Osler Library Newsletter
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OSLER LIBRARY NEWSLETTER McGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, CANADA No.52 - June 1986 THE SIR WILLIAM OSLER HOSPITAL OF The author of the leading article in this issue, Carl Spadoni, McMASTER UNIVERSITY, HAMILTON is a very welcome newcomer to the Osler LibraryNewsletter. He is the Archivist of the Health Sciences Library at McMas- A name proposed but not used ter University in Hamilton, Ontario. URING THE SUMMER of 1969 the following two questions: (1) Do you feel the name when construction of what is now McMaster University should be used in the official designa- the McMaster University Medi- tion of the hospital, i.e. McMaster University Hospital?; cal Centre was well underway, (2) The name The Sir William Osler Hospital of McMaster Dr. J .R. Evans, Vice-Presidentof University, Hamilton has been suggested. Do you feel this the Division of Health Sciences, is an appropriate designation? wrote enthusiastically to the Pres- The results of the questionnaire were not quite what Dr. ident of McMaster University, Evans expected. Many people misinterpreted the first ques- Dr. H.G. Thode, proposing that the Health Sciences Centre tion and answered as if the actual designation, McMaster be called the Sir William Osler Hospital of McMaster Uni- University Hospital, was up for consideration in the compet- versity, Hamilton. Dr. Evans outlined various reasons for ition with the proposed Osler name. Many respondents felt such a name. Osler had lived and gone to school in Dundas, that the Osler name was original, appropriately sentimental, close by Hamilton, from age seven to fourteen. (Dr. Evans and appealing - a befitting tribute to a local son who had did not mention that Osler had been expelled from the school made good. The tradition of studying disease from a scien- in 1864.) tific and humanistic point of view was what Osler em- As a youth Osler collected biological specimens in the phasized and what McMaster wished to emulate. As one waters of the Desjardins Canal, Cootes Paradise, and Bur- respondent commented, "Who could hate Osler? [Thename] lington Bay, all in the neighbourhood of Dundas, and such would unify and dignify':Unfortunately,this was the minority work had been referred to in one of his early papers published view. In spite of the apparent ambiguity of the first question, in the Canadian Naturalist.Also, before assuming hisfaculty the majority of those responding, by a ratio of approximately appointment at McGill, Osler practised briefly in Dundas three to two, opposed the Osler connection. The name was and at the City Hospital in Hamilton. By associating itself said to be unrepresentative, unwieldy, obscure, and preten- with the distinguished name of Osler, Dr. Evan~ believed tious, smacking of Madison Avenue gimmickry. The major- that McMaster would create an aura in the mind of the public ity believed that McMaster's link to Osler was tenuous and of a hospital not only striving for the best in education and that too many laurels had already been heaped on Osler's research, but also pledged to serve the people of Hamilton head. "Much as I revere his name and works I am sick of and the region. him!'; one respondent complained. "His name is used McMaster's Board of Governors approved the name in everywhere to name everything. Let's kick the habit': principle, subject to the approval by the surviving Osler Since the proposed Osler name had been approved in family and the concurrence of other medical groups. Faculty principle by various bodies of the Hospital and University, Executive and the Provisional Hospital Board Committee the negative results of the questionnaire placed Dr. Evans appeared to be favourably disposed to the name. The Health in a rather embarrassing position. After hearing Dr. Watters' Sciences Council representing Nursing, Medicine, report, members of the Faculty Council overwhelmingly Biochemistry, and Biology discussed the name, voted in its defeated the motion to adopt the Osler name. The trustees favour, and passed a recommendation to the University pres- of the provisional Hospital Board Committee followed suit ident. To ensure that the name was fully acceptable to the and recommended the designation. McMaster University university community, Dr. WendellW.Wattersof the Depart- Hospital and Medical Centre. Eventually. after considerable ment of Psychiatry was asked by the Council of the Faculty controversy unrelated to the use of the Osler name. the of Medicine to conduct a questionnaire which would solicit designation McMaster University Medical Centre was student and faculty opinion. The questionnaire consisted of adopted. (Continuedonpage 2.) The initial letter on this page and the vignette on the last page are reproduced from Le Livre Moderne: Revue du Monde lilfemire et des Bihliophiles contemporains. puhlh'e par Oet(/\'e Uzanl1e. Vol I. Paris. 1890. (Rih/. 0.1'/. 7169) (Continuedfrompage 1.) OSLER LIBRARY RESEARCH FELLOWS A further attempt to use the Osler name was made in FOR 1986 November 1983by the Faculty of Health Sciences' Sub-com- mittee on Campus Names. The McMaster University Med- Dr. Roger N. Buckley, Professor of History at the University ical Centre consists of two related but distinct administrative of Connecticut and Dr. William P. Stoneman, Assistant to bodies, the McMaster Faculty of Health Sciences and the the Principal, Victoria College, University of Toronto are McMaster Division of the Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals. the recipients of Osler Library Research Fellowships for The Sub-committee on Campus Names proposed to re-name 1986. Dr. Buckley's project will be the medical history of the McMaster Division as the William Osler Hospital. In the British Garrison in the West Indies during the 18th and addition to reasons similar to those given by Dr. Evans in early 19th centuries. Dr. Stoneman will begin to record and 1969, the Sub-committee stated that some patients were analyse the features specific to the Osler Library copies of obviously confused about the location of the McMaster Di- incunabula. vision of the Hospital and had mistakenly ended up at The Osler Library Research Fellowship program is de- Chedoke Divison on the Hamilton Mountain. A memoran- signed to assist those with need to travel to and establish dum on the proposed re-naming was circulated to members temporary residence in Montreal while undertaking research of Faculty Council, but the proposal was defeated. at the Osler Library. Although Osler was not memorialized in the naming of McMaster's health sciences complex, there has been a small THE PERSISTING OSLER contingent of admirers of Osler at McMaster. In 1983several members of the medical faculty organized a celebration in Dundas on the occasion of the great physician's 134thbirth- The PersistingOsler is the title of a volume offering a selec- tion from the transactions of the first ten years of the Amer- day (see Osler Library Newsletter, October 1983). In May ican Osler Society. These transactions consist of papers pre- 1985 two of McMaster's Oslerites, Dr. W.B. Spaulding and Dr. Charles Roland, were elected as President and First sented at the Society's annual meetings, more or less in the form in which they were originally read. A number of them Vice-President respectively of the American Osler Society appear in print here forthe first time. The papers are grouped and in April 1986 Dr. Roland succeeded Dr. Spaulding as around the themes of "Personal Life", "Professional Life", the Society's President. So Osler has not been forgotten at "Friends and Colleagues" and "Societies", and are illustrated McMaster University. by an impressive wealth of photographs. Three well-known Carl Spadoni Oslerians served as editors: Jeremiah A. Barondess, John P. McGovern and Charles G. Roland. Published in 1985by APPOINTMENT OF the University Park Press, 300 North Charles Street, Balti- HISTORY OF MEDICINE LIBRARIAN more, Maryland 21201,it is a truly elegant volume, bearing witness to the loving care which its editors and publisher have bestowed upon it. McGill University has appointed Dr. Faith Wallisto the post of History of Medicine Librarian. As such she is Librarian in charge of the Osler Library and replaces Dr. Philip Teigen OSLER DAY - NOVEMBER 1986 who left us at the end of 1984(see Osler Library Newsletter no. 48). Dr. Wallis has received three degrees from McGill As explained in the February 1986Osler Library Newsletter, University - Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in there will be a second Osler Day this year. It will fall on History (1971), Master of Arts in History (1974), and Master Wednesday, November 5th. The Osler Lecturer is to be of Library Science (1976). More recently (1985)she obtained Stephen Jay Gould, a member of the Faculty of Harvard a Ph.D. from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the Univer- University since 1967 and professor of Geology there since sity of Toronto. 1973. His monthly column "This View of Life" in Natural Dr. Wallis is already known to readers of the OslerLibrary History, his award winning collection of essays Ever Since Newsletter. Since January 1985 she has been Assistant His- Darwin and The Panda's Thumb, and his brilliant expose of tory of Medicine Librarian on the staff of the Osler Library the abuse of intelligence testing in The Mismeasure of Man and a member of the Editorial Committee for the Newsletter. have made him one of the most widely read evolutionary Several articles in the Newsletter bear her name as author. biologists living today. At Harvard he teaches geology, biol- E.H.B. ogy, and the history of science. His latest collection of essays, published earlier this year, is entitled The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History. As is customary, the Osler Banquet will be held on the evening of Osler Day. Professor Gould will be the honoured guest at the banquet and will respond to questions from the floor about his Osler lecture delivered that afternoon.