some papers I find this characteristic un-dated note of circa 1898, concerning an early effort which had been submitted to him. It is scribbled in pencil on a bit of paper.
A. A. 1. report! I have added a brief note about the diagnoses. I would mention in the medical report the name of the House Physician in Ward E & the clin. clerk, & under the surgical report the name of the House Surgeon who had charge. We are not nearly particular enough in this respect and should follow the good old Scotch custom. Yours, W. O.
This habit of giving credit to everyone who may have been brought into contact with a case was most characteristic of the man. Even his "Text-Book of Medicine" contains so many references to places and people that it led to these amusing verses taken from a long poem by a student which appeared in the Guy's Hospital Gazette some years ago :
For why should it matter to usward,
If Osborn has sent you a screed,
Or why have you sought a brief mention of Porter,
Or Barker, or Caton, or Reed?
I sometimes am seized with a yearning,
In Appleton's ledger to look,
What fun it would be if we only could see
Whether each of them purchased the book!
But when of the names we are weary
(Directories muddle the brain),
We're provided by you with philosophy too
In the trite Aphorisms of Cheyne.
Geography also you teach us,
Until I came under your thrall,
I don't mind confessing that Conoquenessing
I never had heard of at all.
