Osler, William

Typed letter signed to [Sir George] Newman

Publisher Information: Oxford: 1913.

Osler, William (1849-1919). Typed letter signed to Sir George Newman (1870-1948). 1 page, on Regius Professor of Medicine letterhead. Oxford, 17 December 1913. 220 x 178 mm. Small crease in upper corner, creased where previously folded, but fine.

Letter touching on cardiology to British public health physician George Newman, the first Chief Medical Officer to the English Ministry of Health and author of several influential works including Infant Mortality: A Social Problem (1906) and Hygiene and Public Health (1917). The letter reads:

"Your report is full of interest. The section on heart lesions is of great value. I am glad you called attention to that paper of Mackenzie’s, as practitioners are altogether too ready to assume a serious heart lesion to be indicated by a systolic murmur. The position of the apex beat is worth everything else. I am glad you called attention to the tonsils. The tuberculosis report is also most interesting."

The “report” may be a reference to the third edition of Newman’s The Health of the State (1913), or possibly the 1911 edition of Infant Mortality. “MacKenzie” refers to the eminent cardiologist James MacKenzie (1853-1925) who pioneered in the study of cardiac arrhythmias. Osler’s focus on cardiology is a noteworthy feature of this letter; Bruce Fye, in his “William Osler” (Clinical Cardiology 11 [1988]: 356-358) notes that during the last decade of his life Osler published articles on a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases.

Book Id: 46288

Price: $1,500.00