Making a medical practice in an uneasy world: some thoughts from a century ago

A century ago medical trainees in the United States faced many of the same sorts of issues that confront trainees today. For practical advice in setting up their practices, many of those trainees turned to a book by physician David Cathell called The Physician Himself, which was first published in 1882 and was reprinted many times thereafter. This paper explores the advice Cathell offered in his book as well as parallels with events of the recent past, discussing Cathell's opinions on physician overcrowding, medical education, new technology such as the telephone and the automobile, and the sensitive ethical issues that physicians must deal with. The paper concludes that because being an excellent physician in both Cathell's time and today requires more than good science, Cathell's book helps to remind us of the social world in which medicine is practiced.