The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-04-30
The Fashionable Doctor.

The Fashionable Doctor.
In the full swing of medical practice
the pace is tremendous. When once
the indefnable stamp of fashion is set
upon a doctor every one wants to en-
gage his services. You may go to the
mans house again and again, and the
great man will not be able to see you.
You may write to his secretary, and the
secretary may make an appointment for
the week after next, but it by no means
follows that he will be able to keen the
appointment. AS soon as the clock
strikes two he makes a dash from the
consulting room, swallows an apology
for lunch, and you presently observe
him driving past the windows. In vain
the uppunctuaIity is notorious, in vain
the consulting fee is doubled. People
are determined to have the great man,
and the great man they accoTd ingly get
They will bring him down 200 miles,
though they have to pay 200 guineas
for the journey. They will have him,
though the patient may be IN 0rtjcuJO
| nlOrtjS. For there are circumstances
| under which some rich men think that
no consultation is too costly. They
will have him and no one else, although
the case, scientifically considered, may
| be as simple as a cut fin ger. Some
times they resort to him because the
| case has really baffied the average skill
of the average practitioner, and it not
| unfrequently happens that the cele-
brated physician makes a diagnosis and
| suggests a remedy that sets his brethren
! to rights. On the other hand the aver
age practitioner has his own revenge in
| repeating stories of extraordinary
| blunders perpetrated by fashionable
| physicians. But when the fashionable
physician has really obtained this i'm
| meuse practice, the charm of the prac-
tice must depart. The great physician
! becomes a great slave. He lives in a
state Of gilded captivity. He cannot
| call his house his own, or his family his
own. He is at the call and beck of the
! public. He takes his meals with his
| IOins girded or, rather, he may be
! obliged to exist on Liebig's extract fOI
want of time to partake of solid food.
| When the tide of fashion steadily sets
in he is almost submerged beneath the
wave. He bids farewell to leisure,
! friend, private ife-all that makes ex-
istence endurabIe. The fees accumu.
| late-plethoric Investments, a lordly
| income. But mans income for all
| purposes of enjoyment is not what he
! gets, but what he spends. Many men
who imagine that they are in the EN-.
! plOyment of a stately income are often
like children, playing with little bits Of
| paper that come in and little bits OF
| paper that go out. There is not so very
much use in man getting 800, 900 6
year if he can hardly spend SO, 900
But as a rule we acquit great physicians
/ Of lCvyo Of G14I,--
| hardly know the sums which roll Oul
out Of their pockets when worn ou
| and harassed, they tumble into the
uncertain bed from which the nigh
bell may arouse them. They wouIc
willingly take less of Iucre FOL
more of leisure. This was a strOng
idea of the late Sir Henry Hollands, AZ
eminent practitioner. He early fxei
the modest limits of his professional
income at S25, 900, and would allow NJ
professional business to interfere will
his three months holiday. He had hi
reward in living to a HISTORIAN age
with all the reputation of NestOr's wis
dom. The fashionable physician wht
re siprocates the firm belief which thu
trusting public have in him with a cor
responding belief in himself, is gOadeC
on by two considerations of suprem
weight. In the first place, he believe
that he IS comforting a great amount o
good on suffering humanity which II,
other physician could render equal,
well with himself. In the next place
he believes that he is steadily enIarginj
the limits of medical science. Eacl
patient is book, and his practice rep
resents the library of medical knowl
edge. He is willing, therefore, to on
dure any toll, although he knows hoy
dangerous is such toll when carrie,
beyond the endurable limit. Such
course is especially likely if he is
believer in the boundless future c
medicine, in new methods of diagnosis
in new systems of therapeutics, and ha
the " enthusiasm of humanity" in hi
, soul.