paths of truth. His knowledge is broad. He is conversant with a great number of subjects: history, science, and philosophy, all have a charm for him. The universe, with God and man in the center, is his field for thought. Hence man has been his constant study, and such a mind as he possesses could not help asking the questions, "What is man?" "What is God?" Note the following: "Over twenty years I have stood in the courts of God as an attorney. I have questioned and cross-questioned, and directed my questions positively on all parts of this subject that I desired to investigate. The questions that I asked myself were about the following: 'Have I a mind capable of comprehending or solving by my force of philosophy the great question 'What is man?' You remember that I spoke then as a man whose mouth would not be closed through fear. That question, 'What is man?' covers all the questions embraced in the universe - all questions, none left. 'What is God? 'What is life?' 'What is death?' 'What is sound?' 'What is love?' 'What is hatred:’ Any individual one of these wonders can be found in that great combination, man. Is anything left? Nothing. Do you find any principle in heaven, on earth, in mind, in matter or motion, that, is not represented by kind and quality in man's make-up? You find the representation of the planets of heaven in man. You find the action of those heavenly bodies represented in yours. You find in miniature mind controlling the power of motion. You find in reason that it is the result of a conclusion backed by the ability known as the power of knowledge. And when the machine was constructed it was given the power of locomotion, self-preservation, all the passions of all the beasts of the field, and all the aspirations of God Himself in kind. All these qualities you find in man. The same qualities you find in a more refined condition in woman, she being the sensitive part of the whole make-up of the human race. She is a finer principle than man. She is sensory, man motor. He is motor, she is intellectual." - Autobiography, pages 393-4. The crowding in upon his mind of such thoughts as expressed above often give to his lectures, and even his conversation, an air of mysticism - of the supernatural. His ideas generally outrun his expression of them. His deepest thoughts often come to his mind with such rapidity and are uttered in such quick succession that the hearer may become dazed in attempting to follow him, and perhaps wonder whether there was a coherent principle underlying his expressions. A more thorough acquaintance with the Old Doctor and his methods of thought and work always convinced us that he had delved beyond our view, and that we had failed to comprehend his meaning. We often come across passages in his writings that are incomprehensible at first. A more thorough study of them or a few words of explanation often make such passages perfectly clear and reveal a mine of thought hitherto uncomprehended. To fully understand Dr. Still it is almost absolutely necessary to have a personal acquaintance with him. It is only by coming in close touch with him that his character becomes fully revealed. Often thoughts with which he was not supposed to be familiar would be expressed in an unexpected moment. A single terse sentence apparently not connected with anything preceding or following would often be uttered and proclaim a profound truth. Dr. Still had, in early life, accumulated considerable property, but much of it went for benevolent or educational purposes. A serious diminution of his income resulted from giving up the practice of drug medication. But there never was a time in his life when he and his good wife were so poor that they did not hold the confidence, good-will, and credit of their friends. They never Chadwicked the confiding. Doubtless many a day was dark, but they held tenaciously to the truth and finally came out triumphant. He was never a pauper; but like many another man, he often had a hard time "to make both ends meet," financially speaking, and was sometimes found in the "slough of despond." These were simply the vicissitudes of fluctuating fortune, common to the life of almost every man that has risen to prominence, and not evidences of poverty. The contrast between his financial condition then and later, when thousands upon thousands of dollars were subject to his orders, made his former condition seem deplorable by contrast. Mr. Robert Harris says: "One day when Dr. Still and I were walking down in the woods, he said he would have to give it up so as to make a living for himself and family. I said, 'No, stick to it, and you will come out all right."' Any turning from his purpose at that time would have been only temporary to enable him to accomplish an immediate end; he seems to have never once relaxed his determination to mature and establish his principles. Mr. Hoag, a miller of Kirksville, who was familiar with Dr. Still's struggles and the kindly support given him by Mr. Harris, said to Mr. Harris a few years ago: "I have prayed for you and Dr. Still; you hung to him and came out all right. There were only two then, you and Dr. Still. I am glad you have succeeded." Judging from the character of the adjectives, Mr. Hoag is said to have used in relating his story, we are led to believe that the "prayer" was not one of supplication, but rather in harmony with the definition given by the poet when he said: "Prayer is the soul's sincere desire
As soon as Dr. Still had demonstrated to the world the merits of Osteopathy, and established a school for the teaching of the new science, offers of substantial assistance were made, and even urged upon him. In consonance with his whole life, he courteously refused financial aid, preferring to maintain a position of absolute independence, so that he might continue his work untrammeled. He had fought the battle against ridicule, abuse, misrepresentation, prejudice, and poverty, alone to a successful issue. Success did not turn his head. When money and lands were offered him in Kansas City and Des Moines to remove his school from Kirksville, the citizens of that little city rallied as a man to his support. At the close of a large and enthusiastic meeting held in Kirksville, the following resolution was unanimously adopted: "We, the citizens of Kirksville, assembled at the Mayor's office this evening, May 28, 1894, to take into consideration the advisability of assisting to erect an infirmary in conjunction with Dr. A. T. Still for his use and the benefit of humanity, beg to express our appreciation of his great ability as the founder and exponent of the School of Osteopathy. That we as citizens feel proud of him as a fellow townsmen; that we have the utmost confidence in his skill as a healer, as is evidenced by hundreds of his patients who come halt and lame and depart in a few weeks with light hearts and straightened limbs; that we believe his integrity as a man, and we feel proud that he has gained a national reputation and made Kirksville known in every State in the Union. And we most earnestly ask Dr. Still to remain with us and we promise him substantial aid, and our most hearty support in holding up his hands, as the greatest healer of modern times."
Dr. Still removed from Kansas to Kirksville, Missouri, in 1875, but did not make that his fixed abiding place till 1887. Meantime he was an itinerant doctor, going about from place to place seeking opportunities to heal the sick by his own original method. Among the places where he demonstrated the power of his system may be mentioned Wadesburg, Clinton, Holden, Harrisonville, Hannibal, Palmyra, Rich Hill, and Kansas City, all in the state of Missouri. Many other places were visited, but at most of them he did not tarry long. Dr. Still attracted a great deal of attention in Kirksville almost from the time of his arrival there. Mrs. Robert Harris claims to have been his first patient in that village, at least the first case he treated there that attracted much attention. She had been sick for years and all the M. D.’s of the village had given up her case. She was not able to raise her head, was subject to cramps and convulsions, was often unconscious, and vomited almost constantly. Dr. Grove, a "regular," who had heard of Dr. Still's work, said to Mr. Harris: "I don't understand Mrs. Harris's case, but I understand it as much as any of the others. Try Dr. Still, there is something wonderful about him." Mr. Harris told a neighbor, Mr. Connor, that he wanted to see Dr. Still. When Mr. Connor told Dr. Still to go to see Mrs. Harris, Dr. Still said to Mr. Connor: "Every doctor in the county has treated that woman and none of them know what is the matter with her." Dr. Still treated her about three months, since which time, about thirty years, she has had more than the average share of good health allotted to her, and now looks as if she might last thirty years longer. It is needless to say that the Harris family have been staunch friends of Dr. Still and faithful advocates of Osteopathy ever since Mrs. Harris was snatched from the jaws of death and restored to vigorous health. Mr. and Mrs. Harris can relate many interesting incidents in Dr. Still's life with which they were familiar. People upon every side sneered at Dr. Still, but many were forced to recognize his wonderful work. He was called "the lightning bone-setter," and many a time did these faithful friends see him with his store of bones studying them in their minutest details. He would often say "medicines will not do; we must have something better."
The following incidents in Dr. Still's life, as given by those who knew him best, all illustrate the even tenor of his work, his simplicity of life, his loss of self in service to others, his adherence to friends, his tenacity of purpose, his loyalty to principle, and his devotion to eternal truth. They are only a few of the many gleaned from those who knew him intimately for years, and had every opportunity to see him as he was in his every-day life, in hours of darkness that would have forever extinguished the light of a less heroic soul, and in hours of victory that would have confused a less calm judgment. Mr. John F. Hannah, of Kirksville, says: "I knew Dr. Still forty-four years ago. His father was then living in Macon County. My father and his father, Abram Still, were well acquainted. Abram Still was a prominent and noted man at that time. He preached, practiced medicine, and farmed. I have known Dr. Still here since 1874. He was always very conscientious. In giving drugs he would say, 'The books say so and so. I don't know whether they will do any good or not.' He said he did not believe drugs ought to be thrown into the body. "Him and old Bill Linder and Jess Connor tried to develop massage treatment here. It didn't go. Dr. Still stuck to his ideas. I have had him practice in my family ever since. Our first experience with Osteopathy was for my wife. She had pain in her head, eyes bloodshot. She said I must get a doctor. Met Dr. Still, told him to come in. He said he wanted to see her eyes. He looked and said you came mighty near having your neck broke. He said 'I can cure that in a minute, but pain won't leave before one o'clock tomorrow.' She rested easier that night, and next day said 'I believe, in my soul, it is gone' No pain since treatment. Dr. Still said it was liable to recur. He said she had had a fall - she had, on a washtub. She had been treated with opiates, etc., for previous attacks. This was the worst. It must have been twenty years ago. "I have often seen him at home monkeying with bones or setting on a box whittling, so interested he would not stop to go home to dinner. "Once when I wanted a boy to help in my store, Dr. Still came to me and gave me my choice of his boys. I took Harry, who staid with me four years. Dr. Still said, 'Do you know you are helping me more than any one else. While I am away I know my family are cared for.' "Whatever Dr. Still said you could rely upon. He was generous hearted. If he thought it hurt a man to pay he would not take it. He cured me of headache. I sent him a check; he sent it back. Dr. Still would come to my store and the store would fill up with a crowd and stay as long as he staid. He would often come in in the evening and talk Osteopathy till ten o'clock or after; all would stay to listen to him." Probably no one outside of Dr. Still's own family knows him better than Dr. Arthur G. Hildreth. He lived about five miles from Kirksville. He has known Dr. Still since boyhood. His father and mother were among the first of Dr. Still's genuine friends in Adair County, Missouri. He tells of a visit with his mother to Dr. Still's office, then on the south side of the public square in Kirksville, reached by a rickety flght of stairs on the outside of the building. This is Dr. Hildreth's account of the incident: "After sitting down and waiting a few minutes, Dr. Still came in, and mother said to him, 'Doctor, I have a good friend who is a near neighbor of mine who is sick and I want to see if you can tell me what ails her.' Until my dying day I shall never forget the scene nor the impression made upon me, boy though I was. The morning was a bright, beautiful, sunshiny one, the weather was warm, and the west door of his office was open. He was standing just a few feet in front of where we were sitting. After mother's question, he turned and gazed out the door, seeming to be lost in thought for a few minutes. Then turning to us, he said: 'Why your friend has goiter and if you will have her come up here I will remove it.' Mother said: 'Yes, but doctor, they are very poor people; how can they pay you?' He replied: 'Her husband can haul me a load of wood, can't he?' Mother told him they would only be too glad to do so. The lady came to him and the goiter was entirely removed." Another incident illustrating Dr. Still's apparent power of prescience, his devotion to friends, and his self-sacrificing and heroic labor, with Dr. Hildreth's comments, is here given: "It was in the early spring of 1886, during my father's last illness, that Dr. Still performed a little act that to us was characteristic of his greatness, his goodness of heart, and guidance at the critical time to do the right thing. "My father died with stricture of the stomach, and it was just one year, to a day, from the time he was taken sick until his death. Dr. Still was the only man we found who could or did give him any relief. In the very first days of April or the last days of March, before father's death in May, he had been suffering terribly for two or three days and we did not know Dr. Still was in town, for in those days he traveled a good deal. It was at the end of about the third day of this suffering - a dark, gloomy, awful day to us, when just at dusk we heard a footstep on our porch and a knock at our door, and who should enter but Dr. Still. An angel from heaven could not have been more welcome than he, and imagine he had walked the entire distance. He said he had felt that he was needed and so he came, even if he did have to walk. He gave my father temporary relief which was all that could be done. It seems to me if our profession could know him individually, as I have known him, or even if the world could know him as he is, they would all understand why those who do know him are so loyal to him and so desirous of guarding his every desire or need." The following, which is self-explanatory, is also from the pen of Dr. Hildreth: “One of the best illustrations of Dr. A. T. Still's heroic will power, his indomitable courage, and his abiding faith in Divine guidance, also his ability to look upon the bright side of every condition and smile and see good in failure, or seeming failure, was best demonstrated on the day that Governor Stone, of Missouri, vetoed the first osteopathic bill ever passed by any state in this union - and, of course, it was the first bill in Missouri. "It was on a raw, cold, blustery day, the middle of March, 1895, when Dr. Still, the faculty and students of the American School of Osteopathy, yes, and nearly all of Kirksville, was anxiously waiting for word to come from Jefferson City of the signing of our bill, which had been passed a few days previously in the Missouri Legislature. It was late in the day when a message was received from Senator A. N. Seaber, who had labored earnestly and untiringly for our measure, stating that Governor Stone had vetoed our bill. My first thought was of Dr. Still, and regret at his disappointment. It was not long after we heard of the telegram until Dr. Still came by our house on his way home from town. 1 saw him coming and ran out to meet him, and I want to say my heart was pretty heavy. When he saw me coming he began to laugh, and instead of my being able to console him, I found him much more able to relieve my suffering. He was consoled by a higher power than man's. His very first remark was: 'Well, Arthur, that is all right and for the best. The next time we will pass our law, and it will be signed, and when it is, it will be a much better law than this one was.' I asked him to come into the house, and he said, 'No, you come with me,' and he led the way around back of my house where we were sheltered from the raw northwest wind just a little, and there upon that bleak, raw evening we had one of the very best talks we have ever had in our lives (and we have had many); it was there on that day that he unfolded to me why he never worried nor fretted in our darkest hours. Even when it seemed that the whole world was against his discovery, he would work and act with the utmost confidence in the ultimate outcome. "He said to me: 'Listen, Arthur, years ago I was promised no matter how dark conditions seemed to be, and no matter how hard the storms of internal strife or outward opposition seemed to rage, that all the rubbish should be wiped from our pathway as if but chaff, and in the end Osteopathy would reign triumphant.' I leave if, to those who know of our progress from that day to this to judge whether the promise made to him has been kept or not." Mrs. Theodoria E. Purdom, D. O., was one of the first to recognize the qualities of Dr. Still's mind and heart and an early recipient of the blessings of Osteopathy. She recently wrote the following: "Along in the 70's, 1871 or 1872, I first met Dr. A. T. Still, and ever since have been cognizant of his individuality, originality, and intellectuality. Some thought him eccentric, but even then the scintillations of a bright mind were a rare treat to those closest to him. "I was one of his first patients in 1876, whom he treated osteopathically, effecting a cure of an illness of eleven years. On this occasion he proceeded, in a limited way, to unfold his discovery of Osteopathy. He presented the facts of his science so forcibly, and his arguments were so logical and pertinent as to impress me greatly, and that the true law of cause and effect in the human anatomy had been brought to light. When he had finished, he asked what I thought of it? So convinced was I of its truth, that I replied: 'Doctor, you have made a great discovery. None can horoscope the possibilities of the future of Osteopathy, but I believe you have succeeded in discovering the natural law of disease and health - that you will succeed beyond your expectations, and there is more ahead of you than you can now see' "This prognostication was made nearly thirty years ago, and the progress and advancement of the science has been so great that today the magnificent Osteopathic School at Kirksville is a lasting monument to his great intellect, and Osteopathy occupies a niche in the therapeutics and 'pathies' of the world second to none. "Dr. Still is a man of many prominent traits, endowed with a diversity of attainments - unselfish and generous to a great degree, always found on the side of suffering humanity as against the almighty dollar. He never forgot an obligation, giving many-fold in return." Those familiar with the old doctor will never forget the impression made by just such scenes as described below by Dr. F. W. Hannah. Besides the box for a seat, he was often seen sitting on the steps of a porch, on a bench in his own or some one else's porch or door yard, or lying on a cot or in a hammock. He was generally accompanied by a stick upon which he was whittling, or a staff upon which he had carved some hieroglyphic, which he often gladly explained. These carvings always had a meaning, and generally illustrated some great truth. Dr. Hannah says: "Having been reared in Kirksville, I knew Osteopathy as far back as the early eighties, and now vividly recall the old doctor as I knew him then; it was a familiar scene to see him perched on a goods-box, in his very characteristic way and dress, with a big chew of tobacco and a stick on which he was whittling. Sometimes he would be alone, again he would be surrounded by a few interested listeners. He was generally the one who was doing the talking." The following by Dr. Homer E. Bailey is so much to the point that it is not abridged: "From the beginning of the year 1888 to the fall of the year 1891, I was quite intimately associated with the old doctor in a business way. Although I was a Democrat and running a Democrat paper, and the old doctor an Abolitionist Republican, he patronized our newspaper in the way of printing circulars and other newspaper work, because of the fact that the Republican county paper had refused to take his son Charley into their office as the 'devil or roustabout,' the name which printers give to their errand boy. This little incident shows the peculiarity of Dr. Still in remembering a wrong as well as a good deed. He rarely forgot either. Our bills for newspaper articles and circular letters amounted to no little sum of money; and we always could depend upon him paying promptly when he had the where-with-all. "Sometimes he would leave Kirksville with barely enough money to pay car fare, and go to some town with a bundle of probably a thousand bills, get these scattered, after which he would give an exhibition of setting hips; probably on the public square, in a spring wagon or an old ox-cart. Of course, he would be looked upon as some mysterious being, crazy or at least daffy; but with his intuitive insight, he would pick out a cripple or some one with a severe headache or some disease that he could cure quickly and demonstrate before the anxious crowd 'The Principles of Osteopathy.' He was always eccentric and did what you least expected him to do; but the impression left was usually a good one. It created talk and thought of the mysterious old doctor. Hence, it was that so many mysterious stories were afloat in those days, that the old doctor was a clairvoyant or one gifted with the power of a medium or spiritualistic powers. "In thinking over those days now, I see how he drew unto himself such a great following and became so much advertised, not only among the common people of Missouri, but all over the nation. "Of course, to the osteopathic profession today and the medical profession then, such a course would be considered very unethical; but one living as he did, with a great thought in mind and with the problem before him of drawing the world's attention to that great thought and accepting it, there could have been no better procedure. Dr. Still was a man who personally disliked notoriety and advertisement, and when the clamor of the multitudes was so great in 1892 that he and his family could no longer heal the vast crowds that appeared before him, he began to teach it to others. He would hide himself away for days at a time, to obtain the quiet and rest which he so much needed in developing the science and building the school that he was then undertaking. He was a great student of nature and nature's laws, and never was happier than when he was astride an old log out in the woods with. Father Geo. A. Chappell, one of his most intimate friends. "The rich and poor alike came from far and near, and they would not be satisfied without seeing and talking face to face with the old doctor, and being treated by him. And it was this very fact alone that caused him to hide away in order to force the people to take treatment of his assistants. "About this time the late lamented. Dr. Henry Patterson took
charge of the financial end of affairs, and as much as possible,
stopped the free hand of the old doctor in liberally giving away
his hard earned money. At one time, meeting, in company with myself
and Father Chappell, an old darky woman with a crooked neck and
a stitch in the muscles, at the old Wabash crossing, the old doctor
placed one foot on the second plank of the fence, and with the old
lady resting against his knee placed one hand on the neck and the
other on the head and gave it such a twist that he corrected the
lesion at once, and the old lady, looking foolish, but happy, asked
him his price. He answered by the question, 'What is your name and
what do you do?' Upon receiving a reply as to name and that she
was a poor washer woman, he said his fee was $10. Her purse being
quite empty, she replied, 'All right, Massa, but I has to get some
clothes to wash before I kin pay you.' At this juncture he put his
hand in his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill. Giving it to
her he remarked, 'The bill is paid, go home and be happy. It was
such generosity and the doing of good work on the streets and in
the by-ways, that attracted much attention to the old. doctor." "My first meeting with Dr. A. T. Still occurred in 1894, through my wife's invalidism. We reached Kirksville and she went under treatment April 1, 1894. "While waiting for our turn we noticed a remarkable appearing man dodging in and out of the rooms in his shirt sleeves, and we instinctively thought, this is the doctor we have come to see. He reminded me of the great emancipator, Lincoln, and many others have expressed the same thought; to complete the analogy, I heard him lecture after a few days and he said, among other things: 'I helped to free the colored man from slavery and am now engaged freeing the white man from slavery - the slavery of drugs.' His results certainly have borne him out in this assertion. "Dr. Still is not a university graduate in the higher sciences, nevertheless, many times have I heard him debate with scientific men, and never have I heard him at a loss for an answer, whether it were astronomy, electricity, mineralogy, or allied sciences, he invariably had his own peculiar solution of the question. In anatomy, vast as the subject is and intricate as well, Dr., Still has within him an almost supernatural acquaintance with the living model. The question never settled as to the function of the thyroid gland and the spleen, have been most satisfactorily explained by Dr. Still, as all students under him can bear witness." When Dr. Still is engaged in the solution of a new problem he knows no cessation from study. He is an early riser, and many of us have received early morning calls from him, often before the break of day and before most of the residents of the quiet village of Kirksville were out of bed. Dr. Sullivan tells of the case of a patient that seemed to worry the old doctor more than usual. After a wakeful night, he called at Dr. Sullivan's about 4.30 A. M. and said he thought that he had solved the problem through the night. After talking a few minutes he went direct to the case, put his ideas into practice, and secured the desired result. Dr. Asa M. Willard relates the following incident which is so characteristic of Dr. Still that those who know him best often pass such occurrences by as a matter of course and think but little of them. These are the elements that contribute to Dr. Still's greatness and endear him to all who come in close contact with him. Dr. Willard writes: "An incident which I call to mind illustrates a trait in the old doctor which all who have ever been intimately associated with him have recognized; namely, his extreme and all-absorbed devotion to his science and his desire to relieve suffering in contradistinction to the courting of public favors. The wife of a man of national reputation called at the old doctor's residence. She was announced to the old doctor, with whom I was sitting on the kitchen porch. At the same time a little crippled girl came around the corner. The old doctor had arisen to enter the house, but stopped to tell me that he wished me to take charge of the little, girl for a few months. He gave a suggestion as to her treatment and kneeled to illustrate. He was soon absorbed in the case, and for a half hour talked to me upon it, until he was again called into the house after he had started to the infirmary, having forgotten all about the prominent lady who was waiting for him while he was explaining the case of the little charity patient." In a letter of March 29, 1904, Dr. George G. Chappell gives his personal reminiscences as follows: "I have known Dr. Still since the eighties. We did his printing when he was making from two to ten days' stands all over the country as an itinerant ‘lightning bone-setter.’ After he had begun to be noticed he had several places in Kirksville where he would hide from people who sought him. He and my father were the best of friends, and many times he has come up the alley, into our back door and staid for hours to avoid some one who was seeking him. I have seen my father loan Dr. Still $50 to enable him to fill his itinerant dates, when it would have been difficult for him to have gotten credit for a much less amount elsewhere. Dr. Still never forgot a favor, and we have never regretted what we considered at that time throwing his money away on an old crank. I have seen Dr. Still go out in town, treat a patient, hand him a five dollar bill with the remark, 'Here is a plaster for you,' and not charge anything for his services. Dr. Still would look upon years as most people look upon weeks. More than a decade ago, 1 heard him map out his future, and everything has worked out just as he planned. When he was getting out a few hundred copies of the Journal o f Osteopathy in a six-column folio form and about two to four months between issues, be told my father and me just what he intended to make out of the Journal, and exactly what it is today. Many times have I seen the 'wise men' shake their heads at the suggestions he would make as to his future and the future of Osteopathy; and even now, not only among the outsiders, but among the members of the profession, and among the graduates of his own school, are the 'wise men' who criticise that grand old man when he advances something too deep for them to fathom." Every one who is acquainted with Dr. Still or who has been a student at the American School of Osteopathy, or even spent a few days in Kirksville, the home of Dr. Still, has heard many stories of his eccentricities and learned much of his habits. From the large number at hand a few only are given. The following is from Dr. C. L. Rider, of Detroit, Michigan. It is a very clear statement of facts similar to those with which hundreds of us are more or less familiar, but does not consist of hearsay evidence: "Dr. A. T. Still, or as he was familiarly called by those who knew him best, the Old Doctor, was never a very particular man about his dress, or perhaps it would be nearer the truth to say that he was usually very careless about his personal appearance. This seems to be a characteristic of nearly all geniuses. When a large addition, now known as the North Hall, was being built to the original osteopathic school building at Kirksville, the Old Doctor drew the plans and specifications and superintended the erection of the addition. Attired in a blue flannel shirt without a collar, a black slouch hat that had seen better days, a pair of corduroy pants the legs of which were stuffed in the tops of a pair of rawhide boots, his appearance during the erection of this building was more that of a common laborer than that of a physician whose skill and fame had attracted patients to him from all, parts of the civilized world. "About the time the Old Doctor was busiest with this work,
a wealthy and refined lady from Boston came to Kirksville for treatment,
and, like all other patients coming to the institution for the first
time, wanted the Old Doctor or no one; but after being informed
that he was very busy with other work and was not taking any regular
patients, she became reconciled and decided to stay and take the
treatment. She was told that she might catch him some time when
he was not busy and he no doubt would then examine and treat her.
She was assigned to Dr. Hildreth for treatment, but cherished the
hope that the day might not be far distant when she could find the
Old Doctor at leisure and get him to examine her, at least. She
had not been under treatment more than a week, when one morning
while waiting for the room to which she was assigned to be vacated,
she was accosted by the Old Doctor fresh from his work, who greeted
her pleasantly, as was his custom, and inquired if she was waiting
for her treatment? Upon her replying in the affirmative, he asked
her to step into a vacant room near by, where be would be pleased
to look after her, as he had nothing else to do just then. This
lady from Boston, not knowing the Old Doctor, replied that she was
perfectly satisfied with Dr. Hildreth's treatment, and would wait
until he could attend to her case. 'All right,' replied the Old
Doctor, a faint smile spreading o'er his bronzed face, 'if you prefer
Dr. Hildreth to me, I have nothing to say,' and with that he turned
and walked slowly away. All who had heard of Dr. Still were anxious to see him, and the circumstances attending their first visit were always interesting, - sometimes amusing, sometimes almost dramatic. His penchant for contrasts always brought out the humorous side of his nature or was made an occasion for teaching a very important lesson. Many are the stories told of the manner in which he treated strangers who assumed an air of superiority either in dress or intellect. In the spring of 1897, two well dressed ladies dismounted from a fine carriage in front of his house and inquired of the workman who happened at that time to be repairing the brick walk, if Dr. Still was at home. "Yes," was the laconic reply, almost without looking up from his work. One of them said: "We have come from --, and would like to see him." Quick as a flash the reply came, "If you want to see Dr. Still look at me, but if you want to see a fifty dollar suit of clothes and a 'plug' hat, mother [he always calls his wife mother] will show them to you, if you will step in the house." The picture reproduced opposite page 36, shows Dr. Still in that now famous suit of clothes and hat. During the rejoicing over the passage of the Missouri Osteopathic law in March, 1897, Dr. Still's admirers literally forced him into a clothing store and had the suit put upon him. The same tactics were employed to get him to a studio where the picture was taken. It is said that he wore the suit only that one time. Dr. F. D. Parker speaks of that incident as follows in the Northern Osteopath for February, 1902: "I never saw him with a new suit on but once, and this was upon the news of the passage of the osteopathic bill through the house and senate of the Missouri legislature. He apologized for it, confidentially stating to a few of us that in the enthusiasm up town on the receipt of the word, some of his friends pushed him into that Jew clothier's and placed a new coat and a silk hat on him, but what was worse they forced him to wear a necktie. However, he would have them off by supper time, and he did. I venture the assertion that the silk hat has never been seen on his head since." Dr. Parker was a resident of Kirksville long before the first school of Osteopathy was established, and knew Dr. Still intimately. In the Northern Osteopath for February, 1902, he speaks as follows of Dr. Still: "Imagine one going about town, or strolling in the woods, dropping down perhaps upon a curbstone, taking a bone from among many hidden about his person, wholly oblivious of his surroundings, and studying it as if his whole future depended upon the exact origin or attachment of a muscle, perhaps mumbling to himself; and you will see Dr. Still. "If you heard one of his prayers repeated, such as, 'I pray the Lord my soul to take; I pray the Lord to keep my head combed with a fine comb, and get all the ignorance out of it, for Thou knowest the dandruff of laziness is rank poison to knowledge, success, and progress. Keep it off, O Lord ! Amen,' would, you not question the sanity of such a man?" I assure you this is not overdrawn, and I speak of it only to give you an idea of how completely his mind was wrapped up in the one thought, which has since made him famous. "He once told me that the hardest trial, or rather the thing which grieved him most, was to see little children (and the doctor is fond of them) cross the street rather than meet him on the same sidewalk"
Well does the writer remember the first commencement exercises of the American School of Osteopathy he ever attended. It was in June, 1898. Sixty-six pupils graduated and received diplomas from the hand of Dr. Still. His diversity of thought and variety of expression were observed then as never before or since. Dr. Eliott, for many years Chancellor of Washington University, St. Louis, was an adept as a short speech maker on commencement occasions. He may have repeated thoughts but generally they were so expressed as to make each appear new. So Dr. Still, on this occasion made some remark to each of the sixty-six graduates as he delivered his diploma, and scarcely a repetition was noticeable. Moreover, each little speech seemed to be especially adapted to the person to whom it was addressed and contained a central thought, of which Osteopathy was the core. A serious purpose is always at the bottom of every act of Dr. Still's life; but he has a bubbling sense of humor and a keen appreciation of the ludicrous. Often when appearing most serious, a look at his eyes will detect a sparkle betokening a suppression of mirth. His every act has a serious purpose, yet its lesson may be impressed upon others in a most ludicrous way. He was at times a consummate actor. On one occasion when delivering an address in Memorial Hall on the struggle and victories of Osteopathy, he became eloquent in portraying its possibilities in the future. He worked his audience up to the highest pitch of interest and plead with those present to raise high the banner of Osteopathy when he should have ceased his labor and been called to his eternal reward. Suddenly his words grew faint, he began to totter, and fell to the floor as one dead. Those nearest rushed to the platform, and his son Harry used osteopathic restorative measures. Very soon he rose to his feet and that well-known twinkle of his eve told that he had been feigning. Almost every one present breathed a sigh of relief, and the Old Doctor laughed heartily at the excitement he had caused. Before graduating from the American School of Osteopathy in June, 1900, I was honored with the offer of a position on the faculty of the school. After mature deliberation, I declined the offer and at once notified the management of my decision. A few evenings later the Old Doctor and I were walking along the street. He was not very communicative upon that occasion, but we had kept up a more or less desultory conversation. As we were passing along the street in the twilight, opposite the school building, he stopped suddenly, caught the lapel of my coat, gave it a sudden jerk, and turned me so we were facing each other. Without any preliminary remark he said: "I was in hopes we would have you with us next year, but you have done the wise thing. Heretofore you have been every man's dog, now go out and be a God's man." As soon as he had finished speaking he relaxed his hold upon my coat, turned, and went on as if the walk had not been interrupted. It seemed to me then, and has ever since, that that one statement, made as it was, contained more sound sense than any I had ever heard before or have heard since. Later we engaged in conversation about the work of a teacher. His remarks showed that he was familiar with the vicissitudes of those engaged in that work and that he was in hearty sympathy with all who were trying to improve humanity. Dr. Still is a master workman. He knows just where and how to take hold of a patient, and just how much force to apply at every stage of a treatment. He says: "An intelligent head will soon learn that a soft hand and a gentle move is the hand and head that get the desired results." Two personal incidents will make this point clearer. One evening during a reception on Dr. C. E. Still's lawn, the Old Doctor and I went away to avoid the crowd. We were talking on the subject nearest to our hearts, Osteopathy. The examination of a patient was the topic. He turned to me, and suiting his actions to his words, placed his hands upon my neck and back and demonstrated his meaning. No one else ever taught me so much in so short a time. On another occasion, while I was engaged in clinic practice, he met me in the infirmary hall and said in his direct way, "Come in here." We entered the nearest treating room and he said he wanted me to treat his neck, which was stiff from a cold. He knew just where the trouble was and just what he wanted me to do. With one hand against the neck and the other on his head as instructed, I undertook to follow his directions. In a very gentle and kindly voice he said, "Don't do so much with the hand on my head." I lessened, as I thought, the amount of force applied; but he said, with more earnestness than before, "Don't do so much with the hand on the head." I relaxed my tension still more, as I thought, but had not conformed to his ideal. Suddenly he blurted out: "Don't do so much with the hand on the head. A man's neck is not a bull's neck." Before we parted, thinking he might have hurt my feelings, he said, "You must not get mad at what I say, I want to make an osteopath of you."' No other lesson ever impressed so forcibly upon my mind the difference between a trained osteopath and one who is not thoroughly skilled in his business. Dr. Still's individuality, his eccentricities, often his impetuosity, have forced many thoughtless persons to give him respectful attention, and put them in a frame of mind to learn a valuable lesson that, under other conditions, would have been lost. Dr. Still is a master diagnostician as well as a master workman. He is so thoroughly familiar with the normal conditions of the human body that he recognizes departures from the normal with marvelous precision. Not only does he recognize the presence of an abnormality, but he knows just the nature of the deviation and the primary condition as distinguished from the effects produced by that condition. I well remember once seeking information concerning the conditions of a patient's neck. I said to Dr. Still, "I have gotten far enough along to know sometimes that there is something wrong with a neck, but often I can not tell what the trouble is." He replied, "I have studied miles of necks and find that I have a great deal to learn yet." Those who have been with Dr. Still much have seen scores of cases in which men, women, and children have expressed in words, and shown by their actions their appreciation of what he had done for them byway of relief from suffering, or absolute cure of disease. The most recent incident of the kind witnessed by the writer, occurred at the Inside Inn, World's Fair, St. Louis, while the American Osteopathic Association was in session, in July, 1904. Mrs. J. L. Cornelius, St. Louis, had been restored to health in a few weeks by Dr. Still in 1893, after a prolonged disturbance in the hip and an equally prolonged series of tortures under treatment by the best medical doctors and surgeons. She had just met him for the first time since her cure, and her womanly expression of her gratitude, and the equally manly reception of her story by Dr. Still, brought tears to every eye present. There were no hysterical demonstrations, nothing but unmistakable evidences of appreciation on her part, and nothing but a simple expression of thankfulness on Dr. Still's part that he had been instrumental in serving others. Such scenes as that, not uncommon, give a true insight into Dr. Still's character, such as can not be obtained by reading his writings or hearing him talk.
A chapter might be devoted to the wise sayings of Dr. Still. They are scattered all through his writings. They are found in varied forms in his addresses, and they crop out in his conversation. Note the following: "Be kind in thought to the atoms of life." "The supposed ignorance of God is the pill doctor's opportunity." "Our theologian are usually much better to God than to themselves." "Basic principles must at all times precede each philosophical conclusion." "To know all of a bone in its entirety would close both ends of an eternity." "Not a known victory for drugs stands upon record today, without doubt or debate." "God manifests Himself in matter, motion, and mind. Study well His manifestations." "Timidity takes possession of us only when we are at loss to judge of the end from the beginning." "Every advance step taken in Osteopathy leads one to greater veneration of the Divine Ruler of the universe." "Osteopathy does not look on a man as a criminal before God to be puked, purged, and made sick and crazy." "If because I denounce drugs you call me a Christian Scientist, go home and take half a glass of castor oil and purge yourself of such notions." "Some people have an idea that this science can be learned in five minutes. If you can learn all of Osteopathy in four years, I will buy you a farm and a wife to run it and boss you." "My father was a progressive farmer and was always ready to lay aside an old plow if he could replace it with one better constructed for its work. All through life I have ever been ready to buy a better plow." "Our greatest men have only to look over their shoulders to see their fathers and mothers toiling with grain and herds. None but fools would fail to love the honest mother's grave who lived and died on the farm." "The man who lives an honest life has influence from merit only. God himself has put merit only in all things. Policy is the soft soap of liars and hypocrites, which a man never borrows nor pays unless he doubts his own merits. A just and wise man needs no such help." Those who are best acquainted with Dr. Still know him only with love and admiration. His many excellent personal qualities as well as his great work in discovering and formulating the principles of Osteopathy and in founding a new science and art of healing, endear him to those who know him best. His native simplicity and directness are qualities that are characteristic of a great man. Many have remarked on the similarity in many respects between Dr. Still and the immortal Lincoln. We know that any comparison between them might be misleading, because of the difference in the trend of the life work of the two great men. With confidence that the future will justify our estimate of his life and work, the following lines referring to Lincoln in Lowell's Commemoration Ode are quoted, because they are equally applicable to the subject of this sketch, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. "Standing like a tower, |