The “Diplomate in Osteopathy”: From “School of Bones” to “School of Medicine”

Abstract

Abstract This article is the second installment in a series of 6 articles on the history of and controversies related to the DO degree. This article examines how Andrew Taylor Still made the transition from informally training apprentices to launching a formal chartered institution—the American School of Osteopathy. In its first decade of existence, Still expanded both the length and breadth of the curriculum and transformed his college from what he called a “school of bones” to a “school of medicine.” As this shift was occurring, J. Martin Littlejohn, then the dean of the American School of Osteopathy, questioned whether the DO degree was the appropriate degree to award its graduates.