DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEACHING OF ANATOMY
IN OHIO,
1890-1945
by LINDEN F. EDWARDS
Professor of Anatomy, Ohio State
University
In America during the nineteenth century
there was an un-
precedented expansion of population over
an enormous territory.
This situation created a huge demand for
doctors with the result
that proprietary medical colleges under
private ownership were
founded in great numbers. According to
Flexner American towns
produced over four hundred such medical
schools and the city
of Cincinnati alone witnessed at least
twenty.1
In regard to the status of anatomical
instruction in these schools
it should be pointed out that, in spite
of the fact that many pro-
fessors of anatomy were excellent
teachers and skilled with the
scalpel and probe, nevertheless, they
were for the most part physi-
cians or surgeons foremost and teachers
secondarily. Moreover,
since adequate dissection material was
oftentimes difficult to obtain,
memorization of anatomic details from
textbooks superseded actual
laboratory experience. According to
Rauch some of the students
as late as 1889-90 graduated without
having ever dissected.2 Dr.
Simon Flexner once stated that when he
studied medicine he was
one of 500 students who watched a
prosector dissect.3 Naturally
this state of affairs in American
anatomical teaching throughout
most of the nineteenth century failed to
bring forth any contri-
butions to the science of anatomy and
merely served to render the
subject sterile.
Up to this period the subject of anatomy
was limited to gross
anatomy in accordance with the Greek
concept (the word "anatomy"
is derived from a Greek word meaning
"to cut up"). With the
1 Abraham Flexner, Medical Education in the United States and Canada (New
York, 1910), 6.
2 John H. Rauch, Medical Education, Medical Colleges
and the Regulation of the
Practice of Medicine in the United
States and Canada 1765-1891 (Springfield,
Ill.,
1891), xxvii.
3 Florence Sabin, Franklin Paine
Mall, The Story of a Mind (Baltimore, 1934),
124.
329
330
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
improvement of the microscope and the
subsequent studies and de-
scription of the minute structure of
organs and tissues the science of
histology arose (between 1830 and
1850).4 Further technical im-
provements (such as the Abbe condenser,
immersion lens, a sliding
microtome, alcohol fixation, development
of dyes for staining tis-
sues, and of Canada balsam, paraffin and
celloidin imbedding
media) permitted the study of individual
cells and thus the science
of cytology arose.5
The science of embryology was also
founded during this period,
Von Baer (1792-1876) being credited as
the "Father of Em-
bryology" because of his discovery
of the germ-layer method of de-
velopment. Some of the outstanding
events in this field during the
nineteenth century were the description
of fertilization (1875 by
0. Hertwig), detail description of
segmentation of the mammalian
ovum (1875 by Van Beneden), the
discovery that chromosomes
are derived in equal numbers from the
two parents (1883-87 by
Van Beneden), and a systematic account
of early human embry-
ology (1880 by His).6
Another division of anatomy which gained
scientific status
during the early part of the nineteenth
century was neurology.7
Most of the old or theoretical concepts
of the nervous system were
broken down and many new ones were
formulated as a result of
renewed interest in the gross and
microscopic structure of and
physiologic experiments on the brain,
spinal cord, nerves, and sense
organs. The pioneer work of Sir Charles
Bell and Francois Magen-
die between the years 1811 and 1834 on
the functional analysis of
nerves seems to have been the spark
which set off a whole series
of remarkable discoveries including the
structure of nerve fibers,
Wallerian degeneration, the idea of
reflex action, and the discovery
of central pathways and functional
divisions of the brain.
Meanwhile, interest was quickened in
general biology, in-
cluding comparative anatomy, and the
foundations of modern
biology were laid by such investigators
as Charles Darwin, Gregor
4 Flexner, op. cit.; C.
R. Bardeen Anatomy in America (University of Wis-
consin, Bulletin No. 115, Science Series,
III, No. 4, Madison, 1904, 85-208).
5 G. W. Corner, Clio Medica III.
Anatomy (New York, 1930), 44-45.
6 Ibid., 50-52.
7 Ibid., 56-62.
TEACHING OF ANATOMY IN OHIO 331
Mendel, Thomas Huxley, Ernst Haeckel,
Johann Meckel, Georges
Cuvier, and Sir Richard Owen.
This period witnessed also the founding
of the science of
anthropology which was a definite
outgrowth of the biologic and
evolutionary thinking of the nineteenth
century.
The biological aspect of anatomy
nurtured in European, and
especially in German, universities was
brought to the United States
during the latter years of the
nineteenth century by American stu-
dents who had been trained in these
universities. Notable among
these missionaries of science were Drs.
William H. Welch and
Franklin P. Mall, who, more especially
than any others, lifted the
basic sciences in America out of the
doldrums into which they had
drifted for 200 years, furnished the
impulse for scientific investi-
gation, and established modern
institutional medical training on a
biological and a university basis.
In view of the important role that Dr.
Mall played in in-
augurating modern anatomical teaching in
the United States a
brief sketch of his career is
appropriate at this point. He was
graduated from the medical department of
the University of Michi-
gan in 1883. The following year he
studied in Heidelberg Uni-
versity where he became interested in
the structure of the eye and
nervous system. The next two years he
spent at Leipzig where he
studied embryology under Professor
William His and physiology
and histology under Professor Carl
Ludwig. As a result of these
three years of study Mall not only had
his scientific interests
aroused but was sold on the principles
of the German university,
namely, freedom for the teacher to
express his own views and free-
dom for the student to outline his own
course, to choose his own
teachers, and to pursue science for its
own sake.
Upon his return to the United States in
1886 Mall was ap-
pointed fellow in pathology, then
assistant under Dr. Welch at
Johns Hopkins University for three
years. In 1889 he was appointed
adjunct professor of anatomy at Clark
University where he re-
mained until 1892. The next year he
spent at the University of
Chicago where he organized the
department of anatomy. Here he
had planned to establish a biological
institute not only for the
scientific training for medicine but
also for experimental biology.
332
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
However, in the fall of 1893, he
accepted a professorship in anatomy
in the Johns Hopkins Medical School
which had just opened its
doors to students. He served in this
capacity until his death on
November 17, 1917, at the age of 55.
His contributions to modern anatomy may
be summarized as
follows: he devised adequate methods for
embalming and storing
bodies, as a result of which dissection
lost its hasty and haphazard
character; he built up an anatomy
department in which anatomy
was taught as an independent science and
not merely as practical
preparation for medicine and surgery; he
introduced the inductive
method of teaching anatomy as a
substitute for the didactic method
and de-emphasized memorizing of facts;
he enlarged the scope of
anatomy to include not only gross
anatomy but also histology, em-
bryology, neurology, and anthropology;
he directed his students
in the methods of anatomical research;
he trained many students
who became professional anatomists and
who carried his ideas of
anatomical teaching to other
laboratories (about 25 positions in
anatomy were filled from his department)
as a result of which full-
time specialists in anatomy gradually
supplanted the part-time
professors who had divided their time
between teaching anatomy and
practicing medicine and surgery.8
Needless to say Mall's reforms in the
teaching of anatomy
were not adopted overnight and
simultaneously by all the depart-
ments of anatomy in this country. In
Ohio their adoption by anat-
omy professors was gradual and was
correlated with the evolutionary
trends in medical education and with the
reorganizations of medical
schools and faculties in the state
during and since the last decade
of the nineteenth century.
In the year 1890, which marks the
beginning of the period cov-
ered in this paper, there were at least
twenty medical colleges in
the state of Ohio, only three of which
were affiliated with educa-
tional institutions. These three were
the medical department of
Toledo University (Toledo Medical
College), the Medical Depart-
ment of Western Reserve University, and
the medical department of
Wooster University (Cleveland College of
Physicians and Sur-
geons).9
8 Sabin, op. cit.
9 American Medical Directory (17th ed., Chicago, 1942), 93-94.
TEACHING OF ANATOMY IN OHIO 333
The story of the fate of these
twenty-odd Ohio medical col-
leges is of great interest to medical
historians but is not within the
scope of this paper. It should be stated
briefly, however, that by
processes of merger and gradual
extinction the number was reduced
to the present three which enjoy genuine
university affiliation. These
are the Western Reserve University
School of Medicine, which was
founded in 1881 by the merger of part of
the faculties of the
medical departments of Western Reserve
College and of Wooster
University;10 the University
of Cincinnati College of Medicine which
was organized in 1909 by the union of
the Medical College of Ohio
and the Miami Medical College;11 and the
Ohio State University
College of Medicine which was
established in 1914 as an outgrowth
of the Starling-Ohio Medical College.12
The birth of these three Ohio medical
colleges sounded the
death knell for proprietary medical
schools in this state. Through-
out most of the period of existence of
the latter schools the teach-
ing of anatomy in Ohio followed
essentially the same pattern as
this type of medical instruction
elsewhere. That is, the course in
anatomy was the old-fashioned variety
consisting of didactic lec-
tures by practicing surgeons in bare,
comfortless amphitheaters, il-
lustrated by demonstrations on cadavers
and of rapid practical dis-
sections on bodies which were often
limited in number and poorly
preserved. Anatomy laboratories were
barren, sordid, and poorly
lighted. The dissections were done
mainly at night in the midst of
a noisy, disorderly crowd of tobacco
smoking and chewing youths
under supervision of demonstrators who
were usually aspiring
young surgeons.13
Routine memorization of textbook
descriptions in preparation
for examinations in anatomy was
emphasized rather than training
of observation and manual dexterity on
the dissections.
Of course even in these institutions
before they became ex-
tinct changes occurred and progress was
made in the methods of
anatomical instruction, the reasons for
which could be attributed to
10 Frederick C.
Waite, Western Reserve University, Centennial History of the
School of Medicine (Cleveland, 1946), 168.
11 Otto Juettner, Daniel Drake and
his Followers (Cincinnati, 1909), 335.
12 The Ohio State University College of Medicine, A Collection of Source
Material
Covering a Century of Medical
Progress 1834-1934 (Blanchester, Ohio,
1934), 334.
13 Bardeen, op.
cit., 137.
334
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
various factors. Chief among these were
the reforms inaugurated
by the American Medical Association and
the Association of Amer-
ican Medical Colleges, as well as the
stimulating effect which
state board examinations had on more
adequate preparation. Dur-
ing this transitional period of medical
institutions progress was
made also in the teaching of microscopic
anatomy although it re-
mained separate from the department of
gross or descriptive anat-
omy for many years. Its various phases
were taught either as sepa-
ate disciplines or in conjunction with
other subjects. For example,
histology was usually taught in the
department of physiology, as
is done in Great Britain to this very
day, and embryology was some-
times presented separately or oftentimes
as a phase of obstetrics,
whereas neurology was within the domain
of the professor of
nervous and mental diseases who lectured
on the anatomy and
physiology of the nervous system.
For source material to illustrate the
development of anatomical
teaching in Ohio since 1890 the catalogs
of the various Columbus
medical colleges were utilized since
they were more readily avail-
able to the writer and it was assumed
that their curricula were
more or less representative of other
medical colleges in the state at
that time.14
In conformity with a long-prevailing
custom the catalogs, or
annual announcements, of these medical
colleges made a distinction
between descriptive anatomy and
dissection, or practical anatomy
as it was usually designated. In the
forty-fifth annual announce-
ment of Starling Medical College for the
session of 1891-92 the
course in anatomy was described thus:
The equipment of this department is
complete, embracing a great num-
ber of osteological specimens and other
preparations both human and com-
parative, models, casts, plates and
diagrams. These as well as recent dissec-
tions and aids from comparative anatomy
and embryology, will be employed
to make the lectures full and
scientific.
By comparison with the descriptions of
courses in gross anatomy
in the catalogs of modern medical
colleges the above description
is not very lucid as to the content of
the course in descriptive
anatomy. It is of interest to note that
the same description, with
14 These
catalogs were obtained from the files in the office of the dean of the
College of Medicine of the Ohio State
University.
TEACHING OF ANATOMY IN OHIO 335
only minor changes, appeared as early as
1883 in the thirty-seventh
annual announcement, prior to which time
the catalogs made
reference only to practical anatomy.
In the catalog for the session of
1891-92 the course in practical
anatomy was described as follows:
The Dissecting-rooms will be open early
in the term, under the direction
of the Demonstrator, who will furnish
material at moderate cost. The rooms
are well lighted by electricity, and
furnished with charts, and diagrams
necessary for full illustration of this
important department.
As a result of the passage of the
Anatomy Act, material is easily ob-
tained; and owing to the efficiency of
the Demonstrator and his assistants, we
have had an abundance of material, and
can guarantee the same in the future.
One of the requirements for graduation
was at least one course
of practical dissection and a successful
examination passed before
the faculty and officers of the college.
Subsequent catalogs of the Starling
Medical College from 1892
up to the year 1906 omitted all
descriptive matter pertaining to spe-
cific courses offered. During that
interim the catalogs merely stated in
the outline of the curriculum that in
the first two years anatomy
consisted of a certain number of
lectures and a certain number of
hours of practical anatomy per week.
However, a new departure
occurred in the sixtieth annual
announcement for the session of
1906-7 in which the various courses were
described in rather full
detail. Thus anatomy, it was stated,
is taught by lectures, quizzes,
demonstrations of dissected cadavers before the
class, laboratory study of the bones and
joints, practical dissection, the use of
dry specimens, manikins, models, charts,
etc. Particular attention is paid to
regional, surgical and applied anatomy.
In the dissecting room systematic
dissections of the cadaver are made to
aid the students in their work and each
student is required to pass a
satisfactory examination each week before credit
is given.
In the seventeenth and final annual
announcement of the
Columbus Medical College for the session
1891-92 it was stated
with reference to the topic Anatomy:
In the Department of Osteology our mode
of instruction is peculiar; and
our large cabinet, which includes
twenty-five skeletons, supplies the means of
making it effective. At the beginning of
each lecture specimens are distrib-
uted to the class, so that every group
of three or four students is supplied
with the bone under discussion. The
student is thus enabled to familiarize
336
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
himself with the points of each bone by
seeing and handling it. The course
in osteology consists of about
twenty-five lectures. The remainder of the
course, about seventy lectures, is
devoted to the soft parts, and is demonstrated
upon the cadaver.
Then under the topic Practical Anatomy
it was stated:
After the class has been well drilled in
osteology the Dissecting Room
will be opened. Every table will be
supplied with thoroughly injected mate-
rial. This preparation is indispensable
to the accuracy which we require; and
only such work will be accredited by the
Demonstrator or accepted by the
Faculty. In this connection it is proper
to state that it has always been the
practice of the institution to require
Three Full Dissections, which embrace
all the regions of the human body.
Students should be provided with a concise
dissector.
An interesting announcement was made in
this catalog to the
following effect: "It is our
intention in the future to make text
book instruction and quizzes more
prominent than heretofore. Thus
the students may be assigned a lesson
and, at a given hour, be
quizzed instead of hearing a lecture on
the subject." These inten-
tions might have been well meant, but in
1892 the college suspended
its existence as a separate teaching
institution and was merged into
the Starling Medical College. The daily
recitation plan was an-
nounced by the latter institution in its
bulletin for the session of
1897-98.
The Ohio Medical University, which first
opened its doors for
students in 1892, announced in its
bulletin:
However respectable the time honored
system of lecturing to medical
students may have been, we believe that
the progressive spirit of the times re-
quires a change; we therefore inaugurate
it by entirely abandoning all lectures
(except clinical), and teaching by
assigned topics and recitations.
The bulletins of this latter medical
institution specified from
the very first that the course in
descriptive anatomy would include
recitations and demonstrations in
osteology, syndesmology, myol-
ogy, splanchnology, and the circulatory
and nervous system, and
that practical anatomy would consist of
dissections, with study of
regional anatomy. Beginning with the
catalog for the year 1899-
1900 the term "Practical
Anatomy" was dropped in favor of the
word "dissections," under
which it stated: "Three full dissections
are required in the freshman year and
one in the sophomore year."
Prior to that date this institution had
from the very first required
TEACHING OF ANATOMY IN OHIO 337
a course in descriptive anatomy in the
sophomore year as well as
the freshman. In the catalog for the
year 1902-3 there appeared
for the first time a statement to the
effect that "students in Osteology
will be furnished skeletons, which may
be taken to their rooms for
study."
In 1907 Starling Medical College merged
with the Ohio Med-
ical University, the resulting
institution being designated as the
Starling-Ohio Medical College which
continued in operation until
1914 when it conveyed its property, both
real and personal, to the
board of trustees of the Ohio State
University.
The description of and requirements in
anatomy remained
essentially the same in the catalogs of
Starling-Ohio Medical Col-
lege for the first three annual sessions
as those in the last few
catalogs of the Ohio Medical University
which were more specific
and detailed than in those of the
Starling Medical College as
pointed out previously. However, quite a
marked change occurred
in the bulletin for the year 1909-10 in
which a rather detailed and
elaborate description of the anatomy
department was given, includ-
ing a note concerning the laboratory,
morgue, bone room, museum,
and amphitheater. Under the heading
Descriptive Anatomy it read:
The work in this department is conducted
by means of lectures, reci-
tations, demonstrations, and
dissections. The cadaver, dry and wet anatomical
preparations, charts and models, are
used. The instruction is given in a graded
course and extends throughout the first
three years of the curriculum. The
progress in anatomy is arranged as far
as possible to correspond with the
courses in Histology and Physiology.
In the first year osteology, arthrology,
myology and angiology, syndes-
mology and viscera are taken up in their
regular order and are supplemented
by frequent recitations, demonstrations
and by practical work in the dissecting
room where the structures are identified
and pointed out by the Demonstrator
of Anatomy and his assistants.
(a) Lectures and Recitations.-Both
semesters, five hours a week.
(b) Dissections.-The course in
dissection is arranged on a laboratory
basis, and the students are required to
dissect during specified hours, while
the Demonstrator and his assistants are
in attendance to supervise the work.
Ten hours a week are assigned for this
anatomical laboratory course, and a
period of eight weeks is allowed for
dissecting a part combined with systematic
demonstrations to small sections of the
class. The dissection of two parts-
upper and lower, are required in the
first year.
338
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
In the second year the course is
designed to be an advanced one. There
is a general review of the first year's
work. Then the gross and minute
anatomy of the brain and spinal cord is
taken up with special reference to
the functions of the nerve tracts. The
cranial and spinal nerves and sympa-
thetic nervous systems are also
completed during the first semester.
(a) Lectures and Recitations.-Both semesters,
four hours a week on the
structures specified.
(b) Dissections.-Each student is
required to dissect one part-the head
and neck, which completes the laboratory
anatomy of this year.
In the junior year a course in regional
anatomy was required.
It consisted of lectures and
recitations, two hours a week throughout
the year.
The aim is to present the subject of
Anatomy in its relation to practical
diagnosis and surgery. Topographical
anatomy is taken up in detail, giving
position and relations of tissues and
organs. The subject is taught in regions
from the cranium to the foot.
During this course special attention is
given to the gross and minute
anatomy of the organs of special sense
and to the anatomy of those parts which
form the basis for special subjects
taught during the junior and senior years,
such as ophthalmology, otology,
rhino-laryngology, gynecology, obstetrics, etc.
Liberal use is made of the cadaver,
sections and hardened preparations
as well as charts, models and diagrams,
in illustrating the lectures and
demonstrations.
If the descriptions of courses in
anatomy in the annual an-
nouncements of the other medical
institutions prior to this time
were as detailed as the two quoted above
the task of this essayist
would have been greatly reduced. The
descriptions of the courses
in 1909-10 are included here in order to
emphasize the fact that
courses in human anatomy were charted
for the future in that year.
In the first bulletin issued by the Ohio
State University College
of Medicine for the session of 1914-15
the descriptions of the
courses offered in descriptive (gross)
anatomy were essentially
similar to the above. However, in the
bulletin for the year 1915-16
pronounced innovations occurred: the
courses in anatomy were
assigned numbers as well as new titles;
descriptive material was
greatly reduced but was specific as to
content of the courses; the
study of gross anatomy and the
correlated courses in microscopic
anatomy was concentrated in the freshman
year; and, at long last,
the practice of distinguishing between
descriptive anatomy and dis-
TEACHING OF ANATOMY IN OHIO 339
sections was abolished. For example, the
first semester course in
anatomy in the freshman year was
described in part thus:
121 Human Anatomy: Six credit hours,
First Semester. Three lectures or
recitations, and eleven laboratory hours
per week. Required in the first year
College of Medicine. Osteology,
arthrology, syndesmology and myology.
The second semester course stipulated
the study of myology, angi-
ology, splanchnology, and the peripheral
nervous system. The
course previously entitled regional
anatomy was changed to the
more appropriate name of applied human
anatomy.
With the adoption of the quarter system
at the Ohio State
University in 1922 three five-hour
credit courses in human anatomy
were required in the freshman year, one
each in the autumn, win-
ter, and spring quarters, consisting of
one recitation and twelve
laboratory hours each week. The first
course comprised the anat-
omy of the abdomen and lower extremity;
the second the thorax
and upper extremity; and the third the
head and neck, including
the gross anatomy of the nervous system.
The same general plan
of courses prevails today.
The offerings in human anatomy were
greatly expanded be-
ginning in 1922. Thus the original
two-hour credit course in
applied human anatomy was changed to a
five-hour course called
topographical anatomy; a three-hour
elective course called special
advanced anatomy was introduced for
juniors and seniors enabling
them to pursue advanced study and
dissections; and a course in
visceral anatomy, which was required of
students in science nursing,
was offered that year for the first
time.
The science of modern histology, or the
microscopic anatomy
of normal tissues, was fathered in the
nineteenth century by the
German physiologist Johannes Muller and
some of his brilliant
pupils, included among whom was Albert
von Kolliker who wrote
the first formal text-book on the
subject.15 Until recent years his-
tology was traditionally taught in
connection with physiology or
pathology before it found its rightful
place as a phase of anatomy.
Regardless therefore of the department
in which this subject was
presented originally in the local
medical schools it rightfully de-
15 Fielding H. Garrison, An
Introduction to the History of Medicine (Philadelphia,
1929), 462.
340
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
serves honorable mention in this paper.
Bardeen, in a paper en-
titled "Anatomy in America,"
claimed that microscopic anatomy
was long neglected in most institutions
and that it did not become
a regular part of instruction even in
the better schools until the
seventies.16 Although the
annual announcements of the early years
of the Starling and Columbus medical
colleges were greatly lack-
ing in curricular details, in view of
Bardeen's statement it is
significant that in the catalog of
Starling Medical College for its
first session (1847-48) the claim is
made that "Microscopical Anat-
omy, which has quite recently assumed a
new importance, will be
taught." Equally interesting is the
following statement in the
catalog for the year 1875-76:
For purposes of demonstration in
Physiological and Pathological Anat-
omy, and for instruction in Microscopy,
through the liberality of the late
President of Trustees, W. S. Sullivant,
LL.D., the College is provided with
four fine microscopes and the best
collection of objectives, apparatus, books
on microscopy, etc., in the United
States. Care is taken to instruct students
in this important department.
It is also of interest that the first
catalog put out by the
Columbus Medical College (session of
1876-77) contains the claim
that "Physiology and Physiological
Anatomy will be fully illus-
trated by drawings and charts, by
numerous vivisections upon
animals, and by frequent use of the
microscope." As far as can be
ascertained from the annual catalogs no
formal course in histology
was offered by the Columbus Medical
College until its closing year
(session of 1891-92) at which time it
announced a course in
histology and pathology, stating:
"A laboratory course in micro-
scopic work is provided; and the college
has an equipment of
microscopes of modern and approved
construction for the use
of students. Practical instruction is
given in the technical pro-
cedures of section cutting, staining and
mounting."
Beginning with the session of 1880-81
Starling Medical Col-
lege offered a course in physiology and
histology. Starting with the
session of 1896-97, when the four-year
course was adopted, a
separate two-hour course in histology
was required, consisting of
four hours' laboratory work per week. A
detailed description of
16 Op. cit., 148-150.
TEACHING OF ANATOMY IN OHIO 341
the contents of this course was not
included in any of the catalogs
until the year 1906-7 at which time it
was stated the course com-
prised the use and care of the
microscope, the preparation, cut-
ting, and staining of tissues for
microscopic examination, and a
thorough study of the minute structure
of the different tissues and
organs. Careful and accurate drawings of
all structures examined
were required.
From its inception in 1892 the Ohio
Medical University offered
courses in general histology and
microscopy and special or oral
histology for advanced dental students.
At first the professor of
these courses also taught bacteriology
and pathology. Beginning
with the session 1904-5 histology was
transferred into the capable
hands of Professor F. L. Landacre who
also taught embryology.
He continued as professor of these two
courses in the Starling-
Ohio Medical College and in the College
of Medicine of the Ohio
State University.
In 1911 descriptive (gross) anatomy,
histology, and embry-
ology were combined into a single
division, as it was called, and in
1914, this division became the
department of anatomy of the Ohio
State University. Professor Landacre was
appointed head of the
department, and, since he had been
professor of comparative
anatomy, as well as of embryology and
histology in the depart-
ment of biology, of the Ohio State
University, the year 1914, marks
the beginning of a new era in anatomical
teaching in central Ohio,
a year when anatomy was merged with all
of its phases (compara-
tive, gross or descriptive, applied,
histology or microscopic, and
embryology or developmental) in a truly
university department.
As a matter of fact the department of
anatomy of the Ohio State
University enjoys the unique distinction
of being the only anatomy
department of a medical school in the
United States in which
comparative anatomy is taught, as this
important course in other
institutions is always offered in the
biology or zoology department.
As regards embryology the Columbus
Medical College made
no mention of any instruction in the
subject in any of its catalogs.
It was first mentioned in the
fifty-first annual announcement of
Starling Medical College for the session
1897, one year following
the adoption of the four-year program.
It was not indicated who
342
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
taught the course until the year 1903,
and a description of the
content of the course did not appear
until the year 1906, when,
under the heading Biology and Embryology
in the sixtieth annual
announcement, it was stated that
"in embryology the maturation
and fertilization of the ovum,
segmentation, germ layers and
development of the tissues and organs
constitute the work laid
down, together with special attention to
the human foetus, its
membranes, circulation, etc."
The first evidence of any instruction in
embryology being offered
by the Ohio Medical University was in
the year 1895 when the
catalog stated that obstetrics would
consist of clinical instruction
and recitations in embryology and the
theory and practice of
obstetrics. A separate course in
embryology was offered for the
first time in 1896 and was taught by
Professor Landacre who con-
tinued to teach this subject, along with
histology, throughout the
remaining life history of the Ohio
Medical University and of the
Starling-Ohio Medical College and thence
into the latter's offspring,
the College of Medicine of Ohio State
University, where it found
its rightful place in the department of
anatomy.
The science of neurology, or
neuroanatomy as it is now
termed to distinguish the gross and
microscopic structure of the
nervous system from the pathological,
has had a checkered career,
some of its phases having been taught in
descriptive and practical
anatomy, some in histology and
embryology, some in physiology
and pathology, and a great deal
originally in courses dealing with
nervous and mental diseases. The first
time this subject was taught
as a separately organized discipline
devoted exclusively to the
anatomy of the nervous system was in
1915 by Professor Land-
acre in the Ohio State University
department of anatomy. Previous
to that year its subject matter was
presented by Professod Land-
acre in his course in histology. In the
bulletin of the college of
medicine for the year 1915-16 the course
was described as "the
gross and microscopic structure of the
brain and spinal cord
including those phases of the embryology
of the central nervous
system not covered in the histology and
embryology courses."
Because of Professor Landacre's great
devotion to the Ohio
State University and of the influence he
exerted in shaping the
TEACHING OF ANATOMY IN OHIO 343
course of medical education in that and
other American universities
no more fitting conclusion to this paper
could be given than the
following quotation from the tribute
paid to him by his friend
and fellow neurologist, C. Judson
Herrick:
When the Medical School of the Ohio
State University was reorganized
the chair of anatomy was offered to
Doctor Landacre. The writer of this
sketch vividly recalls his admiration
for the course which he followed. He
accepted the appointment on condition
that the department of anatomy be
put on a proper university basis, with
recognition of the importance and scope
of anatomy as a science and not merely
as a necessary part of the professional
training of physicians. Both of these
interests have been zealously safe-
guarded.17
17 C. Judson Herrick,
"Francis Leroy Landacre," in Journal of Comparative
Neurology, LVIII (1933), 543-550.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE TEACHING OF ANATOMY
IN OHIO,
1890-1945
by LINDEN F. EDWARDS
Professor of Anatomy, Ohio State
University
In America during the nineteenth century
there was an un-
precedented expansion of population over
an enormous territory.
This situation created a huge demand for
doctors with the result
that proprietary medical colleges under
private ownership were
founded in great numbers. According to
Flexner American towns
produced over four hundred such medical
schools and the city
of Cincinnati alone witnessed at least
twenty.1
In regard to the status of anatomical
instruction in these schools
it should be pointed out that, in spite
of the fact that many pro-
fessors of anatomy were excellent
teachers and skilled with the
scalpel and probe, nevertheless, they
were for the most part physi-
cians or surgeons foremost and teachers
secondarily. Moreover,
since adequate dissection material was
oftentimes difficult to obtain,
memorization of anatomic details from
textbooks superseded actual
laboratory experience. According to
Rauch some of the students
as late as 1889-90 graduated without
having ever dissected.2 Dr.
Simon Flexner once stated that when he
studied medicine he was
one of 500 students who watched a
prosector dissect.3 Naturally
this state of affairs in American
anatomical teaching throughout
most of the nineteenth century failed to
bring forth any contri-
butions to the science of anatomy and
merely served to render the
subject sterile.
Up to this period the subject of anatomy
was limited to gross
anatomy in accordance with the Greek
concept (the word "anatomy"
is derived from a Greek word meaning
"to cut up"). With the
1 Abraham Flexner, Medical Education in the United States and Canada (New
York, 1910), 6.
2 John H. Rauch, Medical Education, Medical Colleges
and the Regulation of the
Practice of Medicine in the United
States and Canada 1765-1891 (Springfield,
Ill.,
1891), xxvii.
3 Florence Sabin, Franklin Paine
Mall, The Story of a Mind (Baltimore, 1934),
124.
329