Why we should dread the rat

Sars may have been spread by rats, but they carry other risks here

JEREMY LEWIS, in his biography of Tobias Smollett, reminds us that the 18th-century Scottish surgeon, physician and innovator of the modern novel had for a time a rather unsuccessful practice in Downing Street.

Lewis stresses a fundamental difference between surgeons and physicians at that time. Most physicians were reluctant to explore a patient’s body more than they could help. This role was left to the surgeons who were the artisans of the profession. The physicians studied the patient’s facial appearance carefully, they looked into their eyes and noted the colour of the whites of the eye and of the patient’s skin, tongue and gums. They listened to the rhythm and rate of the patient’s breathing, felt their pulse, smelt their breath and the surrounding atmosphere

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