The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-25
wFoICINE, AS A LIFE WORK.
charlton,. Interestins Talk

~ l. Charltons AhtsNSstnS oiA
pi' ., Wen at the Y. NJ. @. A.
~ charlton delivered the second
NJ. c. A talks on the profess
O ~, an appreciative audience of young
sio'-- the association rooms last night.
m,s subject was Medicine as a Life
Work. ,...z,o, ~, NJ ~
r,,nson. secretary of the association.
5,ctor spoke for about an hour and
-, mat time held the closest atten-
- his listeners. He talked about the
.ior in which he himself has
nieved so decided success Simply ana
S1l1l,, without technical terms or ex-
Ia ''' and with such evident sincerity
Pr ling that he succeeded in impress
a'4 ,i. own steadfast convicuon-that no
4H5 rouh enter upon the study of medi-
oll ,,,ith no higher aim than through
I'H' rrq,tice to gain his daily bread
Us he introduction, DR.. Charlton sketch
t-ieev the history of the science and
If medicine and of the medical pro-
S,ssion from the earliest times to the
lsn9 Always he said, the profession
has been one of honor ana nlgh repute'
I,a faliowers. with the members of the
Ir5os+bood. with whom in earlier times
Ps +brongh the Middle Ages it was
i@Isly Identified and the warrior classes
~ held the first places in the esteem
Of the world
+ba art of medicine, even If they had
,t++Is of the science, but in common with
+be other arts practiced by this people
hot of medicine soon became crystallized
~, tradition. Its practitioners were not
kHa.afr OIL rele ~
thsir predecessors and a fatal termination
~ novel method of treatment was in
tIr,1 followed by the death of the irrever-
ent physician.
through Greece, where Esculapius was
lorn and lived and taught and where he
became a god, to be worshipped by de-
,-o+ees and have his affairs piled with the
,.otive offerings of the decrepit and in
Arn; where Hippocrates garnered the wis
dom Of his predecessors and formulated
maxfms still respected in the profession;
n Alexander, where the world-conqueror
accumulated the wise men as he did the
written wisdom of his day; through the
Tarl5 Ages. when the practice of the heal
inc art was left to the Arab and the Jew;
IN the revival of learning that followed
the Crusades and the discovery of Ameri-
"a when the practice of medicine was
the exclusive prerogative of the priest
hood: past each great discovery, marking
the miles of its upward progress until the
beginning of the art of modern surgery,
barely more than fifty years ago, DIR.
Charlton traced the history of his profess
sion.
Incidentally there were interesting
things to tell In the Middle Ages the
BARRIERS were the surgeons of the day and
the red and white striped BARRIERS pole is
q relic of the time when it was part Of
their business to bleed the people When
tbe barber-sIrgeon had let as much blood
as he thought necessary from the arm OF
his patient, it was his practice to wind
the bloody rag he had used around the
pole in front of his door, so that it might
dry Hence the alternate spiral stripes Of
red and white.
In 1852 the discovery of the use of liga-
lures was announced and the practice of
soaring the bloody limb, after an amputa-
ton. was forever discarded. In 1888 quin-
inc was given to the world. Ten years
before Harvey had published his theory
of the circulation of the blood In 1916
and 1877 ether and chloroform and the
principal of anesthesia were discovered
and put into use. The discovery of the
germ theory of disease was the founda-
tion of the practice of antiseptie surgery
and this discovery, made by Pasteur and
gigantic strides that have been made in
that branch of the profession during re-
cent years.
Dr. Charlton devoted some time to the
discussion of the qualifications one should
4 have for beginning the study of medi-
n cine. A classical education, while not
4 necessary absolutely, is very great ad-
n vantage to the student.
Dr. Charlton told of the difficulties in
the way of the successful practice of
medicine, but said that all these could be
surmounted by the young man in love
with the profession and thoroughly deter
mined to succeed. Given these attributes
and the requisite capacity, failure in the
profession was not possible.
There are god many doctors, he said,
who are not worth very much, but few of
them starve.
Laziness and the lack of tact, he said,
were the great drawbacks to the success
Il ful practice of the profession. Many prac-
uuoners fail because they have not the
manhood to stick to their task or because
they cannot stand up under the first lit
tie wave of success that comes to them.
others succumb to the weaknesses of
which they see so much in their patients.
Ine physician, more than anyone else,
sees humanity naked and in the rough,
and slckened and saddened by the weak
ness and depravity of which he is ever
the witness, the weak of the profession
themselves give way.
Medicine is not for weaklings and pre-
emlnently it is the vocation of q gentle
man. No one who is not both man and
gentleman in the best sense of both
u words can hope for success. Neither is
II profession in which one should en-
4 parK with motives purely mercenary; I'M
!ess the physician is in love with his call
.Ie' ne Is predestined to failure from the
4 time ne hangs out his single.