Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/350

 MARK TWAIN

besides, you live to tell about it, and that is more. A century or so ago you could have had the first of these features in rich variety, but you might fail of the other once and once would do. I quote:

As Dissections of Persons who have died of severe Head-achs, which have been related by Authors, are too numerous to be inserted in this Place, we shall here abridge some of the most curious and important Observations relating to this Subject, collected by the celebrated Bonetus.

The celebrated Bonetus s &quot;Observation No. i&quot; seems to me a sufficient sample, all by itself, of what people used to have to stand any time between the creation of the world and the birth of your father and mine when they had the disastrous luck to get a &quot;Head-ach&quot;: %

A certain Merchant, about forty Years of Age, of a Melan cholic Habit, and deeply involved in the Cares of the World, was, during the Dog-days, seiz d with a violent pain of his Head, which some time after oblig d him to keep his Bed.

I, being call d, order d Venesection in the Arms, the Applica tion of Leeches to the Vessels of his Nostrils, Forehead, and Temples, as also to those behind his Ears; I likewise prescrib d the Application of Cupping-glasses, with Scarification, to his Back: But notwithstanding these Precautions, he dy d. If any Surgeon, skill d in Arteriotomy, had been present, I should have also order d that Operation.

I looked for &quot;Arteriotomy&quot; in this same Diction ary, and found this definition: &quot;The opening of an Artery with a View of taking away Blood.&quot; Here was a person who was being bled in the arms, fore head, nostrils, back, temples, and behind the ears, yet the celebrated Bonetus was not satisfied, but wanted to open an artery &quot;with a View&quot; to insert

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