The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-04-01
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
.,,IcIL CHANCES IN THE CALLING
or THE Pm YSICIAN.

or THE PH hSIClAN
.rr. cities the Tendency IL Almost
"rn,irely 10 spec,aiisRtion-Oniy In small
GUS. and Towns May tho General
practitioner" Of Former Times he Found.
n , psper entitled Requisites OF the Modern
p,.c,inner," read recently before the County
,,d,c. Society, Dr.. Augustus Caillc expressed
a.. conclusion that the family doctor Is disappear
,.s from the face Of the earth, and told his reasons
o., this belief The division and ubdivision
a, the medical profession into specialties, he said.
a dnying on, the old time physician, whose field
was the whole range Of Ills 10 which the human
hody is heir, besides many ailments pertaining
40 the mind as well as the body. Such Is the I'D
vance along many diverse lines and such the
demands made upon the practitioner who would
rsep himself abreast Of the times In any one Of
these branches that the man who tries 10 keep up
With medical progress In general will find the
,,n,y four hours Of the day too few for his studies,
In the audience which listened " Dr. Caillc's
orinions we're physicians representing many
linds Of practice, yet no one OF them took eScep
,on to the attitude Of the speaker, None OF them
rose 10 declare that the general practitioner Is It'll
IN The medical ring and ready To fight for his place,
probably the reason was that none Of those pres
on, fcl, that he came under the heading 81 general
PRACTITIONER. Some Of the younger men, per
hnps, did a general practice, but, even 50, they
undoubtedly regarded that merely as a necessary
evil To getting established and looked forward
% , day when they could devote themselves
.och to his particular hobby in medicine or sur
gerry which he designed to make his life work.
Nowadays II Is only the young doctor who Is
looking for an opening In a small city or town
or a populous countryside who expects TO make
4 large income out Of general practice. There
are In this State, outside of New York city, a
number Of physicians who make incomes Of from
$4,000 TO s25, 900 a year In family practice, and,
terhaps, half a dozen whose annual receipts go
above the latter figure, and the same Is true Of
surgeons doing a general surgical practice, Even
this is specialization beyond that Of n former
generation, for their fathers would have com
bined the surgical and the medical req uirements.
In New York and other very large cities, how
ever, all the rewards for good work held up be
fore the young physician or surgeon are for specials
i,a,ion. He sees success and fame accrulng
10 the men whose names are heard Of in connec
ton with one particular line Of work, On the
medical side this man is a famous diaGnostician;
that one has won laurels as an alieni>t: another
II All iul'iAN va W ~ N' '
has spent a lifetime Of study on the diseases that
attack the lungs; a fifth has made the human stom
ach his particular field Of exploration and is sup,
posed TO be gifted with a penetration Of vision
into the abdomen almost prophetic; the name OF
the sixth connects itself Immediately with the eye,
Of the seventh with the ear, while an eighth sug-
gests unpleasantly consumption and n ninth
parslysis and the shameful and obscure evils
tina. follow upon the eNcesses Of various dissipa-
tons. So il goes through the list, and though
the brain specialist might treat an old patient
for the stomach ache, il an unknown sufferer
came to him bent in a graceless curve about the
midnf, the eminent physician would probably
refer him politely 10 the abdominal expert on the
next block.
Below the shoulders is out Of my department,
said one OF these specialists TO II multi millionaire
who came 10 lin for treatment. TO properly
hmiliarize myself with your case of lung trouble
would cost me more study than you could pay
me for. And while | was learning all that ought
10 know you might die. Here is "A list OF half a
dozen lung specialists any one Of whom has at
his fingers ends more knowledge such as you
need the benefit Of than | could accumulate in
several years Of study"
In surgery the same is true as In medicine ex-
cept that perhaps the surgical side is even more
definitely subdivided than the medical. Origi-
nally the surgeon was also a barber John
Smithers, barber surgeon 10 his Grace, the Duke
Of So and so" the ancient chronicles are full Of
him. That which the medical fraternity would
80 to a doctor Of today who should seek 10 exc
cut his income by a little haircuttlng or shaving
on the side is a matter for the consideration Of only
a powerful Imagination. To-day there Are den