~OSLER LIBRARY NEWSLETTER

McGill University, Montreal, Canada No. 58 - June 1988

Lloyd Grenfell Stevenson(June 2, 1918 -March 20, 1988)

t has been said that the Osler li-

brary of the History of Medicineis a jewel in the crown of McGill.Bequeathed by Sir WilliamOsler, polished to internationalrenown by W.W. Francis, thisprecious gift was fittingly in-

stalled in its present setting by yet anothercontributor to McGill's academic riches,

Lloyd Grenfell Stevenson.It was in his native city, London, Ontario,

that Lloyd received his B.A., in 1940, and hisM.D., in 1944, from the University of WesternOntario. Two years later he had become alecturer in the History of Medicine and hadproduced a major biography of another doc-tor who also found his first inspiration inLondon, Sir Frederick Banting. Thus Lloydhad launched his career as an historian evenbefore he went to the Institute of the Historyof Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Universityin Baltimore to obtain his Ph.D. in that sub-

ject in 1949. After a post-doctoral yearabroad, in the other London, Lloyd returnedto Western as a Markle Scholar. In 1954 heleft Western for McGill where he became As-

sociate Professor, Honorary Librarian of theMedical Library, and Assistant to W.W.Fran-cis in the Osler Library.

Lloyd's career continued its rapid rise.When Principal Cyril James asked him tobecome the Dean of the Medical Faculty in1956, he was, at 38, the youngest person everto succeed to that office, a post which he heldconcurrently with that of Professor of theHistory of Medicine until his departure forYale, seven years later.

It was during this time that Lloyd oversawthe planning of the McIntyre Medical Scien-ces Building, conceived and found fundingfor the physical transfer of the Osler Libraryfrom the Strathcona Building to its new quar-ters, added the Wellcome Camera, and pro-vided the physical facilities to house adepartment of the history of medicine. Later,both as recognition for his scholarship, andas an act of gratitude, McGill bestowed uponhim the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoriscausa, at a special convocation that markedthe official opening of the McIntyre Building

in March, 1966.After a brief but notable period at Yale,

both as Professor of the History of Medicine,and as editor of the Journalof theHistory ofMe-dicine and Allied Sciences,Lloyd moved onceagain, in 1968, this time to Baltimore, as theWilliam H. Welch Professor of the History ofMedicine, editor of the Bulletin of the Historyof Medicine, and Director of the institute thathad awarded him his doctorate less than twodecades before. Here he remained as one ofNorth America's best-known editors, tea-chers, and writers on the history of medicineuntil his retirement in 1983.

Throughout this period, and after, Lloydcontinued to take an active interest in the

McGill department whose foundations hehad built, and in the Osler Library on whoseBoard of Curators he remained. Through hispresence at meetings of the Board, Lloyd's as-sociates at McGill were furnished with an an-nual reminder of the sense of humour, giftwith the English language, and wide rangingintellectual interests that were the quintes-sential Lloyd to all who knew him.

Besides his book on Banting, Lloyd

The leading article in this issue is an ap-preciation of Lloyd Grenfell Stevensonpresented to meetings of the McGillUniversity Senate and Medical Faculty.It was prepared by Dr. Don G. Bates,Professor of the History of Medicine,Department of Humanities and SocialStudies in Medicine, McGill University.

In 1973,the Editorial Committee of theNewsletter asked Lloyd Stevenson, thenat The Johns Hopkins University, towrite an account of the Osler Library'stranslation from its old home in theStrathcona Medical Building to the newMcIntyre Medical Sciences Building,with the negotiations which had led tothe Wellcome Trust grant and to the ad-dition of the Wellcome Camera. Dr.

Stevenson agreed and his account ap-peared as the leading articlein the OslerLibrary Newsletter, no. 14, October 1973

Stevenson left a legacy of writings that haveenriched the field in which he spent his pro-iessionallife: works on the history of leadpoisoning, infectious disease, diabetes, theanti-vivisection movement, and Nobel prizewinners in medicine, to name but a few of thetopics that stimulated his inquiring mind.But Lloyd's greatest gift was the giving ofhimself to all tho.se, in many countries, whomhe regarded as his friends.

One of these, the distinguished historianErwin H. Ackerknecht, paid him this retire-ment tribute: "May age be good to you whohave been so good to the aged!" But it wasnot to be. Illness detracted from what should

have been a happy and fulfilling retirement.Then, while on vacation in Florida, he died ofcomplications after a car accident, at the ageof sixty-nine. With his passing, McGill haslost a loyal and devoted friend.

The initial letter on this page is from a 14th century manuscript and is reproduced here from Alexander Nesbitt (ed.) Decorative alphabets al1d il1itials, Dover Publications Inc., 1959.

Sir William Osler: An Annotated

Bibliography with Illustrations

Of Maude Abbott's many publications, oneof the best known and most used has been

her Classifiedand Annotated Bibliographyof SirWilliam Osler's Publications, of which the sec-ond and final edition appeared in 1939, al-most fifty years ago. Additional items havebeen brought to light since then, for examplethrough W.W. Francis' handwritten annota-tions in the Osler Library's copy of MaudeAbbott's bibliography and by the entries inprevious issues of the OslerLibraryNewslet-ter (nos. 35, 39, 44). A completely revised upto date version profusely and attractively il-lustrated and including relevant supplemen-tary material is very welcome and this hasbeen supplied by Richard L. Golden andCharles G. Roland (eds.) Sir William Osler:An

Annotated Bibliographywith Illustrations, pub-lished in San Francisco by Jeremy Norman &Co. in 1987. A detailed description of thebook is contained in Issue #1 of Norman Pub-

lishing News, Fall 1987. Enquiries should besent to Norman Publishing, Jeremy Norman& Co. Ine., 442 Post Street, San Francisco,California, 94102-1579.

Osler Day - 1988

Osler Day this year falls on Wednesday, No-vember 2nd. The Osler Lecturer will be Dr.

Lewis Thomas, well known medical essayistand President Emeritus of the Memorial

Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre.As is customary, the Osler Banquet will be

held on the evening of Osler Day. Dr. Tho-mas will be the honoured guest at the ban-quet and will respond to questions from thefloor about his Osler Lecture delivered thatafternoon.

James Gilbert Turner(1905-1987)

A native of New Brunswick, James GilbertTurner graduated in Medicine from McGillUniversity in 1932, practised in Frederictonuntil 1940 when he joined the Royal Canadi-an Air Force and, after six years there, re-turned to civilian life to pursuepost-graduate studies in hospital adminis-tration in New York.

Dr. Turner became Executive Director of

the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal in 1947and served in that demanding post for 22years, demanding under any circumstancesbut especially so because during that periodthe Hospital underwent a massive recon-struction. In 1970, Dr. Turner retired to Vic-toria, British Columbia.

In his retirement, he showed a keen inter-

est in the Osler Library and was a generousannual contributor to the Friends. His final

contribution to the Osler Library has been abequest of $20,000. Dr. Turner died Decem-

ber 2nd, 1987 at his home in Victoria. He willbe sadly missed by his many admirers, ofwhich the Editor of this Newsletter was one.

E.H.B.

An Outstanding Acquisition: 22,500Medical Theses From France

Through the efforts of Dr Eric Ormsby, Direc-tor of Libraries at McGill University and amember of the Osler Library's Board of Cur-ators, the Library has recently acquired a col-lection of 22,500 French medical theses fromthe nineteeth century. As is customary in Eu-ropean universities to this day, these theseswere printed. The collection purchased byMcGill from Librairie Slatkine in Geneva

comprises approximately 1,056 bound vol-umes of these publications.

Then, as now, the thesis prepared for thedegree of Doctor of Medicine in a Frenchuniversity was not intended to be an exten-sive or original scholarly work. Most of thetheses in this collection are between 20 and

100 pages in length, and concern such main-stream medical problems as diagnosis, treat-ment, and surgical technique. For that veryreason, however, they are of extraordinaryvalue for the historian of medicine interested

in the character and progress of medical ed u-cation, and in the scope of medical inquiry asit touched the average graduate. This social-historical approach to the history of me-dicine underlies the research of Prof. GeorgeWeisz of the Department of Humanities andSocial Studies in Medicine, author of numer-ous studies of French universities, medicaleducation, and the formation of the French

medical e'lite. This new acquisition providesvaluable primary material not only for Prof.Weisz's own work, but for the research of hisgraduate students in the new M.A. pro-gramme in medical history. Moreover, thetheses complement the many hundreds ofrare and historic works on the social dimen-

sions of medicine in France purchased by theOsler Library over the past eight years withfunds provided by collections developmentgrants from the Social Sciences and Hu-manities Research Council of Canada. With

the addition of this outstanding collection oftheses, there is no doubt that the Osler li-brary stands as one of the finest historical re-sources in North America for the study ofFrench medicine in this crucial and forma-

tive period.The collection's scholarly importance lies

in its extent, but many of the individualtheses are of considerable interest in them-

selves. The theses of such giants of 19th cen-tury French medicine as Rene' Laennec (theinventor of the stethoscope), the physiologistand pathologist F.-C-A. Louis, thecardiolog-ist Bouillaud, the psychiatrist Royer-Collard

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(who treated the Marquis de Sade at Charen-ton), and Dominique Jean Larrey, the emi-nent military surgeon of the Napoleonicarmies, can be found in these volumes. How-ever, the topics chosen by quite undistin-guished medical graduates will alsostimulate the historian's curiosity. Forexample, the new interest in preventive me-dicine and public health as applied to build-ing standards is reflected in Eduard Gaud'sDe ['aerationet de la sedentarite dans les lyceesd'internes (1889), and the broadening role ofresearch in medicine finds an echo in Sur la

methode statistique et son emploi dans les scien-ces medicales, submitted by Marc Pierrot in1897. E. Hebert's thesis entitled Une annee

medicale it Dagana, Senegal (1880) bespeaksthe impact of France's colonial empire, whilethe bloody collapse of another empire is re-flected in Guillaume Despax's 1816 thesis onConsiderations medicales sur la marche des

troupes. The names of the students who sub-mitted theses reveal a considerable foreignelement, which witnesses to the prestige ofFrench medicine at this period. Moreover,from the 1870's onward, one sees a numberof women writing theses; one of these, Ca-roline Schultze, chose as her subject Lafemme-medecin au dix-neuvieme siecle (1888).

This monumental and multi-faceted col-

lection of French medical theses, in conjunc-tion with books, journals and microformsalready at the Osler Library, will providescholars and students of medicine in 19th

century France with a extraordinarily richarchive. The McGill Library System is proudand profoundly gratified to have acquiredsuch a valuable and appropriate comple-ment to the Osler Library's resources formedical-historical research.

Faith Wallis

Osler Library Fellows For 1988

Osler Library Fellowships for the year 1988have been awarded to two medical histo-

rians, Dr J. B. Lyons and Dr Patrice De-lavenne, who are working on very different,yet equally innovative research projects.

Dr J. B. Lyons, Archivist, College Histo-rian, and Professor of Medical History at thethe Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, haspublished numerous biographical studies ofIrish doctors. He is particularly interested inthe connection of medicine with literature,and has explored this theme in relation toOliver Goldsmith, Oliver St. John Gogarty,and James Joyce. Using extensive originalmaterials at the Osler Library, he will nowundertake a study of the Irish-Canadianphysician and dialect poet William HenryDrummond.

Dr Patrice Delavenne of Ville-Marie, Que-bec, is a psychiatrist and historian, a found-

ing member and councillor of the Societein-ternationale d'histoire de la psychiatrie et de lapsychanalyse, and a member of the editorialboard of its journal, Frenesie. His special ex-pertise in 19th century French psychiatry isthe foundation for an ambitious biblio-

graphical project: a catalogue of psychiatricliterature from 1799 to the period of the FirstWorld War. The Fellowship will enable himto make substantial progress on the firstphase of the bibliography, covering writingsin French.

The Library is gratified to be able to sup-port two research enterprises of this quality;and particularly so in that they representbranches of scholarship to which Osler waspersonally devoted: the study of the relation-ship of medicine and literature, and histori-cal medical bibliography.

Osler and Psychiatry: A Symposiumand an Exhibit

The American Psychiatric Association heldits 141st annual meeting in Montreal fromMay 7-13, 1988, and the Association's Historyand Library Committee, chaired by Dr Gar-field Tourney of the University of Mississip-pi, organized a special workshop on SirWilliam Osler and psychiatry. The workshopwas "special" in many ways. While the mainconference unfolded at the Palais des Congresdowntown, the Osler workshop was held inthe McIntyre Medical Building, and later ad-journed to the Library itself. Moreover, whilethe title of "workshop" suggests a somewhatinformal, and perhaps prosaic and practicalevent, this workshop turned into a full-fledged symposium. "Workshop" also con-notes a small group of serious and committedinvestigators, but this workshop -- rather tothe surprise of the organizers -- attracted over300 participants to hear the papers and laterto visit the Library for a champagne recep-tion, a screening of "Willie - A Dream", andthe vernissage of a special exhibit.

The metamorphosis of the "workshop" islargely due to the enthusiastic response of anumber of psychiatrists to Dr Tourney's in-itiative, so that what was originally envi-sioned as a small panel discussion grew intoa programme of six addresses. Dr Tourneyhimself gave a substantial introduction toOsler's life and ideas. He was followed by DrCharles Cahn, Associate Professor of Psy-chiatry at McGill and former chairman of thehistorical section of the Canadian PsychiatricAssociation, who spoke on "Osler and Ca-nadian Psychiatry"; Dr Cahn's close associ-ation with the Douglas Hospital gave himaccess to archival sources illuminatingOsler's participation in the foundation oftha t institution. Stanley W. Jackson, Professorof Psychiatry and the History of Medicine atYale explored the question of "Osler and Bur-ton's Anatomy of Melancholy", while Paul R.

McHugh, Henry Phipps Professor of Psy-chiatry at Johns Hopkins, analysed Osler'srole in the creation of the Phipps Clinic. DrHaskell F. Norman, a psychoanalyst fromRoss, California, was unable to attend, buthis essay on Osler's ambiguous relationswith Freud and the psychoanalytic move-ment was read by Dr Tourney. Finally, DrFaith Wallis addressed the subject of books ofpsychiatric interest in the BibliothecaOsleria-na.

Many of the books described by Dr Walliswere on display in the exhibition cases out-side the Library. They not only expose the in-tense debates and curious turns in the

development of an exceptionally complexmedical specialty, but they also reveal some-thing of Osler's rather ambivalent attitudestowards psychiatry. The perennial questionof whether mental disorder was an organicailment or a "sickness of the soul" has alwaysdrawn psychiatry into the regions of philo-sophy and theology. Osler, as a minister's sonwith some deep and unresolved conflictsabout the relationship of medicine to reli-gion, was especially attracted to these bor-derline areas, and his library isextraordinarily rich in Renaissance and earlymodern works on melancholy, witchcraft,hypnotism, faith-healing, and dreams. Hewas also deeply interested in the reform ofmental institutions, especially the history ofthe "no restraint" movement which emergedin England after the foundation of the YorkRetreat. What Osler was conspicuously notinterested in was the etiology, classificationand scientific analysis of mental illness: noneof the works of the great French alienists arepresent, and Freud is represented only by TheInterpretation of Dreams (though it is wellknown that Osler referred patients to Freud).

Some of the background to this rather per-sonal collection of psychiatric classics waspresented in the form of a second exhibit, inthe Osler Room, on "Osler and Psychiatry".Osler's early work in neurology had a strongpsychiatric undertow: for example, his paper"On the Classification of the Tics or Habit

Movements" closes with an interesting dis-cussion of tic psychique. Hence it is not sur-prising to find a chapter on hysteria in ThePrinciples and Practice of Medicine, though theanalysis and therapy offered might seemshallow and untutored now. Case cards from

Osler's private practice reveal a significantnumber of affective disorders, ranging froma gentleman's "pre-matrimonial neurasthe-nia" to "hysterical laryngismus with acutemaniacal attacks", but his most fascinatingrecord of a psychological case is undoubted-ly his personal dream-diary. In the last ana-lysis, however, it is the Osler Library thatmost clearly proclaims Osler's true attitudesto psychiatry. He professed to disdain philos-ophy ("Cheerfulness is always breaking in.")

3

but if one looks closely at his Library, one willfind where he concealed his genuine interestand perplexity over the problem of the soul,its origin and fate, and its capacity to perceivetruth. It is in his books on mental disorder,and perhaps especially in his splendid collec-tion of editions of Robert Burton, whoseAnatomy of Melancholy inspired some ofOsler's most intriguing reflections on thesickness of the soul.

Faith Wallis

Corrections

Two fact-iIalerrors were made in the account

entitled "Dr. Harold Segall Celebrates 90thBirthday" in the February 1988 Newsletter.Both are on page 4. "Dr. Segall brought thefirst ECG machine to Montreal" should have

been "Dr. Segall brought the first portableECG machine to Montreal", and in the ref-erence to Korotkoff, "inflatable cuff' shouldhave been "inflatable cuff and stethoscope".

Friends of the Osler Library

The appeal to the Friends for the 1987-88 academic year concluded at the end of May. The Library gratefully acknowledges the support it hasreceived from Friends, both old and new, who have responded to the appeal for funds this year. Over the year, 338 Friends have given a totalof approximately $13 500.00. Most of the contributions have come from Friends in Canada and the United States of America. However, verywelcome contributions have come also from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany,Switzerland, and the West Indies. The names of Friends whose contributions were received after January 31,1988 are listed below:

* H.D. AttwoodWilliam B. BeanAbel E. Berland

Sanjeev BhattaG.5.T. Cavanagh

* Donald R Chambers

* Dykes Cordell* Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cristall (in honour of

Dr. Theodore L. Sourkes)t Mrs. Henry Dainow (in honour of

Dr. Theodore L. Sourkes)D.E. DouglasJohn E. DuplantierFrank M.C. ForsterHon. Alan B. Gold

* Mr. & Mrs. Lou Gottheil (in honourDr. Theodore L. Sourkes)

Mary S. Guggenheimerlnstitut fur Geschichte der Medizin der

Universitat

Tiibingen* Rosemary Haddadt Eve Osler Hampson* Shikeagi Hinohara* John Scott* Scott Memorial Library, Thomas

Jefferson Universityt Harold N. Segall

Roy Selby

t Mark Ivey, Jr.Serge Jothy

* Richard J. Kahn* Norbert Kesteloot

Edward R LawsRachmiel Levine

t Lawrence LongoK. MacFarlane

* F.e. MacIntoshMedizinhistorisches Institut der

Universitat Bernt e. David Merkel

Erich MeyerhoffHarvey Minasian

t RE. Mitchellt J. Fraser Muirheadt Andrew T. Nadell

National Museum of Science and

Technology* Dr. & Mrs. Haskell F.Norman* Jeremy M. Norman

Northwestern University Dental LibraryPennsylvania Hospital Medical Library

t Dr. & Mrs. Irwin J. PincusRaymond D. Pruitt

t Robert W. QuinnHugh Rienhoff, Jr.

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* A.E. Rodin

I. RogalskyMorris H. Saffron

* Robert Sampson* Elvira Stahl

S.R. ShapiroH. Lewis TaylorB.W. Teigen

* Philip M. TeigenBarbara R Tunis

University of California, Los Angeles,Elmer Belt Library

University of California, San Francisco,Library

t Stella and Richard Van PraaghKaren-Marie Waterhouse

t Leonhard S. Wolfe

The appeal for the 1988-89 academic yearwill be made in the October Newsletter.

t Patron

* Supporting

LegalDeposit2/1988 ISSN0085- 4557Editorial Committee for the Newsletter:

Edward H. Bensley, Honorary Osler li-brarian and Editor; Faith Wallis, Historyof Medicine Librarian and AssociateEditor; Marianne Herefia, Editorial As-sistant.

Friends of the Osler Library

The appeal to the Friends for the 1987-88 academic year concluded at the end of May. The Library gratefully acknowledges the support it hasreceived from Friends, both old and new, who have responded to the appeal for funds this year. Over the year, 338 Friends have given a totalof approximately $13 500.00. Most of the contributions have come from Friends in Canada and the United States of America. However, verywelcome contributions have come also from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, England, the Netherlands, Japan, the Federal Republic of Germany,Switzerland, and the West Indies. The names of Friends whose contributions were received after January 31,1988 are listed below:

* H.D. AttwoodWilliam B. BeanAbel E. Berland

Sanjeev BhattaG.s.T. Cavanagh

* Donald R Chambers

* Dykes Cordell* Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cristall (in honour of

Dr. Theodore L. Sourkes)t Mrs. Henry Dainow (in honour of

Dr. Theodore L. Sourkes)D.E. DouglasJohn E. DuplantierFrank M.C. ForsterHon. Alan B. Gold

* Mr. & Mrs. Lou Gottheil (in honourDr. Theodore L. Sourkes)

Mary S. GuggenheimerInstitut fur Geschichte der Medizin der

Universitat

Tiibingen* Rosemary Haddadt Eve Osler Hampson* Shikeagi Hinohara* John Scott* Scott Memorial Library, Thomas

Jefferson Universityt Harold N. Segall

Roy Selby

t Mark Ivey, Jr.Serge Jothy

* Richard J. Kahn* Norbert Kesteloot

Edward R LawsRachmiel Levine

t Lawrence LongoK. MacFarlane

* F.c. MacIntoshMedizinhistorisches Institut der

Universitat Bernt C. David Merkel

Erich MeyerhoffHarvey Minasian

t RE. Mitchellt J. Fraser Muirheadt Andrew T. Nadell

National Museum of Science and

Technology* Dr. & Mrs. Haskell F. Norman

* Jeremy M. NormanNorthwestern University Dental LibraryPennsylvania Hospital Medical Library

t Dr. & Mrs. Irwin J. PincusRaymond D. Pruitt

t Robert W. QuinnHugh Rienhoff, Jr.

4

* A.E. Rodin

1. RogalskyMorris H. Saffron

* Robert Sampson* Elvira Stahl

S.R. ShapiroH. Lewis TaylorB.W. Teigen

* Philip M. TeigenBarbara R Tunis

University of California, Los Angeles,Elmer Belt Library

University of California, San Francisco,Library

t Stella and Richard Van PraaghKaren-Marie Waterhouse

t Leonhard S. Wolfe

The appeal for the 1988-89 academic yearwill be made in the October Newsletter.

t Patron

* Supporting

Legal Deposit 2/1988 ISSN 0085 - 4557Editorial Committee for the Newsletter:

Edward H. Bensley, Honorary Osler li-brarian and Editor; Faith Wallis, Historyof Medicine Librarian and AssociateEditor; Marianne Herefia, Editorial As-sistant.