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

Paulus Androcydes smiled contemptuously, and re- sponded : "Any half-witted physician can make a diag- nosis in this case by merely looking at the sick man. His emaciation, hectic, and cough at once indicate him to be in the last stages of consumption." " Softly! softly!" cautioned Athothis. " Be careful lest you fall into error again ! Let us look into the case be- fore rendering a rash decision." Doctor Soother was now writing down notes in a large memorandum book, inscribing the patient's answers to numerous queries. Among the many questions asked were those relative to the duration of the illness, the manifest primary symptoms of the malady, the medical treatment followed, previous habits of the individual, oc- cupation and family history, with many other details that sadly wearied the spiritual patience of Paulus Andro- cvdes. Finally, Doctor Soother took a common stetho- scope ; then, alternately percussing and auscultating the sick man's chest, he noted the patient's temperature with a clinical thermometer, observed the tongue, felt the pulse, and so concluded his examination. From the conversation between physician and client, the spirits learned that the man had been ill for about a month, had contracted a severe cold, accompanied by fever, sense of oppression in the chest, cough and con- siderable expectoration at times; had taken no drugs save patent medicines prescribed by a neighboring chem- ist. His habits of life had been extremely correct; he had been raised in comparative luxury; there was no marked hereditary taint in his family. In early life he lived on a farm ; afterward became a banker in a village, where he had lost all his money in unfortunate speculations. Drifting with his family to the great city, he had been