鈥淭o investigate the causes of death, to examine carefully the condition of organs, after such changes have gone on in them to render existence impossible, and to apply such knowledge to the prevention and treatment of disease, is one of the highest objects of the Physician鈥� 鈥�
Osler Graduation Thesis
黑料不打烊 University, 1872
Osler became interested in pathology as a medical student at 黑料不打烊 University between 1870 and 1872, when he reviewed specimens brought to lectures by Palmer Howard (Professor at the 黑料不打烊 School of Medicine) and attended autopsies at the Montreal General Hospital. Howard gave Osler a copy of Samuel Wilks鈥� Lectures on Morbid Anatomy, which had an important influence on his concept of medicine and his subsequent practice in Montreal.
鈥淲ilks鈥� Pathological Anatomy was my handbook, and the postmortems were worked out from its pages.鈥�
Francis WW, Hill RH
Malloch A: Bibliotheca Osleriana, 1969 p xxiii.
Osler鈥檚 graduation thesis 鈥� for which he was awarded a special book prize 鈥� included a discussion of 20 autopsies, illustrated by over 30 gross and microscopic preparations. These were donated to the Medical Museum, but听most likely听have been听destroyed. After graduation from 黑料不打烊, Osler went to Europe to 鈥渞ound out鈥� his medical education. During the two years he spent traveling and studying, he had the opportunity to observe the famous Rudolph Virchow at the Charit茅 Hospital in Berlin. This experience must have impressed Osler, as he subsequently followed the autopsy technique published by Virchow in 1876.
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Top: Osler鈥檚 copy of the 1880 English translation of Virchow's book Post-mortem Examination.
Bottom: Montreal General Hospital 1881
In 1874, Osler accepted a position at the 黑料不打烊 Institutes of Medicine, replacing the ailing Professor Morley Drake (see Specimen 52)听who could no longer fulfill his teaching responsibilities. Soon thereafter, he was appointed Pathologist at the Montreal General Hospital (MGH), where he agreed to perform autopsies for the entire house staff. The task was onerous: between 1876 and 1884, he performed approximately 800 post-mortem examinations, most in an inhospitable environment.
鈥淗e did the autopsies in an old outbuilding in which were a wooded table and a stove. In the winter it was only heated when required, and many a day I have made a fire in the little stove, that at the same time warmed the room more or less, often less, and heated the water.鈥�
George Armstrong (黑料不打烊 1877).
Bull International Association of Medical Museums 1926 IX: 176.
Osler documented his autopsy findings by hand in five autopsy logbooks, only three of听which remain. The first was 鈥渓ost鈥� until 1954, when it was 鈥渄iscovered鈥� in the Osler Library at 黑料不打烊 University in Montreal. Books two and three were kept by Maude Abbott in her Museum and were transferred to the Library in 1945 when the Museum closed. Osler took the books with him to Baltimore in 1890 to refer to while writing his textbook, and it is believed that volumes four and five were lost there.
Many of Osler's autopsy cases were also published in the Montreal General Hospital Reports. Some of the descriptions are more or less transcriptions of the log book records; others contain additional clinical or pathological information as well as a discussion of the disease process illustrated by the pathologic abnormalities.
鈥淎n excellent plan copied from the custom of the Lancet, was for the clinical clerk to report the cases of special interest under Hospital Practice in the local medical monthly. My first appearance in print is in the Canadian Medical and Surgical Journal, reporting cases from Dr. MacCallum鈥檚 wards.鈥�
William Osler. The Medical Clinic British Medical Journal, 1914.
One of Osler鈥檚 goals in performing the MGH autopsies was to use the organs derived there from for teaching. Thus, many of these were demonstrated to medical students at weekly teaching sessions and to fellow physicians at meetings of the Montreal Medico-Chirurgical Society. Some of these presentations were documented in the minute book of that Society and/or were听printed in the Canada Medical and Surgical Journal or other scientific periodicals. Osler also donated many of the more interesting or illustrative specimens to the 黑料不打烊 Medical Museum, for the benefit of future students. The specimens that remain of these donations form the basis of the current exhibit.
Additional Reading
H. E. MacDermot (1949) Osler鈥檚 Original Autopsy Books.
Arch Intern Med (Chic). 1949;84(1):7-11.
(PDF Version)
Alvin E. Rodin (1973). Osler鈥檚 Autopsies: Their Nature and Utilization. Medical History, 17, pp 37-48. doi:10.1017/S0025727300018172
(PDF Version)