South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-12-30
DR.. OSLER DIES
AT Age OF 70
Famous for Advising ChIoro-
form for Men Over so
Years of Age.
By Associated Press:

has been III for several weeks died
here Monday evening.
Sir william, who passed his seven
ueth birthday last July was stricken
with pneumonia in November, but
about the middle OF that month was
reported convalescent a fortnight
ago. however, reports reached this
country that he had taken d turn
for the worse. CabIed advices short
ly afterward announced that hts con-
dition was somewhat improved while
on Christmas day a message from
him was received at the Johns Hop
kins hospital in Baltimore in which
the famous physician extended
Christmas greetings to all his old
friends and announced that he was
making a good fight" after an en-
pyena operation.
DR.. Osler was professor Of medi-
cine at Johns Hopkins university
from 1850 to 1904 He was born IN
Canada in 1849.
Great Man.
Sir William Osler was one Of the
great men who sprang from Cana
dian soil he was born in the prov
ince Of Ontario and grew TO be the
most distinguished Of four distingu-
ished sons Of a famous mother. the
hundredth anniversary Of whose
birth was celebrated at Toronto on
Dec. Il. 1905.
His first preceptor was the parish
priest. 10 whom ne Acknowledged
his moral and mental Indebtedness
and to whom he inscribed one Of his
learned works, The Practice of
Medicine"
Receiving his medical degree FROM
McGHl university in 1873, DR.. Osler
placed the imprint of his ability on
a. medlcal learning to such "a marked
degree that within a few years he
became an accepted authority in
medical science. His great art lay in
his skill in diagnosis and his pro-
found knowledge of all the parts and
functions of the human body and
the various Ills of nature. If such
a thing could be, he was a specialist
I'm ell departments o. medicine
Useless at Forty.
in 1905 at the COmmeroration
day exercises Of Johns Hopkins uni
versity Of Baltimore, in which ne
served as a professor of medicine,
DIR. Oslcr delivered the address in
which he spoke Of the comparative
uselessness of men above forty years
of age"
His words. then spoken without
/ 80 "a ~, d -.rs
would be. passed around the world
in garbled form Of every variety. He
was quoted as having said in effect
that men past that age were of no
value in the progress Of humanity
and that men who had reached the
age Of sixty should be chlOroformed.
DR.. Osler remained silent on the
subject TOR d considerable period
and then issued a statement in which
ne declared.
''I did not say men az sixty should
be chloroformed. That was the
point in the novel 10 which I refer
red. and upon which the plot hing
ed"
The novel in question was The
FIXED Period" written by Anthony
Trollope in 1852.
Public Critici1cs.
Or. Osler was criticized by the
public and press generally and IN
answer TO these ne said.
"The criticisms have not shaken
my convictions that the telling work
of the world has been done and Is
done by men under forty years OF
age. The exceptions which have
been given only illustrate the rule
1T would be 10 the general good
If men az sixty were retired from
active work. We should miss the
energies Of some young-old men, but
on the whole, it would be OF greater
service TO the sexagenares them
selves"
Active Till Death.
Nevertheless, and nothwiths,and-
ing his views on this subject. Dr
Osler himself remained in active
practice until the close Of his life
Having served IN Johns Hopkins %
1908, he was called, at the age OF S.
20 oxford university as regius pro
fessor Of medicine, the highest honor
IN the bestowaI Of British institutions
OF learning. For his great services
In medicine he was knighted. and
! created a baronet by King George
at Coronation in 1911 During the
war he rendered great services 20
she empire as organizer and Coun-