The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-05-09
PHYSICIANS PAINS, PENALTIES
AND PLEASURES.

yates of 1875 at their commencement exercise
on March 10Th, and printed in the New o
I leans Medical and Surgical Journal We NAL
f the following interesting extracts:
, III. The DoCToR's DIVERSIONS. plea
ant places and shady bowers along his patti
way. which invite him to loiter and refres
himself
, In every profession, or avocation, man n
quires his periods of rest and recreation. Fo
fear that cupidity or other causes should in
} terfere with the regular recurrence of such DC
RODS, the authority of divine edict has sc
apart every seventh day as one upon whicl
the din of human occupations should cease
and rest from toll should prevail.
But Sundays are not for the doctor. Hi
labors are classed with the undignif ed bu
benevolent function Of lifting the unfortunat
ass from the ditch. Pliny is authority TO
holding that pheasant discourse, jests, con
ceits, and merry tales, meAK verborum glo
bull" are the sole nepenthes Of Homer. Ac
| writer, a doctor must practice so much self
| abnegation, as never to partake even of his
own agreeable medicines Of this description.
"a merry doctor why one might as well talk
of laughing deaths head-the exclamation
of monks memento mori.
''This life OF ours is sorrowful enough at its
best estate; the brightest phase Of it is sick
lied DER with the pale cast of the future OF
the past But it is the special vocation of
the doctor to look only upon the shadow; to
turn away from the house Of feasting, and go
down to that of mourning; to breathe day
after day the atmosphere of wretchedness; to
grow familiar with suffering; to look upon
humanity disrobed Of its pride and glory,
>hol 80 :<c Cat
helpless, naked-and undergoing the last
fearful metempsychosis from its erect and
godlike image, the living temple Of an en-
shrined divinity, to the loathsome clod and
inanimate dust.
OF what CHASTITY secrets Of moral and physi-
cal diseaseis he the depository? There is woe
before and behind him; he is hand and glove
with misery by prescription ex-oficio
gauge of the ills that flesh is heir to. He has
no home, unless it be at the bedside of the
querulous, the splenetic, the sick and the
dying. He sits down to carve his turkey, and
is summoned off to post mortem examine
ton of another sort-he knows nothing of
the quiet comfort of the sleek-headed men
has an undoubted right to advertise him as a
deserter of bed and board"
The delineator of this picture threw into
the coloring too much lampblack, in the way
Of horrors and sadness Still it is an impor- |
tant question as to how the physician may |
best recreate himself, and wherewithal he |
,hall seek to amuse and refresh himself during |
lis hours of leisure. The sports of the field
nay invite him, or with quaint Izaak Walton
le may wish to sing,
81 in these fowery meads would be-
These crystal streams should solace me;
To whose harmonious bubbling noise,
I, with my angle, would rejoice"
These recreations may in themselves be in
locent enough, but they comport rather badly
nth medicine. People somehow, have got |,
n idea that the apostolic precedent should
till prevail, in so far that the occupation of ]
sherman must be abandoned when HIGHER [
ocation is assumed. {
Gaming is SO severely tabooed in medicine
hat but few physicians ever engaged in it.
is scarcely probable that any member of :
ur profession will ever become SO skilled in
be mysteries of cards as to be able to pro-
uce q text book on draw poker, like q
ecent representative OF this great country at
foreign court.
Politics is recreation to be classed with t
, be avoided. Indeed, political doctor ia I
enerally failure, either as it relates to the
srvice of his patients or his country. Yet it
lust be remembered, that important crises y
,cur in the chronology of all human govern b
ents in which individuals Of all professions '
i'd avOcatiOns should become aroused to the
efense Of imperilled rights, and merge every =
her consideration in the one great sentiment n
patriotism. b
There are certain circumstances, readily b
lough to be apprehended, which impose re-
rictions upon the physicians enjoyment of
any of those amusements and relaxing pur- =
To- = oGnso1 80 a.. 3 L
lie to members of the other learned profess n
ons. 1t may be said of many of them that
q rule they are simply not miscible with
9 physicians pursuits and habits without N
Hiding with his interests. This is essen
lily true Of all those recreations which y:
1uire absence from his place of business. 81
Rush advised his students to get possession ri
land as early as possible, perhaps in order 81
It they should feel SO Independent Of pro- &C
sional fees, as to be under no temptation ye
build up medical accounts. Vi
It is certainly true, that agriculture and ns
rticulture chime in with our physiological ~ ~
ldies better than most other addenda to our -
ofession. Life everywhere in the vast range A
nature, is to the physician part of his sci
,e. There is to our view no missing link
the whole serial classification of life.
genae,Men-Every one now within the COM asl
IS Of my voice, has lived as contempo- n Iee
y with great and good man, who COM sh
nded an army which fought bravely al wi
nigh to all human foresight, vainly. This ro1
leral had sons enlisted in the army which til,
commanded. All who ever knew him mi
I'D testify that fathers heart never beat sid
b more tender sympathy for his offspring go
n did his. Yet he could order his sons as
Ter fire, and expose them to danger in the arc
le impartial manner in which he treated fist
sons of other fathers in his command. ty-
his example is for the emulation Of the pia
sympathy is the proper ex- am
ssion of the physicians sympathy. It is n :e
emotion which, tender as it may be, should t srx
no restriction upon the employment of AT AT
er the highest degree Of skill or of the Bel
ltest energy. Instead of striving to sup tina
IS sympathy for our patients let US en- cha
rage its growth. It is divine attribute: do
ord, behold, he whom thou lowest is sick. =
sentiment whose well-springs are SO tba
I by the fountains Of the crystal river Of ing
that the physician who experiences it in tnr
ullest expansion may hope to be vouch- the