The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-02-01
SHOW THEIR ILLS FOR PAY
STRANGE CLASS OF HORTA Is
 WHO HAUNT THE CLINICS.

| WHO HA AUNI III 4 CLLNICS.
 They Turn Their Physical Misfortune es
 Into s Means Of Livelihood and Be- l sides Contribute Quito Materially to
 tho Advancement of Science.
 Though it is true that one-half the
 world is in ignorance of how the other
 half lives, any class of individuals
 must. ordinarily, be forced into more
 or less conspicuous position il it's exist
 ence has any influence, good or evil, up- on society. It is, therefore, somewhat strange that the class which knows it. l self and is known as show patients
 and has a considerable influence upon | the general welfare, should have re- ] mained unknown to all except those i with whom 1t comes into immediate | contact. Those who are familiar with | this class are the teachers at the va
 rious medical colleges, and it is from l these teachers that the show patients derive their chief means of subsist- ence.
  Wretches. each with some hideous or painful disease or deformity, which is his stock in trade. Freedom from dan- ger of enforced assignment, and the re- ductilon of lfe's problems to the keep ing of a full stomach and the avoidance
 of pain, produces in many instances the happy go-lucky; devil may indi-
 vidual one would expect one respond
 ing to the stimuli of physical pleasure
 or pain only. There are, however, eX-
 captions here as elsewhere, and occa-
 sionally show patient may be found
 who exposes himself to discomfort and
 even great physical pain for the attain
 ment of praiseworthy objects Show
 patients are recruited mainly from the
 pauper class, and usually fall back up-
 on private or public charity and the
 almshouse when business is dull.
 Numerically the show patients are
 weak class. The pauper's inherent dis taste for the least effort which makes him prefer to sit idly by the Wayside catching pennies as they are flung by soft-hearted passersby than even to en- ter a life into which competition enters so rarely as to be unrecognized, coupled with the fact that an abnormal condi- ton attracts the medical teacher only when peculiar, uncommon, or typical or a certain form of disease, restricts the membership of this class to tens rather than hundreds or thousands. But while it's numbers are small, distinc- tions of caste are recognized and bear q close relation to the patients earn ing capacity, consequently to the strangeness or gravity of his condition, and to his natural sagacity.
 The aristocrats are those with fixed rates of charges which. they insist upon getting, refusing to show unless assured that their fee will be paid. These per sons travel from one end of the coun- try to the other. calling at the various colleges, and making the circuit some l times regularly every year. The mid dle class have a sliding scale of charges, with, occasionally, an exceedingly long slide. and they travel little-perhaps making the trip between New York and Philadelphia once a year. The com mon people are usually inmates of an almshouse or one of the city hospitals and their incomes depend somewhat upon the generosity of the professors and are received in the form of tips. | The size of the tip is generally under stood among the teachers, however, and i when a patient is called for he knows about what he can expect. With these | the money goes to provide the few lux uries which the poor wretches get.
 The show patients begin their careers as scientific workers in various ways. ojf Iaa pit,or of the field and making a direct plea for on their first appearance, or else by first becoming dispensary and bos- pital patients and gradually drifting in- to further dependence Once full- hedged show patients, modesty become a lost feature of their make e-up; they f boldly approach the teachers not known to them and calmly state their cases and expectations. Go and stand in one 1f the medical college Adispensaries at an hour when a professor Is about to hold a clinic and is looking for material As he glances around among the wait ing patients you may see some miser- able sufferer leave his seat, his face wreathed in smiles, and approach the doctor.
 Ready for me yet, professor?" he asks.
 The doctor has seen the man year af- ter year and knows his case thorough y, and if it happens to fit in properly with the scheme outlined for the days Slinic the answer is always in the af- irmative for the doctor knows that he ,annot hope for any other case which will so well illustrate what he wants to say; and the patient goes back to his seat to wait until he is called for So we'll do the show patients know the methods and plan of teaching of each professor that they rarely make any great mistake as to the time that they ,an be used. Consequently they are 'arely turned away. The worst they ge is: Come in next week; 'an use you then"
 Tn some very unusual cases--for ex- lmple, a peculiar condition which has 'al1ed for or has followed some opera ion out of the ordinary-the show pa- tents are in great demand, and one nay occasionally witness an incon- sruity; patient attempting to arrange he doctors time, and succeeding. You ,verhear: Say, professor, I come to zee if you could use me to-day Got to To it to-day if you want me t all. Coin Chicago tonight"
 gro Chicago, eh? All right, all right; ust sit down a minute until I see 4 r l.. l