Athothis : a satire on modern medicine / by Thomas C. Minor.
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with a bandage placed over a compress soaked in cold spring water, and Cloverblossom is much relieved, for he is saying, ' My headache is entirely gone, and I feel like a new man.' "Ah! my mortal friend, you must study up this sub- ject and carefully weigh the wise utterances of Hippo- crates, Galen, Celsus, Aetius, Avicenna, Rhazes, and Al- bucasis, who were among the early writers on this now all but lost art. This patient will never recover from his heart disease, but will probably live for many years, thanks to the skill of Doctor Rusticus. What hosts of full-blooded people, who so frequently die of apoplexy, might be saved did the practitioner of the present day but know the value of venesection. Yes, the death rate from brain troubles and pneumonia has largely in- creased since bleeding was discarded and quinine became the fashionable remedy. Sooner or later, the latter agent, although of immense value, will be omitted in practice, because its baleful and injurious effects are com- mencing to be noticed. How happy this student should be with such a wise old preceptor, whose lips drop the golden words of long garnered wisdom, whose heart is free from deceit, who strives to learn from a sheer love for knowledge, who labors to cure his patients, and wastes no time in meditations on death. This is a real doctor; yet, methinks Rusticus would starve to death in a city where his ideas and methods would be considered old and obsolete. But, come ! it must be late, and I would fain inhale the fragrant odors from a well-kept dining- table; for really, I am spiritually hungry." "Do you desire dinner?" asked Paulus Androcydes, laughingly. " 'Tis something remarkable to dine spirit-