The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-10-26

the front parlor, and then the mistress Of the
house asked him what he wanted.
g! want to see Dr. Diabolus Febridestructi-
Xonf innau{, said the reporter, the new fever cot
He is sick with the fever and lying on one
OF his cots" she answered; il you are not
AFRAID Of the sickness, you can come up and
see hlm." Assuring the estimable lady that
rlably "sot down on him." the reporter
assembled the stairs to the first floor and en-
tered room wherein was indeed a novel
sight.
Stretched on a, queer-looking bed, which
seemed to be enveloped In a white vapor, re-
sembling steam, q man was lying, evidently
| very sick: The atmosphere Of the room was
| moist and oppressively hot. In one corner of
| the room, holding some mixture in small ket-
tie oyera m tp sprit-lamp was party whose back
was all the reporter saw-a familiar back,
anyhow At the noise made by the reporter
| ln entering, the sick man tossed in his bed
and !, mun,bled, in German, that he was thirsty,
| whist the other party turned to ascertain
| astonished reporter the face, figure and iden-
| tical personification Of Smifflins
He recognized the reporter, and advancing,
shook hands and said:" II am not dead yet,
the reply Of the reporter, who was casting
sidelong glances toward the door; ''but-
ahem-I made mistake-I-I-hem-"
Don't be afraid, '-said the amiable Smifflins,
II am not a ghost, but I am about to see that
chap give up the ghost, Being reassured at
the benign looks Of Smiffiins, our reporter sat
down and asked him how he had SO extraor-
dinariiy yamoosed from the hospital.
"Ihis Is a romantic tale to unfold" replied
and I went to sleep. What took place during
my slumber I cannot say, but when woke up
felt fearfully hot, and It seemed to me as if
was in steam BATH looked up and saw
fo1l
pair Of green specs and saying, Aha! er {st st
besser-ich bin gleish.' Where was, who
that chap was and what I was In I did not
know, I tried to get away from the steaming
cloud that enveloped me, but was too weak,
and the party near me put his hands on my
body and held me down.
It was no use to resist, SO yielded. In two
hours I fell asleep, notwithstanding the hell
ish warmth that environed me, and when I
awoke delicious feeling Of comfort stole
over my senses, as the room where I was
seemed cooler, owing to the fact that the
steaming bath was no more felt. The man
whom had seen already near me came again,
and in broken English said that he had stolen
fever, by submitting me to his new (unpat--
ented) steam fever cot, devised by him and
guaranteed to be an infallible cure
of yellow fever. He said that he
workings of his invention. There is he, that
doctor, that savant; he got me well, and am
nursing him-I want to repay him for all his
trouble towards getting me we'll. He took me
out of the hospital by stealth, steamed me
and got me well but he fell sick of the fever,
and am going to nurse him according to his
own theories"
"You see, said smif11ins, bringing us near
the beds that cot is like camp bed, but in
stead of being canvas-covered, it has an in
terwoven wire cover, over which blankets
are spread. Under the bed, and attached to
it, is a tank filled with water heated by por-
table coke furnace. When the water is heat
edto.the boiling point it emits steam, which
goes through the wire covering, then mois-
tens the blankets, and finally creates steam
ing atmosphere around the bed. The heat
and moisture serves to make the patient per-
spire, and drives out of him all impurities
through his pores. This is the Doctors
theory"
II got well in two days; then he got sick
have nursed him, and have never ceased to
give him constantly fine steam bath. hope
he'll get over it."
Our reporter said he hoped so too and left
the house convinced that Smif1lins was well
and would live over three score and ten, but
doubtful whether DR.. Dabolus Febridestruct-
ivOrius would get over Smiffiins' nursing.