The Faiths of Two Doctors: Thomas Browne and William Osler

THE FAITHS OF TWO DOCTORS: THOMAS BROWNE AND WILLIAM OSLER PETER MARTENS* William Osier, who between 1875 and 1919 served as professor of medicine at McGiIl, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, and Oxford, influenced his world in many ways—as a physician who helped establish a medical school, as a teacher who contributed greatly to changes in medical education that occurred during his times, as an author of one of the most widely used medical textbooks of the past hundred years. He never failed to impress those he met with his outlook: his concern for cooperation among coworkers, his empathy for the suffering of patients, and his general insight into the human condition. Osier, though he obviously loved science, could not ignore the human side of his work; in fact, he had originally intended to follow a religious vocation. Unlike many serious scientists, he found inspiration not primarily in contemporary scientific works, but rather in historical and literary works pertinent to medicine. Among the literary and philosophic authors whose work he read, his favorite was Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), whose Religio Medici ("A Doctor's Faith"), was placed on Osier's bier during his funeral. What influence could this seventeenth-century essayist, contemporary ofJohn Milton, believer in witches and ghosts [1], have had on William Osier, herald of the medical renaissance of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Sir Thomas Browne, English medical practitioner and author, figured heavily in the development of many of the attitudes and ideas found in Osier's addresses and "Lay-sermons"—ideas concerning living and dying, education, and attitudes towards the aging and women. In fact, Browne's work probably initially helped Osier focus his The author thanks Professor Ronald Numbers and Dr. W. Bruce Fye, Department of the History of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, for their assistance. This paper was submitted in the 1990-1991 Dwight J. Ingle Writing Competition for Young Authors. *Address: 100 Taft Avenue, Providence, Rhode Island 02906.© 1992 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0031-5982/93/3601-0795101.00 120 Peter Martens ¦ The Faith of Two Doctors interests on biology and medicine. The continuing significance of the work of these two physicians results not so much from contributions to technical understanding, but from the worldview they constructed, a worldview that tried to incorporate a spiritual, philosophic outlook into the predominately scientific framework of medicine. The need for this broadened outlook in medicine continues to be felt today. Thomas Browne lived a life remarkable for its outward tranquillity. Educated initially at Oxford, he completed his medical training at the best European medical schools of his time: Montpellier, Padua, and Leyden. He practiced medicine in Norwich, England, for most of his life, raised a large, successful family, never suffered poverty, and apparently lived happily for 77 years. The conventionality of Browne's life belies the uniqueness of his thought and writing. In Religio Medici, which Browne wrote at age 30 and which became William Osier's favorite book, Browne describes his faith and the way he applies it to his scientific vocation. The book reveals Browne as willing to explore the new territory opened by the science of his day, but unwilling to completely separate science from spirituality. According to Browne's editor, Herford, "Two great intellectual traditions [Christianity and Western medicine] which had for the most part run counter met in [Browne's] mind in a curious, unexpected harmony—a harmony obtained without apparent commotion or forced diversion of either from its course" [2]. In another work, Hydriotaphia, Urne Burial, Browne shows how his interest in the discipline of archeology serves as a catalyst for a more spiritual discussion of the vanity of life. Although Browne's science—a mixture of observation, doubt, theology, and speculation—did not equal the best science of his time, his outlook shows how science can be seen not simply as practical observation or esoteric theory, but as a discipline that helps humans assess their situation in the world. Browne's outlook fascinated Osier, who frequently recollected his introduction to Religio Medici. The Reverend William Johnson, Osier's teacher at Trinity College School, "who followed the seasons of...