Between two and three years of study in Europe gave Dr. Stillé a fine training for his lifework. Returning to Philadelphia, he began practice, wrote for journals, taught students, and gradually there came to him reputation and recognition. After lecturing on pathology and the practice of medicine in the Philadelphia Association for Medical Instruction he was elected, in 1854, to the chair of practice in the Pennsylvania Medical College. In 1864 he succeeded Dr. Pepper (primus) (q. v.) in the chair of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. While always a student, he was no hermit, but from the start took a deep interest in the general welfare of the profession. He was the first secretary of the American Medical Association, and president in 1867. The local societies recognized his work and worth, and he became president of the Pathological and of the County Medical Societies, and in 1885 he took the chair of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He was from the outset of his career a strong advocate for higher medical education, and from 1846—the date of his first address on the subject—to 1897—the date of his last—he pleaded for better preliminary training and for longer sessions. No one rejoiced more in the new departure of the University in 1876, and he was a consistent advocate of advanced methods of teaching.
His medical writings show on every page the influence of his great master. His first important work. "The Elements of General Pathology," 1848, was based on the modern researches, and every chapter echoed with his favorite motto. Tota ars medica est in observationibus.
Apart from numerous smaller articles in the journals, there are two important monographs by him—one on "Cerebrospinal Meningitis," 1867, and the other on "Cholera." In addition, two minor studies were on "Dysentery." in the publications of the United States Sanitary Commission, and on "Erysipelas."
Estimated by bulk, the most important of Dr. Stillé's works are the "Materia Medica and Therapeutics" and the "National Dispensatory." It was always a mystery to me how a man with his training and type of mind could have undertaken such colossal and, one would have thought, uncongenial tasks.
Dr. Stillé was not only a booklover, but a discriminating and learned student. Our shelves testify not less to his liberality than to his taste for rare and important monographs, while the Stillé Library of the University of Pennsylvania will remain a monument to his love of the literature and history of our profession- It interested me greatly, and I only knew him after he had passed his seventieth year, to note the keenness of his mind on all questions relating to medicine. He had none of those irritating features of the old doctor, who, having crawled out of the stream about his fortieth year, sits on the bank, croaking of misfortunes to come, and, with less truth than tongue, lamenting the days that have gone and the men of the past. Hear the conclusion of the whole matter—the lesson of a long and good life. It is contained in a sentence of his valedictory address: "Only two things are essential to live uprightly and to be wisely industrious."
Dr. Stillé was twice married. His first wife had to be kept in an asylum and when she died he married an old and intimate friend.
He died in Philadelphia, on September 24, 1900.
Stillé, Moreton (1822–1855)
Moreton Stillé, medico-legal expert, youngest son of John and Maria Stillé, was born in Philadelphia, October 27. 1822. On his mother's side he was descended from Tobias Wagner, who was appointed chancellor of the University of Tubingen in 1662; by his father he was chiefly of Swedish descent Taking his preparatory training at the Edgehill Seminary, Princeton, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, in 1838, whence he graduated in 1841. In 1844 he received his medical degree from the same university. His preceptor was his brother, the equally famous Dr. Alfred Stillé (q. v.). For several years Moreton studied in Dublin, London, Paris, and Vienna; then, returning home, he entered into practice and became, in 1848–9, resident physician at the Pennsylvania Hospital. Recognition had begun to come and the year of his death, 1855, he was elected to a professorship, or rather lectureship, that of internal medicine in the Philadelphia Association for Medical Instruction.
He wrote frequently and well, his most important writings relating to matters connected with the subject of medical jurisprudence. His journal articles are to be found chiefly in The American Journal of the Medical Sciences. Together with the distinguished
