The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-04-10
SPECIALISTS AMONG DOCTORS

| ouAmS the LtS( lh0 YEATS the World
has gone out among medical men that
speclalism IS on the wane For long
time it locked as II the world would be
taken by the specialist. A general
practitioner was regarded as an old
/ fogey. sBnt. hard times. came and The
specialist was forced TO retreat VIII
he be compelled to quit specialism en-
ltireiy. : % ~ I,
The Medical Record thinks not. 1t
says there is no reason TO believe that
there has been in any quarter marked
tendency to return to general practice
by those well established in special
lines. Owing 10 the rapid progress be-
ing made in medicine in general, 1t be-
comes more and more impossible for
any man to acquire and maintain that
degree of perfection in knowledge and
skill in its application which will per
nit of his being regarded as finished
specialist in several branches at the
same time. Obstetrics and gynecology
naturally go hand in hand: the eye and
ear make good combination; the nose
and throat are so closely connected in
their pathological manifestations that
they make quite proper and even nee
essary subdivisions of the broad field:
while ldermatolOgy and the yepereal
diseases are so bound together by syph-
Ills, with its untold cutaneous effiores-
Ior oh Ir
raised to their being pursued conformity
by those whose opportunities have rem
dered them competent. Exclusive spe-
cialists are rarely found-not So those
who would have it believed that they
are exclusive" To be sure, q man
who practices outside Of his chosen
branch does not and cannot, as rule,
have the same support from his con-
freres as he who confines himself strict
~ to his own line, but in times of de-
preston he has two strings TO his bow,
and an epidemic of diphtheria may help
him out when his anteroOm is no longer
overhowing with ladies waiting TO have
their tubes removed. A specialist does
not always have the. 'cinch" he is often
presumed to enjoy. Inmapy ways the
matter has been overdone or has be-
come too refined. Good old-fashiOned
family practitioners are too few, and
without them no special branches can
exist. When everyone becomes spe-
cialist chaos reigns. When men start
upon their careers as specialists with |
out that experience in general medicine |
which practice alone can confer, they |
are starting upon a road which surely |
leads to the discredit of all true special |
ism. Specialists are never born We
would say TO the student, whether. or
not you now have the idea of doing |
special work, ground yourself well in
pathology. If in after years you turn
your attention to some particular
branch of medicine, you will find this
your best stock in trade.
it your work will ever be on
the upward incline. With it you can
your competitor whose found
alton was not SO firm. .-. .-
Choose the branch for which You
find you have particular liking. whose
work in congenial, and for which your
experience has particularly fitted you.
Otherwise fit yourself thoroughly be-
fore you go into it, but once in work
with zeal and courage and always with
the end in view, not of getting rich. for
few specialists even DO that, but of
leaving your chosen branch better than
you found it. - - r o /
In. this way specialism will maintain |
the place it should have in scientif c |
every branch viii add to the
general advance, and definite knoWl-
edge will increase much more rapidly
han it eRer could without the, work Of
The specialist -s-.- ... !
The Record concludes: Let pseudo
'pecialisnf wane, but all credit and sue
,ess 10 the honest worker in a narrow /
iefd Of research '-'