Logan Clendening (May 25, 1884 – January 31, 1945) was an American

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, historian, and medical writer.

Family

The Clendening family were staunch Jacobites, fleeing Scotland after the fall of

King James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

. As a child, Clendening recalled his grandfather parading up and down the family street wearing a white rose in his buttonhole and vowing "confusion to the Hanoverian usurpers" every year on June 10.Major, Ralph H. (1945)
''Logan Clendening 1884-1945''
'' Bulletin of the Medical Library Association'' 33 (2): 257-259.

Early life

Logan Clendening was born on May 25, 1884, in Kansas City, Missouri. He was the son of Lide (née Logan) and Edwin McKaig Clendening. His father was a merchant and served as president of the

Kansas City Commercial Club Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...

.Wilson, Philip K
"Logan Clendening"
American National Biography. He was educated in the

Kansas City Public Schools Kansas City 33 School District, operating as Kansas City Public Schools or KCPS (formerly Kansas City, Missouri School District, or KCMSD), is a school district headquartered at 2901 Troost Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. The dis ...

, going on to study at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

. In 1907, he received a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

from the University of Kansas.Major, Ralph H. (1945)
''Logan Clendening 1884-1945''
'' Bulletin of the Medical Library Association'' 33 (2): 257-259.

Career

Clendening was Professor of Clinical Medicine and Professor of Medical History at the

University of Kansas School of Medicine The University of Kansas School of Medicine is a public medical school located on the University of Kansas Medical Center campuses in Kansas City, Kansas, and also Salina, Kansas, and Wichita, Kansas. The Kansas City campus is co-located with ...

, later part of the

University of Kansas Medical Center The University of Kansas Medical Center, commonly referred to as KU Med or KUMC, is a medical campus for the University of Kansas. KU Med houses the university's schools of medicine, nursing, and health professions, with the primary health science ...

. He held an instructorship at the institution from 1912 until his death in 1945. In 1911, Clendening joined the Army Medical Corps Reserve as a

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...

. He was called up on June 5, 1917, and served first as a captain, then a major at Fort Sam Houston in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. He was discharged in December 1918.Hulston, Nancy
"Logan Clendening’s Unattainable War". University of Kansas Medical Center.
University of Kansas Medical Center. Clendening was the author of the successful book ''The Human Body'', in 1945 it was noted that one and a half million copies had been sold. He became well known for his medical journalism and columns that appeared in many daily

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

s. He took interest in collecting old

medical textbook This is a list of medical textbooks, manuscripts, and reference works. Pre-modern texts Ancient Egypt * '' Ramesseum medical papyri'' (c. 1800 BCE) * '' Kahun Gynaecological Papyrus'' (c. 1800 BCE) * '' London Medical Papyrus'' (c. 1600 ...

s, researching the Shakespeare authorship question and studying the writings of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. The

has described Clendening as "the greatest popularizer of Medicine in America in the first half of the twentieth century."

Personal life

In the early 1910s he met Dorothy Scott Hixon, the daughter of Frank Pennell Hixon, a wealthy lumber and banking baron from LaCrosse, Wisconsin. They courted long-distance for several years, and married on July 22, 1914. On July 4, 1920, their only child was born premature. She died after a few hours.Paxton, Heath N. (October 31, 2020)
"Toast to Olde Tymes: Logan Clendening"
''The Independent''. Through the publication of his first book, ''Modern Methods of Treatment'', in 1924, Clendening became friends with

H.L. Mencken Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, ...

, who encouraged his career as a popular medical writer. In his later years, Clendening suffered from depression and failing health. On January 31, 1945, he

committed suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...

by cutting his throat and wrists with a knife.

Publications

''The Human Body''
(1927)
''Modern Methods Of Treatment''
(1928)
''Behind the Doctor''
(1933)
''The Care and Feeding of Adults''
(1933) *''Handbook To Pickwick Papers'' (1936)
''The Balanced Diet''
(1936) *''Workbook in Elementary Diagnosis for Teaching Clinical History Recording and Physical Diagnosis'' (1938)
''Source Book of Medical History''
(1942, 1960)Galdston, Iago. (1942)
''Source Book of Medical History''
'' American Journal of Public Health and the Nation's Health'' 32 (9): 1054.
''The Logan Clendening Collection of Books About the Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy''
(1943)
''Methods Of Diagnosis''
(1947) ith Edward H. Hashinger

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clendening, Logan 1884 births 1945 suicides 1945 deaths American medical writers 20th-century American physicians American skeptics Critics of alternative medicine Physicians from Kansas City, Missouri Writers from Kansas City, Missouri Suicides by sharp instrument in the United States University of Kansas alumni Suicides in Missouri