Thursday, September 13, 2012

What The Doctor Ordered

Arthur Doyle was a medical student at Edinburgh University.He had a favourite teacher, Dr Joseph Bell, who was always telling his students:"You've got to learn how to think or all you know won't get you anywhere."(no te llevará a ningún lado) .
He used to demonstrate this to his class when he interviewed patients. "This man's a cobbler,"(zapatero -término algo anticuado-  he once told them .And he was right. Bell had noticed the man's trousers were worn at the inside of the knee... right were the cobbler's lapstone sits ( piedra que los zapateros se ponían en la falda y sobre la que golpeaban el cuero para endurecerlo)  .
Another time, Dr Bell deduced that a new patient was not long discharged ( licenciar de forma permanente) from the Army, had been in a Highland regiment and had been stationed in the tropics. It was very simple, he explained. The man was respectful but didn't remove his hat . They don't in the army.He was obviously Scottish and suffered from elephantiasis, which is a tropical illness , not British.   Dr Bell was trying to impress upon his students the power of observation. A good doctor has to notice everything

Arthur Doyle became  not only a doctor but also a writer. He immortalized his teacher's power of inductive reasoning in a character the world can never forget. Because Arthur one day became Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr Bell ... Sherlock Holmes  !!!


Dr Joseph Bell


Arthur Conan Doyle

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