友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
九色书籍 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

a mortal antipathy-第31章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!




throw her head back; and feel as grand as a queen。  I have seen more

than one girl act very much in that way。  Are not most of us a little

crazy; doctor;just a little?  I think so。  It seems to me I never

saw but one girl who was free from every hint of craziness。〃



〃And who was that; pray?〃



〃Why; Euthymia;nobody else; of course。  She never loses her head;

I don't believe she would in an earthquake。  Whenever we were at work

with our microscopes at the Institute I always told her that her mind

was the only achromatic one I ever looked into;I did n't say looked

through。…But I did n't come to talk about that。  I read in one of

your books that when Sydenham was asked by a student what books he

should read; the great physician said; 'Read 〃Don Quixote。〃' I want

you to explain that to me; and then I want you to tell me what is the

first book; according to your idea; that a student ought to read。〃



〃What do you say to my taking your question as the subject of a paper

to be read before the Society?  I think there may be other young

ladies at the meeting; besides yourself; who are thinking of pursuing

the study of medicine。  At any rate; there are a good many who are

interested in the subject; in fact; most people listen readily to

anything doctors tell them about their calling。〃



〃I wish you would; doctor。  I want Euthymia to hear it; and I don't

doubt there will be others who will be glad to hear everything you

have to say about it。  But oh; doctor; if you could only persuade

Eutbymia to become a physician!  What a doctor she would make!  So

strong; so calm; so full of wisdom!  I believe she could take the

wheel of a steamboat in a storm; or the hose of a fire…engine in a

conflagration; and handle it as well as the captain of the boat or of

the fire…company。〃



〃Have you ever talked with her about studying medicine?〃



〃Indeed I have。  Oh; if she would only begin with me!  What good

times we would have studying together!〃



〃I don't doubt it。  Medicine is a very pleasant study。  But how do

you think practice would be?  How would you like being called up to

ride ten miles in a midnight snow…storm; just when one of your raging

headaches was racking you?〃



〃Oh; but we could go into partnership; and Euthymia is n't afraid of

storms or anything else。  If she would only study medicine with me!〃



〃Well; what does she say to it?〃



〃She does n't like the thought of it。  She does n't believe in women

doctors。  She thinks that now and then a woman may be fitted for it

by nature; but she does n't think there are many who are。  She gives

me a good many reasons against their practising medicine; you know

what most of them are; doctor;and ends by saying that the same

woman who would be a poor sort of doctor would make a first…rate

nurse; and that; she thinks; is a woman's business; if her instinct

carries her to the hospital or sick…chamber。  I can't argue her ideas

out of her。〃



〃Neither can I argue you out of your feeling about the matter; but I

am disposed to agree with your friend; that you will often spoil a

good nurse to make a poor doctor。  Doctors and side…saddles don't

seem to me to go together。  Riding habits would be awkward things for

practitioners。  But come; we won't have a controversy just now。  I am

for giving women every chance for a good education; and if they think

medicine is one of their proper callings let them try it。  I think

they will find that they had better at least limit themselves to

certain specialties; and always have an expert of the other sex to

fall back upon。  The trouble is that they are so impressible and

imaginative that they are at the mercy of all sorts of fancy systems。

You have only to see what kinds of instruction they very commonly

flock to in order to guess whether they would be likely to prove

sensible practitioners。  Charlatanism always hobbles on two crutches;

the tattle of women; and the certificates of clergymen; and I am

afraid that half the women doctors will be too much under both those

influences。〃



Lurida believed in Dr。 Butts; who; to use the common language of the

village; had 〃carried her through〃 a fever; brought on by over…

excitement and exhausting study。  She took no offence at his

reference to nursery gossip; which she had learned to hold cheap。

Nobody so despises the weaknesses of women as the champion of woman's

rights。  She accepted the doctor's concession of a fair field and

open trial of the fitness of her sex for medical practice; and did

not trouble herself about his suggested limitations。  As to the

imaginative tendencies of women; she knew too well the truth of the

doctor's remark relating to them to wish to contradict it。



〃Be sure you let me have your paper in season for the next meeting;

doctor;〃 she said; and in due season it came; and was of course

approved for reading。









XIII



DR。 BUTTS READS A PAPER。



〃Next to the interest we take in all that relates to our immortal

souls is that which we feel for our mortal bodies。  I am afraid my

very first statement may be open to criticism。  The care of the body

is the first thought with a great many;in fact; with the larger

part of the world。  They send for the physician first; and not until

he gives them up do they commonly call in the clergyman。  Even the

minister himself is not so very different from other people。  We must

not blame him if he is not always impatient to exchange a world of

multiplied interests and ever…changing sources of excitement for that

which tradition has delivered to us as one eminently deficient in the

stimulus of variety。  Besides; these bodily frames; even when worn

and disfigured by long years of service; hang about our consciousness

like old garments。  They are used to us; and we are used to them。

And all the accidents of our lives;the house we dwell in; the

living people round us; the landscape we look over; all; up to the

sky that covers us like a bell glass;all these are but looser

outside garments which we have worn until they seem a part of us; and

we do not like the thought of changing them for a new suit which we

have never yet tried on。  How well I remember that dear ancient lady;

who lived well into the last decade of her century; as she repeated

the verse which; if I had but one to choose; I would select from that

string of pearls; Gray's 'Elegy'!



    'For who to dumb forgetfulness a prey

     This pleasing; anxious being e'er resigned;

     Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day;

     Nor cast one longing; lingering look behind?'



Plotinus was ashamed of his body; we are told。  Better so; it may be;

than to live solely for it; as so many do。  But it may be well

doubted if there is any disciple of Plotinus in this Society。  On the

contrary; there are many who think a great deal of their bodies; many

who have come here to regain the health they have lost in the wear

and tear of city life; and very few who have not at some time or

other of their lives had occasion to call in the services of a

physician。



〃There is; therefore; no impropriety in my offering to the members

some remarks upon the peculiar difficulties which beset the medical

practitioner in the discharge of his laborious and important duties。



〃A young friend of mine; who has taken an interest in medical

studies; happened to meet with a very familiar story about one of the

greatest and most celebrated of all English physicians; Thomas

Sydenham。  The story is that; when a student asked him what books he

should read; the great doctor told him to read 'Don Quixote。'



〃This piece of advice has been used to throw contempt upon the study

of books; and furnishes a convenient shield for ignorant pretenders。

But Sydenham left many writings in which he has recorded his medical

experience; and he surely would not have published them if he had not

thought they would be better reading for the medical student than the

story of Cervantes。  His own works are esteemed to this day; and he

certainly could not have supposed that they contained all the wisdom

of all the past。  No remedy is good; it was said of old; unless

applied at the right time in the right way。  So we may say of all

anecdotes; like this which I have told you about Sydenham and the

young man。  It is very likely that he carried him to the bedside of

some patients; and talked to him about the cases he showed him;

instead of putting a Latin volume in his hand。  I would as soon begin

in that way as any other; with a student who had already mastered the

preliminary branches;who knew enough about the structure and

functions of the body in health。



〃But if you ask me what reading I would commend to the medical

student of a philosophical habit of mind; you may be surprised to

hear me say it would be certain passages in 'Rasselas。'  They are the

ones where the astronomer gives an account to Imlac of his manag
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!