William Osler's Letters from Egypt

William Osler, Letters from Egypt. Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Acc. 8282.

Dr William Willoughby Francis (WWF, or Bill) was Osler's second cousin, but the designations “nephew” and “uncle” were often used, as better describing their relationship. His annotations are quoted in the notes below, and are signed “W.W.F.”

Osler Library, Acc. 8282, Osler to W W Francis, 10 February 1911

Date A , “Dearest G.”: a domestic portrait of William Osler drawn from his Egyptian letters. Osler Library Newsletter, no. 47, October 1993, pp. 1–3

Cushing H . The Life of Sir William Osler, Vol. 2, London: Oxford University Press, 1925

Ibid.: 112, 243, 256

Ross Archives, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 1909.03.30, 49/115. “Dear Ross, I wish indeed I could go to Egypt this winter but I have to be in America early in May to open a new Building in Baltimore dedicated to my memory!” This was the Osler Hall at the Maryland Medical and Chirurgical Faculty (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 175–6)

Osler to H B Jacobs (Ibid.: 258)

Edward Revere Osler was also called ER, R, Tommy, laddie, Izaak Walton or Ike — the Biblical Isaac, born to “aged parents” (Harrell GT. Osler's use of Ike for Revere, Osler Library Newsletter, No. 65, February 1991)

Osler to Mabel Brewster, 18 February 1911. Osler Library, Acc.326/39

Egyptian Gazette, 8 February 1911

Egyptian Gazette, 9 February 1911

Egyptian Gazette, 10 February 1911

Egyptian Gazette, 13 February 1911

Osler underlines these little words of family vocabulary that obviously carry more subtle feelings and associations than, for example, this simple German “with” (us)

“Alexandrian anatomists. W.W.F.”

E B Osler's daughter Amo was Mrs Wilmot Matthews. Miss Elsie Bethune was the daughter of an old friend of the Oslers. Mr Ernest Cattanach, of Toronto, was a young lawyer whom Osler had known since boyhood

The dahabeah is a sailing craft. The SS Seti on which the Osler party travelled is described in the Thomas Cook Archives as a “Small paddle-steamer, built 1910.” Cook's Traveller's Gazette of October 1910 mentions the “constantly growing demand for Private Steamers. … to travel in the privacy of their own family or party”

Francis had suffered a pleural effusion and in 1911 was discovered to have tuberculosis, for which he spent 18 months in Ste. Agathe Sanatorium (Keys TE. Osler's Librarian, Dr WW Francis. In: Barondess JA McGovern JP Roland CG , Eds. The Persisting Osler. Baltimore: University Park Press, 1985: 213–22)

Osler begins all except two of the letters to his wife: “Dearest G.” No. 9 begins “Dearest Grace” and no. 23 “Dear G”. Most of the letters end “Yours W”, “Your loving W”, “Yours WO” or “Yours ever WO.” More rarely used are “Your loving Egerton” (no. 6) and “Yours Egerton” (nos 7, 25). Egerton Yorrick Davis was Osler's fanciful pseudonym (Nation EF. Osler's alter ego. Dis Chest 1969; 56: 531–7)

Possibly the Mr Henry F Parmalee mentioned among visitors to upper Egypt by the Egyptian Gazette of 8 February 1911

The Kasr-el-Aini Hospital opened in 1837 and the Medical School, formerly near the army barracks, was transferred there. It was taken over and reorganized by the British in 1892 (Sonbol AA. The Creation of a Medical Profession in Egypt, 1800–1922. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1991: 1–20)

HP Keatinge cmg frcs was appointed in 1884 to the Egyptian Government Medical School at Cairo and to the Kasr-el-Aini Hospital. He became Director of both (Power D'A, Spencer WG, Gask GE. Plan's Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Bristol: Wright, 1930: vol. 1, p. 646)

Frank Cole Madden obe cmg frcs was appointed to the Kasr-el-Aini Hospital and other hospitals in Cairo in 1898. At the time of his death he was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Director and Consulting Surgeon of the Kasr-el-Aini Hospital (Power D'A, Spencer WG, Gask GE, op. cit. ref. 23: vol. 2, pp. 15–16)

Dr Llewellyn Phillips frcs frcp went out to Cairo in 1901 and worked at the Kasr-el-Aini Hospital until 1925, when he retired as Physician to the Hospital and Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Medical School (Power D'A, Spencer WG, Gask GE, op. cit. ref. 23: vol. 2, p. 175)

The Philadelphia General Hospital, founded in 1742, was located in the Blockley district of the city, hence “Blockley”

Dr FM Sandwith frcp went to Egypt in 1883 and was promoted Physician to the Kasr-el-Aini Hospial and Professor of Medicine at the Cairo Medical School. He left in 1904 to work at the London School of Tropical Medicine (Brown GH. Lives of the Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of London. London: Royal College of Physicians, 1955: 423–4)

“The James Ross' of Montreal are in another boat keeping close to us” — Osler to Marjorie Futcher, 10 March 1911 (Osler Library, Acc. 893/M53). There are also many entries for James or Jack Ross in Osler's daybooks for April–June 1911

John Herr Musser (1858–1912) was Professor of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He died of arterial disease the next year and Osler would lament his death in a letter to a friend: “how sad to have him leave us so early” (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 318). And later, while lecturing on angina: “William Pepper my predecessor in Philadelphia died of angina at fifty-five; John Musser my successor of the same disease at fifty-three!” (Ibid.: 387–8)

The turbid Schuylkill river that flows through Philadelphia

Miss Ottilie Wright was a daughter of the late Harry P Wright, Osler's old McGill school friend. She, together with Miss Nona Gwyn, who was Osler's sister Chattie's daughter, spent many months visiting with the Oslers at Oxford

“He likes Winchester, but has no aptitude for study and loathes classics. He is interested in butterflies and may take to science in some form, not medicine” — Osler to Weir Mitchell, 18 November 1910 (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 251). “Revere. … Has had a very good summer & adds every week to his collection of butterflies and moths” — Osler to HB Jacobs, 16 September 1908 (Ibid.: 135)

Sarah Woolley was a good friend of Mrs Osler. “Miss Woolley may come over while I am away” — Osler to HB Jacobs (Ibid.: 258). She was also called Sallie or Sally, as in “G who is consoling herself with Sallie Woolley” — Osler to Marjorie Futcher, 10 March 1911 (Osler Library, Acc. 893/M53)

“I saw the Hospital of the American Mission — 200 beds, about 20,000 outpatients. Dr Grant is in charge with 3 assistants and many nurses” — Osler to H Cushing, 22 February 1911 (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 264). Cushing gives the impression that this letter was written to Weir Mitchell, since it was his intention that his own name should not appear in the Life

Howard A Kelly was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Johns Hopkins

Dr Andrew Fowler Grant, educated in Canada, came to Egypt in 1904 and died there 28 years later, “closing a career of professional and missionary service in which we may all glory”, as stated in a memorial address

“The Pasha of this district has two sons at Oxford and their tutor, A.L. Smith, a great friend of his, sent him a letter about our party” — Osler to H Cushing, 22 February 1911 (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 264)

It is more likely that, as orthodox Muslims, they were reluctant to join their guests at the table where, as given below, whisky was served

Christ Church College, Oxford. The dream was perhaps a half-remembered reading of Chapter 52 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, where Edward Gibbon speculates on the effects of a hypothetical Arab victory over the Franks, at the Battle of Tours, 732 AD. Then, the “Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelations of Mohammed.” Readers interested in this historical might-have-been can consult Toynbee AJ. A Study of History, 2nd edn. London: Oxford University Press, 1935: vol. 2, pp. 427–33

In January 1910 Osler recorded in his daybook his second attack of renal colic (Osler Library, Acc. 7668, vol. 11)

“The Egyptian Mummies that I have seen, have had their Mouths open, and somewhat gaping, which affordeth a good opportunity to view and observe their Teeth, wherein ‘tis not easie to find any wanting or decayed: and therefore in Egypt, where one Man practised but one Operation, or the Diseases but of single Parts, it must needs be a barren Profession to confine unto that of drawing of Teeth, and little better than to have been Tooth-drawer unto King Pyrrhus, who had but two in his Head.” (Patrides CA, Ed. Sir Thomas Browne. The Major Works. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977: 398)

“‘but thole it a bit’ — W.O. adopted this from the old Scotch nurse, Helen Innes (still alive, 1935) in our (Francis) family in Montreal 1870–84 — W.W.F.”

Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel was an international financier and philanthropist with substantial interests in Egypt, including: railways, the great dams at Assiut and Assuan, sugar mills, and farms such as the large holdings near Kom Ombo (Dictionary of National Biography, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1912–21: 97–100). Among his philanthropic acts was the funding of the Egyptian Travelling Ophthalmic Hospital. “Lord Cromer speaks of the very great pleasure with which he received Sir Ernest Cassel's offer to apply the interest on a capital sum of £40,000 to an endeavour to combat those diseases of the eye for which Egypt has, from time immemorial, been noted” (BMJ 1903; i: 1055)

“My boy is. … working hard at cricket and entomology, but I am afraid like his father he is going to be a frivolous loiterer through life” — Osler to JW White, 16 May 1910 (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 219)

Francis Llewellys Griffith, an Egyptologist, was the Oslers' neighbour, at 11 Norham Gardens

“Dr Edward Leigh Canney, md. Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. Author of: Meteorology of Egypt, & its Influence on Disease, 1897. Influence of the Climate of Egypt on Disease, Lancet 1894. Egypt & N. Africa, Practitioner 1908” (The Medical Directory, 66th Annual Issue, London: J & A Churchill, 1910: 105)

“Prof Sayce, one of the leading Egyptologists, and Weigall, the Director of Antiquities, were most kind & gave us valuable hints as to the best things to see” (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 267)

Dr Edward G Janeway (1841–1911) was a New York pathologist and clinician

The Luxor Hospital for Natives was opened by H H Tewfik Pasha the Khedive in 1891. Speaking at the ceremony Mr J M Cook said that the hospital, which was subscribed by travellers on the Nile and supported by Thomas Cook & Son, was “Intended solely for the benefit of the natives of this distrct, who will be admitted and supplied with everything necessary to meet the individual cases, both surgical and medical free of charge” (Thomas Cook Archives, London)

Osler Library, Acc. 7668, MS. Acc. no. 302, daybook, vol. 11, p. 36 contains this entry in the first week of January 1911: “Bill sent to Mrs. Livingston 4E 69th St. New York 16 consultations $4000. Asked to deposit in Dom[nion] Bank Toronto”

My love, the light of my life. Cushing provides the explanation for two of the ‘l's. Osler often added to typed letters handwritten postscripts such as “a friendly greeting to the L L (meaning light of your life)” (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 112)

North Charles Street, by the Oslers' home at 1 West Franklin Street, Baltimore

“Dr Paul Edward Tribe mrcp, Professor of Medicine, Egyptian Government Medical School, Senior Physician, Kasr-el-Aini Hospital” (The Medical Directory, op. cit. ref. 46:1679)

Al-Azhar University, Cairo, was one of the oldest schools of higher learning in the world and a major centre for the study of Islam. “The teaching is all in the open — & all on the Koran and its commentators. A little geography, law &c. There are 12,000 students from all parts of the Moslem world” — Osler to I D Remsen (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 268)

Barton and Little were Revere Osler's teachers at Winchester. “He is off to Winchester on the 19th — to a very good house — Mr Little's” — Osler to HM Thomas (Ibid.: 206)

Sir John Eldon Gorst (1861–1911) was His Britannic Majesty's Agent and Consul General (1907–11). “Gorst was a sympathetic interpreter of England to Egypt and of Egypt to England,” unlike Lord Cromer and Lord Kitchener, who preceded and followed him, respectively. However, it is unlikely that the course of Anglo-Egyptian relations would have changed for the better if Gorst had kept his appointment with Osler. The illness was painful and rapidly fatal, death occurring on 12 July 1911. The Khedive of Egypt travelled all the way to Wiltshire to be at Gorst's deathbed and was the last person to communicate with him (Storrs R. Orientations. London: Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1937: 88–90)

Dr Henry Pickering Bowditch (1840–1911) was a Harvard physiologist. Osler wrote to E A Schafer in 1908, “Do see poor Bowditch — I am afraid he has failed very rapidly, paralysis agitans” (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 120). Osler wrote to F C Shattuck on 5 April 1911, “It is awfully sad to hear of Henry Bowditch's death. It was a tragedy was it not, for a man of his type to die in that way” (Ibid.: 270)

H I Bowditch was the uncle of H P Bowditch

“Possibly, James Ewing Mears (1838–1919). Author of: A Sketch of the Life of Professor Samuel D. Gross, M.D. Philadelphia, 1885, and The Triumph of American Medicine in the Construction of the Panama Canal. 3rd ed., Philadelphia, 1913, which is dedicated to Lady Osler ‘With grateful appreciation this little book is dedicated to the lady of the Open Arms Inn.’ The dedication suggests that he had enjoyed hospitality at Norham Gardens and it is clear from Osler's letter of 25/3/11 that the Mears in question was in Oxford in March 1911, probably in their house, and so unwell as to be causing concern” (personal communication dated 6 January 1995 from Mrs June Schachter, History of Medicine Librarian, Osler Library of History of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal). Samuel D Gross was the father of Grace Osler's first husband

Mabel Tremaine Brewster was a close friend and frequent correspondent. “Such a shock to hear that you have been seriously ill … horrid to feel that you may be suffering and I not know it or be able to help you. I wish I had asked Achnoten in Egypt for a magic crystal with which I could see you or some way to establish a telepathic link” — Osler to Mabel Brewster, 25 March 1911 (Osler Library, Acc. 326/39)

Gwendolen Marjorie Howard Futcher (1882–1969) was the daughter of Osler's teacher, Robert Palmer Howard of Montreal. After her father's death Osler considered her his adopted child and ended his letters “Your loving Dad”

“Too bad you could not have had a little longer interval, but ‘tis the will of Allah’ as they say here; and they will be darlings as they grow up together. … I shall burst in two places if I do not see you before you are two-times a mother” — to Marjorie Futcher, 21 March 1911 (Osler Library, Acc.893/M54)

Royal Automobile Club

Francis Marion Crawford (1854–1909) was an American novelist. Osler uses a long quotation by him in the Leaven of Science address (Osler W. Aequanimitas, with Other Addresses to Medical Students, Nurses and Practitioners of Medicine, 3rd edn. London: HK Lewis, 1948: 94)

Grizel was the heroine of a medieval European legend, known for her long-suffering patience to her husband's ill treatment

On a visit to Rome two years earlier Osler wrote: “We have seen something of the Garretts. Mrs. John is an old friend & patient. She is very attractive & is already a favorite & it is nice that she knows Rome. We are going together on Saturday to the Island to say our prayers to Aesculapius — whose serpent in stone, at one end, is all that remains of this famous temple” (Cushing H, op. cit. ref. 5: 163)

“Alice, Countess Andreozzi, F[lorence Key]? Nieces of Lady O's first husband S. W. Gross. WW.F.” She also was visited by the Oslers in 1909 when “Countess Andreozzi took us into her old villa” (Ibid.: 163)

On 11 February 1909 Osler had written to Cushing: “Rome at last! Wonderful. What pigmies we are in comparison with these old fellows” (Ibid.: 159). On 22 February 1911: “Have just seen Denderah & the Temple of Hathor. Heavens what feeble pigmies we are! Even with steam, electricity and the Panama canal” (Ibid.: 265)

“They did not go. William Turpin the butler — young, tall & handsome. Lady O. once said to W.O. & me, ‘There are 3 of you in this house — Wiliam, Willie & Bill — and only William is well dressed’. He died of pneumonia on active service, 1917. W.W.F.”