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THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF BIRTH

1951; American Medical Association; Volume: 82; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/archpedi.1951.02040040184009

1538-3628

Clement A. Smith,

Social Issues and Policies

I. FULL-TERM BIRTH THE ENGLISH writer Elizabeth Bowen 1 points out in a recent essay that to most people the golden days of the past are not those of very long ago. We can so little imagine the life of 1750 (or even 1850) that it casts no spell over us. On the other hand (says Miss Bowen), the near past, the days when our fathers or our grandfathers were boys, the days which our own lives almost overlap—most of us would say those were the days when it must have been especially good to be alive. Those were the days of some 60 years ago when Benjamin Knox Rachford began his medical work in Cincinnati. Not in the too distant and unimaginable past; not in the frustrating present. How attractive they look to us now! Think of the opportunities open to a young man at that time. Think of