Si7' William Osier. 



XIX 



The subjects of his professorial lectures were physiology and pathology, 

 and he also accepted the Chair of Helminthology at the Veterinary College, 

 but ere long he was given charge of a small-pox ward, and in due course was 

 elected a physician to the Montreal General Hospital. Thus he acquired 

 opportunities of clinical teaching, of which he took full advantage, and, ten 

 years after his return to Canada, had gained such a reputation as a physician 

 and teacher of clinical medicine that he was invited to accept the Chair of 

 Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania. 



It is evident, from the testimony of his colleagues and pupils, that the 

 influence and stimulating power, which were so characteristic of Osier 

 throughout his life, were fully in evidence during the Montreal period. The 

 ties there knit were never loosened; it was to his al?7ia mater, McGilh 

 that he bequeathed his valuable library, and he desired that his ashes should 

 rest within her walls, amidst the books which he loved so well. 



His sojourn in Philadelphia lasted only five years. They were years of 

 strenuous work and growing fame as a clinical worker and teacher who always 

 maintained the tradition that to be a good physician a man must needs be a 

 well-trained pathologist. Of Osier, in Philadelphia, Dr. Howard A. Kelly 

 writes : — " Fresh invigorating currents of life and new activities in our 

 stereotyped medical teachings began to manifest themselves, and every sturdy 

 expectant youngster, in short order, lined himself up as a satellite of the new 

 star. Osier breezes were felt everywhere in the old conservative medical 

 centre, and yet it was not without some difficulties that he securely established 

 himself." 



In 1889 he accepted the call to take up the posts of Professor of Medicine 

 in the newly established Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and of 

 Physician-in-Chief to the Johns Hopkins Hospital. The new University had 

 acquired an ideal President in Dr. Daniel C. Oilman, and a group of most 

 able professors. Amongst those who formed the nucleus of a medical faculty 

 were Drs. Welsh, ISTewell Martin, and Ira Eemsen. The other clinical chairs 

 were filled by the appointment of Drs. Halstead and Kelly. Prof. Welsh in 

 the Chair of Pathology was a tower of strength, and the new Professor of 

 Medicine was most fortunate in his colleagues. 



At Johns Hopkins Osier found his great opportunity. He could construct 

 a medical clinic de novo, unhampered by traditions or vested interests. It 

 was for him to determine the staff requ.ired, to select its members, and to 

 shape the methods of teaching and research ; and under his guidance there 

 emerged the earliest organised medical unit in any Anglo-Saxon country. 



In its construction he adhered firmly to the best and essential feature of 

 the English schools, the contact of the student with the patients, in the wards 

 and out-patient departments, throughout his curriculum, and the teaching of 

 medicine at the bed-side. At the same time he embodied what is best in the 

 German system, the intimate association of laboratories and wards, under one 

 directing head, and the enlistment of a group of highly trained assistants 

 working under the guidance of the director. The advancement of the science 



