The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1875-04-29
The Fashionable Doctor.

The Fashionable Doctor.
IN the full swing Of medical practice
the pace is tremendous. When once
the indeiinablc stamp Of fashion IL 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 al appointment for
the week after next, but it by no means
follows that he will be able TO keop the
appointment. Az vol 40 the clock
strikes two he makes n dash from the
consulting room, swallows an apology
for II lunch, and you presently observe
him driving past the windows. In vain
the unpuuctunlity is notorious, in vain
TIE consulting fee is doubled. People
ire determined to have the great man,
and the great man they accordingly 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 drticoio
mOrtis. 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 aB II cut flu ger, Some
times they resort TO him because the
case has really banled the average skill
Of the average practitioner, and it not
nnfreqnontIy happens that the cele.
bratod physician makes Il diagnosis and
suggests Il remedy that sets his brethren
10 rights. On the other hand the aver
age practitioner has his own revenge in
repeating Stories OF extraordinary
blundcrs pcrpetrated by fashionable
physicians. But when the fashionable
physician has really obtained this i'm
mopBe practice, the charm of the prac-
tico 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
IONS girded or, rather, he may be
obliged TO exist on Liebig's extract for
want Of time to partakc 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 life-all that makes *
istence endurable. The fees accumu
lato-plethsric Investments, a lordly
income. Bnt u 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-
ploynent Of n stately income are often,
like children, playing with little bits Of
paper that come in and little bit. OF
paper that go out. There is not 40 very
much use in a man getting 100000 a
year if he can hardly spend $40, 600.
But as II rule We acqult great physicians
OF any mean love OF filthy lucre. They
hardly know the sums which roll out
out Of their pockets when worn out
and harassed, they tumble into the
uncertain bed from which the night
bell may arouse them. They would
willingly take less Of lucre for
more of leisure. This was II strong
idea of the late Sir Henry Hollands, m
eminent practitioner. He early fixed
the modest limits of his professional
income Mt $25, 600, and would allow no
professional business to interfere with
his three months holiday. He had his
reward in living to n HISTORIAN age,
with all the reputation of NestOr's wis
dom. The fashionable physician who
ro~5iprocates the firm belief which the
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