The Role of the Physician in a Competitive Society*

a sort of conjurer or magician called upon in times of great calamity or dire distress as an intermediary between the supernatural and the natural. He has developed throughout history, oftentimes somewhat ahead of contemporary civilization, and has emerged from the realms of magic, superstition, conjecture and belief, largely through the channels of biology, until today he stands as the exponent of the scientific method as related to human welfare. For many years, through the everunfolding knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pharmacology, he sought to alleviate suffering by treating the ills with which he found his patients afflicted. His task had largely to do with the treatment of individuals. As medicine took