Sir William Osler,BT,MD,FRS (1849–1919): Physician and Acupuncturist

Most of you might be familiar with Sir William Osler, one of the most brilliant physicians of modern medicine. He was a voracious reader and writer and mentored many physicians and medical students. Osler was considered to be a very kind man with a great sense of humor. In fact, he enjoyed playing jokes on people. He loved children and went out of his way to spend time playing with and amusing them, and was especially wonderful when caring for sick youngsters. Because of Osler, we have medical residency training programs. He believed that teaching took place at the bedside of the patient.

Much of his enormous knowledge about disease was learned through the plethora of autopsies he performed. His famous textbook, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, ¹ was based on his knowledge and observations of autopsies. Osler spent a lot of time in Europe attending meetings, hospital rounds, and lectures, and even more autopsies. In those days you traveled from America to Europe by steamship.

Osler did not have much in the way of therapeutics to help his patients. In 1892, he wrote: “During the first five decades of this century the profession bled too much, but during the last decades we have certainly bled too little.” ² He recommended bleeding or leeching as a procedure for addressing certain cases of pneumonia, emphysema, stroke, pleurisy (“but a hypodermic of morphia is more effective” ¹ ), pericarditis, peritonitis, bronchitis, delirium, and mumps. He was the first to advocate the use of evidence-based medicine. If a treatment did not work, he was willing to try something new. Osler was extremely curious and, even as a youngster and a young man, enjoyed looking at many things through a microscope, from pond water to body fluids and tissues.

Osler would have loved Medical Acupuncture. He would have said: “It is astonishing with how little reading a doctor can practice medicine, but is not astonishing how badly he may do it.” ³ He used acupuncture for lumbago, sciatica, and neuralgia. He did not have the fine needles we have today, so he used hatpins. In fact, in his respected textbook, The Principles and Practice of Medicine, from 1892 through the final edition, ¹ there was a section on the use of acupuncture for the treatment of lumbago and sciatica. He would have marveled while reading our journal and its many special editions that have been published over the years. I am sure he would have contributed many acupuncture articles.

Osler always said that it was important to read and practice medicine: “He who studies medicine without books sails an uncharted sea, but he who studies medicine without patients does not go to sea at all.” ⁴ Without question he would have traveled to attend the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture Symposium (AAMA) in April 2016. I am sure he would have been fascinated by the medical acupuncture program and the AAMA. He would have been dismayed if many people did not attend, saying: “The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatis.” ⁵ Osler would have been overwhelmed by the fact that a jet could arrive at the AAMA Symposium in California in hours instead of a via long and tedious travel by train or horse and carriage. And yet we complain about “red-eye” flights.

Despite the distance, he would also have planned to attend the Singapore Auriculotherapy Symposium in August 10–12, 2017 (www.auriculotherapysymposium.com). Osler would have been surprised about how his hatpins were replaced by small needles in the ear and how patients with many illnesses could be helped just by needling different points using auriculotherapy.

I think Osler would travel to Vietnam with me in May 2016 to observe research on my rapid acupuncture technique for low vision dealing with retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. I am sure he would have supported my faith in developing a new acupuncture treatment. He said: “Nothing in life is more wonderful than faith—the one great moving force which we can neither weigh in the balance nor test in the crucible.” ⁶

Osler made an enormous impact on allopathic medicine. He was unique in medicine. While none of us might be an Osler, each of our contributions to acupuncture is important because cumulatively, these contributions can be very significant in integrating acupuncture into mainstream Western medicine. As Osler recounted, he had met anonymous physicians tucked away in small country towns making incredible impacts on the development of medicine. In our current acupuncture practices, what we do is not trivial, and the importance of fostering the AAMA moves us in the best direction.