Memoirs of a Physician
BMJ 2007; 335 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39295.707986.68 (Published 09 August 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;335:307- Boleslav Lichterman, senior researcher, Institute for the History of Medicine, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow
- lichterman{at}hotmail.com
“I am but an average practitioner. I am about to describe my sensations on my first acquaintance with medicine, what I expected of it, and how it actually affected me. I will endeavour to set down all, hiding nothing, and I will strive to write with absolute frankness.” These words, written by the 33 year old Russian physician Vikenty Veresaev, introduced his book Zapiski vracha (Memoirs of a Physician).
Vikenty Vikentievich Smidovich (Veresaev was his pen name) was born in 1867 in Tula, a provincial city 200 km south of Moscow, into a doctor's family. On qualifying Veresaev worked as a resident doctor in St Petersburg and joined a Marxist literary circle. In 1901 he was fired from his hospital job by order of …
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