In 1980 the historian G.S. Rousseau expressed concern that modern physicians no longer embodied the humanist tradition of their predecessors. Now that medicine had become overwhelmingly a science rather than an art, he claimed, the interests and accomplishments of physicians had narrowed.
It was not uncommon, for Victorian and Edwardian doctors … to write prolifically throughout their careers. … In twentieth-century America … only the most imaginative physicians can hope for this artistic lifestyle as a consequence of the economic constraints and housekeeping demands placed upon the doctor.
