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FELLOW OF THE GUZZLING SOCIETY.

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cease, and the vast weight of your varied distinctions almost compels me to admit that you are all in the right, and that I am all in the wrong. Yet, associating your employment as a drughero" with the first of your initial distinctions, it occurs to me as possible that M. D. may in your case stand for Man of Drugs. Again, the facetious editor of the "Lancet" has changed the name of the Association, of which you sign yourself the secretary, into that of the " Guzzling Association," from the circumstance, I presume, of the members meeting annually to eat dinners together for an entire fortnight:-as " Mr. Secretary" to this body of gentlemen, you also distance me in the accumulation of titular distinctions. was puzzled at first to guess what the F. G. S. attached to your name could possibly mean; I now perceive that it must plainly stand for "FELLOW OF THE GUZZLING SOCIETY."

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Be assured, learned doctor, that I should not thus dwell on your nomenclature, were I to consult my own taste in the matter. But when I hear a practitioner, whose years of life number nearly sixty, whilst those of his practice of an honourable and liberal calling reach half that

FACTS PROFESSIONAL HONESTY.

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number, take upon himself to drop the true patronymic of another, whose actions he calls in question, and have recourse to a nick-name to give weight to his arguments, I cannot but think that my taste, which revolts at the stale trick, must be bad, opposed as it is to that displayed by so grave and reverend" a member of what is denominated a gentleman's profession. Stand we, therefore, since you will it so, as the "drug-doctor" and the "water-doctor" respectively: though, in consideration of your other varied titles, I propose to grant you, besides, the epithet "learned."

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And now to the facts of the case in the treatment of which you impugn my mode of practice. Your statement of the case up to the 15th of August, is "taken down from the dictation of the parents of the child, in order to secure accuracy in detail." On the professional honesty of publishing a statement, intended to hurt the character of another man, on evidence drawn from such a source, I shall hereafter remark. Meantime, as I have still to learn that the

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parents of the child" are more worthy of credit than myself, I shall take the liberty, in accordance with the adage on the title-page, of publishing my relation of the circumstances; they are as follow:

DELIRIUM AND FEVER.

For a week or two previously to my being called in to see the child, he had shown an indisposition to move: he was languid, and though naturally very active, evinced during that time, a preference for the recumbent posture on the sofa. It was probably, at this time, that the great quantity of "improper food" mentioned in your paper was taken; the rather, as I subsequently found a strong propensity in his mother to remedy the prostration of strength, by giving him improper food. Be this as it may, when I saw him he was in a burning fever. I ordered hot fomentations to the belly, and toast and water alone to be taken. In this manner the case went on for a few days, with slight delirium and the fever persisting, though in a milder form; and I described it to the parents as a continued fever of a typhoid character, that might go on for a length of time. During this time the child's mother had written to her brother, who is a physician, describing the symptoms of the disorder, and the mode in which I was treating it, of which he approved, as his own child had not long before recovered from a similar fever similarly treated. He further recommended that chloride of lime water should be sprinkled in the room,

THE WET SHEET.

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which was done without asking me. be borne in mind, as showing my exact position in the management of the case.

Meanwhile, as the house contained other children, and the means of accommodation in Malvern were scanty, it was necessary to prevent alarm in the house, which would have obliged a removal. Accordingly, when questioned by the landlady as to "whether this fever was infectious," I of course made light of it, and said the child would be better in a few days. It was about this time that I said to the parents, "If you had the wet sheet applied here, the little patient would be soon rid of the fever." I threw out this hint without an expectation that they would accede to it, knowing that the medical relation of the child's mother had approved of what was already done, &c., and there was a no small amount of prejudice to contend with. The parents, however, consented to try it, and as a proof how far they considered it hurtful, employed it night and morning, sometimes without my being present. The result was admirable, and in a few days the child's fever was dissipated, and he amused himself with his playthings. The wet sheet was still continued, and so far was the boy from struggling and scream

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RELAPSE FROM FOOD.

ing while in it, he slept in it, and would have remained in it much longer than he was allowed to do.

Although now convalescent, the sheet was applied to forward the convalescence. On or about the 15th August, the boy's father gave him a great quantity of hard ship biscuit. As might be expected in a child just freed from a bad fever, this kind of food produced renewal of the inflammatory affection of the stomach and bowels. In proof of this, the glyster and the castor oil that were administered brought away a quantity of the biscuit in an undigested state.

As I do not profess to be one of those obsequious medical attendants who permit the friends of a patient to act upon their own ideas, and take the responsibility on myself for the sake of the remuneration, smoothing down the said friends with fair words, I desired, after this exhibition, that Mr. Morrison or Mr. Addison, (two gentlemen practising in Malvern,) should be called to witness the treatment, or to take it upon themselves. "For," said I," now I leave the child well and playing, and presently am sent for to see him in pain and very ill. Leave the child alone for heaven's sake, or send for some one else." I had constantly to

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