Background
Henry Miller was born in the town of Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. His father, Henry Miller, of German descent, came from Maryland as one of the first settlers of that village.
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Henry Miller
Edit ProfileEducation
Miller's education, he says, "was not acquired in academic halls, but in the primitive schoolhouses of his native state, and upon the ample sward, shaded by forest trees, appurtenant thereunto. " He began the study of medicine in his native town with Doctors Bainbridge and Gist and received his degree of M. D. in 1822 from the recently organized Transylvania University at Lexington. His dissertation, An Inaugural Thesis: Relation between the Sanguiferous and the Nervous Systems (1822), was deemed worthy of publication by the faculty.
Career
Shortly after his return to Glasgow, Miller was offered the position of demonstrator of anatomy in his alma mater and in preparation for this duty he went to Philadelphia by horse-back, where he spent several months in the dissecting-room. Faculty opposition developing, he resigned from Transylvania and took up his practice at Glasgow where he remained until 1827, removing then to Harrodsburg. After nine years at this popular health resort he moved to Louisville, where he had been offered the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the projected Medical Institute of Louisville. It was not until 1837, that the school was opened and Miller was made professor of obstetrics in the reorganized faculty. In 1846, the Institute became the medical department of the University of Louisville. Miller remained until 1858 when he resigned. In 1867, he returned to the school as professor of medical and surgical diseases of women, but resigned after one year. In 1869, he accepted the corresponding chair in the newly established Louisville Medical College which he held for the rest of his life. He practised up to the time of his death in Louisville from chronic nephritis.
Achievements
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Starting as a general practitioner, Miller developed into one of the leading obstetricians of his state and an able gynecologist. He was a pioneer in the use of ether in obstetrical practice and always a strong advocate of anesthesia in labor. He is credited with being the first in Louisville and one of the first in the United States to make use of the vaginal speculum in gynecological practice. He was a clear forcible writer. In 1849, he published his Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Human Parturition. A larger and more complete edition was published in 1858 under the title Principles and Practice of Obstetrics. This work has a place among the standard treatises on obstetrics. It is characterized by independence of thought and sound judgment. Notable among his journal articles are those in support of obstetrical anesthesia and of the operation of ovariotomy.
Personality
In contrast to his facility with the pen, were Miller's limitations as a speaker. He had a poor voice and a worse delivery. He spoke haltingly and only his great reputation and a proverbial punctuality with his classes made possible his undoubted success as a teacher. Physically he was tall and slight.
Connections
Miller was married on June 24, 1824, to Clarissa Robertson (or Robinson). Two sons became physicians. The elder, William, lost his life in the Civil War and Edward followed his father in the practice of surgery.
