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From Conan Doyle's talk "The Romance of Medicine", which he gave to the students at St. Mary's Hospital, London, in 1910:

"....[Medicine] tinges the whole philosophy of life and furnishes the whole basis of thought. The healthy skepticism which medical training induces, the desire to prove every fact, and only to reason from such proved facts--these are the finest foundations for all thought. And then the moral training to keep a confidence inviolate, to act promptly on a sudden call, to keep your head in critical moments, to be kind and yet strong--where can you, outside medicine, get such a training as that?...And then there is another way in which it acts. It sets a very high standard of strenuous work. You may not consider this altogether an advantage while you do it, but it remains a precious heritage for life. To the man who has mastered Grey's Anatomy, life holds no further terrors...All work seems easy after the work of a medical education."