Pathology - “Textbook”
Selzer explains, “You cannot separate passion from pathology any more than you can separate a person’s spirit from his body. Think of a particular person’s spirit, and Presto! it is immediately incorporated. It has the size and shape of his body. The flesh is the spirit thickened…Look at the pictures in this book and learns that the sick are refugees who must be treated kindly and gravely, with condescension.” Selzer recommends that doctors ought to be passionate with pathology for them to derive utility from their profession. A doctor who is not passionate cannot execute the pathological assignments impressively.
Art - “Letter to a Young Surgeon I”
Selzer expounds, “You may as well be told right now that Surgery as a healing art is a passing phenomenon. It may already have seen its time of greatest glory. I should not be surprised to learn that the news of this waning might give rise to some melancholy in one who is just now embarking on a career as a surgeon, for he will surely outlive his usefulness, to become master of a dead art.” Although surgery entails scientific procedures, its execution is comparable to an art. Innovations in surgery have significantly sponsored to the art-like evolution of surgical activities. Surgery is a thoroughly dynamic field that evolves with technological discoveries; hence, it is not grounded on rigid procedures.
Priest - “Toenails
Selzer insists, “Nor must you be a priest who does nothing but preserve the souls of his parishioners and lets his own soul lapse. Such is the burn-out case who early on drinks his patients down in a single radiant gulp and all too soon loses the desire to practice Medicine at all." The priest is emblematic of overblown determination towards the masses. Such a priest neglects his soul yet he freedoms the souls of other faithful. Doctors who follow the example of such priests imperil their health and experience burnouts which reduce the utility he derives from practicing. Selzer advises that doctors' practice should not harm their mental, physical and psychological health.
Toenails - “Toenails”
Selzer recounts, “The nail of each big toe was the horn of a goat. Thick as a thumb and curved, it projected down over the tip of the toe to the underside. With each step, the nail would scrape painfully against the ground and be pressed into the flesh. The was dried blood on each big toe.” The appearance of the toenails, which are the central symbols in “Toenails”, confirms that Nerkerchief has not cut them for long. They cause pain and hinder him from walking comfortably. Selzer’s experience as a doctor enables him to discern that the pain can be reduced through cutting of the toes.
Nailclippers - “Toenails”
Selzer states, “I never go to the library on Wednesday afternoon without my nailclippers in my briefcase. You just never know.” Selzer recognizes that most of the library attenders have bad toenails which can be fixed through cutting. Although he is supposed to be reading while at the library, he still voluntarily continues with his practice. The individuals who benefit from his act of cutting are oblivious of the danger which their uncut toenails puts them in. The omnipresence of the nailclippers in Selzer’s briefcase surmises that he is determined in his practice as a doctor and locality, in this case library, would not hinder him from coming to the aid of patients.
