Arthur Edward Mills flourished in the first three decades of this century and died less than two years after the inauguration of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians of which he was a foundation Fellow. He therefore had little direct influence on the College in its formative years. Nevertheless he was such an outstanding figure as a physician and teacher that he left his mark on most of the medical graduates of University of Sydney between 1910 and 1930 and the spirit of inquiry with which he infused many of them was itself a strong force towards the formation of the College.

He was born in 1865 at Mudgee, New South Wales, where his father was a mining agent. This was the period of the Gold Rush when Mudgee and nearby Gulgong were roaring towns. He attended the local school and at the age of fourteen became a pupil teacher with the idea of entering the teaching profession. He changed his mind after a few years, took the entrance examination to the University of Sydney and graduated in medicine in 1889 with second-class honours, one of seven who comprised the second batch of graduates from the medical school.

After residency at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital he was appointed demonstrator in anatomy, a position which strengthened his bent for scientific and academic work. Later he left this post for general practice, first at Picton, and from 1894 at Strathfield. In 1910 he relinquished general practice and became a consultant physician in Macquarie Street. His return to Sydney in 1894 enabled him to return to the department of anatomy as examiner, a position he held for many years. Working with Professor JT Wilson he developed considerable skill in interrogating and assessing students, whilst increasing his already considerable knowledge of anatomy.

In 1898 he was appointed honorary assistant physician at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and his skill and enthusiasm as a teacher drew many undergraduates to his outpatient clinics. In 1910 he was appointed lecturer in the principles and practice of medicine following the resignation of W Camac Wilson. His lectures did not follow the customary pattern of systematic descriptions of individual diseases. Instead he dealt with such matters as mechanisms of symptoms, disordered physiology, principles of nutrition and treatment in a scientific way which was revolutionary at the time, but is orthodox today. Once the students got the hang of his message they were fascinated for they realised that here was the road to understanding diseases. The old empiricism in medicine was fast being overtaken by a scientific approach tempered by Mills’s knowledge of human nature. He insisted that they keep asking the question ‘why?’, and that they seek to understand phenomena rather than blindly accept conventional dogma.

All this was done with an enthusiastic zeal, freshness and a flair for acting which made him a great teacher, and brought large crowds to his lectures and clinical demonstrations. He freely used the Socratic method of questioning his audience, exposing ignorance and praising understanding with humour and wit. The great majority of his students developed affection and respect for him. Remembering his vivid descriptions of actual patients and his imitations of disordered gaits they continued to carry his ideas into clinical practice long after graduation.

He became professor of medicine in 1920, a position he held until he retired in 1930, and from 1920 to 1925 he was also dean of the faculty of medicine. He was a fellow of the senate and from 1937 to 1939 was deputy chancellor. In these positions he earned the respect of many persons of influence both within and outside the University. He never lost the capacity to keep abreast of new developments in medicine. He was cultured, strong in argument, but kindly and never without humour. Those who responded to his teaching methods (and most did) became his friends for life, and his influence on medicine in New South Wales was great. As so often happens with strong personalities the few who resisted change or did not like his ways formed an opposition camp. His disciples, on the other hand, carried his torch long after he put it down, often recounting stories of ‘Arty’.

He married Ida Cecilie Archibald early in his career and they had four children. She died many years before him and in 1932 he married Helen Garvan, who after his death endowed the Mills Oration and the Mills Library Fund in his memory.