Practical medicine and medical diagnosis / by Byrom Bramwell.

  • Bramwell, Byrom, Sir, 1847-1931.
Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical medicine and medical diagnosis / by Byrom Bramwell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    PiucTicAL Medicine & Medical Diagnosis. ^ CKADTKK I. INTltODUCTUUV—METHODS OE DIAGNOSIS.^ Theke i.s 110 doubt ci tendency on the part of every teaclier to over- estimate tlie importance of that particular department of medical science with which he has to do. But bearing in mind that tendency, I can with confidence aftirm that there is no subject which is of more importance to you than that, the study of 'which we commence to-day. Ill the capacity of general practitioners, that honourable career to wliich most of you will probably devote your lives, you will have to practice all branches of the profession, but the majority—the great majority—of your patients will lie sulfering from medical diseases. Obviously, therefore, it is of the greatest importance, both for your own success, and also for the welfare of tlie public, that you should enter into practice with a sound knowledge of medicine, and with the confi- dent assurance that you feel yourselves able both to recognise and to treat medical cases. But to acquire even a moderate knowledge of the medicine of to- day is no trivial undertaking. The subject is of vast extent—it is probably the largest in the whole curriculum—it is ever changing and continually and rapidly increasing. The preliminary difficulties which tlie student has to overcome in making himself familiar with the mere methods of clinical investigation, are much greater in the case of medicine than in the case of surgery. The surgeon has to deal chiefly with external parts, and is able to employ sight and touch as his most important means of clinical investigation. The physician, on the other hand, is more particidarly concerned with the internal organs. He has sometimes to fall back upon more elaborate means of investigation, and has not unfrequently to rely upon hearing as his chief aid to diagnosis; and, as you will soon find, it is very much more diffi- cult to train the ear and to learn to appreciate fine modifications of sounds, than to educate the senses of sight and touch. Add to these circumstances the fact, that the portion of the curriculum which i^ at ‘ Being an introductory lecture to the Author’s Suninier Course of Practical Medicine and Medical Diagnosis in the E.\tra-Academical School of Medicine, Edinburgh. A