To think of Sir William Osler is, for me, to recall England and America at their best. Others are better qualified to pay tribute to him as a great teacher and trailblazer of the medical profession whose vision opened the way into a new world of modern medicine. To me, however, was given the privilege of an intimate friendship during the latter years of Sir William's life. His magnetic optimism, humor, and generosity—which led many of his contemporaries into effective enterprises for public health and individual well-being—was to be an inspiration for me in another field of endeavor.
Among the many British physicians who esteemed Sir William Osier was the Vice-Chancellor of London University, Philip Henry Pye-Smith, who died in 1914. In that year Dr. Pye-Smith's son—we were undergraduates together at Magdalen College, Oxford—took me to 13, Norham Gardens and introduced me to his late father's friend. Then something uncanny