Show MEN OF MEDICINE funny cases that doctors tell about san francisco call the conventional physician like the undertaker is a di unified man stern of face quiet of manner and always self possessed in most of them there is a shade of melancholy no doubt brought about by intimate associations with death or ta alic e friendship they cultivate with weird skeletons and brainless skulls that are su so conspicuous a feature of their private 0 offices afi c es the undertaker has his jolly 01 y moods and go so do the disciples disciple 1 f no merrier crow crowd d or better story tellers can be gathered tr together than a lot of middle e aged physicians camp them in iti a dissecting room with bodies lying thick around and a big bowl of punch to wash down the tough yarns yarns of the old timera timers and they can enjoy themselves more thoroughly than almost any other class of professional men this city vity can boast of more doctors to the square inch inci probably than any other ot ier in tho the union unless it be the arkansas hot springs chero every man is an invalid and every other man a doctor As a consequence much rivalry exists among the he t physicians in this city this however w ii not so much among the older and dished physicians as among the fledglings young oung practitioners some of theelder the h older doctors too seem to take special delight in placing obstacles in tho the way odthe of the youngsters and they never lose an opportunity to let the boys as they are termed know that they have much to learn this is rather a benefit however to the young men than otherwise for were they to be boosted into a good paying practice immediately they would woul d no doubt get what is styled the bi big head bead and try to ride rou roughshod rough a hh shod d over the older sawbones who are entitled to prestige both on account of age and experience severn several physicians in this city mal make e a fortune yearly early out of their practice but Z tho rank and file of the thee X cula plans are satisfied fied to make a good living and many do thi this while on the other hand a it large number come out at the li little tt ae end of the horn failing even to make enough telico n th r r people but a large majority arc re pay and it is like squeezing alood lood from a turnip to get some of them to pay ay up u not because they are unable unade to tog do so but because it is a sort of religious belief with some people that doctors do not need money several well to do deop people e in n this th cit city have become notorious among tho profession prof cion because of this and now find it very difficult boget to ight attendance unless they pay tho the physician ab for his visit in advance to the credit of the fraterno fraternity fra terni in this city however bo be it said eliat that they seldom refuse the call ca 11 of the th e distressed dist and often in in the dead watches odthe of the night they get out of a warm bed and through rain or sunshine repair to the bedside of some strick stricken efi one although they know that the person is too poor loor to ever pay them while as a general tiling thing a physician bician is is never sent for unless a penson person is really sick in man many y ill instances i they are needlessly called for by persons of nervous dis disposition who whenever there is is any sickness in town always imagine that they arc are going to be stricken and BO so worry themselves that they bring on a fl fever ever this increases their th air excitement and they really become tick sick and sad in a some in instance stane have been known to die worry is is one of the hardest things that chyr physicians have to contend against in rick fick persons an and d probably more deaths are due to this than to any other cause many ludicrous stories ot imaginary ills are related r by doctors and a number were recently re elitle told to a call reporter among others 0 t hers were the following A afew few months ago a young man living in the western addition was a startled on awakening from his adeep bleep to find ind f himself as red as a boiled lobster convinced that he had scarlet fever he hastily i jumped into bed again and cent sent for his physician hys ician the doctor came looked at the tand also iso thought it was scarlet fever on examination however the doctor became nonplussed nonplus sed the man mano it o pulse pu I 1 so was av as regular and savo eave for ohp crimson c r imson eluah on his face neckband wt bands hands thero there was no evidences of scarlet fever accidentally lie tile doctor turned down tho the bedclothes and the mystery wai was explained A red quilt was all that covered the tile man and during the night the tile sleeper had perk red freely with the result that th the dye had run out of tho the quilt and sod stained his face neck and hand As illustrative of what imagination will do the case of a who imagined that a frog had found d lodgment in her stomach may bo tic recited tho the woman in question ia is the wife of an industrious mechanic living out near presidio and in some unknown manner conceived the idea that the reptile was in her stomach argument by her hus band and friends that it was an hallucination availed not and mat grew worse and worse until ono one day when the woman was down town her imaginary complaint was so bad that in desperation she entered a drug store and stating her case asked for relief the am apothecary he happened to bo be a physician and seeing at once that liis his custo iners mers complaint was an imaginary one he lie resolved to humor her calling his clerk he lie dispatched him to a rotisserie near by to procure a frog and administered an emetic to the woman the frog was sli slipped aped into the pail pall and when the victim of the hallucination saw it she elc expressed her thank thanks and said asbe sho felt much relieved it was only a few days however before another hallucination that there were more frogs 1 of the ejected re rep p tile in her stomach took p possession os session other she at once repaired to the apothecary an and d told him of her fears fara the druggist scratched ebed his lead for a moment and then remembering mem bering that ho be had bad abu chucked aked the frog into a jar jai of alcohol took it from the shelf and after loo looking liing at it il intently inte atly for a few moment sr r c turned to the woman with a satisfied smile on his face and said madame Mada you are mistaken this ii i not that kind of a frog the woman was cured and since then has been troubled with no further hallucination of this kind A great many ludicrous results have transpired from a belief by many people cople that a physician is compe compelled fied by law to attend a sick person wh when en su summoned in mooed one of the most laughable occurred to a well wells known physician of this city who had bad also been an office bolder quo oo day not many months since the doctor was busy in hi hs i s office w when hen a one horse coal cart colled up in in front of his office door and there descended a le grimed and dirty carter lie ife carried in his hand a huge blacksnake black snake whip which he be snapped viciously as ra he lie climbed alie stairs Is the doctor oc in iu was the salutation of the visitor to the man of vf medicine i who came forward to see whit all the racket was about being informed that lint t lie was addressing the clan cian the visitor dofred his hat and yanking the whip out of sight stated that a roan man had jut just broken rok en his leg at the Alis mission sion and anti that the rinier rinI nr on an nut alit 13 and act tt it on 31 ahti n z i in indol xa X fol a Z tl the physician could not attend to t the be cabe cje just ejust then but would go out later the cart catt driver tried to toper per sunde him to go 11 my buggy is not and I 1 cant 0 go vo for an oil hour said the tile doctor never r mind the buggy jump jum p aiuto uto the cart and ill drive you in a jiffy Y was too ni much ami seeing that the fellow W was as becoming troublesome 0 the physician I 1 him out and ud told him t that he would not attend to tho he caso at a all I 1 oh lob you wont go yelled the coal wari cian snapping his whip in a vigorous dorous and threatening manner awell well ill make you go go bonnow and get into the cart and save trouble for flor if you dont ill I 1 repart you to buthe tile pouce police a and nd have you arrested the fellow was finally ejected but early the following morning be applied to the police court for a it warrant dent demanding anding that the physician be tor for refusing to attend to the man with a broken leg hi indignation was great when ho be found that there was no I 1 law compelling a ghys phys physician acla n to attend a case unless he hd wanted to physicians Physician it as s a rule take great pr pride loin in hav having I 1 ing patients diedt die it die din they mustin roust in what they term a sc scientific manner that is to td eay say they do everything thing that is possible to save iho the per tons life but inthey if they fail they havo tins the satisfaction sate sats faction of knowing that it was not their fault A ca case a in point recently occurred in one alf the towns aarom the bay A young san francisco boy waa was run rull over by a train and had one ne of ilia his feet FO so badly crushed that the only chance ce to ave hii life was to I 1 amputate the mangled member the boy refused to submit to the OP operation cration saying he preferred death to being a cripple hh his mother fidd side with the boy and to allow the thiv foot toot to bo ho t taken ken off thus mutters stood for a daylor day ir two and anil the boy was rapidly pa lly sinking gati grene having set in the phy physician ician in in spite odthe of the prote protests rits of the patient and his mother decided to cut the loot off edyt saying ng mui men sometimes die in the hospital hoap ital but they die scientifically aad and dont you you forget it so off e came the tile font but the operation had been performed too late and the boy died but aa sa the physician said he died lied scientifically |