John’s Reviews > William Osler: A Life in Medicine > Status Update

The full text of the thesis has not survived, but in a fragment from its introduction Osler states his faith in the importance of pathology: 'To investigate the causes of death, to examine carefully the condition of organs, after such changes have gone on in them as to render existence impossible and to apply such Knowledge to the prevention and treatment of disease, is one of the highest objects of the Physician.

The full text of the thesis has not survived, but in a fragment from its introduction Osler states his faith in the importance of pathology: 'To investigate the causes of death, to examine carefully the condition of organs, after such changes have gone on in them as to render existence impossible and to apply such Knowledge to the prevention and treatment of disease, is one of the highest objects of the Physician.