Henry Massie Bullitt

Background

Henry Massie Bullitt was born in Shelby County, Kentucky on February 28, 1817 and was of Huguenot descent, a son of Cuthbert Bullitt and his wife Harriet Willit.

Education

At the age of seventeen he began the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Coleman Rogers, Sr. , of Louisville, subsequently entering the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with distinction in 1838.

Career

After graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Bullitt thereupon returned to Louisville and practised his profession until 1845 when he went to Europe for further study. A year later he returned to America to accept a professorship at the St. Louis Medical College where he lectured on the practise of medicine during the academic years 1846-47 and 1847-48.

In 1849 he became professor of materia medica at Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, the medical department of which institution (founded 1819) was the best known as well as the oldest school in the Ohio Valley.

In the following year he founded the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville.

He gave his attention to the new school until 1866 when he was called to the chair of the principles and practise of medicine at the University of Louisville. In the next spring he became, in addition, professor of physiology. He was also an associate editor of both of these journals as well as of the Louisville Medical Record which he helped to found.

Achievements

• Henry Bullitt's major achievement was in the establishment of the Louisville Medical College in 1868, remaining connected therewith until his death. Perhaps his best-known paper was a reply to Dr. Charles Caldwell, who had claimed that to understand Southern and Western diseases, a physician must have been trained in the South or W. This paper is an excellent example of the controversial medical writing of the period, and in it Bullitt held his own against Caldwell then firmly established as the dean of medical teachers west of the Alleghanies.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Introductory Lecture Addressed to the Class of the Kentucky School of Medicine: Session 1853-54 (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from Introductory Lecture Addressed to the Class ...)

  • Introductory Lecture Delivered Before The Class Of The Medical Department Of The Saint Louis University, Session Of 1846-7 ... Published By The Class

    ( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

  • An Address On The Life And Character Of The Late Dr. Coleman Rogers, M.d.: Delivered At The Opening Of The Session Of The Kentucky School Of Medicine For 1855-6...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Views

Bullitt is best known as a teacher, though he labored under the handicap of extreme deafness which necessarily limited his teaching in his last years. He was successively professor in no less than five medical schools, of two of which he was a founder. As these two have since his death become a part of the University of Louisville, he may properly be considered one of the fathers of that institution.

Connections

He was married first on May 26, 1841, to Julia Anderson of Louisville, who died on January 16, 1853, leaving seven children, but two of whom survived childhood.

His second wife was Mrs. Sarah Crow Paradise whom he married on September 14, 1854. Of the second marriage there were a son and five daughters.

Father:

Cuthbert Bullitt

1788–1854

Mother:

Harriet Willett Bullitt

1794–1850

Sister:

Harriett Bullett Fitzhugh

1836–1840

Sister:

Priscilla Bullitt Gordon

1811–1872

Sister:

Helen Bullitt Lowry

1827–1897

1st wife:

Julia Anderson

Daughter :

Julia Bullitt Rauterberg

1857–1944

2nd wife:

Sarah Crow Paradise Bullitt

1829–1901

Daughter:

Sarah Crow Paradise Bullitt

1829–1901

daughter :

Edith Bullitt Jacob

1861–194

Brother:

Willett W Bullitt

1815–1873

Brother:

William Grigsby Bullitt

1833–1901