University Medical College - Scalpel Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

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I, L I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I I A I I I I I I I I I i I t themselves' third the possession of the psycho- seize opportunities when they presen , , l logic insight, and fourth, zealous enthusiasm and persistency in medical work. WVh1le undoubtedly these are essential, yet, in my judgment, a physician may DOSSGSS all of these and yet prove a sad failure. Any set of rules or theory to govern the life and char- acter of a physician which ignores his moral obligations or dependence and allegiancfe to God is in my judgment a known failure. Indeed, no man, whether he be statesman. lawyer, business man or doctor, can succeed in the highest and truest sense in this life without the help of God. A life without God, is one without hope and no' physician can ever hope to succeed if he ignores his moral obligations to himself, to his fellow man Lincluding his patientsj and to his God. Thus Divine Law, not only requires but de- mands that the physician apply to professional life and conduct the spirit and purpose of the Golden Rule, which has for its basis the virtue of moral probity. I would, therefore, add another factor to the list already enumerated to govern the life and conduct of the physician, viz., HA fixed and definite religious purpose, which means to the physician a clean, moral exemplary, conscientious ethical life. No physician can well afford to leave this rule or principle out of his life and conduct. Moreover, the rapid advance of medical science increases the moral obligation of the physician by rendering it necessary that the modern medical practitioner add to his equipment new features of education. He must therefore, not only study laboratory methods while at college but must bring this newer knowledge into use by introducing it into his practice and thus become a practical bacteriologist and chemist. This pre- supposes that he supply himself with a microscope and a complete miniature bacteriolog- ical and chemical laboratory outfit for actual use in his daily practice. Thus he will be scientifically prepared to examine the urine, the feces, the blood, the sputum and other normal and pathological products to aid him in his diagnosis, prog- nosis and treatment of disease. In addition the modern medical practitioner must also be a student of psychology. This will bring him in touch with the various normal and ' ' d f abnormal conditions of mind and human consciousness as well as the various cree s 0 common mode of false reason-ing of which Dowieisrn, Spiritualism, Christian Science, Faith Cures and other forms of religious and medical fanaticism are notable examples and whose so-called marvellous results in healing the sick are all based on mental sug- gestion or psycho-therapeutics. The conscientious physician must also of necessity be a student of sociology and thus become identified with all the leading Social, political, religious and medico-legal movements of reform which have for their specific object the betterment of mankind. This will associate him with the philanthropist, statesman, politician, lawyer and preach- er, besides those who are now grappling with the vital civic problems and those high class Christian men and women who are devoting their lives to help save those who by virtue of their poverty, dissipation, ill-health, bad habits and the misfortunes of heredity are forced to- live in unsanitary and evil environments like the slums and tenement dis- tricts of our large cities. Thus the educated physician to fill his highest and most useful purpose must of necessity be a liberal minded man, a moral man, a man of many parts, broad gauged, one that is capable and competent to recognize the social, political, religious and medi- cal needs of the poor and afflicted as well as those more favorably situated and by his superior educational advantages and moral qualities be willing and able to aid in the so- lutlont Of the Vital Problems associated with the physical, moral and religious health of mankind. He must, therefore, make medical science of use to the community and thug Eilaxlge the scope of his duties by including the teaching of the principles of moral

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mug a Hhgairian Shnnlh IGP illlnral BY JOHN PUNTON, M. D., Professor Nervous and Mental Diseases, University Medical College. The subject Why a Physician Should Be Moral,', is one fraught with serious im- port to every medical practitioner. Viewed from any standpoint the physician cannot fail to recognize if not acknowledge his moral needs and obligations both to himself and his clientele. Indeed, so necessary and fundamental to the best life and character of the physician are the virtues of morality that these should not only form the basic principles, but constitute the very foundation upon which his practice and conduct is reared. e 4 Even f'Hippocrates the Father of Medicine in his early day recognized this neces- sity for physicians, hence the Hippocratic Oath is based upon moral probity. While the ancient custom of requiring this to be read and approved by every recent graduate in medicine is now seldom administered, yet who can deny that its essential moral prin- ciples are as worthy of observance today as they ever were in the practice of medicine. To the aspiring mind, however, of the modern recent medical graduate, life ordinarily presents a beautiful panorama of hopeful possibilities which conforms to his ideal or conception of what is best in life for him. Every physician therefore, whether he is conscious of it or not has an ideal, base or lofty which moulds his professional life and character and thus shapes his destiny. Indeed, every man associates his life with some end or ends, the attainment of which seem to him most desirable. All important, however, for the physician is the choice of this primal ideal or that which he in his inmost heart loves and strives to attain, for this largely determines what he is to become as a medical man. Standing thus upon the threshold of his professional career, the young physician in his restless desire to succeed becomes enthused with the power and influence of fame, pleasure, position and wealth, all of which may appeal to him with such an irre- sistible claim, or clad in forms so beautiful and attractive that at a time of life when his experience is very limited, his faith untried and his opinions exceedingly vacillating as to their relative value it is easy for him to mistake these allurements for the best things in life. The full possession, however, of all of these agents have so often disappointed the liopes blasted, the possibilities that such factors prove to be serious obstacles of failure to any physician. Hence, in spite of their intrinsic value they utterly fail in themselves to furnish the highest and truest elements of success to the medical practitioner. More- -over, the future of the young physician even when favored with such powerful acquisi tions or illumined with the brightest hopes and most flattering prospects ever attend 7 ed in its incipiency with more or less misgiving and uncertainty. Hence, the question which has been asked all through the ages by the recent graduate of medicine and never 'tAm I to be a success or a failure? ls fraught with se- more earnestly than today, viz.: rious import. In discussing thi-s question in a recent address a prominent internist claims that for success in the practice of medicine four factors are absolutely essential, viz.: First, appropriate preparation in medical technical studies, second, power to recognize and

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This, however, can be done but imperfectly if the physician does not remember that he should be as much concerned with the immoral conditions and circumstances which surround humanity as the diseases to which humanity is heir and thus aid in ex- tending the conventional conception of morality which should come to mean healthy living, healthy thinking and healthy acting. A system of moral and religious health should therefore become the grand mission of medical science to reveal through the in- strumentality of the morally trained and educated scientific physician, for moral health is paramount to public health, while their wise correlation contributes to the highest and the best good of mankind. Such a programme sufficiently explains the reason why a physician should be moral for in the midst of the pathetic scenes and tragedies of life which he is daily called upon to witness neither the uneducated, immoral or irreligious physician can be of help., They who are to be the leaders in medical science must therefore embody in their lives all the best features of cultured education, while morality, supported by the virtue of religion, must of necessity form its chief cornerstone. Such a life as this I commend and covet for each student of the University Medi- cal College. Iduai Ciruhuatv nrk in I urnnr BY FLAVEL B. TIFFANY, A.M., M.D. EARS ago, when we first started out in the profession, it was thought that one could not obtain the best advantages in the study of medicine without going to Europe and at that time there was reason for his belief. Our institutions were yet young and limited in their advantages. There was scarcely such a thing as post grduate course in America. There was n-ot even a graded course of medicine. The curriculum was the same for the junior and the senior. Those days there were no freshmen or sophomores. Two semesters was all that were required in this country for the completion of a medi- cal education. But inf the old institutions of Europe the requirements were far greater. They gave special attention to practical medicine, while we were satisfied with the didactic. At the time I first started out for post graduate work, I was unable to find any is side of the Atlantic, and was compelled' to go to the European clinics. This was some thirty years ago. I was especially interested in the study of Ophthalmology, Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, and there it was that I found grand opportunities for the prosecutions of these studies. At 'flVIoorfields, London, I found more than a dozen prominent Ophthalmologists at work treating from three to five hun- dred patients a day. Among these men were Drs. Wells, Bowman, Pritchett, Lawson. Hutchinson, Wordsworth and Nettleship. All enthusiasts and authorities in this special department of medicine. In another part of London, Sou quar , found the great authorities, Morrel, McKenzie and Lenox Brown. Here again we were of affections of the nasal passages, pharynx and opportunities on th l S e at the nose and throat hospital, we able to see and study hundred-s of cases lyrynx. It was here we first learned the use of the laryngoscope, to view and to treat the wonderfully interesting organs of voice. Part of our time we devoted to visiting