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

die in peace; or, if beckoned on by hope, whose oft de- lusive smile seems to urge an effort for the recovery of health, she yields her body up to the care of the hospital doctor, placing not only implicit confidence in his skill, but likewise in his humanity. What kind of treatment do these paupers receive ? Men and women of delicate frame, who need absolute quiet and rest, are forced to submit to the trying ordeal of a clinic. Dragged from bed to lecture-room, and from lecture-room to ward, the injurious effects of an ever- changing temperature, bodily disturbance, and mental ex- citement, are not considered as important; for the modern view is that the patient was created for the hospital, the hospital for the college, and the college for the profes- sors, who pocket the students' fees. So nervous men and hysterical women are exposed to the curious gaze of gaping students. The private histories of unfortunate lives are tortured out of the broken-spirited sick, and re- vealed to the assembled multitude. Modesty is cast to the winds, and the poor woman patient can never look the world in the face again without blushing. Shame on your modern medical humanity ! " " Such remarks are outrageous," remarked Paulus An- drocydes. " What right have you to judge these profes- sors so severely ? Do you desire to break up our medi- cal schools ? Do you dare to assert that there are no humane hospital doctors ? " Athothis indulged in a spiritual sneer, and answered: " I know full well the professional value of such men as Borborygmus, whose principal gifts are a stentorian voice, a voluble tongue, and arrogant vanity. With these qualifications, and his position on the hospital staff, he makes an impression on the unsophisticated public