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[The propensity of doctors to]

About This Item

  • Title: [The propensity of doctors to]
  • Date: 7 February 1859
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.01085
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 7 February 1859: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kaylen Michaelis Cassandra Jannel Simms Stefan Schöberlein Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "[The propensity of doctors to]." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 17 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.01085.xml (TEI)
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☞The propensity of doctors to disagree and to blacken the reputations of rivals in the profession is well known. The Sunday Atlas1 in an article on Medical Ethics alludes to the free fights which take place at the Academy of Medicine every month—and of which the late squabble in relation to who killed Mr. Whitney is an example—and illustrates them as follows:

"There is an old story that a young ardent Milesian, who was about to make his first appearance at Donnybrook Fair, asked a more experienced fellow countryman for his fighting orders. He was in the dark as to the distinguishing friends from foes, and wanted some guide. The reply was short and explicit:

"Wherever you see a head, hit it."

Very good.

Notes:

1.  [back]

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