Sir William Osler: Aphorisms from His Bedside Teachings and Writings

Collected by
Robert Bennett Bean, M.D. (1874-1944)

Edited by
William Bennett Bean, M.D.

Third Printing
Published by Charles C. Thomas, Publisher, Springfield, Illinois, 1968

Rights to this edition
This singular on-line version of Dr. Osler's book is authorized by the William Bennett Bean family, 2001.

Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed
Creation Date: 1968
Last Revision Date: July 2001

Table of Contents

          William Osler

“He was a keen observer, a brilliant clinician. His contributions to medicine and medical education were important. He was a great teacher. But his main strength lay in the singular and unique charm of his presence, in the sparkling brilliancy of his mind, in the rare beauty of his character and of his life, and in the example that he set to his fellows and to his students. He was a quickening spirit….

“He taught us that the treatment of the patient was the most important element in the treatment of disease, that the patient not the disease was the entity.”

          —Thayer

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Foreword

1. The Medical Student
   • Undergraduate
   • And His Teacher
   • Examinations
   • The University
   • And Hospital
   • The Student Practitioner
   • Or Family Doctor
   • Beware of Specialization
   • The Medical Society
   • Observe, Record, Tabulate, Communicate
   • Investigate
   • Beware of the Delilah of the Press
     
     
2. The Ethos
   • Some Rules
   • Work and System
   • Eschew Idleness
   • On Reading
   • Medical History
   • Travel
   • Philosophy and Advice
     
     
3. The Patient
   • The Patient as a Person
   • His Frailties
   • His Credulity
   • Counterbalanced by Faith
   • How To Examine Him
   • How Not To Treat Him
     
     
4. The Great Republic of Medicine
   • General
   • Biographies in Miniature
   • The Leaven of Science
   • A Note on Women
   • Definitions
   • Echoes
     
     
5. Epitomes

1. The Art
2. Bedside Aphorisms
3. A Short Textbook
4. The Fixed Period
   
   

6. Epitaph
   
   

Bibliography