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Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations This page intentionally left blank Oxford Medical Publications Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations Peter McDonald 1 1 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Selection and arrangement Oxford University Press 2004 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library ISBN 0 19 263047 4 (Hbk) 1098765432 1 Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by T.J. International, Padstow Dedication To my late father George McDonald (1918–1983) whose love of words both ancient and modern was as fine a legacy as any son could ask for. This page intentionally left blank Preface The Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations is intended to be a rich source of quotations covering a variety of medically related topics. Those selected have been deliberately kept short in an effort to highlight the pithiest phrase or the sharpest insight. Some are witty, some are maudlin, some merely factual. They have been selected on the basis of their use- fulness to modern medical authors, journalists, politicians, nurses, physios, lecturers, and even health managers, who will always have need to season their works with the clever or witty phrases of former colleagues whose intuitions still say as much today as when they were first published. Many reflect the compiler’s tastes and prejudices but there will be something for everyone within these pages. Browsing through many texts to find the most appropriate quotations to include in the Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations has afforded an insight into both medical history as well as the nature of the doctors and others who have chiselled these phrases. A glance for the casual reader not looking for a specific quote will be rewarding in itself. Quotations are listed under author, with an index of keywords that permits the reader to access a number of quotes with the same keyword. Wherever possible, biographical information about the author and whence the quote originated are included, although it is acknowledged that there are several omissions in this regard. When the original source is not clear, the secondary source has been substituted if it was thought useful for further study for the reader. If the quotation was deened to merit a place in the Dictionary even without full reference being available, it was included. Indeed, it is not necessary for an author to be particularly well known to be in the dictionary if he or she had given birth to a bon mot or a succinct phrase. The majority of the quotations come from the English-speaking medical worlds of Great Britain, Ireland, and North America but several quotes from other rich medical cultures have been included in translation. Whether readers are looking for a suitable quotation on surgery, science, kidneys, or kindness, they should find much here to satisfy. Medicine is both the narrowest and broad- est of subjects, and I have included examples of both the specific and the general. If I have failed to find that favourite concise quote, please send it fully referenced and it will be included in the next edition. Any corrections of birth dates and deaths will be most wel- come and acknowledged in subsequent editions. July 2002 Peter McDonald MBBS MS FRCS Northwick Park and St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK [email protected] This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements Sister Annie Driscoll of St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK; Dr Neville P. Robinson, Northwick Park and St. Mark’s Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK; and Dr John Ballantyne, Kensington, London, UK; Martin Baum and Kate Smith of the Oxford University Press. This page intentionally left blank Contents Quotations Bibliography Index How to Use the Dictionary The sequence of entries is by alphabetical order of author, usually by surname but with occasional exceptions such as imperial or royal titles, authors known by a pseudonym (‘Zeta’) or a nickname (Caligula). In general authors’ names are given in the form by which they are best known, so we have Mark Twain (not Samuel L. Clemens), and T. S. Eliot (not Thomas Stearns Eliot). Collections such as Anonymous, the Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, and so forth, are included in the alphabetical sequence. Within each author entry, quotations are arranged by alphabetical order of the titles of the works from which they are taken: books, plays, poems. These titles are given in italic type; titles of pieces which comprise part of a published volume or collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poems not published as volumes in their own right) are given in roman type inside inverted commas. For example, Sweeney Agonistes, but ‘Fragmert of an Agon’; often the two forms will be found together. All numbers in source references are given in arabic numerals, with the exception of lower-case roman numerals denoting quotations from prefatory matter, whose page num- bering is separate from that of the main text. The numbering itself relates to the beginning of the quotation, whether or not it runs on to another stanza or page in the original. Where possible, chapter numbers have been offered for prose works, since pagination varies from one edition to another. In very long prose works with minimal subdivisions, attempts have been made to provide page references to specified editions. A date in brackets indicates first publication in volume form of the work cited. Unless otherwise stated, the dates thus offered are intended as chronological guides only and do not necessarily indicate the date of the text cited; where the latter is of significance, this has been stated. Where neither date of publication nor of composition is known, an approximate date (e.g. ‘c.1625’) indicates the likely date of composition. Where there is a large discrepancy between date of composition (or performance) and of publication, in most cases the former only has been given (e.g. ‘written 1725’, ‘performed 1622’). Spellings have been Anglicized and modernized except in those cases, such as ballads, where this would have been inappropriate; capitalization has been retained only for per- sonifications; with rare exceptions, verse has been aligned with the left hand margin. Italic type has been used for all foreign-language originals. The Index Both the keywords and the entries following each keyword, including those in foreign lan- guages, are in strict alphabetical order. Singular and plural nouns (with their possessive forms) are grouped separately: for ‘you choose your disease’ see ‘disease’; for ‘coughs and sneezes spread diseases’ see ‘diseases’. Variant forms of common words (doctor, Dr) are grouped under a single heading: ‘doctor’. The references show the author’s name, usually in abbreviated form (SHAK/Shakespeare), followed by the page number. Quotations William O.Abbot – With the exception of lawyers, there is no US physician and inventor of intestinal tube profession which considers itself above the law so widely as the medical profession. As an adult she had her organs removed one by The Health Master Ch. one. Now she is a mere shell with symptoms where her organs used to be. Medicine would be the ideal profession if it did not Quoting the dangers of overzealous treatment of non-organic involve giving pain. disease in: Dictionary of Medical Eponyms, (nd edn), p. , The Health Master Ch. Firkin and Whitworth. The Parthenon, Lancashire, UK ( ) Any physician who advertises a positive cure for any disease, who issues nostrum testimonials, who sells his services to a secret remedy, or who John Abernethy – diagnoses and treats by mail patients he has never English Surgeon, St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London seen, is a quack. Private patients, if they do not like me, can go The Great American Fraud p. Collier and Sons ( ) elsewhere; but the poor devils in the hospital I am bound to take care of. Memoirs of John Abernethy Ch. , George Macilwain Thomas Addis – The hospital is the only proper College in which to US physician, San Francisco rear a true disciple of Aesculapius. When the patient dies the kidneys may go to Memoirs of John Abernethy Ch. , George Macilwain the pathologist, but while he lives the urine There is no short cut, nor ‘royal road’ to the is ours. It can provide us day by day, month attainment of medical knowledge. by month, and year by year, with a serial Hunterian Oration () story of the major events going on within the kidney. Glomerular Nephritis, Diagnosis and Treatment Ch.