# American Medical Biographies/Bodine, James Morrison

​Bodine, James Morrison (1831–1915)
James Morrison Bodine, a teacher of anatomy, was born in the village of Fairfield, Kentucky, Oct. 2, 1831, the son of Dr. Alfred Bodine and Fannie Maria Ray Bodine. His paternal ancestors were Huguenots, emigrating to this country in 1625, settling in what is now New Jersey. Later his grandfather came to Kentucky, about the time it was admitted into the Union as a state.
His preliminary education was obtained in the common school of the village where he lived. Later he spent two years at St. Joseph's College at Bardstown, Ky., following which he entered Hanover College, Madison, Ind., but was forced to leave in his senior year on account of ill health. In 1893 Hanover College conferred on him the LL. D.
He began the study of medicine in Louisville under the tutelage of Prof. Henry M. Bullitt (q.v.), in 1852, and graduated M. D. at the Kentucky School of Medicine in 1854. He practised medicine for a year following his graduation in Austin, Texas, but returned to Kentucky for a visit and was married in Louisville to Mary E. Crowe, the daughter of a prominent merchant and representative citizen. Immediately after his marriage he was called to the demonstratorship of anatomy in his Alma Mater, discharging the duties of this office during 1856–57. In 1857 he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, with his wife and daughter (his only child), and there rapidly acquired a large practice. He was the first president of the first medical society organized in the State of Kansas and established the first hospital in the State. The conditions brought about by the Civil War through his southern sympathies forced him to leave the state and he returned to Kentucky. For a while he remained with his father's family in Nelson County, but yielding to the wishes of friends returned to Louisville in 1863 and accepted the professorship of anatomy in the Kentucky School of Medicine. In 1866 he resigned this professorship and accepted a similar one in the University of Louisville. Soon after this he was elected dean of the faculty of the University of Louisville and held this position until all the medical schools in Louisville were united in the University of Louisville, in 1907, at which time he gave place to a younger man, having served as dean over forty-one years. On his resignation as dean, he was immediately elected president of the faculty of the University of Louisville, retaining this place up to the time of his death.
While a popular and busy practitioner of medicine for many years, Dr. Bodine's claim to eminence in his profession rests on his career as a medical educator, for he taught anatomy in medical schools nearly fifty years, being one of the most widely known, popular and beloved teachers of anatomy this country has produced. His interest in the advancement of medical education in this country led him to take a prominent part in the organization of the association of medical colleges. In 1876 he was the prime mover in the organization of the Association of American Medical Colleges and he was urged but ​decline to accept the office of president. In 1881 he was prevailed upon and accepted the presidency, succeeding Dr. Samuel D. Gross. This association was the first organized effort on the part of the American medical colleges to improve the character of their work and thus raise the standard of medical education. In 1892 he was elected president of the Southern Medical College Association and in 1896, when all the Colleges again took up the effort to further raise the requirements for graduation, he was again chosen president of the re-organized Association of American Medical Colleges.
In 1910 on his retirement from active work as a teacher he was tendered a complimentary dinner by his former pupils, colleagues, professional and personal friends, that was a remarkable testimonial not only to his high character as a man but also to his popularity as a teacher of anatomy. Dr. Bodine was not a frequent contributor to medical literature yet there have been published a number of his addresses delivered at medical college commencements and as president of the Medical College Association.
He died January 25, 1915.