[ xvii ] 



Professor William H. Welch has given 

 the following account : 



Most fortunately for me my last visit to the 

 Osiers' in Oxford happened to be on Friday, May 

 16, 1919, when Osier delivered his presidential 

 address before the Classical Association. 



Of the many honours which came to Osier few 

 gave him so great pleasure, as well as surprise, as 

 his election to the presidency of the British Classi- 

 cal Association. Thiswas arecognition, not merely 

 of his sympathetic interest in classical studies and 

 intimate association with classical scholars, but 

 also of his mastery of certain phases of the subject, 

 especially the bibliographical and historical sides, 

 and the relation of the work and thought of classi- 

 cal antiquity to the development of medicine, sci- 

 ence, and culture. There have been physicians, 

 especially in England, well known for their attain- 

 ments as classical scholars, but I am not aware that 

 since Linacre there has come to a member of the 

 medical profession distinction in this field com- 

 parable to Osier's election to the presidency of the 

 British Classical Association. 



Osier told me that he had never given so much 

 time and thought to the preparation of an address 

 as he did to this one. The occasion and the whole 



