Dr. Agret A. Mackay, after completing his secondary school education at Montreal High School, entered the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University from which he graduated in 1913. Following two years' internship at the Royal Victoria Hospital, he went overseas with the 42nd Battalion, Black Watch (R.H.R.) of Canada as senior medical officer. On his return to Montreal, Dr. Mackay entered private practice as a neuropsychiatrist and became medical director of the M.A.A.A. He was consultant in neurology at the Montreal General and Verdun Protestant Hospitals, as well as being medical director of the Montreal Forum in which capacity he was club physician to the Montreal Maroons, and later the Canadiens. (Canadian Medical Association Journal v. 63, pg. 415, 1950)

Dr. Duncan Peter Anderson, born at Chaudiere Basin, Quebec, graduated from McGill University with a B.A. in 1890 and a M.D.,C.M. in 1897. After graduation he lectured at McGill and at one time was assistant pathologist at the Montreal General Hospital. With Dr. Albert Vipond he founded the Montreal Children's Hospital. Dr. Anderson was Assistant-Demonstrator in Pathology, 1898-1901 and Demonstrator in 1904. (Canadian Medical Association Journal v. 68, pg. 184, 1953)

Cecil Percy Martin (1892-1977) was born in Dublin, Ireland, the second youngest of nine children of Thomas Stanhope Martine and Eliza Martin (nee Mitchell). As a young man he won a scholarship to the Royal Irish Constabulary, and for a short time became District Inspector in County Limerick. After leaving the R.I.C, C. P. Martin served in the army as a Lieutenant for the Royal Irish Regiment during World War One. He was involved in guarding prisoners of the Easter Rebellion of 1916.

Around 1917, C. P. Martin married Kathleen Humphries, and shortly afterwards he was sent overseas to Mesopotamia with the expeditionary force of Sir Henry Maude. C. P. Martin sustained an injury to the back of his head in 1918 and was sent to England to recover. He suffered visual impairment and epilepsy as a result of his injuries and subsequently received a disability pension. C. P. Martin wore a patch and black headband thereafter, contributing to his distinctive appearance.

After the war, C. P. Martin resumed employment with the R.I.C. for a few years before deciding to pursue his medical degree. At Trinity College Dublin, C. P. Martin studied medicine and natural sciences, and graduated in 1928 with a degree in medicine (M.B.) and surgery (Ch.B.). Upon receiving his degree, C. P. Martin was appointed as Chief Demonstrator in Anatomy at Trinity College, while also teaching Embryology and Physical Anthropology. His own research at the time focused on anthropology and ethnology, which manifested into his book Prehistoric Man in Ireland published in 1935, for which he received a D.Sc. degree. In 1936, C. P. Martin and his family moved to Canada and he began teaching at McGill’s Faculty of Medicine as the Robert Reford Professor of Anatomy, a position he held until 1957. During this time C. P. Martin also served as Chair of Anatomy at McGill for twenty-one years. In 1962, he was named Emeritus Professor after twenty-six years at McGill.

C. P. Martin had four children (two girls, two boys) with his wife Kathleen, and upon his retirement from McGill spent much of the remaining years of his life living on their farm in Lachine, Quebec. C. P. Martin died in 1977 following a long illness, survived by his wife, four children, ten grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. C. P. Martin had a reputation for being a gifted speaker and preacher. A religious man his whole life, C. P. Martin is the author of The Decline of Religion published in 1940, and A Man Named Jesus published circa 1968. Other publications by C. P. Martin also include Psychology, Evolution, and Sex (1956), A Workbook of Anatomy (1956) among others.

Dr. William J. McNally began his association with the Faculty of Medicine of McGill as Assistant Demonstrator in Otolaryngology in 1926. He was Chairman of this department, 1950-1960, and Director of the Otolaryngology Institute, 1961-1963.

Dr. Purdy Alvin MacDonald, a native of New Brunswick, graduated from McGill University in Medicine in 1906. Soon after graduation he began practice in Halifax. While he considered himself a general practitioner he gave special attention to surgery and obstetrics. Dr. MacDonald was a member of the Faculty of Medicine and Medical Superintendent of Dalhousie University for many years. He was also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. (Canadian Medical Association Journal, v. 62, pg. 100, 1950.

A.D. Blackader joined the staff of the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University in 1882 as Instructor in Diseases of Children. Subsequently he was Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics (1892-1894), Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1895-1921), Diseases of Children (1906-1921) and Pediatrics (1912-1921). He was acting Dean of the Faculty (1915-1918) and Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology (1921-1932).

Margaret Gillett was born in Australia and educated at the University of Sydney, in England and in the United States. She was registrar at Haile Selassie I University in Ethiopia for two years before coming to McGill in 1964 as Professor of Education. She is a founding editor of the McGill Journal of Education, and her teaching and publications are oriented towards the history and philosophy of education. She also wrote a novel on the life of the poet Francis Thompson, The Laurel and the Poppy. One of her major interests has been the status of women and women's history. She organized the McGill Committee for Teaching and Research on Women, and has served as a member of the Senate Committee on Women and as coordinator of the Women's Studies Minor. She also represents Canada on UNESCO's subcommission on the status of women. In 1981, Dr. Gillett published We Walked Very Warily: A History of Women at McGill, and in 1986, Dear Grace, a Romance of History.

The Osler Society of Montreal was founded in 1921 by four second year medical students to foster the ideal of a balanced liberal education in medicine. The first Annual Dinner was held in 1923, the beginning of a long tradition, featuring speeches by prominent medical experts.

Boris Petrovich Babkin, Professor of Physiology at McGill University from 1928 to 1942, was a prominent figure in the field of physiological research, especially in the area of glandular secretion and the nervous system. Dr. Babkin was a pupil, assistant and life-long friend of Ivan F. Pavlov, of whom he wrote a biography in 1949. Dr. Babkin was born in Kursk, Russia in 1877. In 1901, he began post-graduate study in the History of Medicine at the Military-Medical Academy in St. Petersburg. Babkin had decided that clinical medicine as such held no interest for him, although the science of medicine itself had great attraction. For this reason, Babkin hoped to combine his study of medical history with actual experience in its clinical and experimental aspects. In this connection, be first entered the laboratory of Ivan Pavlov at the Institute of Experimental Medicine. Although Pavlov met Babkin’s avowed interest in medical history, which he considered purely academic, with rather vehement contempt, he nevertheless agreed to let the young Babkin join his laboratory. Babkin was thus initiated into the methods of physiological research in which his interest grew to such an extent that its study, with the time and discipline required, superseded his progress not only in the clinical aspects of medicine, but in medical history itself.

By 1902, Babkin had decided to become a physiologist. He received his M.D. from the Military-Medical Academy in 1904. He worked as an assistant in Pavlov’s laboratory until 1912, and remained a close friend throughout his life. The influence of this period was undoubtedly very great, and is clearly reflected in the research interests pursued by Babkin for the rest of his life.

In 1912, Babkin was appointed to the Chair of Animal Physiology at the Agricultural Institute of Novo Alexandria. In 1915, he went to the University of Odessa as Professor of Physiology. However, in 1922. Babkin was forced to leave Russia for political reasons. The details of this episode are obscure. Babkin went to London, where he worked for a time in the laboratory of Sir Ernest Starling. After emigrating to America, Babkin received an appointment as Professor of Physiology at Dalhousie University, Halifax, a position which he held until 1928 when he came to McGill. This inaugurated an active period of research and publishing, particularly on glandular secretions and the nervous system. Babkin was a Research Professor of Physiology at McGill University until 1946, and held the position of Department Chairman in 1940-1941. In addition, he was also a Research Fellow in Physiology from 1942 until 1947. After 1946, Babkin was associated with the Montreal Neurological Institute and simultaneously, was Research Fellow of Neurology at McGill. The year before his death in 1950, Dr. Babkin was awarded the Julius Friedenwald Medal for 1949 by the American Gastroenterological Association. Throughout his life, Dr. Babkin continued his experimental work and produced many scientific articles.

William Henry Drummond, dialect poet and physician, was born April 13, 1854, at Currawn House, near Mohill, County Leitrim, Ireland, the son of George Drummond (originally Drumm), offer of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and of Elizabeth Morris Soden. In 1856, the Drummond family moved to Tawley near the "Three Sisters" mountains and the Bay of Donegal, where they lived at Tawley Manor House. Drummond's three brothers, John, George, and Tom, were born here. Paddy McNulty, the teacher at the village school, became Drummond's life-long friend. At this time, Drummond learned the art of finishing which he practised throughout his life.

The family moved to Montreal in 1864. Drummond attended the High School of Montreal, but left at age fifteen to study telegraphy. His work as a telegrapher brought him into contact with the habitant farmers and woodsmen whose broken English he was to imitate in his poetry. Drummond entered McGill in 1878 to study Medicine but failed his second year. He received his M.D. from Bishop's Medical School in 1884. After a short period in Knowlton, Quebec, Drummond set up practice in Montreal. At this time, he became interested in the breeding of Irish Terriers. In 1894, he married May Isabel Harvey of Savanna la Mar, Jamaica. His book, The Habitant, was published in 1897 with an introduction by Louis Frechette. Drummond died in 1907 as a result of a stroke while assisting in a smallpox outbreak at Cobalt, Ontario, where he owned mining property.