The North American Journal of Homeopathy (Volume 58) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910. Excerpt: ... unable to understand how the best professional success can come to anyone except to the well-balanced man who works so industriously, lives so carefully within his income and manages his savings so thriftily that he is able to provide for those who are dependent upon him, to meet his obligations promptly, and to make provision for the inevitable change of weather. And I think you will agree that, to most men, the closest professional application and its resultant success can come only under circumstances of at least comparative freedom from financial worry. That this comparative independence is not far more general is, in my opinion, one of the stigmata of our profession. How often has it been said, until it is almost proverbial, that doctors are poorbusiness men. and, in the same breath, that they are poor correspondents; as if neglect of business methods on the one hand or discourtesy on the other were virtues rather than vices To serve the deserving poor without other renumeration than appreciation, and often enough without that--let us take it for granted, without discussion, that, from the very nature of our profession, this is one of its first duties. But to be the complacent victim of every dishonest or indifferent fellow in the community, and so to live less comfortably than we might, to give our families less than they deserve and, finally, to leave estates whose meagreness should make them objects of mirth if they were not, more approximately, objects of pity, surely such a course is, by no possible stretch of imagination, commendatory. I have said that professional success is not to be measured merely by the financial returns of our work; but I am quite willing to add that neither is it to be considered as fully won without some success in thi...