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Lot 173
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William Osler inquires about the "Race relations" of a disease, important content
William Osler inquires about the "Race relations" of a disease, important content
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Description:

Osler, M.D. William

1p ALS signed by William Osler and addressed to Franz Boas, June 7, 1887. 4.5" x 6.75". In very good to near fine condition. A little edge yellowing and expected paper folds. As part of his study of the disorder of chorea, Dr. William Osler wrote to Dr. Franz Boas regarding the disease among the Inuit, with whom Boas had spent a year on Baffin Island in 1883-1884. From the Collection of Norman Boas of Seaport Autographs and recently purchased at Christie's December 5, 2017 sale.

Please see below for a full transcript:

"131 So 15th. St / Phila

6/7/87

Dear Dr Boas

Could you kindly inform me whether you have ever seen St Vitus’ dance among the Eskimos of Baffins Land, where I understand from Dr Robt Bell, you resided for some time. I am preparing a set of lectures in chorea & wish to refer to the Race relations of the disease.

Yours very truly

Wm Osler

(Prof Clin. Med. Univ Penn.)Dr Boas / New York".

Sydenham’s chorea is a disorder characterized by rapid, uncoordinated jerking movements of the face, hands, and feet.  The disease was referred to as “St. Vitus’s dance” after the young Christian saint martyred in 303 whose German and Latvian followers centuries later danced before his statue. The disorder is the result of a Steptococcus infection and occurs in 20-30 percent of patients with acute rheumatic fever. Children mostly exhibit the disorder, and the majority recovers spontaneously within two to six months.

In the nineteenth century, the term “chorea” referred to an ill-defined spectrum of excessive abnormal movements. In his 1894 study of chorea, Osler lamented that “Chorea … for a century has served as a sort of nosological pot into which authors have cast indiscriminately affections characterized by irregular, purposeless movements.” In that same work, Osler concluded that “chorea is rare in the negro” and “also rare among the [American] Indians.” He also noted that: “In twenty-five years’ experience in the Canadian North-West, Dr. Schultz has seen only one case, and that was in a half-breed.” Sydenham’s chorea became a well-defined disorder only in the second half of the nineteenth century, largely through analysis of data collected at British pediatric hospitals.

William Osler (1849-1919) was born in Canada and studied Christian ministry before switching to the study of medicine. He received his medical degree from McGill University in 1872. After further training in Europe, Osler returned to McGill as a faculty member. In 1884, he became Chair of Clinical Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1889, he became Physician-in-Chief of the new Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, where he helped created the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1893 and became one of its first professors of medicine. He created the first residency program for specialty training of physicians, and some consider him the “Father of Modern Medicine.” In 1905, he received an appointment to the Regius Chair of Medicine at Oxford University, a position he held until his death.

German-born Franz Boas (1858-1942) earned a Ph.D. in 1881 in physics but also studied geography. He participated in a geographical expedition to northern Canada where he studied the culture and language of the Inuit on Baffin Island. His first book was the Central Eskimo. He later did field work in the indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest. In 1887, he immigrated to the United States and worked as a museum curator at the Smithsonian before becoming a professor of anthropology at Columbia University in 1899. His students founded anthropology departments throughout the nation, and he had a strong influence on the development of American anthropology. He strongly opposed scientific racism and made important contributions to the study of linguistics, cultural anthropology, and folklore.

Provenance: Ex-Christie's December 5, 2017 sale; Ex-Norman Boas, Seaport Autographs

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