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The tower of medicine
The Tower of Medicine NEIL SKOLNIK,
M.D.
ow the whole world had one language, and that language was called Medicine. Men migrated from the East, and from the West, and settled near the institutions of Medicine. And they said to one another, “Come, let us break atoms, and understand them thoroughly. Let us break the genetic code, and so understand the nature of our existence. Let us make social problems medical ones to better objectify all of our interactions.” And so they developed recombinant DNA for vaccines, genetic screening for health, and psychopharmacology to replace those chemicals of the mind that God had forgotten to give to a man. They then said, “Come, let us build ourselves a heart, a pump to push blood through the veins of man. Let us build ourselves a kidney, to cleanse man’s veins of all that is bad. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the pump, and the kidney, and all the chemicals of the mind. All that the sons of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold they are one people and they have one language, this is only the beginning of what they will do.” And the sons of man continued to build, desiring increased specialization to delve into the intricate wonders of the earth. And the Lord said, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language.” And it came to pass that the application of knowledge was separated from its origin. The physician knew not what the chemist did. The chemist knew not the habits of the physician. Within medicine itself, one specialty did not hearken to the words of another. The sons of man saw this, and saw that this was bad, and so began to make amends.
N
From the Department Requests for reprints Pennsylvania 19 107.
332
August
1986
The American
of Family Medicine, should be addressed
Journal
of Medicine
Thomas to Dr.
Jefferson University, Neil Skolnik, 1114
Volume
61
Philadelphia, Spruce Street,
Pennsylvania. Philadelphia,
M.D.
ow the whole world had one language, and that language was called Medicine. Men migrated from the East, and from the West, and settled near the institutions of Medicine. And they said to one another, “Come, let us break atoms, and understand them thoroughly. Let us break the genetic code, and so understand the nature of our existence. Let us make social problems medical ones to better objectify all of our interactions.” And so they developed recombinant DNA for vaccines, genetic screening for health, and psychopharmacology to replace those chemicals of the mind that God had forgotten to give to a man. They then said, “Come, let us build ourselves a heart, a pump to push blood through the veins of man. Let us build ourselves a kidney, to cleanse man’s veins of all that is bad. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the pump, and the kidney, and all the chemicals of the mind. All that the sons of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold they are one people and they have one language, this is only the beginning of what they will do.” And the sons of man continued to build, desiring increased specialization to delve into the intricate wonders of the earth. And the Lord said, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language.” And it came to pass that the application of knowledge was separated from its origin. The physician knew not what the chemist did. The chemist knew not the habits of the physician. Within medicine itself, one specialty did not hearken to the words of another. The sons of man saw this, and saw that this was bad, and so began to make amends.
N
From the Department Requests for reprints Pennsylvania 19 107.
332
August
1986
The American
of Family Medicine, should be addressed
Journal
of Medicine
Thomas to Dr.
Jefferson University, Neil Skolnik, 1114
Volume
61
Philadelphia, Spruce Street,
Pennsylvania. Philadelphia,