William Osler, Urolithiasis, and God's Own Medicine

• Published in: Urology (Ridgewood, N.J.) Vol. 74; no. 3; pp. 517 - 521
• Main Author: Golden, Richard L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.09.2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Analgesics, Opioid - history; Analgesics, Opioid - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Colic - drug therapy; Colic - history; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Kidney Diseases - drug therapy; Kidney Diseases - history; Medical sciences; Morphine - history; Morphine - therapeutic use; Nephrology. Urinary tract diseases; Ontario; Osler; Publishing; Urinary lithiasis; Urolithiasis - history; Urology; Urology - history; Ontario; Medicine; Lithiasis; Nephrology; Urinary system disease; Urology; Urinary stone
• DOI: 10.1016/j.urology.2009.02.041
• ISSN: 0090-4295

Objectives To identify the contributions of Sir William Osler, who is regarded as the pre-eminent physician of his time, to urology, both objective and subjective. Methods A search of Osler's bibliography of over sixteen hundred publications, as well as his observations, some hitherto unpublished, on the episodes of renal colic that he personally experienced, was conducted. Osler was treated with morphine, which he characterized as “God's own medicine,” and the origin of this description is explored. Results Osler published over 50 articles devoted to urologic topics, including 2 on vaginismus and Peyronie's disease; the former, by his fun loving alter ego, Egerton Yorrick Davis, was a hoax. Osler discusses urolithiasis and renal colic in his magnum opus, The Principles and Practice of Medicine , citing Montaigne's self description of his suffering as “unexcelled.” Osler later personally experienced 2 episodes of renal colic, which he graphically and eloquently describes in his Lumleian Lectures of 1910. His descriptions of renal colic before and after his own experience are compared in the light of Plato's comment that a physician should experience the disease that he treats. Conclusions William Osler was one of those giants who, in the early days of specialization, took all of medicine for their own. His contributions to urology were significant and include his descriptions of his own episodes of renal colic and the use of morphine—“God's own medicine.”