TOO OLD AT SIXTY.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9111, 2 April 1908, Page 7

TOO OLD AT SIXTY.

SOMETHING ABOUT DK. OSLER. It is reported from America that Dr. William Osier, of “too Sold at forty” fame, was recently asked to attend a birthday celebration party of two old gentlemen of sixty, and in repqy sent them a bottle of chloroform as a birthday present! This, of course, may bo an exaggeration, but it will interest lady readers to know that Dr. Osier is not quite so harsh on them as he is on members of his own sex. “After sixty,” he once said, “a woman’s influence on her sex may be most helpful, particularly if aided by those charming accessories—a cap and a fichu.” The doctor’s own mother lived to the great age of 101, and was a source of great comfort to those around her to the last. In 1905 he was made Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, and has been a voluminous writer on medical subjects. He is usually regarded as one of the most original of living professors, his speeches being noted for their unconventionality. He is a firm believer in Shakespeare’s famous advice : “Throw physic to the dogs,” and his own rules of life are of the simplest. “The master word is Work,” he has declared, and no one can accuse him of neglecting his own prescription. Dr. Osier once told the following amusing story to illustrate the importance of medical men being very precise in their directions to patients. A young foreigner consulted a doctor about his health one day, and was advised by the medico ‘ ‘ to drink hot water an hour before breakfast every morning,” The patient took leave and the doctor thought no more about it. A week afterwards, however, the young man came back again, and complained of feeling much worse. “That’s curious,” said the doctor, “did you follow my advice and drink hot water an hour before breakfast every morning?” “I did my best, sir,” was the reply, “but I couldn’t keep it up for more than ten minutes at a time!” — “M.A.P.”