The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-13
SUCCESS AS A DOCTOR.
Description Of tho Way to Achieve
II. by One Who Has Sue
ceeded.
Tho Experiences Common Il
Young Men Who Take Up
the Work.
Medicine tho Most Arduons or All the
ProEsssions-A Mistake That Young
Doctors Make.

Doctors Mako.
written for THE HELENA INDErENDENr.1
Aboy who ia going to enter ths medical
profession should bear in mind that the
training he will receive Mt the medical COL
legs is only the groundwork of his educa-
ton; to borrow 4 phrase from the photoR-
raphers, il il only the preparation Of ths
sensitive plato upon which the impression
is aftsrward received.
There is the widest difference in the
world bstwsen the study Of medicine and
its practice. When the average medical
student leaves college he thinks he has
mastered his profession; whom he enters
upon real work he is amazed at how little
be does know.
: The young medical students actual edu-
cation begins when he walks the hospit-
als." There he gains experiences, practical
knowledge. from real cases. In college no
studies cascs from the theoretical point OF
view; in .'practice." as 4 rule, he somes in
contact with patients; a. rule these are
suffering from what physicians call
slight ailments the nature and treat
ment of which he must now learn from
actual observation.
He walks the hospitals" for two or
three years. Then, if he has the means
to do 80 he should 20 to Europe and study
again in Vienna, Paris, or Berlin.
II is sometimes asked Why the medical
student should 20 abroad to study his pro-
fession. The fact is that European physi-
clans are much more learned than their
brothers in this country.
On the other hand. they are not as sue
cessful az we are in the practice OF the pro
fession. Their education il deeper n
broader than ours, bat in the direct art Of
healing the sick, WI achieve bstter results.
They know more about tho etiology, or
theory of disease, than they do about tho
practical application of remedies.
When you come to hin of it, this CON-
dition Of affairs il very natural. The aim
Frenchman or the German. is to obtain
..honors," or . position under the govern
mont. Official appointments are held in
much higher esteem abroad than they are
in this country. There are moro honors to
be obtained over there than here. There
eted, confer distinction upon their wearers
and command respect and homage. There
are positions to reach which men will strive
for half a lifetime.
In the United States the young physician
i struggling, not 80 much Tor honor 81 for
produce results. the fruit of successful
practice, that will bring IN . financial re-
turn. ss
II has been asked Why We have SO a
doctors. Beyond doubt the ranks Of the
profession are ovarcrowded; overcrowded
beyond that Of any other profession / can
recall. It would see1n as il, when . young
man ID good for nothing else he il sup
posed to have an aptitude for physic. In
othor words doctors are too often made by
the product of ~'sxclusion," a word which
defines u %vell-knoWn medical process in
diagnosis.
After the young physician has graduated
and served his time in the hospitals, and
returned from foreign study, it will take
three or four years to get 4 fair start from
the business point of view. How soon he
will secure patients will depend very much
with which ha follows his vocation; for
medicine 10 probably the most arduous Of
all the professions. q
Somstimes q doctor will advance on ac-
count Of having married a rloh wife. But
neither wealth nor social position will avail
ability and skill, and, above all, a certain
amount of personal magnetism that will
inspire confidence on the part Of patients.
/ have in mind a young man who In q very
short time has secured a practice in New
York city Of over $4,000 a year. Socially.
man to stand in New York, and he had a
certain amount of money himself which
enabled him to live in much better style
than the ordinary doctor. But he also had
ability.
An Interesting fact in connection with
the medical pl ofession is that it is being
largely specialized. / think that the young
man who starts out with the idea of being a
specialist makes a great mistake. II he in
tends to be a specialist he should rather
permit himself in the course of time to
drift into the specially for which he seems
proverb, '"That which q man loves to do he
generally does vsll.' After a young man
has become an active practitioner and finds
that the speciality toward which he il drift
ing is in tho direction of his wishes, he ia
generally drifting in the right direction.
That is tho tide that will very likely bear
him on to the greater usefulness, to fame,
and to fortune.
But the mistake of most young physi-
clans is III adopting q speciality before they
have had sufficient experience in general
practice; they are net sufficiently we'll
jeot.
A specialist who is not a good general
practitioner falls into the error of asoribing
all the ailments that he comes in contact
with to his specially. The man who makes
a speciality of the eye will ascribe all nerv,
Gus disorders that he comes in contact with
to disease of the eye. This man who makes
q speciality of diseases Of women will
ascribe all the diseases that he meets with
in women to disorders peculiar to her sex,
I have frequently known throat and lung
specialists to ascribe diseases which are,
perhaps, purely nervous n functional, and
which come from a dilordered digestion, tic
obstruction in the air passages.
In one sense the specializing of medicine
is beneticial. The study of physis ia a vast
thams. 1t is 80 great that it is difficult. yes
impossible. for = man to grasp it all. Their.
is 30 much to DO memorized that a maj
can not carry in his mind the particulars oil
every branch. And it may be said that +.
specialism that is based upon study and ex.
periencs is the highest form of medioa
training.
1t should be interesting to q q young per.
son contemplating the study int practic.
of medicine to note that the two branches
of the PROFESSIONALS homeopathic md tn.
so-calied allopathic-have had quite F,
wholesome effect, the one upon the other
Thav hive heen distinct md auart frorr