Except if it be in the shadow of his worshipful student William Osler (1849–1919), the life of Reverend William Arthur Johnson (1816–1880), a 19th century English-Canadian clerical naturalist, teacher, and early mentor to ‘the Father of Modern Medicine’, has escaped special scrutiny over the years. Written in commemoration of his 200th birthday, this recollection will aim to more purposefully categorise what is currently known of Johnson’s life and work, not only in his important relations to the revered Osler, but also in the context of his own personal achievements, life story, and legacy.
LowellJR. The complete poetical works of James Russell Lowell, Cambridge ed. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1896, pp. 338–338.
2.
Cushing H. The life of Sir William Osler, Volume I. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925, p. 73.
3.
DaltonFK. The Reverend William Arthur Johnson; clergyman, artist, architect, scientist, teacher; 1816–1880. The Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society1966; 8: 2–15.
4.
Johnson J. A Journey from India to England, through Persia, Georgia, Russia, Poland, and Prussia, in the year 1817. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1818, p. 3. Thrillingly, Colonel Johnson saw it fit to publish his private journal entries describing his journey home, and so it is possible to know exactly where he went and what he got up to on his home travels to Britain. William Osler kept a copy of this book in his library; see item no. 5004 in the Bibliotheca Osleriana, 1929, p. 450.
5.
AtkinsH. Down: the Home of the Darwins; The story of a house and the people who lived there, London: The Royal College of Surgeons of England, 1974, pp. 15–15.
6.
Atkins H. Ibid., 1974, p. 17.
7.
Dalton IR. The life of the Reverend William Arthur Johnson (1816–1880): clergyman, schoolmaster, scientist, artist, and master-builder; founder of Trinity College School, Weston & Port Hope. Toronto: Privately printed, 2004, p. 2. This is the only known definitive biography of William Arthur Johnson; it was written by Ian Robert Dalton (1929–2014), a great-grand-nephew of his. Circulating copies are scarce and very difficult to access outside of Canada.
8.
DarwinC. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life, London: John Murray, 1859.
9.
Dalton IR. Ibid., 2004, p. 51.
10.
Taylor J. The rule and exercises of holy living. In which are described the means and instruments of obtaining every virtue, and the remedies against every vice, and considerations serving to the resisting all temptations. Together with prayers containing the whole duty of a Christian, and the parts of devotion fitted to all occasions, and furnish’d for all necessities. London: Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane, MDCL (1650).
11.
Dalton IR. Op. Cit., 2004, p. 9.
12.
St Paul’s Church. A narrative of certain circumstances which took place at St Paul’s Church, Yorkville; to which are appended all the correspondence and papers, which came to hand during the unhappy discussion. Toronto: H. Roswell, 1856. This 60-page booklet was commissioned by the Church vestry to ‘vindicate the character and teachings of their late respected Minister, the Rev. W. A. Johnson, from the malevolent attacks and positive persecution by which he has been assailed’ (p. 4). Dalton (2004) details at some length Johnson’s church-related disputes.
13.
HumbleAHBurnsJD. The school on the Hill: Trinity College School; 1865–1965, Port Hope, Ontario: Trinity College School Press, 1965, pp. 1–1.
BlissM. William Osler: a life in medicine, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 26–26.
16.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, pp. 14–15.
17.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 28.
18.
OslerW. A way of life: an address to Yale students Sunday evening, April 20th, 1913, London: Constable & Company Ltd., 1913, pp. 16–17.
19.
GwynNB. The early life of Sir William Osler. Bulletin of the International Association of Medical Museums1926; 9: 121–149. 146.
20.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 36.
21.
Osler W. Intensive work in science at the public schools in relation to the medical curriculum. In: The School World, a monthly magazine of educational work and progress, Volume 18. London: Macmillan and Co., 1916, p. 41.
22.
BryanC. Osler: inspirations from a great physician, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, pp. 62–62.
23.
GwynNB. The boyhood of Sir William Osler. Canadian Medical Association Journal1920; 10: 24–27. 26.
24.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 44.
25.
Osler W. The collecting of a library. In: Osler W, Francis WW, Hill RH, et al. (eds) Bibliotheca Osleriana: a catalogue of books illustrating the history of medicine and science. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929, p. xxi.
26.
OslerWFrancisWWHillRHet al.Bibliotheca Osleriana: a catalogue of books illustrating the history of medicine and science, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929, pp. 186–186. Item no. 1969.
27.
Osler W. Op. Cit., 1929, p. xxiii.
28.
ElliotJB. The Johnson cabinets in the Osler collection at the Academy of Medicine. Bulletin of the International Association of Medical Museums1926; 9: 465–470.
29.
OslerW. On Canadian fresh-water polyzoa. The Canadian Naturalist and Geologist1883; 10: 399–406. 400.
30.
Osler W, Francis WW, Hill RH, et al. Op. Cit., 1929, p. 273, Item no. 3045. This source says Osler received Hyatt’s book on Xmas of 1869. The original inscription on the book however (McGill’s Osler Library was contacted for an image), appears to read 1868, which makes more sense as Osler was thought to be in Weston at this time.
31.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 55.
32.
Elliot JB. Op. Cit., 1926.
33.
Osler W. British Medicine in Greater Britain. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 1897; 137: 221–227, p. 225. In this lecture, Osler recalls how ‘the most delightful recollections of [his] student life [were] the Saturdays spent with a preceptor who had a Hunterian appetite for specimens—anything from a trilobite to an acarus’. He was obviously referring to Father Johnson.
34.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 37, 39, 42.
35.
[No Authors Listed]. Osler artifacts. The Osler Library Newsletter 2002; 98: 8–9. The author states: ‘The Museum had many other Osler treasures which we could not display, including James Bovell’s desk at which Osler had worked with his microscope as a student. This is now at the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa’ (p. 8). It is now known that the desk referred to belonged to Johnson not Bovell.
36.
WhiteG. The natural history and antiquities of Selborne, in the county of Southampton, with engravings, and an appendix, London: T. Bensley, 1789.
37.
Browne T. Religio Medici. London: Andrew Crooke, 1643, Part I, Sect. XVI.
38.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 149.
39.
Osler W. An address on Sir Thomas Browne: delivered at the Physical Society, Guy’s Hospital, October 12th. The British Medical Journal 1905; 2: 993–998.
40.
Osler W. After 25 years. The Montreal Medical Journal 1899; 28: 823–833.
41.
Cushing H. The life of Sir William Osler, Volume II. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925, p. 686. The same copy was placed on Lady (Grace Revere) Osler’s (1854–1928) coffin during her funeral at Christ Church Cathedral on 3 September 1928; see: Muirhead A. Grace Revere Osler: a brief memoir. Printed for Private Circulation, Oxford University Press, 1931, p. 55.
42.
Gwyn NB. The letters of a devoted father to an unresponsive son. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 1939; 7: 335–351, p. 343.
43.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 128.
44.
Dalton IR. Op. Cit., 2004, p. 36.
45.
Osler W. Valedictory address to the Graduates in Medicine and Surgery, McGill University, Delivered on behalf of the Medical Faculty at the Annual Convocation held in the William Molson Hall of the University on Wednesday 31 March 1875. By William Osler M.D., L.R.C.P.L., Lecturer on Institutes of Medicine. Canada Medical & Surgical Journal 1875; 31: 433–438, p. 435. Jimmy Johnson was a medical student at McGill University at this time. The Browne quotation Osler refers to is taken from Religio Medici (1643), Part II, Sect IX.
46.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, pp. 138–139.
47.
Gwyn NB. Op. Cit. 1939, p. 342.
48.
Gwyn NB. Op. Cit. 1939, p. 343.
49.
OslerW. The principles and practice of medicine, designed for the use of practitioners and students of medicine, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1892.
50.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, pp. 336–337, footnote.
51.
Rankin PC. VI: The church’s incredible Father Johnson. In: St. Philip’s Church: 150 years beside the Humber, 1828–1978. Weston, Ontario: St. Philip’s Anglican Church, 1978, pp. 46–47.
52.
OslerW. Annual oration on the campaign against syphilis, delivered before the Medical Society of London, May 14th, 1917. The Lancet1917; 189: 787–792. p. 792.
53.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 129.
54.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 185.
55.
McEvoy B. St. John’s Church, Weston. The Canadian Churchman, 12 June 1902, pp. 373–376, p. 375.
56.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, pp. 184–185.
57.
Dalton IR. Op. Cit., 2004, p. 45.
58.
Letter dated 18 May 1880, from WA Johnson to JB Johnson; original transcript in the Harvey Cushing Fonds (CUS417/76.3) at the Osler Library of the History of Medicine, McGill University.
59.
Gwyn NB. Op. Cit., 1939, p. 347.
60.
Cushing H. Op. Cit., 1925, p. 75.
61.
Rankin PC. St Philip’s Church. Op. Cit., 1978, p. 55.
62.
Dalton IR. Op. Cit., 2004, p. 46. The bronze plaque bearing Johnson’s name appears much more worn out now (having lost all its original colour) than when it was pictured for Dalton’s biography some 13 years or so ago. At this rate of decay, it could not be too old an addition to Johnson’s grave.
63.
Gwyn NB. Osler: student of the toronto school of medicine: a detail of the personal side of teaching. Annals of Medical History, 1923, 5: 305–308.
64.
Wordsworth W. Lyrical Ballads, with a few other poems. London: Printed for J. & A. Arch, 1798, pp. 208–209.
