October 13, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



405 



numbers is infinite or not. If 'we assume that 

 all perfect numbers are even, we can state this 

 problem in a still more arresting form. Are 

 there infinitely many primes of the form 

 2» — 1? I find it difficult to imagine a prob- 

 lem more faseinatiing or more intricate than 

 that. It is plain, though, that this is a ques- 

 tion which computation can never decide, and 

 it is very unlikely that it can ever give us any 



data of serious value 



There is a great deal of mathematics the 

 purport of which is quite impossible for any 

 amateur to grasp, and which, however beautiful 

 and important it may be, must always remain 

 the possession of a narrow circle of experts. 

 It is the peculiarity of the theory of numbers 

 that much of it could be published broadcast, 

 and would win neAv readers for the Daily Mail. 

 The positive integers do not lie, like the logical 

 foundations of mathematies, in the scarcely 

 visible distance, nor in the uncomfortably tan- 

 gled foreground, like the immediate data of the 

 physical world, but at a decent middle dis- 

 tance, where the outlines are clear and yet some 

 element of mystery remains. There is no one 

 so blind that he does not see them, and no one 

 so sharip-sighted that his vision does not fail; 

 they stand there a continual and inevitable 

 challenge to the curiosity of every healthy 

 mind. I have merely directed your attention 

 for a moment to a few of the less immediately 

 conspicuous features of the landscape, in the 

 hope that I may sharpen your curiosity a little, 

 and that some maj^ feel tempted to walk a 

 little nearer and take a closer view. 



G. H. Hardy 



WHITHER?' 



Whethek one enters a group of socially 

 minded thinkers or a group of doctors in pri- 

 vate conference or in public assembly, one soon 

 becomes conscious of a restlessness regarding 

 the profession of medicine. What does one 

 think of membership in the American "Royal" 

 College of Surgeons or Physicians, of medicine 

 practiced under the ajgis of a "group," of 

 higher eduealtion for nurses, of chiropractors, 



1 Remarks made at the banquet of the Ohio 

 State Medical Association meeting, May 3, 1922. 



of Christian Sciencers, of medical societies 

 going to the public with their wares? Is the 

 patient still the doctor's, or does he belong to 

 a hospital? Should "industrial" medicine be 

 developed? Should hospitals be standardized? 

 Should the medical educational requirements of 

 six j^ears be lengthened to seven or eight or 

 nine? Where ought one to stand on "state" 

 medicine; should medicine have a portfolio in 

 the cabinet; should clinical teachers be forbid- 

 den private practice? Should hospitals be 

 open only to staffs or to all licentiates in 

 medicine? 



Are the answers to these problems really 

 hard to find? 



The medical profession has been caught in 

 the swirl of the times. In the press of the mo- 

 ment it has forgotten its origins. Lost sight of 

 are the circumstances, the principles and the 

 ideas which in all times have made medicine 

 what it is. Cause and effect are being mixed 

 up. The present day shows too much of the 

 form and too little of the spirit of that which 

 has given the doctor his place and power. 



II 



It is no new discover}? that tJie tyranny of a 

 crowd is no better than the tyranny of an 

 individual and that both lead to death. In 

 spite of our cry that we are democratic we are 

 almost exactly the reverse. We certainly dress 

 alike ; it has been said that we look alike ; the 

 corollary is that we think alike. Tersely put, 

 we work in crowds and think in gangs and 

 when applied to medicine we forget why any- 

 thing smacking of such forms has prospered. 



A case in point is offered by the diagnostic 

 and operating "groups" in medicine which to- 

 day infest us. Blinded by the success of one 

 or two prototypes, medical men have concluded 

 that their form accounts for their popularity. 

 The fact is that none such has prospered — 

 save as any business which is not bankrupt 

 may be said to be prospering — except as the 

 old substance of medical practice has been kept 

 alive in the group by one or two dominating 

 personalities. Without such vital souls there 

 is left only a paper organization — all, it is safe 

 to predict, that will survive when the present 

 day medical or surgical leaders of these groups 

 are gone. 



