The Poet at the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes
page 68 of 347 (19%)
page 68 of 347 (19%)
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wonderful new disease called after him.
---And what may this valuable invention or discovery consist in?--I asked, for I was curious to know the nature of the gift which this benefactor of the race had bestowed upon us. --A most interesting affection, and rare, too. Allow me to look closely at that discoloration once more for a moment. Cutis cenea, bronze skin, they call it sometimes--extraordinary pigmentation--a little more to the light, if you please--ah! now I get the bronze coloring admirably, beautifully! Would you have any objection to showing your case to the Societies of Medical Improvement and Medical Observation? [--My case! O dear!] May I ask if any vital organ is commonly involved in this interesting complaint?--I said, faintly. --Well, sir,--the young Doctor replied,--there is an organ which is --sometimes--a little touched, I may say; a very curious and ingenious little organ or pair of organs. Did you ever hear of the Capsulae, Suprarenales? --No,--said I,--is it a mortal complaint?--I ought to have known better than to ask such a question, but I was getting nervous and thinking about all sorts of horrid maladies people are liable to, with horrid names to match. --It is n't a complaint,--I mean they are not a complaint,--they are two small organs, as I said, inside of you, and nobody knows what is the use of them. The most curious thing is that when anything is the matter with them you turn of the color of bronze. After all, I didn't mean to say I |
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