Charles Karsner Mills

Charles Karsner Mills, M.D. (1845–1930), an American physician and an eminent neurologist, was called the dean of American neurology.

Charles Karsner Mills, M.D.

Mills was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from high school in Philadelphia then joined the Union Army during the American Civil War. He entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania and received his medical degree in 1869 and a Ph.D. in 1871. In 1916, the University of Pennsylvania awarded him an honorary LLD when he became Emeritus professor of neurology.

Mills practiced general medicine for ten years and after 1880, he devoted his practice to . He was appointed as a physician to the of the in Philadelphia.

Mills was affiliated with many hospitals in the Philadelphia area as an attending physician or as a consultant. He held various teaching positions at the in Philadelphia. He was professor of Nervous and Mental Diseases at the Philadelphia Polyclinic from 1883 to 1898; clinical Professor of Nervous Diseases at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania from 1889 to 1902; and lecturer on electrotherapeutics and clinical Professor of Nervous Diseases at the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania in 1872. He was interested in developing post graduate teaching at the Philadelphia Polyclinic. In 1914, he helped to organize the , and became a clinical professor in 1919. During World War I, he organized and taught neurology to .

Mills held numerous positions in . He was President of the in 1876; and president of the for the years 1893, 1896, and 1914. He founded the in 1906. He was President of the American Neurological Association in 1886 and 1924. He was a member of the , the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the , and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Mills published a textbook on the nervous system and its diseases in 1908. His bibliography includes over 250 journal articles. Many of his articles include with autopsies and . He gained three entries in describing for the first time a case of ascending paralysis in 1900, and a case of descending paralysis in 1906. He is interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. He died in 1930.

Works[]

Mills, Charles K. “Benjamin Rush and American Psychiatry,” The Medico-Legal Journal 4(3) (Dec. 8, 1886): 238-273.

Mills, Charles K. The Nervous System and its Diseases: A Practical Treatise on Neurology for the use of Physicians and Students. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1898. https://archive.org/details/cu31924104225093

Mills, Charles K. “Aphasia and the Cerebral Zone of Speech,” American Journal of the Medical-Sciences 127 (Jan. 1904): 275-392.

Mills, Charles K. The Nursing and Care of the Nervous and the Insane. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1905. https://archive.org/details/39002010916162.med.yale.edu

Mills, Charles K. Tumors of the Cerebellum. New York: Elliott, 1905. https://archive.org/details/tumorsofcerebell00mill

Mills, Charles K. “Psychotherapy: Its Scope and Limitations,” Monthly Cyclopaedia and Medical Bulletin (July 1908).

Mills, Charles K. “Concerning Cerebral Morphology in its Relation to Cerebral Localization,” Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease 42(6) (June 1915): 322-357.

References[]

Semi-Centennial Anniversary Volume, 1874-1924. American Neurological Association. Edited by Frederick Tilney and Smith E. Jelliffe. [Albany, NY], 1924.

Denny-Brown, Derek, ed., et al. Centennial Anniversary Volume of the American Neurological Association, 1875-1975. New York: Springer, 1975.

Norman, Jeremy M. Morton’s Medical Bibliography: An Annotated Checklist of Texts Illustrating the History of Medicine. Aldershot, Hants, England: Scholar Press; Brookfield, VT: Gower Pub. Co., 1991.