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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 799 



blood for this purpose and one of them was 

 chosen. Let me remark, in passing, that 

 he had never before seen the child nor its 

 parents. An incision two or three inches 

 long was made in his arm, deep enough to 

 expose his radial artery. The artery was 

 drawn from its sheath, cut squarely across, 

 a tube was inserted in its lumen and the 

 blood from his body permitted to flow into 

 a vein of the unconscious child, the arms 

 of the donor and the recipient being bound 

 closely together. This juxtaposition was 

 continued for twenty minutes or more. 

 The pain to the donor was sickening, a pul- 

 sating drag on the incised artery and its 

 moving contact a-gainst the sensitive cut 

 skin ; the danger was frightful, for let but 

 one of those minute organisms causing the 

 blood poisoning in the child enter into the 

 circulation of the volunteer and his fate 

 was sealed. Anxiously the group of physi- 

 cians at the bedside watched the increasing 

 pallor of the donor, and the tension became 

 so great that they could hardly bear it. 

 Then one of them (himself a volunteer) re- 

 marked : ' ' How does it feel, Larry, to be a 

 martyr?" and in the smile which followed, 

 the situation was saved. And the story 

 was related because of its humor ! 



To attain success in the practise of medi- 

 cine a man must possess knowledge to de- 

 cide and courage to perform combined with 

 a love for truth, honor, justice and purity. 

 Such success means for the most part mod- 

 erate competency, a large part of the com- 

 pensation being its scientific interest and 

 the satisfaction experienced by the knowl- 

 edge of a duty well performed; any one 

 who has experienced the satisfaction of 

 alleviating pain or saving life will not 

 underrate this compensation. It can not 

 be estimated in money terms, but even in 

 this mercantile age the average physician 

 is one who feels more satisfaction in the 

 thought that he has saved the life of a 



child for its parents, or that of a mother 

 for her children, than would come to him 

 in the enjoyment of the steam yacht of 

 modern high finance. As a money-making 

 profession medicine ranks low. The same 

 capital, industry and time would bring a 

 larger financial return in almost any other 

 calling. At present it may be said of the 

 profession that most of its votaries make a 

 modest income and but few a large income, 

 though it can not be denied that there are 

 a few who enjoy very large incomes de- 

 rived from the profession of medicine. 

 Any one who estimates the values which 

 money can buy as above those which I have 

 tried to indicate would do well to choose 

 some other profession. 



But there are also other advantages in 

 the profession of medicine as a life work. 



In the first place it is essentially a 

 gentleman's profession. No one can suc- 

 ceed in it unless he be a gentleman at 

 heart, and this fact, well understood, ad- 

 mits him into the best and pleasantest cir- 

 cles of the social community. He meets 

 people of culture; he associates with edu- 

 cated men and women; with those who 

 make and administer our laws and who 

 direct our charities and educational insti- 

 tutions. Such environment is enormously 

 stimulating to his intellectual life. 



In spite of the fact that he is anybody's 

 servant, he is nevertheless his own master. 

 He can arrange his work to suit himself 

 and he submits to no dictation as to how 

 it shall be done. It is he who decides 

 what he shall do and how he shall do it. 

 He is not, as in so many other occupations, 

 the instrument of another's will. 



Notwithstanding the fact of the ardu- 

 ousness of his calling, he has, of course, his 

 periods of leisure, and this leisure is at 

 his own disposal, as is the case in few other 

 occupations. His home life is perhaps 

 more complete than is found in any other 



