186 THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE OSTEOPATHIC OATH Background information on the Osteopathic Oath was published in The Forum of Osteopathy in January 1939. In 1936, Dr. Frank E. MacCracken urged the California Osteopathic Association to take steps toward securing a modern version of the Oath of Hippocrates, which might be administered to graduates of osteopathic colleges during commencement exercises. The California association recommended that this project be carried out by the American Osteopathic Association. It was approved by the trustees of the national association at the New York convention in that same year. The national AOA, in turn, referred it to the Associated Colleges of Osteopathy, and it was adopted by that group in Chicago in 1937. The members of the committee who wrote the original draft of this modernized oath were Drs. MacCracken (chairman), R.C. McCaughan, Walter V. Goodfellow, and Edward T. Abbott. The final wording was left to Drs. Grace B. Bell and Basil K. Woods. The text was then submitted to the central office of AOA for reproduction in suitable form. Dr. C.N. Clark engaged the services of Edwin B. Gillespie, one of the country’s best typographers, to prepare the layout and set the type. Special type designed by the famous master typographer, Frederic William Goudy, was cast. The ornamentation was especially drawn for the purpose. The paper was carefully selected for quality and suitability. Much time and money were expended to make this oath a work of art and something which the profession would be proud to call its own. After the final color proofs were approved by the Associated Colleges of Osteopathy at session in Cincinnati in 1938, the oath was printed at the central office of AOA on the multilith, a machine for printing by the offset process. The colleges unanimously agreed to administer this oath to their graduates and to present a copy to each at commencement every year. By vote of the Associated Colleges of Osteopathy, AOA may sell copies to osteopathic physicians at a price of 50 cents per copy postpaid. A line is provided at the bottom of each oath for the doctor’s signature, showing that he subscribes to the oath. A standard 9-by-12-inch frame of narrow black or brown wood to fit the written oath may be obtained at most art or department stores at a very nominal cost.
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