Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-03-02
YOUNG PHYS1CrAHs.
Tho Hard knocks They Receive and the
Mistakes They Make.

Tho Hard knocks They Receive and tho
Mistakes They Make.
From the New York sun.
A gentleman who occupies an executive
position Of great prominence In one Of our
New York medical colleges, while chatting
amiably yesterday about young physicians
said ,The most keenly envied man In not
the one who exhibits a profundity Of text
book knowledge, unwonted skilfulness at
the dissecting table or quickness OF wit or
memory, but the fortunate poasessor Of big
beard, an impressive physique or Q mAtured
and solemn face. Indeed, / think the most
amusing OF ali the characteristics Of the
average medical student is In tho as
sumption OF dignity and thoughtfulness
~ graduation day approaches. As
the young men draw near the close Of
their terms every day sees closer contraction
ponderous pu rising up OF the lips, deliberate
steps, slow movements, and elaborate
courtesy toward one another. The cock.
lofty and Infinitely superior air Of the or
dinary college graduate sinks into aoject
OF tho medical student when he starts out In
life. ,he distrust OF q very young physician
IL Widespread and perhaps natural In the
human breast, and the first ten years OF most
physicians lives are spent In frantic efforts
to overcome this unfortunate prejudice. To
force the beard to grow upon q beardloss
cheek, to cause the observer to look upon
him with awe, and to Impress men with
whom he comes In contact with his pro-
fundity Of thought, In the ambition Of his
earlier years. On this account he assumes
manners, and, worst OF all, he tells tales.
'sTake, as an instance, young man who
came from Keokuk, Iowa, some time ago
with letter from an old college chum who
IL settled there. He In ell-meaning young
chap, and after his graduation he decided to
practise medicine in New York. He has no
acquaintances outside OF the few that he has
IA in, hoa arIin0 hnnaaa mi IA has fha
distinctiyely Western grit, and he has started
In to win. He has one OF those unfortunate
faces bereft Of hair-smooth, whitish, and
Juvenile looking to the very last degree
The temples are prominent, nobby, and pol
ished, and the hair abundant. ST. he said
to me the other day In gentle burst of con-
iidence, u had some sort Of beard, or IL, at
any rate, my hair was no: 80 thick and /
could add R premature badness to my other
advantages, 1t would result In my making
living; as 1t IL now pass my life in an ever
lasting effort to keep up the bluff that 1t
il invariably called. When l try to wear
spectacles people laugh at me and 10 l try
to put on an appearance OF age by referring
carelessly In casual conversation to events
that occurred before the war, and never
talk with interest OF anything that has oc-
CURED during the past twenty years. III
had r big beard 1t would certainly be worth
$4,000 to me-
Zone of the commonest errors which
young physicians make In the relating OF
lnnuinerable anecdotes and experiences,
most Of which they carelessly reier to as
having happened 'last week In their exten.
sive medical practice. This In the face OF the
fact that 1t Is perfectly evident to every one
that their whole practice is myth, and that
even the busiest and most expert physicians
could not attend one-half of he remarkable
cases which they cite as having occurred
during single weeks practice. 1t should
be significant tact to these youn nysters that
older physicians OF prominence seidom or
never refer to cases OF this sort, a. the patient
il invariably skeptical Of all such references
Every patient has an idea that his own par
tcuiar malady or ailment stands alone and
without parallel in the history OF medicine,
and IL never pleasas him 10 be told that
Mr.. Jones was similarly affected last
week, but easily cured by the astuts ply
scian.
'Tnere Is something really pathetic, though
the public never seems to think 80, about the
early struggles Of most young doctors, par
ucularly in New York. Poor chaps, 1t is
almost painful at times to think how bravely
they keep things moving year after year on
incomes that would be looked upon with
contempt by an average street labOrer, and
the time they keep up the bluff, to keep up
the expression Of my Western friend, with
undiminished courage They may be half
OF all means of paying for amusements-but
they wear their threadb bare frock coats with
undiminished, dignity, and talk constantly rs
though they were being carried onward In
their profession on the topmost wave OF pros
perity. / wonder that the dramatists and
novelists, who complain so Of desrth Of good
lay figures on which. to lay the lines Of their
novels and plays, d. not take up the career
ot some one Of these brave and COURAGEOUS
fellows who struggle 10 long and 80 hard to
gain recognition. Their lives are filled with
pathos and humor."