Genre:

Essay, Biography

Subjects:

Medical Practitioners, Specialization

    Observes that although it is 'a common reproach to our mechanics that they are jacks of all trades; to our doctors that they are surgeons, physicians, and professor at the same time', it nevertheless 'seems to be a condition of our civilization [i.e. American] that we shall be able to do more than one thing, be it well or ill. Indeed, specialities in professions are with us quite a recent innovation. This state of things is, I believe, partly the heritage of our early struggles in the settlement and civilization of the country, the remote echo of that personal independence and self-reliance which the necessities of existence developed in our ancestors'. (518)