History & Highlights

“Hoping that a love of truth will prevail over rivalry and dissension”

- R.D. Mussey in his Inaugural Address to the Academy of Medicine

Opened in November 1852
Chief rival to Medical College of Ohio
Founding faculty included R.D. Mussey
and George Mendenhall
-Both Presidents of AMA
Graduation requirements were 2 courses of lectures
(4 months each), 3 years of study under a respectable
practitioner, a thesis and passing an oral exam
Affiliated with Good Samaritan Hospital
Tuition was $105 for both courses,
plus $25 graduation fee
5 graduates in 1853

Founded in 1857 by the integration of the Cincinnati Chirurgical
Society and the Cincinnati Medical Society
Oldest medical society in continual existence in the West
First President was Reuben D. Mussey (1780-1866)
Forum for medical discussion, advocacy, community service
and maintenance of professional standards

Expenditures:
- Average cost for inpatient stay $4.28/week
- Resident physician salary $300/yr
Patients:
- 2441 total admissions
- 155 births and 319 deaths
Common medical diagnoses:
- Asiatic cholera (236 cases, 142 deaths)
- Intermittent fever (178 cases, no deaths)
- Diarrhea (137 cases, 11 deaths)
- Phthisis pulmonalis (104 cases, 25 deaths)
- Delirium tremens (66 cases, 6 deaths)
- Mental imbecility (5 cases, no deaths)

“At that time it was the most magnificent structure of the kind on the continent”

Cincinnati Hospital Women and Children’s Ward

Cincinnati Hospital Intern Class

Obtained medical diploma from University of Maryland in 1851
Surgeon in Army during Civil War
Moved to Cincinnati in 1864 and joined faculty of MCO
- Became Professor of Practice of Medicine in 1874
Published textbook “Materia Medica and Therapeutics”
Founded and edited The Clinic
First to perform direct electrical stimulation on
a human patient’s brain, in 1874
- Published results of his study and received
widespread censorship
Founding member of the American Neurological
Association in 1875
- ANA President in 1881