Sir William Osier. 



XV 11 



duties which involved speaking to large audiences trying to him. When he 

 had reached the age of seventy he had a further misfortune, in experiencing 

 a fracture of the femur, and, though partial use of the injured limb was 

 eventually recovered, his movements remained restricted, and were often 

 attended by discomfort. In spite of these limitations. Sir Thomas never lost 

 his courageous spirit, which supported him in carrying on the performance of 

 his duties and attaining the object he had in view, although in this attempt 

 he might have failed had it not been for the constant and devoted care 

 which Lady Eraser exercised on his behalf. His interest in research work 

 never forsook him, for even after his retirement, and within not many 

 months of his decease, he was planning fresh investigations, of which he was 

 not to see the accomplishment. As his mind remained active and vigorous 

 to the end of life, so in his appearance there was little indication of the 

 advanced age to which he had attained, for his hair was still moderately dark 

 and abundant, whilst his features retained not only the alertness, but much 

 of the symmetry of earlier years. 



J. T. C. 



SIE WILLIAM OSLEE, Bart., 1849-1919. 



It is no easy task to write an obituary notice of Sir William Osier which 

 shall be in any degree adequate. No one who did not know bim could give 

 a just appreciation of the man, and those who did. know him retain so 

 dominant a memory of his vivid personality and charm that they are apt to 

 do less than justice to his achievement, and to those strenuous years of 

 scientific work which earned for him the opportunity of manifesting the 

 gifts which were so pre-eminently his. 



Tlie^ story of Osier's life falls naturally into three main periods. The first 

 thirty-five years were spent in Canada, where he was born and edvicated, 

 and, after his graduation followed by two years' work in Europe, were 

 devoted to steady work in the study and teaching of physiology and morbid 

 anatomy and the pursuit of clinical medicine. Then followed twenty years 

 in the United States. This also was a period of research and observation, 

 during which he organised the medical teaching of an important new 

 university, and trained a group of able younger men, who were destined to 

 carry on his work and to hand down its traditions. 



The last fifteen years, spent in Oxford, constituted a period of fruition, of 

 the cultivation of many interests, and of widespread influence upon the 

 advancement of medicine and of medical education. Success seemed to come 



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