The inaugural address on the art of writing in relation to medical and scientific work : delivered before the Society of Medical Phonographers / by W.R. Gowers.

  • Gowers, W. R. (William Richard), 1845-1915.
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The inaugural address on the art of writing in relation to medical and scientific work : delivered before the Society of Medical Phonographers / by W.R. Gowers. 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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    observing for himself, constantly reasoning from his obser- vations. The work of the medical practitioner, high or low, is personal science, as that of no other worker is. Cavil as we may at the word science, no distinction can be drawn between the work of the medical practitioner and that of the highest scientist, save in degree and in the fact that the knowledge is gained chiefly for application. The latter is, indeed, rather a spur than a hindrance. It involves special risks of error, but these are not inevitable. The point to which I would lead you, however, is that for each one of us in our daily work precise record is as necessary as for the advanced investigator. Without the use of writing the facts that pass before him will leave only a transient furrow on the sands of unaided memory, vanishing for the most part when new facts disturb the surface, obliterated by the first of the strong gusts that come and change and go, or at most leaving but a slight modification in mental tendency. Without record there can be no precision ; without precision there can be no certainty either of inference or of action. The vague efl'ect of unrecorded—and therefore unconsidered— experience is too often a warping of judgment by the in- fluence of some striking but exceptional fact, conspicuous in vague outline in the memory, while the conditions essential to its interpretation are forgotten. Only habitual, imme- diate record can preserve from these dangers the personal science on which depiends the work of the practitioner and the welfare of his patients. For this result the record of that which is observed must of course be utilised and so arranged that its value shall not be lost. Yet the mere process of record gives, as we have seen, precision to observation and secures retention, not otherwise to be obtained. For all this personal use of writing, phonetic shorthand is available with unmixed advantage. Properly written at three times the speed of swift longhand, it can be read as fast as the lips can move, even if written by another person. To teach the mode of employing it to most advantage, and the method of adapting the record to subsequent use, are among the objects of our society, and information on these subjects has already been published by it. 1 would add, moreover, that the persistent and increasing help to the practitioner's work, obtained through the facility of record that shorthand aff'ords, is a matter of personal experience to which many members of our society can bear the strongest testimony. We have