Sir William Osier: 



XXI 



medical school, of the Bodleian Library as a Curator, and of the Clarendon 

 Press as a delegate. Coming fresh from a land of intensive progress he was 

 able to suggest new methods and improvements. At the Kadcliffe Infirmary 

 he had opportunities of clinical teaching, kept in touch with medicine, and 

 took an active part in promoting the development of the Pathological 

 Department of the hospital. King James I attached to the Kegius Chair the 

 Mastership of the ancient fifteenth century almshouse at Ewelme, and Osier 

 took an intense interest in its beautiful buildings, and its precious muniments, 

 of which he secured the proper care. 



Osier rejoiced in the atmosphere of an ancient seat of learning, with its 

 long traditions of men and movements. Before his arrival, he had been 

 elected to a studentship at Christ Church, the college of two of his literary 

 heroes. Burton, author of the 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' and John Locke. 

 One could not help feeling that, whereas his mind was in the forefront of all 

 progress, and his energies were devoted to the interests of the future, he felt 

 equally at home in the past, and found a congenial setting in the Middle Ages. 



There were few of those amongst whom he moved who did not come under 

 the spell of his friendship. Eecognised as a great physician, a man of 

 science, an eminent teacher of medicine and student of its history, a learned 

 lover of books for their contents rather than their outward form, and a 

 power in educational matters, he easily held his own in any gathering of 

 learned men, and his advice and opinion were valued highly. No greater 

 tribute could have been paid to his versatility than his election, in the last 

 year of his life, to the Presidency of the Classical Association. 



He had accumulated a great library of books bearing upon medicine from 

 its earliest days, which contained many rare works, and almost every known 

 edition of his life-long favourite, the ' Eeligio Medici ' of Sir Thomas Browne. 

 He had made considerable progress in its classification and indexing on a 

 novel and original plan, and few things gave him greater pleasure than to 

 show and describe his treasures to an appreciative listener. 



A facile orator. Osier could make an apt and interesting speech on any 

 occasion. He could not be tedious, and his speeches, as also his writings, 

 were studded with phrases which fixed themselves in the memory of his 

 hearers, and were permeated by an impish humour which was essentially 

 his own. 



Sometimes, indeed, his lighter sayings were misunderstood, and a statement, 

 or rather over-statement, thrown off with a smile in an after-dinner speech, 

 was, on occasion, made the subject of a grave discussion in the daily press. 



His house in Oxford was a centre of wide hospitality, wherein he and 

 Lady Osier extended a cordial welcome to their many friends. It was a 

 place of pilgrimage to Americans and Canadians who came to England, and 

 its doors were ever open to the Transatlantic Khodes scholars. 



Nor were his activities limited to Oxford. He was often in London, at the 

 Eoyal College of Physicians, the medical societies and schools, and at the 

 many important committees of which he was made a member. He took an 



