Specialty differentiation has been successful in surgery: it is wise and right that there are experts in surgery of the hand, brain, heart, rectum, etc. When it comes to internal medicine, it is felt by many that under certain circumstances, similar differentiation may do harm. It is true that one specialist in internal medicine may interest himself particularly in neurology, another in cardiology, a third, perhaps, in endocrinology, and so forth. Well and good, as long as these specialists keep their contacts alive with other fields of internal medicine and at least attempt a synthesis, an integration of interdisciplinary knowledge.
Recently I saw a clear-cut case of Addison's disease; this woman had no doubt had her illness for years. But it had begun as a paraparesis of her legs. When she was first seen by the neurologists, those colleagues were understandably unaware of the fact that Addison's disease may