Athothis : a satire on modern medicine / by Thomas C. Minor.

newcomer picked up one of the broken chairs, and placing it at the patient's bedside, opened a conversation without further ceremony. "That's old Doctor Soother," remarked Paulus An- drocydes, in a voice of commingled pity and derision. " Who is this Soother ? " demanded Athothis, his grim, spiritual face relaxing into a pleasant smile. " Oh! he 's a doctor about town, a rough old profes- sional growler—what we moderns term a crank," re- plied Paulus Androcydes disdainfully. " He is an old bachelor who has practiced about thirty years and scarcely earns his salt. Look at his face and hands ! They cer- tainly are not on familiar terms with soap and water. Do you not detect the odor of stale tobacco smoke exhaled from his coat ? A delicate medical attendant, forsooth, for a sick person with refined olfactories. No wonder such a shabbily-dressed and ill-mannered man as Soother should fail in fashionable practice. He will never attain greater eminence than tenement house doctor." " Come ! come ! " interrupted Athothis, angrily, " I can judge of his personal appearance myself, and only desire to, know of his professional worth ; for, believe me, under the first dynasties, a man's clothing and personal habits were no gauges of mental ability. Is Soother a physician of intelligence ? " " I know not," responded Paulus Androcydes, with a sneer. " 'T is a matter on which I am not informed, but it is said his office is filled with grimy old books and mor- bid specimens. If Soother possesses any extensive med- ical knowledge he certainly hides his light under a bushel, since he has never been known to air his opinions in the Philautian Medical Society, and seems to studiously