Abstract
DRS. ROBEBT HUTCHISON and G. M. Wauchope have fished in all the waters of literature for evidence of the world's opinion of its medical advisers. The feast which they have prepared from their catch is salted with wit and strongly spiced with mustard and pepper. The dishes vary in length from simple statements like “I abhor physicians” to a quotation from Moliere occupying three pages. The material is divided chronologically into chapters, and each chapter is prefaced with a summary of its contents. The authors believe that the praise and the dispraise pretty well cancel out. Gravimetrically this may be true, but volumetrically there is more abuse than homage. There is evidence that increase in medical skill has been accompanied by an increase in the reputation of doctors. The first quotation from the “Ancients” states that “the best of doctors is ripe for Hell”. The last word of the “Moderns” is that “If a doctor's life may not be a divine vocation, then no life is a vocation, and nothing is divine”.
For and Against Doctors:
an Anthology. Compiled by Robert Hutchison and G. M. Wauchope. Pp. 168. (London: Edward Arnold and Co., 1935.) 7s. 6d. net.
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[Book Reviews]. Nature 137, 764 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137764b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137764b0