The Growth of Truth As Illustrated in the Discovery of the Circulation of the Blood

London: Henry Frowde, 1906. First edition.

FIRST EDITION OF OSLER'S LANDMARK HARVEIAN ORATION IN LONDON, 1906.

14x22.5 cm hardcover, blue cloth binding, gilt title to cover and spine, 44 pp. Edges rubbed, unmarked, very good in custom archival mylar cover.

Based on his Harveian Oration in London, this is a major essay by Osler that figures prominently in his bibliography and was often reprinted: Listed in RL Golden and DG Roland, Sir William Osler: An Annotated Bibliography with Illustrations, Norman Publishing, San Francisco 1988, "No. 974. The growth of truth as illustrated in the discovery of the circulation of the blood. (Harveian oration delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, London, Oct. 18, 1906.) London, H. Frowde, 1906, 44 pp., 8°. Also, Brit M.]., London, 1906, ii, 1077-1084; Lancet, London, 19061 ii, I 113-1120; Boston M. & S.]., 1906, clv, 491-502.

Also, in An Alabama student, 1908, 295-334. Also, in Selected writings, 1951; ibid., A way of life and selected writings, 1958, 205-236. Also, (under the title Harvey and his discovery), in Collected essays, 1985, i, 325-364. Also, in William Osier's collected papers on the cardiovascular system, W. B. Fye, ed., Birmingham, The Classics of Cardiology Library, 1985, 875-919. Also, (abridged), Brit. M. J., London, 19571 i, 1257-1263. Also, microfiche (London, Oxford University Press, 1907), Hannah Institute for the History of Medicine, Toronto, 1978. Abstr.: Osleriana, J.A.M.A., Chicago, 1987, cclviii, 978, 1181, 1407, 1552, 1658, 1800, 1977. [In his: C. r., 1902-07, v, No. 262.J"

THE HARVEIAN ORATION is a yearly lecture held at the Royal College of Physicians of London. It was instituted in 1656 by William Harvey, discoverer of the systemic circulation. Harvey made financial provision for the college to hold an annual feast on St. Luke's Day (18 October) at which an oration would be delivered in Latin to praise the college's benefactors and to exhort the Fellows and Members of this college to search and study out the secrets of nature by way of experiment. Until 1865, the Oration was given in Latin, as Harvey had specified, and known as the Oratio anniversaria; but it was thereafter spoken in English. Many of the lectures were published in book form.

SIR WILLIAM OSLER (1849 – 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the four founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of physicians, and he was the first to bring medical students out of the lecture hall for bedside clinical training. He has frequently been described as the Father of Modern Medicine and one of the "greatest diagnosticians ever to wield a stethoscope".