Clinical observation in general practice.

The opportunities for significant research in general practice are nearly unlimited. All that is required is an open mind, normal powers of seeing, and confidence in the accuracy of our observations. Very little is known about the significance of symptoms, and nearly every patient will provide data of some sort provided he is listened to and observed with interest and sympathy. Many of us erroneously believe that advances in medicine can come only through biochemical methods or through other equally refined and specialized methods ofinvestigation, electron microscopy, electrophysiology, microbiology. Actually, specialized investigation has almost reached a dead end; even the workers themselves are realizing that they have gone too far. They are collecting and recording data without knowing what significance the data will ever have.