How to be a Doctor - Stephen Leacock

Eden - Part II English - II Year UG

[alert-success] How to be a Doctor - Stephen Leacock 

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In the essay “How to be a Doctor” Stephen Leacock makes fun of educated doctors and science. He talks about the differences and similarities between modern science and wisdom from the past. He describes the sad situation of the patients. 

Stephen Leacock is proud to discuss the progress of science. Hundred years ago, there were no diseases like bacilli, ptomaine poisoning, diphtheria, appendicitis, rabies, psoriasis and parotitis. But now, all these names are popular and well-known. Leacock satirically thanks the advancement of science. 

Before 100 years ago, fever was cured by letting blood out. Before seventy years, sedative drugs were given for fever. Before thirty years, low diet and application of ice was given for fever. Today fever is no longer treated with such simple medicines. People used to put potatoes in their pockets to get rid of rheumatism. Now, that doesn't happen. Advancement in medical science has led to complications. 

Leacock discusses the time taken by a person to become a qualified doctor. In the past, it took two winters to complete a medical course. During summer, the learners would do some other work. However, in modern days, a learner takes more than eight years to be a practitioner. It makes the person lazy. 

Leacock says that a modern doctor's business can be learnt in two weeks and not in eight years. The modern doctors hook the heart patients, hits the patients’ stomach, commands the patients to be quiet and go to bed. The patient will get well quietly, if not he will die quietly. He never questions the doctor. 

The diet advice a doctor gives to a patient depends on how he feels at the time. If the doctor is hungry, he will ask the patient to eat anything. If the doctor has eaten well, he will tell the patient not to eat anything. The patients are pathetic in the hands of the doctors. 

Stephen Leacock is best known for his satirical sketches that make fun of the things that people do wrong. His funny sketches of individualism, materialism, and the worship of technology show that he is a conservative. The title of the essay, "How to Be a Doctor," is itself funny, and it talks about how everyone is afraid of going to the doctor. Leacock is without a doubt the most well-known humorist in the English-speaking world. His comedies are all about "laughing at ourselves and not taking ourselves too seriously." He shows the readers themselves in the mirror.

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