Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/123

Rh something new every day, lest they say you are good at nothing but books."

"Work on your patients; secure their confidence, light up their imagination, and you are sure of success."

The doctor's fee was a much-considered item: "Never dine with a patient who has not paid you; it will be cheaper to get your dinner at an inn, for such feasts are usually deducted from the surgeon's fee."

Here is an ingenious device for securing the fee: "When you are treating a wound or accident, the friends of the patient should be excluded, for they may faint and cause a disturbance, but sometimes a higher fee may be got from persons present fainting and breaking their heads against wood and the like, than from the principal patient."

Some of their prescriptions are equally suggestive. Here is an ingenious cure for lethargy: "Shave the patient's head and anoint it with honey; the flies will so worry him that he will continually strike out at them, which will cure his lethargy."

Or here are instructions for the treatment of palpitations: "Let the patient avoid all coarse