Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Medicine and society. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![observed to me that, whereas at one period of his career it took him a whole morning to see five patients, he had by practice and method acquired the power of dealing with four times as many in the same time. I also once heard Sir C. D, remark that if a man had not made out what was the matter with a patient in a quarter of an hour, he never would ! But as this remark was made somewhat impatiently to a candidate for examination, no doubt Sir C. D. only referred to cases of well-defined disease. There was once a very eminent surgeon whom I can remember. I was examined by him at the College of Surgeons, and he became, I think, president of that college, but he never had a large prac- tice, and the reason always given was that he was ' too honest'— for he would sometimes, after seeing a patient in his consulting room in the morning, drive to the patient's house in the afternoon, and leave a note or a message to the effect that since seeing the patient he had altered his opinion, and therefore the advice he had to give. This, although very honest, showed a want of ' tact,' and must have been very embarrassing to the patient. Not very unlike this story is one told of a very distinguished and honest physician well known in this city: a lady consulted him about a certain troublesome malady for which she wanted to find some relief. After examining her he handed her a prescription with these words : ' If that does you any good I should be much obliged if you would kindly let me know, for I sufifer much from the same complaint myself!' I have just written the word ' tact'—a word which expresses the most useful of all qualities to a medical man in his dealings with society. If I were asked to name the three personal qualities of greatest use to a physician in helping him to achieve success, I should answer: (1) Tact, (2) gravity, and (3) a calm and even temper. Gravity is most valuable, because, as La Eochefoucauld has pointed out, it is the best substitute for knowledge a man can have: the less his stock of knowledge, the greater should be his supply of (jravity. But ' tact' is altogether a finer quality, and is of immense value in enabling a physician to escape with dignity and safety from the many embarrassing positions, in his relations with society, in which he may find himself. Tact is perhaps a difficult thing to define, but I will make the attempt: it is, according to my view, an acute realisation of, and an active consideration for, the feelings and thoughts of others, together with a temporary forgetfulness of oneself: for a self-conscious person cannot be tactful] he is too much occupied in thinking about himself. To this must be added a certain capacity for the ready invention of expedients. Tact moreover must not be hampered with too strong sympathy; there must be no ardour in tact. I have often thought how much finer is the tact of a tactful 3x2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22322036_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
