Osler, cardiac disease, and students of medicine--Columbus, OH: December 1899

"Our Distinguished Visitor" was the headline describing the day William Osler honored the Ohio Medical University (OMU) with a visit and clinical lecture. OMU, founded in 1892 and located in downtown Columbus, was the fourth in a series of 5 19th-century Columbus medical schools that were predecessors to The Ohio State University College of Medicine established in 1914. OMU occupied a new 5-story building adjacent to the Protestant Hospital established in 1891. Osler was the guest of Dr Edwin Frazer Wilson, Professor of Therapeutics and Clinical Medicine at OMU, a student of Osler's at the University of Pennsylvania, and an 1885 graduate of that institution. Osler was in Columbus for consultation with one of Dr Wilson's patients. While Osler was in Columbus, a teaching clinic and lecture was arranged at OMU. Murray B. McGonigle, OMU Class of 1900, reported the visit in The Phagocyte, the OMU student publication, and in the Columbus Medical Journal. There was an assemblage of hundreds of students in the amphitheater at clinic hour when OMU Chancellor, Dr David N. Kinsman, introduced Osler. The patient, a 16-year-old young man, was brought to the amphitheater with a history of kidney trouble. Osler's clinical evaluation, physical examination, diagnosis, and discussion of prognosis and treatment provided an object lesson that was impressed on the minds of the students. Following the clinic, Osler addressed the students in his familiar style, demonstrating his easy rapport with students. His comments to the students are classic statements combining personal encouragement with professional attitudes. McGonigle concluded, "these remarks by so eminent an authority are certainly encouraging for the future of the medical student if he will but heed the excellent advice."