discovery that it was only necessary to prescribe cod-liver oil, for
instance, as a diet, in order to make use of it where required. When
a man got impatient over an ancient ague, I usually found, too, that I
could persuade him to let me try a good dose of quinine; while, on the
other hand, there was a distinct pecuniary advantage in those cases
of the shakes which could be made to believe that it "was best not
to interfere with nature." I ought to add that this kind of faith is
uncommon among folks who carry hods or build walls.

For women who are hysterical, and go heart and soul into the business
of being sick, I have found the little pills a most charming resort,
because you cannot carry the refinement of symptoms beyond what my
friend Jahr has done in the way of fitting medicines to them, so that if
I had taken seriously to practising this double form of therapeutics, it
had, as I saw, certain conveniences.

Another year went by, and I was beginning to prosper in my new mode of
life. My medicines (being chiefly milk-sugar, with variations as to
the labels) cost next to nothing; and as I charged pretty well for both
these and my advice, I was now able to start a gig.

I solemnly believe that I should have continued to succeed in the
practice of my profession if it had not happened that fate was once more
unkind to me, by throwing in my path one of my old acquaintances. I
had a consultation one day with the famous homeopath Dr. Zwanzig. As
we walked away we were busily discussing the case of a poor consumptive
fellow who previously had lost a leg. In consequence of this defect, Dr.
Zwanzig considered that the ten-thousandth of a grain of aurum would
be an overdose, and that it must be fractioned so as to allow for the
departed leg, otherwise the rest of the man would be getting a leg-dose