A student's ode to Osler's text republished with notes.

Abstract

Sir William Osler's The Principles and Practice of Medicine, first published in 1892, was the standard textbook of internal medicine for more than 50 years.' The text was exemplary in its systematic organization and original observations and, as one reviewer of the first edition stated: everywhere throughout the work one feels the delightful personality of the man.* Tucked between the leaves of William Osler's own copies of Tlze Principles and Practice of Medicine, or mounted into his private scrapbook, are dozens of letters from readers in praise of his textbook. Most of these correspondents were prominent physicians, and being Victorian professional gentlemen, they concentrated their admiration on the book's learned, lucid, and practical qualities. A few of them stepped outside this conventional modeAlfred Stille, for instance, appeared to think that the best thing about The Principles and Practice was the degree with which Osler's views coincided with his own-but the great majority echoed the judgment of William White, the Philadelphia surgeon: have thus far found the information I sought conveyed in a clear and satisfactory manner and embodying the latest clinical and pathological views in a condensed, but sufficiently comprehensive form.3