Talk:William Redfern

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I'm not sure that William Redfern would want to be called a physician. In the English tradition, there was a social and training difference between physicians (upper class) and surgeons (almost tradesmen - associated with barbers). Thortful 11:57, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It's not going to be a perfect match, because our categories refer to terms as they are understood today, not as they were understood two centuries ago. It would be super-confusing to have two different "surgeon" categories for instance, one based on a meaning that has generally passed out of the language. Stan 16:25, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)