430 



NATURE 



[December i, 192 i 



university, which has to look for support largely 

 to business men, proclaiming- over and over again 

 that science teaching is not to be justified by 

 works alone, but by the spirit of intellectual ex- 

 pansion. Yet while Prof. Smithells advocates 

 science for its own sake as a necessary part of the 

 curriculum in all stages of study, he does not 

 overlook the fact that many great developments 

 have had their origin in efforts to solve purely 

 practical problems ; and he illustrates this in one 

 address by a sketch of Pasteur's work. He is, 

 however, strongly opposed to the control of uni- 

 versity teaching by technology, and says frankly : 

 *' I consider technical universities to be an educa- 

 tional mistake and a national danger of the first 

 magnitude." 



The attitude towards knowledge represented by 

 this remark is characteristic of Prof. Smithells, 

 whose message may perhaps be expressed by the 

 phrase : " Foster the spirit of science, and the 

 rest shall be given unto you." This is the ex- 

 hortation alike to an Indian audience, to gas engi- 

 neers, to journalists, to students of home science 

 and household economics, and to the Workers' 

 Educational Association. It is the motif of the 

 whole composition, and discerning ears will distin- 

 guish it above the din of the market-place and the 

 clanging of industrial hammers, and be stimulated 

 by it. The best teaching of art, or literature, or 

 music, is that which promotes appreciation of 

 what is highest in each of them, and the same is 

 true of science, whether the best be the revela- 

 tion of a law of Nature through disinterested re- 

 search, the creation of a new industry through 

 scientific discovery, or the mental attitude de- 

 veloped by training in scientific method. Modern 

 civilisation is built upon science, and a knowledge 

 of its foundations is therefore essential to all who 

 have power to determine the shape of the super- 

 structure, otherwise it may be destroyed by its 

 own strength. Prof. Smithells pleads eloquently 

 and with inspiring conviction on behalf of natural 

 knowledge and its human significance, and the 

 cause to which he has devoted most of his life 

 will be decidedly benefited if his advocacy of it is 

 widely read. 



William Osier. 



Counsels and Ideals : From the Writmgs of 

 William Osier. Second edition. Pp. xxiv + 355. 

 (London : Oxford University Press, 1921.) 

 85. 6d. net. 



IT would be difficult to overpraise Osier. He 

 was heart and soul in love with life — a man 

 most lovable, courteous, gracious, of unfailing 

 NO. 2718, VOL. 108] 



sympathy, hopeful, generous. Toronto, Montreal, 

 Baltimore, Oxford — these universities were the 

 stages of his work for mankind : a great teacher, 

 a good example to all of us, a foremost representa- 

 tive of the science and art of medicine. He came 

 from America to England as Mr. Lowell came, as 

 an Ambassador : and by his culture, his devotion 

 to the humanities, and his admirable gift of speak- 

 ing well and writing well, he delighted Oxford as 

 Lowell delighted London. It was an unheard-of 

 thing, that Oxford should get a Regius Professor 

 of Medicine from Baltimore : but it was a grand 

 success. He drew together, in his profession, so 

 far as one man could, America and England. He 

 came at the end of the Augustan Age in Oxford : 

 and it was like home to him. 



There can be no higher praise of his influences 

 — and it is not too high — than to say that he 

 exercised, in medicine, that secret of teaching 

 which Ruskin exercised in painting and archi- 

 tecture; and it is worthy of note that his writings 

 have a touch, and more than a touch, of Ruskin, 

 both in thought and in style. Only, hfe was kinder 

 and sunnier to him : Ruskin is tragedy : Osier went 

 from one happiness to another. 



The new edition of Dr. Camac's anthology, 

 "Counsels and Ideals," is good as good can be 

 — full of wisdom, learning, humour, practicality, 

 and loving-kindness. Not all of us, in the medical 

 profession, can ever expect to rise from the ranks. 

 For some of us, here and there in Osier's writings, 

 the ideals must appear to be above attainment, 

 and the counsels to be counsels of perfection. We 

 have not, and we never shall have, his advan- 

 tages. Yet, as one turns the pages, what a 

 treasury of sound advice is . in them ! For ex- 

 ample : — 



(i) "Often the best part of your work will have; 

 nothing to do with potions and powders, but with] 

 the exercise of an influence of the strong upon* 

 the weak, of the righteous upon the wicked, ofj 

 the wise upon the foolish. To you, as the trustedj 

 family counsellor, the father will come with hisj 

 anxieties, the mother with her hidden grief, the| 

 daughter with her trials, and the son with hisj 

 follies. Fully one-third of the work you do will| 

 be entered in other books than yours." 



(2) " From the day you begin practice, never] 

 under any circumstances listen to a tale told toj 

 the detriment of a brother practitioner ; and when! 

 any dispute or trouble does arise, go frankly, erel 

 sunset, and talk the matter over, in which wayl 

 you may gain a brother and a friend. ... It isi 

 the confounded tales of patients that so often set 

 us by the ears. . . . There is only one safe rule- 

 never listen to a patient who begins with a story 

 about the carelessness and inefficiency of Dr. 

 Blank. Shut him or her up with a snap, knowing 



