William Osler

In my last video, I talked about the effectiveness of flu vaccines.

What about pneumonia vaccines? "Pneumonia may well be called the friend of the aged," wrote the father of modern medicine, Sir William Osler, over 100 years ago in 1898.

"Taken off by it in an acute, short, not often painful illness, the old man escapes those cold gradations of decay so distressing to himself and to his friends." The thought was that pneumonia mercifully killed those who would soon die anyway from potentially a more protracted, painful illness.

But these days, healthy older adults hospitalized for pneumonia are not significantly more likely to die in the subsequent two years than younger adults in the same situation.

This recording has been by Roger Melin.

A Way of Life by William Osler This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Luke Sartor A Way of Life by William Osler An address to Yale students Sunday evening, April 20th, 1913 What each day needs that shalt thou ask Each day will set its proper task Goethe Fellow students, every man has a philosophy of life in thought, in word, or in deed, worked out in himself unconsciously.

In possession of the very best, he may not know of its existence.

With the very worst, he may pride himself as a paragon.

He worked with Hutchinson, with Marcus Gunn, and then came back and brought all of that.

And it was William Osler who actually had nudged him into going into ophthalmology.

And so he set up the first department in, according to the history books, according to some of the research that we did, the first department of ophthalmology in English-speaking North America.

And so he basically started that tradition of training, of provision of service, and also research as well back then.

nutrient deficiencies exactly yeah

well yeah exactly and then you sit there and you go like maybe william osler was wrong maybe the hyper specialization of medicine was actually the wrong idea like it was really good 150 years ago, where, you know, you had the scourge of infectious diseases and where, you know, the number one killer for almost the entire history of humanity was pneumonia before we had, you know, clean drinking water, sanitation, nutrition and, of course, antibiotics.

And so but, you know, now Like, I swear, I swear if a cardiologist gives you a blood thinner and you're 97 years old in a walker and can barely walk and you fall over and hit your head and die of cerebral hemorrhage, they still win because you didn't have a heart attack or a stroke.

And I'm like, they're still dead.

One of my favorite quotes I quoted in the book in chapter five is, listen to the patient, they are telling you the diagnosis.

William Osler, founder of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said that, and I think it's really true.

So when we look at numbers, you cannot interpret a number without the context of the person behind it.

So I'll routinely see numbers in lab testing and I'll see, okay, this number indicates that this, this, or this may be going on with the patient, but I need the patient to be in front of me so that I can ask them, hey, is this, this, or this going on? Let me give you a very real example.

What's its use in France? If France burns flannel, what's its need in Spain? If Spain drops cloth, too cumbrous for Algiers, linen goes next, and last, the skin itself, a superfluity in Timbuktu when, through his journey, was the fool at ease?" When Thoreau was questioned as to his beliefs in a life beyond the grave, he answered impatiently, "Oh, one world at a time." I was deeply impressed in reading Dr.

Cushing's admirable biography of Sir William Osler to see that the physician and philosopher laid the greatest stress on living one day at a time.

That is his summary of the art of living.

For all those who wish to accomplish as much as possible and retain their peace of mind, live one day at a time.

But I sat on watching the light creep around towards the north and change, and the waning moon coming up as though by stealth behind the woods of no man's land.

End of essay eleven Essay twelve of Modern Essays selected by Christopher Morley This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Essay twelve The Student Life by William Osler Sir William Osler, one of the best-loved and most influential teachers of his time, was born in Canada in 1849.

He began his education in Toronto and at McGill University, Montreal, where he served as Professor of Medicine, 1874-84.

Wherever he worked, his gifted and unique personality was a center of inspiration at the University of Pennsylvania, 1884-89, at Johns Hopkins, 1889-1904.

Uncle Peter is one of the gamest little chunks of humanity that ever looked the world in the eye.

But when he heard the edict put forth by Dr. Osler, the old man went overboard with a splash.

He was underwater a long time.

He thought the boogeyman had him for sure.

Uncle Peter felt that it would no longer be possible for him to pass a drugstore without some young fellow rushing out with a handkerchief full of chloroform and yelling, Here, you old chestnut.

Here's where you get it in the nose.

In the dark watches of the night, Uncle Peter used to wake up covered with cold perspiration because he had dreamed that Doc Osler was pounding him on the bald spot with a baseball bat after having poured hair dye all over his breakfast food.

At last, Uncle Peter got so nervous, I advised him to write to the doctor.