History

Sir William's anniversary

Last year marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir William Osler, who was the world's most famous physician at the beginning of this century. In honour of the sesquicentennial of Osler's birth in Bond Head, Upper Canada, on July 12, 1849, CMAJ presented a collection of articles examining the man, his work and why his reputation still endures. The articles reflect on the "Saint William's" contributions to medicine, his musings on the recent medical revolution and his presentation of a case now recognized as Churg-Strauss syndrome. Perhaps Osler's legacy was summed up best by historian Michael Bliss, who wrote: "Osler understood and taught that the essence of medicine was the confrontation between a physician and a sick person. He became a great hero to students at McGill, Pennsylvania, Hopkins, and Oxford because he taught them not the sciences of medicine but the art of medicine in the light of science." [CMAJ 1999;161(7):827,831,842,846,849]