not always pious. I am distinctly of opinion, however, that sons of doctors have many inducements and advantages under their fathers if they will only take them. They are brought up in an instructive and practical atmosphere. They may acquire little bits of information respecting the work of a practitioner which will stand them in good stead all their lives. If they inherit a fondness and an aptitude for the profession they have great chances of becoming first-class practitioners. As boys they will doubtless learn enough of the routine of practice to enable them to help them to decide whether they would like the practice of the profession or not. Hence, once they start, they will be the more likely to proceed happily and smoothly to the desired qualifications. Sons of doctors may desire from the first to step easily and comfortably into their fathers' practices one day; but, on the contrary, they may fight shy of the calling, should it not seem sufficiently fascinating or lucrative.

Again, it might appear that some young doctors do better for having had little or no way prepared for them. If it is known that a nice large practice will fall to them on the retirement or death of their father, some young men will be inclined to view the future with a too complacent expectation, taking things too carelessly and loftily. Men who have to make their way up every step will often reach greater heights in the end than those who have been helped many times. No two young men are alike. Some of the highest positions of all have been reached by those who have relied fully upon their own powers, exerting themselves to the utmost at all times.

For the information of any sons or parents who should dip into the earlier chapters of this book in order to obtain some idea of the prospects which the medical profession holds out,

I would like to add a few further remarks. I know of no profession which is more delusive. Things are by no means what they seem. It is probably the hardest profession of all to enter. It certainly requires more money and harder study than any other; and the chances of reaching real success are comparatively small. No one would deny that it is a splendid and noble profession, but in practice it is the hardest working one in existence. Any man entering it, to be successful, must of necessity be a very hard toiler, first to enter and then to succeed in practice.

To many parents there is a fascination about the medical profession which makes them persuade some of their sons to study for it. Practitioners themselves are sometimes desirous that their sons should follow them, generally because it seems that these sons, having the chance of a fine lead and a smooth way prepared for them, will have all the better chance of success; but, in the estimation of many fathers who are not medical men, there is something noble and eminently respectable, something so gentlemanly in the profession, which inclines them to choose it for their sons. One father I am now thinking of strongly wished his only son to become a doctor, not because he thought he would be financially successful-that did not enter his head-but rather because he deemed the profession to be smart, upper-class and showy. Naturally, the father was not a man of any profession at all himself; he had risen in the world to the extent of possessing a small but profitable business.

How little some parents are aware what studying for the medical profession means! They have no idea what work is required to pass examinations in these days. And the sons also they often imagine, before starting, that studying for the medical profession constitutes a game of walking up and down hospital wards, feeling pulses, manipulating stethoscopes, and flirting with nurses, while now and then lectures are

attended and some books read. But the truth is that there is no other profession that requires anything like so much hard work and study. The small percentage of students who ever pass their final examination, out of the large number entering, would astonish some aspiring and sanguine parents.

General medical practitioners are the hardest worked professional men in existence, the average of them. The majority are tied down to an incredible degree, not being able to leave home for many hours together, only getting one or two weeks' holiday in the year-and very often they cannot well afford to have this, for they have always to pay others a high price to do their work when they wish to leave home. They rarely have a couple of hours out of the twenty-four to call their own, having to be prepared for emergencies at all moments, night and day.* Those who are not medical practitioners cannot realise what such a tie means. Some doctors work in partnership; this allows more freedom; but only a few of them are able to work well and properly together, even if the size of a practice would sustain the working of two in it; and assistants will not always be received by patients.

Therefore on account of one thing or another, a doctor's life is anything but a very desirable one. I have worked hard as a medical practitioner, and have been unusually successful, but I honestly advise those who have the slightest thought or inclination for any other profession-or even business to leave medicine alone. A doctor's work is by no means so well paid as it ought to be, considering the worries and anxieties attending it. Only a very few become rich, and many have to keep up an appearance that drains profits to the dregs. I write it with all honesty and sincerity, the profession is not worth all the trouble and expense to get into it. I love the work connected with it as a scientist, and

If they are not thus at home, prepared, they are likely to lose some of their patients.

therefore should ever interest myself in all that belongs to it; but as a calling, or means of getting a living, I have a very poor opinion of it, though I myself have been eminently successful against very great odds and difficulties. Therefore

my advice to those who think of entering into it is-Think twice.

CHAPTER III

DOCTOR AND PATIENT

WHAT kind of doctor inspires confidence? What is it that certain individuals possess that gives outsiders confidence in them? Let us pay some attention to these questions for a moment.

There is one kind of doctor who is likely to inspire confidence with many, the man of mature age. A large number of the general public believe in a mature age, naturally. They will not have faith in an old man declining in intellect, of course, but they will have implicit belief in one who, they imagine, on account of his years, must have had a good deal of experience. It is no use for young doctors to argue that they have gone through a longer period of hospital training as students than the older generation, and that they are more up-to-date, for there are many people who will only be guided by appearances, and who will look to age as evidence of experience before anything else.

It seems very hard that young men of great ability, who have even had large and crowded experience as students, should be handicapped by being or appearing young. I think that this disability alone constitutes a most serious drawback to young men entering the medical profession. If a man wish to encounter general practice as a doctor, it is no use his being clever and appearing very young; cleverness or ability is not of much use unless a practitioner possess the means or capability of inspiring confidence. But,