Owen Wilson , pioneer in pediatrics, entered Vanderbilt University in September 1884 , aged fourteen. He and his brother Thomas, boarded on McGavock Street, about where Union Station now stands, and walked to classes at Vanderbilt. All classes were held in Kirkland and Science Hall. Dr. Wilson recounts in his memoirs that Vanderbilt was a very serious place in those days. "Students were told that all places of amusement were off limits, no theatres, no dances, no cards, and no saloons."

Dr. Wilson graduated as a Founder's Medalist in Engineering in 1889 and immediately enrolled in medical school. Medical school was a two year course, and after graduated MD in 1891, he pursued additional training at the New York Polyclinic.

Owen Wilson wrote in the preface to this book, "the excuse for adding another to the long list of Mother's Guides is the necessity for special restrictions in diet and clothing for Southern babies, for whom similar works written for cooler climates are inapplicable and unsafe."

Dr. Wilson practiced with Dr. Richard Douglas, a prominent Nashville surgeon for several years before he decided to specialize in children's diseases. Owen Wilson was Professor of Pediatrics at Vanderbilt Medical School from 1909-1942.

* Wilson, Owen H. Unpublished Memoirs. Eskind Biomedical Library. Biographical File located in Historical Collections.