O S L E R Library Newsletter
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OSLER LIBRARY NEWSLETTER McGill University Montreal, Canada No. 85-June 1997 “Stir Up the Brethren”: Love to Gardner & Alloway. Do A Frank and Forthright Osler Letter. attend the Society - you have This issue of the Newsletter intro- been a sinner in that matter. duces a new part-time casual r. Lewis Hersey of Repent before it is too late. London, Ontario, member of the Osler Library staff, recently presented to Yours ever Mrs. Pam Miller, (whose work is the Osler Library a two-page manuscript Wm Osler supported entirely out of the letter written by Library’s endowed funds). Mrs. To place this letter in context, it William Osler to Dr. Hersey’s great- Miller, a” archivist with consider- grandfather, Dr. George Wilkins, then would be helpful to identify the cast of Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at characters to whom Osler alludes. able experience in Canadian McGill. The letter is dated1 First, there is the recipient himself. historical documents, has brought November, 1884: Osler had just left Montreal to take up his new post on George Wilkins, unprecedented order and fresh the faculty of the University of 1842-1916, was ideas to our rich, but chaotic Pennsylvania. Osler’s warm and born in Ireland archives and manuscripts collec- constant friendships with his former and came to McGill colleagues, and his concern for Canada with tions, She has also revealed a his parents. He the well-being of his old university, are talent for exhibitions and well known. So is his penchant for attended the crisp and informal letters. This letter, Toronto research. Both are featured in this however, raised a few eyebrows Grammar School and graduated in issue. In the lead article, she amongst staff and researchers alike. medicine from the University of The following transcription explains Toronto in 1866. He did post-graduate describes a” unusual manuscript why: work in London, England and was Osler letter recently acquired by elected member of the Royal College the Library; later, she reports on 131 South 15th Street of Surgeons in 1871. That year he returned to Canada to practise in an exhibit she and Mrs. June Montreal, becoming Professor of l/11/84 Schachter prepared to honour Pathology and later Practical Dear Old Histolog Physiology at the University of McGill University’s 175th Bishop’s College. In 1882 he became anniversary. Wie gehts? Well I hope - Wish I Professor of Medical Jurisprudence was with you all You are such a and Lecturer in Osteology at McGill decent lot. Fellows here are very University. In 1876 he was appointed Mills with the famous British philoso- kind but they don’t come up to physician to the Montreal General pher perhaps alludes to Wesley Mills’ the Northern (Canadian) stan- Hospital, a position he held until 1900 devotion to pure science, and his dard. How is John Stuart Mills when he was placed on the consulting philosophical rigour and reserve. getting on? It will break my staff of the hospital. His other tasks Indeed, Osler seems to worry that heart if he does not succeed. Do included that of medical examiner for Mills’ somewhat brittle personality what you can for him. Stir up the the Sun Life Assurance Company of and lack of sympathy with the brethren about the additions to which from 1880 he was medical medical applications of physiology the buildings. You must make director. In 1911 he became president might hinder his career. In 1884 Mills matters lively for them. Get of the Association of Medical Directors became Lecturer and in 1886 Professor Roddick interested. Craik is the of Life Insurance. Dr. Wilkins was a of Physiology at only drag - he has no notion of member of the Montreal Medico- McGill. Born in the needs of anything but a stud Chirurgical Society, becoming its pres- Canada, he horse & a brood mare. How is ident in 1897. received his the missus? Keeping well I hope. B.A. from the I shall have a missus too before “John Stuart Mills” was Osler's University of long. These Yankee girls give a nickname for his own demonstrator in Toronto, and his chap no option Its come on physiology at McGill, T. Wesley Mills. M.D. from whether you want to or not. The playful identification of Wesley McGill in 1878. He studied at University College, meeting of that association outside reason, the letter has been deemed by London, with Sir John Burdon Britain, in Montreal in 1897. the Canadian Cultural Property Board Sanderson (as had Osler) and Sir E.A. to be of outstanding significance and Schafer. According to Osler, who “Craik” refers national importance. It provides a rare published his obituary in the British to Dr. Robert example of Osler at work, planning, Medical Journal in 1915, Mills orga- Craik, 1829- pleading, cajoling colleagues into nized his teaching on modern lines 1906. When action. “How is John Stuart Mills and was the first teacher of the subject Osler arrived at [Wesley Mills] getting on? It will break to have a thoroughly up-to-date and McGill in 1870, my heart if he does not succeed. DO well-equipped laboratory. Interested Robert Craik what you can for him. Stir up the in comparative physiology, Mills held the Chair brethren about the additions to the published, i.a., Textbook of Animal in Chemistry. Craik had graduated building. You must make matters Physiology, 1889, and Textbook of from McGill’s medical school in 1854 lively for them. Get Roddick inter- Comparative Physiology, 1890. He with high honours. His thesis was on ested”. Throughout his life Osler retired to London, England in 1910 infectious diseases. Before holding the worked tirelessly for the improvement and died there in 1915. Chair in Chemistry, he held the posi- of the institutions with which he had tions of House Surgeon at the been associated. Years after he left “Roddick” is Thomas George Montreal General Hospital, McGill he continued to press for the Roddick, 1846- Demonstrator in Anatomy, and appointment of the right ma” to the 1923, later Professor of Clinical Surgery. In the right place. He pleaded successfully Sir Thomas 1880s he was elected Dean and was with the Rockefeller Foundation for Roddick. named Professor of Hygiene and funding for the McGill Medical Roddick was Public Health. In 1895 Craik was Faculty. This letter is a working exam- born in granted an Honorary LL.D. He was ple of his methods. Mills was Osler’s Newfoundland, also a Governor of the University. His assistant and later Professor of graduated from obituary in the British Medical Journal Physiology at McGill. Clearly Osler the Normal states that he did little writing, his supported Mills’ up-to-date methods School in Truro, Nova Scotia, and in reputation being based on his teach- of teaching physiology as well as any 1868 obtained his medical degree from ing. building requirements to forward the McGill, where he won the Holmes cause of improving medical practice. Gold Medal. He became a member of “Gardner” refers Osler’s comment about Robert Craik, the resident staff at the Montreal to William “Craik is the only drag - he has no General Hospital and was appointed Gardner, 1842- notion of the needs of anything but a Demonstrator in Anatomy in 1874 at 1926, who stud horse & a brood mare.” provides McGill University. In 1876 he became obtained his new insight into Osler’s frank judge- Professor of Clinical Surgery and M.D.C.M. from ment of a colleague and his willing- Surgeon to the Montreal General McGill in 1866. ness to state plainly what he thought. Hospital. In 1877, after three months He became Pro- A staunch supporter of innovative spent in Edinburgh learning Lister’s fessor of Medical Jurisprudence at medical scientists, he had no time for antiseptic methods, he returned to McGill, the first Professor of Diseases others less devoted. At the time, Montreal where he introduced and of Women and Gynaecologist-in-Chief according to Dr. Francis Shepherd, Dr. promoted Lister's procedures. In 1885, of the Royal Victoria Hospital. Craik kept a stud of racing horses in during the North West Rebellion, Kentucky. (Reminiscences of Student Roddick was appointed Deputy “Alloway” refers Days and Dissecting Room, Montreal, Surgeon General and became the first to T.J. Alloway, 1919). Canadian director of medical services a close friend of in a military campaign. An inspired Osler and fellow Osler’s comment about “Yankee teacher, in 1890 Roddick was young professor women" if nothing else, testifies to his appointed Professor of Surgery at at the Faculty of eligibility among the female members McGill and later the first chief surgeon Medicine at of Philadelphia society His claim that of the Royal Victoria Hospital. From McGill. he “shall have a missus too before 1901-1908, he served as Dean of the long”, may be only a general reflection Faculty of Medicine. In 1912 he This letter has been assessed by the on their assertiveness, as there is no founded the Medical Council of current biographer of Sir William record of any serious courtship at this Canada which provided for a common Osler as being of unusual importance time. system of examinations for medical since few letters of this period of his students across Canada and he life survive, and almost none of this Osler’s comparison of his new became its first president. In 1914 he degree of frankness and intimacy. This friends to his former Montreal received a knighthood. For eight years is borne out by the Cushing biography colleagues, “Fellows here are very he was a member of parliament. As of Osler, the Cushing fonds assembled kind but they don’t come up to the president of the British Medical for the biography and by the holdings Northern (Canadian) standard”, gives Association, he organized the first of the Osler library where this type of us a” interesting insight into his view forthright assessment is rare.