Sergei
BOTKIN

Illness is not something special or autonomous. It just represents ordinary phenomena of life in conditions unfavourable to the organism.*

Medicine is a study of interaction between a human being and his environment in an effort to prevent, treat or alleviate illnesses.

Will the day ever come when I will stop lamenting about there not being 40 hours in a day? It would make sense if I suffered from avarice, vanity or thirst for fame. But in faith, I don’t give a damn about everything that can quell the bouts of these human ailments. I toil like a mule.

The clinic is everything for me. I can’t live without it. I will be lost without it.

The novelty of techniques, successful results and the instructive nature of the work itself carried me away completely, to the extent that I would tinker with my frogs from dawn till dusk and I would have stayed with them even longer if my wife had not forced me out of my study as she lost patience with the long bouts of my obsession, as she would call it.

A true calling is imperative for a practicing doctor, to maintain the balance of mind in the face of various unfavourable conditions, to not fall into despair when you fail and to not delude yourself when you succeed.

A physician’s moral growth and practice will help him maintain the balance of mind required to perform the solemn duty to his neighbour and the motherland, which determines his true happiness in life.

What makes army medicine different is soldiers’ way of life and their environment, which require special care, as well as the special status of the doctor entrusted with taking special care of the troops’ health.

* The information is based on the accounts of the personas featuring in this section as well as accounts of their family members, acquaintances and colleagues