Extraordinary Action

Thames Advertiser, Volume XVII, Issue 6050, 14 April 1888, Page 3

Extraordinary Action

BY A LADY.

The London correspondent of the Irish .Times,of January _31st says :—"I had from one of the counsel retained in thecal that a very curious litigation is.listed for hearing during the present term. Some two years ago a North: London doctor, having a large family . practice, had on his list of patients' a',lady long "suffering from an ' affection, of "the.' face • arid jaw .which baffled the, arte; of the faculty. : , She had 1 t ,beea for : some,time.under his care when she changed her, residence from London j ; to, Newcastle-on-Tyne, but kept herself in theihands, of her London doctors by letter. - Finding ■ ■ the ailment obstinate, and, the' patient somewhat intractable and hypochondriacal, the .doctor wrote' in theend, saying he had .'exhausted his! resources, and adding his opinion that the 'edax ■'»«rttm; : waa; l the only' remedy; The dead language' was matter in the wrong place; /It proved a snare for ; the lady Wed herself off l to a local chemist, and#>plied for the'specific as setfortlj in tmf letter. The attendant, it will be intended, through deliberate dishonesty made up a bottle, for; which he chargecj 7s 6d; arid at ; the : patient's request registered, or pretended to register, her name in the shop Wok as a customer to , whomthe' 1 remedy was to be regularly supplied. She continued using and pay ; ing for the sham medicine for over :a yeat-and a-half; and a curious point in the case will be her admission that it gave her more relief than any previous remedy employed. Coming to London for the royal jubilee, she chanced to meet her former doctor, who, it should be said, had told her in his letter that, being unable to do more for her, he did not feel justified in continuing the correspondence. He was astonished to find himself j gratefully-thanked for his final advice, and still more astonished when the lady related the facts, He wrote, atonce for an explanation, and advised the patient to demand the return of the large sum she had paid in fancy prices for the nostrum. The next stage of the business began with the disappearance of the assistant and the denial of any responsibility of the,'chemist. On these- main facts the' case is based, but some revelations of the human capacity for consuming doctor's stuff may be expected. The plaintiff has, it seems, been wx invalid from her twentieth year, and has for the quarter of a century /intervening paid for-medicine alone over £2000." ' . ■; :