The Persisting Osler II: Selected Transactions of the American Osler Society, 1981-1990 (review)

Many years ago a lad of twelve wandered through the open stacks of the public library in his hometown. His heart already set on “being a doctor,” he chanced upon a shelf of medical books and removed one entitled The Principles and Practice of Medicine, by William Osler of Johns Hopkins. As he began to read, he was quickly pleased that he could easily understand Osler’s descriptions of the symptoms of diseases such as whooping cough, measles, mumps, and chicken pox, as he himself had experienced them. With less comprehension, he read on about malaria, typhoid fever, and poliomyelitis, disorders that had afflicted some of his schoolmates. In that hour his goal to study medicine was cemented.

Today that onetime lad, now an inveterate Oslerophile, has taken delight in reading The Persisting Osler II, a volume of twenty-eight essays by members of the American Osler Society. The papers were selected from among those presented at annual meetings of the Society between 1981 and 1990. Each essay stands on its own; taken together, they paint a vivid picture of Osler.

The opening section contains four erudite essays about ethics and humanism, subjects of deep interest to Osler. In other sections one follows Osler through McGill, the University of Pennsylvania, Hopkins, and Oxford in his brilliant career. Osler’s friendship with Harvey Cushing is described by Jeremiah A. Barondess, that with Hayes Agnew by Robert Austrian, and that with Thomas McCrae by Frederick B. Wagner, Jr. An essay by W. Bruce Fye relates Osler’s departure from Hopkins to take up the Regius Professorship at Oxford. George T. Harrell reveals Osler’s relationship to his only son, Revere, who was killed in World War I. Alex Sakula states that Osler twice declined the presidency of the Royal Society of Medicine but gave strong leadership to its Section on the History of Medicine. Osler’s keen interest in veterinary pathology is described by Leon Z. Saunders, in vivisection by Jack D. Key and Alvin E. Rodin, in neurology by George C. Ebers, and in smallpox by William B. Spaulding. As Oslerian disciples, the authors have meticulously researched and documented their reports.

The essays are printed in easily readable type, on paper of exceptionally high quality. Photographs are well reproduced and appropriately positioned in the text. There is also a good index. In sum, the editors deserve praise for putting together such an attractive volume of essays on so many different aspects of Osler’s career.

In an admirable paper, Lord Walton of Detchant asks, “Can We Rekindle the Osler Flame?” Any reader of this volume will know that seventy-five years after his death, Osler’s flame burns brightly even yet.