The Oslerian
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AMERICAN OSLER SOCIETY June 2007 Volume 8, Issue 1 The Oslerian A Message from the President A Web of Osleriana Greetings, Fellow Oslerians! datalwww/htmllpeople/osler/ ings by and about William index.htm), which makes avail- Osler. The good news is that Just yesterday I was listening to able a library of digitized im- copyright protection has ex- Inside this issue: a Public Radio discussion about ages of many rare (and some pired for all of Osler's writ- digitizing the world's libraries. not-so-rare) examples of ings, and for many things writ- I had heard before of Project Oslerian Progress Notes 2 Osler's works. It is certainly a ten about Osler. This means Gutenberg (PG), but the pro- tremendous resource for those that with a minimal expendi- gram inspired me to look at the Montreal Memories from our who want to read original pages ture of energy and money, it 3 PG website Thirty-Seventh An Annual of Osler's writings, but it has would be possible for a small (wVyw.gutenberg.org/wiki! Brainstorming A Wide and its shortcomings. For instance, cadre of volunteers to scan Congenial Circle of Main Page) and I must say that it took me took nearly 10 min- Osler's essays and books into Friends ... A Reluctant Au I am impressed. PG has 20,000 utes to download the digital format and thus make Revoir electronic books in 51 lan- McGovern version of Osler's the corpus of Osleriana avail- guages available forfree In Memoriam: 7 essay Aequanimitas, and print- able to all who are interested. Robert Austrian download and distribution. ing each imaged page was very Motivated by that dream, Mike There was even one by Osler, slow. Furthermore, since each Jones and (to a much lesser The Evolution of Modern Medi- Call for Abstracts-2008 page of each text is formatted extent) I have begun the proc- 8 cine. This is already an auspi- Annual Meeting in Boston, as a PDF document, you have ess of assembling a searchable cious undertaking but 20,000 MassachuseHs, 4-7 May to "turn" (with a click of the database of Osleriana. Mem- volumes is just a drop in the mouse, of course) and read bers of the American Osler bibliothecal bucket and many many pages in order to find, Society who were able to join more await scanning and proof- say, a specific quotation that us in Montreal (marvelous reading even though the ever you were interested in-and city!) and who were able to more stringent U.S. copyright you would have to know what stay for the swan song of the laws may keep us from having you were looking for and where annual meeting have heard a true "library of librar- to look because I could not find Mike and me give our intro- ies" (which would make the any search function that seemed duction to this project. To entire corpus of human writing to work. reprise what we said there, we available anywhere, anytime- have begun to assemble a web- and free!). So, the promise and hope of based, searchable database digital information storage (to Because, as Oslerians, we are (www.asksam.comldemo/ provide universal and nearly interested in Osleriana, I looked osleriana/) that now contains instantaneous accessibility cou- at the John P. McGovern His- the 22 numbered essays in pled to a powerful search facil- torical Collections and Re- Aequanimitas and Other Es- ity that would let the interested search Center at the Houston says as well as A Way of Life user locate specific---even Academy of Medicine-Texas and all of Cushing's The Life dimly remembered-texts) Medical Center Library in of Sir William Osler and a few remain alive but still unreal- Houston, of the abstracts submitted to Frank A. Neelon ized, at least in regard to writ- (mcgovern.library. tmc.edu! recent annual meetings of the Continued on Page 2 The Oslerian Volume 8, Issue 1 Page 2 A Web of Osleriana (continued) in assigned essays of or about Osler (we need to have central assign- ment of tasks in order to avoid duplication of effort), to proofread the finished products, to find and alert us to available material, or who American Osler Society. The difference between our database would be willing to donate funds for this purpose (commercial scan- and what others have done is that ours consists of digitized ning enterprises will do the grunt work for us, for an modest fee). text rather than scanned images. As a result, the entire data- This may seem a daunting job, but I recall that the Lilliputians over- base (or specified sections) is searchable using the built-in whelmed Gulliver by dint of numbers. search function, and it is easy and quick to print out (or e- mail) any portion of the database. If you have any interest, we want to hear from you. Of course, if this electronic library is to be available to all, the website will need to be We encourage all readers to look at the website, experiment sustained. As I announced in Montreal, my presidential gift to the with the search functions available, print out any pages that Society is to sponsor the website for the next year. If enough mem- they wish-and most of all, to call to our attention any of the bers find the website to be a useful and appropriate instrument, then still numerous typos or other computer glitches that inevitably we can make this project an official function of the American Osler remain and await redaction. These errors are easily correct- Society-and make this the AOS's gift to the world. The dollar out- able if you will let me ([email protected]) or Mike lay for a year of web hosting is really minimal, particularly in light Jones (InikejonesOl\ainc.rr.com) know about them. And, of of the money that we have generously (and appropriately) contrib- course, we want to know what you think of the site, how it uted to the production of printed material. So I am asking all mem- works, what is good, what is not, and what it might become. bers and other interested parties to let me know what you think and My ultimate fantasy (is this just a pipe dream?) is a search- where we should go. Hopefully, by the time we all congregate in able library of all things by and about Osler. Such a library Boston, we will be in a position to put this matter to the vote of the would always be years behind the times because of copyright Society's members. In the meantime, go to the web address: look, restrictions, but those might change, and in the meantime, use, enjoy! plenty of material is freely available, only lacking the person- Francis A. Neelon nel (or dollars) to bring it to fruition. So Mike and I are re- cruiting volunteers who would be willing to obtain and scan [email protected] Oslerian Progress Notes Herbert M. Swick and John D. Stobo were among the five inaugural recipients of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, established by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation to recognize sustained leadership in medical humanism and professionalism. Mark E. Silverman, who has recently had published a new biography of his friend and mentor J. Willis Hurst, is spearheading an effort to bring out a revised edition of The Quotable Osler, which has continued to exhibit excellent sales with all roy- alties going to the Society. Mark would like for anyone with corrections (including typographical errors) or additions to notify him. Philip W. Leon, who has just retired from teaching English at The Citadel after a distinguished career, has had published Sir William Osler: Medical Humanist, which consists of ten essays relating Osler to various figures in literature and art. William Haubrich was awarded Mastership in the American College ofPhysi- cians at its annual meeting in San Diego, California. Jock Murray again organized two history of medicine sessions at the meeting and Charles S. Bryan presented the Nicholas E. Davies Memorial Scholar Award lecture. The Thirty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Osler Society took place Will Haubrich strikes a pose in the well- 30 April to May 3 in Montreal, Quebec. One hundred and six persons attended the appointed study of his home in La Jolla, sessions. Some representative pictorial highlights are shown in this issue of The California, alongside his own original oil Oslerian. Minutes of the Board of Directors meeting and of the Annual Meeting portrait of Osler, based on the 1905 photo- along with two proposed changes to the Bylaws will appear in the August issue. graph of Osler at age fifty-six. Will, whose Pamela Miller chaired the Local Arrangements Committee. Special events in addi- father was a professional artist, obviously tion to the banquet included tours of the Osler Library and of the Montreal Mu- has considerable talent himself in that di- seum of Archaeology and History. rection. The Oslerian Volume 8, Issue 1 Page 3 Our Thirty-Seventh: Montreal Memories 1 Clockwise from upper left: The array of outdoor sculptures greeting early arrivals included Ray- mond Mason's provocative The Illuminated Crowd (1985). Maurice (The Rocket) Richard greeted those who ventured into the labyrinthine underground shopping mall. Pamela Miller and Charles Bryan reviewed meeting arrangements with Eric Comeau from the Omni Hotel (left) and Johnny Buteau from the audiovisual com- pany. Among those who came from faraway lands were Bill Smith (from active military duty in Afghanistan) and the Dates (Sally and Anand) from Oman.