port the name of the House Physician in Ward E & the clin. clerk, & under the surgical report the name of the House Surgeon who had charge. We are not nearly particular enough in this respect and should follow the good old Scotch custom. Yours, W. O.

This habit of giving credit to everyone who may have been brought into contact with a case was most characteristic of the man. Even his "Text-Book of Medicine" contains so many references to places and people that it led to these amusing verses taken from a long poem by a student which appeared in the Guy's Hospital Gazette some years ago:

For why should it matter to usward,
If Osborn has sent you a screed,

Or why have you sought a brief mention of Porter,
Or Barker, or Caton, or Reed?

I sometimes am seized with a yearning,
In Appleton's ledger to look,

What fun it would be if we only could see
Whether each of them purchased the book!

But when of the names we are weary
(Directories muddle the brain),
We're provided by you with philosophy too
In the trite Aphorisms of Cheyne.
Geography also you teach us,
Until I came under your thrall,

I don't mind confessing that Conoquenessing
I never had heard of at all.

But with all his abundant learning, his high spirits, his playful wit and love of a practical joke, he was incapable of offending. "If you can't see good in people see nothing." Charitable to a degree of others' foibles, even when he had to oppose or to fight in public for a principle he did so without leaving hurt feelings. This lay at the bottom of the great influence he exercised and the universal admiration felt for his character.

Probably no physician during his life has been so much quoted nor so much written about, and the chief periods of Osler's eventful and migratory career are too well known to need more than brief mention.

His father, a clergyman, Featherstone

Lake Osler, with his wife, Ellen Pickton, left Falmouth, England, in 1837 and settled in the Province of Ontario. William, the eighth of their nine children, several of whom have become highly distinguished in Canadian affairs and in the law, was born July 12, 1849, at Bond Head. A graduate of Trinity College, Toronto, in 1868, he took his medical degree four years later at McGill University; then after two years of study abroad, returning to Montreal in 1874, he leapt into prominence as the newly appointed Professor of the Institutes of Medicine of his alma mater. A professor at twenty-five, in a chair which covered the teaching of pathology and physiology! And there followed ten years of active scientific work which laid the foundation for his subsequent eminence in his profession.

In 1884 he accepted a position in the University of Pennsylvania, and five years later was called to Baltimore as Professor of Medicine in the newly established Johns Hopkins Medical School. There, marrying in 1892 Grace Revere, the widow of Dr. S. W. Gross of Philadelphia, he remained for sixteen years. It was the Golden Age of the Johns Hopkins during the presidency of Daniel C. Gilman, and during this period through his writing and teaching Osler became recognized, one may say without exaggeration, as the most eminent and widely influential physician of his time.

Many calls to other positions during these years met with refusal until in 1904, when fifty-six years of age, he accepted the Regius Professorship of Physic at Oxford, the most honored post in medicine that the United Kingdom can offer. Though this position on a royal foundation centuries old (Henry VIII, 1546) is a sinecure and was doubtless accepted to give leisure for literary pursuits, he was not one to take advantage of ease. The succeeding fifteen years in Oxford represent, if possible, a period of even greater activity and more far-reaching influence in many directions than the fifteen

Christ Church, Woolsey's College, put upon the Hebdomadal Council, a small body which takes the initiative in promulgating all the legislature of the University before its submission to Convocation, he was soon appointed one of the curators of the Bodleian Library, and elected a Delegate of the University Press. There can be no doubt but that these latter positions gave him his greatest extra-professional pleasure and satisfaction during his Oxford life, and to the Library and the Press he gave largely of his time.

But Oxford, with its hoary traditions, its

able. But a man, particularly when energetic, unselfish and likeable, who could talk Aristotelian philosophy with the dons at the high table and at the same time knew science and the value of laboratories as well as libraries, could not but leave his impression on the ten centuries, more or less, of Oxford's habits and customs.

There were, indeed, many Oslers: the physician, the professor, the scholar, the author, the bibliophile, the historian, the philanthropist, the friend and companion for young or old. Though no man loved his home more nor kept its doors more widely

open to the world, he was in demand everywhere, and was eminently clubable. Few dinners, of the Samuel Pepys Club, the Roxburghe or the Colophon Clubs, of the inner circle of the Royal Society, of his college, failed to be enlivened by his presence, and he had just been made a member of the famous Johnson Club, one of the oldest and most select dining clubs in existence.

His Oxford home, even more than in Baltimore, had become such a gathering place, particularly for Canadians and Americans, that how the scholar did his work was a mystification to many. An omniverous reader with a most retentive memory, possessed of a rare literary gift and with the power of immediately concentrating on the thing which was to be done, no matter what had occupied his attention the moment before or was laid out to be done the moment after—these were probably the elements of his great productivity. With it all he was a writer excellence of countless brief missives-even the fragment pencilled on a postcard during his outings and sent to an unexpecting friend whom some incident had led him to recall, invariably contained some characteristic message, quip or epigram worth preserving. During a brief sojourn in Paris in the winter of 1908-9, he writes:

par

I've just been going through the Servetus Trial for Astrology, 1537. 'Tis given in full in du Boulay's History of the University of Paris. I wish you could see this library. I've wasted hours browsing. Meanwhile I've read through six volumes of Swinburne. I did not know before of his Children's Poems. We are off on the 13th, first to Lyons to see Symphorien Champier and Rabelais. We'll stop at Vienne to call on Servetus and Appolos Revoire, doubtless the father of the late Paul Revere.

He subsequently went down into Italy, and some of the readers of a journal of medical history may like to trail him by a letter and by some picture postcards, on a

quarter of which he could squeeze much in his fine writing.

Cannes.

A great coast. Such sunshine. We have been here 12 weeks-delighted with everything. This is a gorgeous spot. Where I put the + is the little town of Gourdron. They had to get high up on account of the Moors. I am thinking of settling at Monte-Carlo-they say there is a good opening. I lost $.25 in five minutes and then stopped. We go to Rome on the 7th. So far as women are concerned this is the Remnant Counter of Europe. . . .

Milan.

I forgot whether I wrote about the Vesal Tabulæ sex at the San Marco I think I did. Splendid as illustrating the evolution of his knowledge also of Calcar as they are very crude in comparison with the 1542. Nothing much in Pavia-nothing in comparison with Bologna and Padua. Library good-no Vesal items of moment, not even the 1543. A 1st ed. of Mundinus, but no plates. I have not been able to locate a single Mundinus MS.-I wonder where they can be. The Ambrosiana here is a fine collection. I had 5 original MSS. of Cardan to look over-the autobiography is complete-he wrote a wonderful hand-no wonder the printers liked to get his copy. Hopli here has no large stock-tho' the best publisher in Italy. Love to the bairns. .

Rome.

Rome at last! Wonderful! What pigmies we are in comparison with those old fellows. So much to see and everything intensely interesting. I have not yet been to the Vatican Library. Splendid bookshops here. I have already got some treasures. Redi and Valisneri-splendid editions. So glad of your letter today (11th). Love to the darlings.

Florence.

Yours came this morning-two days late for personal attention to your Lang commission. I was recalled to Rome (stranded American) and I sanctified my fee by buying three copies of Vesal. 2nd edition, fine one for myself. A first for McGill (300 fr. was stiff but it goes for 500!) and another for the Frick Library. I was sorry to miss the Rhazes-the Brussels Library secured it. I have two copies also of the Venice edition of the Vesal. Have you one? I will send your list to Lang. They are Germans and know their worth. I bought one Imperialis for the sake of the Vesal picture-they have another which I will ask them to send. The Gilbert facsimile is good and the Berengarius. Did I tell you I got the original Gilbert at the

Amherst sale? I got a beauty Aristotle 1476 de partibus animalium at Laschers. This place is of overwhelming interest-libraries, pictures, etc. The Laurentian library is just too splendid for words

-7000 chained mss., all in the putei designed by Michael Angelo. I have a photo of the end of one for you. The book shops are good. B one of the best in Europe. He has 500 incunabula on the shelves, a Silvaticus—a cuss of no moment

of 1476, a superb folio, one of the first printed in Bologna-fresh and clean as if printed yesterday and such a page! but . . . asks 1500 francs. His things are wonderful. But really auction sales (are) is the only economical way to get old books. The dealers have to put up their prices to pay interest on the stock. I am sorry not to have seen the Junta Galen-there are 5 Venice editions of that firm! By the way the Pitti picture of Vesal is very fine -I am looking for a photo-the beard is tinged with grey.

Re Alcmeon, see Gomperz Greek Thinkers-he was the earliest and greatest of the Magna Graeca anatomists. We go from here to Bologna, Padua, Venice, &c. I have a set of Votives for the Faculty -terra-cotta arms, legs, breasts, yards, eyes, ears, fingers-which the votaries hung in the Esculapian temples in gratitude to the Godthe modern R. C. ones are wretched (tin) imitations.

I am in a state of acute mental indigestion from plethora―it is really bewildering-so much to see and to do.

Naples.

Thus far on the trip. Glorious place glorious weather. I wish you were mit. I dreamt of you last night-operating on Hughlings Jackson. The great principle you said in cerebral surgery was to create a commotion by which the association paths were restored. You took off the scalp-like a p. m. incision-made a big hole over the cerebelIum and put in a Christ Church-whipped cream -wooden instrument and rotated it rapidly. Then put back the bone and sewed him up. You said he would never have a fit again. I said solemnly, I am not surprised. H-J. seemed very comfortable after the operation and bought 3 oranges from a small Neapolitan who strolled into the Queen-Square amphitheatre! I have been studying my dreams lately and have come to the conclusion that just one-third of my time is spent in an asylum-or should be!

Two years later, in 1911, he made a winter's trip to Egypt and as usual was

enthusiastic about all he saw and did. Here is a somewhat longer letter.

S. S. "Seti" Feb. 22nd, 1911.

Such a trip! I would give one of the fragments of Osiris to have you two on this boat. Everything arranged for our comfort and the dearest old dragoman who parades the deck in gorgeous attire with his string of 99 beads-each one representing an attribute of God! We shall take about 10 days to the Dam (Assouan), 580 miles from Cairo. Yesterday we stopped at Assiut and I saw the Hospital of the American Mission-200 beds, about 20,000 out-patients. Dr. Grant is in charge with 3 assistants and many nurses. I found there an old Clevelander . . . who had fallen off a donkey and broken his ribs, and on the 8th day had thrombosis of left leg. He was better, but at 76 he should have stayed at home. The Nile itself is fascinating, an endless panorama-on one side or the other the Arabian or the Libyan desert comes close to the river, often in great lime stone ridges, 200-800 ft. in height; and then the valley widens to eight or ten miles. Yellow water, brown mud, green fields and grey sand and rocks always in sight; and the poor devils dipping up the water in pails from one level to the other. We had a great treat yesterday afternoon. The Pasha of this district has two sons at Oxford and their tutor, A. L. Smith, a great friend of his, sent him a letter about our party. He had a secretary meet us at Assuit and came up the river to Aboutig. We had tea in his house and then visited a Manual Training School for 100 boys, which he supports. In the evening he gave us a big dinner. I wish you could have seen us start off on donkeys for the half mile to his house. It was hard work talking to him through an interpreter, but he was most interesting—a great tall Arab of very distinguished appearance. A weird procession left his house at 10 P.M.-all of us in eve. dress, which seemed to make the donkeys very frisky. Three lantern men, a group of donkey men, two big Arabs with rifles and following us a group of men carrying sheep-one alive! chickens, fruit, vegetables, eggs, etc., to stock our larder. We tie up every eve about 8 o'clock, pegging the boat in the mud. The Arabs are fine: our Reis, or pilot, is a direct descendant, I am sure, of Rameses II, judging from his face. After washing himself he spreads his prayer mat at the bow of the boat and says his prayers with the really beautiful somatic ritual of the Muslem. The old Pasha, by the way, is a very holy man and has been to Mecca where

he keeps two lamps perpetually burning and tended by two eunuchs. He is holy enough to do the early morning prayer from 4 to 6 A.M. with some 2000 sentences from the Koran. It is a great religion-no wonder Moslem rules in the East. Wonderful crops up here-sugar cane, cotton, beans and wheat. These poor devils work hard but now they have the satisfaction of knowing they are not robbed. We are never out of sight of the desert and the mountains come close on one side or the other. Today we were for miles close under limestone heights-800-1000 feet, grey and desolate. The river is a ceaseless panorama-the old Nile boats with curved prows and the most remarkable sails, like big jibs, swung on a boom from the top of the masts, usually two and the foresail the larger. I saw some great books in the Khedival Library-monster Korans superbly illuminated. The finer types have been guarded jealously from the infidel, and Moritz, the librarian, showed me examples of the finer forms that are not in any European libraries. Then he looked up a reference and said-" You have in the Bodleian three volumes of a unique and most important 16 cent. arabic manuscript dealing with Egyptian antiquities. We have the other two volumes. Three of the five were taken from Egypt in the 17th century. We would give almost anything to get the others." And then he showed me two of the most sumptuous Korans, about 3 ft. in height, every page ablaze with gold, which he said they would offer in exchange. I have written to E. W. B. Cyclops Nicholson urging him to get the curator to make the exchange, but it takes a University decree to part with a Bodley book! Curiously enough I could not find any early Arabian books (of note) in medicine, neither Avicenna or Rhazes in such beautiful form as we have. I have asked a young fellow at school who is interested to look up the matter. We shall have nearly a week in Cairo on our return. I went over the Ankylostoma specimens with Looss and the Bilharzia with Ferguson-both terrible diseases here (not the men!)—the latter, a hopeless one and so crippling. There were a dozen or more bladder cases in the hospital and the polypous cholitis which it causes is extraordinary. They must spend more money on scientific medicine. Looss has very poor accommodations. The laboratories are good, but the staffs are very insufficient. The hospital is impossible. I am brown as a fellah such sun-a blaze all day. We reached Cairo in one of those sand storms, the air filled

with a greyish dust which covers everything and is most irritating to eyes and tubes. This boat is delightful-five-six miles an hour against the current, which is often very rapid. The river gets very shallow at this season, and is fully eighteen feet below flood level. I have been reading Herodutus, who is the chief authority now on the ancient history of Egypt. He seems to have told all of the truth he could get and it has been verified of late years in the most interesting way. Tomorrow we start at 8 for the Tombs of Denderah—a donkey ride of an hour. We are tied up to one of Cook's floating barge docks, squatted out side is a group of natives and the Egyptian policeman (who is in evidence at each stopping-place) is parading with an old Snider and a fine stock of cartridges in his belt.

P. S. 24th. Have just seen Denderah and the Temple of Hathor. Heavens, what feeble pigmies we are! Even with steam, electricity and the Panama Canal.

What fun to travel with a spirit like this, and he rarely went anywhere without having two or three youngsters on his trail. The summer his Oxford decision was finally made two of us crossed with him, indeed shared the same small stateroom, and, as I recall it, were not permitted to pay our share. We learned something of his methods of work, and had we not been on this intimate basis he would have appeared to us, as to the other voyagers, as the most carefree individual aboard. As a matter of fact he was always the first awake, and we would find him propped up with pillows reading or writing, and his bunk was so cluttered with books during the whole trip that there was scant room for its legitimate occupant. He breakfasted while we dressed, and then went on with his morning's work while the rest of us wandered about the deck with good intentions but usually with an unread book under our arms. At luncheon he would appear; the remainder of the day was a continuous frolic. We roped in the ship's doctor and got up a medical society of the physicians aboard. I find that I have preserved the program which he arranged.