Show WAS THIS DOCTOR A QUACK cured a patient of a hallucination by a clever trick wo we recall the case of an unhappy m vi i etch wh tame ame to washington some borne years ago implom ing the doctors to re lieve him film of a snake which he said he had swallowed while drinking at a spring and which as hs hd violently declared was devouring the coat of hla his stomach one by one the learned gen tilmen examined him satisfied them selves that theta was no snake as indeed there was not and sent him away with th tha solemn assurance that lie ho need not worry about it more lie ile continued to worry however and when nhen at last he found a who cared more about results than oti etiquette quette ho be was on tile the verge ol 01 0 insanity this great ph physician soon boon dvid that he had to deal ft ith ath a hallucination not a snake and proceeded accordingly lie ile employed a colored citizen and a tin bucket two hours in rock creek park brought furth forth a garter snake of small size but great activity and an earnest and in ini emetic did the rest reat the victim saw the snake wriggling in the bucket and went home happy it la ia part of the history of that period however hoever that the physician who achieved the cure was waa loudly denounced as an outlaw and consigned to odium for atonal conduct we never heard that lie he lost the confidence of the public on that account however and as the fame and the fortunes of medical men are made mada by their practical achievements and not by the approval of their fellow doctors we rather think he profited in the end washington post |