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Letter to Herbert Stanley Birkett, April 8, 1915
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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 Herbert Stanley Birkett from William Osler, From the Regius Professor of Medicine, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Keogh told he could not say at present where (the McGill Unit) will go at first. Details about it. The present position is very awkward. The hospitals are not half full but there must be constant preparation for an enormous increase. The men will simply have to exercise patience, as the delays are unavoidable. Mentions that Keogh appreciates all that has been done at the McGill Unit, and feels sure that it will be one of the strong units in the Army. Keogh asked Osler to tell Birkett to regard all this as private. News of Revere.
Copy or transcription.
Cushing's colour code: White (Correspondence)