In the pantheon of North American doctors, William Osier stands with Benjamin Rush and the Mayo brothers on the highest pedestal of the clinical wing: Although Osier contributed little to medical science in terms of major discoveries, he helped revolutionize the teaching and practice of internal medicine, particularly by emphasizing the importance of training aspiring physicians at the bedsides of patients. He co-founded the Johns Hopkins University Medical School, served as its first professor of medicine, and inspired the creation of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. His immensely successful textbook, The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892), became the clas- sic text of modern medicine. By the time of his death he had achieved medical sainthood. Sober men described him as "the greatest doctor in the history of world."
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