Pediatrics

THE justification for considering pediatrics a specialty does not arise from its concern with a particular type of disease or with the special technics necessary to deal with a particular region of the body, but rather from the nature of its patients, who are distinguished by an outstanding characteristic — they are constantly growing. The aim of the pediatrician is to assist, to the limit of his abilities, this process of growth so that his patient may increase "in wisdom and in stature." Thus, the basic goal of pediatrics is preventive, although it is concerned with curative medicine and surgery, . . .