The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-09-19


man himself died suddenly before he saw the
patient again. As a man for the first time was
entering physicians consulting-room, the
latter whispered to friend, "Case of great
pain, ] am sure-muscle adhering to bone
chronic and hopeless" "-as it proved. The same
man was walking down street, and at the
door of an hotel was smiling landlord.
portly, fresh. colored, and apparently robust
The friend made some casual remark to the
effect that there was a typical Brton, or some-
thing of that kind. ''You think SO. :" said the
doctor. "That man is safe to die within a
twelvemonth." The diagnosis, sometimes
easy enough, is occasionally perplexing in the
extreme. The great majority of cases are
patent enough; an experienced physician will
see It all in five minutes but others are ex-
ceedingly obscure, and the medical man is
never quite able to clear up the obscurity.
Sometimes there is some little circumstance,
unexpected and out Of harmony with other
circumstances, which battles all the calcula-
tions. 'In every respect the patient is going
on extremely WELL" said a doctor to an
anxious member of family; "but | confess
there is little twiching over the eye which
do not at all like The case terminated
fatally 1t sometimes happens that when q
patient, by all the rules OF art, ought to be
getting better or worse, he persists in getting
worse or better. 1t is a question of the pa
TENTS previous history and constitution; a
slight attack in one case being more dangerous
even than a dangerous attack in another.
remember being very much amused with the
case of young doctor and his first patient.
1t was a child afflicted with hydrocephalus.
According to all the rules the child ought to
die. Nevertheless, the untoward infant per-
sisted in not dying. The doctor went from
his books to the bedside, and from the bedside
to his books. He confidentially asseverated to
me that the infant ought to die, and mani
tested not altogether friendly feeling towards
1 I., A
ment was altogether better than his prognoss:
at the time when my knowledge Of the case
| terminated, it was going on well.
| 1t is very hazardous for a doctor to give
| prognosis; If he openly gives an uufavorable
prognosis, and the case terminates favorably,
his reputation is wellnigh gone. But you will
not often find medical man doing this sort of
thing. AS a rule, the doctor always takes
| the most cheerful view possible of a case, and
| even hopes against hope. In the last illness
Of George ~, the physicians were also pro-
nouncing him better, and in the midst of the
"betterness' he died. Other doctors, how
ever there are, morbidly disposed, from whom
you may take every grain of comfort they
| give, and something more. 1t is curious that
doctor cannot always be trusted with the
diagnosis and prognosis of his own case. The
| great DR.. Baillie is said to have been a case of
| this. He is said to have died of consumption,
and yet to have denied that he was con-
sumptive. He did not experience any diff
Guilty in breathing, and argued that, while
his breathing was good, his lungs could not
! be bad. But no medical man now takes this
as decisive. Nature, in her bounty, provides
larger space of lung than is necessary, and
| will long 60 on with very small amount of
| lung, and with very little difficulty in breath
| ing Another noteworthy case of lung
disease is very different person, the noto-
rious empiric, st. John Long. He professed
h11k
similar quacks, he only cured cases of cough
and bronchitis with symptoms initiative of
those in phthisis. He unquestionably caused
death in several instances by treat
ment which would be perfectly harmless
in most cases, but which was fatal to MANY
delicate women. He was himself struck
down by consumption, and died at the early
age of thirty-seven. One of our most pro-
missing doctors in chest complaints, Dr. Hope.
who at an early age had reached almost the
summit Of his profession, was prematurely
cut off by consumption. There are few volumes
more affecting than the narrative of his life:
and it is impossible to resist the impression
that his fatal illness was in great measure due
to extreme and unmitigated devotion to intel
lectual labor.
Medicine has often very startling surprises
in store, which are frequently gloomy enough.
though sometimes of a pleasant nature. We
will, in the first place, select some of the
a lIl6 u6lRnDOf0OOQ OF
Mount Edgecumbe was one day walking very
fast, when he was met by his doctor. He ex-
planned, in conversation, that he was suffer-
ing from pains of indigestion, and was in the
habit of taking long walks in order to get rid
of them. The medical man insisted on exa-
mining him, and then explained to him that
he was in fact suffering from aneurism of the
heart, and that these long walks were the
worst things possible for him, and was
obliged to add that the disease would some
| day prove suddenly fatal. The statement was
| sadly verified. In the midst of a sermon, at
very emphatic passage, the preacher fell
| down from his pulpit, and life was found to be
! quite extinct. The congregation broke up in
the utmost CONSERVATION and terror. A man
was in company with another, and from some
casual circumstance he took off his stockings.
| His friend took the liberty of observing
that one of his feet was really very black. It
! was discovered that from some cause the foot
was mortified. In former times it would have
been thought necessary to amputate it, but
] medical art has contrivances whereby this is
avoided. A very remarkable case is mem
toned by the pious Bishop Newton in the
valuable fragment of the autobiography
which has come down to us. A young noble-
man in the country was dangerously ill with
! a fever. Physicians were summoned from
different quarters, and the bishop relates that
no less sum than seven hundred guineas
was paid to them as fees All the means used
were unavailing, and the patient sank rapidly,
When he was quite given over, and left alone
to die he was heard to muImur a request for
beer. A large goblet, containing nearly a
quart of small beer was landad hin, =