Medical heredity : distinguished children of physicians (United States, to 1910) / by William Browning ; with an introduction by Charles B. Davenport.

  • Browning, William, 1855-1941.
Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Medical heredity : distinguished children of physicians (United States, to 1910) / by William Browning ; with an introduction by Charles B. Davenport. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    201/270 (page 185)
    RESULTS OF MEDICAL HEREDITY ON CALLINGS 185 Dn the public by physicians themselves and their sons. And some are reputed to enjoy returns of this kind without a blazon¬ ing of their names. Business The doctor has little repute as a business man, nor do his sons incline greatly to ordinary barter and trade. Something more it takes to attract. A long list might be made out by including those of moderate success. Finance A rich daddy is supposed to furnish the best background for success in the money world—a prerequisite mostly wanting in the case of medical men's children. Yet amongst the prominent financiers of the country there proves to be a very respectable number, including 120 presidents of banks and 20 of insurance companies. The list of presidents of local banks might be ex¬ tended if the facts were accessible. The reverse inference is war¬ ranted, that many doctors remain poor, not because of inability to accumulate, but from other causes such as entire engrossment in their work. Philanthropy—Humanics Deeds of benevolence and philanthropy are often done quietly. And large gifts easily escape general notice. Doctors' progenies do not have to acquire this instinct nor a sense of human respon¬ sibility; these things are imbibed if not inherited. Until after the Revolution there were few who had the means to exhibit this. The cases listed can only be illustrative of a larger number. Still others have had the spirit, though unable to exemplify it to scale. Civic propaganda and the more recent social service naturally make a like appeal, and have found votaries of this origin. In this and two or three of the groups are a few individuals bordering on the over-intense if not eccentric—perhaps not numerically out of proportion. Institutions In this class the sons are practically all physicians, to an ex¬ tent that they might be classed under Public Medicine. Most