The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1896-01-30
A DOCTOR WRITES ABOUT DOC
TORS

profession, he replied, Don Qulxote!
Louis XIV, knowing how severely
Moliere had handled the members OF
the Paris faculty, said to him one cay
You have a doctor yourself; what
does ne do for you?" sire, repiled |
Moliere I'VE chat together; he orders |
me some medicines; l do not take
them, and 1 get well!''
These anecdotes occur in the opening
paragraphs Of a paper on Medlclhe
and Society,"" by ]. Burney Heo, NJ. d.
in the Nineteenth Century, and maj
cate to some extent the professional
catholicity of the writer. Here Is what
ne has TO say about specialists
The present tendency to extreme spe-
cialiZation in medicine, II must be AUNT
Led, tends to diminish the closeness OF TINS
association and to lessen It's interest.
When physician has the care OF tlt
whole complex organization OF his patient,
he feels an interest IN ms charge dlto-
gether different from that experiences
by the man who looks after a SInall
portion of II only; his nose, or MS llNef,
or his kidneys, or his lungs. IL is impos-
sible to feel the same kind OF interest IN
such a fractional part OF the patient as
in the whole man; indeed one OF the
great evils of speCialism is that the In
| terest of the doctor tends to become cen
| tered, in general sense, IN the organ
| he takes charge Of and not in the lndi-
| vidual; and this, | think, Is injurious 70
| both. The doctor loses much OF the phll-
osophiCal breadth of view which ne gains
| by constant study OF the intimate inter,
connection OF the organic functions, and
| the patient can not obtain that general
guidance and protection which close
| and intimate knowledge OF the WhOle Hau
| can alone afford.
| Al am convinced that this modern ten
| dency TO extreme specialization ustracts
i from the wholesome and legitimate iniiu-
ence which the profession of medicine
| should exercise on society. Many MEM
bers of our profession are getting looked
| upon as mere handicraftsmen, or as
shillfll merely IN the manipulation of
/ some special appliances, to be summoned
| when needed for the application or their
| special art and TO be dismissed and for
| gotten as soon as their special work Is
done.
"Specialism no doubt increases the total
gains of the medical profession, ana en-
ables young men to get an adequate IN
come earlier than they otherwise Woulu,
but II tends to a lower standard of gen
eral attainment in what is regarded az
the higher ranks of the profession; Tor
| a man of very limited ability can IN time
acquire certain familiarity In the man
| agefnent of a single organ, and, by merely
identifying himself with that organ ana
slender its merits, on its diseases, he
| becomes advertised as skllltul specialist
and he acquires sufficient income. More
over he soon begins to charge large ices,
and society is made to know that even
the possession of such small things as
| 'adenoiis' is a costly affection
| 'S0ClttN
creased costlness of medical and surgical
help and is getting to Loo. on the mem
bers OF .he medical profession as more
mercemry and less disinterested than
| hey were wont to be, and thus our So
| eial influence is diminished ana the pleas
antness of our relations with society 10
some extent, lost. The cases now ire
tuentlN occurring in our law courts tes-
hfy TO the truth of this for when the
growth of specialism is responsible
Further on, DR. Yeo takes up an
other burning question" affecting the
relations of medical men to society,
namely, "unprOfessional advertising,
and On this point says: .---
Now let il Be frankly admitted that We
do ali seek publicity in some form or 9TH
er; we advertise our colleges our hospl-
tails. or books. our appointments our I
lectures, etc., ana we delight in various
| forms IF Indirect advertisement inter
profess onal advertising IS practlseu con
stantly and immensely by many u .Ile
most distinguished members OF the pro-
| fession. -,
In medical journals the frequent men
ton OF the same names by pure lnauVSI-
| tence no doubt, seems uuaNoldaDle py
certain editors and sub-editors. THESE
are advertisements of great value. EVeu
medical editors themselves seem tempted
by the fatal facility of doug so TO IN
1illge in frequent reference to their own
: too obvious merits This tendency Is couii-
. teracted to certain extent by thelr VIII
lingness to open their columns freely 70
Icomnlaints of unprofesSional advertising.
J Ii has always struck me as very re-
| n,arkable thing that while advertising
: within the medical prof. ession Is pIae'ice s
, so extensively, and without mourning any
. | adverse comment, the smallest notice II
the public journals eXcites such lively am
mostly. Il Is quite peculiar 70 our pre-.
altogether otherwise, whoever is cieVel
I enough in that profession to make him
self reputation with the public Is com
7 Intended for his skill and ability-and VIVA
4 would be thought disreputable would b'
for counsel to advertise themselves among
: solicitors.
a hand the consultant (the counseD endea
q vors to attract the general practitlone
(the solcitor) by every means IN n
: lpower What would be thought in IN
h legal profession of barrister who dis
Q tributed widely among solicitors pape
u or pamphlet entitled ON New an
= for Libel?' And yet this is precisely IN
i, kind of thing we all do.
Is / am confident l am well within tn
limits of accuracy when | say that lhret
J. fourths of the medical works that are pul
e. iishel year by year are published malnl
IS for the purpose of advertising Their al
20 thors, and that the advertisements {
= these books in the medical Journals al
20 many many times In excess of what
p publisher would think necessary for PR
IF noting their sale. Indeed, | am certai
" that the total amount spent in adyerti
ing average medical works that are n'
text books Is by far in excess OF any po
iib,e profit that could arise from the
Provoking often as quacks are, say
" DIR Yeo. reputable physicians ought
er he grateful to them for one thing
s. They relieve us of some of the mo
IS troublesome and least interesting of OF
0 natieuts those patients who weary us b
n vond endurance with their wretched hat
=, cf constant introspection. and by the e
u travagant Importance they attach to ye
te S fInap1 t twitch at nights inquiries on
a why have l an itching at the tip of n
1p nose3' asks another. and why have
or sort of numbed spot about the size of
~ | six-pence (their precision Is remarkab
=. | on my right shoulder demands thiI
te A good story is told of such pate
re going to consult an authority on che
in disease, and on entering the consultin
a room he placed his hand on his left 81
We and said In a faint whisper Doctor,
NO cannot speak above whisper with I
n9sS left iung-it is my left lung that is, wroI
But'-and then he placed his hand on
re Int side. and the voice OF transpC
Dy tine tragedian he eXclalmed1f wi
These patients are the proper 1000
is charlatans, and l for one do not
ed grudge them such sustehance. Inc en-
-, iatan is particularly successful in curl
~ those patients especially who have no
ne ing the matter with them-that is to 5;
op nothing obJectivemmotahing ma .nat a, can
IRE any accurate defnition-those who,
on that sage physician Sir Y. Y. used to 5
with partlCOlaF efnpHdslS, tHJoy 4
%, health" These patients spend tn
on whole lives in being cured" of one &C
OK, plant after another and they are alw;
tn being 'cured," yet they are never wei
lille Horny excrescences arising from
the human head have not only occurred
md this country, but have been frequen
ten reported by English surgeons as v
or as those from several parts of Col
ned mental Europe. In the Imperial muse
Der at Vienna. the British museum at l.
no don and the Vatican collection at re
ort thara ore f,ne single specimens
ten .,Ia, nollactions of those curiosit
des In an English local history C"Hist
lial of Cheshire) a woman is mentio
' who had been afflicted with tumor
81, her head for thirty-two years. FINAL