Application of John M. Cowan, B.A., M.D. Cantab., D.Sc., Glasgow.

Date:
[1911]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Application of John M. Cowan, B.A., M.D. Cantab., D.Sc., Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    21/42
    From Alec R. FERGUSON, M.D., Professor of Pathology in the Egyptian Government School of Medicine. Pathological Department, School of Medicine, Cairo, July, 1911. The name of Dr. John M. Cowan has been by this time associated, in University circles and the West of Scotland generally, with the successful teaching of medicine for a sufficient length of time to make any statement of the fact superfluous. But the thorough nature of the preparatory work under- taken by him in furtherance of his chosen career—well known to his associates in Hospital and Laboratory— deserves to be known in a wider circle. It is as one of those who knew and appreciated his work in the Pathological Laboratory of the Western Infirmary that I am glad to have this opportunity of testifying to it. Dr. Cowan has consistently worked on the conviction that the ultimate success of a physician, either as teacher or practitioner, must rest upon a correct appreciation of pathological truths, acquired by practical work and observation. The results of his studies in diseased states of the myocardium and arteries, already published, involved systematic and minute examination of these structures, and I am well aware, as we frequently observed and discussed phenomena together, of the care with which his conclusions were reached. These habits of careful observation Dr. Cowan also carried into other parts of the field of pathology, especially those having a more direct clinical relationship. Dr. Cowan’s methods of teaching have won the con- fidence and regard of his students during the successive sessions of his teaching career; and this, taken together with his genuine enthusiasm for the study of the problems of pure medicine, constitutes on his behalf a very strong claim for the larger sphere of influence in teaching which the occupancy of the Muirhead Chair of Medicine in Glasgow University would afford. ALEC R. FERGUSON. 10