The Springdale news., 1889-08-30

we were not to take care Hood of tears drowned the rest of the son tence.
 But" airily remarked the famous doctor, my dear madam, why dis tress yourself? All may be we'll Let me hear from this gentleman, your family attendant, the symptoms as he has interpreted them"
 l gave the history of the case in a few words.
 Well, we'll there seems to be noth- ing serious; but we must examine the chest with the utm ost exactncss to de- eide that" "
 Pardon me- interrupts mamma. ''but will you allow me to remain in the roOm?"
 "Of course, madam" responded the favorite of fortune. You have sacred right to stop here. Pray, sit down" And then he directed me to commence the examination. per cussed with minute carefulness every part of the thorax, and, as before, could really find nothing abnormal
 There; you perceive that I have tested with eXactne5s, and the reso- nance is everywhere perfect made the remark as mere matter of form, for l had not failed to note that the very superior West End practition- CT had not condesceaded to pay the slightest attention to my proceedings, but was talking in low tones to Mrs Midas Contango all tho time.
 ''Ah, well, now it is my turn" said he, and with the most delicately i'm pressive care placed Miss Muricl with the arms crossed on the chest, but stiffly extended. In place of tell ing her to count thirteen to sixteen, " he gave her book and directed her to read dozen lines, and then to sing the gamut, an octave and a half. The mother was watching all this in ad- miration and deyouring every detail.
 "Ah, humphn' said the oracle; it seems there is something ex- tremely difficult to diferentiate. Let Us hear what percussion yields. And his style was truly enchanting. Every tap with the fingers was given with a flourish and a graceful sweep worthy of the most expert professor of sloight- of-hand that ever entertained d Coun- tess guests There was a moment Of studied indecision. and then, with a covert smile, turning to me, he said: There it is. Listen, my dear young friend" as he beat his digtal drum now on this side, then on that Tick tack, tick-tack. Hark! do you hear it? There ia a ve"y appreciable diff ference in resouance; when 1 say 'ap- preciable diffeIence, I do not say an enormous difference -no-but there it isr'
 For my own part, sir, l returned, Il can not, with all deference, detect the slightest difference.
 "Oh, very likely; but there, never theless, it is Now come, however; though having asccrtained the truth about the case-my time is short, let me convince you. l will turn my back to the patient, and you shall again pcrcuss. will tell which side you arc tapping upon by the variation in the sound. He turned round, and I percussed as equally as possible the two sides of the thorax. You are on the left side" He was quite right In a moment however, my surprise was changed to admiration of the fashionable physician smart audacity. His professional I yet hope I may more truthful1y write it unprofessiona nal-trick was obvious enough, but performed with such per feet aplomb that l was duped even whilst taking part in it. He had turned his back to the patient, to Mrs. Midas Contango and myself, but he was looking into large mirror above the console which faced him. What could 1 do? was mute. The tables had indeed been so completely turned upon me that had nothing to say.
 Madam, 1 must not alarm you, :" observed the triumphant specialist to Mrs Contango, who was in bissful ignorance of the deception ''these del icate gradations in tone can only be at once detected after immense prac- tice, only by those who examine a stream of patients; but there is some thing on the left side of your daugh- ter nothing serious-so little. indeed. that my young friend here has been unable to find it. but there it is And now, the examination being com plete, permit us to consult as to the | treatment, and then l must go, or l shall incur the displeasure of a noble but somewhat impatient patient of mine
 When we were alone 1 again ex- pressed my incredulity, delicately limiting at my observations of his ruse Tut, tut! my dear young friend, said he, testify, you have not yet grasped the situation. Now, here you have a girl who coughs and has been hoarse for a long time-then how the deuce can you get over the fact by telling the parents that there is no cause for it! Very likely there is nothing the matter with her; but why does she cough?'
 That was exactly what her mother said to me-
 There you are; and mamma was quite right; there must be some cause for it. We may not be able to lay our finger ppon it, for We must examine