.......The artist and the scientist–and the physician, in a sense, is both–is a man who is presumed to be interested primarily in his work, not in its emoluments. He can do genuinely good work, indeed, only to the extent that he is so interested. The moment he begins habitually to engage in enterprises that offer him only profit he ceases to be either an artist or a scientist, and becomes a mere journeyman artisan.
True enough, a medical man who is intensely interested in his work, without regard to its material rewards—such a medical man often makes a great deal of money. If be has genuine ability, indeed, he almost invariably does so. But it is extremely difficult to put the cart before the horse. That is to say, it is extremely difficult to practise medicine primarily as a business, and at the same time keep up its dignity as an art and a science. The man who does so is on the wrong track. He is heading toward the chiropractors, not toward the Oslers.
H.L. Mencken
On Getting a Living
Baltimore Evening Sun, May 12, 1924
