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

" I don't think you regret Laura's death more than I do !" cried the irate young wife, casting a bewitching glance at the student. " They say 'tis better to be an old man's darling than a young, man's slave. Some old maid must have originated that idea. I wish your first wife was here to attend to you." At this instant a captive female redbird, in a wicker cage at the window, hopped about nervously and twit- tered wildly. " Observe the action of the feathered prisoner," said Athothis to Paulus Androcydes. " That poor little female bird is now inhabited by the spirit of Clover- blossom's first wife; and she is grieving at her inability to minister to her former husband's wants, and is crying in the language of the redbird tribe, ' Oh! my well beloved! Oh ! could you but know that I am here !" Dr. Rusticus did not appear to heed the family jarring of the Cloverblossoms, but continued to make a careful examination of the patient's chest and pulse, finally silencing the woman by saying, in a calm voice, " Your husband is a very sick man, Madam ! Go to the kitchen at once, and bring me an old tin basin!" " What in the world does he desire to do with a tin basin?" demanded Paulus Androcydes of Athothis. " Wait and see !" replied the Egyptian. " But observe that he is rolling up the farmer's shirt sleeve, and is placing a rubber bandage around his arm, above the elbow. Tell me, my mortal friend, what is your diagnosis in this case ?" " I judge that the patient is threatened with menin- gitis," answered Paulus Androcydes. " You are not far from right," observed Athothis, approvingly ; " inasmuch as you have located a portion