after drinking wine," belongs in the same category, and may be cited
in proof of a position take up by most observers, namely, that the
Chinese are a sober people. "Seeing kaleidoscopic views which turn to
beautiful women," "the flesh becoming hard as a stone and sounding
like a bell when tapped," "objecting to eat in company," and such
diseases have each a special prescription offered by the learned Dr
Wang with the utmost gravity, and accepted in good faith by many a
confiding patient.

Chinamen look with suspicion on the sober treatment of the West, where
no joss-stick is burnt, and no paper money is offered on the altar of
some favourite P'u-sa; though, if they knew the whole truth, they
would discover that intercessory prayers for the recovery of sick
persons are considered by many of us to be of equal importance with
the administration of pills and draughts. Further, like our own
agricultural classes, they have no faith in medicine of any kind which
does not make its presence felt not only quickly but powerfully. This
last desire was amply fulfilled in the case of one poor coolie who
applied to an acquaintance of ours for some foreign medicine to cure a
sick headache and bilious attack from which he was suffering. Our
friend immediately bethought himself of a Seidlitz powder; but when
all was ready, the acid in one wine-glass of water and the salt in
another, the devil entered into him, and he gave them to his victim to
drink one after the other. The result was indescribable, for the
mixture _fizzed inside_, and the unfortunate coolie passed such a
_mauvais quart d'heure_ as effectually to cure his experimenting
master from any further indulgence in practical jokes of so extremely
dangerous a nature.