KZTR4CTRI) KUOM Til K 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE COLLEGE OP PHYSICIANS OF 
PHILADELPHIA. 
THIRD SERIES, VOLUME IX. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
or 
Dr. AUSTIN F L I NT. 
J. M. DA COSTA, M.D., LL.D. 
Br 
Austin Flint, born October 12, 1812; died March 18, 1886. 
This life of nearly seventy-four years is the life of a physician of 
the greatest eminence; Practitioner, Hospital Physician, Clinical 
Observer, Author, Professor, Medical Philosopher. From the time 
ho began to labor, each year showed something gained, not to him 
alone, but to the world ; and it is with the public aspects of his career 
rather than with the circumstances of his private life, however 
attractive, that this sketch is intended to deal. 
Yet to the student of inherited qualities there is much of interest 
in the mere details of ordinary biographical description concerning 
Dr. Flint. Horn of New England parents, his lineage was strictly 
that of the profession in which he became so distinguished, lie was 
fourth in succession of a medical ancestry ; his grandfather was 
a highly esteemed Surgeon in the Army of the Revolution. A 
follower of Darwin and of Gallon might, indeed, ask, whether his 
love of the study of natural phenomena, his patience, his keenness DA COSTA, 
of observation, bis love of truth, were not transmitted traits, intensi- 
fied in each generation. His sturdy character and strong frame also 
were heirlooms, and with the good collegiate training he received at 
Amherst and at Harvard, fitted him well for his future career. 
Dr. Flint graduated in medicine at Harvard, in 1833, and at once 
began to practise in Boston. But he did not stay there long, most 
of his early professional life being spent in Buffalo, where, as editor 
of the liujfalo Medical Journal, which he started, and subsequently 
as one of the founders of the Buffalo Medical College, he began, by 
the ability of his writings and teachings, to attract general attention. 
His spreading reputation caused him to he called to the Chair of 
Theory and Practice of Medicine in the University of Louisville, 
and we find him there associated with Dr. Gross. This was the 
beginning of that warm friendship between these twe eminent men, 
which lasted through their lives. Each has feelingly recorded his 
appreciation of the other. “We were more than friends,” says 
Flint, in his Memoir of Dr. Gross; “esteem and affection are terms 
which, although superlatively qualified, express inadequately my 
attachment to him. I loved him.” In his Autobiography, Gross 
speaks of Flint as the American Leennec, of his lofty character, 
concluding a notice of his friend with the hope “ that it will be a 
long time before this noble man’s life will be rounded off by a full 
stop.” 
Dr. Flint remained four years in Louisville. In 1850 wo find 
him back in Buffalo, again connected with the Buffalo Medical Col- 
lege, and busy both ns writer and as practitioner. In the winter of 
1858, however, and for several winters subsequent, he filled the 
Chair of Clinical Medicine in the New Orleans School, and became 
practically familiar with some of the peculiarities of southern 
diseases. In 1859 he left Buffalo, and henceforth made the city of 
New York his home. From this time on, his success was very 
striking. As Professor first in the Long Island College Hospital, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DH. AUSTIN FLINT. 
as Professor and one of the main founders of the Bellevue Medical 
College, as Physician to Bellevue Hospital, as trusted consultant, as 
one to whom patients came from all parts. Dr. Flint was a very con- 
spicuous figure. His reputation became more and more national, and 
finally a source of pride to every physician in the land. As he did 
not allow himself to become immersed in the cares of family practice, 
he had sufficient leisure to write out his observations, and his active 
pen was not only recording the fruit of his studies, hut all the time 
sending forth valuable essays and monographs. Of the extraordinary 
care and industry with which he collected the facts that were to 
serve as the basis of his work, we may judge by a statement made 
by his son, the distinguished Professor of Physiology, that Dr. Flint 
had begun his records of cases in 1883, and had filled sixteen 
thousand nine hundred and twenty-two folio pages with them ; a 
statement more eloquent in its bare mention than the most elaborate 
panegyric on his marvellous industry and untiring energy. 
Thus laboring, thus famous, thus respected, making friends every- 
where by his kindliness, and courtesy, and manly bearing, age crept 
slowly and gently on him, scarcely whitening his hair, nor seaming 
his intellectual face, nor bowing his tall, handsome form, nor de- 
priving him of the least power of thought or of action, until he was 
called to rest by a death such as he had wished for, rapid, not linger- 
ing or painful. 
During his long and busy life Dr. Flint filled many posts of 
honor. Ho was President of the New York Academy of Medicine 
in 1872; in 1888 to 1884, President of the American Medical Asso- 
ciation ; and the unanimous voice of the country singled him out as 
the fittest person to he the President of the International Medical 
Congress, which was to meet in Washington. He was chosen, but 
did not live to do more than to begin some of the work of organiza- 
tion. He was a member of many learned societies, both here and 
in Europe, where his reputation was also great. He was a Corre- I)A COSTA, 
spending Member of the Academy of Medical Science in Palermo; 
an Honorary Member of the Medical Society of London, of the 
British Medical Association ; and we find his name on the short roll 
of the Foreign Honorary Members of the Clinical Society of London. 
Our College of Physicians made him a Fellow in 18G8. 
It can certainly not he alleged that his own profession did not 
recognize his distinguished sendees. The same cannot be said of 
our institutions of learning. It is a blot on their sagacity to detect 
and their desire to encourage true merit, that this writer, original 
investigator, thinker, known to every member of a liberal profession 
in every part of the civilized world, should have received no honorary 
recognition from a single college or university in his own country, 
with the honorable exception of Vale, which made him a Doctor of 
Laws in June, 1881. 
I trust it may not be regarded as violating the sanctity of private 
correspondence, if I extract from a letter to me in answer to one in 
which some congratulatory remarks were made about the degree 
which Yale had conferred on him, these sentiments so characteristic 
of the man. “ I value the honor much, hut no scientific or literary 
mark of distinction would weigh with me for anything, if I could 
not at the same time feel assured of the support and appreciation of 
my own profession, of those who are workers with mo in the same 
cause.” 
Dr. Flint received many tokens of the esteem in which he was 
held other than those of literary or scientific character. At the 
banquet at the Mansion House, given by the Lord Mayor to the 
members of the International Congress, when it met in London, at 
which nearly throe hundred persons from all nations sat down, ho 
was one of a few selected to reply to the toast “ Our Foreign 
Guests,” One of the largest and most elegant dinners over given 
in Philadelphia, was that of its physicians to Dr. Flint. The then 
President of our College, Dr. Stille, presided, and the warmth of BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF I>H. AUSTIN FLINT. 
expression and general good-will evinced toward the one whom all 
wanted to honor, loft no doubt of how fully he was appreciated. 
The two most fruitful connections of Dr. Flint with public institu- 
tions were with the Bellevue Hospital Medical College as Professor, 
and with the Bellevue Hospital as Physician. Through the one he 
influenced thousands of students, stood before them the model of all 
that is host in our profession, taught them with striking clearness and 
ability. His voice was full and well modulated, and he was very gener- 
ally regarded as an admirable, most instructive teacher. To the great 
teacher, of which only a few appear in every generation, teachers who 
with all solid acquirements have just enough, or let enough show, of 
the temperament of the orator, to warm, inspire, and impress, while 
they convey information, teachers who have a genius for their vocation, 
he did not belong; hut for real instruction, conveyed in a concise 
and direct manner, with the mark of truth stamped on it by high 
character, it would have been difficult to find a superior. His lec- 
tures, too, like his writings, showed this peculiarity. He cared 
little for maintaining consistency of views, abandoning doctrines 
without hesitation, as with the advance of science he became con- 
vinced of their inadequacy or incorrectness. In this respect, he 
resembled .John Hunter, who, in reply to one who told him that he 
had taught the opposite in previous years, gave the answer, “ never 
mind what I taught before, I believe this now to be the truth.” 
As physician to the Bellevue Hospital, he did a vast amount of 
clinical work. He recorded, he analyzed, he investigated, he en- 
riched medical literature by his connection with the institution. He 
took also great interest in the general management of the hospital, 
and was kind and attentive to its inmates. A tablet of brass sot on 
a panel of oak, erected in his memory at the hospital, by the Com- 
missioners of Public Charity and Correction, gratefully records that 
“As Physician to Bellevue Hospital for twenty-five years, he con- DA COSTA, 
tributed largely to its reputation by his character, acquirements, 
labors, and wise counsels.’’ 
Dr. Flint was a voluminous writer. Essays, reviews, monographs, 
and books flowed from his busy pen. Of his essays, which were 
chiefly on clinical subjects, the host known onefc were contributions 
to the American Journal of the Medical {sciences. The last article 
which he published himself was one on “ Mitral Cardiac Murmurs,” 
in the January number of 1886, in this Journal. 
Among his most noteworthy publications, which appeared sepa- 
rately, were the Prize Essay on “ Variations of Pitch in Percussion 
and Respiratory Sounds and their Application to Physical Diag- 
nosis,” 1852; “Clinical Report on Chronic Pleurisy,” Buffalo, 
1853, one of the best analyses of the subject that have to this day 
been made; and “Clinical Report on Dysentery,” 1853. These 
three, with his “ Clinical. Reports on Continued Fever,” were pub- 
lished in French in an octavo volume, Paris, 1854. 11 is fondness 
for diseases of the chest was illustrated by the monographs In; wrote 
on the subject; notably his Practical Treatise on the Physical 
Exploration of the Chat, 2d edition, 18f>f5, condensed from the first 
edition of 1866, and, in my judgment, not improved in some parts 
by the too rigid condensation ; Compendium of Percussion and 
Auscultation, 4th edition, 18(59; Practical Treatise on Diseases of 
the Heart, 2d edition, 1870; on J’hthisis, 1875, a treatise which 
will always retain its value on account of the close study of cases of 
the arrested disease; a Manual of Auscultation, 3d edition, 1883. 
Dr. Flint also wrote Fssays on Conset'vative Medicine, 1874; a 
work on Clinical Medicine, 1879, and contributed the articles on 
“Pulmonary Phthisis,” and on “Neuroses of the Heart,” to the 
System of Practical Medicine by American authors. Since his 
death, a very interesting little volume on the Medicine of the Future 
has appeared. It was intended to be the Address in Medicine at 
the British Medical Association in 188f5, and was found completed lIIOUK A I’ll ICA I. BKKTCII OF DU. AUSTIN FLINT. 
among his papers. In the insight it affords into his most cherished 
thoughts, it Ims almost the interest of an autobiography. 
But the work by which he is most widely known and has most 
influenced his generation, is his Treatise on tin Principles and 
Practice of Medicine, first issued in 1800, and now in the sixth 
edition. It is impossible to speak too highly of its merits. His 
knowledge differed from that of other men in being more exact, 
more precise, more personal; and this is reflected in his book, in 
its exactness, its precision, and in the tone of personal experience 
which pervades it. The work is the text-book of a large number of 
our colleges, and has shaped the thought and practice of thousands 
of American physicians. Nor is it in this country alone that its 
conspicuous excellence is acknowledged. “America may well be 
proud,” says the London Lancet, in its issue of March 12th of this 
year, “ of having produced a man whose indefatigable industry and 
gifts of genius have done so much to advance medicine; and all 
English-reading students must be grateful for the work he has left 
behind him. It has few equals in point of literary excellence or 
scientific learning, and no one can fail to study its pages without 
being struck by the lucidity and accuracy that characterize them.” 
Dr. Flint’s stylo shows to greater advantage in this treatise than 
anywhere else. It is concise, it is lucid, it is compressed, vet not 
monotonous or ungraceful. It must be owned that the diction of 
his earlier works was not attractive. Macaulay points out, with 
reference to Bacon, that his style was constantly becoming richer 
and softer, and more varied in expression in his later writings than 
in his earlier; the fancy was growing with the judgment, and not, 
us is almost invariably the ease, ripening first, and withering with 
the development of the sterner faculties. It was the same in the 
history of the mind of Dr. Flint. With the maturity and ripest 
state of these faculties, he gained greater variety, fulness, and attrac- 
tiveness of expression. We do not expect in scientific writing any- DA COSTA, 
thing but plain and clear language. Any efforts of the fancy, 
indeed, are out of place. But the diction need not be barren ; a 
rich and finished style is always an additional source of impressive- 
ness, and a great aid to memory. 
One of the most marked characteristics of Dr. Flint’s mind was its 
openness to new thoughts and impressions. We see this strikingly 
illustrated in the manner in which he accepted and advocated the 
bacterial theory of disease. It has been said that no man over sixty 
willingly adopts new facts and views. Such was certainly not the 
case with Dr. Flint. He believed us to be entering upon a revolu- 
tion in medicine through bacterial etiology. Neither the general 
applicability and importance nor the limitation of the theory are 
here being discussed. He may have greatly overrated its utility; 
but the proof, which the warm adoption of it affords, of the recep- 
tivity of his mind is indisputable. 
Dr. Flint was more than a mere recorder of facts. Me showed 
himself all through his life capable of taking the broad views of a 
medical philosopher. We see this trait in his studies on the “ Natural 
History of Disease;” in his essay on “Conservative Medicine, and 
kindred topics,” and in many of his casual addresses. Whether wo 
agree with these views or not, there is no question of the influence they 
have had on the profession. They are with Dr. Flint the expression 
of a natural bent of mind, strengthened, perhaps, by intimate contact 
in his youth with that thoughtful physician, Dr. James Jackson, 
whose private pupil he was. 
Dr. Flint, as is well known, was a strong advocate of the binaural 
stethoscope, and did more than any one to introduce its use. Ho 
was, in truth, a great believer in the advantage of instruments to 
aid us in detecting abnormal action within the body. “Much is 
to be expected from this source in the future,” he says, in his 
Medicine of the Future. “It seems to me certain that the principle BIOORAPIIICAL SKETCH OF DR. AUSTIN FLINT. 
of the telephone will, by and by, be applied to intrathoracic respira- 
tory and heart sounds, so that they will be transmitted to the ear 
with more distinctness than they now are by the binaural stetho- 
scope. The healthy and morbid sounds will then be so easily 
observed as to render the physical diagnosis of pulmonary affections 
in all cases a very simple problem.” He goes further; he predicts 
that, with improvements in instruments, we may some day be able 
to study normal and abnormal conditions ot the circulation in all the 
natural organs of the body “ by the sounds they make ” in the pro- 
cesses of secretion and excretion of nutrition and of morbid growths. 
At the time of Dr. Flint’s death, he was the acknowledged leader 
of American medicine. Ilis celebrated friend, Professor Dalton, in 
a warm tribute to his memory, has most truthfully said, “ It was the 
universal verdict, from which I have never heard a dissenting voice, 
that among all the eminent men of the profession in this wide 
country, bis was the name that would be inevitably selected as the 
first.” Wo may go further, with, perhaps, the single exception of 
Rush, there is no man, who, in his many sided capacity of teacher, 
author, and investigator, has had thus far as much influence on the 
medicine of this country as Austin Flint. No great discovery is 
linked to bis name, as to that of Morton or to that of Sims. But 
in his impress on the profession here, he stands preeminent. What 
will be the judgment on bis scientific labors in the future we cannot 
tell. The man whom everybody respected and liked, the upright, 
courteous gentleman who was with us as a leader actively at work 
hut yesterday, is not one to have meted out to him a verdict which 
posterity will surely accept. Yet no matter what the lapse of years, 
while openness of mind, energy directed to the best objects, perfect 
trust in the development of a great branch of science, the purest 
motives, the most steadfast industry, sympathy with all research 
and keenness in undertaking it, arc recognized as great traits, so BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. AUSTIN FLINT, 
long must this famed physician remain as a brilliant example of 
them. He is of those who do not need a monument. Impensa 
monument! supervacua est: memoria nostra durabit, si vitfl mcrui- 
mus, says the younger Pliny. Austin Flint’s memory certainly 
will; his life had deserved it.