KEEPING A CASE BOOK AND REPORTING CASES. 
473 
tions, which will lead to a more reliable diagnosis, make the 
practitioner more accurate, and increase his ability. A careful 
man is his own severest critic and if he writes things down, 
even for his own eye only, he will be more exact than he would 
otherwise be. 
Second .—It enables the veterinarian to treat his case more 
skillfully. He always has the carefully recorded facts of the 
case before him and is furnished with material of much more 
value than he would have if he relied solely on his memory. 
The patient is not subject to the hazard of guesswork on the 
part of the practitioner during the progress of the disease. A 
clear record enables the practitioner to study his cases at leis¬ 
ure, and to work oilt the meaning of a symptom or group of 
symptoms by a purely intellectual process. 
Third .—It furnishes material for comparison with condi¬ 
tions under present observation, the teachings of text-books, 
and the dicta of current literature, so that profit may be derived 
in treating a patient in hand from the error or the merit of the 
treatment of a patient suffering in a similar way at some pre¬ 
vious time. This is especially valuable in case of a new dis¬ 
ease. 
Fourth .—As records accumulate the types of disease in a 
given locality may be studied, and the most efficient therapeu¬ 
tics learned by an experience, which, if not formally set down, 
is in the main forgotten. 
Fifth .—All successful and eminent practitioners of human 
medicine habitually keep a case record. They recognize such 
practice as essential to the highest grade of work. If we are 
desirous of obtaining the recognition their profession has se¬ 
cured, we must make use of their methods. 
Sixth .—A case-book well kept affords one the consciousness 
of a duty well and satisfactorily done, of having accomplished 
something that is above the ordinary. It is a point of differen¬ 
tiation between quackery and the scientific practice of medi¬ 
cine. One of the greatest satisfactions of life is the reflection 
that something good has been done, and a series of case-books 
