The medical library in post-graduate work : an address delivered at the Inaugural Meeting of the Medical Library Association held at Belfast, July 28th, 1909 / by William Osler.

  • Osler, William, Sir, 1849-1919.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The medical library in post-graduate work : an address delivered at the Inaugural Meeting of the Medical Library Association held at Belfast, July 28th, 1909 / by William Osler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Gesner to the encyclopaedic Billings, an Englishman of the first rank. I do not forget the useful books of Douglas, of Young, and of Forbes, nor the Rabelaisian (in the mirth-loving sense) two-letter bibliography of Atkinson f ; but they are feeble efforts in comparison with the works of our foreign and American brethren. But the Englishman has made up by being a great book-lover. Some of the best known of collections have been made in this country by physicians. It would be impossible to parallel elsewhere the libraries of Mead, Askew, and William Hunter. The sale catalogues of the former tell of treasures (and of prices) that send a thrill of regret through the book-lover that his lot was not cast in those happy days. The William Hunter Library met a better fate, and in the University of Glasgow is an enduring and worthy monument to the elder of the two great brothers, so unlike in mind and manners, so like in the capacity to see the true value of collections. It is to be hoped that a complete catalogue of this library may be issued before long, in companion volumes to the splendid catalogue of the manuscripts recently edited as a memorial to the late Professor Young. It is safe to say that in proportion to population there are more medical libraries in these islands than in any other country in the world. We hope before long to have a proper census of them, and meanwhile I base the state- ment on casual observation. One of the first questions I ask on visiting a new town is, Where is your medical library ?” and I have been astonished at their extent and value. Usually in connexion with the county hospital or the medical society, or both, many of them go back to the middle or later part of the eighteenth century, and bear witness to the culture and intelligence of the provincial physicians of those days. There are three groups: First, in the national libraries of the capitals and of the universities, such as the British Museum and the Bodleian, are large collections of medical books—that of the British Museum the largest in the country. Upon these public storehouses of bibliographical knowledge we all draw freely. In many of the small libraries there are special collections of great intrinsic or historical value. The college libraries of Oxford and Cambridge contain manu- scripts and old books of exceptional interest. Diel’s topographical catalogue shows how rich some of the colleges are in the Greek medical manuscripts, particu- larly Balliol, New, Merton, All Souls, and Caius. Stowed away on their shelves are many fine folios, the gift of old members. Gulston’s books are at Merton; New College has a very choice collection, including some of Walter Bayley; Floyer’s books are at Queen’s, Paddy’s at St. John’s, Coggan’s at Oriel—indeed there is scarcely a college library without interesting medical associations. + The only man, so far as I know, who has had the courage to write a diverting bibliography, but unfortunately he only got through A and^B.