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Letter to John Collins Warren, December 4, 1916
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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 John Collins Warren from William Osler, 13, Norham Gardens, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Letter dated 4th, 1917?, but classified by Cushing on the 4th of December 1916. Compliments on an extract (of an interview of C.H. Parker in the Harvard Bulletin). It will go in his B. Franklin's edition of the "de Senectute" which was given to him on a New York dinner mentioned in the extract. They do not wish peace except on their own terms: Reparation, Restitution and Security. Mentions their anxiety for Revere who is with his battery in France. Details about him. Details on his Anaesthesia collection. He bought the original Simpson pamphlets and vol. IV of 8th edition of the Britannica Encyclopedia to cut out Simpson's chloroform article. Offers his help for the anesthetic collection at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Mentions that he would like to have the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal for 1846. Would like Mrs. Myers to send a duplicate of it. He also wants Bigelow's paper on Simpson. Has written to Sturgis B. about it. Civilities.
Copy or transcription.
Cushing's colour code: White (Correspondence)