During their first anatomy class, medical students gather around a table with a cadaver for study.
The professor begins by explaining that a good doctor must have two essential qualities.
“The first,” he says, “is never to be disgusted by the human body.”
To illustrate his point, he puts a finger in the rectum of the cadaver… then brings it to his mouth. The students, shocked, hesitate for a long time. Eventually, each of them does the same.
When everyone is finished, the professor looks at them and adds:
“The second essential quality of a doctor is observation.”
Then he smiles and concludes:
“If you had looked carefully, you would have noticed that I used one finger… but tasted a different one.”
Moral: in medicine, as in many areas of life, knowing how to observe is just as important as knowing how to act…
