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FLINT, AUSTIN. 



FLINT, AUSTIN, an American physician, born 

 in Petersham, Mass., Oct. 20, 1812 ; died in 

 New York city, March 13, 1886. Dr. Flint 

 came of a long line of professional ancestors, 

 his great-grandfather, Edward, his grandfather, 

 Austin, and his father, Joseph Henshaw, hav- 

 ing all been medical practitioners of note. Dr. 

 Austin Flint received his classical education 

 partly at Amherst, and partly at Harvard. In 

 the medical school of the latter he took his 

 degree in 1833, and began practice in Massa- 

 chusetts, but removed to Buffalo, N. Y., in 

 1838. He rose to distinction in his profession 

 and in the course of ten years had earned an 

 almost national reputation. In 1846 he found- 

 ed the ''Buffalo Medical and Surgical Jour- 

 nal," which he conducted until 1856. In 1847 



AUSTIN FLINT. 



he assisted in founding the Buffalo Medical 

 College, in which he held the place of Profess- 

 or of Medicine, for five years, when he ac- 

 cepted a similar chair in the University of 

 Louisville / where he remained four years, re- 

 turning in 1856 to the Buffalo College, and as- 

 suming the professorship of Pathology and 

 Clinical Medicine. In 1858 he went to New 

 Orleans, and there spent the following three 

 winters as physician in Charity Hospital, and 

 as Professor of Clinical Medicine. He had re- 

 moved his family to New York city in 1859, 

 and in 1861 was appointed one of the physi- 

 cians to Bellevue Hospital, and also Professor of 

 Pathology and Practical Medicine in the Long 

 Island College Hospital. The Medical College 

 connected with Bellevue Hospital was found- 

 ed in 1862, and Dr. Flint was one of the 

 original members of its faculty. His chair was 

 that of the Principles and Practice of Medicine, 

 and Clinical Medicine. He performed the du- 

 ties of the place until his death. While Dr. 



Flint gave to his profession some results of 

 original research, it was as a teacher and au- 

 thor, as a clear judge and applier of the dis- 

 coveries of others, and as a consulting physi- 

 cian, that his brethren especially valued him ; 

 while his kindness, his wisdom, and his chari- 

 ties made him beloved by all classes. Dr. 

 Flint was consulting physician to the Charity 

 Hospital, to the Hospital for the Ruptured and 

 Crippled, to St. Mary's Hospital, and to St. 

 Elizabeth's Hospital. From 1872 till 1885 he 

 held the office of President of the New York 

 Academy of Medicine, but resigned when that 

 body adopted the code permitting consulta- 

 tions with physicians of other than the "regu- 

 lar " school. Dr. Flint was President of the 

 American Medical Association in 1884. He 

 was an active member of many American medi- 

 cal societies, as well as corresponding member 

 of foreign bodies, both medical aud scientific. 

 He was a delegate to the International Medical 

 Congress that assembled in Philadelphia in 

 1876, and there delivered his best-known essay 

 on medicine. In 1881 he was present at the 

 Medical Congress held in London, and in 1884 

 at the meeting of the same body in Copenha- 

 gen, and was elected to preside at the Con- 

 gress to be held in Washington in 1887. 



Among his many contributions to the litera- 

 ture of his profession were essays on "The 

 Variations of Pitch in Percussion and Respira- 

 tory Sounds," and " On the Clinical Study of 

 the Heart-Sounds in Health and Disease." 

 These papers received the first prizes given by 

 the American Medical Association in 1852 and 

 Io59. Other works comprise " Clinical Re- 

 ports on Continued Fever" (Buffalo, 1852); 

 " Clinical Report on Chronic Pleurisy " (1853) ; 

 "Clinical Report on Dysentery " (1853); 

 "Physical Exploration and Diagnosis of Dis- 

 eases affecting the Respiratory Organs " (Phila- 

 delphia, 1856; third ed., 1868); "Practical 

 Treatiseon Diseases of the Heart" (1859; second 

 ed., 1870); "Treatise on the Principles and 

 Practice of Medicine,'' of which more than 40,- 

 000 copies have been sold (1866; fifth ed., 

 1881) ; " Contributions relating to Camp-Dis- 

 eases" (New York, 1867); "Essays on Con- 

 servative Medicine and Kindred Topics " (Phil- 

 adelphia, 1874); "Phthisis, its Morbid Anato- 

 my, Etiology, Symptomatic Events and Com- 

 plications, Fatality and Prognosis, Treatment 

 and Physical Diagnosis" (1875); "Manual of 

 Auscultation and Percussion " (1876); "Clin- 

 ical Medicine, a Systematic Treatise on the 

 Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease" (1879); 

 " Physical Exploration of the Chest by Means 

 of Auscultation and Percussion" (1882); and 

 "Medical Ethics and Etiquette" (New York, 

 1883). Prof. Flint had been appointed to read 

 the address on medicine before the British 

 Medical Association at its meeting in 1886. 

 The address, entitled " Medicine of the Fu- 

 ture," was found complete among his papers, 

 and was published posthumously (New York. 

 1886). 



