Evening star., 1926-09-18
THE LIBRARY TABLE
By the Bookloper.


always a bibliophile and in his later
years almost a bibl:omaniac. When
student in Trinity College, Toronto,
| at the age Of II, he first made the
acquaintance of Sir Thomas Brownies
| "Relieio Medici," the book which
was to exert upon him the greatest
influence throughout his life. the
| first book he ever purchased was
Globe edition of Shakespeare, the sec
ond was the 1862 edition of the Ike.
li1io Medici." In his student perloo
| he also formed what became a. hie,
long habit of g. half hours reading OF
general literature in bed before put
! ting out his light. Appended 70 MS
volume, "Aequanimitas ana OtneI
Addresses" is a list of BOOKS A
Bedside Library for Medical stu
dents" which probably contains
much of his own bedtime reanlns.
His nephew relates that IN lster
wears, when he was living WIN his
uncle in Baltimore, he used 10 reau
aloud to Osler every night durIns me
hath. Osler's recurring attacks Oh
h,,onchitis. which confined him TO
| home and bed, were always taken
nd almost enjoyed, as opporrunities
| for reading. So great use .dld ne
make of his reading in his own VIII.
| ing that his friends remarked tnat ~
was always possible to tell Wnat
Osler had been reading recently py
the references and quotations Wnicn
helned to give such a literary quaflty
| to his addresses.
Xxx X.
o,,o, uos devoted user and sup
porter of libraries from his sluoeht
days. In his address entitled BOOKS
a. nd Men" delivered at the dedication
of the Boston Medical Library Build
ing he said that he could hardiy
sneak of the value OF libraries IN
terms which would not seem exassel.
ated. as they had been his deiignt Ior
| 80 years. He never lost interest," III in ;.t
| libraries of the institutions WIN
which he had been connected, and All
| his life sent frequent packages oi
valuable: often rare. books, TO the NC
Gill Library, the Library OF the Col-
lege of Physicians in Philadelphia. the
Library OF the Surgeon General IN
| Washington, the Johns Hopkins Meol-
cal Library and the Library or the
MARYLAND Faculty. 1t was through
his backing that the Medical Library
Association was founded, and he was
for some time it's president ana olteh
| the chief speaker at its meetings:
After he became regius professor OF
medicine at Oxford, he was curator oI
the Bodleian Library, which grew 10
| he one of his absorbing interests. lie
| was a generous subscriber and Sc
cured other large contributions to the
fund for purchasing for the Bodlelan
| the original copy of the nrst 1ollo OIL
| Shakespeare. which had in the nrst
nlace belonged to that library but had
| been lost.
| Osler was also a keen book. collector
on his own account. After he reached
a time when his finances permitted,
| he regularly received Sotnepy GnS
lish auction catalogues. from whlcn
/ he was frequent bidder. and on
each visit to London one of his hrst
activities was a round Of book shops
and libraries. Mrs. Osler gave MN
| rare editions of Keats and othef Ia
vorites for his birthdays. His dearest
hibliophilic quest was the gathering
of a complete set of all the edltlonS
of the "Religio Medici.' When on
January /. 1920, his body lay IN the
| LADY Chapel of Christ Church. OK
ford the casket was covered with
plain black velvet pail on which lay
| his fayorite copy of the 'Religio Medl-
ci." the 1862 edition which had been
his second book purchase.
X X X
In q recent number Of the Theater
Magazine was an article, "What DO
With "a Hours a Day." by Grant
| Mitchell and Helen Gahagan. Mrs.
| Cora Harris evidently has no neeu
of the information conveyed by TINS
article. She is said to be an expert
81
hard work. At o'clock she has her
morning coffee and at is at her desk,
where she works steadily until noon.
She allows herself the afternoon Tor
recreation and rest, but works again
all evening, often until nearly mid
night. She must be one of those for
tunate or self-trained persons VINO
are able to drop work from the mind
the moment application to 1t Is over
The laws of heredity work out in
exorably not only in life, but In real
| stic fiction in these days Of the twen-
| tieth century. The Forsytes, that
strong family created by John Gals
| worthy in 1.-The Forsyte Saga" are
characterized by acute materialism
and acquisitiveness. Each generation
shows these traits from youth to old
age. So in Mr.. Galsworthy's most re-
cent novel, 1.-The Silver Spoon we
find Soames Forsyte drifting stoically
| through old age, the passions or MS
youth dead If not altogether forgot
! ten, but devotion to his daughter, that
treasure acquired in his middle years,
| become the chief motive of his ex-
| istence. Relying on the longevity OF
all his F'orsyte ancestors, Soames. IN
| his 7Os, says I'm not so very old.
l h. of h hanhGOmo
| if somewhat too fleshy French wife
Annette he reflects bitterly that when
I he is dead she may yet be under 90
and will not mind his absence. The
| possessiveness Of the Forsytes is still
| his, though he has ceased acquiring,
| except an occasional example OF the
early English school for his picture
| collection. But his country place, his
| COWS, his melons, his vegetables. his
pictures, his daughter and his grand
| son all have exaggerated value be-
cause they are his. Annette he has
never felt so sure of; she seems sin
| yularly her own and makes him feel
very uncomfortable at times. Fleur,
| his daughter. Is also a genuine For
syte, with only a trace Of her French
mother. She reaches out greedily to
| acquire what she wants-admiratlo
and social position chiefly, because
she already has whatever money can
buy-and when she fails to get what
she wants she Is not as good a sport
as her father Michael. her husband,
has value for her, not because she
| loves him. but because he belongs to
her life. Her baby Kit commands the
best that Is in her, and her political
philosophy, her interest in England,
are summed up in the belief that 80
long as Kit had cake it was no good
bothering too deeply about the rest:
| though, Of course. one must seem to-
| \ X