This book provides a first hand narrative of Andrew Taylor Still’s life and the development of Osteopathy. This is the first edition of this work and is slightly longer than the second edition. This edition was published the first time June 15, 1897 by Still in Kirksville, MO. He states in the preface that this work is a collection of the truth of his life as he remembers it, and suggests that facts and figures may not be perfectly accurate as he took no notes in his life. He describes frontier living as a boy and young man. He talks about his becoming a physician and all that entailed. His political stand is evidenced by his support of the Free State movement in Kansas in the 1860s. He also discusses how Osteopathy developed out of his need to find something better than what medical practice had to offer at the time. The book outlines how Still began to train others in this work. Included are also some transcriptions of speeches given at birthdays and school events. Written in his own plain English style, this book provides a clear picture of the old doctor.

THE AUTHOR A.T.Still, the founder of osteopathic medicine was born in Virginia in 1828. After serving an apprenticeship under his father, he completed additional coursework at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kansas City, Missouri, He went on to serve as a surgeon in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the Civil War and following the death of three of his children from spinal meningitis in 1864, Still concluded that the orthodox medical practices of his day were ineffective and devoted the next ten years of his life to studying the human body and finding better ways to treat disease. His research and clinical observations led him to believe that the musculoskeletal system played a vital role in health and disease and that the body contained all of the elements needed to maintain health if properly stimulated. Still believed that by correcting problems in the body‘s structure, through the use of manual techniques, the body’s ability to function and to heal itself could be greatly improved. He also promoted the idea of preventive medicine and endorsed the philosophy that physicians should focus on treating the whole patient (“triune nature of man”), rather than just the disease. At the time, these beliefs formed the basis of a new medical approach, osteopathic medicine.