特鲁多医生铭言

在美国纽约东北部的撒拉纳克湖畔，每年都会有来自四面八方的游人，在特鲁多医生的墓前伫立。墓碑上镌刻着特鲁多医生的名言：
To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always.
— Dr. E. L. Trudeau
这句话，流传甚远。
曾有位中国医生知道这句话后说：“这话，值得所有的医生记一辈子。”

Edward Livingston Trudeau (5 October 1848 – 15 November 1915) was an American physician who established the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium at Saranac Lake for treatment of tuberculosis. Dr. Trudeau also established the Saranac Laboratory for the Study of Tuberculosis, the first laboratory in the United States dedicated to the study of tuberculosis. He was a public health pioneer who helped to establish principles for disease prevention and control.
1873年，年轻的特鲁多医生罹患结核病，只身来到人烟稀少的撒拉纳克湖畔等待死亡。远离城市喧嚣的他沉醉在对过去美好生活的回忆中，间或上山走走，打打猎，过着悠闲的日子。渐渐地，他惊奇地发现自己的体力在恢复，不久居然顺利地完成了未竟的学业，获得了博士学位。于是，特鲁多继续回到城市里行医。奇怪的是，每当他在城里住上一段时间，结核病就会复发，而一旦回到撒拉纳克湖地区，又会恢复体力和激情。1876年，特鲁多迁居到了荒野之地撒拉纳克湖畔。
注：网上流传的中文资料，都说特鲁多医生于1837年患结核病，和维基百科上有出入，今天得到了确认。
Trudeau married Miss Lottie Beare in June 1871, and after a honeymoon in Europe the couple settled on Long Island NY, where Trudeau began his medical practice. Trudeau mentioned Lottie with great affection in his autobiography and remarked on the fortitude with which she met the many adversities of their married life, which included his long struggle with tuberculosis, and the deaths of three of their four children. Shortly after settling in their new home on Long Island, Lottie gave birth to the couple’s first child, Charlotte, whom they called “Chatte.”
He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1873, shortly before the birth of their second child, Edward Livingston Jr, whom they called Ned. Following conventional thinking of the times, his physicians and friends urged a change of climate. He went to live in the Adirondack Mountains, initially at Paul Smith’s Hotel, spending as much time as possible in the open; he subsequently regained his health. In 1876 he moved his family to Saranac Lake and established a medical practice among the sportsmen, guides and lumber camps of the region. In 1877 Lottie gave birth to a third child, Henry, who died after a brief illness in the winter of 1878 or 1879.
1884年，特鲁多用朋友捐赠的400多美元，创建了第一家专门的结核病疗养院“村舍疗养院”，在19世纪末期的美国，走在了结核病治疗和研究领域的前沿。特鲁多成了美国首位分离出结核杆菌的人。他创办了一所“结核病大学”，对病人生理和心理上的许多照料方法至今仍被沿用着。
1915年，特鲁多死于结核病——毫无疑问，他比当时人们预计的要活得长得多。他被埋葬在撒拉纳克湖畔，墓碑上刻着的话，即是他一辈子行医生涯的座右铭。