RT Journal
A1 FULGINITI VA
T1 COmmentary
JF American Journal of Diseases of Children
JO American Journal of Diseases of Children
YR 1989
FD February 1
VO 143
IS 2
SP 244
OP 244
DO 10.1001/archpedi.1989.02150140138037
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.1989.02150140138037
AB Historical perspectives are important to any discipline; in pediatrics, learning of our antecedents often teaches us much about our current ethos. Our customs, habits, interests, and behavior are often conditioned by what went before, although we may be unaware of the historic train that brought us to the present. AJDC believes that it is useful to remind ourselves periodically of our past, and of the evolutionary steps our forebearers made in the development of our profession.In 1930, Dr Ruhräh summarized the life and times of George Armstrong. Dr Bloch, in this issue of AJDC, gives us a modern reminder of this pioneering Scottish physician. Armstrong's "imperative duty" is reminiscent of many pediatricians' attitudes and behavior today. He saw evil in the way children were treated and in the ravages of poverty and attendant disease, and took steps, brave ones in his day, to assist these children in their plight.