The Principles and Practice of Medicine

The Principles and Practice of Medicine title page, first edition, 1892.

The Principles and Practice of Medicine: Designed for the Use of Practitioners and Students of Medicine is a medical textbook by Sir William Osler. It was first published in 1892 by D. Appleton & Company, while Osler was professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. The book established Osler as the world's leading authority in the teaching of modern medicine.[1]

The text was translated into French, German, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese, and for over 40 years it was the world's most significant medical textbook.[2]

First edition

Osler dedicated the book to his teachers; William Arthur Johnson, James Bovell and Robert Palmer Howard. There are 11 sections, preceded by a list of charts and illustrations.

Later years

After 1927, its popularity was succeeded by Cecil Textbook of Medicine.[3]

A revised eleventh edition appeared in 1932.[4]

References

1. Golden, Richard. A history of William Osler's The principles and practice of medicine. Osler Library studies in the history of medicine No. 8. Montreal, McGill University, 2004. ISBN 0-7717-0615-4
2. Famous Canadian Physicians at Library and Archives Canada
3. Pittman, James (2015). "7. Publications and professional activities". Tinsley Harrison, M.D.: Teacher of Medicine. NewSouth Books. pp. 149–150. ISBN 978-1-58838-226-9.
4. Osler, William; McCrae, Thomas (May 1932). "The Principles and Practice of Medicine". The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 75 (5): 573. doi:10.1097/00005053-193205000-00064. ISSN 0022-3018. S2CID 237021290.

External links

• First edition of the book, digitized for Archive.org by the University of Toronto