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Letter to Henry Phipps, April 25, 1912
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A major figure in modern medical history, Sir William Osler is well known as a scientific researcher, a great medical pedagogue, a humanist, and an advocate for a patient-centered approach to medicine.
Born in Bond Head, Ontario, in 1849, Osler earned his medical degree at McGill University, and later taught at McGill's Faculty of Medicine from 1874 until 1884. Osler then joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he was appointed Chair of Clinical Medicine before becoming Physician-in-Chief and one of the "Big Four" founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital and medical school in Baltimore – the first school of its kind to train medical students in a modern residency program. Osler finished his career as Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, where he also devoted time to his passion for book collecting. His library of nearly eight thousand rare and historic works of the history of medicine and science is known as the Bibliotheca Osleriana, documented by a published catalogue of the same title.
Sir William Osler was knighted in 1911 in recognition of his contributions to medical science and teaching. His library of 7600 volumes on the history of medicine and science bequeathed to McGill University forms the nucleus of the present Osler Library of the History of Medicine. His life and contributions to medicine are described in detail in the Pulitzer-Prize winning biography "Life of Sir William Osler" (London: Oxford University Press, 1925) by Harvey Cushing.
Letter to Henry Phipps from William Osler, From the Regius Professor of Medicine, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. He is back from the Tuberculosis Congress in Rome, where he met interesting men and heard a number a valuable papers. Glad to have his introduction to Gerald Webb. Good comments on the latter. Professor Meyer wrote him to express his interest in Phipps' suggestion of asking a number of the leading European specialists to participate at the opening of the Phipps Psychological Institute. Meyer suggests names. Found his letter regarding the setting of the date of the opening. There is no hurry in settling. Osler being at Yale in October would only like to kill two birds with one stone if possible. Asks him to let them know when they are coming in England. Civilities.
Copy or transcription.
Cushing's colour code: White (Correspondence)