Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1890 — The United States and Its Doctors. [ARTICLE]

The United States and Its Doctors.

Medical Record. There is certainly no more curious social phenomenon than that of the j extraordinary popularity of the medi ical calling in’ this country as a means securing a livelihood. ! The subject is one that is often dwelt | upon, but we doubt if many even yet ‘ realize the grotesque misproportibn : which medicine in the United States j holds to other bread winning occupations. Here are some of the naked facts in the matter: France has 88; tXKI; 000 of pppulattOß T' 11,995 doctors, while it graduates 624 medical students in one year. Germany has 45,000,000 population, about 30,000 doctors, and graduates about 935 students in one year, i The United States has about sixty | millions of population, nearly one hundred thousand doctors. 13,091 medical students, and graduates 3.740 students in one year. j Germany, which has relatively less than half as many doctors as America, is already groaning over its surplus. ; When one compares France with this 1 country the excess of medical men here seems most astonishing. A comparison of the United States with European countries, in whatever way it is made, leads one to think that there is something almost morbid in our medical fecuudlty. A painstaking person estimates that the average head of hair worn by a woman, if placed end to end, would measure fifty miles in length.