McGill Library
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H3A 0C9
Letter to Mabel Brewster, August 21, 1908
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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 Mabel Brewster from William Osler, Logan's Low Wood Hotel, Windermere, Cumbria, England. Enjoys the country and their first long motor trip. They went to the Fleet in Kirkcudbright in the Guy Mannering and Crockett country. Comments on the fishing. Visit Ellangowan and Dirk's cave, and places mentioned in Scott's novels. They are at the English Lakes. Wordsworth's granddaughter showed them his house at Grassmere. They saw the Northern Olympia where Westmorland and Cumberland men have their wrestling matches. Mentions that he will come to America in Spring after his sabbatical on the continent. Hopes that Sylvia is well again. Jokes about the fact that she should have come in the Dorset instead of having a summer house in Long Island. Civilities.
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Cushing's colour code: White (Correspondence)