Consult the Doctor (1895 advertisement)

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 5.

Eloping Pair Are Wed Deep in Waving Corn

1916

Doctor Outwits Farmer's Wife in Race to Win Bride — All Ends Happily.

WILMINGTON, Delaware. — Maud Muller on a summer day never looked lovelier than Margaret Beattie, a farmer's daughter of Hockessin, when she stood a bride in the middle of a waving cornfield.

The bridegroom was Dr. Alvin Rupert, of New Rochelle, N. Y. It was a runaway match — so much so that the bride played her stately part in the fetching simplicity of a sunbonnet and a gingham frock.

A difference in religious beliefs had caused her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Beattie, of "Fernside," to forbid her marriage to Dr. Rupert on August 17, as the young people had arranged.

But the enamored doctor was not to be denied. Accompanied by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Rupert, he established quarters on a neighboring farm, that of William Crossan.

Communication had been forbidden, but the sighing pair discovered a hollow tree of the type traditionally favored by Cupid as a lover's postoffice, and thus in scribbled words they exchanged their hopes and plans.

Dr. Rupert came to Wilmington, procured a marriage license and a clergyman and motored with them back to Hockessin. Margaret Beattie met them at a turn in the road, having slipped away from her father's farm in her everyday clothes.

Fearful of pursuit, the wedding party hastily penetrated the sheltered expanse of a cornfield. It was as much as the minister could do, however, to get thru the service quickly enough to outspeed the bride's vigilant mamma, who had followed Margaret and arrived breathless just after the ring had been slipped on her finger.

Faced with the inevitable, the Beatties decided to forgive their daughter and her Lochinvar, and the happy pair went South for their honeymoon.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Good Fortune Saves Child

1916

Taken From Cistern Apparently Dead — Doctor Passing.

GUELPH, Ontario, Canada. — While playing around the yard the 2-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bruce McPhail of Rockwood fell into a deep cistern in which there was about four feet of water. Other children gave the alarm, and help was soon at hand.

Fred Hamilton went down in the cistern and got hold of the child, but efforts to get them both out failed, with the result that the little fellow fell back into the water. E. Carton descended to the bottom of the cistern, and finding the child, managed to hold it above the water until those above were able to pull it to the surface. When taken out the little one was black in the face and apparently dead.

With rare good fortune a doctor was seen passing the house, and he lost no time in starting measures for resuscitation. It was some time before his efforts were successful, but eventually the child was restored.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Dies On 70th Day of His Third Fast

1916

FAILS IN FIVE ATTEMPTS TO TAKE FOOD.

Fasting, Weapon With Which Doctor Fought Death, Finally Turns Against Him.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Dr. H. G. Huffman, faster, died at City Hospital on the seventieth day of his fast. He was unconscious before he died. His wife was at his bedside.

Dr. Huffman began his fast June 30. He tried to eat on August 9, but found food would not agree with him.

"Nature has not yet eliminated the poisons from my system," said Huffman. "When that is done, I will be able to eat."

Again on August 20 Huffman tried to break his fast with the same result. But Huffman was not worried. Then on August 22, September 1 and September 2, he tried to eat. Each time he found his stomach refused to take food.

Wife Shares His Confidence.

Dr. Huffman's wife, who was with him thruout his fast, shared her husband's confidence that he would recover. She respected his wishes that no doctor be called to treat him.

When Huffman lapsed into unconsciousness Mrs. Huffman began to fear for his life. She called his brother and they had the doctor removed to Dr. C. A. Davey's nature sanitarium at Youngstown. Davey was the only man Huffman would allow to treat him.

Later Huffman's brother had him removed to City Hospital. Doctors there tried to give him nourishment but failed.

Fasting, which killed Huffman, was the weapon with which he believed he was fighting death. Two years ago doctors told him he had not long to live. He went to a lonely spot on the Grand River, near Geneva, and set up his camp, which he named Camp Phoenix. There for 47 days he went without food.

When Dr. Huffman returned to his practice as an oculist in Youngstown he became apparently strong and well in a few months.

Doctor's Bride Fasts, Too.

The next year Huffman returned to Camp Phoenix and fasted 30 days. Again he came thru feeling "like a new man."

Then a few days after his fast Huffman was married under the spreading trees of Camp Phoenix, where he had won back health.

"I shall fast with my husband next year," the bride said after the wedding. "It has helped my husband and it will help me."

True to her promise, Mrs. Huffman joined her husband on his third fast. She went sixteen days without food. She broke her fast August 9, the day of her husband's first unsuccessful attempt to take food.

Mere Skeleton When He Dies.

Then while Dr. Huffman lay on a cot of pine boughs Mrs. Huffman busied herself about Camp Phoenix canning wild berries.

"My husband is not eating now, but he does in the winter," she merrily told visitors.

The Huffmans left Camp Phoenix as they had lived in it, with the rows of fruit jars arranged on shelves.

Huffman was a mere skeleton when he died. Doctors said that only remarkable strength and faith in his final recovery kept him alive for nearly seventy days.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Insane Man Clings to His Blind Wife

1919

WILL BE RELEASED FROM ASYLUM TO JOIN HER.

Love Keeps Sightless Girl and Mad Husband Together Despite Obstacles Imposed.

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Lying in the Home for Homeless Women, a blind woman smiles. She smiles the smile of expectant motherhood.

In the City Hospital for Mental Diseases, a man smiles. His smile is that of a man about to be freed of the charge of insanity and allowed to return to his blind wife.

Dr. Earl Joseph Vollentine, graduate of Tulane College of Dentistry, will not be returned to the Southwestern Insane Asylum in Texas, if Charles H. Patterson, secretary of the Charity Organization, can prevent it.

Dr. Vollentine, says Secretary Patterson, will be released from the City Hospital for Mental Diseases in time to be near his blind wife when their expected child arrives. Instead of allowing Dr. Vollentine to be returned to the insane asylum in Texas, it is Secretary Patterson's plan to start the little family on their way to Vivian, La., where the husband has been assured work.

Not Dangerously Insane.

In the opinion of Dr. Henry Daspit, of the City Hospital for Mental Diseases, the young husband is not dangerously insane. He is merely the victim of nervous attacks said to have been brought on by overstudy.

And then there is the charge of his blind wife that her husband was sent to a Texas insane asylum by his rich father because the youth dared to marry her.

The story of the blind wife and the alleged mentally deficient husband verges on the dramatic — even melodramatic.

The girl was blinded when a child. One eye was lost when she fell on a pair of scissors. The other was shot out accidentally by the wad from a blank pistol. She was sent to the Blind Institute in Austin, Texas, by her father, of moderate circumstances.

It was while she was visiting her sister in Yoakum, Texas, that the young doctor first saw the helpless blind girl. First it was sympathy. Then it was love.

Marriage Was Annulled.

They were married. Then, says Mrs. Vollentine, her husband's father interfered and had the youth sent to the Southwestern Asylum in Texas, saying that he could be cured of his nervousness in about a month. The marriage was annulled.

The blind child wife waited. Her husband was not released. She grew impatient. So did he. He escaped. They journeyed to Vivian, La., and were remarried.

The husband obtained employment as a boilermaker. They saved money. Then the search for the cure of the wife's blindness began. They came to New Orleans to consult specialists. They applied to Secretary Patterson, of the Charity Organization, for help.

Making no attempt to conceal anything from Secretary Patterson, the young husband informed him that he had escaped from the Texas Insane Asylum.

Ask Return to Asylum.

Learning of the young wife's condition, Secretary Patterson had her sent to the Home for Homeless Women. He communicated with the Texas authorities, who requested that Doctor Vollentine be held until a representative of the asylum arrive to return him.

When informed by Dr. Daspit that young Vollentine's mental deficiency is of a minor nature, Mr. Patterson determined not to allow the young husband to be returned to Texas without a fight.

"If Vollentine refuses to accompany the Texas authorities back to the asylum," said Mr. Patterson, "I do not think they can take him forcibly."

Charges Father Opposes Her.

"My husband is so sympathetic toward the afflicted. It was when I lost the sight of my second eye thru an unfortunate accident that he was drawn toward me. He read in the papers how I completely lost my sight and told my sister he would like to know me.

"He was so kind and attentive that I loved him. We married — and then his father interfered. They tore him from me; sent him to an insane asylum and left me helpless. My husband was determined. He escaped. As our marriage had been annulled, we remarried and made our way to Vivian, Where my husband was employed.

"When we saved a little money my husband insisted that we go to New Orleans so my eyes could be treated. We came and then came our present trouble. But thank God there seems to be a silver lining to our dark cloud. He will be released. Our baby will be born and then we will go back to Vivian and happiness."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 11.

Note: Dr. Daspit's name in the first instance (in the original newspaper printing) was spelled "Despit." But the correct spelling is Daspit. He's referred to in books at Google Books, and was working at the City Hospital for Mental Diseases just as in this article.

Three Slain In Duel With Guns Over Girl

1920

Doctor Objects to Man's Attentions to Sister-in-law

CHARLESTON, S. C., Jan. 1. — One of the worst tragedies in Eastern South Carolina in recent years occurred at St. Stephens, Berkley County. Three are dead: Royal Cotten, aged 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Cotten, 90 Columbus street, this city; John E. Bell, a young farmer of Berkley County; D. J. H. Pratt, a physician of St. Stephens. Miss Lydia Bell, sister of Mr. Bell and sister-in-law of Dr. Pratt, was wounded in the arm.

Dr. Pratt is alleged to have started the shooting, killing young Cotten while the latter was visiting Miss Bell. A few moments later he shot and killed his brother-in-law, Mr. Bell, who returned the fire, killing Dr. Pratt. Young Cotten, shot in the heart, fell dead almost at the feet of Miss Bell.

It seems that the young Charlestonian was a frequent visitor at the Bell home, where Dr. Pratt also lived. It is said that Dr. Pratt objected to Cotten paying attention to his sister-in-law.

The Life Insurance Cure

1900

Result of a Dying Bachelor's Plan For a Novel Funeral

"I don't know that life insurance is a cure for disease," said the retired life insurance solicitor, "but I know of an instance which makes it look that way. In the town where I first began business was a bachelor of about 50 years, who was quite alone in the world and had some years before taken out a $5,000 policy on himself for the benefit of a maiden sister, who had died a year before the events of this story. He kept his policy going, however, because it was a good way to save money, and one day he was taken down with some kind of fever. He grew worse day after day, until one day the doctor told him that he would in all likelihood be dead within the next 24 hours.

"This suggested his life insurance money, all he had to leave, and he immediately began to talk with the doctor on the subject of a proper disposal of it. He concluded after some thought that the best thing to do with it was to blow it on a tremendous big funeral for himself, including a banquet for all the people he knew. This was an entirely new idea for a funeral, and when the doctor left him that night to the care of his nurse his mind was entirely occupied with his funeral. He talked to the nurse about it, and when the nurse made him stop he lay and thought about it. In fact, he became so much interested in the details of his funeral that he quite forgot about having to die to make it possible.

"In the morning when the doctor came he found his patient in a wild perspiration and his pulse beating in much better fashion than it had been doing for some days. He also found the general condition of the patient much improved. He was greatly astonished and at once began to ask questions. The patient told him with eager interest of a lot of new things he had thought of for the funeral and some that bothered him a good deal and said he had been thinking of it all night. Then the doctor laughed and told him he guessed the funeral would have to be postponed, for he wasn't going to die just then anyhow. Nor did he, and he isn't dead yet, but he is married and has his policy paid up for his wife's benefit." - Chicago Inter Ocean.

Ocean Heart

1907

The throbbing, and vibration of the engines of a modern steamer have a most extraordinary effect upon the human heart.

Let it be said at once that ocean traveling does not in any way injure the heart; on the contrary, it benefits it, with the general health. But the vibration of the machinery is transmitted to this vital organ with the most extraordinary results so far as medical examination is concerned.

A ship's doctor will tell you that when he listens through his stethoscope to the beating of a man's heart at sea it seems as if every moment the heart would stop. With sturdy and invalid passengers it is just the same. The heart appears to the doctor as if every beat would be its last. This being the case, it is exceedingly difficult for the physician to ascertain the true condition of the traveler's health, and he generally resorts to the expedient of slinging his patient in a hammock, where the vibration is considerably lessened, though no device can overcome it altogether. — London Answers.

Few Women Laugh Heartily

1910

Whether Due to Lack of Humor or Childhood's Training Is Unknown, But Fact Remains

Women laugh too little. Whether this is due to their lack of humor or to childhood's training in gentle manners may be questioned. Certain it is that a hearty laugh in a woman's voice is rare music. An audience of women rustles with amusement, but seldom laughs. A group of girls giggle, but do not laugh. A woman reading the most brilliantly humorous story seldom gets beyond a smile.

When Sir Walter Besant, in his clever skit, "The Revolt of Man," pictured the time in the twentieth century when women should have usurped all power — political, ecclesiastical and social — he shrewdly noted that laughter had died out in England; and when men revolted against their feminine tyrants, they came back to their own with peals of laughter.

A Paris doctor has recently opened a place for the laughter cure. It is a private institution, and large fees are charged. The patients sit around a room, and at a given moment begin to smile at each other. The smile broadens to a grin, and at a signal to a peal of laughter. Two hours a day of this healthful exercise is said to cure the worst cases of dyspepsia. But whether the habit of laughing easily and naturally could be acquired by this process is doubtful. — Montreal Herald.

Had Corner in Graves

1905

The Melbourne Women's hospital discovered lately that a local undertakers' ring had bought up nearly all the vacant plots in the general cemetery, and, having put up its prices for funerals at another cemetery, which has only been opened a short time. In order to divert trade to its own ground, it was retailing its corner in graves at a handsome profit.


A Grimly Suggestive Group

The minister and the doctor were riding down town in a Lexington avenue car, and had arrived at Madison square when their friend the undertaker joined them.

After riding with him two blocks the minister and doctor put the undertaker off the car, saying their appearance in trio looked too suggestive and would cause talk among their friends.


Dachshund Found His Mistress

Three years ago Mrs. A. M. McKee of Plainfield, N. J., made a visit at Glens Falls, N. Y., and on her return left her dog, a dachshund, with her Glens Falls friends. The other day the dog appeared at the old home in Plainfield and finding that his mistress had moved, searched the city until he located her present residence.


Freak of Nature in Kentucky

A peculiar freak of nature has shown up in the bluegrass. Wells that have been dry for weeks, springs that have long since ceased to flow, have burst forth, and some of the small creeks that were dry as a powder keg are now living, running streams — all this without rain. — Grayson Bugle-Herald.

Mrs. Humphrey's Strong Feelings About Fashion

1911

Editorial Zingers

The truth is that the love of dress is, next after drink and gambling, one of the curses of our country. -- Mrs. Humphrey.

The Boston young woman who worked eight years on her trousseau must have had unusual, though not well founded, faith in the stability of the styles.

A Montreal doctor recently contributed a pint of his own blood to save the life of a patient. Some doctors seem to be actuated by a sincere desire to cure.

The autocrats of fashion may succeed in making women wear the ugly Turkish "harem" stress, but no autocrat now living will ever succeed in shutting women up.

"I know not where I am," cried a poetess in one of the magazines. English critics of American literature will wonder why she did not say: "I know not where I am at."

An English paper announces that Americans lack the sense of humor. That sounds like the argument of the man who satisfies himself by exclaiming: "You're another!"

A Canadian highbrow tells us that the temperature seven and a half miles above the earth is 90 degrees below zero. Let this be a warning to builders of skyscrapers.

Fake Beard Lands Gary Man in Cell

March 1920

Merchant-Sleuth Finally Released by Detroit Cops

DETROIT, Michigan — Wearing a false goatee and mustache, Isidor Vila, a well-to-do business man of Gary, Indiana, was arrested here.

Vila conducts a grocery store in Gary. During the strike there last summer a large number of the strikers opened charge accounts at his store. Many of them disappeared without paying their bills, some of them coming to Detroit. Vila decided to go on a collecting trip. He provided himself with false scenery, as he figured he would have a better opportunity of locating his debtors.

Detroit was the first city he visited, and five minutes after he left his hotel adorned with the camouflage he was spotted and arrested, despite his strenuous objections. The Gary authorities wired the Detroit police that Vila was a law abiding citizen and he was then released.


Weds Girl To Whom He Restored Beauty

PEORIA, Illinois — Two years ago Miss Ruth Wheeler, a Peoria school teacher, went to the offices here of Dr. Raymond C. Willett, orthodonist. An otherwise beautiful face was slightly marred by teeth which had grown crooked. She appealed to Dr. Willett to perform an operation to straighten them. Recently, in Chicago, the couple married. Miss Wheeler is the daughter of one of Peoria's prominent families. Dr. Willett is one of the best known practitioners in Peoria.

Doctors Who Die Early

1906

The Principal Cause Is Said to Be Excessive Nervous Expenditure in Practice

The diseases which claim the most victims among physicians relatively to all males are gout and diabetes, and there is a high relative mortality from diseases of the nervous system, circulatory system and kidneys, says American Medicine.

From the nature of his habits the physician is not subject to accidents, and, though he is brought into contact with infection to a greater extent than other men, his preventive means are successful and his mortality from infection is very low. Freedom from prolonged muscular strains and high blood tension apparently saves him from arteriosclerosis, but suicide claims many, and so do the drug habits acquired by the nervously exhausted. It has been said that three-fourths of French morphine users are physicians.

The cause of the physician's early death is evidently the excessive nervous expenditure, insufficient rest and defective nutrition, inseparable from his calling, with its broken and restricted sleep, irregular hours of work, rest and meals, the worry when lives depend upon his judgment and the lack of a day of complete relaxation in each week. The physician who sees his patients every day in the week month after month and cannot learn to forget them when he goes home, merely burns the candle at both ends. He violates the law obeyed by every other animal, that there shall be short periods of moderate exertion interrupted by longer periods of rest when repairs are made. It is not too much work as a rule, but scattered work which prevents rest.

The Tree Doctor

1907

His Method of Treating a Trunk That is Decaying

When a tree doctor treats a decayed tree he begins by cutting an aperture in the tree large enough to allow him to get at the inside and remove all the decayed wood. This is essential to the success of the operation.

When this work has been done the cavity is ready to be filled. The composition used in case of large fillings contains five parts of sand to one part of portland cement, except for the outer part, where these ingredients are used half and half, this outer coating being several inches thick. To hold the cement in place while it is hardening a stout tin or zinc is employed, this being secured to the trunk of limb in a way to preserve the natural shape. The tin is put on in strips, being fastened with round steel nails having a broad head and a small shank. The strips are wide enough to lap over upon the sound wood, and the nails are placed from half an inch to an inch apart, according to the strain imposed.

The first strip of tin is put on at the lower part of the aperture and the cement put in until it reaches nearly to the top of the tin. Then a second strip is put on, lapping over the other two or three inches, and the two nailed together. Then more cement is used, and so on until the cavity is filled, the last strip of tin being bent down while the final application of cement is being puddled into place and the cavity entirely filled, and then it is straightened up and nailed in place. In case of extra large cavities large sheets of tin or sheet iron are nailed on the outside to prevent the tin from bulging out until the cement has hardened, when they can be removed. The smaller the cavity the larger are the strips of tin employed, as the strain is proportionately less. In twenty-four hours' time the cement will have hardened completely, and the tin may all be removed. This remedy is applied successfully to fruit trees as well as shade trees. — New York Tribune.

Eye Ball Removed, Doesn't Affect Sight

1940

BONHAM, Feb. 23.—(AP)—A piece of steel Friday stuck in Roy Taylor's eye and doctors were forced to remove his eye ball. The operation, however, did not cause loss of sight in the eye. He was already blind in that eye.

—Austin Statesman, Austin, TX, Feb. 23, 1940, page 3.

The Thirsty Leech – Old-Time Aid to Blood-Letting

1890

THE THIRSTY LEECH.

AN OLD-TIME AID TO BLOOD LETTING.

An Industry that is Now but the Shadow of What it Once Was.

According to the psalmist "The daughters of the horse-leech cry continually, "Give, give." According to the natural history neither the horse-leech nor his daughters do anything of the sort, the appetite of this variety of the once popular worm being quite easily satisfied. Neither has it the blood-sucking tastes of the ordinary leech, for it is well established that it will not attack man, while it is equally well known that the leech of the medical world will. It is doubtful whether it ever attaches itself to horse or other animals and it is content to make a meal off another worm, which it does by swallowing it whole after the fashion of that other worm, the snake. The horse-leech, it is true, is big and looks fierce, but, as in the case of the big black ant and the little red one, it is the little one that is to be avoided. Lastly, although this objection may be considered hypercritical, the horse-leech never had any daughters, all of its children being bi-sexed, true hermaphrodites.

Possibly what the erudite translators of the Old Testament set down in Saxon as the horse-leech was not the horse-leech at all in the original, or perhaps what was meant was the leech which is gathered by horses. In the great leech ponds and streams of Europe and Asia, a big haul of the worm used to be made by driving horses in the infected localities. The little bloodsuckers would then fasten themselves to the poor animal's legs and body, from which, when the worms were saturated, the gatherers would pick them off. Leeches have to be gathered with a little more care, the sources of supply having become much more limited than they were fifty years ago. They formerly inhabited in great numbers the marshes and streams of most countries of Europe, but now they are successfully cultivated only in France and Hungary, although they come from Turkey, Wallachia, Russia, Egypt and Algeria. The best leeches were long supposed to come from Sweden, but the supplies have run short. Paris is now the center of the European export trade, many of the leeches that come from there being labeled as Swedish.

Prior to 1839 there was no regular import trade of leeches into this country, the supply being kept up by sea captains who occasionally brought them over in small numbers on private speculation. Leechers were, therefore, obliged to depend largely on the native leech for drawing blood, the native species being in considerable demand during the early part of the present century. It was found that there were many American species, its habitat being quite widely distributed, but the best came from Eastern Pennsylvania, especially Berks and Bucks counties. The European species is generally conceded to be superior to the American, but during the earlier period of importation the prices charged for the European blood-sucker was so high that the American leech held its ground for a time. Gradually, however, prices fell, until now, although the European leech is still a trifle more expensive than the native. Its cost is so slight that it is almost universally employed, excepting in special cases, and in a few localities where the American leech is preferred. No American leeches, it is believed, are now used in any American city except Philadelphia, where they are still in slight demand. In fact, the latter city appears to have held to the old custom of leeching more than any other American city of which there is any information. Now, perhaps, scarcely more than 1,000 American leeches are used in a year, although more than that number are sold to the druggist, the supply coming from one person who collects them in the Pennsylvania counties mentioned and in the ponds about Trenton, N. J.

Up to 1878 New York was the only port that was in the leech-import business, but in that year New Orleans also began their importation, while San Francisco has long been the third importer. In San Francisco the business is in the hands of a French woman Madame Patural. They are imported during most of the year, but only to a slight extent in summer, as they are easily killed by an excess of heat. In June, July and August the mortality in the East sometimes reaches as high as 25 per cent. They are brought here packed in swamp earth in air and water-tight wooden cases, holding 1,500 leeches each. These cases are made rather light, and are about twenty-one inches long, fifteen inches wide, and thirteen inches high. In shipping leeches from place to place in this country the same cases are used for sending large quantities, and tight wooden pails for smaller numbers, the packing of swamp earth being also employed. American leeches, on the contrary, are kept best in water, in earthen or glass jars in a cool place. In the case of very large quantities storage ponds are employed, the principal being on Long Island, between Winfield and Newtown.

Though but slightly used now, there are few people who do not know that the leech is used as a blood-letting machine, its use dating back to Galen, and the process by which it fills itself with blood being graphically described by naturalists who lived contemporaneously with Pliny and Herodotus. Cupping and leeching were the curative methods employed in all febrile disorders, and indeed for almost any ill. They were applied to any part of the skin, as well as to the mouth and other available inlets. When the distinct locality was to be attacked the leech was applied in a thimble or leech glass, the latter being a small tube with a slightly contracted opening, and sometimes provided with a glass piston for pushing master leech on. In the case of brain fever or concussion of the brain the leeches were simply laid on by the doctor, sometimes as many as two dozen hanging on at the same time. So prominent a part of the doctor's practice, indeed, was this application of leeches that the doctor himself was often called "a leech" or a "learned leech" as by any other title. — San Francisco Chronicle.

Pig With Broken Leg, 50 Cents to Set, No Guarantees

1899

PIG WITH A BROKEN LEG.

Indiana Woman's Effort to Have Her Queer Pet's Injured Member Set.

The physicians at the city dispensary have all sorts of patients, but a new record was made the other day, says the Indianapolis News, when a woman brought a pig there to have its leg set. She drove up in a carriage, and exhibited a five-weeks-old pig with a broken leg, and entered into negotiations to have the injured member repaired. While she was talking she paused ever and anon to hold a milk bottle to the little sufferer's mouth, to stop its pitiful cries.

Dr. Kennedy informed her that it was not in their regular line to practice on pigs, but the case might be taken — for a consideration. Dr. Pink asked her why she did not go to a veterinary surgeon, and she said he would charge too much for the work. Dr. Pink offered to set the limb for 50 cents.

"Oh, you're awful high," the woman almost screamed. "I studied medicine myself, and have an idea of what you ought to charge. I'll give you a quarter." But Dr. Pink would not come down, and the woman finally consented to pay the price. The doctor was about to begin the operation, and had given the pig's leg a preliminary pull, which made the bottle again necessary, when the woman was struck with an idea.

"I suppose you guarantee your work," she said. "I think so much of the little fellow, and I want to know that his leg won't be crooked when he gets well."

Dr. Pink would not agree to guarantee the job without additional pay. He informed the woman that it would cost an additional dollar to guarantee it. This almost caused the woman to faint, and as soon as she could recover from the shock, she grabbed the reins and drove away.

He Thought He Was Shot, While Training Dogs

Wisconsin, 1907

HE THOUGHT HE WAS SHOT

Jos. Milcharek Goes Out to Train His Dogs to Hunt and Narrowly Escapes a Serious Wound.

While training two of his dogs to hunt near the river on the plat of ground near Messer's slough, Sunday afternoon at about 12:30 o'clock, John Milcharek accidentally fired the contents of a 32 calibre cartridge from a revolver into his right foot and barely escaped permanent injuries.

The dogs had gone ahead with his two sons, and when several rods ahead of him, he fired his revolver into the ground. The dogs howled and appeared to be alarmed, and thereupon he hastily fired again, the second pulling of the trigger being done carelessly while looking across the river. As he fired the second shot, he felt a peculiar sensation coming over him, but suffered no pain in his leg.

A warm perspiration came over him suddenly, and he grew weak, but walked on until he felt a numbness in his foot. Stooping down and examining it, he found a hole pierced in his trousers, and closer investigation showed that his stocking was torn and the leather of his shoe cut. At this point, Milcharek fainted and fell to the ground.

His children ran home for assistance, but meanwhile he recovered and called on the Drs. von Neupert. His wounds were examined and except for a sudden swelling near the ankle, the flesh was not pierced by the bullet, it having taken a diagonal course and glanced into the ground from his shoe.

—The Gazette, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, May 29, 1907, page 1.


Miss, Mrs. and Mistress.

"Miss" is an abbreviation of "mistress," which, as an English law dictionary explains, is the property style of the wife of an esquire or a gentleman.

By Dr. Johnson's time it had become "the term of honor to a young girl." In the earliest part of the eighteenth century, however, it was used respectfully of girls below the age of ten alone. After that age "miss" was rude, implying giddiness of behavior. In Smollett's writings an unmarried woman of mature years and her maid are both "Mrs." It is certain that "miss" has grown older, so to speak, while "master" has become confined to boys.


Good Idea.

First Beggar — How is it that you always manage to get something from both of those women on the ground floor of that apartment house? Second Beggar — Dead easy. I ring both bells at the same time. Both women come to the doors at the same time and each one wants to outdo the other. — Fliegende Blatter.

She Escaped Burial Alive

Des Moines, Iowa, January 1915

Powerless to Cry Out, Though She Tried for Hours, Mrs. A. Sedden, Was Pronounced Dead

Des Moines. — For eleven hours Mrs. August Sedden of Persia, lay in a trance and was pronounced dead by her physician. Unable to move a muscle of her body or to make a sign, she heard the sobs of her family, heard friends notified of her death, heard the doctor telephone the cemetery officials to have the grave dug, and heard the minister engaged to conduct the funeral service.

Then at the last moment she gave a gentle sigh, and was saved from being buried alive. She is in a precarious condition, and death may yet result from a long sickness and the shock to her nervous system engendered by her dreadful experience.

Great Medical Science Had Quacks As Foundation

1916

German Science, So Famous Today, Is Credited With Exceedingly Modest Beginning

German medical science is world-famed and has proved a godsend to mankind. Yet the science may be said to have been founded by the quacks of former centuries, for while quackery has always flourished in all countries, Germany was long the leader in turning out practitioners of this dubious profession.

They were often men of imagination akin to genius, and they traveled all over Europe. A majority of the celebrated quacks of England were Germans, and their methods of advertising their "cures" were very similar to those of the "Indian medicine men" who still flourish in the rural districts of America.

"Having studied over Galen, Hypocrates, Albumazer, and Paracelsus, I am now become the Esculapius of the age," modestly announced one medieval quack, according to an early play, "having been educated at twelve kingdoms and been counselor to the counselors of several monarchs. By the earnest prayers of several lords, earls, dukes and honorable personages I have been at last prevailed upon to oblige the world with the notice: That all persons, young and old, blind or lame, deaf, or dumb, curable or incurable, may know where to repair for cure in all cephalalgias, paralytic paroxysms, palpitations of the pericardium, empyemas, syncopes and nasieties, arising either from a plethory or a cachochymy, veryiginous vapors, hydrocephalous exacerbation, odontalgic or podagrical inflammations and the entire legion of tethnerous distempers.

"This is nature's palladium, health's magazine, and it works seven manner of ways, as nature requires, for it scorns to be confined to any particular mode of operation."

Yet from those quacks arose the mighty army of German scientists whose researches have been the marvel and the benefaction of the whole world.