nevertheless, a fact that many good lawyers make extremely poor judges.

Remember finally that sharp practice and selfseeking will never produce permanent success in life, and that if a man is not a good lawyer before he is forty, he will not be good later on.

RECOMMENDED READING

ALLEN, FREDERIC J., The Law as a Vocation, with introduction by Chief Justice Taft

(Harvard

University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1919).

BALDWIN, SIMEON E., The Young Man and the Law (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1920).

LEWIS, WM. D., Great American Lawyers (8 volumes) (John C. Winston Co., Philadelphia, 1909). RICHARDS, JOHN T., Abraham Lincoln, the Lawyer and Statesman (Houghton, Mifflin Co., New York, 1916).

SUTLIFFE, ROBERT S., Impressions of an Average Juryman (D. Appleton and Co., New York, 1925). WELLMAN, FRANCIS T., The Art of Cross Examination (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1922).

Gentlemen of the Jury (The Macmillan Co., New York, 1924).

TH

CHAPTER XVI

MEDICINE

HE study of medicine requires a very considerable outlay of money, and the person who intends to practice it must reconcile himself to a loss of earning power until he is about thirty years of age. Like the other learned professions, the practice of medicine will not bring any great financial rewards. The very best surgeon in Boston earned sixty thousand dollars in the year 1922. Compare this with the earnings of the most successful business man in Boston and it is nothing.

Most doctors can earn a comfortable living, but the financial rewards of medicine are not to be considered, and this profession, like all professions, must be entered into largely for the love of the work. Many doctors work regularly at free clinics, for which they receive nothing.

The profession of medicine is a noble one and is highly esteemed by society. The doctor is usually loved by the community, and his life is useful and happy. This, after all, is the most important thing in life, anyway.

The growth of medicine as a science dates back only about three hundred years. At that time the profession was on a par with that of a barber, and in France the two jobs were often practiced by the same person. The "barber-doctors" of the time of Paré knew almost nothing, relied upon superstition and quack remedies, and imposed upon the ignorance and credulity of the people.

Paré, who was the first man to do surgery that could be called such, cauterized his amputation stumps without anæsthetics, and had no definite knowledge of how to prevent infection or hemorrhage.

Medicine as a science is young. The germ theory of disease was established by Pasteur, who discovered germs. He died within the memory of this generation (in 1895). Incidentally, the Life of Pasteur, by Vallery Radot, is an inspiring piece of work and splendidly translated into English. The first appendix was taken out in 1885. Ether was invented in 1846; and the first general use of anesthetics was made during the American Civil War. The use of antitoxin and serums for diseases, other than smallpox, has come in within the last twenty-five years, and abdominal surgery is developing in its scope almost daily. Nowadays a laparotomy requiring a couple of hours is not an unusual operation. The patient's entire abdomen is opened, all of his

plumbing taken out and overhauled, hooked up again. . . and in a few weeks he is out of the hospital and ready for business as usual.

The science of medicine attempts to prevent diseases, as well as to cure them. It deals with the great secrets of life and death, and the human interest of the profession is perhaps greater than in any other.

There are several different fields into which a man may be drawn in medicine, and he may readily specialize in any of them. Such fields are: (a) Pathological, or internal medicine; (b) mechanical, or surgery; (c) research, or bacteriology; (d) teaching of medicine, or literary work.

The vocation is progressing and expanding; it is of infinite variety; it reduces human suffering and increases human happiness; and lastly, it offers a position of the highest esteem and renown to the able man who practices it successfully.

There is considerable difference of opinion as to whether or not the profession is overcrowded. The "doctors disagree" themselves; but there is one thing sure, that whenever any business is overcrowded, the crowd is always at the bottom of the ladder and there is always plenty of room around the middle rungs and at the top.

The essentials for success in the medical profession can be listed under eight headings. They are as follows:

I. Industry.

No degree of ability or intelligence will compensate for lack of application and laziness.

Doctors must be apprentices until they are about twenty-seven years of age, and continue to study hard all the rest of their lives. As a general thing they work hard with very little pay, in a hospital, until they are twenty-nine or thirty. Business men now average six hours out of each twenty-four. Doctors and surgeons, on an average work ten to twelve hours out of each twenty-four, Sundays included.

2. Integrity.

A doctor is of little use if he is not on the level. If he is not, he will at once lose his standing and the respect of his community. Much is expected of him, from a standpoint of character.

3. Intelligence.

He must have good memory, observation and reasoning power, and profit from his experiences and errors. A doctor must weigh a great many facts in order to arrive at a decision; and he must do this many times every day. 4. Initiative.

A doctor suddenly confronted with an unexpected situation, or caught without the proper equipment and instruments, must have ability to improvise. Many unexpected things can happen in an operating room.

During the first few weeks of the war when working conditions were rather difficult, the writer heard the following opinion expressed regarding Dr. Debouchet, one of the leading surgeons of Paris. . . . "The reason that I am so strong on

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