William Osler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Osler at the age of 32
Sir William Osler

Sir William Osler (born July 12, 1849 in Bond Head, Canada West (now Ontario ), † December 29, 1919 in Oxford , England) was a Canadian physician , physiologist and medical historian . At the turn of the century he was the best-known physician in English-speaking countries, and today he is often referred to as the father of modern medicine because of his pioneering teaching methods.

Life

William Osler was the youngest of nine children of Reverend Featherstone Lake Osler, a missionary who had emigrated from Cornwall , and his wife, Ellen Free Picton, in Dundas . After finishing school in 1867, he first studied theology in Toronto, until a year later he began studying medicine at the Toronto Medical School and then at McGill University in Montreal . There he completed his medical studies in 1872.

This was followed by stays in various medical institutions, including in Berlin , Leipzig and Vienna , and he spent most of his time at University College London . On his return to Canada he became a lecturer at the Medical Institute of McGill University, in 1875 he became a professor there , teaching physiology, pathology and medicine. In 1882 he was a co-founder of the Royal Society of Canada .

In 1884 he took over the chair of clinical medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia , but in 1888 he moved to the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , where he became the first professor of medicine. In addition to William H. Welch , Howard A. Kelly and William S. Halsted, Osler is one of the Big Four at Johns Hopkins Hospital . He revolutionized education with the introduction of practical bedside consultations and combined the best of US, UK and continental European teaching methods. During his first four years in Baltimore, he wrote his book The Principles and Practice of Medicine , which shortly after its first publication in 1892 became the most respected medical textbook of its time. In the same year Osler married Grace Cross, a great-granddaughter of the American freedom fighter Paul Revere . In 1897 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

During a visit to England in 1904 he was offered the Royal Chair of Medicine at Oxford University , which until then had been reserved for English citizens. Although he retained his Canadian citizenship, he took the chair in 1905 and held it until his death.

During his time at Oxford he became more and more passionate about books and his library grew to become one of the best. After his death it was given to McGill University, which it maintains to this day. In 1907 he founded the Quarterly Journal of Medicine (QJM), which is still published today and is one of the most important journals in the field of internal medicine .

For his great achievements in the field of medicine, Osler was awarded the British honorary title of baronet in 1911 , and in 1994 he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame .

Sir William Osler died of bronchopneumonia and empyema in 1919 . He was first buried in the chapel of Christ Church in Oxford, but since the death of his wife in 1928, the ashes of Sir William and Lady Osler have been in the Osler Library of History at McGill University.

Osler's great interest in the history of medicine was reflected in the work " The evolution of modern medicine " published posthumously in 1921 .

influence

Sir William Osler was not only an expert in the diagnosis of heart, lung and blood diseases, but he also initiated the development of the medicine of that time towards today's modern medicine. For the first time, he combined the physiological treatment of a patient with the psychological one and illustrated the importance of the patient's mental state in relation to his or her healing:

"Don't tell me what type of disease the patient has, tell me what type of patient has the disease!" (Don't tell me what kind of illness the patient has, but explain to me what kind of patient has this illness!)

Therefore, he is often seen as the father of psychosomatic medicine. In addition, he had a great influence on the development of medical education, he was instrumental in the development of the continuing education system for doctors that is still in use today. He also ensured that dealing with patients was given more time during the course of medical studies.

Through his numerous publications he became an internationally respected human medicine specialist and expanded the knowledge of his time in many different areas of clinical medicine.

The Osler nodules and Osler's disease , which differs from them , are named after him .

family

William Osler married Grace Revere of Boston, the widow of Samuel W. Gross, MD, of Philadelphia, on May 7, 1892. The two were born in the 1940s to their only child, Edward Revere Osler, on December 27, 1895 has been. When William Osler accepted the position of Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University in 1905, he and his family moved to England. The fact that the Oslers did not want their son to be raised in America also played a role in this decision. Revere, as he was called, attended the Dragon School in Oxford until he was 13 and then went to Winchester College in Winchester, Hampshire . Revere wasn't born to be a good student and his progress was arduous, so his parents hired tutors to prepare him for the Oxford entrance exam, which he passed on the second attempt. He became a student at Christ Church in 1914.

Then the First World War broke out. Revere wasn't old enough for military service, but he dropped out and enlisted in the Oxford Officers Training Corps. In 1915, at age 20, he entered the McGill Medical Unit, where he helped treat wounded soldiers. But he wanted to join the fighting force and in 1916 Revere moved to the Royal Field Artillery. Revere died of wounds sustained in a German attack on August 30, 1917 near Ypres , Belgium. He was buried in the Dozinghem military cemetery in Flanders, Belgium, Row 4F.

Coincidentally, Harvey Cushing , a friend of the Oslers, was serving in a nearby medical unit when Revere was wounded and was present when he died. He also attended the funeral.

The parents were deeply affected by the death of their only child.

Works

A small selection from the works of Sir William Osler:

  • Normal histology for laboratory and class use (1882)
  • The License to Practice (1889)
  • Doctor and Nurse: Remarks to the First Class of Graduates from the Training School for Nurses of The Johns Hopkins Hospital (1891)
  • The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892)
  • The growth of truth as illustrated in the discovery of the circulation of the blood (1906)
  • On multiple hereditary telangiectases with recurrent haemorrhages (1907)
  • An Alabama student, and other biographical essays. London 1908.
  • A Concise History of Medicine (1919)
  • Writings by William Osler in the Internet Archive - online

literature

Web links

Commons : William Osler  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Danielle Ligenza; Sir William Osler, the "Father of Modern Medicine" ; on the Barton Associates website on July 30, 2015; Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  2. ↑ Barbara I. Tshisuaka: Osler, Sir William. 2005, p. 1080.
  3. ↑ Communication on the appointment of William Osler as Regius Professor of Physic at the University of Oxford in the London Gazette of October 14, 1904.
  4. ^ Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland: Journal QJM , accessed August 18, 2015.
  5. ^ Osler Library of the History of Medicine at McGill University
  6. ^ Livia Prüll: Sir William Osler , in: Wolfgang U. Eckart and Christoph Gradmann (eds.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the 20th century , 1st edition 1995 CH Beck Munich, medical dictionary. From antiquity to the present , 2nd edition 2001, 3rd edition 2006 Springer Verlag Heidelberg, Berlin, New York. Medical glossary 2006 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  7. ^ William Osler: The Evolution of Modern Medicine. New Haven 1921.
  8. ^ Edward Revere Osler (1895-1917) in The William Osler Photo Collection
personal data
SURNAME Osler, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian medic
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1849
PLACE OF BIRTH Ontario
DATE OF DEATH December 29, 1919
Place of death Oxford