It Has Been Said

Abstract

IT HAS BEEN SAID* and collected by GEORGEf. FRUHMANf "There is a great difference between a good physician and a bad one; yet very little between a good one and none at all."—Arthur Young "The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes men from animals."—Sir William Osler "The improvement of medicine would eventually prolong human life but improvement of social conditions could achieve this result now more rapidly and more successfully."—Rudolf Virchow "Men as a rule find it easier to depend on healers than to attempt the more difficult task of living wisely."—René Dubos "Health is a crown on a well man's head, but no one can see it but a sick man."—Egyptian Proverb "The greatest discoveries of surgery are anesthesia, asepsis, and roentgenology —and none was discovered by a surgeon."—Martin Henry Fischer "I would like to see the day when somebody would be appointed surgeon who has no hands, for the operative part is the least part of the work."—Harvey Cushing "The efficient physician is the man who successfully amuses his patient while nature effects a cure."—Voltaire "To be successful, a physician should have gray hair and hemorrhoids—gray hair to make him look distinguished and hemorrhoids to give him a look of concern."—Anon . ?Material appearing under this title is collected with the aim ofmaking the serious a bit less serious, the ponderous a bit less heavy, and the reading hours a bit more fun. Toward this goal we invite a guest editor of" this feature for each issue. Will readers volunteer to share their senses of humor by collecting or recollecting items that have brought smiles to their faces? We invite your participation. tDepartment of Anatomy, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, 1300 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, New York 10461. 598 It Has Been Said "When I get big, I'm going to be a humble little country doctor. I'll live in the city, and every morning I'll get up, climb into my sports car and zoom into the country! Then I'll start healing people. . . . I'll heal everybody for miles around! I'll be a world famous humble little country doctor!"—Charles Schulz (a "Peanuts" cartoon) "To study the phenomena of disease without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study books without patients is not to go to sea at all."—Sir William Osler Surgeons must be careful When they take the knife! Underneath their fine incisions Stirs the culprit, Life. Emily Dickinson EPITAPH Her body stolen by fiendish men, Her bones anatomized, Her soul, we trust, has risen to God Where few physicians rise. Engraved on the Tombstone of Ruth Sprague, Age 9, Died 1846 "Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them."—Anon. TB. V. H. f., M.D. Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim Jones Has nothing to do with what smarties call clones. His pa was named William, his ma yclept Mary, So in naming their son they eschewed th' ordinary. Named for that great doctor (so history tells us) Who took on a grander name—yes, Paracelsus— Young Jones as a doctor achieved early fame: Even in medicine, Much in a Name! Park J. White Perspectives in Biology and Medicine ¦ Summer 1980 | 599 ...