The Old Practitioner and the Young M.D.

Otago Witness, Issue 1905, 14 August 1890, Page 42

The Old Practitioner and the Young M.D.

For many years he had been the sole dispenser of pills in the town, but in the height of his fame a rival in the shape of an immature fledgling from a medical school appeared on the scene. The young chap had just received his diploma, and was one of those perambulatory encyclopedias of universal knowledge that one often sees in these days of liberal education. The old doctor paid no attention to the young aspirant to medical fame. One day, however, the two were brought together at a consultation, and on this occasion the young M.D. essayed to extinguish the old man with his preponderosity of knowledge. He accordingly began to rattle off Latin phrases and French idioms in a manner that startled the old gentleman. " Yes," mused the old man, meditatively, as he rubbed hie chin, " that's so, that's so. But what do you think of a cataplasm for this case ? " " A — a what ? " ejaculated the new doctor, completely dumbfounded. " A cataplasm," was the reply. "Wall, I am not familiar with that mode of treatment, though I've seen it advertised. It's something new, isu't it 1 " " New ? Great gracious, no," exclaimed the old physician, thoroughly enjoying the joke. " A cataplasm means simply a poultice. It always has meant a poultice and probably always will." The young doctor straightway subsided.